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Technical Pro FN3S

May 27th, 2013 Pritesh No comments

fn3s Technical Pro FN3S

  • Ultra quiet fan pumps out 324 cubic feet per minute of heated air
  • High power exhaust fan prevents amp from overheating
  • Triple fan digital temperature readout
  • dimension: 19”w x 4.25”h x 1”d
  • weight: 3 lbs
  • 110V
  • Technical pro makes top quality products for today’s professional recording and broadcast studios. the engineers on this team have you got you covered with respect to speakers, microphones, amplifiers and even ways to maintain quality control in your studio environment. If you have a studio with racks of gear it is important that you take steps to keep all of your equipment Cool and running efficiently. The FN3S is a 2.5U rack Mountable Triple Fan Cooling Unit with Temperature Readout. Technical Pro designed this unit to keep all of your equipment and heating problems on ice!The FN3S can fit into any standard rack and push out the hot air that often gets trapped. If you have racks of gear sometimes running for 24 hours a day and 7 seven days a week you will have pockets of hot air that will form and become trapped within the racks and the air space of your studio. heat will destroy your equipment! This unit will push out 324 cubic feet per minute of heated air and its ULTRA QUIET design will make you forget that it’s even there! The FN3S is so effective in combating your entire studio’s heating issues that it is a must have!

    The FN3S fits into any standard rack and will take up 2.5 units of space. The front panel shows a digital display temperature readout. One quick look to the front panel and you know the exact temperature of your racks. No more guessing or hoping you will not overheat! Take control of the situation and keep your gear cool! Inside is a built in high power exhaust fan that will prevent the unit from becoming hot!

    This is a must have for any studio! If you see this in the racks in a studio you know that this studio is of a professional grade that takes good care of its equipment. This cooling unit will save you in the cost for repair of overheated equipment…you don’t need to worry anymore! The FN3S from Technical Pro is professional product for today’s professional studio…and at price that won’t break the bank!

    During usage your equipment can get hot and overheat. Protect your equipment and keep things cool with Technical Pro’s rack mountable fans.

Transporter Cloud for everyone

February 11th, 2013 David No comments

Transporter

Top 10 Hacks for Automating Your Life

January 22nd, 2013 David No comments

xlarge Top 10 Hacks for Automating Your Life

What if you were a wizard that could bend the entire world to your will? chores would do themselves, bills would pay on time, and your appliances would obey your every thought. Well, you can’t do that exactly, but with a bit of ingenuity, you can automate a lot of your life so you don’t have to trudge through the boring stuff. Here are ten things you can automate right now.

10. Maintain Your computer Without the Work

No one likes to sit around and clean up their computer, but it’s something that has to get done. We’ve talked about what kind of maintenance you need to do on your Windows PC and Mac, and much of that you can automate—like running CCleaner on a schedule. You should also set up an automated backup program, so you never lose your data. Set it up once, and forget it.

9. Make Your Bills Pay Themselves

Paying bills and managing your budget sucks. Luckily, we live in an age where computers can do a lot of the work for us. Have your bills automatically pay themselves online, and set up an automatic budget that’s easy to stick to with Mint. check out our guide to automating your finances for more ideas, and be sure to check out when you shouldn’t automate your finances, too.

8. Create a Diet Without Thinking

Whether you’re trying to lose weight or just take the stress out of planning and cooking, you can automate what you eat with a number of tools. Gather all your recipes up in one place and plan your weekly meals ahead of time for stress-free Shopping and cooking. If you need to pay closer attention to your diet (like if you’re trying to lose weight), try a service like Eat This Much or Swole.me, which will plan your diet for you based on your goals. That way, you can keep an eye on what you eat and stay on track with minimal effort.

7. organize Important Documents and Files

We’ve all got stacks of papers lying around, not to mention a hard drive full of unorganized files. Luckily, you can automate just about anything with those files using a few tools. First, if you’re having trouble organizing that paper, go paperless so you can organize it digitally—it won’t take you much time. Ditch hard drive clutter by organizing your Home folder automatically. For everything else, you can use Actions on Windows or Automator on the Mac—they’ll let you automatically rename a bunch of files, crop a large number of images, or even extract text from a bunch of PDF files. Anything you can imagine, you can probably do—heck, I even put together a service that syncs iTunes with nearly any device.

6. Do Away with Shopping and Get Automatic Discounts

Whether you’re grocery shopping or trekking yourself to Home Depot, you can make shopping a lot easier by…well, not doing it. For example, Amazon Subscribe & Save will automatically send you everything you need on a schedule, and at a nice discount—heck, you can even use it to automate office lunches. Don’t like grocery shopping? Get what you can delivered, and plan your way through the store for the few things you can’t. While you’re at it, be sure to automate all your coupons so you don’t have to search for discounts—you’ll just get them automatically.

5. Make Your phone Read Your Mind

Smartphones can be useful, but sometimes it feels like it takes forever to perform the simplest of tasks. With a few tools, you can essentially make your phone read your mind, performing tasks in response to related actions. For example, you could tell your phone to automatically dim your screen at night, or go into silent mode when you put it face down. Android users should check out Tasker, while iPhone users will need to jailbreak and try out some of these tools to make it happen.

4. Integrate Your Favorite Apps and web Services

You probably have a few apps and tools that you absolutely couldn’t live without—like Dropbox, Gmail, a to-do list, or something else. That’s great, but you can make those services even better by automating tasks—and even making them talk to each other—with If This Then That, also known as IFTTT. Make job searches easier, save articles for later, fix Instagram pictures on Twitter, add to-dos with Siri, make app deals last forever, archive your life, get digital doubles of your photos, and much much more. There’s barely a limit to what it can do.

3. download Anything Without Even Searching for It

medium Top 10 Hacks for Automating Your LifeThe days of combing the net for good downloads is over. With a small collection of programs, you can have your computer automatically search for, download, and organize nearly any type of file in existence. You can even tell it the quality of videos you want to download, the file format of the music you want, or what program you want to use to download it. It takes a little work to set up, but you’ll never have to search for a file on the web again.

2. Put Your Chores on autopilot

Doing chores is boring, so why waste time doing them when you can put them on autopilot? You can’t make your broom come alive and clean the room for you (unless you’re Merlin), but you can create a schedule that breaks everything up into almost unnoticeable chunks. Do your cleaning in regular short bursts, speed up your laundry, and even maintain your home without batting an eyelash. It isn’t true automation, but it’ll sure feel like it when you have all that extra time in your day.photo by Maarten Takens.

1. Automate Everything In Your Home

Ever wish you could change the thermostat without getting up, or unlock your door without fumbling with your keys? Home automation can make it happen. We’ve shared tons of tricks over the years, from transforming your digs into a home of the future, controlling everything with Siri, turning stuff off with your phone, or even watering the plants and feeding the cat. Check out all our posts on home automation for even more ideas—the sky’s the limit!{Source lifehacker top 10}

10 Ways to Remove Clutter from Your Life

January 16th, 2013 David No comments

 

Our lives tend to accumulate clutter in every corner: on our desks, in our drawers, on our shelves at home, in our closets, on our computer — you name it, and clutter finds a way to fill every available space.

But having a simple, uncluttered life is possible, with some very simple methods.

Devote a little of your time to tossing clutter from your life, and keeping things relatively clutter-free, and you’ll be rewarded with much more pleasing living spaces, with a less stressful life, and with better organization and productivity. Clutter weighs us down, distracts us, brings chaos into our lives.
Let’s look at some ways to kick it out … for good.

  1. Your desk
    If your desk is covered in paper and other clutter, clear it off to create a pleasing work environment. the steps here are the basic decluttering steps we’ll follow for many of the other steps below: 

    • Clear everything off: Take everything off your desk and put it in a pile on the floor. Clear out the drawers too, if you have time. The only things that should be on your desk now are the computer, phone and other similar equipment.
    • clean: Wipe down your desk, and clean your drawers if you’re decluttering them too. It’s good to start with clean surfaces.
    • Sort: OK, here’s the meat of the process: sort through your stuff, one pile at a time. Toss out or route as much as possible, so that what you’re left with is a relatively small amount of stuff. If you won’t be using it again in the near future, or if you can access it on the computer, toss it out.
    • Designate homes: Now you get to place everything back in your desk. Set up a simple alphabetical filing system, with one folder for each project or client. Have drawers for your office supplies and other stuff. With less stuff to organize, it shouldn’t be too hard. Be sure to have a place designated for everything, and keep things in those places. Sometimes it helps to label, so you don’t forget.
    • Leave flat surfaces clear: Don’t put stuff on top of your desk. Have an inbox for all incoming papers, and then sort them each day and either toss, delegate, do them immediately, or file all documents, so nothing remains on top of your desk. The only thing that should be on your desk is your computer, phone, inbox, perhaps a family photo, and the documents you’re working on right now.
  2. Files
    If you decluttered your files in the above step, you can skip this, although you should declutter not only your work files but your home files as well. Keep a simple alphabetical system, and try to fit everything in one drawer. It’s good to take out all your files, and purge what you don’t need. Many times that can be half of your files or more. Get rid of as much as possible — most times, we keep copies of stuff we’ll never need again. When you’re done purging, you should have a minimum of files, and it shouldn’t be hard to keep organized.
  3. information
    In today’s digital world, there are tons of ways that information comes into our lives — and it can be overwhelming. It’s information clutter — we get too much of it. Instead, set certain times of the day when you check email, your RSS feeds, Facebook, or various forums or other things you read daily. Reduce the number of things you read each day — purge anything that doesn’t give you value, reduce your consumption of news and television, get rid of magazine subscriptions. Keep information to a bare minimum, and only check it at certain times of the day instead of letting it rule your life.
  4. Computer
    Purge your computer files, getting rid of stuff you don’t need. Clear your desktop of icons — they slow your computer down, create visual clutter, and are an inefficient way to access files, programs or folders. Set up hotkeys with AutoHotKey or similar programs. With online search tools (such as that in Gmail) and programs such as Google Desktop, you don’t need to keep your files in a complex array of directories and subdirectories — just archive, and search later. Purge old, unneeded files at least every month or two.
  5. Closets
    Use the same method for your closets as you did with your desk: clear everything out, clean it out, sort (and toss or donate as much as possible), and designate homes for what you decided to keep. Keep only what you love and use often. I recommend keeping your closet floor clear — it makes everything look nicer. If tackling the entire closet is too intimidating, it can be helpful to just tackle one area of your closet a day, until it’s done. It’s also useful to go through your wardrobe, and donate everything you haven’t worn in 6 months — it greatly simplifies your closet.
  6. Rooms
    Are the rooms in your house too cluttered? A few rules about simplifying a room: first, start with anything that’s stacked on the floors; then work to the flat surfaces (tables, shelves, countertops, the tops of dressers, etc.) and clear them completely if possible; then do the larger stuff like furniture and other things that clutter the room; and finally tackle drawers and cabinets and closets. As much as possible, keep floors clear and all flat surfaces. Sort through everything in piles as in the first step above, tossing and donating as much as possible. Organize everything else in drawers and closets and cabinets, out of sight but still neat and uncluttered. Tackle one room at a time, going for a clean, uncluttered, simple, minimalist look in all cases. It can be helpful to continually edit a room once you’re done decluttering — you can always find little ways to make a room simpler.
  7. Drawers
    The way to declutter a drawer is the same as outlined above: empty everything out, clean the drawer, sort through the pile of stuff from the drawer (purging as much as possible) and organizing the few things left. Keep like things together — a drawer for office supplies should only be for office supplies. Avoid having a junk drawer — everything should have a designated place. Go through one drawer at a time — don’t jump from one drawer to another.
  8. Commitments
    Aside from physical clutter, our lives are often way too cluttered by the things we need to do — at work, at home, in our civic or religious lives, with our hobbies, with friends and family, etc. Go through each area of your life, and write down every commitment you have — from things you’ve volunteered or agreed to do on a regular basis, to meetings and sports games and other things you do every month or week. It can be overwhelming. 

    Now examine each one, and decide if it truly gives you joy and value in your life, and whether it’s worth the time you commit to it. It can be useful to just choose a few of the commitments that your really love doing. Get rid of all the rest. Just call people and tell them your schedule is too busy, and you have to decline. Learn to say no! One by one, eliminate the commitments in your life that don’t give you value, and you’ll have more time to do the stuff that’s really important to you — stuff for yourself, or your loved ones.

  9. Routines
    It is extremely useful to examine your daily and weekly routines. Often, we don’t have any set routines, and we tackle our chores, regular tasks, and obligations haphazardly. This leads to chaotic days and weeks, and often a drop in productivity. It’s better to batch like tasks together — do all your errands at once, for example, or all your laundry at once instead of throughout the week. Write down all of your weekly and daily obligations, chores, tasks, etc. and plan out a weekly and daily routine. Post it up where you can see it and try to follow it, at least for a week. It could bring some calmness and simplicity to your life that hadn’t been there before. Be sure to schedule time for decluttering in your weekly routine!
  10. Systems
    Once you’ve purged clutter from your life, it will inevitably start to creep back in. To keep from having a cluttered life again, you need to set up systems that will keep the clutter to a minimum. Examine how you do things, how things come into your life, and see if you can create a simple system for everything: chores, laundry, paperwork, email, RSS feeds, yardwork, errands, work projects, filing. And then write down your systems, step by step, and try to follow them. If your systems are set up right, you will continually purge clutter you don’t need. For example, a system for paperwork might look like this: 

    • All incoming papers go in inbox.
    • At the end of each day, inbox is processed.
    • Rules for processing: toss, route, file, do, or write on to-do list to do later and put it in “action file”.
    • Process to empty, leaving no papers in inbox or on desk. Clear desk of any working paper

Source: DumbLittleMan

The Clipboard+ Accessory Launches On Kickstarter

July 23rd, 2012 David No comments

from App Advice by Bryan M. Wolfe

clipboard+.png The Clipboard+ Accessory Launches On Kickstarter

mobile devices have changed the day-to-day workplace routine for many people. However, that doesn’t mean we’ve completely removed paper from the equation. This is where the clipboard+ accessory comes in, a new Kickstarter project whose creators are now looking for funding.

Created by a team of Penn State students, Clipboard+ came about because of the frustrations associated with using smartphone technology to aid in doing work on paper. The result is an all-in-one solution that works simultaneously with mobile technology and the traditional pen, paper, and clipboard.

Clipboard+ is available in two varieties: iPad and Smartphone.

The first, which works with both the iPad 2 and new iPad, is made of lightweight anodized aluminum and includes a cushioning foam liner.

3dbbb27879291218f9bd031f7127de3b large The Clipboard+ Accessory Launches On KickstarterClipboard+ iPad

Clipboard+ iPad features include:

  • With a simple flip, Clipboard+ iPad allows for an effortless transition between working with paper on the clipboard side to working with your iPad on the backside.
  • Paper and iPad together in one package means that you never have to carry both again.
  • Sleek design encourages easy storage and transportation
  • Holes at the top of the clipboard allow for attachment of a shoulder strap for maximum portability and use of both hands.

The Clipboard+ Smartphone, meanwhile, fits any smartphone or case with a flat, non-porous rear surface. It includes an industrial strength suction cup that maintains a firm grip on the device. Additionally, the phone can be oriented both horizontally and vertically.

017259dbc7a9865dec60e81844ea7953 large The Clipboard+ Accessory Launches On KickstarterClipboard+ Smartphone

According to Clipboard+ founder, Kevin Merlini:

After a lot of hard work, mistakes, and learning experiences along the way we were able to nail down the design and manufacturing processes for Clipboard+.

You can get your hands on a Clipboard+ Smartphone accessory with a pledge of $20. For $40, you’ll receive a Clipboard + iPad. Additional levels of support are also available.

The Clipboard+ team hopes to raise $10,000 by July 18 in order to get the project into production.

Take a look:

Popout

The Clipboard+ looks like a functional, yet inexpensive solution for anyone that needs an iDevice and a clipboard to get their job done.

For more information on Clipboard+ be sure to visit their Kickstarter page or their official site.

AppAdvice – iPhone, iPad, iPod, App Reviews + News

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Bills, Bills, Bills … Bills For iPad, iPhone and Mac Get Major Updates

July 18th, 2012 David No comments

from app Advice by Aldrin Calimlim

Bills for iPad 642x468 Bills, Bills, Bills … Bills For iPad, iPhone and Mac Get Major Updates

Included in our “iPad Apps to Manage your Finances” AppGuide, bills for iPad is an app that makes use of familiar office-based visual cues to provide an elegant financial management solution. It uses a projector screen fitted with a month-view calendar and a flip board to show relevant dates and their corresponding bill transactions, respectively. Tappable drawers serve as filters, while office folders open auxiliary sections. Clearly, the app is invested in visuals. It’s only fitting, then, that it should have Retina display support. Fortunately, an update that was “billed” to the app just hours ago gave Bills for iPad just that, and then some. What’s more, Bills for iPhone, the app’s iPhone counterpart, got updated as well.

Bills for iPad and Bills for iPhone now have Retina support (About time!), but only partly (Eh?). Bills developer iBear says that some icons are not yet up to par, and that it plans to come out with an update containing Retina-quality icons just as soon as its house designer puts the finishing touches to them.

Also a long-overdue feature that has finally made its way to both versions of Bills is support for notification badges. With this new feature enabled, the number of overdue bills are displayed in real time over the app icon of either version. Especially if Bills is part of your iPhone or iPad’s main home screen, you never have to suffer the consequences of an unsettled bill.

Bills For iPhone Notification Badge Bills, Bills, Bills … Bills For iPad, iPhone and Mac Get Major UpdatesSupport for notification badges is just one of the update’s improvements.

The usual performance improvements and big fixes are also included in the update. In addition, there’s a new feedback and support section where you can suggest a new app feature, vote on others’ suggestions, or simply express what’s on your mind as regards the app.

Bills for iPad and Bills for iPhone are available in the App Store for $1.99 and $0.99, respectively. A significantly redesigned Mac version predictably called Bills for Mac is also available in the Mac App Store for $9.99. Bills, bills, bills …

 Bills, Bills, Bills … Bills For iPad, iPhone and Mac Get Major Updates

 

If You Want to Actually Finish the Tasks on Your To-Do List, Include Why You Should Do Them

July 8th, 2012 David No comments

xlarge If You Want to Actually Finish the Tasks on Your To Do List, Include Why You Should Do Them

to-do lists are just a nagging reminder of all the things you need to do, so actually inspiring yourself to do them isn’t always easy. Michael Pantalon, Ph. d, writing for Psychology Today, suggests that you’re more likely to accomplish these tasks by includingwhy you should do them as well.

We know what we have to do, as well as, when and where we have to do it, but, for some reason, we don’t think about why we want to or need to do it. That’s probably because we are under the spell of the “have-to’s” and forget we always have a choice.

Creating a “why do” list, as he calls it, can help you remember why you actually want to do something and avoid thinking that youhave to do it. When creating your lists, just make a sublist under each item filled with all the reasons this is something you really want to do. Don’t include items for the sake of including them, but instead focus on the things that make you excited about this task. It may be hard to inspire yourself to do the boring chore of laundry, but you can always find reasons. For example, you may have an exciting job interview coming up and you want to look your best, so it’s important to take care of cleaning your best clothes in advance. The item wouldn’t be on your list if there wasn’t some kind of motivation, so tap into why a task is important to you in the first place. If you can’t figure out why, it might not deserve to be on the list at all.

For more tips on actually finishing off the tasks on your list, read our guide on making your to-do list do-able.

Influence Yourself With a “Why-Do” List | Psychology Today

Photo by JohnKwan (Shutterstock).

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Magnetic Recipe Rock from Crate and Barrel Keeps Instructions Floating

July 6th, 2012 David No comments

from GadgetReview by Christen Costa

 Magnetic Recipe Rock from Crate and Barrel Keeps Instructions Floating

Okay, so it’s not secret that you can use your iPad or iPhone, or whatever breed of tablet you have in your position, to look up any recipe you can dream of.  Heck there are even websites that tell you what to make based on what’s squirreled away in your fridge.  But if you’re still with the old school, or perhaps like to print out the step-by-step instructions on how to make a pot roast, then you’ll want the Recipe Rock from Crate and Barrel.

This handy little kitchen tool keeps your recipes pulled from magazines, or printed on paper, in an upright and easy to read position thanks to a rare earth magnet.  When you’re ready to switch pages, you simply just yank on the steel ball, swap out the page, and presto you can continue you on with cooking without having to worry about wind gusts blowing your recipe clear across the room.  And because the Recipe Rock is made of a resign and metal, you can just wash it off using soap and water.

Crate and Barrel sells the Recipe Rock for about $9.

 

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Top 10 Essential Tools for Your Wallet, Keychain, or Pocket

July 3rd, 2012 David No comments

You want to be organized and prepared when you’re walking around, but you don’t want to lug around 10 pounds of gear and ruin your back with a mega-wallet. These essential carry-around Tools are discrete, super-handy, and oh so brag-worthy.

photo by joelogon.

We’ve previously covered the gear our editors and readers find handy to carry in their “Go bags” and laptop bags, and some of those tools (like a certain USB key) cross into the pocket-worthy realm. Otherwise, we tried to stick to very small tools and printables that do a really good job for this roundup.

10. Foldable Organizer

medium d09061e2fa7040637d986e463eda66d0 Top 10 Essential Tools for Your Wallet, Keychain, or PocketThe PocketMod webapp is more than a simple printout maker. It’s an expandable, customizable system for creating an 8-page, super-slim booklet with anything you want on any side. You can track your business mileage on one side while keeping your calendar and important contacts on another, or print out an entirely new pocket stuffed with travel maps and local attractions. Cool stuff, and definitely worth the wallet space. (Original post).

9. compact keychain

small c1b2a98ce836fb98dd9699b7cec72004 Top 10 Essential Tools for Your Wallet, Keychain, or PocketIf you’ve only got a few keys, and an eye for something different, you don’t have to go with the typical ring-shaped chain. You really only need washers and a rivet to create a minimalist, quiet keychain. You can take it further by shaping those keys into a mini-Leatherman with a few tools kept in, attaching the rivets onto a money clip, orcrafting your own compact key device. (Original posts:compact keychainmini-Leatherman)

8. Universal club card

medium 83f96418c82fa7b48e4d3398d7b99fa4 Top 10 Essential Tools for Your Wallet, Keychain, or PocketSome stores require them, some stores provide discounts with them, and others offer passive rewards and points for using club/membership cards and bar codes. Combine all of your codes onto a single card with Just One Club Card, or choose between a card and keyring tab at KeyRingThing. Actually, the two sites seem to have gotten together, and now offer combination cards with a nice laminate finish and firm back, so you won’t have to worry about wear, tear, and faint barcodes. We love it when great webapps find each Other. (Original post: Just One Club CardKeyRingThing)

7. Indestructible, keychain-friendly USB drive

 

Maybe you don’t need this exact model, but having a nearly-indestructible USB drive that fits on your keychain is convenient in ways you can’t quite fathom until you’ve added it. You’re almost never without a bit of storage for transferring or grabbing files. If you’re the PortableApps type, you’ve always got a working Firefox/Pidgin/Thunderbird setup handy for being productive on someone else’s system. At the moment, the 4 GB IamaKey sells for $22 directly, so it—or something like it—might make a great recommendation as a last-minute stocking stuffer. (Original post)
 

6. Compact calendar

medium a147ae1d26136e642d3dea045690979f Top 10 Essential Tools for Your Wallet, Keychain, or PocketDesigner David Seah has been making “candy bar calendars” for some time now, and his 2010 compact calendar is just as beautifully efficient as ever. His are monthly calendars you line up and customize in Excel. If you’re looking for more of an all-in-one solution, try The Small Calendar 2010from Grafish Designs, or the Thumb Calendar 2010 Design, both of which offer clever ways of peeking at today, tomorrow, and the future from a wallet-sized slip of paper. (Original posts: The Small Calendar,Thumb Calendar).

5. A baby (or really cute pet) photo

medium c7878bb762ccf1e7ccf84fcf1153f2d5 Top 10 Essential Tools for Your Wallet, Keychain, or PocketWallets get lost, left behind, and lifted more often than you’d like to think. If your wallet is more misplaced than stolen, having a very cute baby photo in your wallet, even if it’s not necessarily yours, seems to seriouslyboost your chances of getting it back. A not-too-close backup is having a cute pet picture. As they say in journalism school, every story (and wallet, maybe) needs a dog—or at least a really interesting humanPhoto by °Eli.(Original post).

4. earbud de-tangler

medium f7f3744ed03c9f057e376ed061a7d88c Top 10 Essential Tools for Your Wallet, Keychain, or PocketEver pull out your tangled, knotted headphones and wonder if they’re secretly holding gymnastics practice when they’re tucked away? Keep your earbuds, cords, and plugs in place with a de-tangling tool. Our inner stylist loves this laser-cut earbud owland its old-time-y wooden look, but you can also cut something similar from plastic. In fact, you can fashion an earbud holder out of a junk or expired credit card. If you’ve got no room for a single-purpose flat piece, at least train yourself in manual de-tangling methods like the devil horn wrap, thearound-the-player wrap, or get fancy with a daisy chain or chain sinnet style. (Original earbud owl post)

3. A darned good pen

medium e5944effbd3badc8634723de9bbd59bf Top 10 Essential Tools for Your Wallet, Keychain, or PocketYeah, you still need to write now and again. Whether it’s a credit card receipt scrawl or a note you really want to be able to read later, having a pen that actually makes you want to write is always worth the price. We asked our script-friendly readers what pens they liked, and they came back with impressive results. In describing his trusted PenAgain, for example, Cowboy Bill wrote: “Helps my horrible handwriting. Busted knuckles from nuns’ rulers.” That’s an endorsement from the heart, or at least the memory of hands.

2. Multi-tool, credit-card or standard

medium a38254b2c3b1a438635418c8bf0a9700 Top 10 Essential Tools for Your Wallet, Keychain, or PocketWe agree with Steve Sussex’s assessment of the Leatherman Micra—it’s just as useful to computer geeks as to outdoor types. If carrying an actual knife on your keychain won’t fly with security at work, or you don’t want to clutter it, consider the 11-function, credit-card-sized survival tool, alsorecommended by Cool Tools. You get a ruler, a knife and screwdriver plane that can work in a pinch, and, perhaps most helpfully, a bottle opener you never forget at home. Even if you forget to pull it from your wallet before a flight, it’s only around $5, and a fairly clever conversation starter. (Original posts: Leatherman Micracredit card tool).

1. A backup system

 

The wallet is where you should keep all your essential IDs and cards, but it’s good to have a fallback plan for when you leave it at home, or in the cab. Inspired by a Real Simple article (now dead-linked) on using clear pockets and cords to separate ID badges, Gina wrote up a diet plan and backup system for your wallet, based on her own use of a Slimmy minimalist wallet and just the bare essentials. If you find yourself holding up the line to dig through a virtual filing cabinet of receipts and cards, consider putting your own money holder through boot camp.
 


What’s the most essential item on your own keychain, in your wallet, or loose in your jacket pocket these days? Share your stuff in the comments.

 

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Welcome to the new Springpad!

June 2nd, 2012 David No comments
scene.1.device Welcome to the new Springpad!

Whatever you save,
we’ll make even better.


Add something to your Springpad, and we’ll instantly enhance it with more information. Save a restaurant and we’ll give you a map and reviews. Save a movie, and we’ll give you the showtimes near you. Save a book, and we’ll link you to where you can buy it. Save a product, we’ll tell you when there’s a price drop. Get the idea?

The world is your Springpad

Save anything to Springpad,
from anywhere.


Fill your Springpads with things you find on the web or on the go. Clip an article, snap a photo, scan a product barcode, record a voice memo, or save a place nearby. Then access it anytime, anywhere you need it.

Get it, together.

Collaborate
with your friends
and family.


Start a notebook for any interest, any project, any “I’ve got to do this!” list. Then invite the right people to help with each one – your foodie friends, your book club buddies, your mom – anyone! Comment on each other’s contributions and build something great together.

scene.3.device Welcome to the new Springpad!

Smart Notebooks to save, share and act on what’s important to you

Create notebooks for recipes, books, movies or anything else that matters to you, together with friends, family and co-workers. Save ideas and info from anywhere, access them whenever, and start getting more from life

pixel Welcome to the new Springpad!
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