andrew meyers

So glad he included Today We Are Rich by Tim Sanders. Best book I’ve read all year.

I’ve known about the Doxie scanner from Apparent for some time, but I couldn’t think of a real reason for buying it until I read this post from Michael Hyatt. I’m a big Evernote fan, and the idea of taking our file folders filled with paper and sending all of that information to the cloud got me really excited.

In his post, Michael recommends the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300, a fully-functional scanner that can scan both sides of the page at once and a total of 8 pages in a minute. However, it’s slightly out of our price range at $254.99 (current price on Amazon). At $149 (I picked up ours for slightly less on eBay), the Doxie is an affordable option among personal scanners, and it makes it really easy for anyone to get their documents and photos into Evernote and other cloud services. Here are the reasons why I like it so much:

• Doxie is small and simple. The unit weighs under 11 ounces, and measures less than a foot long. Since Doxie is powered by USB, it’s completely portable, and it even comes with a nice carrying sleeve. Also included were a quick start guide, USB cable (thanks for not going cheap and skipping this, Apparent), and calibration sheets.

• The free Doxie software is well-designed and easy-to-use. Apparent has written Doxie apps for both Mac and Windows, and although I can’t speak to the quality of the Windows app, I appreciate that the Mac version feels very Mac-ish. They didn’t go for the lowest common denominator with an Adobe AIR app or a cheap port; it’s Mac through and through.

So, scanning a document with Doxie happens in just a few short steps:

1. Run the calibration sheet through Doxie (first-time use only).
2. Line up your document with the guides on the edge of the unit.
3. Doxie pre-feeds your document to keep it straight while going through.
4. Press the one and only button on the scanner to start the scan.
5. Doxie processes the image and allows you the opportunity to scan additional pages.
6. Select the service where you’d like your scan to be sent. Native apps supported by Doxie include Evernote, Dropbox, iPhoto, Preview, and the Adobe Creative Suite. Or, you can scan right to the cloud: Google Docs, Flickr, Tumblr, or the free Doxie Cloud service.

Here’s a look at how fast Doxie scans a sheet of paper:

In short, I’m really happy with our purchase of the Doxie scanner. It does exactly what I wanted it to do — quick and easy scans of all of our documents into Evernote. I have just one complaint: what’s with the pink hearts and bubbly typography?

We Be Big [affiliate link] is the story of how Rick Burgess & Bill “Bubba” Bussey came together to create The Rick & Bubba Show, a talk radio morning show that grew first in popularity in the south, and which is now syndicated as far north as Manistique, Michigan. Through great stories from their childhood until now, the authors show how their unlikely combination became such a fresh option among morning radio programs. Both Rick & Bubba came from somewhat humble beginnings, and this book shows no pretense, either. It’s straight from the heart, easy to read and take in, and thoughtful at the same time.

What I found most refreshing about the book is that, although Rick & Bubba have grown to significant popularity at this point, they’ve remained true to their values as Christians. They operate in an industry where it would have been easy for them to sell out to fit in with the status quo, but instead they’ve chosen to share honestly with their listening audience about their views on religion, politics, and the like.

Having heard a taste of The Rick & Bubba Show back when I had XM Radio, I confess that I expected the book to be just light and funny from start to finish, with nothing else of substance along the way. However, the story is, in fact, serious at times; including a narrative that may shed the truest light on both Rick and Bill’s character.

I really enjoyed this book. It’s inspiring to read about the success of others, and I think Rick and Bubba have a great message to share!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Advice from Tim Sanders: Give yourself a mood crutch or just fake-it-till-you-make-it.

We all have those days when we just wake up on the wrong side of the bed, or we’re just not in the right mindset for what we’ve got going. Tim offers five strategies for dealing with it.

I’m going to memorize this list.

37signals:

We’ve been listening. Over the past few months we’ve been hard at work building out this top customer request. Today we’re proud to release the brand new Basecamp calendar. The “Milestones” has been replaced with the “Calendar” tab in your projects and on the Dashboard.

Jon Acuff:

Why was I tweeting that? Why was I writing that and sharing that thought with people? What was my real motive behind that simple sentence?

An excellent reminder that it’s not just what we’re sharing that matters.

Marco Arment’s thoughtful and optimistic take on Instapaper‘s future, written in light of Apple’s recent announcement of ‘Reading List’ functionality, to be included in Safari for Lion and iOS 5:

When iOS 5 and Lion ship, Apple will show a much larger percentage of iOS-device owners that saving web pages to read later is a useful workflow and can dramatically improve the way they read.

If Reading List gets widely adopted and millions of people start saving pages for later reading, a portion of those people will be interested in upgrading to a dedicated, deluxe app and service to serve their needs better. And they’ll quickly find Instapaper in the App Store.

I’ll probably try out Reading List, but it would have to be amazing to replace Instapaper in my workflow. It’s just too useful, and I’m accustomed to using it everywhere (iPhone, iPad, Mac).

Keep up the great work, Marco.

I completed my second half-marathon just over a week ago, and I improved my personal record by almost 12 minutes! My 2010 time was 2:09:12 (9:52/mile), and this year’s time was 1:58:46 (9:04/mile). The speed increase I achieved is my greatest accomplishment for the run. So, how did I do it?

1. New technology. This year I trained with a Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS-enabled watch [affiliate link], and it made all difference for my training runs. I was able to know both my exact pace and average pace per mile while I was running. This enabled me to make adjustments and push myself, which led to better workouts overall.
2. The right fuel. Last year I trained with jelly beans as a quick source of energy for long runs. They were somewhat effective, but didn’t benefit me like the Chocolate Outrage Gu Energy Gel [affiliate link] I trained with this year. It tastes kind of like chocolate frosting, and it’s easy to eat while running. I used it every 3-4 miles during this year’s race.
   
3. I didn’t walk. This had been a major temptation for me during my training runs, but I committed to not walking any step during the half-marathon race itself. I was forced to walk for two steps at the end of the race when I got caught behind some other runners at an aid station, but other than that, I held to my commitment. When you stop and walk, it’s that much harder to get going again.

More than anything, I just felt grateful for the ability to run this race. Running has become a real outlet and release for me, and it’s a blessing that I am able to make one foot go in front of the other for such a long distance. On to the next race!

What an amazing road trip this would be, although Denver to Milwaukee in 18 hours might be a bit of a stretch.

(via Adam Epstein)

This is such a great idea, and it’s beautiful. If I committed to carrying it around with me, that would probably put our point-and-shoot on the shelf for good.

(via Daring Fireball)