You’ve MySpaced, Facebooked, Plurked, and Tumblred. Tweeting your life in 140 characters or less was only the next logical move. But if all this public posturing still rates as undersharing, take heart: You can now microblog with every step you take. Continue Reading →
One dilemma we sometimes face when we’re having one cup of our favourite coffee or tea (in one hand) while browsing the Internet at the same time (with the other hand) is how to also have a bite of this delicious cookie (or brownie, or whatever sweet cake or biscuit) or a smoke of your cigarette – which by the way is much less healthy than this 464kCal cookie. But unless a third arm grows overnight, you won’t be able to perform those three tasks at the same time…
… until today! Thanks to this Clean Cup holder by Dmitry Boyko, you’ll always be able to do some multi-tasking even during your coffee break!
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According to Long Tran of Yanko Design, the “Clean Cup holder slides onto most disposable cups instantly turning them into a proper mug. You can even write on the neck so people know what you’re drinking and who it belongs to.”
A cool design that somehow reminds me of Joe Colombo’s ‘smoke glass’ (1964). Only a strange coincidence, I guess.
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Every designers’ dirty little secret is that they copy other designers’ work. They see work they like, and they imitate it. Rather cheekily, they call this inspiration.
— Aaron Russell
If you’re reading this blog, this might be because you are also sharing our philosophy of living the life of a Digital Nomad. Or not… but you’re at least interested in news about cool gizmos, mobility oriented design, hot news on mobility or travelling tips like the one of today.
Though at first I found this tip a little bit too extreme (maybe because of the fact that I’m a European who is not familiar with this kind of practice and the idea of owning a firearm – and less of carrying it with me in my suitcase!), I then realized after reading this article by Jason Fitzpatrick of Lifehacker, that this was not such a bad idea, all the more so as the word “weapon” extends to airguns, and STARTER PISTOL and that this is fully covered by the regulations of the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA), or better said, legal.
Until you’ve yourself experienced this pain in the neck situation of having your luggage lost by the airline you flew with, which is even worse when it happens to you on your way to your holiday destination (or can turn into a nightmare when you were planning to spend two weeks skiing in Vancouver or Vail…) you can’t understand why this tip is actually very helpful.
Personally I flew three times with Delta Airlines (twice to New York City, once to Mexico City), and I got my luggage lost every single time. Bad luck? I don’t know, but this makes me now believe that I have 100% chances to lose again my suitcase when I’ll fly with this Airline. So if I have a chance to make the risk drop to.. 0% I’ll take it!
Read the full article on how to take advantage of the TSA’s own security rules to prevent your bags from being lost or looted by airline/airport workers
If you want more crazy stories about bad ass airlines and if you can read Spanish (or at least use Google Translate, but as usual this may spoil the quality of the professional-like writing), you should read this story which happened to a friend of mine on his way back to Mexico. It’s really well written and worth the ride.
Since we are aware at 52nd & west that many of our readers are still students or some wise people who decided to resume their studies should that be to start an MBA or finally undertake the course they’ve always dreamed of, we decided to share with you this comprehensive review made By Jason Fitzpatrick of Lifehacker on what are the must have tools and habits to be a “better” student in 2010.
Enjoy the ride. Continue Reading →
Any mobile worker would have to travel and work with its own environment but would also be able to adapt to any environment. Here are the 5 golden rules to keep in mind before going to a travel I learned in 2009. It’s probably a reminder to most of the reader of this blog … but also a good way to go back to the basic.
Being mobile implies to deal with the size and the weight of objects the mobile worker would have to carry. And sometimes, being a mobile worker could be just really painful for your back (or your bag … or your pocket). For example, a cool and ultra new smartphone could be really a fantastic tool, yet not easy to fit in your pocket. Sometime, the latest gizmo isn’t the best solution.
Of course, laptops are probably the biggest concern regarding the size. Since the rise of netbooks, they now are a good answer with very compact size. If laptops and netbooks become really small these days, it’s not always the case for the charger, though … Something to keep in mind before packing your bag 
Being mobile with all the gizmos modern worker have could be just a nightmare if you don’t have an energy source. We previously discussed the issue of the charger – a universal charger could be a good solution, avoiding dealing with plenty of them.
Once again, the latest gizmo could be really cool, but on the road, it’s important to go back to your basic needs. Sometimes, the previous gadget generation has the benefit of being optimized (latest firmware, etc – leading to better battery management). Or they simply consumes less energy (for example, smartphones are just burning battery so rapidly, while normal phones will be with you for the week.
Thin and light charger are definitely something to look for. Another solution that might be to consider at some point : solar charger.
Hopefully, the move of the European commission for universal charger will help at some point.
Useful reading :
We’re getting more and more used to unlimited and permanent internet connection – wifi access, 3G networks are getting always more popular and are weapons of choice for mobile workers. Learn to plan and map your trip with the closest wifi hotspots available (McDonalds, airports, cities, hotels, etc – for France, a Neuf, Fon or FreeWifi access is a big plus). A small wifi detector can also really help. But sometimes, there is just no internet, and you’ll have to deal with that.
Working offline can also be great opportunity to work differently, to focus on what matters and being more productive.
With a decent email client (ie. thunderbird), you can still read your email you’ve previously downloaded, answer to them offline (they’ll be sent next time you’ll connect). Also think to download your important documents (or the one you currently work on).
Offline period are also great moment for reading … tools such as readitlater allow you to mark internet page for later, and download them for an offline visualization.
Useful reading :
Finding a nice, quiet place to work is always the better option. And if the view or the place inspires you, you’re work will be more productive and creative. But sometimes, it’s just not possible to pick the perfect spot. Noise is often the no1 enemy – earplugs will be lifesaver in these situations. If you like working with music, a good headset will also be very helpful (Noise cancelling technology can be a plus).
Useful reading :
Working is all about routine. Working outside the office or on the road could be sometime disturbing or distracting. To be able to focus on what matters, it’s important to recreate a routine that will help you find your focus point. Drinks, lights, working space, specific music will help you to find standpoints and go back to work.
Useful reading
Inspired by Nicolas who thought it could be a good idea to make reminder about the remote access solutions. Technology indeed offers us plenty of options for accessing our work capacities remotely. Drop.box remains definitely a strong asset, but during this year, a few other tools also came to help us.
One of the first one that will probably be pretty huge in the coming month : Mozilla Weave (disclaimer – I do work with Mozilla) will allow any firefox user to synchronize its data (bookmarks, navigation history, tabs opened, password, login, etc) between 2 firefox (for example, “home computer”, “work computer”, “laptop”) with the required level of security. Go and adopt it !
If you need to remotely (and simply) access to your computer, logmein also improved its offer during the year with a mobile edition. Yummy.
Useful reading
![Permanent Link to A Day in The Life Of A Telecommuter [Testimony]](http://www.52ndwest.com/wp-content/themes/classica/images/permalink_icon.png){kind=icon}
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A real life story by Addy Dugdale of Fast Company
“Marmite is a British institution, a mud-colored, yeast-based gloop that you either spread on your toast or use as a cooking ingredient. It’s got a real love-it-or-loathe-it reputation–rather like working from home. My friends who work in offices are divided on the subject. “Poor you,” some of them sigh when they discover that I spend the majority of my working day–that’s 8.30am until around 6pm or so–like Macaulay whatsisname, Home. A. Lone. “You jammy bugger,” say the others, who see my status as a telecommuter through envious, green-tinted glasses, envisaging my days wafting round in a peignoir, eating violet creams and doing as little as possible. The truth is somewhere between the two–although, for the record, I would like to state categorically that I loathe and detest violet creams.
An estimated 40% of the working population in the U.S. spends at least some of their time telecommuting. (A nonsense word that, for some strange reason, makes me think of James T. Kirk but in reality is a complete non-phrase. The daily commute is what happens between kissing your other half goodbye at the front door and swiping your security pass at the office gate. For me, it’s rubbing the sleep from my eyes, turfing the dog out of the back door for his morning ablutions, and switching on the kettle, before I settle down at my desk and go through my e-mails. And the FAIL blog.) While 50 million folks in this country have experience working from home, there are just 2.5 million of us who currently do it on a day-to-day basis–although a 2005 report on MediaBistro claimed that 9 million individuals have, at one time or other, stayed at home, on their own, doing their work. On their own.
Telecommuting is good for the bottom line of businesses. It saves money on staffing, not to mention office space–one firm that makes home office spaces suggests that housing just one employee in an office costs firms $13,000 per annum. And then there’s the benefit to the environment. According to the American Electronics Association, if every U.S. worker who could telecommute did so for 1.6 days a week, then 1.35 billion gallons of gasoline would be saved, preventing the release of 26 billion pounds of CO2 into the air. And as for us home workers, well, I get tax back on anything I buy for my work–including one-third of all utility bills, office equipment and pajamas. Just kidding about the PJs. But you get the idea.
At times, working from home can be a lonely job. And yeah, sometimes it does feel like that. There are moments when I miss the camaraderie of colleagues, the water-cooler moments, the in-jokes, rolling their eyeballs at the office dunces (and hero-worshipping their more capable team members, lest you think my attitude is too negative) and that great, much-maligned feature of physical offices: the after-work piss-up. But, whether we like it or not, working from home is here to stay. Just ask Charles Handy, who reckons that three factors–globalization, demographics, and technology–are going to cause a revolution in working practices.
I’m lucky. I love the freedom that working from home affords me. I started freelancing after two-and-a-half years in offices and almost doubled my salary in the first year. Then I moved abroad and spent almost four years in a foreign bureau before returning to the U.K. and, bar the odd stint as a permanent freelancer on newspapers and magazines, have spent the past seven years in my own office (sometimes the sofa, sometimes my bed, but for the past year, at a desk in my front room. Here it is. Nice, isn’t it?)
I get to choose what I stick up on the wall (which is not painted a fetching shade of cubicle-jockey gray), what I listen to, when I take my lunch break–and, most important, when I work. Sometimes I get up very early, other days I wander downstairs and plug in when it suits me, although I know my rhythm well enough to realize that, after about 7pm, my brain ain’t what it should be. If I can’t get inspired, I break off for an hour and go for a run with the dog. Sometimes I gossip on the phone with my friends. I can get admin or chores done during office hours, go to the bank, break off for a slice of buttered toast and Marmite (yep, I’m in the Love It category) or just while away half an hour on YouTube.
Starting from today, I’m going to be writing a column for Fast Company about the highs and lows of working from home. It will touch on a whole heap of subjects, from the serious stuff like using the best software and systems to keep the admin side of your work from bogging you down, as well as sneaky little cheats to keep your I.T. costs down. And then there’s the really serious stuff, such as:
What to wear when you’re pounding the keyboard chez toiI say power nap, you say siesta, he says skiving offUsing TV zapping to increase your concentrationThe call of the refrigeratorWrestling with the IKEA flat-pack printer trolleyThe distraction of the firewall-free internetKids say the funniest things (when you’re on deadline)Hello, is that me in I.T.?
Thanks to the glory of the comment system on the Internet, a columnist is only as good as her readers. What is sauce for me may not necessarily be sauce for any of you who have their own home offices. So, my fellow telecommuters, come to the party and tell us what you think of the work-from-home gig. It’s just me for the moment, but anyone’s welcome to pull up a La-Z boy and join in the fun–either via the comments, or on Twitter.”
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One great thing about the new Nokia N900, is that it comes with a fully integrated version of Skype, the now famous VoIP software which lets you call abroad for free or at a very low rate.
But what does that concretely mean and what will it bring to the final user?
Well, just like its little brothers, the Nokia N800 and N810, the N900 runs on a Maemo OS and embarks a built in version of Skype which is totally integrated into the phone’s operating system, with no extra downloads required. You can make free Skype-to-Skype calls and instant messaging on 3G or WiFi, and call phones abroad at great, low rates. And that’s where the revolution is!
Before the Nokia N900 was launched, Skype’s VoIP function on mobile phones could not be fully enjoyed, as mobile phone operators in some countries put some limitations to the use of VoIP on their networks as it was competing against their own services. Those guys were not ready to see their customers spend less bucks into their monthly mobile phone contracts!
From a business point of view, this is legitimate. From a consumer point of view, that clearly sucks!
Historical Issue
The Maemo software has now been running for some time on Nokia’s Internet Tablet such as the Nokia N770, N800 and N810 and it has turned to be a viable solution for new generation mobile phones (i.e.: using a “Home” screen as the central point from which all applications and settings are accessed). But the BIG feature those three tablet were missing vs the N900 was the ability to communicate using mobile networking protocols like 3G. Only WiFi and Bluetooth were available then. They were Internet Tablets, not mobile phones.
As for mobile phones running on a Symbian OS, they had 3G, WiFi and Bluetooth, but no integrated version of Skype. SkypeLite, the version of Skype for mobile phones, was only running in a limited number of countries. The only alternative available to VoIP lovers who were not living in Australia, Brazil, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, New Zealand, Poland, Sweden, the United States and the UK, was to download a third-party software like Nimbuzz or Gizmo to enjoy from free phone calls.
The Solution
Today, the N900 blends the very best of Nokia’s mobile phone technology, Maemo and Skype software to deliver a fine mobile device that will probably help you cut on your monthly phone bill (say good bye to your monthly mobile phone bill!) thanks to its integrated VoIP feature running on 3G and WiFi.
You’ll just need an unlimited monthly data contract (I pay 4€ monthly for a 1Go data contract), or a wiFi connection, and your Nokia N900 to call the world from anywhere for free or almost, and save on your mobile phone bill!
Mark Douglas, Skype product manager for the N900, reveals more in the video below
In a post I wrote two month ago on 52ndwest.com, I spread the news of the launch of the mobile version of Spotify, THE music streaming application which gives access to 6 million+ tracks, for iPhone and Google Android’s.
Today, Spotify mobile is finally made available for Symbian devices (Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung smartphones). Just as with the iPhone and Google Androïd’s platforms, Spotify mobile allows you to stream any of its nearly 4 million tracks over WiFi or 3G and syncs playlists for playback while disconnected. Bare though in mind that Spotify Mobile is exclusively available to Spotify Premium members in the UK, Sweden, Spain, France and Norway (a US launch is expected soon).
And if you can’t wait to enjoy from music streaming on your mobile, you can always use and enjoy (I do) Mobbler, Last.fm‘s radio player and scrobbler for Symbian smartphones. Mobbler allows you to listen to your Last.fm radio stations and to scrobble tracks played using the standard music player. Magic.
You can download the application directly on your mobile from m.spotify.com
Enjoy the music!
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Does my phone use Symbian? You can view the entire list of supported Symbian phones to find out.
Want to know why “Mobbler Is Officially The 2nd Greatest S60 Application”? Read this
More info on Spotify for Symbian OS
New-York City, John F. Kennedy International Airport, February 10th 2017. 9.00pm - “Attention to all passengers of the KLM flight KL0644: Due to the current bad weather conditions over the Atlantic your flight to Amsterdam Schiphol has been delayed to further notice. We expect the next flight to take-off tomorrow morning at 8.00am. KLM thanks you for your understanding and wishes you a pleasant night in John F. Kennedy International Airport.”
Such an announcement in 2009 would trigger a wave of panic and distress among travellers waiting for their flight, and a comment like “KLM [...] wishes you a pleasant night in John F. Kennedy International Airport” would be more than inappropriate considering the context.
Thanks God we’re in 2017 and Airports waiting lounge don’t look like what they looked in 2009.
For the past 10 years, engineers have been working on projects of small individual resting rooms which could provide travellers, moments of quiet sleep and rest from the city without wasting their time searching for a hotel. Such projects, like SLEEPBOX to name the most significant, have started to emerge a few years ago in places like Airports, Railroad stations, Expocentres, Accommodation facilities and even in Public and shopping centers.
Thanks to those revolutionary infrastructures, any person now has an opportunity to spend the night safely and cheaply in case of emergency, or when they have to spend a few hours waiting for their flight or train with their luggage. Most of those resting rooms provide their users with a basic service: a soft 2×0.6 m bed equipped with automatic change of bed linen system, a ventilation system, a built-in LCD TV screen, WiFi access, electric plugs with built in adaptors and a system that darkens all the windows of this pod to give its user a minimum intimacy. And it is possible to use the service from 15 minutes to several hours.
Just like those public restrooms we could find in many developed countries at the end of the last decade, those resting pods are fully automated. After the clients exit his room, automatic change of bed linen starts and quartz lamps turns green to report that the pod is clean and free for use. Payment can be made on a shared terminal, which provides the client with a disposable electronic key or access key sent to his smartphone.
Sleeping the night over in one of those rooms has turned, for most passengers, to be more convenient and cheaper than a regular hotel room. Since the majority of pods are located near boarding gates, passenger can wait until the very last moment to comfortably board their flight. An unforgettable night before an unforgettable flight on board one of KLM’s brand new WB-1010 “Spruce Whale”.
I can tell now that I don’t fear any more to book this 8am morning flight since I can spend the night on site.
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SLEEPBOX
Area: 3.75 m2
architects: Goryainov A., Krymov M.
Design: 2009 – Arch Group
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Too bad we’re only in 2009? Maybe, but at least you can tell one day your kids or grandchildren that once in your live you ended-up sleeping on a bench like a homeless.
Still need some info to spend a pleasant night in your favorite airport? Check The Guide to Sleeping in Airports, The worst, and best, airports to sleep in
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And the teacher asked the children what they wanted to be when they’re grown-up. At age five or six, such an easy question merely insult their intelligence. Without careful consideration or hesitation all of them squeaked back something along the lines of, “I’m going to be a doctor”, “an astronaut!”, “I want to be the president!”, “I would like to be a teacher”, “I’m gonna be a queen with a purple crown and a castle made of glitter and my cat, Miss Kitty, can be a princess“. This last input caused less disturbance than my own answer.
- “I want to be a digital nomad”
The teacher stared at me disturbed and upset. She probably wondered what was wrong with this kid and if my parents where some kind of hippies, nerds or communists.
This morning I read one of the most interesting posts about being a mobile worker I’ve read in a long time. It was only 215 words long but the beautiful images it featured said it all about what you get when you manage to get free from this static place called “office”. And those images reminded me once again why I chose to live that life of Digital Nomad. And because we’re human, words are often not enough; we sometimes need impacting images to trigger a spark in those 4% of that little thing called “brain” to make us realize what we’re missing.
Of course, when you work anywhere but from an office there are a lot of advantages: you can organize your time as you want it, work when you’re the most efficient (early in the morning or late at night), take care of your kids when they need to be taken care of, avoid rushours (on the road, at the supermarket or at the sportcenter), save money on telecommutes (and give a break to the environment…) and preserve your mental health by working in a less stressful environment you can adapt to your personal and physiological needs. That’s not all, but that’s not bad either.
Obviously, nothing is perfect in this life, and there are drawbacks. But the fact that I can work wherever I want to work from is far superior to any cumulated advantages (call it better pay check, quicker promotion, hot technological tools, funny co-workers or yearly company offsite) I’ll get by working in an office.
There is a WORLD and a life outside. A big, beautiful, colorful and accessible world. This is what I (re) discovered when I watched those pictures in “50 Photos to Inspire Life as a Digital Nomad”.
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And when you spend 8 to 10 hours a day working in an office, what will you really see of that world and taste of that life? Okay, you might tell yourself that you’ll keep that for when you will be doing some tourism during your next summer holidays and that it’s well enough (do you actually believe that?). Maybe that will please “the commons”, but will you ever feel the real essence of those things around you and live them for real*? You also might end up pissed at me and think that after all you’re happier than I am. Maybe, I don’t know.
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When you’re free to choose what you want to see from your “office” window, travel the world while earning a living, standing for real in the middle of those postcard-like landscapes, knowing that as soon as you get bored from a place and “lose the inspiration” you can get a train, a plane, a car (or, please, any green transportation!) to another place, enjoy from that summer holiday house you’ve been renovating for some years, then and only then you’ll have the deep feeling at the end of the day that you fully live your life.
Remember that there are thousands of jobs opportunities available for mobile workers and freelancers and that there is at least one waiting for you. It is never too late to change your way of working.
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While writing this post I realized once again how lucky I was to live this life, and that there is an infinity of possibilities to live and work anywhere in this world when you’re “office-free”. “Anywhere”? I should say “everywhere” as the concept itself of mobile worker implies that
So I thank you again Corbett Barr for reminding me why I chose to live this marvellous life of a digital nomad. If you liked the pics Corbett put together, you might also like those Kerolic, another digital nomad (not totally emancipated from the traditional-office-cubicle system – but this is just a question of time…) took along his various journeys around the world.
Other websites of interest to turn dreams into reality:
Freelance job offers on Elance and Guru
64 Ways Location Independent People Earn a Living by Corbett Barr
List of companies hiring telecommuter
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*I’m not too fond of that thing I’d call “fast-food-like-travelling”. Flying 13 hours to spend a week (or two) in a place I’ve never been before, and actually believe that I’ll have the guts to say “I know that place” because I’ve been there, tried a couple of local gastronomic specialities and took some pictures to prove my facebook friends (or to boast?) that I was actually there, is not for me. Sometimes you’ll learn more about a place by reading a good book than actually getting there; this week-end I made an impressive travel like never before: I discovered Calcutta after reading Dominique Lapierre’s s The City of Joy. Unforgettable.