40Tech

Here’s one for you UK folks. The folks at Gearzap recently provided with me the Encase Ultrasuede MacBook Pro 15 with Retina Sleeve (not to be confused with cases by Incase) for review. Ever since I switched from an 11 inch MacBook Air to a 13 inch model (and subsequently to a 15 inch MacBook Pro Retina Display), I’ve been going without a sleeve. I typically toss my MacBook into a slot in my backpack, so a sleeve isn’t an item that I would use often. A good sleeve would be handy, though, for those times when I just want to carry my MacBook somewhere, or when I want to toss my MacBook into a suitcase, and leave my backpack behind. Read on to see whether this sleeve meets those needs.

The Livescribe Echo is gadget that I’ve had my eye for some time now. I’ve watched it more as a device that intrigued me, rather than something that screamed out that I needed it. A few weeks ago, though, I was contacted by a representive from Staples, the office supply store. Staples wanted to get the word out that it sells gadgets, and was offering to provide me with a product that it sells, for me to review and keep. After considering a few items, such as a scanner, printer, DSLR lens, or even a Synology NAS, I settled on the Livescribe Echo. I picked it because it was an item I might not have otherwise purchased for myself. Was it a good choice? Read on for my impressions.

I love being from Canada — but due to licensing issues and the imaginary line I live on the wrong side of, I’m blocked from or limited in using streaming media services that my global neighbours rave about. Fortunately for those of us so geographically challenged (or those of you travelling outside the US or UK and missing your favourite music and video streams), there are services out there that try to solve this problem.

The best one I’ve come across so far, in terms of ease of use and quality of delivery, is UnoDNS.

Every once in a while, we get the opportunity to offer you guys something for free. We don’t always do it, mind you — we get a lot of solicitations, and only care to post about the products we think will be most useful to you. Well, a few weeks ago I was contacted by a representative of Digital Innovations. They make products for cleaning LCD screens, repairing discs, that sort of thing. I’ve seen their products before, or others like them, but honestly never considered buying them. I tend to roll on the cheap, as you know, and didn’t want to spend money on things that I wasn’t sure would even work.

The email came at a good time, though. I happened to be in the middle of transferring my CD and movie collection to digital, and there were a few discs that I couldn’t even put into my machine without the read-difficulty locking everything up. So when he offered to send me a few of their products to test in return for a fair review, and maybe a giveaway for our readers, I said “Sure. But you realize I’m in Canada, right?” A few weeks of shipping and customs errors later, the box arrived.

Here’s what I found:

Reading about how our readers approach their tech/workflow combinations has been both enlightening and a pleasure. You guys are smart — and we appreciate you taking the time to articulate your personal systems with us. Nina Kefer has already shown us two GTD setups in applications she has experimented with. Her Beauty and Brains: Getting Things Done™ In Style series has put an emphasis on mobility (from the iPhone), a beautiful user interface, and above all, functionality. She wraps up her series today with her own take on and review of GTD in Springpad (Bobby put together aslightly different approach here), and a final conclusion as to which GTD setup ultimately works the best for her – and might for you, too…

If you’re an aspiring children’s author, a teacher, or just looking for something fun to do with a kid in your life, Storyjumper is something you’ll want to take a look at. I came across the web app randomly and was amazed by how easy it was to jump in and start creating. In fact, me and my two year old made a book just tonight — and she wrote it.

Whether you travel once a week or once a decade, you need to have a Tripit account.  There aren’t many programs that we feel that strongly about — we’re willing to concede that some people may prefer alternatives to Gmail and maybe even Evernote — but Tripit is one of the few applications that has no true competitor.  Let’s take a more in-depth look at what it offers, why you need it, and talk about how you can win a free upgrade for a year of Tripit Pro.

I admit it: I’m a productivity junkie. I am ever on the search for that elusive application that brings me just one step closer to organizational nirvana. Currently, I’m loving Producteev — but you’re never to tied down too look… right? As debatable as that may be to some, when a business acquaintance introduced me to Glasscubes, I was wowed enough to dig in and give it a try. Glasscubes is pretty, smart and extremely well rounded! If you are looking for a really slick and functional service that allows you to collaborate on documents, share files, manage tasks, projects, and calendars — and even use as a CRM and teleconferencing tool — then you’ll want to check out Glasscubes.

Some have you may have noticed our minor obsession with productivity applications here at 40Tech — particularly with task management apps. In the past, we have written on GTD in Evernote, Action Method Online, reQall, Dial2Do, ToodleDo vs Remember the Milk, and more. We also briefly made mention of Producteev, then a promising but still incomplete service focused on cross-platform task management and communication. Now Producteev is back and swinging out hard with Producteev 2, promising one of the best personal and business task management apps to hit the web. Producteev’s goal is to enable you to work with their task management system without requiring you to make major adjustments to your current workflow. Producteev 2 is powerful,highly flexible, and free for individuals…

If you’re a regular visitor to 40Tech, you’ve probably noticed the new look. The look is largely due to a new theme by WooThemes. A few months ago, the 40Tech team decided that a new look was needed in order to grow the site and to implement some upcoming new features that we had in mind (stay tuned for those). After searching around for a new WordPress theme from numerous sources, all signs kept pointing back to WooThemes. While the beauty of WooThemes’ designs was what sealed the deal, it was the support I ran into after the sale that impressed me the most.