Technology that has changed my life

I'm obsessed with the idea of technology having a disruptive impact on people's lives (in a good way). One example is Flipboard, which is an amazing app I have on my iPhone (I hear it's more amazing on an iPad). Flipboard takes news sources (blogs, news sites, facebook, instagram, twitter) and presents it in an application that is not only beautiful but easy to use. The interface reminds me of magazine articles which I flip through with the flick of a finger. I use twitter on Flipboard, since many of the tweets I follow are just headlines + the short URL. The gibberish shortened URL doesn't compel me to click on the site and read it. However with Flipboard, the tweet is shown with a preview of the site which includes a picture if there is one on the site. I'm a very visual person so this definitely helps me in comprehending thousands of tweets I go through per hour. I feel like my brain is literally downloading loads of information by the second as I'm flipping through the tweets.

The next application I'm obsessed with is Read It Later. It takes articles / sites / tweets / flipboard articles that I don't want to read immediately, and bookmarks them for later. I know there are a few bookmark applications available, but I'm convinced Read It Later is the best one. It is simple and easy to use. Also, the bookmarked articles can be organized by tags. Instapaper uses categories. I hate having to bucket articles into categories. Not everything falls exactly under one category. With tags, you can have as many tags as possible and will show up for which ever tag you search for. The best part of Read It Later is the firefox add-in. I can bookmark articles / sites I come across on firefox with a click of a button. The add-in enables a drop down menu on my firefox toolbar with all the articles I saved.

Something else that has changed my life for the better is my iPhone case / wallet BookBook, which I've mentioned previously.



I get compliments on my BookBook case almost every day. I would take a picture of how I use it, but I can't since my camera is on my phone. I have my drivers license, 1 credit card, 1 debit card, cash, 2 IDs for work and my iPhone in one place. When I go anywhere, that's the only thing I need to carry. Plus it looks super awesome because it looks like a book (which makes sense when I do my flipboard reading on it). And it's hipster friendly i.e. guys with beards, skinny jeans, and fake glasses spark up a conversation with me.

I only have one problem with it, which I solved with my handy MacGyver self. The case covers up the camera so people need to take out the phone (albeit very seamlessly and simple) to take a picture. I take way too many pictures on the fly to do this each time. SO -- I took a hole puncher and punched out a hole in the leather so there is a hole for the camera. Now, when I need to take my pictures, all I do is double click the home button and click away.