Currently viewing the tag: "smartphones"
Last week I went to a writing retreat with several writing types in a converted barn somewhere in Connecticut. It was glorious. Five days where our only job was to write and our only sin to procrastinate.
There are many ways to procrastinate in situations such as this, and a big one is undoubtedly by faffing around on the Internet. To combat this great evil, my friend Alaya Dawn Johnson employs a Firefox extension called LeechBlock, which allows one to set specific times when the browser simply will not allow you to access any web pages if that’s what you want. It’s very customizable — you can set it to block or allow only certain websites, or block the whole the ‘net, block during specific times on specific days, limit you to, say, 10 minutes out of every hour, or limit you to a certain amount of time on certain websites. So, if you need the wider web for research but need to stay off Facebook and Twitter, you can make it so. There are even more robust block options that keep the more tech-savvy amongst us from going around the block by disabling the add-on or something similar.
I know some of you reading this are thinking: “Why go through all that? Why not just have discipline and not look at the web?” It’s easy to say such things, not so easy to put it into practice. Besides, not all of us have wills of iron. There’s nothing wrong with employing some technological help in these cases.
I’ll admit that I’m completely guilty of messing around on the Internet when I’m supposed to focus on writing. I used to dismiss cafes for satellite writing/freelancing if they didn’t have free wireless. Now I’m trying to build a list of places without wireless just so I won’t get tempted. But even in places without Wi-Fi I’m in trouble because now I have a smart phone. And not only does my phone access the web, it’s also a mobile hotspot.
Leaving my phone at home when I go out writing isn’t an option, so I went looking for something like LeechBlock but for Android phones. I found a few, but the only one that didn’t have a lot of issues was StudioKUMA AirPlane Scheduler, which turns Airplane Mode (no cell, Bluetooth, or Wi-Fi radio) off at a specified time, then off again automatically. The major drawback is that it’s not designed to keep you away from the web, just to save battery, so there are no restrictions from turning Airplane Mode off or anything. However, sometimes having willpower just requires a little bit of restriction to remind you that you’re supposed to be working, not obsessively checking your notifications.
What tools do you use to keep yourself from procrastinating and foster more laser-like focus?
Since the likes of Motorola, LG, and even Palm seem to have a hard time conceiving of tiny keyboard keys that don’t suck, I’m going to offer you a bit of advice. Go out, right now, and buy a Peek. Yes, a Peek. That device that lets you send emails and text messages and tweets but doesn’t make calls. Many people laughed at such a device (which goes back to my Friday rant…) but even if you think its limited purpose is dumb, you can’t argue that it has a great keyboard.
Rubber (or rubber-like) keys, good size, excellent response. When you type on the Peek’s keyboard you get a little bit of pushback, but not stiffness. And it makes a satisfying click noise as well as tactile feedback. It works whether you use the pad of your thumbs or the tip of your fingernails. It’s one of the best keyboards I’ve ever encountered on a handheld device.
Major cell phone manufacturers, why can’t you do this? Seriously. I am asking. You do so well in other areas. the Droid is a beautiful little phone, but the keyboard makes me cry. The LG Expo is better, but the layout causes me cramps. And the Droid 2? If these pictures are of the final keyboard, I don’t even want to see this phone. Hard plastic, pillowed keys are not good for those of us with fingernails, which is half the population (if not a bit more).
Go, now, and talk to the Peek people. Learn at their feet. Take however long you need. I’ll be here with the HTC Evo 4G suffering the Android auto-correct.
A few nights ago I was watching The Closer — one of my very favorite shows — and during a crucial scene in which the Major Crimes squad is closing in on tracking down two suspects, one officer after another comes into the Chief’s office to deliver a new piece of information. One member of the squad, Lt. Tao, is the tech geek of the group. His bit of information was that he’d located the address of the suspects and had a picture of the location on his phone.
On your PHONE? Someone asked with far, far too much emphasis.
Yes, on his phone. Tao proceeds to flip the screen up and, oh, look at that, a T-Mobile G1. If I wasn’t aware that this phone was called a G1, a shot of the back of it revealed G1 in huge white letters on the back of the screen. (I don’t think that exists in actual, real-life models of said phone. I could be wrong.)
There is some more waving the phone around. Chief Johnson wants to see this picture of the address (provided by Google Maps/Google Street View) for herself. She grabs at the phone, but Tao says, “Let me e-mail it to you.”
I think at this point someone actually exclaimed, again far too emphatically: E-MAIL!?
Yes, show, we get it. The G1 is a marvel. You can see maps on it and it can send e-mail. Woo.
I don’t usually mind product placement. I don’t know if most people even register the model of the laptops and other computer equipment TV people use. I do, usually because I find it funny or I’m scoffing. But man, this was a bit beyond.
So anyway, just so you know, the fake LAPD Major Crimes Squad prefers the T-Mobile G1 for finding pictures of suspects’ houses. And E-MAIL!?
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