51 of My Favorite Things for Week 1 & 2, 2014 – Douglas E. Welch

As always, let me know what types of interesting items you would like to see and I will keep an eye out for them especially. — Douglas

Get new shared links as I find them via my social media feeds:

     

1. Technology / 13 Essential Productivity Apps Entrepreneurs Can’t Live Without
1. I have most of these apps on my various mobile and Macintosh devices. Found a few new ones to try, though
2. New Media / Choosing Hardware and Software for Podcast Recording
1. A good list of suggestions for the beginning podcaster. I agree with most all the equipment mentioned, although I am still an inveterate Garageband user for all of my audio podcast work.
3. Technology / Shoots & Leaves Instantly Turns iPhone Photos Into Links
1. Yet another photography app for the iPhone. Each one tries to find its niche and this one want to be a notepad replacement, in some ways. I still use the basic iPhone camera app as I haven’t found one that offers me additional value.
4. Food / How To Build Your Own Carbonation Rig That Adds Bubbles to Anything
1. I love me my bubbly. This is quite a complex project, but gives some understanding of how carbonation works that you might be able to apply to simply projects.
5. Technology / 45 Stunning Calendar Icon Sets For Free Download
1. For folks like me who design and maintain their own web sites, having a nice set of icons on hands, let alone 45 of them, can be very helpful. Free makes them even better and easier to try out.
6. New Medai / Shure’s New Cheap Earbuds Will Sound Way Better Than Your Crap EarPods
1. I spend a lot of time with headphones or earbuds on, so it is good to see some nice alternatives from one of the pioneers of the audio world. 
7. New Media / 25 Ways to Improve Online Content
1. Always looking for ways to improve my own online content, so I was almost sure to read this article. Found a few new things to try out, but also loved that podcasting was included. I wish more people would create podcasts. I think it can provide a lot of value. regardless of the type of work you do.
8. Technology / Getting Started With Google Chromecast: The Unofficial Manual
1. My gifted Chromecast has become my go-to media player of choice, so it only makes sense to read up on how to get the most from it.
9. Food / The Year’s Best Cookbooks
1. This post sent me scurrying to my local library’s web site to start placing some holds. I am greatly looking forward to what I will find when the cookbook arrive. Some might even be available as ebooks, too.
10. Technology / SaveDeo Downloads Videos from Instagram, Flickr and Other Video Sites
1. There are times when you just need to save that online content locally, especially since content disappears from the Internet every day. My college professor wife has been saved by a quick download on a number of occasions, as she has recommended content to her students, that has subsequently disappeared.
11. Garden / Book review: Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life
1. Gardening AND Beatrix Potter, need I say more! Find out more about the woman who created Peter Rabbit and a host of other wonderful tails. The tie in with gardening is an added benefit for me, too.
12. Technology / Five Best Programming Languages for First-Time Learners
1. Want to dive in and learn a little about programming? Here are 5 great suggestions for places to start.
13. Books / High-rez scan of Poe’s “Raven,” illustrated by Dore
1. Amazing etchings. Since this work is out of copyright, I am thinking of doing a video reading of The Raven, illustrated with these etchings. Hmmm, maybe something for next Halloween?
14. Technology / Stream videos to your iPhone, iPad from a PC/Mac with Plex and VLC for free
1. Although I love the Chromecast, as I mentioned above, I have the need to stream other media files to my TV, too. I use XMBC right now, but I am always looking for alternatives with new/better features. 
15. Technology / Liquid Image brings LTE to the action cam game with its new Ego LS
1. Like a GoPro but with cellular data service? This brings a whole new meaning to LIVE for your outdoor adventures.
16. Technology / Wheresmytime Shows Where You Spend Most of Your Time
1. I love life-tracking and life blogging and this app keeps track of where your spend your time throughout your days and weeks. Interesting stats to look through, I think.
17. Food / Take back the soup: wild rice, chickpea + kale soup
1. As I continue to work on losing weight and eating more healthy, I have expanded my tastes a little from my usually fussy habits. We love soup here and this one sounds like an interesting combination. In fact, this week I added chickpeas directly to our typical chicken soup and it was great. 
18. Career / Career Spotlight: 5 Career Paths for Sociology Majors
1. It is hard to imagine what job a sociology major might look for after graduation, but this post provides 5 to get you started including social worker, human service specialist and even  market researcher.
19. Career / 5 Characteristics Of Successful Managers
1. Managing is hard, but I think these 5 characteristics can help anyone do their best. I wish more of my manager had taken heed of #1: Be technically literate. You don’t have to know how to code, but at least have a basic understanding of the technology that helps your company do what they do.
20. Food / Baked Turkey Meatballs
1. Never hurts to look for alternatives to my own, typical recipes. Never know what special tricks, treats or spices you might find that can give your recipes a little kick.
21. Food / Sweet Potato Mac & Cheese
1. As someone who shouldn’t be eating Mac & Cheese at all, but loves it, this might be a way to get a similar taste and flavor to scratch the culinary itch without exploding my waist line.
22. Food / Kale salad with currants, pine nuts, and parmesan
1. I have been eating a lot more salads lately, too, so anything that helps to mix up the flavors a bit is greatly appreciated. 
23. Photography / 5 Ways to Create Detail Photos
1. My new life focus has gotten me more deeply interested in photography, so articles like this catch my eye. I learned years ago that “getting” close is often the secret to great photos and I often shoot a lot of detail shots no matter what the subject.
24. History / How London Was Redesigned To Survive Wartime Blackouts
1. The entire family are history buffs and my wife has a History Doctorate. Further, we are all Anglophiles, so it was great spending a few moments with this post and learning one way which London was able to survive World War II.
25. Technology / Hackaday: The Gathering
1. Hackaday Meetup info for Los Angeles for the Makers in the city. Event might be past, but use the link to connect to more information.
26. Productivity / Use a Stapler Instead of a Pen to Keep a Journal When You’re Too Busy
1. I often put tickets, labels and other pieces of paper in my journals. I don’t think I could go whole hog with this stapler idea, as it make the journal itself too large, but it is an interesting concept that might work for some journal creators.
27. Photography / Top 10 Ways to Sabotage your Professional Photography Aspirations
1. Sometimes the best to bring home you meaning is to reverse it and play it out to absurdity. Of course, we might be a little embarrassed to find ourselves in this article, but sometimes embarrassment can lead to some deep learning.
28. Technology / Getting Started with Arduino–The Maker Faire Edition
1. Arduino continues to fascinate me and I find myself collecting link after link of information on it. I am also passing on most of these to my son’s technology focus teacher at his high school.
29. Food / lentils! (including in sweet potato shepherd’s pie) – A Way to Garden
1. More healthy recipes and more ways to bring lentils into our diet. I first discovered i like them when having them as the traditional food of New Year’s Eve (Capo D’Anno) in Sicily. 
30. Food  recipe: barbecue baked lentils, minus the grill – A Way to Garden
31. Technology / One procedural universe, coming right up
1. Sometimes technology can produce quite beautiful things. This software allows you to create and fly through a universe of your own making. The article calls out its usefulness for game design and I would add that writers might be able to use it too.
32. Garden / 5 Easy Ways to Break Free of a Gardening Rut (7 photos)
1. Even the most dedicated gardeners can fall into a rut. A great article to have in your garden journal for those time you need a like kick. 
33. Photography / Some Reasons Why to Shoot High ISO
1. I have been playing with using high ISO in my photographs lately, and this article gives great reasons why to use it and also how to get the most from it. My trial and error produced a few nice photos but this gives me several more tricks to try out the next time I am shooting in low light.
34. Technology / iSelfie: a remote control for your iOS camera
1. Selfie made it into the Oxford English Dictionary this year, so why shouldn’t there be an app to make it even easier. I could see this also being useful in creating an iPad-based photo booth for parties and events. 
35. Technology / Airtame wireless dongle mirrors your computer onto any HDMI display
1. Again, anything that gets media onto my big screen is of interest to me — and the simpler, the better. 
36. New Media / Sony’s 4K Camcorder: A YouTuber’s Dream
1. 4K video is coming and here is an expensive, yet affordable camera to bring it into the consumer world. I can’t imagine how long it woudl take to edit and process 4K video, but I am sure it is amazing to watch on an compatible screen.
37. Career / Five Things I Wish I Had Known When I Started Working for Myself
1. As a long time freelancer, I found myself nodding yes to each and every one of these items — especially on the one about not taking on too much work.
38. Garden / Real Gardens: Caerhays
1. Setting this post aside for the next time I visit the UK. I want/need to hit up more gardens on our next trip. There are so many wonderful ones to choose from.
39. New Media / Steadicam’s Curve Makes Your GoPro Vids as Smooth as Silk
1. Bringing the pro down to the YouTuber, yet another device to help you deliver smooth and steady videos for your projects. 
40. Food / 10 Small Ways to Improve Your Kitchen in 2014
1. Friend are undergoing a full kitchen remodel at the moment and this has me thinking about my own kitchen needs. These small tips can help anyone who just wants to be a big more productive in their kitchen.
41. New Media / 40 Best Responsive WordPress Free Plugins
1. Almost too many to read about, but I need to better understand responsive design, especially for WordPress sites, so I am working my way slowly through this long article. 
42. Food / Cooked – A Natural History Of Transformation
1. Several of Michael Pollans’ books have passed through my reading list and this one focusing on cooking promises to be a treat.
43. Photography / The Best Photography Apps for iPhone: 2014 Edition
1. Another list of iPhone apps to help you make great photos. To each his own. I am sure there is something here for nearly every iPhonographer.
44. Technology / Kindle for iOS updated with flashcards, notebook filters and better search
1. We have 2 Kindles here, and make extensive use of the Kindle apps on our computers. Joe even uses his for some high school textbooks. As a writer who has produced several Kindle books, it behooves me to keep up on the state of the art for Kindle, too.
45. Food / Frugal Foodie Friday – Ramen Noodle Salad
1. Adding pasta to a salad is probably not the bets idea for losing weight, but everyone needs a change now and then.
46. Career / 13 Essential Job Boards for Creatives
1. Creatives are a unique bunch and their works needs are often quite different than more typical job seekers. It is good to see someone focusing on sources for jobs in this niche area.
47. Technology / EnLighten tells you when your traffic light is going to change
1. An odd app for iPhone, but one I want to try out. Not yet available to work here in Los Angeles, but I like trying out a wide variety of apps, so this one has made it to my phone in preparation for its availability here.
48. Technology / Getting Started with BeagleBone Black
1. Like the Arduino posts linked above, I love keeping up on what is happening in the Maker work of Arduino and other small computer likes the BeagleBone.
49. Food / Five Sauces Everyone Should Know How to Make for Endless Meal Options
1. I once read the textbook used at the Culinary Institute of America not because I was interested in becoming a chef, but because I was intrigued about how I could use their techniques in my own kitchen. This gave me a few more sauces to try out and some tips on how to make my typical sauces even better.
50. Food / The Nightcap: An Old-Fashioned Ritual
1. What’s the story behind the night cap besides being an easy come-on the end of a date. (LAUGH) Why the last tipple of an evening can sometimes be the best.
51. Food / Slow Cooker Vegan Chickpea Chili
1. I will probably never be a vegan eater, but there are recipes that tempt me out of my typical meat-eating ways. While I make my own special chili, this one sounded interesting enough to try at least once.