Shaine Mata Blog

You can use a mobile phone/GPS cradle as a camera mount for recording video while you are driving. Please remember to be responsible by starting and stopping your recording from a parked vehicle. It is only necessary to give the illusion that you are fiddling with your camera while driving. You can trim off the ends of the video to hide the uninteresting parts. The mount that I use is a general purpose mount sold by T-Mobile for use with the My Touch. Related articles by Zemanta Weekend Project: Remote-Controlled Camera Mount (makezine.com)

Image by Daniel F. Pigatto via Flickr Google recently announced that you will be able to use their Google Docs service to store files of any type. They are adamant that this is not the fabled GDrive. Based on my preliminary experience, I would have to agree. While Google's new file storage service is very affordable, it has some serious limitations. First, let's spell out what Google offers, for the uninitiated. Google used to allow you to keep documents on their servers in the Google Docs formats. If you uploaded a Word or Wordperfect file, it would be converted to their format. Same for Excel and PowerPoint. Google recently announced that you will be able to upload any file up to 250 MB for storage in Google Docs. It is true that you can upload any kind of file to Google servers. I tried a few. However, there is one big problem. While uploading your files to Google Docs is extremely affordable, there is a huge maintenance overhead. Your files can't be tagge...

Image by shainelee via Flickr Hellow Mind Racers! There may be a time when you are in a rush to get something done. It is tempting to make haste; but, doing so results in poor performance and unnecessary mistakes. If you have done the one thing often enough, you may move quickly; but every move is calculated and deliberate. Your mind is calm and focused on the task at hand. This kind of experience, or muscle memory , often sets apart the veterans from the rookies. When you are new at something, your mind races, you forget details, you make hasty decisions, and generally do a poor job. Veterans, on the other hand, seem self-assured and collected, even during major challenges; because, they have been there before and know exactly what to do. Wouldn't it be nice to have that same level of mental clarity that a veteran has in your everyday life ? The problem is that Mind Racers like us often find ourselves in new situations and without a plan on how to proceed. Like Indian...

Image by shainelee via Flickr The other day, I stumbled across BlockChalk.com , a website that interacts with your mobile phone 's GPS . Unlike Twitter , Foursquare , BrightKite , and others, BlockChalk allows you to message with others; but you do so anonymously. At first, I was not sure what to think of it. After all, what's the point of it? Of course, I had the same reaction to Twitter. The gist of BlockChalk is that it allows you to see messages from other people based on location. So, you may see messages from the guy next to you, from somebody a block away, or maybe a few blocks away. You don't know. The messages change according to your location. Most interestingly, the "chalk marks" are anonymous; which allows people to share what they really think rather than be guarded. I think that all basic messages get posted to your neighborhood. You can add an exact GPS location by putting [here] in your post. This way, if somebody is near the lo...

Image by shainelee via Flickr While this post revolves around a spiritual theme, it has business application. I was reading an article about following your vocation. While the article touched on serving God through the practice of your talents or occupation, my mind went off on a tangent, per usual. Before going into that tangent, let's just talk about a few examples of vocations . In the traditional sense, a vocation is a call to serve God as clergy of some form. However, it has evolved to also refer to other callings such as raising your family, being a carpenter, or any other skill you may possess. Often, however, we lose sight of what our vocation is and get caught up on doing other things that seem right. One example that stood out in my mind is for those of us who are married . If you spend all your time going to prayer groups and church, while neglecting your family, then you are not fulfilling your vocation as a husband or wife, or that of a parent. While techn...

Image by ~jjjohn~ via Flickr Woody Allen is quoted as saying that 80 percent of success is just showing up. In my experience, this has proven true in real life . This also proves true on the web. Too often, business owners neglect showing up on the web at all. Many who do make an effort to get on the web, only make a half-hearted effort, the equivalent of being a wallflower at a dance . In life, you will find that there are conferences, mixers, luncheons, prayer groups, clubs, and all manner of social gatherings. Some are just for fun; others are jobs. Human beings are extremely social creatures. We notice things, like when you show up at events or do not. We notice the kind of person you are when you do show up. We notice what doesn't happen when you do not show up. If you have anything of value to offer in this world by your presence, it will become apparent when you show up. If you are a great motivator, others will notice when you are there to cheer the group ...

Image via Wikipedia Tonight I got to talk about web presence with some social media friends over dinner. We have all had experiences with clients who want a website or a social media presence; but they do not want to spend any time building it. By this, I don't mean the technical parts; those can be outsourced. I mean, they do not want to spend any time building content for their web presence. They want to hire out the blogging , photography , social media interaction, and other aspects that require some inside knowledge of their business. The first thing that is wrong with this scenario is that only somebody who is aware of the ins and outs of your business should be at the helm of your social media presence. Having a website is time consuming. One generally recommends that you spend time updating the site often with new content. Having a brochure website that simply lists basic information only will not cut it. It's like opening another branch office in another t...

Image by shainelee via Flickr Lately, I have been grappling with the question of whether one should follow their natural inclinations. In one sense, this can be seen as following your instincts. This serves well for many people. However, the advice is not a good general statement. For example, an alcoholic 's natural inclination is to have another drink. Is that instinct? On the one hand, there are some of you who accomplish great things doing something passionately when everybody thought you were crazy. You did it because you had a vision. Your vision may be an art, a business, a community project, or even effectively managing your family. You did it because it seemed like the right thing to do. Something in your gut told you it has to be done. You did it because it was in your nature to do it. Or, you may be one of those folks whose natural inclinations may be destructive. No doubt, we all know of somebody who got involved with the wrong crowd, started using drugs, o...

Image by shainelee via Flickr One problem with having a vivid imagination and being able to grasp the totalities of ideas easily is the immediate realization of all the details involved, real or imagined. Sometimes, you may be 100% correct that a problem will crop up and give you all kinds of headaches on a project. More often, however, the possible problems are mostly imagined and never come to happen. In fact, you may find that you avoided doing something for so long, and then, when you can't avoid it any longer, what you feared would happen doesn't happen. This sort of thing happens to all smart people at some point. There is some freedom in not knowing any better because you can go right on ahead and make things work when all the experts told you it wouldn't. There are several books which illustrate the point. One of my favorites is The Millionaire Next Door . The author cites examples of some of the habits of many of the people who retire as millionaires...

Image by shainelee via Flickr I know that the whole world is talking about how social media is revolutionizing life as we know it. Being a social media geek myself, I would have to agree with that. However, there is a growing market for what I am calling Echo Media, which consists of content aimed not at the public or a close circle of friends. Rather, aimed at enhancing your own life and ability to keep up with the increasingly fast pace of life. This is media that echoes back to you your own information. You put that information in with the intent of being your own audience. It is no secret that I am a big fan of Evernote , a cloud-based service that allows you to store information as it comes at you from day to day. In the free version, Evernote allows you to store text notes, photographs, and PDF files up to 40 MB per month. This in itself is rather powerful. However, if you go to their premium subscription for $5/month, you can upload any file up to 25MB in size for a t...

It is rare that we have freezing weather here in South Texas. We probably get more hurricane threats than freezes. It's so strange to see people go insane every time it gets cold around here. Given that most of us are accustomed to hot weather, we do not adapt well to the cold. Unfortunately, this puts a strain on our electic grid. We don't invest in oil or gas heaters for our homes. We also don't really need fireplaces. We're all electric, baby. So, my apartment complex went dark just as our first freeze was starting. The funny thing is that all around us, everything else was lit. Our power company is a Co-Op that has its own grid. We were dark for about 16 hours. Fortunately, our place is well insulated to deal with the summer heat. It worked well against the freezing temperatures as well. Our inside temperature went down to 69 degrees. The biggest problem was boredom. Electricity is a big part of our daily lives, especially if, like me, you live on the Internet. ...

Individuality Poster Buy at AllPosters.com Standing out from all the other blogs can sometimes be a daunting task. On the one hand, you want to provide content that others want to read, so you start looking at what people are reading about and writing about on other blogs. On the other hand, you don't want to sound like the other blogs and parrot the same ideas. What's a blog writer to do? You may find that it is probably better to just do your own thing. Don't worry about what others are writing, what's hot, what's trending in the search terms. If you start off blogging with these lofty goals in mind, you may find that you never find "your voice", which is the much fabled unique style of writing that makes your blog represent who you are. The best way to find your blogging voice is to simply write about those things that matter to you, that you are passionate about. You'll find that when you are passionate about something, your best argumen...

Image by shainelee via Flickr I completely forgot to write a blog post yesterday for the 100 posts in 100 days challenge. Technically, I didn't miss it. When you add it all up, I'll probably have closer to 500 blog posts by the time the 100 days after January 1, 2010 are over. Currently, I am blogging here on this site. There are also some other blogging sites I have set up where I post material, listed below: RGV Life MissionTexas.net ShaineMata.com ValleyCentral.com Some, I update more frequently than others. However, in the spirit of the challenge, I will consider this the blog that is facing the challenge. So, consider this a makeup post for yesterday. There will be another later today. Related articles by Zemanta Blog Your Way To A New Life (slideshare.net) Blog Reboot! (slumpedoverkeyboarddead.com) WordPress for Newbies #1: Consistency (segwayne.com) Blogging Burnout Tips - Avoid Hitting A Wall (franklinbishop.net) Helen speaks fluent email (...

I believe that writers mostly write from experience. Of course, that doesn't mean that mystery writers have murdered, buried the body in the woods, and eventually caught. That model doesn't scale. However, the more compelling things, like what characters think, how they feel, and how they think may come from having experienced similar thoughts and feelings. When it comes to blogging, a similar approach can help. If you are writer blocked, you should probably go out and do something. Either your activity will form the basis of your writing, or it will jog a memory of a similar experience or idea that you had in the past, which you can write. What you do is up to you. It can be something new; or it can be something you have done 1000 times. Even if something is not new, you may notice some nuance that you can use as the basis for your blog post. Again, do something. You'll be surprised how ideas pop out of the strangest places.

Image via Wikipedia Experience has taught me that it is best when your productivity tools work together. Whatever efficiency you gain from a tool or service that does not work with others gets lost when you have to re-input information. The key is that your system should work for you, not give you another job to do. Yesterday, we discussed how Evernote is my universal inbox . Even so, it is not the only tool you should use; while Evernote excels at capturing and organizing information, it is not so good for doing anything with that information. Evernote is that legal notepad where you write notes while you are on the phone or at meetings. If you are looking for other tools to supplement Evernote, Onenote, or whatever capture tool you use, you should look for those that allow you to transfer information easily. Nothing is more frustrating than having to reenter information you have already entered at least a couple times into other software or websites. Look for those that ...

Image via CrunchBase I first read Getting Things Done by David Allen back around 2006. Ever since then, I have been trying to find the right way to make GTD work for me. While GTD has been a great methodology, I never found the right combination of tools for me. I think Evernote has finally evolved into the product that will finally be my trusted capture tool for all the information that comes at me from day to day. Mobile Technology Makes the Difference Within the last year, mobile technology has started to produce products that have enabled the use of Evernote as the one destination for all your life's information. Smartphones have started including auto-focus on their cameras; I have plenty of photos from my old phone that are fuzzy and not indexed because of the lack of auto-focus. Internet speeds have been much improved with 3G; if it takes longer to upload a note than to have just written something down on paper, what's the benefit? Phones capable of runnin...

Image by shainelee via Flickr One thing that is de rigueur with every new year is for people to make resolutions. I suppose it makes sense. The end of the year gives you a good demarcation to mark you progress towards those things that you want. What often happens, however, is that we don't follow through on our resolutions. I think we have in mind that we can change some things about ourselves without changing our lives. Health and Fitness There are only two ways you can be more fit and less heavy. Eat less; or exercise more. Or, if you are feeling very motivated, you can try a combination of the two. But what if you do those and still eat high-calorie foods? So long as you consume more than your daily requirement, neither is likely to work. So, clearly, a life change is in order. You have to eat healthier and exercise. If you don't do either already, then this is a change in lifestyle. Self-Improvement We all have something we could do better, like get some...