The world didn’t end the day I switched from a Dell PC to a Mac. Granted, that was only last week — and the world is more likely to end from a slow, ongoing event like global warming than a catastrophic occurrence like a hit by a comet (or my switch to Mac). Which is to say, the day is young.
For a die-hard PC user, the change is like going from a hamburger-based diet to tofu. Or giving up lattes for flavored water. You’re likely to get coerced into these kind of moves against your will due to some medical necessity, and it usually comes with an ugly detox period.
Alas, no such impending medical crisis twisted my arm to join the league of the Mac Tribe. In fact, I didn’t see it coming, considering I’ve been a devoted Dell fan for my entire 15-year computer-purchasing life.
Dell, on the other hand, should have seen the writing on the wall — after one too many headache-inducing calls to customer service and endless transfers through internal departments by CSRs with heavy Indian accents, I realized last year our marriage was over.
So when time came for a new laptop, I was free to contemplate my options. Since I’m getting into multimedia and anticipate having to edit videos a lot within the next couple of years, I needed a machine that can accommodate more heavy-duty work than in the past. I also consider certain bells and whistles a must (like anti-glare screen, which is uncommon unless you opt for a military-grade, “rugged” computer that can easily take heat, water, drops and other unfortunate events).
As I researched non-Dell options and looked at rankings of everything from customer service to performance, a few choices floated to the top including Toshiba. But I couldn’t help but notice Apple was trying to get the attention from the corner of my eye, as I repeatedly ignored the MacBook Pro at the top of all those lists.
Finally, I decided to peek. After all, you can look as long as you don’t touch, right?
I am really digging the "Mission Control" option Mac has, which shows you all the open apps, both in Mac OS and Windows.
I groaned and cringed as I Googled, read, compared, ranked and Googled again. A Mac was making more sense as I “slept” on it for a few days. After a friendly geek at a Best Buy store answered some questions about Mac vs. PC advantages, I was nearly ready to wave the white flag.
Just to be certain, I popped into the Apple store at the mall — and suddenly was feeling that I needed to get a latte, just to make sure I still preferred one over flavored water.
I wasn’t always this adventurous. Although I was ahead of the curve in switching to a smartphone years ago — Palm became a convenient alternative to hauling the planner for coordinating my schedule while on the road — I was also proudly a minimalist. The latest and greatest gadgets didn’t entice me.
Blame it on the iPod Touch (or Steve Jobs, may he rest in peace, for knowing what we needed before we did). Once my husband bought one, I couldn’t think of anything else when my old MP3 player bit the dust.
The rest went downhill from there. The Kindle came. And then the iPad. I wasn’t an early adopter of any of those devices, but I sure didn’t follow my minimalist ideas much.
Yes, I’m conscientiously still sticking with a BlackBerry smartphone because I don’t need a choice of half a million apps, but beyond that, all bets are off.
The detox period, I’m happy to report, is going well so far. But — here comes the big confession — it’s because I’m having my cake and eating it too. I wasn’t about to invest a couple of Gs into replacing all my PC programs, so I’m running Windows on the MacBook, via Parallels.
So yeah, I’m cheating. Let’s call it going from hamburgers to soy “burgers” before embracing tofu. It’s a happy, beautiful union while I learn the quirks of Mac and avoid suffering from Windows withdrawals.
It’s not a perfect relationship — there are glitches and annoyances, like with anything else — yet so far, I haven’t regretted the decision.
Does that make me a Mac person? Not entirely. At least not yet. The world is still spinning, but let’s not forget that global warming idea.
Originally pubslihed in Gig Harbor Life
Independent filmmakers, artists working on an installation and entrepreneurs with a startup all face the same challenge: funding. Thanks to a trend called crowdfunding, which saw huge growth last year, these creative individuals now have a better shot at getting a financial boost.
Crowdfunding has been described as a marriage of social networking and philanthropy. It is similar to crowdsourcing — and what you’re asking people to do is fund an idea, project or need. An estimated 250-some crowdfunding websites provide a platform for making pitches to the crowd — anything from pleas to help a friend with cancer to tech geeks seeking funds for a new app —in hopes of getting dreams or needs funded.
More than 60 crowdfunding sites popped up in 2011, according to pleasefund.us, a United Kingdom-based site that was launched in November. Collectively, these websites have raised millions of dollars and some have become multimillion-dollar ventures themselves through the fees paid by their successfully funded users.
Many of these platforms cater to the creative types — artists, filmmakers, writers, designers and musicians. But the idea is also taking hold among entrepreneurs. One wildly successful example is TikTok+LunaTik, a kit to convert an iPod Nano into a wristwatch, which received more than 13,500 pledges totaling more than $940,000 on kickstarter.com a year ago.
Some business-oriented sites have adopted a model that actually allows people to invest in a venture instead of being a donor or sponsor, and Congress is currently debating crowdfunding-related legislation.
The platforms vary but generally speaking, the person looking for money creates a pitch explaining the idea and the need, and usually offers rewards or perks in exchange — sometimes as simple as thank-you cards. Contributions are made through the website, and most use an “all or nothing” method where funds are returned to donors if the goal is not reached. Some sites also allow for partially funded projects.
Crowdfunding sounds easy in principle but it takes a tremendous amount of work, both behind the scenes and via social media. I learned that the hard way recently when I decided to take my own need — graduate school tuition — to the “masses.”
I set up my pitch on indiegogo.com, calling it “Mission Go to 11” (borrowing the “Go to 11!” unofficial motto of my 2011 cohort at MCDM, University of Washington’s Master of Communication in Digital Media program).
The decision to launch the so-called campaign (see it at indiegogo.com/Go-to-11) came after I pursued my dream of 10 years to return to school last fall, then saw it come to a halt after I lost a big contract as a self-employed writer and editor.
It wasn’t an easy move, having to tell the world about my tuition challenge, but at the encouragement of a friend, I went for it because I really believe in my dream. Also because I’m a rebel and you don’t slam the door in front of a rebel’s nose.
What I discovered two weeks into the adventure was that crowdfunding is not “build it and they will come.” I had experienced the power of crowdfunding two years ago when a couple of friends decided to send me to a national journalism convention after I cancelled my plans to attend due to unexpected circumstances. The idea went viral — in less than 24 hours, my friends and friends of friends as well as strangers pitched in $800 for travel. Imagine the overwhelmed feeling!
For “Go to 11,” I decided to offer my writing, editing and digital media skills in exchange for sponsorships, targeting mostly businesses, entrepreneurs and such. Many lessons were learned so far, but the biggest is this: Crowdfunding platforms are only a vehicle, and trying to get support is very much like trying to find a client, an investor or a capital campaign funder. In other words, it’s all about the marketing — and it’s a part-time job.
Gig Harbor artist and Army combat veteran Stephen Ewens confirmed that theory. Ewens used popular platform kickstarter.com this past fall to fund “The Afghan Project,” a series of 10 paintings exploring the emotional and physical challenges of the war, both overseas and at homes, from the perspective of a soldier.
He surpassed his $5,000 by 5 percent, receiving 39 pledges in 30 days. Ewens said he spent as much time publicizing the campaign as it would have taken him to get the money through paid work.
“Crowdfunding isn’t easy but people need to know it’s very possible, very doable,” he said. “It’s allowing the average Joe to follow a dream.”
For him, the formula for success was about having a compelling story — and his is powerful, indeed — then using all available avenues for publicizing it, not only social media but also traditional media such as newspapers and television news. And, of course, friends and family along with the rest of his network played a big part in spreading the word.
He was so inspired by the experience, that in January started a second crowdfunding effort, to fund an art show so he can share the work.
My own effort hasn’t been as successful so far — but it doesn’t end until Jan. 31 so I still have hope — but one insight I can offer, if you’d like to learn from someone else’s mistake. Before taking your idea to the masses, come up with a mini business plan of sorts. Figure out how you’ll promote the effort, who will blow the horn for you, what doors you’ll knock on.
And then, just hit the pavement running, and don’t stop.
If you’re one of the few people who don’t live on Facebook 16 hours a day, you may still be catching up on the list it released recently of the 40 most-shared articles of the year.
No. 33 on the list, ahead of CNN’s story about the death of Steve Jobs, is a MoneyTalksNews article titled “Things Babies Born in 2011 Will Never Know.” Published on Yahoo Finance, the article was inspired by a Huffington Post list of 20 things that became obsolete this decade.
As we get ready to wrap up 2011 with some gingerbread cookies and eggnog, it seems fitting to revisit the MoneyTalks list of obsoletes.
Although we can only speculate on the Web 51.4.3 universe in which babies born this year will come of age, no one would argue that newsletter classifieds, movie-rental stores and videotapes have gone the way of the horse and buggy. And we can only hope that Yellow Pages and dial-up Internet will be nothing but obscure Wikipedia entries by then.
But a few things on the list are worth reconsidering. Take the idea of never forgetting anything — since all the information is in your pocket inside the handy little device called smartphone, why bother remembering stuff, right?
Say good-bye to math flashcards drilling multiplication facts into your brain, or the pain of remembering your mother’s birthday, or the punchline to that joke about the two men walking into a bar and …ummm… hang on a sec, let me pull out the BlackBerry…
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