Ann's profilegreasergrrl's surprise m...PhotosBlogListsMore Tools Help

greasergrrl's surprise machine

Leave a comment!

Ann Hudspeth

Occupation
Location
Interests
UX designer for Windows Live social networking

I'm a PC!

i'm a pc!
Lists

Radio

Loading...

Windows Media Player

24 June

First post on Windows Live Wire

I wrote my first post for the official Windows Live Wire blog.  The topic is privacy, of course, specifically choosing who can send you stuff on Windows Live.  I hope to write more entries soon.
 
 
Check it out!
 
I Red heartspearhead!
 
03 June

Bing Bong the Witch is Dead!

BingBing is really awesome - I'm impressed. 

Check out the Wall Street Journal Review:

Microsoft's Bing Yields Results - WSJ.com
I've been using Bing for more than two weeks now, and this search engine really did retrieve on-target, useful information on the first try. But what I like best about it is that it does so in a user-friendly manner that looks and feels more inviting than Google.

25 May

My favorite iPhone apps

urbanspoon A few friends have gotten their first iPhone in the last week and I thought I’d list my current favorite iPhone apps (besides Text, Mail, Calendar, Phone).

Useful apps, in order of how much I use them:

  1. Facebook
  2. mBox Mail – for Hotmail/Live Mail
  3. Listomni – this is how I manage my life! I have 200+ tasks prioritized which keeps me focused and not overwhelmed. The grocery list is worth the price of admission: it remembers what I shop for, knows where to find things, and it makes it super easy to shop
  4. Mint.com – money management and budgeting.  Amazing.
  5. Accuweather and The Weather Channel – Accuweather is pretty accurate
  6. Tweetie – my favorite Twitter app
  7. Yelp – This comes in handy often – I check it to see the best restaurant/shopping/repair place nearby and I write reviews that feed out to Windows Live and Facebook
  8. Urbanspoon – A fun way to find restaurants
  9. Wikipanion - Wikipedia
  10. BigOven - Recipes
  11. MyNetDiary – Food, Weight, Exercise tracking
  12. Pandora – internet radio. Only problem with it is the speed/quality/connection but I use it at the gym when I have good reception
  13. iPhlix – For managing Netflix
  14. eBay – Dangerous!
  15. Amazon – Even more dangerous!
  16. Tipulator – An easy way to split a group check
  17. Bump – Easily exchange contact info with another iPhone user

mobile-news-network-iphone How I get my news:

  1. Mobile News – all the basics, even local
  2. Huff Post – the left
  3. WSJ – the right
  4. NYTimes – the Times
  5. NetNewsWire - RSS

Fun stuff:

  1. myLighter - fun at concerts
  2. Flashlight - this has come in handy more than once
  3. Rain Stick – what a nice sound
  4. Labyrinth LE – tilt to move the marble around the wooden maze
  5. LightSaber - great sound effects
  6. Handy Level – it’s a real level!
  7. Ocarina - amazing use of the iphone’s capabilities
01 May

David Sedaris types with one finger

david Until 2001, best-selling author David Sedaris wrote all of his work on a typewriter, pecking with one finger.  He reluctantly started using a MacBook to write and only last June used the Internet for the first time.  He admitted that writing on a computer was more efficient.  On the typewriter he often wrote to fit gaps he'd whited out thinking, "What can I write that will fit in that space?"  He used to type pages over and over, "If it's a good enough word you should be willing to type it 10 times."
 
Being that deliberate about his craft was so inspiring to consider.
 
It reminded me of Malcolm Gladwell talking about needing to put in 10,000 hours in order to master something.  And Scott Berkun who says in The Myths of Innovation that innovation is a product of having many many ideas.  That's one of the reasons I think digital photography is so exciting – because marginal costs are now 0 you can take 1000 pictures and a handful are bound to be really good.  I even think about an interview with Slash where he talks about being unpopular as a kid so he holed up in his room playing guitar for hours every day. Don't think a great idea of piece of art falls from the sky - it takes lots and lots of work.
 
A year is 2000 work hours (40 hrs a week + vacation).  So to master a craft you must work 20 hours a week for 10 years or 10 hours a week for 20 years.  As I grow older I realize how doable that is.  I’ve spent this amount of time singing and playing guitar and have mastered both.  And I imagine to be on earth many more decades so it’s not too late to start something new.  After decades of being obsessed with rusty metal and art made of found objects, I recently started a Welding for Yard Art class at Lake Washington Technical College and totally love it.  It’s not too late.
 
So start now.
10 March

SXSWi madness! Schedule in Excel for you geeks

snow2 Headed to SXSW Interactive tomorrow – I’m very excited.  I’m from Austin so it’s actually a vacation and I’ll be down there for a week and a half to visit the family and play in the sun as well.  This is the weather here today in Redmond and I need a vacation!

If you are as overwhelmed as I am by the almost 400 panels, here’s my Excel spreadsheet that I used to sort and filter. http://cid-989d470165883d80.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/SXSWi  

Unfortunately it’s not up to the minute accurate (copied from http://sxsw2009.sched.org/ last night) but it’s a good way to get a baseline.

hamilton poolAnd if you get a free afternoon, here’s my list of swimmin holes that are fairly close to the city.  http://maps.live.com/?v=2&encType=1&cid=989D470165883D80!7002 tinyurl http://tinyurl.com/asmwuo

Say hi if you see me there!

 
Photo 1 of 22
More albums (67)
 
View my FriendFeed
View my FriendFeed

Zune card

 
This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession
Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant
Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy
The Monk and the Riddle: The Art of Creating a Life While Making a Living
The Goal
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years
Jack: Straight from the Gut
Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss what Matters Most
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership
Self Reliance
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Emotional Intelligence : Why It Can Matter More Than IQ
Buddhism for Beginners
When Things Fall Apart
Forgotten Algebra
Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
Getting Things Done : The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
21 Dog Years : Doing Time @ Amazon.com
It's Easier Than You Think: The Buddhist Way to Happiness
Madam Secretary: A Memoir
The Partly Cloudy Patriot
The Wisdom of the Enneagram