Figuring out how to read e-Books isn’t trivial.  There are lots of formats (ePUB, iBook, PDF, Kindle, etc).  There are also lots of devices (Kindle, iPad, Nook, etc).  This post covers reading ePUB on the iPad.

Here’s the Basic Gist

1. The whole transaction can take place on your iPad, no computer needed
2. Search Overdrive to see if your local library is supported (Phila Library is supported)
3. If so, Install the OverDrive App  (If not, you’re out of luck)
4. Use the OverDrive App to access your local library
5. Find and download an EPUB format e-Book

The Detailed Directions

1. Open OverDrive on your iPad
2. Click on the “Get Books” button in the upper left
3. Click on “Add a Library”
4. Type in your zip code (e.g. 19130)
5. Click on “Free Library of Philadelphia” (this is the location)
6. Click on “Free Library of Philadelphia” again (this is the Library System)
7. This takes you out of the App, and into Safari (Brower) so you can login
8. Click on Login in the upper right
9. Type in your patron number and your pin (same info you use to access the library’s website)
10. Search of a library book via the “Search” field
11. Find an interesting book with an available copy
12. Click “Add to Cart” in the Adobe EPUB Book
13. Click “Proceed to Checkout” and then “Confirm Checkout”
14. Click on “Download” (this sends you back to the OverDrive app)
15. OverDrive now (very quickly) download the desired book.

Viola !  You now have 21 days to read your free e-Book from the library

NOTE : Even if you don’t live in Philadelphia, you can get a library card (and hence access their eBooks) for $35.   Go here to get the application.

Facebook has evolved into a great photo sharing site, but it still bugs me that all my friends can see all my pictures.  It’s not that I don’t like all my friends, but sometimes, you just want to share pictures with a few people.

Well, lo and behold, Facebook now has a really nice feature for sharing pictures with just a few specific people !  Have to be honest, I’m liking Facebook more and more with each passing month.  I hope they keep moving in the right direction.

So, here’s how to create a photo album, and just share it with a few specific people :

1. Click on “Photos” on the left-hand side of the page (in the Apps section)
2. Click on “+ Upload Photos” at the top
3. Click on the Album Title, and give it a title of your own
4. In the extreme lower right, there should be a drop-down for who can see this album (mine defaults to “Friends”)
5. Select “Custom” from that drop-down list
6. In the pop-up, there’s another drop-down.  Select “Specific People or Lists”
7. Start typing names of people who you’d like to see this album (NOTE : They have to already be friends).
8. Ignore the “Hide this from” section
9. Click on Save Changes
10. Upload pictures using the button in center of the page

Voila !  You’ve created your very own album with limited visibility.

In studying, you look at each card, visualize the answer, then “flip over” the card.  With a button press, you then tell the App whether you got it right or wrong.  The more often you get that card right, then less often you’ll see it.  More precisely, it uses the “SuperMemo spaced repetition algorithm” to calculate how often you’ll see a particular card.   Been using this one for about a year now, and love it.

I’ve got a set of cards for Spanish vocab, another for technology terms, and yet another for the US States (borrowed this one from Quizlet, has pictures of each state).

If you’re like me, and have trouble remembering things, I think you’ll really like this one.

Here we are, three months into it, and I think I’m doing reasonably well.  I’ve decided to post once per week, on Saturday mornings.  Sort of a “Weekend Technology” thing.  And now I’m ready to take the next step.  I’m going to be linking the blog into my facebook page for a bit of extra visibility.  That starts today !

If you’d like to look over the articles written so far, the entire blog is here.

Let’s start with Quizlet.  After creating the requisite login at Quizlet, you can use the website in one of two ways.  You can either create your own set of flashcards or use other’s people’s flashcards.  I’ve done both.

To create your own set of flashcards, you can either use their website tools, or you can import a spreadsheet (questions in column 1, answers in column 2).  To use other people’s flashcards, just search.  For example, I used a set to memorize all 50 states.  Just something that escaped me when I was young, but no more !  Nebraska, here I come !

NOTE : The Quizlet website has nice tools for memorizing the cards, but I prefer to use an iPhone app.  I’ll cover that next week….

There’s one more handy tool in my toolbox for handling bookmarks, Xmarks.  Xmarks is designed to keep multiple sets of bookmarks in sync with each other. It keeps one set of master bookmarks on it’s servers “in the cloud”.  Then it keeps all your computers and browers in sync with that master set.   It’s compatible with Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari.

For example, you could keep the exact same set of bookmarks in both Firefox and Chrome on the same computer.  Or even better, you could keep the exact same set of bookmarks in Firefox on two different computers.   And finally, my favorite : when you get a new computer, just sync up your bookmarks to Xmarks, and you’re in business !

So, to get started, just use your browers, head over to http://www.xmarks.com and follow the directions to install this brower add-on.

At it’s simplest, it’s a web-based to-do list.  You just enter things on your list, then check them off when you’re done.  Simple !  But it’s also got lots of advanced features :

• Date Due in plain English (e.g. today, tomorrow, next week)
• Recurring items (every day, every week, every month)
• Priority (e.g. low, medium, high)
• Tags (e.g. work, play)
• Location (e.g. home, work, the shore)

On top of that, there’s a great app for the iPhone.  It syncs to your cloud-based to-do list, so it’s a great tool, even if you don’t have a mobile data plan (e.g. iPod Touch).

Now, I just spend a few minutes organizing my list every morning, then simply work on those items until I’m done.   There’s lots of different ways to organize your list, and after a while, you’ll figure out a great system that works for you !

Okay, so now, that you’ve got all your blogs in one place, the next step is to take them on the road with you !   Yup, you can read those same blogs on your iPhone or iPod Touch.  My favorite app for reading my blogs is Reeder.

1. From your iPhone or iPod Touch, install the Reeder App
2. Start the App, it will ask  you for your Google ID and Password
3. It will then automatically sync up to your Google Reader account

My favorite things about this :

• It’s more fun to read on my iPhone than my computer
• It keeps your laptop and iPhone in perfect sync (i.e. When you read an article on your iPhone, it also marks it as read on your laptop)
• Reeder will automatically sync your blog articles to your iPhone/iPodTouch for when  you’re offline (e.g. on a plane)

Ever taken your car to be inspected and were shocked at the bill ?  Be honest, did you cry a little bit ?  It doesn’t have to be this way.  You just need to trick yourself.  Manipulate yourself, as it were.  Using the Envelope System.  Here’s how it works :

Take a guess at your annual car repair bill.  Have a car with a few years on it ?  I’d guess it’s at least $500 per year.  Divide that by 26.  That’s about $20.  Every two weeks, you’re going to take $20, and stick it an envelope called “Car Repair”.  The trick to this system, is that it has to be AUTOMATIC.  Trust me here, don’t trust yourself to make the decision every two weeks.  Set it up so that it just happens.

Over the last 15 years, I’ve used increasingly sophisticated techniques to implement the envelope system :

• Actual envelopes (didn’t work, wasn’t automatic, so I didn’t do it)
• Multiple savings accounts (worked great, super simple !)
• Quicken (it’s a bit complicated, but allows you to have more envelopes easily)

Let’s talk about that middle one.  I went to the bank, opened a single checking account.  Simple, everyone has one.  Now open three savings accounts.   They’ll let you, I promise, with very little balance required (usually about $300).  Each of your savings accounts will be an “envelope”.  Here’s the important part : Have your bank setup an automatic transfer from your checking account into each of your envelopes (i.e. savings accounts).

This is a list of my first envelopes, choose your based on the biggest bills in your life :

• Savings Account #1 : Car Repair Bills (you can include insurance bills too)
• Savings Account #2 : Vacation Fund
• Savings Account #3 : Long-term savings (just accumulate a little money here each pay period.  It’s your rainy day fund)

Here are the rules that make this system work :

• Transfers have to have happen automatically every two weeks
• If you have a bad week, you’re allowed to transfer money back to your checking (but you probably won’t do this very often, it’s too much work)
• When you need money (e.g. car repair), transfer for it from your “Car Repair” envelope (e.g. savings account) back to your checking, and spend it.

Later, I’ll cover the technology aspects of this.  Meaning, rather than separate accounts, you can use technology tools like Quicken.  But start with the accounts first, it well help you get the hang of it, and turn yourself into a believer of the envelope system.

We’ve all got a few  magazines that we enjoy, yes ?  But back in the day, you had to go to the newsstand to pick up your favorite magazine.   Each magazine gets published on a different day, so it might take a few random trips to get everything you wanted.   Then came the magic of home delivery !  With home delivery, you just relax at home, waiting for your favorite rags to be delivered to your front door.  When the magazine is ready, they just send it to you !  All you have to do is check your mailbox.

Blogs are very similar to magazines.  Periodically, the blog gets updated with a new article.   Blogs can be lots of different things.  The Philadelphia Inquirer is a Blog.  The Entertainment section of my local home-town newspaper, The Lancaster Intelligencer Journal is a blog.  The Philadelphia Bicycle Coalition is a blog.  LifeHacker, one of my favorite technology and productivity websites, is a blog.  Heck, even the daily Dilbert cartoon is a blog.  Each evening, I used to fire up my web browser, and visit each of these sites.  Then I discovered RSS Feeds !   RSS Feeds are the home delivery of the Blog world.  Now, all I have to do is occasionally check my RSS Reader, rather than visiting all those sites !

My favorite RSS Reader is Google Reader.  So, to get started :

1. Go to http://reader.google.com
2. If you’ve already got a google account (e.g. Gmail), just log in
3. If not, create yourself a google account
4. Click on the big red “Subscribe” button on the upper left
5. Type in a search term (e.g. Dilbert)
6. Look through the results, and click on one of the blue “Subscribe” buttons
7. Repeat by going back to Step 4

Definitely more to come on RSS, as it’s one of my favorite technologies !