Why I think this is both good and bad? First, it’s a trend that once started, will continue. We can assume that soon, most of the popular file sharing websites will be gone, be it illegal or legal sharing. So I would like to speak about that – a world where the software is only available if you buy it, no matter who is in need of it.

This will be an amazing thing for companies who build digital products, such as ourselves, because people will need to get your products from your website, and there will be no chance to get them anywhere else. This is good. More money for agencies.

But there is a lot of bad as well. To start with, imagine young students / kinds, wanting to try out software, or to learn how to use it. Mosts of them would not have the necessary funds to purchase software priced in the order of thousands of dollars. So they would actually go through the troubles of finding and getting the files they need, in a way or another.

I can envision that getting web projects completed in the future will be very expensive, and the reason is that there won’t be many individuals and agencies able to purchase the needed software otherwise.

I am sure there are a lot of good developers/agencies in poor countries, that do not pay to get their CS suite, or whatever, because they cannot. At the same time, a lot of people from richer countries, let’s say US, hire those devs / studios / etc, for prices that will keep them unable to pay for such software, hence getting their projects completed cheap. There won’t be many of these studios in the future, so everybody will have to hire and pay for people at rates such as in the US. Those will be fun times, world changing I would add.

Finally, you won’t see so much innovation online as you do today, because people won’t have money to invest in getting their web projects/ideas built.

So let’s see what this turns out into. I’m not against it, but I don’t support it either. I think people will always find a way to get software, when there is no other easier, affordable way. Why can’t we work on that instead?

Steve Jobs
1955 – 2011

My email is nothing but a list of flags and folders. My todos for the day are sketched on little yellow notes on my desk, or many-colors-notes on my dash, my ideas on plain A3 and A4 papers, my contacts in the Address Books. I don’t even know my new phone number. And I don’t plan to learn it either, I can access it in an instant. Is that lazy? I prefer to share my email address, so I can get to it in a list of emails, when it’s time comes. Crazy, no?

I realize everything I do is on a list, even my workout exercises, future events, you name it. This helps me make room for things that matter and keeps me from getting overwhelmed by information. So I wonder, how does your brain work? Do you like to remember things or you write them down as well?

There are three primary dualities that are encountered in this discussion. The balance must be found not between any two points in a plane, but between the two poles of every dimension, and each one of these dualities adds another to the argument.

The first is between elitism and populism. The “exquisite design” or “minimal interface”, appealing as they may be, are elitist attractions. Only individuals and those with artistic / design bents can appreciate the effort. Collectives and those in a hurry would much prefer functionality over design, and design does get in the way at times; if not in the way of interaction, than at least in the way of fast delivery.

The second is between collaboration and control. Here is where the user freedom and expression comes in. This is (arguably) the reason why MySpace died, because it toppled the balance by giving too much freedom to the users. But this is also why Windows Live Blogs were shut down and migrated to WordPress: they weren’t doing enough.

The last is between the artist and the viewer, the creator and the consumer. All software is functional: it has to be. It provides a framework in which people can do things easily and meaningfully. Successful software is not just a contract, but a brainchild which needs nurturing and support by both parties, be they system devs and app devs over a platform, or socialnet devs and users over a website. The creator needs to provide direction, and the consumer needs to provide energy. This is why, increasingly, we are using the terms “responsive” in design: because there needs to be greater harmony between the two.

Ultimately, the cost of detailed design is ignoring your users, while the cost of listening to users is ignoring yourself. As two paddles to a boat, these must work in harmony to move the boat forward. When listening to users becomes too loud and unproductive: trust your gut and pay attention to design. When design starts to slow the pace, pull back and listen to your users, have fresh eyes look at your work. True balance is in those products that can listen and trust this rhythm.

It’s pretty interesting stuff. I probably missed some stuff, but while I transfer all my work from the Macbook Pro to the iMac this week, I’ll figure out what’s missing and keep updating the list.

Okay, so as soon as I opened the Mac and filled the user information, here’s what I did or installed, in this order precisely. :-)

1. Software Update
2. Moved Dock to left, removed icons I don’t need from dock, set it to autohide and made it smaller
3. Google Chrome – then synced it with my other mac (bookmarks, extensions, etc)
4. From the Mac App Store ->  Evernote, The Unarchiever, Wunderlist, Twitter, Cloud, Stuffit
5. Droplr - as Cloud, except there’s no limit to uploading images.
6. Teleport (and settings – as I use more than one mac)
7. Skype
8. Yahoo Messenger
9. Dropbox (the web app)
10. 1Password
11. App Zapper
12. Adobe Air
13. Balsamiq Mockups
14. iWork
15. Microsoft Office
16. Overflow
17. TextExpander
18. iOS SDK
19. Transmit
20. uTorrent (don’t ask)
21. xchm (to open this type of files)
22. Coda
23. Suitcase Fusion 3 – for fonts management
24. iShowU HD
25. Arthropod Air App (for Flash Tracing)
26. Adobe CS5 and CS4 (many apps)
27. FDT (for Flash development)
28. Netnewswire (RSS Feed)
29. Phone Viewer
30. Setup Mail
    + Mail Preferences – Accounts – Mailbox Behaviors – Store draft messages on the server. Unchecked! :D
31. Synced Address Book, iCal, Authorized iPhones.
32. Magic prefs – for Magic Mouse ( 3 Clicks for Dashboard, 2 Fingers Swipe for displaying all apps open, pinch in/out for hiding/showing all apps)
33. Setup the mac with these settings
    + Double click a window’s title bar to minimize

Then, I installed the Chrome Extensions that I use almost daily.

Chrome Extensions

1. Install Mouse Gestures for Chrome
2. Window Resizer (it’s needed when you’re using a big-ass monitor)
3. 1Password (works very well with the desktop app)
4. Screen Capture

And finally, the Dashboard.

Dashboard Apps

1. Currency Converter

That’s about it. I am sure I’ll keep tweaking the system while I use it in the following weeks, but I’ll make sure to write here everything that’s missing.

Updates

As I presumed, there was still stuff I needed. Hope I didn’t miss any:

1. Set the default width of Finder’s side bar here.
2. Installed LittleIpsum
3. VLC (so I can abuse the 400% volume feature)
4. Xmarks Chrome extension
5. Canon 7D software
6. MacHG - https://bitbucket.org/
7. Team Viewer
8. Prevent MAC from asking each time if you can open a file from the web by typing this in terminal defaults write com.apple.LaunchServices LSQuarantine -bool NO
9. Show status bar in Finder.
10. Toggle hidden files – Houdini app.
11. Tweetdeck – for checking searches, twitter activity and more.
12. Little Snapper Actions Chrome Extension and Application.
13. xScope – for screen measuring.
14. Actionscript 3 Search Chrome Extension.
15. Set Chrome to english as the default language here.
16. Moom – this little app is amazing! I’m using it daily. It resizes the windows of your apps with ease. Check the site and you will be sold.
17. Grooveshark – comes with the pro account, which you have to pay for. You should also get this to control the app with your keyboard.
18. Integrity – checks dead links on your website.
19. SequelPro – database management for MAC.
20. Gaget – Google Analytics widget for MAC OSX dashboard.
21. Istatnano – shows information about your MAC system.
22. SpamSieve – a perfect add-on to Mail. Keeps spam away. :-)
23. Audio Hijack Pro (to mute Chrome when browsing)

1. Learn Spanish (bought myself a Babbel.com course).
2. Learn how to swim.
3. Learn how to use my Canon 7D.
4. Learn photography (or I will loose some really nice photo trips).
5. Continue learning iOS (mobile is the future, and Apple is leading at the moment).
6. Master Photoshop (I think I can express better what I want from our team if I’d be able to sketch my ideas to show them OR improve their sketches).
7. Master Illustrator (same purpose as above + I want to try some mobile app design).

I have a strong feeling I’ll keep adding to the list, such as – learn Spain’s history . :-)

E ciudat, dar fiecare drum pe care il facem ne duce inspre iesirea din oras, direct pe autostrada. Indiferent ca vrem sa mergem la un supermarket, la prieteni sau la o intalnire. Ne trezim ca iesim din oras si trebuie sa intram iar pe celalalt sens. E placut, dar si frustrant uneori. :)

A doua mare problema este locul de parcare. Desi oamenii sunt cu mult mai civilizati, si au locurile de parcare impartite in culori – albastru si verde – (la prima platesti, la a doua nu ai voie pt ca sunt proprietari) cu greu gasesti chiar si locuri disponibile contra cost. Fiecare cladire are garaj, unele pe mai multe nivele. Mai mult de atat, fiecare strada contine tuneluri sau poduri peste alte strazi, ce usureaza traficul si scurteaza directia catre iesirea din oras pe care ne regasim mereu. Cu toate astea, in momentul in care ajungi intr-un final la destinatie, te ratacesti din nou in cautarea unui loc de parcare. :-) Solutia va fi un loc intr-o parcare privata, contra cost. Speram sa gasim ceva liber in apropiere daca se poate. :-) Conometrat am pierdut 45 de minute cel mai mult, pentru a gasi o parcare intr-o zi normala.

O alta problema, de comunicare de data asta, vine de la Apple. Cu abonamente oficiale la Orange Romania, cartelele Orange din Spania nu merg pe acelasi operator. A se citi corect – iPhone = caramida de 2 saptmani. Si nu reusim sa le dam unlock pentru ca nu exista momentan solutie pentru baseband-ul pe care il avem. Asadar costuri de roaming pentru prima saptamana de 45EUR. Nu-i rau.

Cu internetul am rezolvat temporar – un modem de la vodafone. Nu pot sa imi imaginez cum de nu am avut asa ceva din prima zi in care am pus mana pe un laptop. Mi se pare indispensabil, si nu e deloc scump. Cred ca pus in fata unei situatii de a sta fara net o saptamana, am facut un pas util pentru viitor. :)

Suntem in a doua saptamana aici, si usor, usor reusim sa punem lucrurile la punct. Pastrez legatura cu echipa pe laptop, so far so good. Partea dificila e cand trebuie sa folosesc monitorul de 15″ pentru a lucra la proiecte. Un cosmar pentru cei care lucram cu aplicatii vizuale. :) Astept cu nerabdare noul iMac, daca se poate de 30″? Thunderbolt si fara DVD, ca sa fie de 2 ori mai subtire. Poate programatorul din mine sa viseze?

Desi ploua marunt in fiecare zi, nu ducem lipsa de soare. Dimineata, ori noaptea tarziu facem plimbari pe marginea oceanului pentru a mai cunoaste un pic orasul. Acum ca ne-am stabilit definitiv intr-un apartament nou, trebuie sa imi refac traseele pentru a ajunge la vechile destinatii. Damn. :)

Va tin la curent cu aplicatia. Am inteles ca nu necesita internet pentru a se conecta la GPS, asadar nu voi mai cheltui un euro-cent pe data roaming. Toate hartile sunt descarcate (de 2 ore) pe telefon direct. Astept cu nerabdare sa ma pierd voit!

Hello Andrei,

congrats to your house!

I know you since you was bobocel on [website] and I really look up to you!

I see your success in every area of your work.

How you do that?

Wish you many more successful years! :)

Cheers,
Tamás

This is a public reply on the email I received from Tamás, with his permission. It should help me share a link to this article every time I receive similar emails, but also hopefully help some of you guys know how I do it.

What I do is not rocket science, and it can be merged in three essential points. Spend enough time on each of them and you’ll do fine. Without further ado..

1. Filter your activities.

Choose the ones you enjoy doing, and that you would do for free. From those, choose the ones that make financial sense. Focus on doing those as much as much as you can.

There are so many things I don’t know, and so few that I know and I’m good at! But you know what? That’s exactly how I want it to be! This is how I use my time properly.

2. Read to learn, don’t be fucking lazy.

This is obvious, but there are many lazy people that stop reading as soon as they graduate. They basically expect to compete with people who continuously learn. That’s plain stupid.

There is so much free information on the web today. Make sure you spend at least 2 – 3 hours every day reading. Stay up to date with stuff that’s included at #1, research. This will make you smarter, more creative, and it will put you in the right place, at the right time.

3. Evolve by adapting.

Use what you learned at #2 in doing your favorite activities at #1.

Conclusion

That’s it! You should enjoy your life by doing what you love and what you’re good at. You’ll also keep improving. If this doesn’t make you happy and successful, I don’t know what will!

A fost un examen dificil, pentru ca presupune atat partea teoretica, practica, dar si o gramada de timp pierdut pentru a capata experienta necesara. Inteleg si sunt de acord sa fie astfel, pentru ca nu ne dorim mai multi soferi neindemanatici in trafic. Dar cand vine vorba de timp, pentru mine cel putin este vorba despre resursa cea mai importanta, and that sucked!

Exista o conceptie generala, cum ca politistii care te examineaza ar fi incorecti, ori ca pica fete / baieti, ori ca nu stiu ce. Eu nu am vrut sa aflu informatii despre nici unul dintre ei, pentru ca indiferent cu care as fi avut sansa sa pic, nu cred ca lucrurile ar fi fost influentate negativ. Dupa ce am avut ocazia sa experimentez si eu pe pielea mea, pot sa afirm ca sunt preconceptii, total eronate. Mie politistii mi-au dat impresia ca sunt niste profesori universitari duri, dar corecti. Si asta mi-a placut! Cu alte cuvinte, daca faci bine ceea ce faci, vei promova examenul. Totul tine doar de tine, asadar mult succes!

Asta e bine! In schimb, dupa ce treci chiar si prin 10 teste, se aduna mai multe intrebari pe care incepi sa le cauti ulterior pe net.

Am gasit azi un site excelent, care contine nu doar peste 1000 de intrebari de pe drpciv.ro, dar si raspunsurile la acestea, precum si un motor de cautare, care te ajuta sa gasesti varianta corecta la intrebarile care nu iti ieseau.

Partea buna este ca are si o interfata si pentru mobil, si iti permite sa faci teste direct pe iPhone/Android/etc.. , sau sa treci pur si simplu prin toate intrebarile de pe drpciv.ro.

Enjoy si succes la examen: http://urssur.com/teste-auto/motor

Reformulez: Exista lege in Romania? Nu stiu inca.

Dar cum poate exista, cum poti fi sigur ca exista, cand vedem si simtim ca tot ceea ce se intampla in tara nu e corect? Nu e corect pentru copii, nu e corect pentru tineri, nu e corect pentru adulti, nu e corect pentru batrani. Practic, nu e corect pentru toata lumea. Si ma intreb ..cum s-a ajuns aici?

O Romanie condusa de analfabeti, sau analfabeti care “fac legea”, ori trec peste ea; asta este Romania pe care o vad prin ochii mei azi, si sper sa gresesc. De ce s-a ajuns aici, daca Justitia este oarba si dreapta?

Cum se pot indrepta aceste lucruri? Imi doresc enorm de mult sa existe reforme reale in Justitie. Sunt convins ca asta este celula de baza, cea de la care poate porni cu adevarat schimbarea Romaniei. Legea pe care o doresc este cea care tine partea celor corecti, celor buni, iar pe ceilalti ii pedepseste aspru!

Imagination is more important than knowledge. For while knowledge defines all we currently know and understand, imagination points to all we might yet discover and create.

Einstein

I’ll try to keep this list updated, for me. I’ll add dates when I’ll have some time to look for them, but for now years will do! :)

1. Greece: Atens, Parelia Katerini, Salonic, somewhere – 2005
2. USA: NY, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, California, somewhere – 2006
3. Germany: Saarbrücken – 2006
4. France: Paris – 6 January 2007
5. Italy: Rome, Venice, Padova – 2007
6. Spain: Madrid, somewhere – 2007
7. Bulgaria: somewhere – 2008
8. Turkey: somewhere – 2008
9. Netherlands: Amsterdam, Hague, Rotterdam – 2009
10. Belgium: Antwerp, somewhere – 2010
11. United Kingdom: London – 2010

My memory doesn’t help me at this hour, so I’ll replace the word somewhere with actual cities.. soon.

On the business side, we’re working at releasing the two most important websites on the to-do list: vuzum and blogvio. Vuzum is still in the concept phase, while Blogvio is in development. More on that soon!

Avem posibilitatea de a promova un brand de tara pe care il cunoaste toata lumea, si a ne juca cu aceste valori care au fost create in timp, pe care le-am primit mostenire: Dracula, vampirii. Nu avem nevoie de nimic mai mult, pentru ca unele tari sunt cunoscute pentru lucruri infime (ciocolata sau ceasurile, bancile sau turnurile). Cele mai bune filme cu vampiri trebuiau sa porneasca de aici! Trebuia sa avem castele ale groazei pline de turisti, parcuri de distractii si mancaruri speciale, traditii pe care am fi putut sa le reinventam sau sa le pastram.

Sunt unii care se bat cu oceanele, care au construit baraje uriase pentru a nu fi inundati. Sunt altii care au legat tara de continent prin canale pe sub ocean. Sunt unii care si-au inconjurat tara de ziduri, pentru a nu fi atacati de dusmani. Si noi ne plangem?!

Suntem peste 20 de milioane de suflete. De la noi toti doresc multe! Sa o luam de la zero.

I had no time to unpack and look over the presents until today. I’m the kind of guy who goes through all the packages, who studies the pack design, what’s written on them, what information the book that came in the package contains, and so on.

Trees

I notice small things such as “Designed on Earth. Mostly in California. Made in China.” on my Boa bag, but also the 136 pages that came with my Remington grooming kit! And this takes us to the subject of this post. I said 136 pages, and you know why? So they can fit in that book tens of languages which I don’t care about. How many pages are written in my language? Only 6. So they wasted almost 23 times more wood, they cut 23 trees instead of one.

Muliply that with.. let’s say one million products. They cut 23 million trees, instead of 1 million. See what I’m doing? See where I’m getting? It’s plain stupid what such guys do!

I wonder why didn’t they add only a book written in my language, or better yet, half of paper with a web address, where I can read about all this information, plus watch images, videos and maybe happy clients! Let’s be smart, let’s save the planet product by product!

Water

We drink a lot of water at work, in plastic bottles. Than we throw away the bottles, and buy new ones. Why doesn’t anybody do a special bottle that allows us to refill or swap it in the store, and save the need to create new bottles and waste more of the planet’s resources?!

Evolution

We need to adopt digital books and documents now. Imagine how many trees we’d save!

We need to optimize public transportation by using bicycles.

We need revolutionary packages, to reuse or swap at the store, not throw away or recycle.

We need to do better.

Angajatii acestei companii (de ex. Carmen Pascariu), se comporta de parca nu stiu ce vand. Nu sunt cartofi, nu este vorba de paine, este vorba despre internet. Internetul, dragii mei reprezentanti RCS-RDS (le voi trimite un email cu link la articol, de asta ma adresez direct lor), este o metoda simpla prin care un client nemultumit de modul in care este tratat, poate face public felul in care voi, ca si companie, va bateti joc de el.

Alte companii care au inteles care este treaba cu internetul, stiu in aceeasi masura, ca e si modul cel mai simplu de a oferi suport instant (blog, twitter, retele sociale) si de a construi o baza de clienti fidela. Voi, desi nu vindeti cartofi, va comportati ca si cum ati fi de la piata si nu stiti sa respectati clientii pe care ii aveti.

Inainte de a continua articolul, doresc sa trimit un al doilea email, sa vad daca de data asta mi se raspunde. Nu as vrea sa fac public chiar totul, decat in situatia in care nu am de ales.

The week that just ends has been one of the craziest weeks of my life. I had no chance of focusing on my work, because in my heart and head it was a powerful storm. I’ve been missing the silence that I now enjoy, and I can admit the most important thing for me is the health of the ones I love. Not my health, but theirs.

If you want to make the ones you love feel this peaceful silence, make sure you take care of your personal health, for them, not for you. Usually, when we consider working out, we think it’s for us, but in reality, us being healthy is more important to the ones who love us.

I’ll try to focus more on the happiness of the people who make Vuzum, starting with their health. We’ll be a stronger team once we’ll have access to the fitness room. :)

My mother is now feeling better.

As recomanda, calduros, sa se gandeasca la tineretea pe care si-o irosesc fara a isi asuma niste riscuri ce le pot aduce oportunitati reale. Nu lucra la ceva monoton doar de dragul de a avea o pensie si o asigurare. Nu exista batranete fara tinerete. Si nu uita ca exista si moartea, un factor pe care nu il controlezi (decat voit :-)).

Mai multi oameni care sa riste, inseamna mai multi oameni care sa esueze, dar si mai multi oameni care sa investeasca si sa incerce lucruri noi. Cele mai mari companii din online nu fac mare lucru, dar il fac bine.

Traieste-ti viata si profita de tineretea din prezent, nu te condamna singur, pentru o potentiala batranete din viitor. Asuma-ti un risc in fiecare zi. Poate asa vom realiza mai multe lucruri ca societate.

Food for thought.