Keeping up with a “regular” schedule in blogging, or anything for that matter, is pretty tough for yours truly! I do tend to multi-task and in doing so I tend to push things aside until I can get to them. My UK-based friend James Whatley (@whatleydude) inspired me last year with what he coined his “5 Things on Friday” (See Here), a regular post where he shared 5 gems of awesomeness that he stumbled upon during the week – oh, and he posted 52 times last year! I’ve tried to do similar posts via pieces I’ve called “7 cool things”, 10 awesome things, top 10 things, etc… but I’ve never actually stuck to a format or a schedule… and so, following in the footsteps of James, I’m kicking off the first Friday of 2013 with my very own 5 Things on Friday #1… enjoy these tips, tricks, and simple mentions of awesomeness and as always, please do feel free to share your own suggestions with yours truly – I can be reached on twitter @gletham or via email glenn at gisuser.com and be sure to also hashtag your tips with #5things – Cheers!
And so, this week’s 5 Things of Friday: I look at data visualizations, stress, measuring your eyes, Android OS, and a cool event… enjoy!
Awesome Visualizations – Like any good geogeek, I really data, and perhaps the only thing cooler than stumbling onto a nice data find is stumbling onto an awesome data visualization… you know, a clever mashup and presentation that conveys a message hidden behind the vast data repositories that clutter the web. Year end is a particularly great time to discover awesome visualizations, mainly because all of those sweet, “best of” posts are rolling out. As luck would have it I discovered (Actually via a tip off from my NOCO-based FB friend Brad) a very nice best visualizations post that has some really goodies… enjoy these 16 great visualizations curated by Fast Company ( I really dig the bicycle one! http://ht.ly/gxXpY) – see Fast Company
Academics least stressed – Hello 2013… have you made any resolutions yet? Perhaps you want to reduce your stress – indeed a great idea and I highly suggest it! One way to reduce your stress level is to work in an occupation that has little stress – enter the University academic instructor aka. College Prof! Yes indeed, according to a recent article on Forbes, the college prof is the least streassful job around, and as you can imagine, some of the academic email lists are a little worked up about this one! http://ht.ly/gxWR2
Android usage soaring – 2012 may have been the year for Android, and if you go down-under you may find tangible proof about this. According to recent research findings, Android usage down-under is soaring, perhaps so much so that more than 50% of new smartphones being sold are running Android and experts are now even encouraging developers to focus on just 2 app development environments, Android and iOS… sorry Microsoft and BlackBerry but 2013 may be a bumpy ride for you! See HERE
WordCamp 2013 – This will be year number 3 that I kick off my event coverage by hitting our very own local WordCamp (@yyjWordCamp), an event devoted to all things WordPress, and a few things not directly related but obviously of interest. WordCamp is an awesome event that a couple of local social media mavens have put together. The event draws on local talent to share tips, tricks, and goodies designed to help the blogger, would-be blogger, social media enthusiasts, and others. Even if WordPress isn’t your thing, this event always has tons of interesting content, some geeky, some social, some just down-right cool… and even if you don’t want to learn WordPress, you’ll leave this event with a belly full of good lunch, a few new friends, and some motivation for the coming year. WordPress YYJ takes place Saturday January 12 in Victoria, B.C, Canada on the beautiful U. Vic campus – maybe I’ll see you there! http://2013.victoria.wordcamp.org/
Measure your retina distance – I don’t usually tweet or re-weet the Mashable stuff, mainly as most of my followers already follow them as well so what’s the point in cluttering up the tube right? Kudos to mashable though for turning me onto this nifty service that enables the web surfer to actually measure their retina distance (accurately) on the computer screen! Ever used an online glasses ordering service to grab some lenses and gone all McGyver to measure the distance between your pupils? Well, here you go… http://pd.warbyparker.com/
