Find my Iphone is Now FREE!

I know I’m a bit late but I just realized that Find my iPhone is now free for everyone. I just finished adding the two iPads and two iPhones to my account. You must upgrade to IOS 4.2.1 for this to to work.  Before find my iPhone was free, it cost $100 as part of Apple’s Mobile Me service. I mainly use the service to share and store files and sync contacts between the 4 machines i regularly use. Find my iPhone comes in very handy especially when I lose my phone in the apartment and need to find it, I just log into Mobile Me and instruct the phone to beep. Here are step-by-step instructions on how to activate.

1. Make sure you have the latest iOS update (iOS 4.2.1) installed. Plug in your iPhone and click “Check for updates” in iTunes to get the software.
2. With iOS 4.2.1 installed, tap the Settings app on your iPhone. Then tap “Mail, Contacts, Calendars” and “Add Account.” Then choose MobileMe.
3. In the MobileMe account menu, enter your iTunes or Apple ID and password (i.e., the login you use to buy iTunes media on the iPhone).
4. The “Find My iPhone” option should appear. Slide it to “ON” to activate it.”

And you’re done! From here on, you can hop on a computer and enter www.me.com in a web browser. Then enter the same login credentials you used to register for Find My iPhone, and you’ll immediately get a GPS reading of the phone, along with a simple menu of buttons allowing you to lock, wipe, or send a message or sound to the iPhone.

Information, including images for this post was taken from this wired article.

 

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Colorado Student Pays Tuition One Dollar at a Time

I found this hilarious story published on January 15th in The New York Times about this University of Colorado student that paid his entire tuition bill of $14,309.51 using  using dollar bills, a 50-cent piece and a penny. Nic Ramos said he initially started doing it because it was a joke then realized it was an absurd amount of money.

It took Mr. Ramos two days to withdraw the money from several banks. He said that when he walked into the bursar’s office on Friday morning with a 33-pound duffel bag full of cash, the tellers were stunned.

The best quote came from a University of Colorado spokesman that said that Ramos’ future earning potential with a college degree couldn’t fit in a duffel bag.

Yeah but that is still  $14,000 a semester – 2 semester a year for 4 years that brings a total of at least $112,000 for fours years of college!

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Ten quick email productivity tips

Here are 10 Tips that my employer CUNet provided to improve productivity and reduce wasted time.

 

1. There is no need to send a one word “thanks” email; its implied.
2. Code your emails in the subject line – INFO – if its an information email | REPLY – if you need the recipient to take some kind of action
3. If something is urgent or a serious matter, consider using the phone or talking to the person face to face. Do a gut check: if you have an uncomfortable feeling about something, it is usually better to talk directly in person.
4. When forwarding an email, remove the forward in the subject line and provide context. If you see a potential endless string developing, pick up the phone.
5. Don’t use the “reply to all” button. Only use if neccessary, not everyone on the original list needs to see your reply. I’m sure you’ve heard of some horror stories when this button is used.
6. Keep subject lines relevant to the message. Use the subject line to summarize your message – not describe it. If the entire message fit in the subject line, put it there with EOM to indicate that it is the end of the message
7. Establish regular check message intervals. Check emails at defined times of the day, instead of checking whenever a new email arrives.
8. Modify your weekend response expectations. To avoid weekend busywork, people who send an email on weekends should not expect a response until Monday, unless you have some kind of on-call job.
9. When scheduling a call or conference, include the topic in the invitation or subject line.
10. Be aware of the tone you are projecting in your email. An example is ALL CAPITAL LETTERS CAN BE INTERPRETED AS SHOUTING!  If you are unsure, read it aloud before sending.

Some of these seem pretty obvious to some of us but judging from the emails I get someone out there could really use this info

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