Marianne Schultz

the musings of a geeky girl

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Walking while working: my treadmill desk set-up

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I first heard of treadmill desks a few years ago through a feature segment on a news program and was immediately intrigued by the idea. I was, and have always been, concerned about my health (and waistline) as I get older and worried about the sedentary nature of my job – spending a lot of time sitting at a computer (gym membership and volleyball leagues notwithstanding) does nothing to help me keep my girlish figure. This, combined with the fact that I love french fries, made me determined to get a treadmill desk at some point in the future.

Fast-forward several years to the present when I now have a job where a treadmill desk would be ideal since I work from home and though I love my Aeron chair, I finally had the time and resources to put together my ideal treadmill desk set-up. Read on for the details about the design process and my now-complete set-up.

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Deal alert: 50% off Incase headphones

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I subscribe to local deal alerts from LivingSocial and Groupon, two of the largest and most well-known deal-of-the-day services in the U.S. This morning, a deal from LivingSocial caught my eye and I thought it may be of interest to you as well if you come to my site for gadget-related information. Today, LivingSocial is offering up to 54% off Incase headphones, bringing the price of the company’s most expensive model, the Sonic headphones, down to just $72 (with free shipping) from $149.95.

Incase entered the headphone market last year, a surprising move to me given their focus on bags and other small accessories to date. However, their headphones are decent according to the reviews I’ve read (you can read one at iLounge here and one at Cut of Mac here) and all of them include an inline microphone and remote control (with volume buttons) that work with the iPhone and portable Macs.

Here’s what the LivingSocial deal offers:

  • $32 for the Pivot headphones (regularly priced at $59.95)
  • $42 for the Reflex headphones (regularly priced at $79.95)
  • $72 for the Sonic headphones (regularly priced at $149.95)
Free shipping is included (Incase normally charges between $5 and $12 to ship items within the U.S.).
Incase Sonic Headphones in black

Incase Sonic headphones, image courtesy of Incase

This deal will be available for 4 more days, making its end date March 19 (I’m not sure of the exact time). You can see the deal and purchase it here. Though I’m not exactly in the market for a new pair of headphones, I couldn’t pass this up and purchased the Sonic model.

In case you’re not familiar with how LivingSocial and Groupon work, you make your purchase and then you’ll receive a voucher via email, which is usually also accessible through the respective iOS apps each company offers, with additional details on how to redeem your purchase. When I’ve purchased physical products through these companies before, the voucher usually contains a coupon code that can be used to order directly from the offering company’s website.

I hope this is useful to you! Please be sure to read the fine print and terms and conditions and know that I’m not affiliated with Living Social or responsible should anything go awry or not meet your expectations.

To buy: DODOcase Morris Lessmore case for the iPad 3

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I preordered an iPad 3 (a process that took me a couple of hours thanks to the overwhelming traffic Apple’s online store received after the close of the announcement event) and have been thinking, as always, about the accessories I’ll get for it. While a screen protector is certainly on my list, I’m also thinking that I’ll go back to DODOcase for a case this time after trying out the offerings from Portenzo and Treegloo for previous iPads.

I’ve almost always chosen plain black cases for my iPad since I don’t want to draw attention to it when I’m out and about. However, DODOcase has a hardcover case made in partnership with Moonbot Studios in honor of the Oscar-winning animated short film, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. The Morris Lessmore DODOcase case has a red faux leather cover and is foil stamped with the main character’s signature hat and cane on the cover and the letter M on the spine. I found the short film to be charming and see my own love of books and reading reflected in it.

(You can buy the short film directly from the iTunes Store here and there’s also an interactive iPad book app for it here.)

DODOcase has said via Twitter that its Morris Lessmore case for the iPad 3 won’t be available to order for a little while yet so I’m going to have to be patient. If you preordered an iPad 3, what accessories do you plan to buy for it?

iPad tips and tricks

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Did you just get a new iPad for Christmas? If so, you probably noticed that Apple doesn’t include a user guide with it and while it’s generally easy enough to use, there are a few tips and tricks that aren’t exactly intuitive to figure out on your own, especially if you’re new to Apple’s iOS products. Here’s a round-up of the most useful tips I use myself and that I’ve seen around the web recently:

Adjust screen brightness from the home screen

I do this often since I use my iPad primarily as an ebook reader and dimming its display at night is required if I don’t want to go blind while reading in bed. Double-clicking the home button brings up the app switcher bar and if you swipe all the way to the left (moving your finger from left to right), you’ll see a brightness control slider on the left side (the one on the right is volume). You can also mute the volume quickly here as well – just tap on the volume icon on the left.

Image courtesy of TechCrunch

Customize the function of the side switch

That little switch above the volume rocker can do one of two actions and you get to choose which. It can either lock in the current orientation of the iPad’s screen so it won’t change as you move, or it can serve as a mute switch to immediately make your iPad silent. You can access this in the Settings app under General:

I have mine set to lock rotation since this is something I need more often than muting the volume (I use the shortcut mentioned above for adjusting screen brightness to mute the volume when I need to).

Enable Emoji

You know those cute little smiley faces and other emoticons that can be handy (and fun) to use in your text messages on your cell phone? Well, they’re available on the iPad too. You just need to go to the Settings app and then to the General section and choose Keyboard. There, tap on International Keyboards, then Add New Keyboard and tap on Emoji in the list on the next screen. If that seemed confusing, see a more detailed step-by-step guide on Apple’s support site here. (This trick also works on the iPhone in iOS 5.)

“Restart” unresponsive apps

While most apps run without any problems most of the time, you’ll need to kill one every now and then and open it again to get it work right. TechCrunch covers how to do this in this guide that also contains a few other useful tips.

Starting from the beginning – complete guides

If you’re an absolute newbie to the iPad, check out this complete getting started guide by my friend Patrick Jordan over at iPad Insight.

A coworker at my day job, Nissa Campbell, has written an iPad/iPhone getting started and tips guide over at everythingiCafe here.

[frame]If you received a shiny new iPhone 4S for the holidays, be sure to check out my iOS 5 and iPhone 4S Tips & Tricks and iPhone 4S Camera Tricks articles for more useful information.[/frame]

I hope you are all enjoying the holidays!

A little retro iPhone case fun

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I found this case on Amazon and thought I’d try it out. Though I don’t like to admit it, I’m old enough to remember cassette tapes very well. I remember recording straight from my favorite radio stations using a small, cheap Panasonic boombox I had gotten for Christmas one year. I’d replay my favorite songs over and over, dancing to them in the basement. I’d make mix tapes and exchange them with my friends. I still have some of them in a box in the attic, though I don’t think I even have a tape player anymore to listen to them.

This case, which is made by Cbus Wireless, cost me just under $3 shipped from Amazon (it’s currently priced at $3.37 as I write this post). You can find it on Amazon here. It’s not the most well-made case – the cut-outs are sloppy, the mold seams are visible and the surface has multiple imperfections but I didn’t expect much for just $3. Regardless, it’s cute and nostalgic, particularly in contrast to the technological magnificence of the iPhone 4S itself.

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