Mike Vardy

The Problem with The Pomodoro Technique

The Pomodoro Technique has been around for a long time, and it has many devout followers. For those of you unfamiliar with this time management/productivity technique, here it is broken down into its basic steps: Choose a task. Set a timer to 25 minutes. Work on the task until the timer goes off. Record the […]

Goodbye Google: Subtracting Google+

The image you see above wasn’t what Google+ looked like at all the last time I used it. Google+ represents the company’s latest attempt to create a viable social network. And it looks as if they have succeeded – if only by sheer brute force. And (possibly) at the expense of what I’d call “pure”

Social Media…What Have You Done to Me?

I’ve been a pretty early adopter when it comes to social networking platforms. I was in on Twitter early, have been an avid Facebooker and have used all things in between. I have been going to Tweetups for as long as I can remember. And I enjoy dabbling in online social activity. That’s because I’m

On Bartending: Memoirs of an Apple Genius

I had the pleasure of meeting (and hanging out with) Stephen Hackett of 512Pixels while at Macworld | iWorld earlier this year 1, and he just released his first eBook, Bartending: Memoirs of an Apple Genius. Mind you, he released it a couple of days early, so I suppose one can consider it an Easter egg

Hello…Marked 1.4

I had the opportunity to meet Brett Terpstra at Macworld | iWorld, and we had some pretty great conversations in the brief time we had to chat. Since I’d been using Markdown for a while, I’d become more familiar with his work than ever before — and when I got the chance to try out

I’ve Gone Chibi

I was “chibi-fied” by Erin Feldman over at Write Right in this stellar work of art. Having never met me in person, Erin was able to glean enough from my writing, my podcasts and my interactions on social media to capture my essence in the caricature you see above.

DYSconnecting: The End of an Era

Tonight I recorded my last episode as a regular host on Dyscultured. The image above is the first banner that co-founder and good pal Anthony Marco put together for the podcast way back when.

User Error?

The image above is a tweet that really struck a chord. Not because it may or may not be true, but because it is so cut and dried in its delivery. I think it isn’t the tool that decides how it is used. This is especially so with the iPad.

7 Minutes

Since it’s all I have left in my MacBook Air’s battery charge, I have to ask: What can be done in 7 minutes? Not a ton of important stuff, but you certainly can lay the groundwork for some important stuff with that limit put in place. If you keep GTD in mind, then in 7