04.09.10
Posted in Life, Mobile, Tools at 6:00 pm by cphoton
Hi All!
As you may have noticed, this year I am focusing on doing exercise more often, and I intend to run a Marathon this year. This is something I have always wanted to do, but never did due to lack of self-discipline… Now that my mother has passed away (she was killed in a car crash recently), I want to achieve this goal to remember her (she was an athlete when she was young) and as a means of self treatment as well (Forrest Gump, anyone?).
In order to track my progress, I have been using a program for Windows Mobile called Marathon. It logs GPS data fetched from the mobile device, and then it gives you a lot of information, like current and average speed, a preview of the track, distance ran, calories burned (estimated, of course). It also has a feature called Announcements, where it tells you this information on a specified interval (time or distance, take your pick). This is very nice, as I am used to listening to music while I run, and I don’t want to take the phone out of the arm band just to look at the information. You can also set a goal and it will tell you how far behind or ahead of it you are.
Once finished, you can save the activity, and share the information via the program’s website (example), tweet a summary of it, or export it (this is useful as you can import the data into Google Earth or tracking services like Runmap.net or Garmin Connect and then publish to Facebook from them).
The only issue I have found so far is that my Omnia sometimes gets very bad GPS reception and the results get a bit distorted, but I think this is something due to the device itself more than the program’s fault, though. So far, the only solution I have found is to get a better GPS receiver (and get the heart monitored along the way).
Lastly, Marathon comes in several languages, including Spanish! (I made the translations, BTW 
). If you happen to know a language that Marathon does not support, you can do the translations in exchange for a free build (yes, it’s not free, but you can periodically download the latest beta bits, so it is not a big issue).
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09.14.08
Posted in Hacks, Life at 7:38 pm by cphoton
Hi All,
Finally I am breaking with the inertia of not updating this place as often as I would like!
This post is mainly focused to providing tips to increasing productivity. As some of you probably already know, I am usually filled with work for the entire day and as time goes by, I am forced to crank out more stuff in less time.
When I was faced with the dilemma to increase my productivity, I started wondering if there was any way to change myself in order to be more productive. Shortly after I discovered sites like Lifehack, Lifehacker and Zen Habits that give lots of advice on how to simplify organizing efforts and also how to change oneself in order to be able to achieve the goals intended.
Some of the key tips I have encountered are:
Of course there are many more tips, and most of the time implementing these tips are easier said than done, it is important to practice the discipline and have lots, lots and lots of patience to achieve the desired results. Most of the time you will experience failures, but the lesson here is to learn and adjust (meditation helps). Lots of tweaks might be necessary but once you reach the desired point it is very rewarding. I have a long way reaching that point yet, here are some tips to avoid when changing habits. I really like the part of trying any habit for 30 days, as it feels as if you are just trying a new program. If you like the new program, you can continue with the habit, if not, leave it alone 
Hoping this helps, I shall depart, and will try these techniques so that I can share interesting stuff more often here.
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06.01.08
Posted in Life at 9:04 pm by cphoton
This post is not about technical stuff, but a life related one.
About a month ago, my girlfriend Vero was working at the veterinary, when a coworker called her saying that she had found a kitten at the entrance door of her house, and was very small and sick. This is a common occurrence here as people often cannot take care of pets and abandon them for good and here in Uruguay there are no good laws regarding animal protection. Anyways, when the kitten was brought to the veterinary the kitten was in love for Vero and hugged her, and the kitten was so cute that Vero could not resist bringing it home, so she called me and asking to adopt her… Read the rest of this entry »
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