Leatherman Skeletool

This is a Leatherman that is worth carrying around. With pliers, a serrated knife, a bottle opener, and interchangeable screwdriver heads it is useful everyday. It is the lightest Leatherman, and I no longer notice it in my pocket. From opening boxes, to fixing everyday objects (loose knobs, leaky faucet, etc) I buy them in 3 packs so that when I misplace one, I never have to go without.

I also got the bit expansion pack which gave me many other screwdriver heads and an extension, but find that I never use it – the large and small phillips and flat head that come with it are great. Get it here.

Display Set for Digital Detox

Digital Detox needed a display booth for their Unplug SF event, and for the Launch conference.
Made from reclaimed pallets, and scrap wood. Signage hand painted, and flyers laser print transfered.

Dixital Detox
Dixital Detox
Dixital Detox
Dixital Detox

King size bed frame

Jim wanted to build a new bed frame to replace one that got destroyed while moving. We made it in 4 hours, at a cost of $94!

King Size Bed
King size bed

Fun Tech: Wimote Whiteboard

Wiimotes are cheap, and useful for all sorts of fun things! Just made this video to show off one of the things they can do.

 

C&B’s Old Fashioned Quinine Tonic

Friends who make things

Erin and Steph make their own Quinine tonic — it is delicious. I helped them with their packaging. I think it turned out pretty well!

Quinine Label
Quinine Bottle
Quinine Batch 1

Want some Quinine tonic of your own? Give me a shout. They are now selling it in San Francisco!

Small batches, made with care to order. You can get some of the first or second batches they are distributing to the public.

-Ben

Share with your tribe

Long ago it was prudent to share where good food, dangerous animals, and adequate shelter could be found with other members of your tribe. The more your tribe shared, the faster it learned.

Tribe: a distinctive close-knit group

How much of the digital content you consume comes to you by way of social media? Facebook, Twitter, the blogs you choose to read? How often do you re-share this information?

Instagram has a certain feel. People saw what others were doing with the filters, and started copying them. Then they started improvising and creating new content. This is happening with Vine now too. More people are becoming entrepreneurs because they see others doing it. We are a sharing and learning species.

I want a way for my tribe to give me daily, weekly, monthly updates on what they are learning. Where they failed, where they succeeded. The signal to noise ratio of Facebook makes it an imperfect platform for this. The time it takes to write an article and post it to a blog is a technological and mental hurdle for many people.

I want to learn from my tribe.

A few questions – and I really want answers:

  1. How big is your tribe?
  2. How do you share knowledge?
  3. What is the nature of the knowledge you share?
    • eg. Do you share instruction on how to build something, job openings, videos, photos, social knowledge (gossip!) etc…

4 of the Most Useful iOS 6 Jailbreak Apps

The iOS 6 jailbreak is being created by the fellows of evad3rs (with MuscleNerd) and can be found at http://www.evasi0n.com/ I have a list of useful iOS 6 jailbreak apps for you to try.

There has not been an iOS jailbreak for quite some time, and this will the first one that allows people with an iPhone 4S to upgrade their operating system.

Useful iOS 6 Jailbreak apps and tools

Jailbreaking allows you to do a lot with your phone. Here are some of my favorite tweaks.
You can get these apps on cydia – the jailbroken app store after you jailbreak.

Swipe Selection

This Cydia install allows you to simply move your fingers over the keyboard, like they were arrow keys. No more damn magnifying glass. This is the best update to typing on an iPhone, and worth jailbreaking for alone.

Activator

This tweak allows you to change how the hardware buttons (Home, Volume, sleep and mute switch) behave, or to make custom touch interactions. Now when I want to launch my sound recorder, I just double tab the lock screen clock. Double pressing the sleep button brings up 1Password, so I don’t have to remember long passwords.

f.lux

f.lux changes the color temperature of your screen depending on sunrise and sunset. This makes it easier on your eyes as it gets darker out. Because it changes to a more incandescent color – you do not get the “wake up” effect of staring at a screen.

3G Unrestrictor

Want to use facetime over 3G or LTE? This is your tool. It tricks any app into thinking 3G (or LTE) is actually wifi.

If you have any questions about jailbreaking or these useful iOS 6 Jailbreak apps – ask me! I am more than happy to walk you through it.