iSlice iDice
Here’s our inspiration for this whole thing. BodyGuardz, yes with a ‘z’, put their product to the test as a cutting board. The normal iPad glass holds up alright on its own, but this is of an anti-scratch surface.

Gleaming The Cube
These two dudes answer the question that nobody asks: Why it shred? To say that the iPad shreds is a little bit of a stretch, but it is kinda fun to watch these tatted-up guys destroy an expensive piece of technology.

Float-Mount It, or Something
Why go with a run-of-the-mill car stereo or smartphone adapter when you can just pay a huge amount of money to install an iPad in your dashboard? This magnetic kit should look awesome in your iRoc.

$600 Pet Toy
Eventually, there will be YouTube videos of pets playing with every object ever made. Today, it’s an iPad. If you can hang in there for over a minute, you’ll get to see a monkey try to make sense of it. Totally worth it.

Become a Painter
This video from 2010 shows the first iPad artshow by well-known artist David Hockney, an English Pop Artist. He paints flowers using the app Brushes, which is cool. But there’s some great works of art on Instagram, too.

Learn Guitar, Sorta
Isn’t there a better way to avoid learning how to play guitar than games like Rock Band? Of course. The All-Star Guitar transforms an iPad or iPhone into a MIDI guitar. And it has a teaching program for some reason. Weird.

]]> http://rippleit.com/things-you-can-do-with-your-ipad/feed/ 0 Videos,ipad http://rippleit.com/kick-ass-it-is-your-best-perk http://rippleit.com/kick-ass-it-is-your-best-perk#comments Wed, 12 Jun 2013 13:24:34 +0000 Mike Landman http://rippleit.com/?p=5075 continue reading]]>

Image courtesy of Deloitte Access Economics

Foosball, flex-time, coffee, snacks, parties. All really cool work perks. But you know the one your people really want?

Kick-ass IT.

The #1 perk for people in the workplace is being able to get their job done with the least friction possible. And we’ve written about how how IT support keeps people productive, and why companies should view IT as an investment, but new research from Google and Deloitte Access Economics discovered another benefit of having kick-ass IT support:

Employees who are happy with their workplace IT are one third less likely to leave the company than those who are unhappy.

The rest of the research is interesting and all but if there is only one nugget to takeaway, it’s that you can have employees who are happier, more productive, and way less likely to leave if you make kick-ass IT a perk.

Oh, I’ll definitely shill here: Ripple can help you do that.

1. Flvto Converter
With Flvto, you can easily convert YouTube videos to MP3 audio files. Just enter the URL of the Youtube video you want to convert and click the “Convert to” button. In a few seconds, or minutes depending on the file size, you’ll get a ready mp3 file. Helpful for when you want to snag a viral video song to add to your workout mix. Ta-da!

2. Studyblue
StudyBlue is made for students, mostly. But it can be really handy for creatives, presenters and teachers looking to absorb or brush up on any given subject. It’s basically a digital flash card site loaded with a bunch of other learning tools. Studyblue is social as well, and allows people to share flashcards, create study guides and even design quizes. Oh, and it’s not limited to laptops. You can download Studyblue mobile apps via iTunes and Google Play.

3. The Oatmeal
Useful tool? Nope. But The Oatmeal is loaded with poignant comics, unique quizes, informative illustrations and some pretty interesting articles. It’s kinda a blog via digital comic strips from this guy, Mark Inman. That’s all we’ll say about it, other than that you should check it when you have a chance.

Microsoft has announced that they’ll be ending extended support for Windows XP on April 8th, 2014. Mainstream support for XP ended way back in 2009, but the failure of Vista and Windows 7 to gain popularity led Microsoft to continue patching up it’s trusty workhorse.

So, what does the end of extended support mean exactly? Well, for one, Windows XP will be seeing the last of service updates, patches, etc. And that means it will become a lot more vulnerable to security threats like new malware and viruses. Third-party companies will be a lot less concerned that their software won’t make XP act funny or just plain crash it. And there’s a pretty decent chance that certain software updates won’t jive with an outdated OS. You don’t have to be an IT pro to understand that all of this adds up to bad news for persistent XP users who don’t make the switch.

If you’re planning to stick with the Windows line, check out this “End of support” chart which lists the lifecycles of currently supported Microsoft operating systems. The rule of thumb here is to not pick a system that’s already ended mainstream support (ahem, Vista). Do the research on the rest and find out which one will benefit you the most.

Click image to view larger

Or if you wanna explore some Windows alternatives, we suggest looking into something like Ubuntu or Fedora, which are two popular Linux distributions. Then again, you could always go Apple. Nearly every PC can run some version of Mac OS. But keep in mind, if it’s not a currently supported operating system then you’re likely to have the same problems with any of these as you will with Windows XP after April, 2014.

National Day of Civic Hacking will be unique to each city depending on that area’s specific needs. It might take the form of a block party, hackathon, brigade meetup - or something completely different. The goal of this year’s National Day of Civic Hacking is to get at least one city in all 50 states and territories to participate. Even the White House has pledged to get in on the action.

Read more about the whole event on the Hack for Change website. And if you don’t see your hometown on the list of participating cities, then get involved and sign up. Here’s a list of the events occurring in Ripple-supported cities:

As a content creator working for a b2b IT service provider, my schedule is a bit more flexible than say one of the guys on the Support Team. It’s their job to solve problems for our clients, most of which maintain a 9-5 schedule. So, Support tends to work those hours, though they’re certainly able to do the things they need to anytime with some simple communication. And, like myself, they can do most of what they do from anywhere including the office, their home or a park bench (provided they have a long enough extension cord).

I’m a late riser. More accurately I’m a night owl, but also a fanatical worker. Once I’m in the groove, I can write, edit, and design for hours on end, day or night. My fiancee is accustomed to seeing me in front of my laptop typing away well after midnight with just a pitcher of water on the desk and my dog by my feet. But there’s a certain stigma attached to waking up at any hour after 9 AM and tackling work late at night. At other companies I’d likely be branded “lazy” and “not a team player”.. no matter how great my work is, or whether it’s completed on time. That doesn’t make any sense to me, and thankfully Ripple sees it the same way. I can, and often do the majority of my content creation and other tasks from home. I usually go into the office a few times a month for meetings, to connect with coworkers, and when I need to force one of my fellow Ripplers to get on camera for another video.

But the perks of working from home are just half of my ROWE experience. The real joy I feel comes from being trusted to do my work wherever and whenever I want to, so long as I get the job done. It’s amazing how just being treated like an adult and not a presumed thief has affected how I feel about the work I do and the people with whom I work. It’s a great feeling and a true motivator to say the least.

It’s possible that ROWE might not work for every company, everywhere in the world. But here’s my general advice to skeptics: Since results are what really matter, let the focus be on them alone. If you’ve hired the right people to get those results and given them the right tools to get their jobs done, they’ll thrive both personally and professionally like never before.

 1. World Time Buddy

Who couldn’t use another buddy, right? Well, how about one that let’s you know what time it is, no matter where your other buddies are located? That’s what the World Time Buddy does. So, you’ll know exactly how late it is in South Asia before inviting your friends in Bangladesh to a Google Hangout. Oh, and this is one buddy that won’t ask you to help them move into a new place or pick them up from the airport. How’s that for a selfless friend? Thanks, WTB.

 2. The Matboard

The Matboard is a social bookmarking hub which aims to enable users to explore, share, and inspire creative work via visual content and social media sharing. So, it’s like a Pinterest that’s geared for creative professionals. You can even use its location filter to search through work produced in your area, which makes it a pretty good resource for those looking to find a creative as well. Oh, and if that doesn’t strike your fancy, well, at least there’s some nice content to click through.

3. Shopkick

Yes, another shopping rewards app.. only this one is easy to use, has no applications to fill out, and there’s no purchase required or fee for use. You just need a smartphone and the app to instantly earn “kicks” which are basically points that you can redeem at places like Starbucks or save them up for larger ticket items from places like Tiffany & Co, Nike, etc. Can’t hurt, right? You can even tie Shopkick to your VISA and/or MC creditcard and rack up more kicks each time you use them.

So, those are our selections for the month of May. We hope you find them to be useful, or at least worth a minute of your time investigating. We’ll have another round of favorite websites next month. If you have some that you think we should mention, please comment below with the url. Thanks!

Located in The Metropolitan warehouses, Freeside is the largest markerspace in the the southeast. We’re talking 6,000 sq/ft, featuring 3D printers, an electronics lab, a classroom, workshop, media lab, two auto bays, a ton of co-working areas and Ripple Free WiFi throughout the building.

Stop by on a Tuesday night to see what it’s all about, and consider becoming a member. The monthly rate is just 80 bucks ($40 for starving tech students), which includes a bunch of benefits like 24/7 access to the building, dedicated storage space, members-only wifi access points, etc. Even if you’re not sure you wanna join up, the open house nights are a great way to meet collaborators, creatives, and some really smart people doing some really cool things.

We’ll be sporting ‘Start IT Up’ shirts most Fridays, and handing them out to fellow members as we run into them. So, yeah. We’re stoked to be part of it all. If you’re an ATV’er and won’t be able to attend this week’s Free Lunch Friday, then come say “Hey” to the Ripple team in Suite 310 and grab a shirt. Don’t cost nothin’.

The most important aspect of a Results-Only Work Environment is the emphasis on personal responsibility. In traditional workplaces, the focus might be on how often someone’s in the office, or how many billable hours they submit to their clients. But being in the office and sending out statements doesn’t have anything to do with the actual work being done. The focus should be on the results of their work.

Managers in traditional workplaces assume that if they don’t physically see their employees planted in their seats for a solid 8 hours, then they’re probably not doing their jobs. In a ROWE company, everyone is trusted to get their work done wherever, however, and whenever they need to. They’re judged solely on the work they do and the results they get, nothing more.

Fearing that their employees can’t be trusted, business owners and managers have put in place an extensive system of rules and regulations to police them. Keep in mind, these people have been hired by the same company and management that doesn’t trust them to do their jobs without being surveilled. What does this say about the people they’ve hired? And perhaps more importantly, what does this say about the company doing the hiring?

What it all boils down to is this: Good employees want the freedom to do their jobs and meet their deadlines without having to play office politics. After all, they were hired for the work they can do, not how long they can sit at a desk. As Liz Ryan recently wrote in Bloomberg Businessweek:

If we value talent, we’ll start dismantling the lumbering Godzilla of controls and policies that hampers creativity in virtually every organization, and we’ll start trusting ourselves to hire people we trust. Then our jobs will get easier and the energy at work will improve dramatically.

Indeed. It’s time companies start treating their people with the same trust and respect they give their clients and customers. We give Ripplers the freedom to kick ass by allowing them to decide where and when to work. The whole concept of a results-only environment might be a little intimidating to bosses used to the traditional management mentality of keeping people productive by keeping an eye on them. But if you can’t trust your people to use their own judgement, then you’ve probably hired the wrong people.