I read all my blogs using Reeder on Mac, iPad and iPhone, so I don't see any of the ads they run on the site. I'm glad they're making this move - I want them to continue to succeed, but I don't want to have to read their site in a browser.

My single biggest takeaway from SXSW was all the talk about battery life. Every single person. All the time. People changing plans because they needed to recharge their phones. People walking around with chargers. People who were chargers. Mophies galore. People uninstalling apps that would drain power. People putting phones into airplane mode in areas of weak signal. People borrowing other phones so they didn’t have to waste the power on their phone.

This is the way I live my life, almost every day, with the iPhone 4S but I don’t use a Mophie Juice Pack or any of its brethren.

I got a Zagg Sparq last year - an external battery with two USB ports - for two reasons:

1. I can charge anything with a USB port, not just my iPhone. In fact, the Sparq even comes with an “optimized” port for charging the iPad (up to 60% on the iPad 2. I’m sure much less on the new iPad.)
2. I prefer a “naked” iPhone. I store it in a leather iPhone wallet that I found on Etsy from seller “Tuchmade.” It rocks.

The downside: The Sparq is bigger, fatter and heavier than two iPhones.

I’ve even considered getting a second one (or perhaps try a different model from another company) as I’m finding that I can kill a fresh iPhone battery and a fully charged Sparq in a single (albeit long) day, especially in NYC.

So, all the weight that I’ve “lost” in my gear bag by getting a MacBook Air is now being replaced by spare batteries for my iPhone. There’s something very wrong with that.

[Power: MG Siegler]

The one complaint that some people seem to have is that it doesn't support Push Email. I've rarely used the Push Email feature in the iPhone mail client due to the major suckage of power from the battery.

However, that doesn't mean that I don't want to be notified of new email.

I use Google Apps Mail (Gmail with my own domain name) and the connection to that service is plain ol' IMAP. Built into the technical standard for IMAP is something called IMAP IDLE mode.

Basically, if your mail client supports this feature of IMAP, you'll receive notifications when you have new mail. Of course, the iPhone Mail app doesn't offer this (and neither does Sparrow) but that's OK: for a couple of bucks, you can purchase a third-party app that can do this for you.

The primary reason for going this route is battery life - IMAP IDLE immediately notifies me of new mail, but it doesn't automatically push all new mail to my phone and drain my battery in the process. This is also good to conserve bandwdith, especially now that our "unlimited" data plans aren't so unlimited anymore.

I've used a ton of these apps, but I'll shortcut the pros and cons of all of them and jump right to the winner here:

The best app for email notifications (so far) is eNotify.

It has lots of options for each email account including things like"Quiet Time" so that you can leave your phone on at night and not be woken by the alerts as well as some advanced features I've not found in any other app of it's kind.

For example, you can have it solely notify you of new mail from a particular person like, say, a client or your spouse and no one else. Or, you can have it monitor a particular folder to tell you when your favorite newsletter arrives. Stuff like that.

Cons: the app developer doesn't understand the "less is more" theory of development. The app is absolutely HUGE by iPhone standards (11 MB) since it includes a bazillion sound files that you can select for audible notifications, and in the last update, the app now includes some kind of VOIP client? (I have no idea. And there's little or no documentation. Just turn it off.)

Oh - and the icon is ugly as sin, but you get used to it. (I won't even include it in this post. I have standards, after all.) ;)

So, if you haven't purchased Sparrow for iPhone yet, go do it now. Then mosey on over to buy eNotify so you can be alerted of new mail.

The Summit is NY's premier event for small business owners, entrepreneurs and business professionals looking to network (500+ attendees), learn from experts, meet with exhibitors and win great prizes.

At the Summit you'll...

• Learn how Orabrush used creativity and low cost video to boost sales of their tongue cleaners.
• Hear from Dell how the power of online software can help you grow your business.
• Listen how Bonobos' customer service ninja works to please customers and sell more pants!
• Enjoy the luncheon keynote by John "ColderICE" Lawson that will have you laughing, crying - and inspired
• Listen to Scott Hintz, Founder of Tripit, share his success in building and selling two businesses - powerful lessons for EVERY business owner
• Learn form a sales guru about her secrets to getting the customer to say YES!
• Enjoy breakfast, lunch and LOTS MORE...

Tickets are $149 until Feb 24th, then they go to $199 - BUT I've got a special deal for you.

1. The first 20 people to register can attend complimentary using this discount link:
   http://smallbiztechsummit.eventbrite.com/?discount=newrules-comp

1. The first 50 people to register can attend for only $49 (until Feb 24th) using the discount link:
   http://smallbiztechsummit.eventbrite.com/?discount=newrules

Check out all the details here - http://www.smallbiztechsumimt.com

We adopted a ten-year old chocolate Cocker Spaniel named Oreo whose owner was moving from a house to an apartment and couldn't take him. Given our history with rescue dogs, we know that it's typical for older dogs to be passed over for adoption since most families want younger dogs or puppies.

We didn't want to see him spend the rest of his life in a foster home (or worse) so we decided to welcome him to our family. He's a great dog and gets along well with our Lucy, a four-year old, black and white, parti-colored Cocker Spaniel.

Oreo has a microchip but we don't know who the vendor is, so we can't find the registry. That means that the old guy definitely needed new dog tags.

I started poking around the Interwebs and found a few interesting things.

You can get pet tags with QR codes!

Unlike many of the silly uses of QR codes that I see, this is a brilliant use of the technology: find a pet, scan the QR code on its tag and find out all about them including their owner's name and address, eating habits, favorite activities, medical history - the works.

One thing really bugged me, though: the only QR code pet tag solution I could find is managed by one company: PetHub. I tried creating profiles for both of our dogs but I found the service slow and buggy.

Plus, as a person who calls himself "half-geek, on my mother's side," I knew I could do better, so I did. ;)

Here's how.

Requirements

• Standard Web Pages & Mobile-Optimized Web Pages. Anyone who may find the dogs should be able to load a web page to learn more about them. The pages should also be optimized for mobile browsers since someone may use a smartphone to read them.
• Short URL. For those people who can't use the QR code on their phone or prefer to type a URL into a desktop browser, a short URL is required so that it can fit on the tag in a single line of text.
  
  For the sake of longevity and flexibility, I want to be able to redirect the short URL to the page of my choosing in case I decide to change the location of the web pages later. This way, I don't have to pay for another set of tags should the ultimate destination change.
  
  Note that most short url providers (bitly, tinyurl, etc) don't allow you to change the URL destination. (This is a spam prevention measure.) As a result, you may have to set up your own URL shortener. More on this later.
• Bonus: SMS autoresponder. Texting is the lowest common denominator for mobile phones. If someone has a Feature phone they may not have a mobile web browser. Using an SMS response tool, they can always send a text message to learn more about the dog.

So, let's begin.

Pick a Code

First, decide what kind of QR code you want to use. QR codes can contain all different kinds of data: paragraphs of text, vCards, URL's - even commands for your phone to send an SMS message or launch an application. (These are usually platform dependent, though and not appropriate for this use case.)

The more data the code contains, the more complex the code will be to read. More importantly, depending on the QR code reader, your phone may not be able to act upon the data embedded in the code.

For example, I've encountered many QR code readers on the iPhone that simply don't know what to do with a vCard. (FYI: Qrafter is the best QR code reader for the iPhone.)

With this in mind, I decided to encode a simple URL in the QR codes for my pet tags. URLs seem to be the universal data supported on smartphone QR code readers.

The URL encoded in the QR code will be the short URL I mentioned in the requirements. More on this later.

The Destination

With that out of the way, it was time to decide where to point this URL.

You can create a mobile-optimized site using plain text files, basic HTML, mobile-optimized RapidWeaver themes, Wordpress.com, Blogger.com - whatever you want.

Since I'm very familiar with self-hosted Wordpress, I selected it as the platform for this solution. With the right plugins, it can serve up standard web pages as well as mobile-optimized versions.

If you already have a blog, you can simply create a post that contains the information about your pet and skip the section where I describe how I set up Wordpress for this project.

The Short URL

I registered my own domain (jfed.me) for this purpose. Again, this is so that I have ultimate control over the short URL's destination. Plus, it's just cool. ;)

The Setup

This my setup. Choose what works best for you.

1. Install:

• Wordpress (Pick any theme)
• Wordpress Mobile Pack plugin (For mobile-optimized pages)
• W3 Super Cache plugin (For super fast pages. Optional, but definitely worth the few minutes to set it up. There are other caching plugins but this one is supported by the Mobile Pack.)
• Yourls (a private, custom URL shortener)

2. Activate and configure the plugins

3. Create your pages. You can either create Wordpress Pages or Posts. (I chose Pages.)

4. Populate each page or post with information about your pet. (Contact information, vaccinations, favorite foods, toys, etc.)

Shorten the URL

Once you've create the pages with your pet's information, copy the url and shorten it using your Yourls installation or your URL shortener of choice.

Create a QR Code

Now that you've got a place to point interested parties and a short URL to get them there, you need to create a QR code. There are a number of sites where you can create a QR code but this is my favorite QR code generator - it's made by the same developer who created Qrafter, the QR code reader for iPhone that I mentioned above.

Simply enter the short URL and submit the form. (There are a bunch of options in this tool, but you don't need to be concerned with them.)

Save the image of the QR code to your hard drive. You'll need it later.

Working with Text Messages

As I mentioned in my requirements, I wanted to see if I could figure out a low-cost solution for SMS autoresponders using infrastructure I already had in place.

For this, I chose Twilio and their OpenVBX software.

Twilio offers Voice and Text Messaging as a Service. Simply put, with a little code and a Twilio account, you can create applications that use Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) or SMS text messages.

If you don't code, that's ok - you can setup an instance of OpenVBX and use that. Even better - if you don't know how to install OpenVBX, Dreamhost offers a one-click installation process. All you have to do is tell Dreamhost where to install it in your Dreamhost account, then login using your browser to configure it.

Twilio charges $1 per month for a local number and 1 cent for each SMS message sent or received. The OpenVBX software is free.

I use OpenVBX and a Twilio number as a phone system for my company. I have a second number that we use use only for conference calls, so using that second number, I instructed OpenVBX to create an autoresponder, one for each dog.

(Note that I've replaced some of the numbers and email addresses below to keep them private.)

This means that when someone texts Oreo to (212) XXX-XXXX, they'll receive the following message:

Oreo is up-to-date on all of his vaccinations.

HE DOES NOT BITE though may growl if approached while eating.

http://jfed.me/oreo

or respond with "contact"

If someone responds with contact they'll receive the following message:

It's best to contact John at 201 XXX XXXX or

abc@newrules.com

You can also contact Denise at 973 XXX XXXX or

xyz@newrules.com

Create the Tags

So, where do you get pet tags with custom QR codes on them?

Etsy.

After a few searches on Duck Duck Go, I found Etsy maker "postlife." He has laser engraved dog tags on offer, mostly for wear by humans.

If they're good enough for humans, they're good enough for my dogs. ;)

The seller indicated that he could engrave both sides. Once I confirmed this, I paid him via PayPal and sent him the QR code I made for one side of the tag and text for the other side.

The back of Oreo's tag contains:

"Oreo"

Maplewood, NJ

Call 973-XXX-XXXX

Text "Oreo" to

212-XXX-XXXX

jfed.me/oreo

Lucy's is the same, except for the keyword that people send via text message.

So now, both of our dogs have new pet tags connected to me and my wife using a handful of modern communication tools.

It was a fun little project, but I hope no one ever has to use them. Funny how that works, huh?

Join me - you'll be able to listen live or grab the podcast next week.

My son loves to read, so my wife and I decided to get him a Kindle Touch for Christmas.

He recently turned nine and we think that he's responsible enough to care for an eReader - and what better way to demonstrate our confidence in him than to surprise him on Christmas day?

The problem that we had (as do many parents of young children) is the lack of parental controls on Kindle devices.

Kindles have gotten cheap enough that they can serve as suitable replacements for kid's books without breaking the bank (or a kid's back) but they're still designed with adults in mind: one-click purchases for books, games, apps, movies, music and audiobooks. (Sorry, Amazon, but that doesn't work in our house.)

So, I set about figuring out how to handle this with our son.

First I thought I would connect his Kindle to my Amazon account, then he and I would discuss the rules for making new book purchases: all purchase decisions would occur together, between him and me. The first time this rule was broken, the Kindle would get put away for awhile.

This sounds good in theory, but it definitely doesn't help us demonstrate our trust in him. (One-click purchases and kids just don't mix.) It also required that we share a Kindle library. Practically speaking, it's not ideal: his actions would be recorded as my actions and his purchase decisions would affect my Amazon Recommendations.

So, I thought I'd try a little experiment: does an Amazon account require a credit card? It turns out that it doesn't!

Amazon will let you have an account but prompt you for a credit card before each purchase. (But then keeps this card on file until you delete it.) Not a perfect solution, but better than the previous scenario.

The obvious downside to this approach is that I have to enter a credit card for each purchase, then delete it afterward so as to hamstring one-click purchases.

Then, I remembered that Kindle books can be given as gifts.

For parents who want to let their young kids use a Kindle, this is the solution:

• Create a new Amazon account for your child (You'll need to enter a unique email address but luckily, Amazon doesn't ask about date of birth.)

• Each time that you and your child determine that a purchase is appropriate, launch your Amazon account and find the book (or other digital media) that your child wants.

• Under "Buy Now with One-Click" you'll see "Give as a Gift". Select that option.

• Next, you'll need to enter the recipient's email address. If you have younger kids that don't regularly use email yet, be sure to select "Email the gift to me." (My son has an address, but he doesn't use it much.)

• Login to your child's Amazon account and go to amazon.com/acceptgift. (I've been keeping my son's Amazon account open in iCab Mobile on my iPad and keeping a passcode on the app, so I don't have to continually login.)

• Enter the redemption code that you received via email and the book will be added to your child's library.

That's it.

Your child will have their own Amazon digital media library without the sudden surprises that accompany one-click purchases. Plus, when they're old enough, they'll have an Amazon account they can call their own.

I ordered a pair of prescription sunglasses from Eyefly.com through a great deal on Living Social. ($49 for a complete pair of glasses, shipped.)

That was pretty cool, but this is even cooler:

While browsing for glasses on Eyefly, you can take a photo of yourself with a webcam. The site uses software that will automagically place a 3D rendering of the glasses on your face so you can see how they might look. (Adobe Flash required.) :P

The software isn't perfect, as it automatically adds mirrored tinting to the sunglasses, but the "fit" is pretty good. See the photo above.

(No, I hadn't yet shaved. Or showered. Just ignore that part.) ;)

This is an excellent tool for selling a product online that people typically prefer to first try on. To add to shopper's comfort level, they also include Zappos-style free shipping and returns.

I will most likely get another pair from Eyefly because of this crazy-cool feature. (Though I wish they would allow me to add sunglass tinting to a regular prescription frame.)

[Eyefly]

A while back I wrote a post about my experience searching for pre-paid mobile broadband. I ultimately chose Virgin Mobile USA as my provider but one thing that bugged me was that I had to use the MiFi 2200 mobile hotspot since there were no drivers for their USB dongles for OS X Lion.

I've always known that the MiFi could be tethered to a Mac using its USB cable, but I also thought that the drivers for Lion weren't available.

As it turns out, I get the best of both worlds with the MiFI.

Either the drivers were recently update during an OS X Software Update or I just plain missed the fact that you can tether the MiFi 2200 to your Mac running OS X Lion. (At least using 10.7.2. I haven't tried to tether using earlier versions of Lion.)

The process is simple:

1) Connect your MiFi to your Mac using its USB cable.

2) Go to the Airport menu in your dock, scroll down to the bottom and select "Open Network Preferences..."

3) Select "Novate...Modem" (Novatel Wireless Modem) from the list to the left.

4) Enter your Account Name (Device Phone Number) and Password (MSID) and click "Connect"

If your credentials are correct and your account balance is up-to-date, you'll be online in a few seconds. 

Benefits to this Approach

• If your Mac is plugged-in to AC power, you can work all day without worrying about the battery on your MiFi since it will be continually charged.
• You can still share your 3G connection using your Mac's ability to act as an ad hoc hot spot. (The WiFi is disabled on the MiFi when it's charging.)
• You don't have to worry about all the interference on the 2.4 Ghz band (aka "The Junk Band") that your MiFi uses for its hotspot. Since you're getting your data over the wire, you mitigate any potential network latency that can be caused by the "3G > Hotspot > Computer" networking you have to perform when using the MiFi's built-in hotspot.

Do you have any other tips for using mobile broadband with your Mac?

Starting in January, you'll be able to watch live HD TV on your Boxee Box using a new USB dongle from the company.

Announced today, the device will cost $49 and will enable you to view live HD channels from your local broadcasters - ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX with no monthly fee as these are over-the-air (OTA) HD channels produced for your local market.

While this is certainly a nice add-on for those people who don't want to wait for their favorite shows to arrive on Vudu/Hulu/Netflix or other on-demand channels, Team Boxee is positioning this as an alternative to your cable subscription. ("Is it really worth $85 a month?")

While that's certainly a valid question, with only small exceptions most of the television that we watch in our house isn't available OTA. (Keep in mind, I have nine-year-old. Kids change the equation...)

Plus, Boxee doesn't provide DVR functionality for these OTA HD channels. Even though there's one show on ABC that we watch consistently in our house, we certainly don't schedule our day around it in order to watch it live - we watch it from the DVR.

With all that said, if you're a Boxee fan and an avid cord-cutter but still miss your live sports or other network shows, then this device is for you.

The Boxee Live TV dongle is $49 and will ship in January. You can pre-order one now directly from Boxee.

[Boxee Blog]