Sarah's Faves

Calling all Apple fanboys and girls! It’s pretty likely that the new MacBook Pro 2012 will be announced this June at WWDC. Want to be among the first to get one? There’s a giveaway for that.

I’m teaming up with the charming marketing wiz, Jason Sadler of @iwearyourshirt to give away the new MacBook Pro 2012 and spread the word about an online tool that will help to organize your life. It’s not too good to be true. It is true.

Jason and I are crazy inundated with emails, information, tasks and our personal lives — just like you. We teamed up to challenge one another to stop the insanity and get on track. Enter Tracky.

Tracky is a social collaboration platform and their online and mobile platform is, well, a game changer.

(I’m not the only one who thinks so. They just won first place for “best web app” at Future Insights Live, judged by super smart peeps like Jason Calacanis — @jason).

I’m constantly looking for better systems to get things done (GTD for the productivity enthusiasts out there). When CEO of Tracky, David Gosse (@davidgosse), demoed it for me, I was smitten. My reaction? This is project management for people who hate project management (or productivity apps, or simple to do lists, or whatever). Why? Because it’s not ONLY about a faster, simpler and mobile way of getting things done, it’s also about social collaboration – that is, finding people who are the best at what they do and being able to connect and collaborate with them. I need this to schedule my life, curate ideas and share information with my social circles and find other people I want to work with.

(We even used Tracky to plan this giveaway — down to the last, tiny detail.)

And now, that “little” giveaway I mentioned…

This giveaway will award a random participant with the nerdtasticness that is going to be the MacBook Pro 2012 AND it’s going to help Tracky get users, followers and spread the message of a better way to collaborate. Just enter the Rafflecopter giveaway below. The more actions you take, the more entries you get, increasing your chances of winning the MacBook Pro 2012.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The giveaway closes on May 23, 2012.

If you get swept up in the excitement and buy your Apple product on launch day, you’re missing out on some pretty big savings. dealnews analyzed the last three years’ worth of Apple deals to find out when it’s the best time to buy:

Did you know Amazon, MacMall, and MacConnection are authorized Apple resellers and almost always undercut Apple Store prices? Now you do.

Ever want to share a FAVE Twitter conversation you had with the rest of your followers? It was a time consuming (and often avoided) process…before today. Now you can easily share your thought-provoking banter, thanks to a new partnership between Storify and Tweetbot.

Tweetbot, called the best Twitter app in the App Store” by The Business Insider  released version 2.3 – today (Monday, April 30), complete with “share conversations” feature and Storify integration. Can I just voice my tech-entitled little voice and say, “FINALLY!!!!” This is one of those features I’ve been waiting for Twitter itself to create and it looks like I’m not the only one.

Many times I tweet with people and want to share our conversation either privately with a peer (via email) or publicly with other Twitter followers (via a tweet). Tweetbot now lets you grab an entire Twitter thread and tweet a link to it within Storify.

Wondering how this works? Well, if you don’t have an iPhone or iPad you may want to look away. That’s right. For now it only works for Apple fanboys and girls.

The good, old “how to” direct from the Storify team:

1. Download the Tweetbot app
2. Get a Storify account (if you don’t already have one)
3. See an interesting @reply on Tweetbot and swipe to the right to reveal the entire conversation.
4. From the drop-down menu, click to Tweet this Conversation
5. A new story is automatically created on your Storify account linked to your Twitter account. If you don’t have a Storify account or if your Twitter identity is not linked to your account, it will automatically create a new Storify user.
6. A tweet is generated with a link to the Storify story of the conversation. Add your own message and share it with your followers!
7. Your followers can now click on the link and enjoy the conversation on Storify.

On April 29, Kickstarter, the peer-to-peer crowdfunding site, celebrated their third birthday. Here’s wishing them many more successful years.

In a post reminiscing about the big launch, co-founder Yancy Strickler shares,

“In February 2009 we shared a closed alpha version of the site with friends. On Tuesday, April 28, 2009, the site went live. Perry launched the first project — Grace Jones Does Not Give a F$#% T-Shirt (Limited Edition) — and I was the first backer. Perry and I launched another project that day with our friend Claudia called New York Makes a Book.

The first successfully funded project was on May 3, 2009. It was called Drawing for Dollars and it raised $35 from three backers, Perry included. It was a start! Three projects were successfully funded that first week. As of this writing, there have been 21,922 successfully funded projects since.”

photo credit: SurprisePally via photo pin cc

How does Zappos find out if people like pickles or string cheese better during a live event? With Wedgies. Yep. Wedgies. It’s a simple survey tool. One question, two choices and real-time responses.

You know me. I like things that are easy to use. If a web tool, app or platform challenges my brain too much I’m lost. A tool like Wedgies (great name) is beyond simple and serves a purpose. It’s a browser-based survey tool and it allows you to create a question and share it via text-sharing and social platforms.

It’s as simple as signing in with Twitter or Facebook or just using the “share with friends” feature.

You can even add pictures to your Wedgies.

Here’s what it looks like when you send your question as a text:

And, you can view (or share) your results real-time. That’s one Wedgie I want to pick!

Hate it when your FAVE website doesn’t have an RSS feed? Have no fear, yoktu’s feedmaker is here (actually they’ve been here a while).

Next time you can’t find a web page’s RSS feed, you won’t have to curl up in the fetal position and cry. Why? Because you bookmarked feedmaker. (You’re so smart.) Simply visit the site, enter the URL and press enter. Boom!

A round of applause for today’s quick tip. Why, thank you.

Not sure what to get your geeky mom for Mother’s Day? Pssst. It’s Sunday, May 13. Check out my personal recommendations and make sure you remain your mom’s FAVE child.

Who can go wrong with a pair of Tom’s, especially when you know someone else benefits, too? These Classic Mother’s Day Canvas shoes will remind Mom of your adoration for the next 365 days (and beyond).

Pretty sure your mom will geek out over this simple, classic “geek ring.” And, for $10 it won’t break the bank. Look at you being all thrifty and thoughtful at the same time.

For the mustachio-loving mama, here’s a fun pajama set from Top Shop. If you participate in Movember, you may want to purchase this for next year’s festivities.

Really want to go all out? Buy mom my FAVE music system from Sonos. If it’s her first Sonos don’t forget to buy a bridge (or it won’t work). This is the music system we use in the Evans household. Granted the nice folks at Sonos gifted us the speakers, we were fans long before.

What was once butt dialing (i.e. cell phone in your back pocket) has now become baby dialing. The Fisher Price iPhone case lets you hand over your phone without fear. Although I can’t personally attest to it, the makers say the case protects from dribbles, drips, drools and teething.  There’s also free learning apps to go along with the case. It’s a can’t lose gift idea.

Love that geek chic look but don’t want to break the bank? Warby Parker has you covered. Every pair is $95 — including prescription lenses. For every pair of glasses purchased, the philanthropic folks at Warby Parker donates a pair to someone in need. That makes me feel good.

Computer key letter “M” + necklace = happy momma! Love this. This very green gift is a recycled keyboard letter mounted on a piece of shiny glass. Points to you for being so creative.

Who doesn’t want an auto folding stroller? As long as there’s no chance it folds up with Baby K in it, I wouldn’t balk at this gift. It’s luxury meets convenience in all the right ways. You can buy the Origami Auto Power Folding Stroller from Think Geek.

Don’t forget a special card! We moms love that stuff. If you’re not one for the homemade kind, this one will do (and then some). The word “Mothers” is spelled out using periodic table tiles. Awe!

Sick of the same old, boring screen scroll of hashtags at events? Screenfuse is innovating how brands share their digital footprint, increase onsite follows and engage with attendees.

Ever attended an event where speakers have to stand in front of a giant screen scrolling tweets of the event hashtag? It’s overdone people! Let it go. Time to think about how to better utilize and engage the backchannel during events. Screenfuse is an interactive web app and intelligent filtering platform that allows brands to share professionally branded content. I love it. We’re finally moving beyond “just the tweet.” Now brands can share real-time multimedia, like Instagram photos or foursquare checkins. Even better? In the midst of all those tweets brands can insert advertisements or event-specific messaging.

Creating a basic Screenfuse display is as easy as what you see below:

You’re probably wondering what it looks like and how much it costs, right? I did, too. You can get a pretty good idea of how Screenfuse works by taking a look at the screenshot below.

As far as cost goes, they have pricing packages that aren’t too shabby. If you want a “starter” (or basic) package that includes a single stream, custom logo and colors (minus the ads) it will run you $29 month. There’s also a “standard” package that includes multiple streams, custom logo and colors, changeable venue text shoutout (and also without ads) for $59 per month. At the other end of the spectrum there’s a “corporate” package that allows you to do all of the above but includes ad serving, analytics, custom theme, live moderation and a bunch of other cool stuff for $999 per month.

Founders Evan Nagle, John Garcia and Mike Prasad whipped this up in under a month all thanks to The Greenhouse Innovation Hub in Kaka’ako. Go team tech!

Want a demo? You can request one direct from their site.

NEW! The LOL series on FAVES.

First up is a new comic strip by the uber talented David Murray. Give a warm welcome to Andy and Trout. It’s a collection of lost superheros and super villains doing their best to live the civilian life while trying not to drive each other crazy.

Facebook profile

Why do I love Andy and Trout? One. Because David is awesome. Two. Because of his dedication to, “all the great comic strips before it, and to all the geeks. You know who you are.”

Want more Andy and Trout? Go here.

This is part of the Sarah’s FAVES OBAG series. What’s OBAG? Oldie but a goodie. Things that may be deemed “old” by internet standards, but continue to provide useful and/or otherwise entertaining content (if for no one else other than me).

Billable is an idiot-proof way to create invoices if you need to make one fast and don’t have access to (or don’t use) a billing and invoice system.

Easy is an understatement. The Billable website is simply a fill-in-the-blank template you can then print, download as a PDF or save. If you ever need to create an invoice lightening fast from your desktop, bookmark this page.

Do you have an easy-to-use site for entrepreneurs? Let us know in the comments.