Over the years I’ve worked in plenty of offices, and plenty of cubicles. Unfortunately, each and every single one of those cubicles has included a Windows computer. Me being a Mac user, I’ve done lots of research to make these inferior computers (in my humble opinion…!) my own, installing software to make my life a bit easier.

Some of these applications are just nice alternatives to some of my favorite Mac apps, and some are just great apps that I use at home as well. Others make it easier to sync your work between computers. Regardless, they’re all great apps and features, and I couldn’t recommend them enough.

Without further ado, I present my list for making your cubicle your own.

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This video just totally challenged my way of thinking. It’s a little long, but please watch.

For more information on the RSA, check out their website. They’re also on Twitter @theRSAorg.

Illustration for the video was done by Cognitive Media, which looks to be an equally awesome organization.

Today, AT&T made a good move by changing the pricing structure of their data plans. If you ask me, this solidifies their hold on the iPhone for a good while. I’ve said over and over that Verizon is not going to get the iPhone this year–if ever–and I’m sticking by that. Two reasons for this:

1. Verizon doesn’t want it. They’re making plenty of money. They also know that they do not have the strongest, fastest, most reliable network. AT&T does, although it might not seem like it thanks to all the iPhones clogging up the system.
2. AT&T will do anything to keep the iPhone. Despite the way their PR has suffered thanks to shoddy service (again, thanks to too much data and not enough bandwidth), AT&T knows that the iPhone is the lifeblood of their service. Nobody is that attached to a service provider–as long as it works decent and does what it’s supposed to without ripping you off (too much), people will go to whoever has the best phone. And right now, the iPhone is king (despite competition from Android phones).

So, a couple excerpts from the article:

Newcomers will have two options: Under the DataPlus plan, subscribers can pay $15 a month for 200 megabytes of data; that would handle about 400 photos or 100 minutes of streaming video. The DataPro plan offers 10 times that capacity, 2 gigabytes, for $25.

Good move. Both plans are cheaper than what you’re paying now. And who doesn’t like saving money? Plus, very few will actually have to pay extra for additional data:

AT&T says 65% of its smartphone customers use less than 200 MB a month, and 98% use less than 2 GB… And just 3% of AT&T’s smartphone customers account for as much as 40% of its data traffic, contributing to slow transmissions and dropped calls. AT&T must control heavy users, or at least get them to pay more…

Soon, I can virtually guarantee Verizon will roll out a similar pricing structure (if they haven’t already… I’m not familiar enough with their pricing plans).

But not all is rosy for AT&T today. They made some stupid mistakes too. First, this same pricing structure is in place for the iPad as well, which uses significantly more data, as would be expected. Now I’m not sure this will be quite as big a deal as lots of people are saying, because it sucks using that much data on a 3G network anyway (for streaming movies, etc. most people will hunt down a Wi-Fi signal). Who knows, maybe they’re just kind of testing the water with this–if people get too outraged I wouldn’t be surprised to see them tweak this down the road.

Secondly, the last paragraph just boggles the mind (emphasis mine).

IPhone customers who pay an extra $20 a month soon will be able to use the phones to provide Internet connections for laptops or other devices. That process, called tethering, will be available on 3G iPhones this summer when Apple releases a new operating system, AT&T says.

But wait, you can already do that. Just not in the U.S., and not in many other countries. It’s embarrassing that they are literally re-announcing a feature from last year as if it’s some kind of revolutionary feature. Gimme a break.

[USA Today]

It’s high time for this wake-up call. It is abundantly clear by the recent outrage at Facebook that the vast majority of the Internet–the social media crowd, in particular–still doesn’t get the business of social media. Social media is not a public service. It is not funded and managed by the government. It is not a nonprofit entity, out to change the world, regardless of the profit margin.

Social media is a business, and it amazes me how much social media users are, quite frankly, acting like entitled, spoiled brats.

Reality is striking the social media space and it’s hitting hard and fast. As we all know, it’s centered on the Facebook privacy debacle, set in motion by a changed privacy policy meant to help further the business–and the continued existence–of a growing international corporation. Couple that with some bad PR on Facebook’s part and a spoiled user base, and you’ve set the stage for a crisis of poisoned Tylenol proportions. But Facebook can relax, because they’re in the right on this one. People need to wake up and smell the roses, because there’s no such thing as a free lunch.

Three things I want you to learn from this post.

1. Privacy is an illusion.
2. Social media is a business, and we should treat it as such.
3. The “customer” is not always right.

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So in case you don’t remember, last month’s Social Media Breakfast DC was awesome. This month’s was just as good.

The theme this time around was “Blogging the City,” with the city obviously being DC (which I love, love, love–I honestly cannot tell you how much I love living in this city). Hosted at the awesome Busboys and Poets (they’re on Twitter too: @busboysandpoets) in the U Street neighborhood, today proved that I’m definitely not the only one who loves this city. In fact, as almost all our speakers this morning put it, they love this city so much they’re willing to put in more than their fair share of the “labor of love” in order to spread the word about the fantastic events, news and opportunities our city has to offer.

The line-up of speakers was fantastic. We had the founders of WeLoveDC, FreeinDC and Borderstan presenting and they had some thought-provoking and inspiring things to say. Check below the cut for the highlights, lots of links and even a video of the speakers if you’d like to watch the event yourself!

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