The Best Things I Read in January 2015

Information overload! There are just too many posts, tweets and articles flying around in the Twitterverse and elsewhere on social media and the Web. None of us can even pretend keep up. And while there is a lot of spam, self-promotional crap and other junk out there, there are some real gems that get lost in the sheer volume of content thrown at us on a daily basis. The trick is finding the content that is really interesting or helpful to you in a practical way. Patience is required, hashtags and a bit of luck can help, and identifying good sources of on topics you like can be very effective.
Thought I would try tracking the better things I read (AKA these are the ones I stashed away in my Evernote for future reference) and share a “best of reading list” of ten or so items each month. The list reflects my interests: Anything and everything technology, topics related to the practice of law, photography, media and publishing, live music and sound, usability and design, and whatever else strikes my fancy. So you if you are looking for some Sunday reading on any of these topics, these are worth some of your time (in no particular order):

• Hacked: The six most common ways non-tech people fall victim: Just this past week two people I know had their email accounts hacked – and in one of those cases one of these people actually gave the hackers access after falling for a “your account has been compromised” email. Don’t make the same mistake – read this ZDNet post!
• Lifehacker Faceoff: The Best Password Managers Compared: Password managers are essential for using and remembering strong passwords (a strong password is one that is longer and contains random characters). You can’t rely on your memory, and using simple and obvious passwords or similar passwords based on a formula leaves you more vulnerable. This LifeHacker post will help you find the password manager that is right for you.
• A Lawyer’s Guide to Social Media Marketing: More than 50 amazing pages of awesome tips and advice collected by my good friends Joan Feldman and Merrilyn Tarlton, the very discerning editors behind AttorneyAtWork. Great to have some of my tips included with tips from many others that are active on social media.
• How to get the most out of your smartphone camera on vacation: A smartphone is not a DSLR, but there are some great tips for taking better pictures with smartphone in this article that was in, surprisingly, The Globe and Mail!
• Punctuation matters! A hat tip to @LifeHacker for highlighting thepunctuationguide.com website. Lots of practical advice on avoiding common punctuation faux pas.
• Legal Feature – Beautiful law: how design and visualisation can make law simpler, useful and even fascinating: Computers can think like lawyers, give legal advice, and make complicated legal things simpler to digest. This @LegalFutures post will help you see how.
• 5 ways to take control of your Facebook News Feed: Some practical tips in this Mashable post to get Facebook to show you at least a bit more of what you would really prefer to see on your News Feed.
• 10 things you should do every day — Todd Schnick — Medium: Hat tip to @SteveRubel for tweeting a link to this post. It is a needed nudge for doing some of the things that probably are (or were) on your New Year’s resolution list.
• Hands-on with Windows 10 — Microsoft got it right this time: Windows 10 is likely in your future. This Verge post will give you a heads-up on what is coming.
• How to get the most out of Apple iOS 8: Bet Mac users will learn some new things from this New York Times Personal Tech column.

If some of the above article struck your fancy, you can see all my Twitter Favorites here.

Happy reading and enjoy!