Twittelator for iPad (click for larger view)

We picked up an iPad for our social media, Web consulting and copywriting business based largely on positive feedback from many people we trust on Twitter and our own great experiences using iPhones for the past two years. It’s a remarkable device, but expensive for what you get and very limited for many usage scenarios.

I’ll be blunt: The iPad is not a laptop/netbook replacement, and it’s a poor choice for anyone who really needs a full-featured Windows or Macintosh computer. The iPad is a touchscreen slate that’s limited to running approved apps from Apple’s iTunes Store and isn’t particularly good out of the box at accessing documents from your computers or file shares. And no slots or USB ports means you can’t just plug in an SD card or flash drive to access your media. Expect to purchase one or more apps to facilitate file sharing or else spend a lot of time e-mailing files to yourself!

We went with the WiFi only version to save some money and because AT&T has capped its already overpriced 3G plan. Frankly, we’d rather pay hotels for the occasional WiFi key than give AT&T a monthly stipend for so-so service we’ll rarely need.

You can (and should) add a Bluetooth keyboard to make the iPad passable for writing and light editing. You’ll have to reach up to tap the screen anytime you want to move the cursor, which takes a bit of getting used to and isn’t as efficient as using a mouse. It’s not a pressure-sensitive tablet, so it’s only moderately effective for sketching, and its built-in mike is adequate but it’s not going to replace my Zoom H2 for podcast recording.

I’ve been eyeing the ClamCase (due this fall, price unknown), which promises to give it a hard shell and attach a keyboard, making it look (and hopefully work) a little more like a laptop – but in the meantime I went with a $25 case that doubles as a stand and a $30 Vakoss TK-853-BK keyboard from Fry’s, which has different buttons to power it on and off but functions reasonably well once you get it working. (I’m pretty sure the first one I picked up was defective, but I might have just been pushing the wrong button!)

All that said, I rather like the iPad and it is highly effective for certain tasks. Namely gaming, e-mail and Twitter. I won’t dwell on games here since I’m focusing on its features as a work machine, but it is most definitely the best portable gaming device I’ve enjoyed to date – and as the founder of BusyGamerNews.com, I’ve tried nearly all of them over the years. The larger screen and fluid finger touch interface makes gaming even more fun than on the Nintendo DS, my previous go-to game portable. But unless your business is gaming, this won’t be enough to sell you on an iPad for the office.

Overall, social media is a mixed bag. The current iteration of the Facebook app is the iPhone version pixel-doubled, and this really shows its flaws under a magnifier. Sure, it works as well as the iPhone version - but the iPad deserves better here. Honestly, you’re better off just bookmarking Facebook.com on Safari, which on the iPad is more like the desktop version of the Web browser than the puny iPhone Safari app (though you will still run into the occasional mobile app restrictions and of course Flash is still completely blocked).

In the end, Twitter is where it’s at for the iPad – at least for me – and there are three apps that I’ve found that excel in different ways at helping you manage your tweet streams:

Twittelator for iPad ($5). The iPhone version of Twittelator is the gold standard for iPhone Twitter apps. It’s fast, full of useful shortcuts and – most importantly – fills in missing tweets and remembers your place if you have to quit and come back. It makes poring over hundreds of tweets reasonably efficient. The iPad version is in mostly even better than its iPhone predecessor but in a few ways takes some steps back. In landscape mode, individual tweets or streams (such as @ replies, direct messages and searches) that you select appear off to the right of your main timeline. Scrolling is fast and twitpics appear larger in the feed by default, making it easier to see whether you want a closer look. The downside is that, at this writing, it loses tweets greater than the 200 it can grab at once, doesn’t save your place if you quit, clicked links appear as an popup window instead of adjacent to your stream, and there’s no way to save images except to switch to Safari (which, again, loses your place!). But overall, getting through a couple hundred tweets is faster and more enjoyable here than with any other app I’ve tried. I’m hoping future updates address timeline bookmarking and recovery of missed tweets.

TwitePad ($2). This is sort of like the free TweetDeck – with lots of optional columns you can summon – but unlike TweetDeck (and Twittelator for iPad!) it remembers your place in the timeline and has a Web browser that opens at the far right alongside them. It even lets you open multiple links and keep them waiting as thumbnails along the bottom of the browser area. Ultimately, this isn’t as elegant as Twittelator and thus hasn’t replaced it as my primary app, at least not yet. The developer is aggressive at releasing feature-rich updates, so it’s definitely one to watch. For now, this is a good choice for Twitter accounts you monitor less often, say daily or even weekly, since it can easily fill in what you miss and it saves everything for offline reading in its own local database. For that reason alone, it’s perfect for my social media consulting!

Osfoora HD ($4). I bought this on impulse during a brief sale, and it has real potential. If you’re very methodical, you’ll appreciate the option to keep tweets marked as unread and there are up/down buttons to move through your timeline, though I found using this method slowed me down though may be useful for timelines that I need to focus on more closely (and finger scrolling is still an option). It does have those two very important features that Twittelator lacks: the ability to keep your place in the timeline if you quit and fill in missing tweets.

Other must have apps (all free):

EverNote. This is great for getting down drafts of articles while they’re fresh in your mind and then passing them to another device (e.g., PC, iPhone) through its cloud-based storage. No, I didn’t write this article on the iPad due to the level of editing required to make it sing. But if I did, I would have used EverNote.

WordPress. I’m a big fan of Windows Live Writer, but for some reason it always messes up my WordPress posts to this blog. So I thought I’d try this free app. Still, when it came time to post this article, I didn’t have the patience to try it out. But if I had a quick post with little to no complexity, it would be perfect.

iBooks and Kindle. The iPad doesn’t have the crisp display of the iPhone 4 (at least not yet), but the larger form factor makes it feel more like a solid ebook reader. I’ve avoided the Kindle and Nook because I prefer a backlit device, even if it’s not (supposedly) as good for long-term reading. I tend to read for short periods these days, and I like the flexibility to be able to switch to other apps when I want, so the iPad is now my preferred digital book platform.

Overall, it’s hard to recommend the iPad unless you find that your needs greatly overlap mine, or you can’t overcome your technolust for shiny new gadgets. Consider it a nice-to-have, particularly if you do a significant amount of work on Twitter.

Step 1: Evaluate your hairstyle

Fashion magazines and so-called “women’s” publications encourage readers to change their hair color, length and style constantly. Even some high-end salons will push clients to take on whatever is in fashion. Unfortunately, the latest style/color/cut doesn’t work for everyone. Nor should it. You don’t have to be a chameleon to stay current. Just look in the mirror and evaluate yourself honestly. Do you like the way your hair looks? Does it age you/make you look younger? Is it making the statement to clients that you want? (That could be anything from “I’m young and hip” to “I’m established” or simply, “I’m well groomed.”)

If you do opt to change your style, consider if your current stylist is the right one to do it. If you don’t have someone in mind, or simply want to give someone else a shot, find someone who has the general style you want – for example, if you want to be trendy, look for someone with trendy, well-cut hair. Ask them for the name of their stylist. Don’t be afraid to change if you’re not completely sold on your current person.

And finally, don’t ask any stylist to “give me xyz’s hairstyle.” If you see a model or star with hair you like, take a photo to your stylist and ask them if it’s feasible for your hair, or if it would look good. They might not give you the exact same style, but they can use your photo as a jumping off point for a discussion about what you want. Is it the color? The length? The straight/curliness? A good stylist can adapt a style to look good on you. They will also say when something just isn’t right.

Full disclosure/credit: This information came from years of talking to my own, highly-trusted stylist, Stephanie Veka, a salon owner in Seattle, Washington.

Step 2: Evaluate your makeup

For people who wear make-up, it is easy to get into a rut. Worse, your favorite colors can disappear overnight with the changing of the seasons. Don’t be afraid to visit your local make-up counter and ask for a makeover. Yes, they will want to sell you cosmetics – you are under no obligation to buy them. Your goal should be to explore options and find what you like, including brand, price-range and colors.

A good make-up counter artist will begin with a short chat. Explain what your rules are up front (e.g., hypoallergenic, colors you like/hate, etc.) and your goals for the makeover. Things to cover include the amount of time you are willing to spend on your make-up routine and where you will be wearing it (e.g., daily maintenance versus just for parties). Your artist should present some color options – don’t be afraid to reject anything you flat out hate. Remember, they are there to sell you make-up. They will take the time to find things you like.

When you are done, write-down the items you like. Consider spending an hour (at least) in your make-up running errands, etc. and see what you think when you are away from the sales desk. How do you look in normal light? Does the makeup stand up to your average day? Do you still like the color?

Once you’ve found the items you like, do reward the store by buying at least the first round from them. While they are providing a free service, it is courteous to make your purchase from the people who helped you make a decision.

Step 3: Edit your closet

This is often the hardest part for people, but think of it this way: you’re giving yourself permission (and an excuse) to hit the post-holiday sales. The basic standard for clothes is, “Have you worn it in the past year?” I have mixed feelings about this. There are obviously extenuating circumstances around why you haven’t donned certain apparel, particularly party clothes. If you have something that you haven’t worn, take a good hard look and think about why you haven’t. Did your weight change? Is it out of style? Did you simply forget you had it? (Yes, this happens.)

If you have gained weight, take the item out of your closet and either store it or give it away. You need access to good fitting clothes now, not clothes you hope to wear again someday. If you have lost weight and plan to keep it off, find a tailor who can adjust your clothes. (Or, again, consider giving it away. More on that in a moment.)

Next, look at what you have left. Sweaters that are stretched out may be comfortable for weekends, but good fit/tailoring is better for clients. You should have at least one up-to-date suit (you will need it someday) and a good selection of business clothes that fit in with your client’s expectations and your style. And don’t forget to evaluate your shoes and socks!

Sort through your clothes and pull any business attire that you don’t want or need anymore. Now here is your chance to do something good and get a small tax write-off. There are organizations across the nation that take good-condition (laundered) business clothes on behalf of people who need them. Help someone get and keep a job by donating your old business attire to:

• Dress for Success
• Career Gear

Step 4: Take yourself to the cleaners

As clothes cycle in and out of season, they inevitably get wrinkled and musty. Review the items you plan to keep and add them to your laundry pile/take them to the cleaners. Be sure to remove your clothes from the cleaner bag as soon as you get home and allow them to air out before adding them to your closet.

Step 5: Charge it!

At the beginning of this story, I mentioned a good reason to hit the sales. If you’ve gone through all the steps, you know what to do: comb the sales racks to fill in items you need, whether you are replacing donated clothes or just realized you don’t have a good jacket. The end-of-year sales offer a great way to update your style without breaking the budget.

When you’re done, treat yourself to whatever you enjoy – spa, double-feature, golf… whatever makes you happy. After all, you worked hard this week.

Part 2:Organizing your small business
Part 1:Organizing your office for the new year

Step 1: Review your professional materials

While we live in a primarily digital world, there are still times when the small business owner needs to pull out a business card, send a paper invoice or pull out the pre-printed address labels or envelopes. Even digital information may represent your identity. Take time to review any existing pre-printed materials now, when printers are slow and have time to take on your project. Check for:

• Design. Does it still represent you and your business? Is your logo dated, or in need of a facelift?
• Accuracy. Has anything changed?
• Content. Think carefully about how you want clients contacting you. If a phone shouldn’t ring at 11 p.m., don’t include that number.

Step 2: Review your shipping services

If you ship regularly, odds are you have an account with your preferred shipping vendor. Now is a good time to review your terms and determine if you have the right service. In this case, there is no downside to playing the field. Some things to consider are:

• Cost. Do you get a discount for being a preferred customer, shipping volume or other factors?
• Delivery range. Again, this really applies to those doing business internationally. If you ship overseas (or even just over the border), review delivery services and fees.
• Niceties. These are really subjective, but make a difference. For example, some shipping agencies will deliver shipping materials to your house and pick up packages free of charge.
• Bonus discounts/points. Some delivery services have cross-over deals with other vendors (e.g., credit cards). Check your loyalty programs, credit cards, etc. and see what they have to offer. It
  might tip the scales in one direction or the other.

Step 3: Review your technology

Your tax advisor probably told you to do this already, but it is worth repeating: take a look at your equipment and determine if it’s time to upgrade. The obvious place to start is with your computer.

• Laptop vs. desktop. For business travelers, the choice is obvious: a laptop that is (preferably) not a brick, has good battery life, a nice screen, and can boot quickly for the inevitable airport security check. For completely home-bound business owners, a desktop might offer a cheaper viable solution. I’m in-between; while I don’t travel for work, I do have to visit clients from time to time. I’ve found a nice, widescreen laptop plus a second monitor at home (two screens total) allows me to multi-task at home and easily take my work with me when I need to go.
• Display screen. Treat your eyes right – get a decent-sized, flat-screen display that is also easy to read. This is one area you don’t want to skimp.
• Shredder. Every business should have a security shredder that creates confetti, not spaghetti strings. Get a heavy-duty workhorse model.
• Backup software and materials. How you backup is up to you – the important thing is to make sure it happens early and often. Consider keeping an off-site copy of key digital documents that will not be affected if disaster strikes.
• Assorted office materials. Notepads, pens, stapler, USB portable keys, etc. If you haven’t stocked up in a while, stop by your local office supply store. Even they are having end-of-year sales.
• A comfortable chair and desk. You’re going to be spending a lot of time there. Be comfortable.
  Remember to save your receipts – you have until December 31 to make purchases against this year’s tax deductions.

Step 4: Get Ready for Tax Time

Speaking of which, now is a great time to start prepping your tax materials. Whether you do it yourself or use a financial advisor, you’re going to need to get organized. Here are some guidelines to help get you started:

• Organize this year’s deductible bills. Find your deductible utility bills, mortgage, etc. and organize by month. Keep a written list of missing bills (type and date) as you go. You can hunt down the strays later – focus on the task at hand now.
• Gather up your tax-deductible donation receipts. Organize by type (cash vs. goods) and organization if you have multiple donations to the same org.
• Organize your receipts. Group them by possible deduction type. Don’t forget to shred any receipts you no longer need!

Remember, by preparing now you can take your time and really review the year. Forgotten house upgrades or missing receipts can cost you tax deductions. Do it now so you have time to do a thorough job.

Part 1: Organizing your office life for a happy New Year
Part 3: Part 3: Spending the end of year improving yourself (but not at the gym)

• Folders
• File cabinet
• Recycle bin/box
• Separate “to shred” box
• USB key or other portable back-up device
• New office decorations

Step 1: Clean out your files

File cabinets are a great place to start any massive purge. Not only are you likely sitting on a ton of paper you don’t need, it makes room for all that paper on your desk we’ll be addressing in the next section. Plus, wouldn’t you like to be able to open your drawer without using a crowbar?

Prep your cabinet area. Position your recycle and shred boxes close, but in distinctly different places. You don’t want to recycle sensitive materials, and shredding unnecessary paper simply costs money.

Review each file. Yes, seriously. Re-read and assign each document as appropriate:

• To keep: materials you need to do your job now.
• To file: materials you need keep, but are not in active use now.
• To shred: sensitive materials you no longer need.
• To recycle: materials you no longer need that are not sensitive. When in doubt, shred.

Return the folders to the cabinet. As you re-file, check the state of the folder. Replace beat-up folders or use labels to clearly-write the folder name. If it’s over-filled, break the materials up into multiple folders. (Or at least get a rubber band.)

Step 2: Clean off the desk

This can be painful for pack rats, but it’s worth it. Here are some guidelines:

Review every piece of paper on your desk. Same rules apply as filing: keep, recycle or shred.

Install and store software. Have software sitting on your desk? Install it, put the disk away, and return it to IT (or store it).

Rearrange your desk for comfort. I spent nearly a year spinning in my chair and leaning to answer my phone before a co-worker made the obvious suggestion: Move the phone to the left. (I’m left handed.) Simple solutions can make a huge difference.

Edit and update your decorations. We constantly add things to our desk, but when was the last time you took something away? Update your kid’s artwork, review your gag gift collection and decide if that plant is really worth it. Can’t part with anything? Ask for shelves.

Step 3: Organize your professional library

I’m always amazed by the number of severely outdated books on office shelves. Unless you truly need to hang on to that HTML 1.0 book, take it off the shelf.

Step 4: Clean up your computer

Now that you have a clean desk, it’s time to update the space where you spend most of your time: the computer. Here are some guidelines to get you started.

Clear out your e-mail. Every interaction, from e-mail to calendar requests, contribute to your e-mail limit and bulge. To control the chaos, create folders (by business, client, project – your choice), and start filing. Review and delete mails that are redundant, unnecessary (”thanks” mails) or just no longer needed. Note that many major corporations require employees to delete mail after a certain time period. Check with your legal department for guidance.

Tackle your calendar. Delete the dentist appointments, coffee dates, long-dead project meetings and other detritus. Keep ongoing appointments and recent meetings that may come up in future conversations.

Check your Tasks list. This can also become a wasteland of long-forgotten errands that don’t need to sit on the server.

Organize your digital files. All those things you did with your files? Same thing applies here. But before you delete…

Backup! If you work for someone else, odds are they have a backup in place. Self-employed people, you are your IT department. Don’t neglect your back-ups. Do a mass back-up now, and then set regular back-ups going forward. (We’ll dig into this and other tidbits for the self-employed in Part 2 of the series.)

Step 5: Take home personal files

Part 2: Spending the end of year organizing your home office/business
Part 3: Spending the end of year on yourself

Since that day, we have stuck with local banks. When SeaFirst was gobbled up by Bank of America, we almost immediately felt the difference in corporate climate. After checking their reputation, we ditched BoA for Washington Mutual, which at the time advertised a bunch of horse-riding grandmas who were saving their citizens from out-of-town banks. Free online bill pay (albeit with certain minimum balances) and series of fantastic bankers (most recently the irrepressible Lindsay at the branch down the street from our home office) sealed the deal.

Alas, as you probably know, WaMu made some bad loans – more than their share, really – and were bought out by Chase. Not remembering how bad out-of-town banks had been to us, we thought we’d give Chase a chance and enjoy their expansive network of nationwide ATMs. But then they started in with the letters demanding that we, in essence, re-apply for our home equity line of credit.

A few things to set this up:

1. We have always paid our bills on time and kept our debt low, paying off projects we charged to our line of credit in their entirety twice since we started using it.
2. WaMu had, without asking, twice increased our line of credit far beyond what we’d ever reasonably need for home improvements. If they did this for everyone who had a line of credit, it’s no wonder they went out of business.
3. Our house, thank goodness, is worth more than we paid for it – so even with the larger line of credit, we’d have been covered.

Our read on Chase (hindsight being 20/20) is that we never had a chance. They said that they wanted us to document our small business income to justify our line of credit, but they never listened to us, did not request specific additional documentation and filed several appeals on our behalf without our consent and involvement. In short, we were railroaded. They froze our line of credit and sent us a letter that, if you read between the lines, told us we were free to take our business elsewhere and, oh yeah, don’t let the screen door hit you on the way out.

We asked around on Facebook and nearly all of our friends recommended going with a credit union over a bank. Considering all of the problems banks are having these days, this actually seemed to make sense. We’d always avoided credit unions because they tend to have few ATMs and fewer branches to visit when you need to make deposits or talk to a banker.

But, if you dig beneath the surface, the situation is pretty good for credit union customers. BECU was once only for Boeing employees,  but is now available to all Washington state residents. They have agreements for free ATM access on the Co-op Network and you can visit a number of sister credit unions to make deposits and talk to a teller. There’s one of these a short walk from our house, right next to a community center where our son spends many afternoons. So most of our concerns about access to cash and a convenient place to deposit our checks have melted away.

BECU so far has been very supportive and moved our line-of-credit loan very cleanly and efficiently. We have to go a little further out of our way sometimes and we’re still learning where to find all of the fee-free ATMs, but for us it’s worth it to have our money someplace we trust and believe in. BECU is a not-for-profit, so they’re not motivated by greed—just to provide the best value and service for their customers.

If only more businesses shared this philosophy.