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Rohdesign | Mike Rohde - Designer

iPod Touch: My New PDA: 1 Year LaterNovember 28

I've had my iPod Touch (16GB 1st generation) for a little over a year now and love it! Because I have WiFI at the house, at work and at most places I use my touch, the device works well for me.

Besides carrying my music, I really appreciate having access to the web via Safari, my email, Twitter, and RSS feeds, and many other native iPhone/iPod Touch apps available at the App Store.

Will an iPod Touch Fit Your Life?

It's important to know a few things about the iPod Touch, to see if it will work into your work/lifestyle:

WiFi Access Required — The iPod Touch depends on WiFi for network access, so you need to think about where you'll use the device. Do you have a WiFi network at home, work and most of the places you plan on using the Touch? If so, the Touch could work well for you (it does for me).

Web Surfing — One of the killer features of the iPod touch is mobile Safari, providing access to nearly any website on the net. I've even been able to do online banking securely in a pinch, using Safari. You should no

Aga Artka: Interior DesignerNovember 19

Just learned that Aga Artka (ASID, LEED AP), a friend of mine and the wife of my co-worker Brian Artka is now available for full-time employment as an interior designer or for interior design project work.

Check out Aga's bio, have a look at her portfolio of interior design work, read her blog, review her LinkedIn profile or send her a note about employment or project work.

"My ultimate goal is to help hospitality business owners create interior spaces that attract, excite and retain customers. Through the proper use of color, light and space, every restaurant, hotel or retail environment can be transformed to reflect its unique style and atmosphere." — Aga Artka

Aga recently earned her Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) credentials, has a passion for creating beautiful and usable living, working and retail spaces and is fluent in Polish (she's originally from Southern Poland).

Michelle George's Global Leadership Summit SketchnotesNovember 17

A few weeks ago I received an email from Michelle George, who had questions about the pens and Moleskine notebooks I use to capture sketchnotes. I shared my thoughts and about a week later Michelle emailed to share her sketchnotes:

It was very cool to see Michelle use sketchnotes at her event. I was curious to hear her feedback after trying out the sketchnote approach at the Global Leadership Summit she attended, so sent Michelle a few interview questions:

Michelle, I’m curious to hear how the sketchnote approach worked for you. Was it easy to do? Were there specific challenges you found while capturing your sketchnotes?

I found it difficult to start with because sketchnoting is a totally different style of note-taking to what I use most of the time. I occasionally work as a scribe in government recruiting processes, and that involves taking LOTS of very detailed notes during the interviews.

To get the speed and accuracy I need for that I type on my little laptop (Fujitsu Lifebook 1620P), and end up with three or fo

2009 Sketchtoon Coffee Calendar is Available!November 4

The 2009 Sketchtoon Coffee Calendar is now up for sale! You can buy it for $19.99 plus shipping at CafePress, with US and international shipping available.

Back in 2006 I started drawing sketchtoon style coffee illustrations in my Moleskine sketchbook in ink, scanning each illustration into the Mac for colorization in Photoshop.

In 2007, over 100 of the 2008 Sketchtoon Coffee Calendars were sold, so it seems there's a demand out there for coffee calendars.

Each month's illustration features a different coffee drink, with several unique drinks from various areas of the world, like the Flat White from down under and the Greek Frappe. Check out the cover and 12 illustrations at Flickr. I'm very pleased with how the calendar turned out.

Sketchtoon Photos
I've posted several photos of the original ink sketchtoons to

Skecthnotes on The Thirsty Developer Podcast 39October 20

I'm happy to announce that my interview on sketchnotes with Larry Clarkin and Dave Bost for the Thirsty Developer Podcast is online!

In this episode of the Thirty Developer Podcast, Larry, Dave and I talk about how sketchnotes came to be, my approach to creating them, the tools and techniques I use and how sketchnotes might be useful for information documentation on development projects.

Here's the show link and the full MP3 for your listening pleasure.