The Urgent Versus the Essential

“If I were to let my life be taken over by what is urgent, I might very well never get around to what is essential.”

That’s a Henri Nouwen quote, taking one tweet to say what I took 9 paragraphs to convey a couple of years ago.

Sometimes I feel like a one-string fiddle when it comes to this topic. I guess that’s because I find it to be so important in a day and age where our iPhones are never more than an arm’s reach away.

So long as our attention is focused on the urgent or the incoming, we won’t be able to do our best creative work. Inbox Zero isn’t about keeping an empty inbox, it’s about not allowing our inboxes to have sway over us. When you think of it that way, you can reach Inbox Zero without even opening your email app. Because it’s not about email.

The Urgent Versus the Essential

Dave Greenbaum with GigaOM went to the Mud Pie Vegan Bakery here in KC — it’s one of the first local retail shops to get Google Fiber installed — and he downloaded a bunch of giant files.

In short: Google Fiber crazy fast, but (as is to be expected) it will be limited by Wi-Fi or even a slow server-side connection for whatever website you’re browsing. What could be considered bad news is that Google Fiber requires you use their router. But if they’ve got their hardware configured and fine-tuned to deliver the fastest speeds possible, I think requiring use of their hardware is fine.

(Thanks, Mike.)

Google Fiber in the Real World

Rene Ritchie:

iMore has learned that Apple is planning to debut the new iPhone at a special event on Wednesday, September 12, 2012, with the release date to follow 9 days later on Friday, September 21. This information comes from sources who have proven accurate in the past.

The iPad mini will be announced at the same September 12 event, as will the new iPod nano.

And this is what folks think the next iPhone might look like.

September 12 iPhone 5 and iPad mini Event?

My thanks to The Theme Foundry for sponsoring the RSS feed this week. Their new WordPress theme, Avid, is really classy. It makes me want to start a photography weblog full of Noah pictures.


The Theme Foundry has been building handcrafted premium WordPress themes since 2008. Earlier this month they released Avid — a responsive, retina-optimized WordPress theme for photographers. Visit the live demo of Avid to see it in action or purchase it now for $68.

Sponsorship by The Syndicate

Sponsor: The Theme Foundry

So long as we’re on the topic of the Olympics, Shaun White’s final run from the Vancouver 2010 winter games is one of my favorite moments in Olympic history. He already had the gold medal secured for the men’s half-pipe, so for his 2nd and final run he could do whatever he wanted. And he did. Busting out the Double McTwist 1260 at the end. So electric.

Shaun White’s Gold Medal Run at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics

If you want to browse the live schedule of events from your iPhone this app seems to be the best way.

There are several websites out there with the live schedule, including the official London 2012 site (which has a mobile-friendly design). But even that site is not as easy to use as the Live Extra iOS App.

And for watching the live streams from your iPad, this app is, again, the best bet. (Note that in order to watch the live streams you’ll have to sign in with the username and password associated with your TV service provider.)

NBC’s Live Extra Olympics iOS App

They’re estimating that 4,800,000,000 people will be tuning in to watch the Olympics. Amazing. Well, if you want to watch the London Olympics live from your computer, this is the website for it. And how convenient is it that Mountain Lion shipped just two days ago and you can now AirPlay your computer to your Apple TV? Boom.

Also, NPR has some more info about what to expect from the live stream:

NBC’s streaming video runs the gamut from unvarnished (and unhosted) feeds of competitions to fully produced coverage. So don’t freak out if there’s no sound. In fact, it might be a delightful break from chatty commentators.

Live Video Stream for the London Olympics

Alan Taylor’s In Focus photoblog:

Today marks the end of the 70-day Olympic Torch relay through the United Kingdom, leading to the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London. Since arriving in Cornwall on May 18, the flame has been carried through villages and cities, across lakes and mountain ranges, on foot, by train, on horseback, and through the air, from Cornwall to central London. The torch has passed through the hands of more than 8,000 torchbearers on its 8,000 mile (12,800 km) journey.

Also, Taylor posted photos about a month ago from the first half of the Torch Relay.

Photos From the Olympic Torch Relay

Built specifically for the London Olympics, the Aquatic Centre construction began in July 2008 and finished in July 2011:

It forms part of the gateway to the Olympic Park — more than two-thirds of spectators will enter the Park at the south-east corner via a bridge that forms part of the venue’s roof.

And, of course, someone built a sweet Lego version of the Aquatic Centre’s diving pool.

Time-Lapse Video Showing the Construction of the London Olympics Aquatic Centre