There has been a massive build-up to the release of Google Drive, and while this new offering from the search giant was always going to be a big one, I firmly believe that there’s a really convincing argument why Dropbox is a better choice for storing your stuff online: privacy, and retaining rights over your content. I’m no lawyer, but you don’t have to be to understand why the implications of Google’s privacy policy are probably something you want to avoid.

As a UI designer and web developer I spend a lot of time thinking about interfaces. Generally, I tend to prefer software that demonstrates a similar thoughtfulness — but there’s one particular category of program about which I am noticeably picky: my web browser. So much so, that I’m about to embark on a rant about the problems I’ve encountered, and why one browser continually wins out for me. Read on if that’s the sort of thing you care about.

As a freelance web developer, I’ve seen and used my fair share of open source web applications (and desktop software), and I’d like to point out something that I see all too often in open source projects: the user interface almost always lets the project down. Let me explain…

Today I found that Steve Jobs—the man behind Apple as it stands today—has passed away. I believe that he’ll go down in history as one of the great innovators of all time. The influence he and Apple have had on the way we use technology on a daily basis is simply staggering. He raised the bar to new heights for technology and will remain an inspiration for entrepreneurs, designers, technologists, and many others for generations to come. Here’s a few brief things I’ve got to say about Steve Jobs.

Over the past week or so I’ve posted a couple of articles on how to get started as a freelancer (part 1 and part 2), and today I’m going to finish up the series by touching on all things money-related (i.e. pricing, estimating, invoicing, and budgeting), how to find ways to continually improve your skills, and how to stay motivated when the whole freelancing decision starts to feel like it was a bad idea (and it will!). Let’s get into it!

Not long ago I posted how to start freelancing (part 1), which covered the initial stages of making a transition to working as a freelancer. In this second post, I want to share some of the things I’ve learnt about self-promotion, time management, tools, and how to stay productive. It took me about six months to start to get into the swing of things working for myself. If you find yourself floundering for the first little while, here’s a few tips that might help you get back on track.

It has been over three years now since I made the switch from being a full-time employee to working as a freelancer, and I haven’t looked back. I’ve learned a great deal in that time about how to go about working as a freelancer, and I’d like to share some of these points with you over a couple of posts. While what I’m going to talk about will resonate most with those who want to work as freelance web developers and designers, I believe there is enough common ground with other fields that you should find these tips helpful regardless of your craft.

With the release of OS X Lion, a number of web developers seem to be facing fresh installs, and it appears many are taking the opportunity to re-evaluate their development stack. Recently, I’ve noticed a number of posts and tutorials floating around on the topic of how to set up a fresh development stack for web app development, mostly aimed at Ruby on Rails developers. I thought I’d pull a few of these resources together, mostly for my own reference, but also in the hope it might help others out when faced with a blank install. It’s also interesting to note how some of the more common tools people use in their stack are changing—one example being the shift from using RVM to rbenv for Ruby version managment, which I’ll talk about too.

A few weeks ago I came across Nick Disabato’s /mentoring page, and thought to myself “What a fantastic opportunity this is!” I did a bit more digging into the /mentoring project, and found that the idea came from Diana Kimball whose original page kicked it all off. She put her template (along with a few wiki pages with some guidance and advice for mentors) onto Github, and there’s already been quite a few people who’ve taken it up and put up their own pages.

So one thing that has emerged from recent discussions I’ve been having with Wes Beary (the guy behind the fantastic fog gem) is the topic of actively blogging, and the notion that it’s something I believe will be will be very beneficial to me in a number of ways. I’ve had a couple of stabs at blogging before, but I never really built up enough momentum (or enthusiasm) for it to transform it into an enjoyable, long-term habit. There’s a number of factors that’ve contributed to this lack of traction, but I feel as though Octopress—a tool I’ve recently discovered—goes a long way to removing many of those barriers.