A while back, I came across this word cloud of the top 100 passwords that people use and there’s a lot to learn from this; first, don’t use “123456” as your password. It seems like a lot of people don’t realize that their password is their first line of defence when it comes to using almost any technology. So, here are three things you should consider when you’re making your next password.

1. Length and Complexity

Your password should be at least 8 characters long and should include lowercase letters, uppercase letters, and special characters. The easiest way to make a fairly good password is to pick two random words that you can remember and add a hyphen and slap a number right after it. For example, purple-hippos98, flying-cats32, etc. you get the idea.

2. Make Your Password A Passphrase

It’s a good idea to make a password out of your favourite quote or some song lyrics. Not only its easier to remember but doing so will make your password unique. When creating a passphrase you still need to keep in mind length and complexity. Here are some examples of passphrases; 1Believe1c@nFly, TM0LI-42 (The meaning of life is 42), AllAb0utThatB@ss, etc. You get the Idea.

3. Make It Personal

The best way to make a strong password is to make it personal. This would make it easier for you to remember and you can incorporate all aspects of a safe password. When I say make it personal, I don’t mean using your name or your birthday as your password. It can be as simple as picking two things you like and mashing it up together as I stated before. For example, I like Technology and Muay Thai so my password could possibly be Muay-Thai-Technology11 (Don’t worry, I didn’t just give you my password).

Bonus: Change your password often

3 months ish is the best practice. I know it may be hard to come up with passwords every three months. There are a TON of password manager apps that you can use to help you with this. They will generate, and store your passwords securely.

There you have it, my tips on how you can make a strong and memorable password. Stay safe out there

In traditional planning systems, you placed your to-do list items in one big list — or in several lists — and your appointments and deadlines went into your calendar — William Petty, Designer and CEO of Glass Planner

Glass Planner takes your appointments and tasks and breaks it down into three simple segments: Plan, Act, and Done.

Plan is your master view, here you can set appointments, make to do lists, add checklists to your tasks; pretty much anything you need keep track of so you don’t forget. The plan section is amazing when you want to see what’s coming up next, which is what most planning applications do now. With that being said, Glass Planner really shines when you fire up the act section.

When you’re in the Act section, the app displays your appointments and your tasks from the plan tab and displays them for you and in case you forgot to add something in the plan section, you can do so here. What’s really amazing about Glass Planner is that it doesn’t display them in traditional “lists”; instead, the application intelligently prioritizes your tasks based on what it believes you can complete quickly (such as responding to an email).

Every time you wanted to get something done, you’d have to look at all these separate sources and decide what to do next. A lot of time was involved in just staying on top of these systems, and tracking separate lists and calendars on a small screen was no fun. — William Petty, Designer and CEO of Glass Planner

The done tab is pretty self explanatory, it shows all the tasks and appointments you’re done with.

Glass Planner is available to download for free on the iTunes App Store.

Originally published at technomaple.com on April 14, 2015.

That was my solution to us being glued to our phones and blocking out the world around us, but a Toronto start-up had a completely different idea to solve this issue. Enter Flipd, an app that locks you out of your phone for a period of time. I’ve been using this app for that exact purpose for about a month now. Whenever I need to get some work done, I just flip off and I’m good to go.

More about the app

Flipd essentially enables users to lock their phones for a period of time and once locked, there is no turning back. Even restarting the phone won’t do the trick, as soon as your phone is back up, flipd will lock your phone again.

When you’re flipd off, the app allows you to gain access to your phone for 60 seconds, and you can only do this once! This well make you realize how long 60 seconds actually is and how much you can do in that time frame. Flipd has really helped me stay focus when I’m trying to get things done; I’m actually flipd off right now as I write this.

Flipd puts user friendliness over everything else. The app is simple to use and there is no complicated setup process. As soon as you open Flipd, you’re greeted with three buttons, “Flip Off”, “Auto Response” and “Flip Off Others”.

Tapping the first button will pop open a window for you to select how long you want to be Flipd off. When you pick your time, and hit go, there is no turning back so you need to be completely committed to the time. While your phone is locked, you will be able to recieve calls and texts but you won’t be able to access them. However, when you’re flipd off you can still dial 911 or three other emergency contacts which you can set from the apps menu, which is to the left.

Pressing the “Auto Response” button can toggle auto response on or off. This feature allows you to automatically reply to people who are trying to contact you. This is very useful because you don’t want your friends to think you’re ignoring them (even though you might be). Flipd comes packed with a lot of auto responses, but you can also customize them to your liking.

The last button, “Flip Off Others”, doesn’t mean greeting someone with your middle finger. In fact, this is perhaps the most useful feature of the flipd app. This allows you to lock other people’s phone, provided they have the app installed. This is perfect for teamwork sessions, date night or even when you’re out with your friends. As for me, I think I will have to convince my friends to download the app so we can hangout without being distracted by our phones.

Even though flipd is very easy to use, the app comes with a built in tutorial that’s easy to follow and covers every aspect of the application. Below are some screenshots of the tutorial:

My experience with flipd has been positive. If I’m about to study I’m usually flipd off, which is helpful since it makes it a lot easier to stay focused when I don’t have access to my phone.

Whether you’re a student trying to get some studying done or a parent looking to keep your kids off their screens, flipd is the way to go. Without any major marketing push, flipd has over 4,000 downloads and has helped users save over 15,000 hours. Visit flipd’s official website for more information.

Flipd is available for Android devices, with an iOS version to come later this year.

Ironic as it may sound, would you use an app that helps you stay off your phone and perhaps kill your smartphone addiction?

Originally published at technomaple.com on May 22, 2015.