After spending more years in school than I’d care to admit, I’ve begun taking on the role of tutor in my family. Sadly, most of the academic “problems” I encounter aren’t understood in light of the wealth of knowledge we have about learning, psychology, and organizational strategies.

A perfect test score, perfect credit, a face without blemishes, maybe even a problem-free life: these are ideals for many. Setting aside the question of whether these goals are achievable, on deeper reflection are they even desirable? Your parents, your teachers, and your bosses all want you to avoid mistakes. Here’s why they have it all wrong.

For Mac users trying out OpenMeta tagging, the news just keeps getting better.

DEVONthink, our favourite information manager for Mac OS X, and arguably the most powerful software of its kind on any platform, has reached version 2.0. With new features and significant usability improvements, this is a solid update. So why am I feeling a bit pessimistic about the market for software of this type?

Thank you for bearing with us during a few technical hitches we experienced last week. One of our stories wound up on the front page of a popular social bookmarking site, and with tens of thousands of additional visitors arriving by the hour, our systems had a tough time keeping up.

Many mental health professionals, particularly those in individual or small group practices with a strong web presence, often wear a technologist’s hat at least part of the time. If you’re one of those folks who sometimes needs to get their hands dirty under the hood of a website — maybe even do a bit of hand coding in PHP, Javascript and the like — the latest upgrade to the venerable BBEdit text processor has several new features to offer.

Mac-using mental health practitioners now have more choice than ever before when it comes to office software. Our review covers the high points of Microsoft’s latest suite, the changing competitive landscape, and a few gotchas with the 2008 update.