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QuoteRobot makes it easy to write winning proposals.

Let’s face it, proposal writing generally sucks. It’s unpaid time spent in the hopes of winning a new project. If you’re pitching against other companies, the chances of winning are further diluted. But, it’s a necessary evil.

Here are 3 tips from QuoteRobot to help you win more:

Focus on benefits, not features. For example, instead of saying you’ll build a Wordpress website with a blog (feature), say you’ll attract new customers (benefit) by making a website that’s easier to update.

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Editor’s Note: This essay originally appeared in the third issue of The Magazine. My thanks to Glenn and Marco for giving me a shot at being in such a great publication.

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My worst interaction with technology most days had been a sick Windows laptop, and my best involved monkeying with a new audio system. Most of us view technology within the frame of our personal and professional lives: a company like Apple, an e-reader like the Kindle, or an operating system like Windows.

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Chris Taylor for Reuters:

Americans are shelling out big bucks annually to outfit the entire household with Apple products. And they are spending hundreds - if not thousands of dollars - more each year for the unexpected Apple “taxes” – add-ons that lock them into the Apple system: iTunes downloads for music, movies and games, along with subscriptions and accessories.

Then there are the replacement costs for lost or broken equipment. For a family with multiple children, each with their own technological needs, the total annual bill can get downright ugly – like going over a familial “fiscal cliff.”

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I used to spend a ton of time on the old site. It’s good to see an old name return to the Mac scene.

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Shawn Blanc:

This is the first time I’ve ordered one of the photo books from Apple and I don’t think it will be the last. It’s a hardcover book, with 20 (or more if you want to add them) full-color pages, printed and shipped for about $32. The pages are full-bleed, the color is brilliant, and the construction quality is top notch.

We have one with some of our wedding photos in it, and I’ve given them as gifts. The quality is great, and they couldn’t be easier to build in iPhoto. That said, there is an issue. Here’s Shawn:

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Thomas Brand:

The era of Genius turning screws is coming to an end. Macs are becoming harder to get into, and instead of being repaired at the Apple Store most of the computers Apple sells these days are being refurbished at a central repair facility. Faulty iPhones, iPods, and iPads are replaced at the Genius bar, and shipped off to be disassembled and remade into refurbished devices with new cases and batteries. These refurbished computers return to the Apple Store to be used as iPhone, iPod, and iPad replacements. The cycle of replace, repair, refurbish, and replace is made easier by services like iCloud that keep all of a user’s data safety backed up. Customers have no qualms about receiving a device many of them think is new, just as long as they get to keep all of their personal data, songs, movies, and apps. It may be some time until all of Apple’s machines are replaced this way, but the new 21.5 inch iMac shows that Apple is moving in that direction.

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Damn.

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Peter Cohen at the Loop:

This past fall I got rid of my iPhone and replaced it with a “dumb” phone. It can make calls. It can, after a fashion, produce text messages. That’s it.

There are a lot of upsides.

Peter’s experience with using a dumb phone closely mirrors mine so far.

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Andrew Cunningham at Ars:

Here’s our biggest problem with the new iMac: making a laptop thinner and lighter is immediately noticeable. You touch and move a laptop constantly. Not everyone wants a laptop that values its size and weight more than, say, a faster processor or larger screen. But we can all at least agree that there is a very real place in the market for those thin and light devices, just as there’s a place in the market for gaming laptops or budget laptops. To achieve a more portable laptop, compromises like a lack of an optical drive or user-upgradeable memory are acceptable and even desirable.

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The Pebble team:

Unfortunately we will not be able to ship out Pebble in time for the holidays. As a tiny act of compensation, we’d like to offer you this little holiday card. I know it’s not a Pebble, but I do hope that you can tell from these updates that we’re quickly moving towards the moment when Pebble will finally be on your wrist.

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I dislike a lot of things about the retail sector in general, but the fact that Radio Shack used to be so badass is the saddest of them all.

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You’ve got to hand it to Tim Cook — he did a great job with Brian Williams on NBC.

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