When the Lifehacker servers are uncooperative it hurts us as much as it hurts you. Believe me. Sorry for the downage over the weekend, folks. As of now, all systems go. More »
Weblog Zen Habits discusses how to start an exercise habit, first by examining why most of us don’t exercise, then by suggesting four steps for getting in the routine. Step one: Set one easy, specific, measurable goal. There are several keys to setting this crucial goal: By measurable, I mean that you should be able to say, definitely, whether you hit or miss your goal today. Examples: run for 10 minutes. Walk 1/2 a mile. Do 3 sets of 5 pushups. Each of those has a number that you can shoot for.
I’ve found the first step to be crucial; a good, detailed plan of attack is a must if you plan on sticking to a workout. Get a calendar you can use to cross off workouts as you go. Fall is upon us, which means cooler weather and comfort food for most of us. Rather than pack on an extra five to ten pounds of winter weight this year, starting a good exercise habit could help you stay fit and healthy in the coming months. Let’s hear how you stay active during the cooler months to come in the comments.
4 Simple Steps to Start the Exercise Habit [Zen Habits]Launchy lovers and early adopters might want to check out Launchy 2.0 alpha and help in the testing process. Thanks Dan! More »
Create and collaborate using instant online whiteboards with web application Scriblink. To get started, head to their homepage for an instant whiteboard space. From there you can invite friends by grabbing your whiteboard’s URL or sending an email. Once they join you, you can chat or phone conference (phone conferencing doesn’t seem to be complete) with your fellow collaborators. Scriblink is a very simple implementation of the online whiteboard, but its screen sharing seems fairly real-time, which is always a plus. If you’re looking for a more robust online whiteboard, check out previously mentioned Skrbl.
Scriblink [via Mashable]Google Maps mashup Gruvr lists live local music by date and location. Just head to their homepage and enter your location (if it doesn’t automatically locate you). Gruvr begins automatically displaying upcoming concerts one at a time in what at first seems like a fun tour of what’s happening. If your location has a lot of venues, it quickly gets irritating, since you can’t stop the playback to focus on one that piqued your interest until it finishes displaying every show for the upcoming week. Despite that one user-unfriendly quirk (which could be easily fixed), Gruvr is actually a really nice idea. The weekend is upon us, so if you’re looking to hit the town for some live music, Gruvr is a good option. If you want the latest on local music but you’re not keen on Gruvr, check out Pollstar, Upcoming.org, or the iConcertCal iTunes plug-in.
AU – Gruvr found 21 shows for Melbourne, so it definitely works for Oz.
Gruvr [via Download Squad]We’ve already seen your killer desktops, but now it’s time to get a little more granular. It’s time to look at your system tray. We want to see what must-have utilities you run day in and day out in that little strip of screen real estate on the end of your taskbar. Hit the jump for more details and the detailed submission guidelines. More »
Web site Treedolist hierarchically organises your to-do list, notes, bookmarks, RSS feeds, and pretty much anything else you can think to drop into it. At its most basic, you can think of it as a simple to-do list with the ability to add structured and nested lists and then filter your lists by due dates, labels, and a number of other useful methods. It gets interesting, though, when you realise that you can also add more information, like RSS feeds, and share branches of any tree with other Treedolist users. And—like any good online to-do list—Treedolist has several useful keyboard shortcuts.
Treedolist [via Micro Persuasion]Many of us prefer the internet to sex, according to web site Ars Technica. Which can you go longer without? More »
That Mac you’re viewing this web page on using a pretty graphical interface? That’s a Unix-based system which can run the powerful and age old command line utilities of the most advanced Unix beard. If you’ve never launched the Terminal, you’re missing out on a plethora of Unix tools that offer more control and options than any dialog box possibly could. We’ve covered some basic Unix command line techniques in the past, but today we’ve got a few more for folks who want to start their Unix ninja training from the comfort of their own Mac. More »
Chronic procrastinator J.D. Roth describes the techniques he uses to stop putting off tasks. One of his weapons in the war against procrastionation? A timer. Roth says:
Part of the reason I procrastinate is that I have a rich mental life. This is just a flowery way of saying that I’m a daydreamer. I’m always lost in thought. One way to keep on track is to use a timer. I use the Ultrak Jumbo Countdown Timer, but not as often as I should. I set it for 48 minutes. When it goes off, it serves as an instant reality check: Am I doing what I’m supposed to be doing?
As someone who also has a “rich mental life” AND a timer, I can attest that this does indeed work. What specific anti-procrastination strategies (besides “just do it now”) do you have up your sleeve? Let us know in the comments.
Getting to Now: How to Beat the Procrastination Habit [Get Rich Slowly]
