Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Interviews
11:37PM Gina Trapani | The Globe and Mail interviews us for an article on the productivity media boom, in an article called Too busy organizing to be productive. Here’s the full interview transcript. More »
What’s Your Best “Advanced Common Sense”?
11:30PM Gina Trapani | Getting Things Done author David Allen calls any kind of productivity trick or system “advanced common sense”—using the smart part of your brain to help out the dumb part in its most feeble moments. The Getting Things Done weblog lists some of its best “advanced common sense,” like writing things down, ubiquitous capture and setting up to-do’s in their right contexts. For me, hanging up the car keys on the keyrack is the advanced common sense that keeps my dumb future self from running around the house looking for them when it’s time to go. More »
Compress and Extract File Archives with jZip
11:00PM Lifehacker US Edition | Windows only: Freeware application jZip, based on 7-Zip technology, creates and extracts archives with a click of a button. jZip supports RAR, TAR, ZIP, G-Zip, and other archive formats. Additionally, files can be encrypted with a passphrase for added security, and heavy archivers might find the shell integration feature handy. Archiving and extracting is a breeze with jZip, and I was able to create a 360MB ZIP file in less than a minute. jZip also sports an interesting feature: the ability to view any file within an open archive with a desired application, such as WordPad for TXT files, for example. jZip is a free download for Windows only. jZip More »
Change Your PC’s Registered Owner in Windows
10:30PM Gina Trapani | When you’ve inherited someone else’s PC and want to make it your own, you can change the registered owner’s name in the Windows Registry. The How-To Geek runs down the steps; in a nutshell, using the registry editor (Start->Run->regedit.exe to get there), change the RegisteredOwner key value located in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion. As always, back up your registry before making changes, just in case. Quick Tip: Change the Registered Owner in Windows [the How-To Geek] More »The Case for Personal Outsourcing
10:00PM Gina Trapani | Does the thought of hiring a virtual personal assistant in Bangladesh for 5 bucks an hour make your skin crawl? Entrepreneur Ryan Norbauer explains how he got over his hang-ups and got super-productive with hired help. He writes: What is the part of your work (whether personal or professional) that only you can do? And what if you could somehow force yourself to do only that work? In my case, doing precisely this with the help of outsourcing has radically improved my effectiveness. More »
Google updates Gmail Mobile
6:40PM Sarah Stokely | Further to our news brief last night about Google’s latest updates, I should clarify that they haven’t overhauled Gmail, just its mobile offering.
The update was to Gmail’s mobile version – further information can be found here. They’ve cleaned up the interface and added a few features from the desktop version, including the ability to add views like Spam or Drafts.
The update got a writeup at the (Unofficial) Google Operating System blog today, and the java app in particular got a nice wrap for preloading some messages and requiring less clicks and keystrokes.
Gmail Mobile Improves the Interface [Google Operating System] More » 
Roadtest your broadband speed on Facebook
6:29PM Sarah Stokely | ZDNet Australia has jumped on the Facebook bandwagon with an application which lets you measure your broadband speed and then compare notes with your friends.
They’re claiming to have gotten 6,000 Facebook users to use the Broadband Speed Challenge app, which lets you see how you rank against your other Facebook friends, as well as other nations. So far Australia ranks 17th, with Finland leading.
My result?
If you sign up for the speed test, let me know how you fared in comments. More » Lifehacker on RRR – podcast available
2:41PM Sarah Stokely | I was a guest on on Triple R’s technology show Byte into IT last week, talking about all things Lifehacker. If you’d like to hear it, the podcast is available here. More » Manage your bookmarks
10:45AM Sarah Stokely | Wired’s How to Wiki on bookmark management talks you through organising your bookmarks so they’re in synch across your work, home and web environments.
It gives a rundown on some bookmark organising software, as well as the online tools which are available, and some general tips:
1. If you’re serious about your bookmarks and you’re working across locations and platforms, social bookmarking sites are the way to go. What they lack in organisational methods they make up for in search capabilities.
2. Most social bookmark services offer an RSS feed for your bookmarks. Send that feed to a service like RssFwd, enter your email account and get your bookmarks delivered to your email. If you use an online service like GMail or Yahoo, you’ve got another way to access your bookmarks from anywhere in the world.
It covers a few retail software packages for bookmark management, but only one free version (Links2Tray), which seems a bit lame.
I haven’t yet branched into social bookmarking, but after reading this, ma.gnolia sounds tempting. What do you use?
Manage Your Bookmarks [Wired] More » Ubuntu mobile gets ready to roll
10:23AM Sarah Stokely | The official alpha of Ubuntu Mobile won’t be out until Ubuntu’s 7.10 ‘Gutsy Gibbon’ release in October, but David Flynn reports for APC that
the Ubuntu Mobile “pre-alpha” was spotted on almost all UMPCs and mobile Internet devices seen around the floor at Intel’s Developer Forum last week.
The article also has a rundown on the news from the Intel Linux-UMPC sessions at IDF.
Ubuntu Mobile gets ready to roll [APC] More » 