Thursday, October 4, 2007
11:53PM Gina Trapani | UC Berkeley’s posting full course lectures on YouTube including this lecture on search engine technology by Sergey Brin. More »
Make Your Own Ring Binder Laptop Stand
11:30PM Gina Trapani | Web developer Ingo built a simple laptop stand from a three-ring binder and an aluminium rail. The result raises his screen, makes a more comfortable wrist rest, and even creates some handy storage for an external drive underneath. The 2 Euro Laptop Stand [chillu.com] More »
Get Color Codes with ColorZilla
11:00PM Tamar Weinberg | All platforms with Firefox: Designers will love the usefulness of ColorZilla, a Firefox extension that provides colour readings in RGB and hexadecimal format. For diehard Firefox users who surf the net often, this is a convenient alternative to standalone application Color Cop. We’ve briefly mentioned ColorZilla before, but I find it a blessing worth its very own post when it comes to grabbing the colour data quickly and easily without having to open another application. ColorZilla’s a free download that works with and wherever Firefox does. ColorZilla More »
Get Recent Documents in One Place with Smart Folders
10:30PM Tamar Weinberg | Mac only: Get a dynamic list of recently accessed files using Smart Folders in OS X. MacWorld magazine explains how: Create a smart folder in the Finder by selecting File -> New Smart Folder, or by pressing Command-Option-N. You’ll see two lines of criteria in the folder. In the Kind criterion, select Any, or, if you want to limit it to documents, select Documents. Set Last Modified to Since Yesterday, or if you want to go back further, Within Last N Days, where N is the number of days you want to use. Click the Other button in the location bar, then click the plus (+) button to add folders. A “Recent Documents” Smart Folder is a great one-stop access point for files you’re currently working on but that are located in different “actual” folders. Here’s how to save searches as folders in Windows Vista. Mac OS X Hints: Use Smart Folders to find recent files and apps [MacWorld] More »Manage a To-Do List with Your iPod Touch
10:00PM Tamar Weinberg | Ever since Apple released the iPod Touch, they’ve removed essential features, rendering it less versatile than the famous iPhone. Creative thinker Travis shows that you can still manage appointments and assignments using your nifty little MP3 player, as long as you’re not using your Contacts application. In this video, Travis walks us through assigning each field in the Contacts utility to make a functional to-do list. It certainly isn’t as good as the event manager in the iPhone’s Calendar app, but it comes pretty close. More »British Library goes digital
4:45PM Sarah Stokely | The venerable British Library will put more than 100,000 old books – previously unseen by the public – online in a mass digitisation program focused on 19th century books. Approximately 30 terabytes of storage will be needed to accommodate all the books, which will take 2 years to be scanned and placed online.
British Library books go digital [BBC news]
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Work
4:30PM Sarah Stokely | Achieving a work/life balance is a tightrope which requires effort from both the worker and their place of work. While we’ve had the communication technology available to support teleworking for years, it doesn’t seem to have taken off, and is more likely to be the domain of the self employed freelance/consultant types. However, employers are cottoning on to the fact that one way to hold onto staff – especially people with children – is to become more flexible. And with a recent survey by the Australian Computer Society putting IT unemployment at a five year low of 3.84%, skilled IT staff may be well placed to make the case for teleworking.
In an opinion piece at CNET, Eric Cinrod quotes figures which suggest that only 13% of American business people think their workplace would let them telework. He goes through a number of reasons why it could benefit not only the employee but the business itself. Worth a read if you’re thinking of making a business case of why you should be able to work from home a couple of days a week, or more.
Making the case for telework [CNET]
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Making the case for telework
4:30PM Sarah Stokely | Achieving a work/life balance is a tightrope which requires effort from both the worker and their place of work. While we’ve had the communication technology available to support teleworking for years, it doesn’t seem to have taken off, and is more likely to be the domain of the self employed freelance/consultant types. However, employers are cottoning on to the fact that one way to hold onto staff – especially people with children – is to become more flexible. And with a recent survey by the Australian Computer Society putting IT unemployment at a five year low of 3.84%, skilled IT staff may be well placed to make the case for teleworking.
In an opinion piece at CNET, Eric Cinrod quotes figures which suggest that only 13% of American business people think their workplace would let them telework. He goes through a number of reasons why it could benefit not only the employee but the business itself. Worth a read if you’re thinking of making a business case of why you should be able to work from home a couple of days a week, or more.
Making the case for telework [CNET]
More » Getting things done with mutt
3:52PM Sarah Stokely | TechRepublic has a writeup of how users of the UNIX-based command-line email client mutt can tweak it to support some of the email triage and management techniques espoused by David Allen’s Getting Things Done system:
“Mutt is extremely powerful, but lacks a little when attempting to implement GTD and the “Inbox Zero” concept. With the aid of a patch that adds support for editing the X-Label header in e-mails (mutt already supports viewing and searching based on the X-Label header), implementing the “Inbox Zero” concept is a few configuration tweaks away.”
Getting things done with mutt [TechRepublic]
More » Concentration tips
3:00PM Sarah Stokely | 43 Folders dug up a gem of an article on the University of Kent’s website, which looks at getting into concentrating mode, and how to train yourself to stay there.
Although aimed at students, it seemed equally applicable for anyone who needs to block out distractions and concentrate on their work. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t start their workday by checking their email, but I can see why they say it’s a no-no:
“… You can carry out a small ritual at the start of every study session, such as taking out a figurine, wearing your study cap, or putting up a sign. This helps to tune your body into a study mode when you carry out the ritual. It also serves to tell others that you are studying and that you should not be disturbed. Do not choose an activity, such as reading your email or checking the stock market, that may lead you to procrastinate or distract you.”
Along with suggesting some tried and true methods such as breaking up your task list into manageable tasks, the article also suggested a cool notion I haven’t come across before – worry time.
“If your mind is side-tracked into worrying or daydreaming during the day, then set aside a specific time each day to think about the things that keep interrupting your concentration.”
As someone who battles the procrastination demons all too often, I’m bookmarking that page!
Concentration strategies for students [43 Folders]
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LegalWiki – Australian law online
2:05PM Sarah Stokely | This one will be of interest to legal eagles and those too cheap to shell out for a lawyer in the flesh. A not-for-profit LegalWiki has been set up to be Australia’s first free online legal encyclopedia. As with Wikipedia, peer review is expected to keep the information accurate, but it will be up to contributors to flesh out the project, which has been online for about three months.
The writeup of the Wiki in the Financial Review noted that the sections on shareholder rights, prospectuses and the management of companies on the corporation law page were as yet empty.
It could well develop into an excellent resource – the founders are seeking a grant to maintain it and their information page says they hope that legal professionals contributing to the Wiki can qualify for CDP (Continuing Professional Development points), which would encourage participation from the profession.
Wikis and the Law [Financial Review]
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