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Top 10 Pervasive Tech Myths That Are Only Wasting Your Time When he caught a bad cold last month, blogger Henrik decided to multi-task and used the time he spent laid up to kick his three-cups-a-day coffee habit. (As if recovery wasn’t enough!) He hasn’t had a cup of coffee in 30 days now, and he says the change has made a big difference in his productivity. He says that now: I’m less prone to procrastination. I didn’t really notice it while I was drinking coffee but my mind seemed to wander off in all kinds of ways a lot of the time. Now it’s easier to single-task and focus on one thing and I don’t feel the same need to check email or other distracting stuff.
Not sure if there’s any actual scientific evidence that links caffeine and procrastination, but it wouldn’t surprise me. I quit caffeinated coffee about two years ago and I’ve also seen an increase in focus and decrease in tangents because I’m less jacked up on caffeine. (However, decaf coffee, tea, and most diet sodas, which I do drink once in awhile, do have caffeine, so I’m not off the stuff completely. Just no longer dependent on it to get me started in the morning.)
For more on how you too can kick the habit (sans Henrik’s flu), see Ask Lifehacker: Quitting Caffeine? (which got posted in Lifehacker’s Pre Comments Era), reader responses to the post, and more on the subject here and here.
How I Quit Drinking Coffee and the Benefits I’ve Experienced [The Positivity Blog]It’s a standard business cliche that 20% of your effort yields 80% of the results – the 80/20 rule. The Lifehack.org blog argues that often this rule is misintrepreted. But if used correctly, to identify imbalances of effort so you can maximise your output (whether it’s in sales, or productive hours spent at work), it can help you be more effective with your time and effort.It suggests picking an area of your life where you feel there is an imbalance of effects – whether it’s money, time, health or relationships. Are you putting a lot into one of those and not seeing much in the way of results? Then flip that on its head:
“Try to identify the key 10, 20 or 40 percent of inputs that are creating most your results. This could be the 10% of time that creates the most returns. It could be the 40% of relationships that create the most happiness for you.”
Once you’ve identified them, you can start to swing the balance of your time and effort towards those activities you’ve identified as the most rewarding:
“Spend more time in those activities. Place them first in your schedule. Meet up with your key friends more often. Invest more of your money in the best expenses.”
And perhaps most importantly of all (since the exercise has helped you identify where you’re wasting time and effort) – the final step is to find ways to downplay or eliminate the rest:
“Get rid of activities that don’t have a high payoff. Stop spending time in relationships that don’t create enough value. Stop wasting money on investments that aren’t giving you a greater quality of life.”
A lot of these things (especially the last point) are easier said than done. Just because we find a relationship with a friend or relative to be upsetting or hard work, doesn’t mean that we’re going to feel comfortable about cutting them off or even minimising contact with them. In that kind of situation, you need to find a balance between what you feel you *should* be doing, and what you want to do. Do you find the 80/20 rule helpful? If you’ve been able to use it to help you spend your time and effort more wisely, please share in comments.
Eager to put up a Christmas tree but want to make sure you’re making the environmentally greenest choice? Web site The Daily green suggests several green options that won’t require cutting down and transporting trees or buying oil-derived fake plastic trees, like going for a live, plantable tree, decorating a tree outdoors, or—if you must—buying US-made artificial trees to reduce the carbon footprint from transportation. If you do decide to go the live tree route, here’s how you can pick and care for a live Christmas tree. Photo by life_through_a_viewfinder.
Royal Tannenbaums: How to Pick the Greenest Christmas Trees [Daily Green]Two years ago, Adam broke down how he uses Gmail as a bookmarking service.
Lunchtime book readers, rejoice! A little gadget called the BookGem holds books up and open, no matter how big or small, for easy hands-free reading. Cool Tools blog reader Matt Thompson says:
A little pull-out stand supports the book, two sturdy clips hold the pages in place, a pair of pull-out legs holds the book upright on a table. Best of all, spring-loaded page holders on either end make for simple page-turning without the need for repositioning the text; you just grip both holders with one hand and squeeze.
Sounds like a nice stocking stuffer for the bookworm in your life; the BookGem will set you back 15 bucks. I need one of these to help me transcribe book quotes, the damn things always snap shut while I’m typing. How do you read hands-free? Let us know in the comments.
BookGem [Cool Tools]Windows only: We’ve all done it: You inadvertently exit the wrong application or press the wrong keystroke and you quit the application you’re currently working on. In the best case, you just have to re-open the file or restart the application. Worst case, you lose important changes. Freeware application GoneIn60s recovers recently closed applications within a certain timeframe (60 seconds, by default) so neither scenario will happen. It does so by hiding the window when you close it—but not entirely closing it until the 60 seconds are up. That means if you close an application by mistake, you can just recover it through the GoneIn60s system tray icon before it actually closes. Essentially, then, GoneIn60s just hides your app and sets a delay to close it later, which is—frankly—brilliant. GoneIn60s is donationware, Windows only.
GoneIn60s [DonationCoder]Previously mentioned Letterbox, a Mail.app plugin that creates a three-pane layout for widescreen monitors, has released an updated beta now supporting Leopard.
Quicksilver is by far one of the most impressive and yet elusive applications we’ve ever come across, warranting post after post and inspiring nearly as many disappointing alternatives and knockoffs. A few days ago, I sat down (virtual-style) with Quicksilver’s creator Nicholas Jitkoff to discuss my all-time favourite application. Check out where Quicksilver is headed, why “The next Quicksilver might not look anything like what people expect,” and how you can help save Quicksilver after the jump. Quicksilver as an Open Source Project and Its Roadmap
Lifehacker: Now that Quicksilver has made the move to open source, what kind of progress can users expect to from the application? Will we be seeing more regular releases?Nicholas Jitkoff, Quicksilver’s Developer: You’re not going to like the answers to these questions.Lifehacker: I can live with that.Jitkoff: As for as progress goes, yes there will be progress, but in a much more experimental vein. I released two branches, the one that the B50s come from (ed: the Quicksilver that’s currently running on your computer), and a newer one that is really unstable.Lifehacker: So what kind of experimental business is going on with the unstable branch?Jitkoff: So far? Quicklook has been integrated (which I love).Lifehacker: See, I like the answer to that question. Jitkoff: Yes, but I may never distribute that version.Lifehacker: I don’t like that answer. I guess that sort of begs the question regarding the stable branch: Do you consider it pretty much feature complete?Jitkoff: Yes. Flawed, but for the most part complete.Lifehacker: So most updates to Quicksilver that the end user will see are probably going to be stability-related?Jitkoff: Right.
Moving Beyond Quicksilver to Other Apps You Didn’t Know You NeededJitkoff: Right now any fancy functionality has to be built into Quicksilver to take advantage of objects/actions/whatnot. Which is why Constellation (ed: pictured) and Abracadabra (ed: Both are Quicksilver plug-ins) are there, even if they could stand on their own. I’d rather be able to make apps that leverage the same functionality, but don’t really require you to have Quicksilver running.Lifehacker: Okay, so apps that build on the same sort of language/action building as Quicksilver but work completely independent of the QS framework?Jitkoff: Right. Possibly in a much more visual, intuitive way. The next Quicksilver might not look anything like what people expect.Lifehacker: What major differences, visually speaking, are you considering? The keyboard is still king, right? Jitkoff: I’m not making any promises. I’ll always consider number of keystrokes. But Ideally I want something that can take many forms, allowing the user to use whatever form of input they prefer… or a mix of them.
Ed: At this point Jitkoff showed me a few screenshots that, unfortunately, he asked I not post here. Maybe eventually…
Most of this actually sounds pretty good, until…Jitkoff: I’m inclined to encourage users to move over to the more stable and well supported alternatives like LaunchBar. Right now QS 54 (ed: the current build) accomplishes everything that I really need, the problem is stability, which for some reason most people seem to be ignoring.Lifehacker: Right, in the end stability is what matters most. I have a MacBook Pro that—until your recent updates—crashed QS on a very regular basis, which was always heartbreaking. But I’ve seen major stability improvements since the updates, which has been fantastic.Jitkoff: Basically, that branch is condemned to a long slow death. I just don’t know if the experimental one will ever be up to snuff. Hence the recommendation of third party apps.Lifehacker: Gotcha. The thing about Quicksilver is that it really is feature complete for features that I am actually aware of that I need right now. But is the current stable-ish build doomed to never hit a really stable landmark?Jitkoff: Unfortunately, I think not.Lifehacker: Oh wow, you’re looking to break hearts!Jitkoff: I told you you wouldn’t like the answers.Lifehacker: Well, I suppose we’ll have to manage.Jitkoff: I think that many of the alternatives are quite good. Making people relearn is a mean thing to do though.Lifehacker: Right. I guess from my standpoint, the fact that Quicksilver is free (as well as open source, now) is a major part of why it’s so beloved.Jitkoff: But also why it is so poorly supported. I have to do any work in off-time.
One More Obligatory QuestionLifehacker: What are your favorite/most-used QS plugins?Jitkoff: Mine? Hmm… image and text manipulation. Other than that, I have lots of shell and applescripts that I use that aren’t really in any plugin.
Lifehacker: It should prob go without saying, but great work with QS. Despite it’s problems, it makes my life so much easier every day, and I feel like I’m working without a limb when it’s not installed Jitkoff: I’m glad you like it. Thanks for getting everyone all excited about it…..
So Is Quicksilver Caput?While it’s certainly disappointing to hear Jitkoff’s somewhat grim outlook for Quicksilver (at least as we know it), there’s one major silver lining. Since Quicksilver is now open source, anyone can pick up the current stable trunk from the Quicksilver repository and run with it if they please. Also—from the sound of things—the Quicksilver development team is a little short on hands, so if you love some Quicksilver and would be interested in taking an active role in its further development and survival (and, of course, you’ve got some programming chops), I’m sure they’d love the extra help.
Last, if you’re interested in learning more about Quicksilver or honing your Quicksilver skills, check out the following guides or the video below of Jitkoff presenting Quicksilver to his co-workers at Google:
A Beginner’s Guide to Quicksilver Advanced Quicksilver Guide The Quicksilver Video Extravaganza Top 10 Quicksilver Plug-insDear Lifehacker,
I’ve been looking into Google Apps for Your Domain, which sounds cool, but I’m confused about what it is and why you’d use it. If I sign up for Google Apps for Your Domain, is Google actually becoming the host for my domain, or just providing a bunch of services for it? What’s the advantage to using GAppsFYD versus just vanilla Gmail and the rest? I have my own domain name that I use for my primary email address and my web site.
Signed, Unsure About Mixing Google and My Domain
Dear Unsure,
Google Apps for Your Domain is pretty cool for folks with their own domain names who want to manage a bunch of email/calendar/homepage users for it. To answer your question, GAppsFYD does not become your domain host, but it does provide a bunch of services, like Gmail, Google Calendar, a Start Page (a la iGoogle), Google Docs, Google Talk, etc. The difference between GAppsFYD services and free vanilla Google services is what you’d expect: your domain.
For instance, if your domain is thesmithfamily.org, using GAppsFYD, you could set up a bunch of users who get Gmail, GCal, a personalised start page, and chat all with usernames like john@thesmithfamily.org, lisa@thesmithfamily.org. Your users would log in to a Google hosted control panel (which you can customise with a thesmithfamily.org logo), and all their email would get sent with their custom domain email as the From: address.
Here’s a grab of what the domain control panel looks like to administrators:
The advantage here is that you don’t have the “hey look at me using a free email service!” @gmail.com address. I know, I know, you can send vanilla Gmail messages from any email address, but it comes through reading “on behalf of soandso@gmail.com” in some email clients, and that’s annoying. With GAppsFYD, if you decide to move email providers away from Gmail, you can do so without changing or losing your domain address.
The disadvantage to GAppsFYD is that Google seems to roll out new features a little slower for it versus non-domain Google offerings. Google’s awesome mobile Gmail app, for example, only works for straight-up vanilla Gmail accounts.
I’ve got GAppsFYD set up for two domains, and I love it. Basically you get all the goodness of Gmail et al. (storage, spam handing, etc.) with total portability, and if you’re a domain administrator, you can easily manage and create other people’s accounts, too. At the price of free, that’s a pretty sweet deal for small businesses and organizations, especially considering that most web hosts charge for extra email addresses and that kind of storage space.
Like I said, GAppsFYD does not provide web hosting in the traditional sense; like, there’s no FTP access to the server, for example. There is Google Page Creator, which has a pretty decent in-browser WYSIWIG web page editor and 100MB of space to upload photos and files, which is perfectly serviceable for a nameplate site. If you want full on web hosting, you can use a non-Google provider but still use GAppsFYD Gmail and the rest.
Good luck Googlifying your domain!
Love, Lifehacker
