This evening at 5PM Pacific Time I’ll be joining The FlyLady Marla Cilley and Alan Levy on their streaming radio show at BlogTalkRadio called Now is the Time. Join us at 5PM this evening to listen and join in.
All platforms with Firefox: Just posted a quick fix to the Better GReader Firefox extension which restores the in-reader Preview feature again. You can now load the source web page on any RSS post right inside Google Reader by hitting the small Preview button at the bottom of the post with this user script enabled (again.) Thanks to John Doppke over at UserScripts.org for the fix. Grab the updated version 0.2.3 over at the Better GReader Firefox extension homepage. Trick out Google Reader with Better GReader [Lifehacker Code]
Even though that report is due by the end of the day, you just spend the last two hours watching Family Guy YouTube clips because you just can’t help yourself. If you regularly find yourself clicking around Facebook, keyboard covered in drool, when you’re supposed to be getting stuff done&mdashh;or better, going outside—it’s time to break out the big guns. Restrained web surfing feels like an impossible feat for rabid infovores, but a Firefox extension called LeechBlock can help. Here’s how you can save yourself from quicksand web destinations at certain times of the day with LeechBlock.
Windows Vista only: Windows XP users with a serious Mac crush have FlyakiteOSX to make their desktop resemble, if not work like, a Mac, but Vista users—even those upgraded to Service Pack 1—now have Vista OS X for a similar OS paint job. The installer (unfortunately) requires that you disable User Account Control to move forward, but you’ll get screensavers, wallpapers, a “Dock,” and more goodies, all accessible from the basic “Themes” menu. The gHacks blog states that the theme completely uninstalls itself when you’re ready to move back to Windows; I haven’t tried it myself, so let us know your experiences in the comments. Vista OS X is a free download for Windows Vista systems only. Vista OS X [via gHacks]
Portfolio magazine has a great guide to the realm of higher-end teas, with an introduction to different varieties and age-old wisdom (along with some new-age connoisseur-style advice) on how to best prepare and enjoy the lower-caffeine pick-me-up. I was surprised to see this tip amongst the offerings: Experts say that you should use boiling water for black tea. For more delicate green or white tea, Sebastian Beckwith, co-founder of the Connecticut-based specialty-tea seller In Pursuit of Tea, suggests letting the water cool for a few minutes. “You lose a lot of flavour if you put boiling water on white or green tea,” he says.
We’re obviously not big fans of making simple things more complicated around here, but if it improves your morning ritual, all the better. Gourmet Tea Guide [Portfolio]
The New York Times’ Shifting Careers column interviews Peggy Klaus, author of The Hard Truth About Soft Skills and noted proponent of the power of blogging, about the “soft skills” that everyone—especially the productivity-obsessed among us—can use occasional coaching on. Among the questions is one that any freelancer or over-scheduled office worker has probably pondered: How do you tell a boss or an important client that you can’t tackle a project, whether due to deadlines, preferences, or nearly any other reason. Klaus’ response:
Windows with Outlook 2007 only: Send text messages in a dedicated Outlook interface with SMSOfficer, a free add-on for Outlook 2007. Once you finish the free sign-up and verification at SMSOfficer’s site, you’ll get a new menu item in Outlook, New->Text Message, where you can type in a phone number or contact and send a message of less than 160 characters (write more and it’s split into multiple texts), with replies heading to your phone. You get 10 free texts, and additional credits can be purchased via PayPal—$US20 will get you 250 texts, with bulk discounts at higher volumes. Anyone with email access can send a text message by knowing the right carrier email addresses, but SMSOfficer strips out header text and is obviously convenient for Outlook acolytes. SMSOfficer is a free sign-up and download for Windows and Outlook 2007.
SMSOfficer [Example Source via Digital Inspiration]
