Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Get Consistent Mental Energy with Smaller, Frequent Caffeine Breaks
11:00PM Kevin Purdy | Think the best way to jump-start a project involves a large dark roast with extra shots? Think again, according to Wired magazine. As part of a roundup of mental boosters, one writer suggests that research has shown smaller, regular doses of caffeine—think tea breaks or half-cups of coffee—do more to boost alertness and reduce jitters than a large blast of the stuff: Test subjects reported that periodic small shots made them feel clearheaded and calm, both of which enhance mental performance. Even better, add a lump of sugar or have a carbohydrate-rich snack at the same time for an extra cognitive kick. It seems that glucose and caffeine together do more to enhance cognition than either does alone. More »
Quickly Update Personal Organiser Sandy from Launchy
10:00PM Kevin Purdy | Email-based digital personal assistant Sandy can be a really helpful manager for to-do lists and calendar appointments, but only if you don’t mind composing new messages for every change. Reader Wyatt writes in with a quicker way to get Sandy’s attention, using Outlook, Windows keystroke launcher Launchy, and a custom line for its built-in Runner plugin. Create a new Runner command named “Sandy” or something similar and point it to the location of Outlook’s executable file, but add the following switches at the end (substituting your Sandy username): /c ipm.note /m sandybox@yourname.iwantsandy.com Want to customise the resulting instant email further? Here’s a guide to more Outlook switches. Gmail fans can also piece together a similar quick-launch Sandy through a Gmail script for Launchy. (Original Sandy post). More »Nokia music
11:45AM Sarah Stokely | Nokia has today launched a music store which it hopes will be an iTunes store killer – despite the fact that its music is packed with DRM and won’t be playable on an iPod. Hilariously, when I visited the website it also told me it doesn’t support Firefox. In fact, it only wants to play with Internet Explorer on XP or Vista. It’s almost like they want to reduce their pool of potential customers. Next!
More » Why you should wait until 2010 to buy a new car
11:35AM Sarah Stokely | The EcoGeek blog spends a lot of time looking at environmentally friendly cars – so much time that as a public transit enthusiast, it often leaves me a little cold. But they had a very interesting post today on the array of hybrids and electric cars that are approaching the retail horizon over the next few years. It’s worth a read if you’re considering buying a greener car in the next couple of years.The bad news according to the Ecogeek is that you’re better off waiting for the next gen options to hit the road:
“Even if you don’t have a hybrid, you will save so much more gas with
the next generation plug-ins and full-electrics that it really isn’t
worth upgrading now.”
We should be seeing the next gen Toyota Prius by 2010 (or perhaps 2011
in Australia?) and apparently Mitsubishi’s got a hybrid in the wings
as well.Of course, it remains to be seen how many of the cars it mentions will actually make it to our shores. In the meantime, walking or public transport remains far more environmentally friendly. :)
Why you should wait until 2010 to buy a new car [EcoGeek] More » 
Auto Context Saves Time with Your Right-Click
11:30AM Adam Pash | Firefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): The Auto Context Firefox extension automatically shows your right-click context menu as soon as you select text on a web page, taking a step out of your workflow if the right-click menu is your go-to toolbox. Once installed, Auto Context also provides extensive options for tweaking your right-click menu to your heart’s content. Since I can only think of two reasons you’d select text with your mouse—either you want to copy it or you want to perform a right-click action on the text—I’d heartily recommend that you either install this extension or the previously mentioned AutoCopy extension, which automatically places selected text to your clipboard. Auto Context is a free download, works wherever Firefox does. Auto Context [Firefox Add-ons via CyberNet] More »
Access the Encyclopedia Britannica online
11:02AM Sarah Stokely | The Encyclopedia Britannica is fighting back against the online ubiquity of Wikipedia by branching out into the online world, with the launch of its Webshare page. It is offering web publishers, including bloggers, access to its online encylopedia – although you must apply and be approved to gain access.It has also launched a number of Widgets, which let online publishers provide links to the full Britannica entry about the word they’re linking (even if you’d normally need a subscription to view it).
EB is also Twitter streaming a new topic each day. Welcome to Web 2.0, old boy. :) More » CDMA FAQ
10:55AM Sarah Stokely | Telstra is switching off its rural CDMA network on 28 April, and they’ve issued a list of frequently asked questions to help customers confused about making the switch from the old network. I prefer Ian Yates rather more tongue in cheek version here.
More » Outrun zombies and solve other problems, Japanese style
10:35AM Sarah Stokely | Japanophiles and Lifehackers alike may be interested in Urawaza, a new book which has the fairly serious subtitle “Secret Everyday Tips and Tricks from Japan” but with some pretty bizarre tips including how to use a rubber band strapped around your toes to be able to outrun zombies…It’s written by I09 blogger Lisa Katayama, who will clearly be one of the survivors of the impending zombie apocalypse.
How to Outrun Zombies, and Other Ways to Solve Problems Japanese Style [IO9] More » Get a motivation hit from peers when you’re a solo worker
10:30AM Sarah Stokely | The Flying Solo blog offers up an interesting idea for letting solo workers tap into some of the social and motivational benefits of group working. Blogger Megan Tough says a fellow freelancer opened up their home to a small group of fellow soloists, for a one-off day of group work. The plan was to allow for solo work time as well as group discussion of a specific work issues facing each participant. She says it more than achieved their stated goals, which were:
1. To work on something that needed to get done. Perhaps we’d been putting it off, or hadn’t allocated
dedicated time to doing it.
2. To discuss and provide feedback to each other on one issue in our business.
3. The third objective, and ultimately the most important, was to have fun.
They also elected to stay in touch via project management software Basecamp, holding a quarterly online meeting to update the group on their progress.
Interesting idea and a nice reminder that getting together with others can really help give a different perspective on your work and give you a motivational ‘push’.
Getting a Motivation Hit [Flying Solo via Tapping Man]
More » 
