Monday, August 25, 2008
Work
Work More Ergonomically on the Road
11:30PM Lifehacker US Edition | Setting up an ergonomic workspace at home or at your office where you have the most control over your environment is a lot easier than when you’re travelling with your laptop and don’t know where you’ll wind up hunkering down for a work marathon. You already know how to set up a healthy work station with an ergonomic calculator, arrange your workspace for computing that’s easy on your body, and even replace your office chair with an exercise ball to help with good posture. But what about when you’re away from your home or office workstation? Mobile computing site Wi-Fi Planet offers a few tips. More »
Organise
Fix the Problems With Your Someday/Maybe List
10:00PM Kevin Purdy | The Tools for Thought blog has a thoughtful post tackling the problems many would-be followers of Getting Things Done have with the Someday/Maybe list, where you (supposedly) place realistic things you just can’t get to right now. Many lists are ignored, for example, because they’re just too darn long. A good trick in reviewing the list is to scan it with the question in mind, “What can I get rid of?” Even if you don’t get rid of anything some weeks, you’ll find that you pay more attention to the process. You might want to create a next action to edit the list as thoroughly as possible. Consider putting some items that you’ll still think about occasionally but not every week in a less frequent queue, either on your calendar or your tickler file. How often do you get back to your Someday/Maybe list, and what practices help you keep it in check? Tell us about it in the comments. Seven Problems with a Someday/Maybe List — and Ways to Correct Them [Tools for Thought] More »
Work
Debunking The Myth of Multitasking
9:00PM Gina Trapani | In a fast-paced business culture of “get everything done yesterday,” it’s easy to admire and reward those busybusy people who always seem to be juggling 14 things at once. But business coach Dave Crenshaw argues that the most common kind of multitasking doesn’t boost productivity—it slows you down. In his new book, The Myth of Multitasking: How “Doing It All” Gets Nothing Done, Crenshaw explains the difference between “background tasking”—like watching TV while exercising—and “switchtasking,” juggling two tasks by refocusing your attention back and forth between them, and losing time and progress in the switch. Crenshaw’s on a mission to reduce distractions, interruptions, and fire-fighting at work, and create environments that let employees see through tasks with their full attention before moving onto the next thing. Here’s what Crenshaw had to say when I asked him a few questions about changing perceptions and habits around multitasking. Photo by Elsie esq.. More »
Organise
4:20PM Angus Kidman | Jetstar is currently running its 30 cent fuel discount offer, which provides a one-time voucher offering 30 cents a litre off if you book a flight before August 28. While this might represent a useful bonus if you booked a flight you were planning to take anyway, there’s a danger that people will buy tickets they didn’t otherwise plan to get, thus eliminating any real savings. A similar logic applies to the extra 2 cents off you can get in many servos if you purchase $2 of goods — if that’s not stuff you needed to buy, I figure the saving is illusory. But what do Lifehacker readers think? Are fuel cost saving initiatives worth pursuing, or are you better off trying to cut the amount of car travel you undertake? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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Is an airline ticket worth a 30 cent fuel saving?
4:20PM Angus Kidman | Jetstar is currently running its 30 cent fuel discount offer, which provides a one-time voucher offering 30 cents a litre off if you book a flight before August 28. While this might represent a useful bonus if you booked a flight you were planning to take anyway, there’s a danger that people will buy tickets they didn’t otherwise plan to get, thus eliminating any real savings. A similar logic applies to the extra 2 cents off you can get in many servos if you purchase $2 of goods — if that’s not stuff you needed to buy, I figure the saving is illusory. But what do Lifehacker readers think? Are fuel cost saving initiatives worth pursuing, or are you better off trying to cut the amount of car travel you undertake? Share your thoughts in the comments.
More »
Communicate
3:57PM Angus Kidman | Deepmemo is a social networking site based around a simple concept: identifying quotes and useful information and then placing them in your profile (the company catchphrase is “social quotation service”). Install the Deepmemo toolbar and then you can add any text you encounter online by highlighting it and pressing the Deepmemo button. Since the user base is predominantly Eastern European right now, you might have difficulty deriving much value from the quotes saved by others, but it’s an interesting twist on the familiar social networking meme. I’d like to see a toolbar-free version to save on screen real estate too. Deepmemo is free, can be accessed with a Facebook, Google or OpenID account.
[Deepmemo]
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Deepmemo stores and shares useful online quotes
3:57PM Angus Kidman | Deepmemo is a social networking site based around a simple concept: identifying quotes and useful information and then placing them in your profile (the company catchphrase is “social quotation service”). Install the Deepmemo toolbar and then you can add any text you encounter online by highlighting it and pressing the Deepmemo button. Since the user base is predominantly Eastern European right now, you might have difficulty deriving much value from the quotes saved by others, but it’s an interesting twist on the familiar social networking meme. I’d like to see a toolbar-free version to save on screen real estate too. Deepmemo is free, can be accessed with a Facebook, Google or OpenID account.
[Deepmemo]
More »
Work
Kotaku seeking an editor
3:23PM Angus Kidman | If you’re the kind of person who salivated when you learnt how to hack the Wii, can name every Mario game without getting confused and would purchase the overseas and local versions of a censored title like Fallout 3 just so you could make YouTube clips demonstrating the difference, we may have the perfect job for you. Logan at our sibling title Kotaku is moving on, so Kotaku needs an editor — the perfect opportunity for a gaming enthusiast with energy, enthusiasm and excellent expression,. Get the full lowdown at the Kotaku site. More »
Fix
Soup Up Your Homebrew-Hacked Wii
10:00AM Adam Pash | You’ve hacked your Wii to run homebrew apps and play back DVDs without any difficult hardware hacking and now you want to dive into more of your homebrew options. Let’s take a closer look at how to install new homebrew applications on your Wii through the homebrew channel, play back virtually any video or audio format, run old-school video game emulators, and more. Oh, and we’ll play a little Doom, naturally. More »
Fix
Clean Any Surface in Your House
9:00AM Kevin Purdy | Real Simple posts a smart follow-up to their guide to assembling an ultimate cleaning kit: a guide to using those supplies to clean pretty much any surface in your house. This guide gives you the dos and don’ts of cleaning stainless steel, glass, marble, ceramics, hardwood cabinets and floors, butcher block, and much more. Those proud of their bamboo or other wood cutting board, for instance, might heed this advice: More »
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Nine Things You Should Never Pay Full Price For
7:00AM Lifehacker US Edition | Personal finance writer Mary Hunt believes there are some things you should simply never pay full price for. Among them? Pets, cars, software and games. Buy a purebred puppy from a breeder in California and you will spend at least $700, plus vet bills. Adopt a previously owned puppy from the animal shelter for about $175 including spay/neuter, vaccinations and fees. Savings? Oh, about 78 percent More »
Communicate
