As bushfires continue to wreak destruction across large areas of Victoria, a group of Google engineers have developed a map using real-time RSS updates from the Country Fire Authority to track fire activity. Given that the CFA has urged that usage of its own site be minimised to ensure people in affected areas can access it, this is a sensible alternative. [via Official Google Australia Blog]
Firefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): Friendbar is a toolbar add-on for Firefox that can rapidly update your Facebook or Twitter statuses, and show a ticker-style stream of your friends’ own text and photos. Friendbar continuously updates you on the status of people in your Facebook and Twitter networks, though both the text and the photos can be toggled on and off. To avoid running afoul of Twitter’s access restrictions, Friendbar lets you dial down its update frequency, tweak how many messages it displays, and set how often it shows you new stuff. When posting updates, you’ve got instant TinyURL creation for the page you’re looking at. If you can’t pretend not to need a quick Facebook or Twitter fix while you’re browsing other things, Friendbar makes it easy and fast to get your social data fix. Friendbar is free and works wherever Firefox does.
FriendbarWhen you work outside a nine-to-five office, it’s harder convince your mind that you are, in fact, done with work. One home-based web worker offers tips time-dividing tips both subtle and serious. Simon Mackie, writing over at the productivity blog Web Worker Daily, laments his struggles ending his work day and getting back to the business of living. He offers several strategies including having a clearly defined ending time: This is an important one for me because if I don’t, I’ll tend to find myself working later and later. Having a goal end time also means that I try to get all my tasks done for the day by that time which makes my afternoon more productive. Of course, sometimes an emergency will pop up that needs dealing with there and then, but I try to make sure that I only extend my working time for emergencies.
Mackie also suggests preventing yourself from opening work email when you’re night-time web browsing, and more serious strategies like working from a fold-up table you put away at the end of the work day. What strategies do you use to define your work and play space? Photo by zoutedrop. Mark the End of the Day and Finish on Time [Web Worker Daily]
Earlier this month we showed you Gmail’s new multiple label-based inboxes. Those turn out to be a perfect match for previously mentioned GTDInbox, the label-based Gmail system for getting things done in your inbox. While GTDInbox was pretty handy for using GTD contexts and lists from within your Gmail account before, with the introduction of multiple inboxes, you can now put all your contexts on the screen at once. GTD practitioner and avid Lifehacker reader Jim sent us a screenshot of his Gmail inbox—a cropped, privacy-padded portion shown here—showing off just how great it is to have the colour coded context labels and lists that GTDInbox creates, show in an at-a-glance style. Thanks Jim!
GTDInboxYou’ve got a mind-blowing picture, surround sound, and streaming content set up, but it wasn’t cheap. Heal your wallet with ten upgrades, fixes, and setup tips that take your system to 11 on the cheap. Photo by chunkysalsa.
Google Apps users can now add attach Google Documents and Picasa Web Album pictures to their Google Calendar appointments, helping to explain or illustrate shared events. The attachment option, which might not be enabled for all Apps users, appears just below the description box. Perhaps that’s an intentional suggestion that if that box is looking stuffed, a doc or picture with directions, meeting details, and other important details might be a more sensible and courteous route. For those already keen on Google’s Docs and Picasa services, or those who really dislike Evite, this is a handy way of sending all-details-included party invitations—whenever it arrives on personal, non-App accounts, that is. Attaching a Google Document to a Google Calendar Item [via Google Operating System]
