Posts by Wendy Boswell
Double Your Productivity with a Serial Workflow
4:00AM Wendy Boswell | While there’s something to be said for multitasking, a serial workflow—completing one task after another in order of priority—can be much more conducive to getting your work done. Splitting your attention between several tasks at once can slow you down compared to knocking off one focused task after another on an ordered list. Today I’m going to show you how to create a serial workflow platform with just a few simple tools that you probably already use: plain text, a couple handy extensions, and browser tabs. More »
This Week’s How To’s
9:00AM Wendy Boswell | 10 tips for finding rental accommodation easily Even in a competitive rental market you can make househunting a lot easier for yourself by following a few simple steps. I just rented a lovely house in a popular inner city suburb of Sydney for less than I expected to pay – and it only took me two days of looking at houses. Here’s how I did it. De-Pixelize Your Images with VectorMagic “Web site VectorMagic turns virtually any image into vector art that can be resized as much as you want without any nasty pixelation–perfect for creating your scanned signature, for example.” Save Time and Paper with a Scanned Signature “At one point or another, we’ve all gone through the print-sign-fax dance to return a signed document, but the Productivity501 weblog details how to create a high quality scanned signature that you can quickly insert in a document so you can save yourself time and paper.” Remote Control Leopard with TightVNC (Mac) “With VNC built right into Leopard, you can remote control your Mac from any other Mac via iChat or the Screen Sharing client–OR any PC using the right VNC client. “ Turn Your Old PC into a Webapp Monster with gOS “If you’ve got an extra PC gathering dust, gOS is not only a worthy operating system for a cheap PC from Wal-Mart; it’s also an excellent (and free) way to repurpose your old PC.” Change a Broken Bulb with a Potato “In short, you just cut a potato in half and stick the flat end of one of the halves into the socket and unscrew. “ Avoid Recipe Disasters Through Preparation “In his latest book, Ruhlman offers some tips for us non-chefs on how to save time and avoid disaster by reading closely and getting ahead.” More »
Use FeedCrier to Read Feeds Via IM
8:00AM Wendy Boswell | Get your favourite site feeds via FeedCrier, a service that delivers updates to your instant messenger client. No download is required; just type in the username for AIM, MSN, Jabber, or Google Talk, along with the website you’re interested in getting updates from, and you’re done. This would be a good way to get the latest news updates delivered to you almost in real time. FeedCrier is a similar service to web app immedi.at; both are excellent tools for keeping a very close watch on a particular feed. Feed Crier [via ResourceShelf] More »Spark Creativity with a List of 100
7:00AM Wendy Boswell | Generate ideas—potentially a LOT of ideas—with a all-in-one-session “list of 100″: a list of creative ideas, solutions, etc. about any topic you’ve been wanting to tackle. Self-improvement site Litemind has more: The goal of a List of 100 is to take your mind by surprise…With a List of 100 you tend to get more unexpected ideas, because you catch your subconscious off guard, not giving it any time for its behind-the-scenes editing. The main tip to remember with this is you’ve got to do it all in one sitting; otherwise, your creative mind doesn’t get fully engaged. This sounds like a super way to hash out something you’ve been struggling with, as well as generate creative ideas. Tackle Any Issue With a List of 100 [Litemind] More »Use Bookr to Share Your Photos
6:00AM Wendy Boswell | Publish your Flickr photos (or any other Flickr photos that catch your fancy) on your site or blog with Bookr, a fun little Flickr toy that turns your images into a flippable book. Just add the pictures, add a caption, and you’re through. Want more Flickr goodness? Try the ten most useful Flickr Greasemonkey scripts to get more out of this popular photo sharing site. Bookr: How to publish your book anywhere More »
Import All Your Yahoo! Calendar Events
5:00AM Wendy Boswell | If you’ve been using Yahoo! for all your calendar needs and want to switch over to Google Calendar, tech tutorial site Tech-Recipes has written up a step by step how-to for this process—which can be a bit overwhelming for those folks new to this whole online calendar/importing business. If you’re the designated tech driver for your friends and family, you might want to check out how to fix Mom and Dad’s computer after you’ve taught them how to import their Yahoo! calendar events. Google Calendar: Import Event Information from Yahoo! Calendar [Tech-Recipes.com] More »Avoid Burnout by Changing Your Work Environment
4:00AM Wendy Boswell | If you’re on the brink of being burned out creatively, the simplest solution could just be to change your environment in some way. Tech blogger Scott Berkun has more: What do you do at work when you feel stuck (not burnt out, but just stuck on a problem)? Are there things you can do to your cube or office to help you deal with those times? Posters of work that inspires you? Things that make you laugh? Music that helps you think through a problem? You spend 8 hours a day in that space: it’s worth taking a couple of hours to improve it by even 5 or 10%. What is your coping mechanism for getting through burnout? Let’s hear in the comments. How to survive creative burnout [Scott Berkun] More »
Use Vinegar to Remove Mildew Smell from Towels
3:00AM Wendy Boswell | wikiHow has a tried and true method to rid your towels of that stinky mildew smell: vinegar. Put your towels in the washing machine, using the hottest water available. Add one or two cups of white vinegar. Do not add detergent, fabric softener, or any other products at this time. Run the washer. Leave the towels in the washer and wash the same load again just as you would normally with laundry soap. Again, use the hottest water available. Don’t use fabric softener or any other products. Dry the load in the dryer using a high heat setting. Towels should be thoroughly dry when you pull them out. If they’re not dry, put them back in, or move them immediately outside and hang them in the sunlight. Of course, the best way to keep that mildew smell away is to hang your towels up; however, we’ve all found those moldering towels in the bottom of the gym bag at least once in our lives. How to Remove Mildew Smell from Towels [wikiHow] More »
