time tracker

Productivity Script Reminds You To Spend Time Wisely

2:00AM The How-To Geek | Reader Robert writes in with his own excellent and ubergeeky method of staying productive—a script that pops up a reminder every so often asking whether you are spending your time wisely. More »

TimeEdition Is A Simple And Stylish Time Tracker

4:00AM Lifehacker US Edition | Windows/Mac OS X only: Time tracking application TimeEdition tracks your time in a dead-simple and attractive interface that saves your progress to Google Calendar for accessible-from-anywhere results. Using the application is as simple as entering in customer, project, and task details using the drop-down controls and clicking the Start recording button. Your data is tracked across all projects and can be exported in Excel or iCal format—but the real beauty is found in the options panel, where you can choose to sync your activity with Outlook, iCal, or even Google Calendar. Unlike the previously mentioned gCalTasks gadget that only runs in the Vista sidebar, this application lives in your system tray—with an easy-access context menu that can switch between projects on the fly. TimeEdition is free and open source, works on Windows or Mac. Thanks, Tim Stiffler-Dean! TimeEdition More »

Freckle Tracks Time And Clients Quickly And Simply

9:00PM Kevin Purdy | Just-released webapp Freckle isn’t, as it proclaims, a whole-cloth re-thinking of time tracking, billing, and client management, but it is refreshingly light, agile, and easy to get into. Like Remember the Milk and other text-aware apps, it doesn’t require learning an entirely new input system, but knows that “1h35m” and “1:35″ mean the same thing. The AJAX-saturated interface requires very few refreshes, and the smart tagging system works well for those who tend to “organise” on the fly. The fleshed-out version of Freckle isn’t free, but they do offer 30-day trials on any account type, along with a very limited free account. Walk through screenshots and analysis of using Freckle for organizing billable hours and client work below.

BubbleTimer Webapp Helps Track Time And Set Goals

9:30AM Lifehacker US Edition | Based on the Emergent Task Timer worksheets from David Seah, BubbleTimer is a quick and easy to use web application for budgeting, tracking and working towards time management goals. Set up a series of activities, such as work, physical activity, entertainment and personal projects and click to fill in the bubbles representing fifteen minute periods of time. As priorities change or you end up spending time on one task instead of another, you can change a selection from one activity to another. At the end of the timeline are targets you can set, such as more reading or time at work and less time playing video games or watching television, and the goal will change from red to green (and vice-versa) as you live up or down to your personal goals. Export the data, share it with a colleague or print out a copy to carry with you throughout the day. BubbleTimer is free to try for two weeks with registration, with a subscription costing $US20 a year. BubbleTimer [via David Seah] More »

JournalLive Automatically Tracks Your Time

11:05AM Lifehacker US Edition | Windows only: See how much time you spend instant messaging friends and crafting PowerPoint presentations with time tracker app JournalLive. JournalLive logs everything you do on a computer, from gaming to email, including who you communicate with and what documents you’re working on in applications. It automatically generates all sorts of reports for tracking productivity on the web site, including timesheets—perfect for keeping recording billable hours. The pro edition allows managers to track employees, presumably so hard workers can be recognised and shirkers sent to human resources for a stern lecture. The personal edition is free, the professional edition costs €10 per user, for Windows only. Thanks, owenconnor666! JournalLive More »

TimeSnapper Tracks Your Computer Activity

5:00AM Gina Trapani | Windows only: Computer activity logger TimeSnapper takes screenshots of your computer desktop every few seconds as you work throughout the day. Then, you can play back your computer activity to calculate the amount of time you spent on certain tasks—great for filling out timesheets or just getting the hard numbers on how much of the day you burned reading celebrity gossip or, ahem, productivity blogs. The Pro version of TimeSnapper (which is not free), lets you assign certain a productivity score on apps you work in, and will run reports that show your productivity scorecard. A free version of the software, TimeSnapper Classic has fewer features than TimeSnapper Pro, which costs $US20 for a single licence, with a free trial available. TimeSnapper is available for Windows only. TimeSnapper [via gHacks] More »