The balance between staying connected and  being able to work free of distractions is often a difficult one to manage. Lifehack.org advocates taking a day a month as a "communications blackout day" - saying it will return some peace and perspective to your life, give you back some time for other work and free up one of your most precious commodities - your mental processing power:

If you’re one of those people that answer e-mails and phone calls as soon as you get them (no matter what you’re doing) the first big boost you’ll probably notice is increased room to think. Tim Ferriss in the 4-Hour Workweek points to a study that showed participants mental ability was slowed more from a Blackberry than marijuana use.

Suggestions for your monthly blackout include unplugging your modem, TV and mobile phone. Empty your inbox the afternoon before, so the longest your new messages will have to wait is 24 hours.

When I'm tight on deadline I've found that closing my browser and email and turning off my mobile phone does wonders for my concentration. How do you get into a distraction-free zone? Share in comments please.

Save Your Sanity - Have a Communications Blackout Day [Lifehack.org]

Windows only: Freeware application Songbeat scours previously mentioned music streaming service Seeqpod for tunes, then streams or downloads the music directly to your desktop. Just install the app (the installer asks for your email address, but I was able to install without entering anything), fire it up, and start searching. You can choose to either stream or download any of the search results, but downloading will automatically save the MP3 to your default music folder or to any other folder of your choice (though streaming is handy to check the quality before you download). You can play back any of the downloaded files in the My Music section of the player or—you know—in your media player of preference. Songbeat grabs results from Seeqpod fast, and the downloads are generally very quick. Songbeat is freeware, Windows only (a "Pro" version is available and a Mac version is coming in 2-4 weeks). Put this one at the top of the ever-growing list of ways you can download and listen to free music from the web.

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Visa's ATM Locator finds and lists ATMs in your area and displays them on a Microsoft Virtual Earth mashup. The site could be a bit more user-friendly, but the results are fast and could come in particularly handy if you're in unfamiliar territory (it covers ATMs globally, as we've mentioned before). Give it a try for your neighborhood and let us know how accurate the results look—or if you're aware of a better alternative—in the comments.

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The latest issue of Wired magazine describes how people with round-the-clock gigs (like astronauts and sailors) manage to get by on two hours of sleep total per day. Studies by the Chronobiology Research Institute recommend getting your Z's in short bursts:

The most time-efficient strategy, dubbed the überman (what else?), calls for a 20-minute nap every four hours... The first seven days of deprivation will be sheer misery, but stay on track. Once you start dreaming during naps -- a sign you've hit REM -- you'll begin to feel better.

Yikes! A hardier blogger who didn't love to sleep as much as I do might actually try this out. I love you people, but seven days of misery is too much. (Wired warns that this isn't intended to be a permanent lifestyle change, and long-term effects of this schedule are unknown.) See also our top 10 ways to sleep smarter and better.

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The How-To Geek weblog highlights a translation feature new to Microsoft Word 2007 that—obviously enough—translates highlighted text directly in Word. To use it, highlight your to-be-translated text, head your the Review ribbon, and click the Translate button. Word can translate either the entire document or just your selection, and it does it through an online translation service. The number of available languages is impressive, so you should be able to translate virtually anything you need. If browser-based translation is more your speed, check out the best translation services on the net.

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A poster to the eco-australia blog has put together a helpful guide for maximising your recycling mojo and reducing the amount you put into landfill.

Local resources for rehoming your old stuff include  Freecycle Today and e-Cycled. The Australian Giving Centre lists organisations that will accept donated blankets, clothes, computers, mobile phones, furniture, bikes and more.

Along with some useful links to places you can recycle stuff, it also has a checklist you can use to work out if you can find a home for your old stuff before putting it in the bin:

1. Can it be recycled?


2. Can it be composted?


3. Can it be donated?


4. Can it be sold/traded?


5. Can it be given away free to a friend or neighbour?


6. Can I use it for something else?


7. Can I make it into something else


8. Where is the best/safest place to dispose of it (if it is dangerous to the environment eg. paints)?

I would also highly recommend calling your local council or checking their website for a guide to what you can recycle through their rubbish collection service - the Port Phillip Council in Melbourne has a very useful 1 page guide which said what kind of household items can be recycled and which can't - along with translations of the different recycling codes you find on plastic bottles and the like. Stick it on your fridge!

So how's your recycling mojo? If you have tricks for reducing, reusing or repurposing things, please share in comments.

Recycling Links [eco_australia]

Most of us have enough to do filing tax forms and getting our day to day paperwork under control, let along thinking about future events like writing a will. But preparing a legally sound will now will save your loved ones from having to deal with the tidying up your affairs after you're gone. The Wise Bread blog gives a sad example of the toll this burden took on a widow who spent years trying to finalise the will and estate of her late husband:

"After three years of toiling to resolve his estate (which appeared uncomplicated at the onset) and paying off the ensuing bills which ended up being over $100,000, my friend wanted a divorce from her late husband."

If you're interested in finding out more about how and why to prepare a will, the Law Society of NSW has some information here. There are also some cheapie, do it yourself will kits which you can buy for around $30 - I've even seen them at the Post Office.


Estate Planning - Why Me? [Wise Bread]

The MacTipper blog posts the command that will start Time Machine's backup process (and run it in the background) from the Terminal:

Why would you want to do this? Perhaps to kick off a TM backup through an iCal event reminder at exactly the time you want it to start, or combined with a reminder to plug in your FireWire drive and get backing up. Hit up the MacTipper link to get that AppleScript.

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The gremlins, the gremlins. We're having trouble connecting to the US site, which is resulting in some patchy performance including blank images appearing on the site. Rest assured we're working on getting things fixed ASAP. Thanks for your patience!

• How do I reduce the noise of my upstairs neighbors' constant stomping?
• How can I encourage my talkative boss to stick to a meeting agenda?
• Can anyone recommend a good landline (not cordless) phone for an office setting?
• Can a minor change in sleep schedule make you sick?

Windows only: Lifehacker readers love free image viewer and processor IrfanView, so much that whenever we mention how to rename or resize images with other programs, someone's guaranteed to bring up IrfanView in the comments. So now that you know how to batch process images in Photoshop, ImageMagick, and Photo Drop (Mac), tech site Of Zen and Computing covers the steps in IrfanView. I admit that I use Picasa and and an old copy of ImageReady for this kind of work most of the time, but IrfanView looks more and more to be like the free image multi-tool to have on your desktop. What other kinds of image work do you automate with IrfanView? Let us know in the comments.

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US-centric: Firefox with Greasemonkey: Download Netflix "Watch Now" videos straight to your hard drive with the Netflix Download Links Greasemonkey script. We've already pointed out how to rip Netflix "Watch Now" videos to your hard drive, but fact is,... Read More »

The Wikihow web site covers several ways to extend your cell phone battery's life, from the obvious (turn it off when not in use, keep calls short) to the more helpful "oh I should do that's" (reduce backlight time, disable unneeded services like Bluetooth detection). Apparently a cell phone's vibrate function eats up more juice than a regular ring, so opt to put the tone on the softest setting instead. Lastly, re-calibrate your Li-Ion battery to reset its life-o-meter, which can get out of whack over several charge cycles.

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Gmail has added a spanking-new keyboard shortcut, 'e', which archives the current conversation in the inbox every time, whether you're viewing the message from the inbox or not. If you're a big Gmail shortcut user, you're not doubt familiar that the 'y' key already does archive, so what's the difference? Well, if you think of everything in Gmail as labels (including the inbox), the 'y' key just removes the current label from the conversation—so if you view a message from a Follow-Up label, for example, and press 'y', the Follow-Up label will be removed but the message will remain in your inbox, no matter where you're viewing it. On the flip side, 'e' will remove the current label and only archive the message from your inbox. Handy to streamline your path to Inbox Zero.

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When getting things done involves making phone calls, you want to spend the least amount of time and money on the horn as possible—and several tricks and services can help you do just that. With the right tones, keypresses, phone numbers, and know-how, you can skip through or cut off long-winded automated voice systems and humans, access web services by voice, and smartly screen incoming calls. Check out our pick of the 10 best telephony techniques for getting more done in less time over the phone.

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All platforms running Thunderbird: Dress Thunderbird up to look just like Mac OS X's Mail application with the Leopard Mail T-bird theme. Download the theme (right-click and choose "Save Link As") and install it using Thunderbird's Add-ons dialog box. Unlike the previously posted Apple Mail Theme, this theme works in Thunderbird 2.0, but I did have trouble getting it to look just right on my Mac, so proceed with caution. The Leopard Mail theme is a free download for Thunderbird 2.0+ only.

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Apple's launch of the MacBook Air and other products yesterday filled geeks everywhere with lust for the new notebook (or the Time Capsule, or Apple TV, or iPhone, or iPod touch). Every few months there's a new, pricey tech toy everyone wants, and deciding whether or not to pull the trigger on the purchase yourself can be a struggle. Over at personal finance blog Get Rich Slowly, J.D. Roth says new tech product launches are tough for him, but he's sticking to his guns (and his current laptop) and resisting the urge to drop cash on Apple's new offerings—a smart decision for anyone trying to get out of debt or save a few clams. It's easy to get caught up in advertising hype and follow the lemmings down BUYBUYBUY lane, so how do you resist? Or did you give in? Tell us your psychological mind tricks for immunising yourself to the reality distortion field in the comments. Photo by Gizmodo.

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From the 35th Chapter of "Windows Can Be Annoying In Over-Protecting Your Computer": Once in a while (or all too often for some unlucky souls), a normal shutdown can be registered as a "crash" by Windows, leading it to restart instead of shut down. To prevent this, you need only uncheck one box in an advanced properties box, according to CNET's Dennis O'Reilly:

Right-click My Computer (Computer in Vista), choose Properties>Advanced (Properties>Advanced system settings>Advanced in Vista), and click Settings under Startup and Recovery. Uncheck "Automatically restart" under System failure, and click OK.

I've seen my share of XP machines run into "bad shutdown" loops this fix would help with, but one should always seek to troubleshoot the problem rather than smooth over the symptom. If you suspect a Windows Update or registry issue at the root, O'Reilly's post luckily has advice on those fronts as well.

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The Unclutterer blog rounds up the advice of some pretty knowledgeable minds (including go-to food science guru Harold McGee) on the best ways to store coffee, whether as whole beans or ground. The take-away is to never put coffee in your refrigerator, and only store your coffee in the freezer if you can't use it within two weeks. Otherwise:

From the Joy of Cooking: "The best way to store coffee beans, ground or whole, is in an opaque airtight canister at room temperature."

McGee's wisdom is to only place whole beans in the freezer, as ground coffee gets stale more quickly in any environment. For more tips on getting your best cup every day, see these tips from a "coffee snob."

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Windows only: The Special Characters Menu, a free hot-keyed background application, could be a serious time-saver for those who find themselves mousing through five or more Start menu directories (or even just typing "charmap" into the "Run" dialog) just to grab the occasional ™ or ¼ from the Character Map. The stand-alone application, activated with a Windows+C key combination, gives you a small list of common special characters (which you can edit in a text file) to copy and paste into any document. It uses about 6MB of memory, a tad much for a background utility, but a shortcut to this app might save you lots of time when typing out recipes, technical documents, or foreign language work. Special Characters Menu is a free download for Windows systems only. If you'd rather just memorize a few character codes, check out a printable shortcut list.

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As seen in our iGoogle show and tell in June, personalised Google start pages can be both useful and highly customised. The folks at Google have opened the door to far more customisation and choice with the launch of an iGoogle Themes directory, as well as a guide for designing your own theme. A few new themes are already present in the directory, but many more are likely just around the corner. Those unsatisfied with the picks so far can always check out the iGoogle Skins gadget for a little DIY theming.

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Want to hone a second language skill that's gotten a tad bit rusty since you last used it in, say, your first year of college? Babbel, a social language training site, provides both collaborative lesson planning and discussion with a reminder service to keep you on track in your language learning. The site's actual instruction tools aren't up to par with a paid instructional course—you mostly learn to expand your vocabulary and pronunciation through quizzes—but the reminder functions and implied social responsibility might be just what you need to move your language learning from the "One Day" list to the "Every Day" pile. Babbel requires Flash and a free sign-up to use.

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We all get them—emails that are supposed to answer a question, or advance an idea, but instead cover your screen with imposing paragraphs of filler and beg to be shoved in the "Later" bin. The Anywired work blog recommends forcing yourself to tackle those messages immediately, but by using a simple mental filter:

Scan the email until you can sum up its purpose in a sentence—for example, "They're telling me they like my portfolio and found it inspiring," or "They hate my guts because of that post I wrote." Then respond to the sentence you've defined, rather than the email as a whole.

You should, of course, also look to see who the email is from, but the "single sentence" rule is something I've been doing mentally ever since I received my first corporate email account. How do you distill long emails down to quick-response messages? Share your tips in the comments.

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