Think the best way to jump-start a project involves a large dark roast with extra shots? Think again, according to Wired magazine. As part of a roundup of mental boosters, one writer suggests that research has shown smaller, regular doses of caffeine—think tea breaks or half-cups of coffee—do more to boost alertness and reduce jitters than a large blast of the stuff:

Test subjects reported that periodic small shots made them feel clearheaded and calm, both of which enhance mental performance. Even better, add a lump of sugar or have a carbohydrate-rich snack at the same time for an extra cognitive kick. It seems that glucose and caffeine together do more to enhance cognition than either does alone.

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Email-based digital personal assistant Sandy can be a really helpful manager for to-do lists and calendar appointments, but only if you don't mind composing new messages for every change. Reader Wyatt writes in with a quicker way to get Sandy's attention, using Outlook, Windows keystroke launcher Launchy, and a custom line for its built-in Runner plugin. Create a new Runner command named "Sandy" or something similar and point it to the location of Outlook's executable file, but add the following switches at the end (substituting your Sandy username):

/c ipm.note /m sandybox@yourname.iwantsandy.com

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The EcoGeek blog spends a lot of time looking at environmentally friendly cars - so much time that as a public transit enthusiast, it often leaves me a little cold. But they had a very interesting post today on the array of hybrids and electric cars that are approaching the retail horizon over the next few years. It's worth a read if you're considering buying a greener car in the next couple of years.
The bad news according to the Ecogeek is that you're better off waiting for the next gen options to hit the road:

"Even if you don't have a hybrid, you will save so much more gas with the next generation plug-ins and full-electrics that it really isn't worth upgrading now."

Firefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): The Auto Context Firefox extension automatically shows your right-click context menu as soon as you select text on a web page, taking a step out of your workflow if the right-click menu is your go-to toolbox. Once installed, Auto Context also provides extensive options for tweaking your right-click menu to your heart's content. Since I can only think of two reasons you'd select text with your mouse—either you want to copy it or you want to perform a right-click action on the text—I'd heartily recommend that you either install this extension or the previously mentioned AutoCopy extension, which automatically places selected text to your clipboard. Auto Context is a free download, works wherever Firefox does.

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The Encyclopedia Britannica is fighting back against the online ubiquity of Wikipedia by branching out into the online world, with the launch of its Webshare page. It is offering web publishers, including bloggers, access to its online encylopedia - although you must apply and be approved to gain access.
It has also launched a number of Widgets, which let online publishers provide links to the full Britannica entry about the word they're linking (even if you'd normally need a subscription to view it).

EB is also Twitter streaming a new topic each day. Welcome to Web 2.0, old boy. :)

Japanophiles and Lifehackers alike may be interested in Urawaza, a new book which has the fairly serious subtitle "Secret Everyday Tips and Tricks from Japan" but with some pretty bizarre tips including how to use a rubber band strapped around your toes to be able to outrun zombies...
It's written by I09 blogger Lisa Katayama, who will clearly be one of the survivors of the impending zombie apocalypse.

How to Outrun Zombies, and Other Ways to Solve Problems Japanese Style [IO9]

The Flying Solo blog offers up an interesting idea for letting solo workers tap into some of the social and motivational benefits of group working. Blogger Megan Tough says a fellow freelancer opened up their home to a small group of fellow soloists, for a one-off day of group work. The plan was to allow for solo work time as well as group discussion of a specific work issues facing each participant. She says it more than achieved their stated goals, which were:

1. To work on something that needed to get done. Perhaps we'd been putting it off, or hadn't allocated dedicated time to doing it.

2. To discuss and provide feedback to each other on one issue in our business.

3. The third objective, and ultimately the most important, was to have fun.

They also elected to stay in touch via project management software Basecamp, holding a quarterly online meeting to update the group on their progress.

Interesting idea and a nice reminder that getting together with others can really help give a different perspective on your work and give you a motivational 'push'.

The Driinn Mobile Phone Holder declutters your charging portable device by providing both a place to store your device and a method for controlling its long cable while it charges. This charging holder about half the price of the previously mentioned Socket Pocket and charging hammock, and the wrap-around for long cords really cleans things up. The Driinn Mobile Phone Holder comes in a variety of colours and will set you back around $7 at Amazon.

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All platforms running Firefox: The Multiple Tab Handler extension adds a truckload of tab-related features to your right-click menu in Firefox. Select multiple tabs and refresh them, copy the URLs as HTML links or just a list, or move them into a new window with the Multiple Tab Handler. On a single tab, you can close all the tabs to the left or right, or close similar tabs (though it's not clear what makes a tab "similar"—perhaps pages on the same web site.) While Firefox's built-in tab group management is already pretty good, this extension really blows things out when you're working with a bunch of tabs often. The Multiple Tab Handler extension is a free download and runs wherever Firefox does.

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We've covered how to quickly shutdown Windows from the command line or using shortcuts to shutdown.exe as a command line tool, but the Confessions of a freeware junkie weblog points out that shutdown.exe can also be used to great effect through it's lesser-known graphical interface. In fact, the graphical utility provides a simple interface to remotely shutdown one or several computers on your network, making it a particularly useful tool if you need to perform some network maintenance. It may not be something you use all the time, but this built-in tool is handy to have on hand.

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Ever since they launched it without a Delete button, the folks at Google have been trying to convince Gmail users to archive their mail instead of trash it. On the Official Google Blog, a Googler lists nine reasons why you should archive instead of delete. (You'd think they were personally invested in you keeping your email! Oh, wait.) It's true that with all that storage space, there's really no reason to delete anything in Gmail. I lean on the Y key a lot more than the Delete button, but what about you?

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Mac OS X only: Free FTP application Cyberduck's 3.0 beta release adds gobs of impressive new functionality to the already excellent client, including Leopard-only features like Quick Look. Other new features include Amazon S3 and WebDAV support, Web URL support (which opens files in your browser from a corresponding URL), and the handful of already impressive features like integration with external text editors. Cyberduck continues to add innovative features that make it a viable contender to even the most popular shareware FTP clients, like Transmit. Cyberduck is free, Mac OS X only; Windows users, check out previously mentioned Filezilla.

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Mac OS X only: Send your office documents to the cloud in one click and swipe with Gdocsuploader. Place this bare bones application on your Dock, Finder sidebar, or desktop, then drag and drop word processing documents, spreadsheets, or PowerPoint presentation files onto it to add them to your Google Docs account. You'll need to provide your Google account username and password, of course, and when the upload's complete you get the option to open the doc in your web browser. Gdocsuploader is still new and a bit unpolished; expect a few Keychain prompts to get your files transferred. Gdocsuploader is a free download for Mac OS X only (works on Leopard for sure, Tiger usage not yet confirmed.)

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The New York Times takes on email overload once again, likening it to the thousands of unsolicited paper letters Thomas Edison and H. L. Mencken used to receive, and covering how they managed to respond to every one.

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Popular VoIP application Skype has introduced a new unlimited international calling plan for a measly $9.95/month [AU - that seems to translate to $12.95 in Aussie dollars, if I read the Skype site correctly]]. That means unlimited calls to any land-line phone in 34 supported countries, including the majority of Europe, Canada, China, and Japan. Additionally, Skype's $3/month unlimited calling plan for the US and Canada is still in play, along with a $5/month Unlimited Mexico plan. The Unlimited World plan does not cover cell phones in all areas, so you may want to verify that your international calling location of choice is covered. As always, Skype-to-Skype calls remain free.

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Microsoft Outlook is the company-issued email client at your place of employment, so like it or not, it's up to you to figure out how to manage your inbox, calendar, and task list every day using it. To make things worse, if you're in IT lockdown without administrator rights to your PC, you can't install special add-ons or software to help your cause. Luckily there are install-free ways to customise Outlook, add keyboard shortcuts, and get your inbox down to zero messages painlessly with a few tweaks to your setup.

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Windows only: Keyboard shortcut application Fingertips is a cross between Launchy and Texter—with some (but not all) features of each. Invoke Fingertips with a keystroke to add tasks to your Outlook to-do list, navigate to web site URLs, open folders and launch applications. Additionally, you can set up short text snippets in Fingerprints, which will automatically expand them to fuller versions (like email form letters.) Fingertips looks especially useful to folks who use Outlook: for example, it has shortcuts for adding to your Outlook task list (without starting Outlook!) built in, for quick, behind-the-scenes capture, plus you can add your own custom commands and actions. Screenshots after the jump.

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Blogger and remote-control enthusiast Tim Matheson, who previously showed us how to shut down Windows using a text message, posts a script and easy-to-follow guide for doing the same on a Mac. Everything needed for the hack comes included with OS X Leopard, except the cell phone, of course. Matheson suggests setting up a "super-secret" email address that you only use for shutdown messages, but there are other ways of remote-controlling a Mac using keywords. Hit the link to download a safe shutdown script, and post your own remote-control computing tricks in the comments.

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Windows only: Anyone who's edited their system path entries—the places where you tell Windows to look for programs you type into the command line—knows how awkwardly small the space given is to edit a huge string of text, and one misplaced character can nuke the whole thing. Redmond Path, a free download for Windows systems, offers a graphical multi-line interface, roll-back points for experimental changes, and verification that you're pointing Windows to a valid location. Now it shouldn't be so hard to have append to text files, use Unix commands from the command prompt, or give yourself easy access to oft-launched programs. Redmond Path is a free download for Windows systems only.

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Need pointers to further reading on a certain area you'll be staying or working? Google Maps has added a "Mapped web pages" view to its advanced search options choices, displaying only pegs related to relevant web pages. Google Maps has always offered direct web links for businesses and places found in a search, but this view lets you see non-directly-related sites and a wider range of thoughts on certain places. Seems like a good vacation planning helper, or at least a nifty way to peek around your neighborhood's web activity.

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