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The Internet has made our lives a whole lot easier in our lives. Everything from ordering food to checking stock prices can be accomplished with a couple clicks of the mouse. Almost every aspect of life has been affected by the Internet – with the main outcome being an easier and less time consuming alternative.
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Millions of people around the world use Microsoft Office everyday. Whether they want to type up a letter, make a chart on a spreadsheet or make a power point presentation, Microsoft Office has been the go-to software for more than a decade. However, in recent years we are starting to see more alternatives to Microsoft Office.
If you are trying to create your own website on the Internet, one problem you will likely run into is finding images to use. A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that every photo on the web is fair game – when actually that is far from the truth. [Read more →]
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If you have an email account, chance are that you have to deal with spam email. Spam email is defined as unwanted commercial email. For example, if you open your email inbox and you find an email from someone you’ve never heard of who is offering something commercial in nature, that is likely a spam email.
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With technology becoming more and more apart of our lives, children are also becoming more technologically advanced. It used to be that children went over to their friend’s home or talked on the phone to socialize. However, times are changing and a lot of the socializing between children is done online.
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When you are thinking of popular Internet video sharing websites, these days the first website that probably pops into your mind is YouTube. [Read more →]
Whether you’re an acolyte of GTD or just want to get things done, we could all use some help in being more productive. Following are some useful websites to help boost your productivity and some software and web tools to help you along the way.
Websites
Zen Habits is a blog about setting and achieving goals. Topics include Productivity and organization, Finance and family, Happiness, Health and Simplicity. Site author Leo Babauta has taken David Allen’s GTD (Getting Things Done) system and created his own, more minimal system known as ZTD Zen to Done. A sample:
1) GTD is a series of habit changes. This is the main reason why people fall off the GTD system — it’s a bunch of habit changes that are attempted all at once. If you’ve read Zen Habits long enough, you know that focusing on one habit at a time is best, and guarantees the most success. In addition, GTDers don’t apply proven habit-change methods (the ones I talk about on this site) to change their habits.
Solution: ZTD focuses on one habit at a time. You don’t have to try to adopt the entire system at once — it’s overwhelming and it’s too hard to focus on your habit changes if you do too many at a time. Instead, focus on one at a time, and adopt the system in phases. Use proven habit-changing methods (30-day challenge, commitment, rewards, motivation hacks, etc.) to successfully adopt each new habit.
is a blog about Andrew Mason’s personal experience following the strategies laid out in David Allen’s GTD.
Lifehack.org bills itself as a “daily digest digest [with] pointers on productivity, getting things done and lifehacks.” It covers a broad spectrum of topics from eating healthy on the cheap to starting a fitness regime. Recent posts include: “Beat blank page syndrome: 10 tricks to getting your writing started,” “Five ways to pick up the exercise habit again,” and “12 steps closer to your ideal work day.” Topics covered are productivity, communication, lifestyle, money, technology and management.
Lifehacker covers “tech tricks, tips and downloads for getting things done.” An excellent resource for getting the most out of technology, Lifehacker features posts on downloads for Mac OS or Windows–what’s out there, how to use it, whether it’s worth getting as well as how to stories such as how to clean your computer and how to keep it clean.
Getting Things Done is another blog about David Allen’s method written by someone calling himself gtdfrk.
Dumb Little Man offers weekly tips to increase your productivity, save money “or simply keep you sane.” The offerings cover a wide variety of topics from getting ahead in your career to losing weight. Recent posts include: “14 simple steps to convert your sedentary lifestyle,’ “I was passed up for a promotion … what’s next?” and “35 things to avoid at your job interview.” Many seem like common sense, but everyone knows common sense isn’t all too common.
LifeClever offers tips for design and life. Non-designers can appreciate posts such as “The seven deadly sins of resume design”–avoid “fancy paper,” Times New Roman and excessive decoration. Posts on parallel parking, dressing like a Mac–the guy in the commercial–and “5 ways to instantly find cheap gas” make this a helpful site for anyone.
Black Belt Productivity is a blog focused on productivity, beginning with a primer on David Allen’s Getting Things Done.
Web Worker Daily offers tips and advice for people who use the web for work, which covers just about everyone these days. Subjects include hacks, software apps, tips & tricks, workplace trends and personal organization.
Life coaches blog bills itself as a personal development blog that offers strategies for living.
43 Folders covers “productivity and time management tips, life hacks to improve efficiency, ideas about ways to improve your life and reduce stress and shortcuts that make life a bit easier.” It’s a little bit of this and a little bit of that. A series, Inbox Zero, looked at “the skills, tools, and attitude needed to empty your email inbox — and then keep it that way.”
Is too much stuff getting you down? Unclutterer has the answer. This blog is not just “for the helplessly disorganized who would lose their head if it wasn’t attached to them, and pack rats looking to put their stashes on a diet, but also for obsessive compulsive neat freaks looking to squeeze even more order into their lives. We hope we can make getting and staying organized fun and informative.” The site features an uncluttered workspace of the week, a weekly look at ludicrous single-use items (a dedicated pizza oven, anyone?) in addition to tips on organizing your home, office or home/office.
Productivity tools
Before you go any further, check out the comparison of many of the productivity software available. Here are some other tools:
Our favorite gadgets aren’t very earth-friendly, but luckily for our world, some gadgets are going green.
The world’s largest trade show for Consumer Electronics, taking place in Las Vegas, will not only take the industry’s typical tech terms into account, but will also focus on recyclable batteries, low power consumption, and plant-based components. The industry has finally caught on to the fact that going green, in addition to being a ecologically responsible, is a great marketing too.
Examples of this year’s new emphasis is Japan’s Fujitsu Ltd’s new laptop, complete with a plastic case made from corn instead of the traditional petroleum product. Z-Power’s silver-zinc batteries that hope to replace the popular lithium-ion version, which contain little recoverable material.
The EPA will also announce a campaign to provide consumers with more locations to drop off their used cell phones, since they estimate that 100,000 used cell phones lay unused in drawers or worse, trash cans.
Other additions to the Consumer Electronics Show will be power adapters that will help us consume less, computers that meet stringent EnergyStar ratings, televisions with more power-efficient screens, and other green goodies that will be better for the environment and, surprisingly, not too hard on your wallet.
One of the most popular presents under many people’s trees this year is going to be Amazon’s newly released e-reader, Kindle. This is interesting in the world of technology gadgets because it shows that Amazon’s new product has been able to do what similar products before it couldn’t accomplish: It can sell. In fact, Kindle sold so well that it did better than Amazon anticipated and sold out almost immediately after being released. [Read more →]
PodCamp, the unconference, is all about the people who create, love, and enjoy the blogosphere. If you participate in blogs, vlogs, podcasts, web video, or any form of social media, then PodCamp is right up your alley. [Read more →]