Archive for productivity
Dropbox – weird way to clone your computer
Posted by: | CommentsI made a short video for you to watch:
After you’re done watching the video, check out DropBox for free:
Excel Spreadsheets for Calendar, Budgeting, + much more
Posted by: | CommentsI went looking for simple Excel calendar spreadsheet. Sure, I could build one (have built many, in fact) but there were specific features I wanted and was looking for a shortcut.
Found this site:
Fantastic site!
In addition to calendars, there are budget spreadsheets, amortization schedules. Really quality stuff, the kind of spreadsheet I like to build (functional but look good too).
As far as I can tell, they are all free.
Daily Planner Conundrum
Posted by: | CommentsMaybe you can relate.
I have gone shopping for daily planners many times, and usually end up using something I create myself.
The commercially available options either have too many features, or not enough, or the format just doesn’t make sense for the way I work.
If that sounds familiar, this site may be just what you need:
Who Cares About Time Management?
Posted by: | CommentsWatching this video from Eben Pagan is time well spent:
http://www.wakeupproductiveblog.com/2008/09/time-mgmt.php
It’s about thirty minutes, and a good investment.
Google Docs Templates
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s no secret I love Google Docs…
Well here’s some of the “user favorites” you can use as templates for your own docs:
http://docs.google.com/templates?sort=hottest&view=default&pli=1
Easily Create Your Own Survey
Posted by: | CommentsIf you’re looking for an easy and no-cost way of creating your own survey for your web page, I found the perfect tool for you:
This tool is extremely easy to use and the end product looks great.
There’s a surprising amount of flexibility in the appearance of your form.
The link again is:
Backflip
Posted by: | CommentsIf you need to visit a list of specific websites every day (news sites, blogs, bank sites, forums, etc), here is an easy way to do it.
1. Sign up for a free backflip account.
2. In the “My Daily Routine” section, add the URLs of the sites you want to visit daily.
3. When you go online everyday, log in to backflip and click on “My Daily Routine”. The first site will appear within the Backflip “frame”. When you are finished with the first site, click “next”. Continue until you’ve worked through all the required sites.
This is the best method I’ve found, and it won’t cost you a dime.
My Project Management Saga
Posted by: | CommentsHere’s the latest word on my project management quest…
I decided that Google Sites didn’t quite do it for me. Maybe the app is just not mature enough yet.
I had been looking for something like Activecollab, which was supposed to be open source forever, but which had morphed into a paid model sometime last fall. There was a link on the site to the last free version, and for some reason that link never worked for me.
Well, in my research I stumbled upon this site:
This outfit will host Activecollab (open source version) for you for $5/month. However, they also give you the last open source version (o.7.1) if you have the means and inclination to install and use it on your own server.
I gleefully downloaded and installed it. It was a fairly straightforward process, but something went wrong and it didn’t come up for me.
Shoot.
I kept looking and found Project Pier: http://www.projectpier.org. What these guys are doing is actively developing activeCollab 0.7.1. Free, open source. I downloaded and installed it and it worked without a hitch. So, looks like I’ll be putting Project Pier through it’s paces.
In the market for a laptop?
Posted by: | CommentsI have purchased several laptops over the years. In fact, I likely will not buy another desktop computer. A mind-range laptop is powerful enough for my needs, and they’re portable!
This site:
Is indispensable for researching your laptop before you buy it. Click on the “notebook reviews” tab and you’ll surprisingly detailed reviews of many machines. The reviews often include close up photos of the keyboard and sides (so you can see the ports close up).
Highly recommended!
3 Print Utilities I Use Nearly Every Day
Posted by: | CommentsThese print utilities make my life easier every day. Each one has a free and paid version, and I use the free versions currently.
This awesome utility allows you to:
- Bring up a print job and view it before you print (similar to print preview)
- Delete pages that you don’t want to print
- Shrink pages and print multiple pages on on page (2, 4, or 8 pages)
- Manual duplexing if you don’t have an automatic duplex printer
I usually choose 2 or 4 pages, depending on the print size. It really cuts down on the paper, especially when using duplex.
They don’t really advertise the free/trial version, which prints a small banner at the bottom of every page.
http://www.fineprint.com/products/fineprint/benefits.html
I have tried many PDF creation utilities, and PDF Redirect works the best for me. One feature I really like is the ability to combine multiple PDFs into one document.
If you’ve never used one of these before, they allow you to create a PDF document instead of printing.
http://www.exp-systems.com/pdfredirect/Features.htm?1
This is a “print screen” utility, and I absolutely love it!
It allows you to:
- Print the whole screen, the active window, or a portion you select
- Print it or save it
- Crop and resize
The current version of Faststone is no longer free, but you can download a prior version from:
http://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=775
All of these utilities will cut down on your paper consumption, if used properly.
Let me know how they work for you!
