Web Worker Daily

As the good weather takes hold in the northern hemisphere, more and more of us think of hauling the laptop computer out to the park or the back yard to do some billable work in a natural setting. What could be better than tanning while you work? Well, one thing: being able to actually see what you’re doing.

We took a look at this subject last summer, and our advice there is still a good start: work under an awning or umbrella, wear a cap with a brim to keep your eyes in shadow, and take a lot of breaks. But I’ve also collected a few more suggestions in the intervening year. Read the rest of this entry »

A while back we looked at a whole bunch of ways to generate short URLs, starting with the classic TinyURL. There’s a new alternative for this same task, with more features packed into it than most of the competition: the ponderously-named Short URL Service, which is easier to remember as linkslash.com.

In addition to the base functionality of handing you back short links, it also adds built-in visitor and hit tracking, tags, expiration dates for links, password-protected links, and bulk submission. It’s all free to use, and you don’t need to register unless you want the ability to edit your links in the future.

A recent podcast from CNet featured Michael Breus, a psychologist and sleep specialist.   Dr. Breus discussed some common misnomers regarding sleep and its effect on those around us.

Getting adequate sleep is foundational to being successful in today’s world.  Consider the following important factors regarding sleep:

• Staying healthy - to remain in good health and avoid illness, your immune system requires you to get enough sleep each night.  In fact, trying to “catch up” on sleep by sleeping extra can actually cause additional harm to your body.
• Being a effective employee - in order to remain sharp, we must be alert and capable of learning and applying new knowledge.  Plus, being able to deal with stressful situations requires brain capacity and emotional intelligence, which is enhanced by sleep.
• Participating in social situations - Who wants to carry on a conversation with someone who is constantly sleeping and who acts un-interested in your topic?  Also, in the podcast, Dr. Breus said that most sexual issues he comes across with couples are related to at least one of the partners not getting adequate sleep.

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Don’t worry: no one is going to send you an invoice for the time you spend using dozens of random web sites to do your work. But a blog post from Ryan Spoon got me wondering: what’s out there that you would pay for if you had to? Ryan says he’d be willing to pony up money for GMail, Mint, Craigslist, and various podcasts, among other things. I know I’d be ready to pull out my credit card for Twitter Prime, with traffic prioritization and advanced filtering and grouping features.

So far, of course, Web 2.0 is largely running on business theories ranging from “let’s get the eyeballs and then figure out what to do with them” to “get enough Google ads on enough pages and our troubles are over.” Despite our worries about Bust 2.0, there doesn’t seem any end in sight to the proliferation of free services. But sooner or later, the money will run out (or the patience of investors will), and some of these sites will need to figure out better ways to collect revenue. Read the rest of this entry »

Online workspace and collaboration site Sosius (who we looked at a few weeks ago), has officially launched. Though they’re open for business now, you can still get a free account under the same terms as during the beta: 200MB storage for your file repository, calendars, tasks, chat, discussion boards, and other “social” features.

To make money, Sosius has also introduced a variety of paid plans, starting at $15 per month. These plans give you increased storage and bandwidth, SSL, a version with no ads, branding, and priority support. Oddly, the only way I’ve found to see the pricing is to sign up for a free plan and then click the “Upgrade Subscription” link.

We prefer not to look back on the mistakes of the past, especially if they’re ours. It doesn’t matter where we are in our careers right now, but there’s bound to be at least one project that makes us cringe or feel embarrassed whenever we remember it.

These are the projects that don’t go on our portfolios, are left unmentioned when someone asks us about the things we’ve done, and are almost forgotten. These are the below average projects, and you can even say that it’s your worst work.

But if it’s the worst, why even bother going back?

Evaluating your standards. If you can tell the difference between your worst, average, and best performances, this means you have standards. By identifying the projects that you’re not so proud of, you can evaluate your standards and set your own definition of quality.

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While the majority of web workers are Windows- and Mac-based, there are a lot of good, free ways to open up to the rich world of Linux applications, too. Some people go to the trouble of using virtualization tools to run Linux locally on the same machine they have their primary operating systems on. You don’t have to go to these lengths, though. In this post, I’ll cover ways to get into using Linux and applications for it running from nothing more than a CD or USB key.

Knoppix is a free, widely-used Live Linux CD distribution, based on Debian GNU/Linux. It bills itself as “from zero to Linux in five minutes,” because one download gets you the distribution, complete with top open source applications such as the OpenOffice.org suite of productivity applications, AbiWord, Gimp (graphics), and more.

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Some of us have a real addiction to buying domain names. I own about 30 myself, and I have friends with many more. If you’re in that boat, it’s worth knowing about a couple of tools that help you find open domain names quickly.

Instant Domain Search bills itself as “domain name availability, as fast as you can type”. As you type a prospective name, it shows you whether the .com, .net, and .org are open. If they are, you can jump straight to GoDaddy, 1&1, Yahoo, Register.com, or Network Solutions to register them.

Domize takes the same general idea and adds a few twists. It keeps track of potential domains along the way (so if you type “MyDomain”, it looks for “MyDomai”, “MyDoma”, and so on), and can show you thumbnails of any name that’s already taken. They do all their direct registrations via GoDaddy, though obviously you can use the registrar of your choice with a tad less convenience.