I love technology, but not when it comes to switching PCs — moving all the data and applications from one Windows machine to another is not always as easy as it could be.
I thought I’d share some tips gleaned from my latest move to a new desktop. My way isn’t necessary the best way, but it may give you some ideas when it comes time for you to make the switch. Here are the steps that I took.
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As web workers, you’ve probably had to purchase domain names, or been asked to get them by clients. Most people prefer a name ending in .com, since that’s the “top-level domain,” or TLD, that everybody knows. But that also means it can be hard to get the name you want.
From a couple of years ago on WWD: “You must get the dot-com: It doesn’t matter how great the name is, if you can’t get name.com, it’s not worth having. People will look for you at the dot-com even if you’re registered at one of the other top-level domains, no matter how often you emphasize the difference.” And from last year: “For most web workers .com is still the place to be. That’s because no matter how Internet-savvy you are, it’s fairly likely that your customers still hear ‘Internet’ and think ‘dot-com.’ If you want to be found, put your site where the clicks will go.”
So, what do you do if you (or your clients) find that the dot-com domain you want isn’t available? Here are a few suggestions. Read the rest of this entry »
The number of useful online tools that help to sift through the masses of information posted to the Internet every minute for content worth reading is growing. In this post, I’ll discuss a good way of following how news in any particular area is developing, and a good way to keep track of what others are saying about content you put online.
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As a freelancer, I spend most of my time trying to manage information overload. Like Charles, I use spaces to quarantine focused work from other distractions, and I have some tricks for efficient RSS reading, creative uses of RSS to increase efficiency, and filtering techniques to help reduce the time I need to spend consuming information. Despite this obsession with efficiently gathering information, there are also times when I actively seek out information overload.
While a fire hose of notifications and feeds can be too distracting when I’m working on things for client, if I’m looking for inspiration for a new blog post or new venture of some sort, I want to see as much information as possible in the hope that something will catch my eye and provide the inspiration that I need.
Here are a few of my favorite tools for embracing information overload. Please beware that these tools are known to sap productivity and suck up precious hours that can never be regained! Use these techniques at your own risk. Read the rest of this entry »
Mozilla has just released the final version of Firefox 3.5. As I noted in my review of the release candidate, JavaScript performance — critical for many web apps — is massively improved thanks to the new TraceMonkey engine, making 3.5 feel very fast indeed. I tried running the final release through the Sunspider performance benchmarks, and it doesn’t look like there are any major differences between it and the release candidate.
In addition to improved performance and standards compliance, Firefox 3.5 also features new privacy controls, location-aware browsing, and the ability to play video and audio content without using plugins. A quick video tour of the new version is available here.
Firefox 3.5 is a free download for Windows, Mac and Linux from Mozilla.
Share your thoughts on Firefox 3.5 in the comments.
I use a lot of Google’s applications to stay organized and productive, but I’m especially fond of Gmail. In its standard form, it’s a fine email client that makes it easy to stay on top of that mountain of email, but with a little customization you can use it to become even more efficient. Here are six super ways to send Gmail into productivity overdrive.
1: Enable super stars.
You know how Gmail has the standard Gmail star, enabling you to highlight certain emails in your mailbox? Now you can make it a super star! Enable Superstars within Labs (found in “Settings”). Once enabled, you can select the super stars you’d like to use by dragging and dropping them within the “General” tab under “Settings.”
We like stuff, it’s fair to say, and I only just said so earlier today, in fact. But like having multiple applications running at the same time, having lots of gadgets close at hand will unavoidably split your focus — which is a bad thing if you’re trying to do more singletasking like me, and less driving yourself insane doing 50 things at once.
So as part of my new program of simplification, I’m re-evaluating what kind of kit I roll with on a regular basis. My weapon of choice used to be a large, multi-pocket bag (or two) with ample room for my computer, camera, and countless other attendant knickknacks including portable hard drives, USB keys, and most recently, a small secondary screen for auxiliary tasks like monitoring Twitter or my IM client. Read the rest of this entry »
I firmly believe that any to-do or task management system will fail if creating tasks is too difficult. For me, the key is getting them out of my stream of consciousness and into a system that I trust, where I know they’ll be when need them, as quickly as possible.
One of the things I’ve always appreciated about my task manager of choice, Toodledo, is the ubiquity of its data entry points. I can enter tasks by email, through a handy Firefox extension, through Twitter, Jott, and more. So I was jazzed to see the availability of a new gadget for Gmail that lets me enter and monitor my tasks right from my email provider of choice.
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Web Work 101: How To Escape The Cubicle
