Web Worker Daily

Even though most of my work is done entirely online, occasionally there are times when I have to send a letter: invoices for clients who want print copies, official correspondence and even, sometimes, letters to people who I can’t get in touch with online. I don’t always want to drop everything and head off to the post office to send my mail, however, making Snailmailr a surprisingly useful tool. Read the rest of this entry »

Perhaps the greatest treasure in the recent MacHeist nanoBundle (which was covered by Simon in a recent post) is ShoveBox. It’s a clippings organizer that lets you capture, view, organize and edit data that is elegant in its simplicity. This very usable application resides in the menubar, making it accessible at all times regardless of what application you are using.

Capture Information in ShoveBox

Living online, we can get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of “stuff” that we need to keep track of — URLs, images, notes, quotes, snippets of information, the list goes on. With ShoveBox, you can easily capture all of that stuff into the application and keep it organized and easy to find when you need it. It’s designed to fit effortlessly into your workflow, making it ideal for users who aren’t productivity or organizational ninjas. Read the rest of this entry »

I work with a number of nonprofit organizations and associations. A common theme among them is their reliance on fundraising efforts to gather money for their projects.

While some groups may use a content management platform like Wild Apricot (which includes built-in features to help with donation management) for many groups such tools are unavailable or insufficient.

Minds on Design Lab has taken its experiences working with fundraising groups to develop Giving Impact, a web-based service that allows groups to create and track fundraising campaigns, and then take them viral with social media integration.

Read the rest of this entry »

File sync and backup service SugarSync (which we’ve blogged about before) just announced new small-business friendly features, including a central admin feature to manage from three to 100 users collaborating and sharing files using the app. The new package also includes flexible group pricing plans starting at $29.99 per month, with no setup fees and free phone support.

While speaking with the CEO of SugarSync, I quickly realized that my post about running a virtual team was missing a critical component: backup. As I listened to the company’s presentation of its product, my mind began working overtime. SugarSync isn’t just about backing up files securely in the cloud. It can also be used for secure file sharing, collaboration and file syncing with cross-platform and mobile device access and compatibility. Read the rest of this entry »

At the Enterprise 2.0 conference today in San Francisco, PBworks (formerly PBwiki, see our previous coverage here) announced that it is adding built-in, real-time collaboration tools to its wiki software. The new suite of tools will include in-app IM, Live Notifications of changes to an organization’s workspaces, Live Editing of documents, and Voice Collaboration.

The planned changes should make collaboration using PBworks much easier and faster, with less need to rely on external services. For example, imagine that you’re working on a document and you’d like some input from your team. You could use the built-in IM tool to see who’s online, direct them to the page, start a Live Editing session (which lets them see any changes you make to the document in real time), and even set up an ad hoc conference call using the Voice Collaboration component.

IM Collaboration, Live Notifications, and Live Editing will be available for free to customers with Project Edition and Legal Edition plans beginning Nov. 17, while the Voice Collaboration component should be available in early 2010 (pricing hasn’t been set yet).

Would you use built-in voice chat/conference calling if it was added to your favorite collaboration suite, or would you continue to use an external conference calling app, like WebEx?

If you’re using the Pomodoro Technique (a method that uses a timer to help improve concentration and focus that Meryl wrote about recently) you might like to check out Tomatoi.st, a simple but nicely designed web app that can time your pomodoros and your breaks. Just hit the relevant button to start a pomodoro, a short break or a long break, and the counter will let you know how long you have to go. When the time is up, a “ding” sound is played to let you know it’s time to finish.

Tomatoi.st is a free service. No login or account is required, but when you first visit the site, you are assigned a unique URL so that you can leave your timer and come back to it later. You can also rename this URL to something a bit more memorable, like “http://tomatoi.st/simon.”

While using a real kitchen timer is probably more fun (especially one of the tomato-shaped ones that are pictured on the cover of the Pomodoro Technique book), not everyone happens to have one lying around — Tomatoi.st is a good online alternative.

Are you using the Pomodoro Technique?

(via @briansuda)

I’m all about gadgets and doodads that have specific functions, are easy to use, and actually help me do something better. I’ve been seeing one gadget in particular at tech conferences lately that really caught my eye.

The telescopic XShot camera extender ($29.95) is a simple but “wow” device that allows you to mount your digital camera and then extend it away from you so you can include yourself in the pictures. At conferences, however, the clever device is being used by attendees to raise their cameras above the heads of a crowd or audience to more easily capture footage of speakers onstage or simply get a more interesting view of the room. The XShot 2.0 gives you as little as 9 inches and up to 3 feet of extension. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve talked about the importance of fitness for web workers many times before. A side effect of spending our days working online is that most of our working hours are spent sitting in front of a computer, so we should make a special effort to fit some type of physical activity into our daily habits. Having software to track my progress makes a big difference in my motivation to work out. I like being able to see that I ran faster or further today than I did yesterday, which helps me to always try to work a little harder everyday to keep the trend lines moving in the right direction.

This week, I’ve been playing with the RunKeeper iPhone app to track my workouts. I wanted to play with something different to track my runs, and some friends have been using RunKeeper, so I thought that I would give it a try. RunKeeper has been around for a while, so it is only new to me, but I like it way better than I thought I would. Read the rest of this entry »