Hackszine.com: Productivity Archives

Archive: Productivity

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February 23, 2007

Unclutter Your Desk

Here's a great way to rid your desk of device clutter. Take everything but the monitor, keyboard, and mouse and zip-tie it all to the underside. - Link.

February 9, 2007

IMify to Stikkit

IMify Stikkit

IMified and Stikkit seem to have heard my request. You can now post to Stikkit via IM.

Call for Hacks: Help the Hacks Team Collaborate

Google Docs

We at Hackszine are all about collaboration, and lately our geographically distributed team has been working on web-based and decidedly non-MS Office ways of doing so. We've been paying particular attention to the Google suite made up of Google Docs & Spreadsheets, Gmail, and Google Calendar (and rumored to soon include a PowerPoint alternative), which have generally worked well but have caused some significant hitches as well. Once we all get together on the same document, things have moved smoothly, but it usually takes many failed invitations, foiled uploads, and redirects before we get there.

Ever since Google acquired Writely, the "Email to Google Docs" feature has consistently failed for me when sent from my work email address, requiring me to upload everything from the web interface instead of copying Google Docs with a message that I send to our group with a Word attachment, which would really speed things up for us. So, just getting a document started has been a tedious hassle. But the hassle hasn't ended once the document is online.

This week, Dale Dougherty sent this Google Docs/Calendar request to our group, which I've decided to share with our competent Hackszine readers, since I've been unable to find a workable solution myself:

I've been trying to share a Google Doc with the two Brians. When I use their O'Reilly email, they don't get the message. So I have to use their Gmail addresses. Should I be able to invite anyone with an email address to view or edit a Google doc? Bre sent me an invitation to his calendar using my O'Reilly address and it didn't work--it complained that it couldn't link his calendar to mine. My Google account is set up with my Gmail address. Can someone explain this set of problems--using a non-Gmail email address and your Gmail address interchangeably?

Gcal

Dale's message highlights a problem we've encountered with all of Google's services--namely, that when you're invited to join a document at one email address (that is, when the message actually makes it through spam filters), but the rest of your life is attached to another, you're out of luck. Since I maintain a Google Calendar (shared with others and including others' calendars) associated with my Gmail account, I'm not going to maintain an entirely separate calendar (is that even possible, or wouldn't that still require another Google account?) for collaborations with people who use my @oreilly.com address as their primary means of contact, and there doesn't appear to be any way to merge online identities within the Google system.

Tim O'Reilly puts a finer point on this issue:

The only hack I've been able to figure out is to get people to send me the invitation to both accounts. (I forward all my *****@oreilly.com mail to Gmail, but not the other way around, as that would create a loop, yet I use *****@gmail.com for calendar et al. The alternative would be to make *****@gmail.com my primary email address and forward to *****@oreilly.com.) Seems to me that this is a hidden (maybe even unconscious) power play by Google. There's a race on to get your sticky identity from one site to become your default identity.

This is a good point. Is Google attempting to keep their system closed, locking us into a single online identity associated with their services? If that's the case, it wouldn't be that much better for collaboration than being locked into the MS Office suite, the unfortunate de facto standard for most professional collaboration right now.

So, does anyone have any solutions to this tangled nest of questions? Any specific hacks to help out the Hacks team? In addition to these specific concerns, we'd also love to see any general hacks that help get you use other tools to get things done that would normally require MS Office. This is a hot space on our radar (especially with the launch of Google Apps for Your Domain), both behind the scenes and in terms of what we'd like to cover.

Everyday Stoicism or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Enjoy the Show

Everyday Stoicism

Contrary to what you might think, based on the focus of most of the posts on this site, we don't necessarily believe there's always a technological solution to every problem. In fact, for many areas in life, I've often found the right life hack for my particular need may be discovered at perhaps the opposite end of the spectrum: philosophy.

In particular, the Ancients really knew how to live well and started hacking great ways to deal with the effects of technology from the moment Prometheus gave us fire. For example, I don't make it to the theater as much as I'd like anymore, but whenever I do, I take a page from Epictetus:

When you are going about any action, remind yourself what nature the action is. If you are going to bathe, picture to yourself the things which usually happen in the bath: some people splash the water, some push, some use abusive language, and others steal. Thus you will more safely go about this action if you say to yourself, "I will now go bathe, and keep my own mind in a state conformable to nature." And in the same manner with regard to every other action. For thus, if any hindrance arises in bathing, you will have it ready to say, "It was not only to bathe that I desired, but to keep my mind in a state conformable to nature; and I will not keep it if I am bothered at things that happen."

Okay, so we don't have public baths anymore, but this technique works well in movie theaters, lines at amusement parks, restaurants, or pretty much anywhere you intend to enjoy yourself around other people. Seriously, I consider this passage with many deep breaths at almost every movie I attend. It works.

February 8, 2007

Reply with Commenter Name at Lifehacker

Lifehacker Comments

Inspired by our post about personalizing your Flickr replies, the ever-resourceful and reader-focused Gina Trapani just whipped up her own code to add similar functionality to Lifehacker comments. Her Lifehacker Reply with Commenter Name Greasemonkey script adds a "[reply by name]" link to each comment on Lifehacker.com and inserts the commenter's name (prepended with an @ in v 0.2) into your response when you click that link.

Taking it one step further (thanks to the GNU Public License assigned to Gina's original code), Lifehacker reader Ali Karbassi modified the script to include links to the actual comment boxes you're replying to.

Nice work all around. It adds a nice personal touch to the comments thread, and it's great to see community improvements to the site's innovation. I know it makes my reader experience more enjoyable, both functionally and emotionally.

Links to Lifehacker Greasemonkey Scripts:

February 6, 2007

IMify Your Web Apps

Thanks to Lifehacker for tipping us off to IMified:

an instant messenger buddy that works accross all major IM networks and offers access to a growing number of web applications, as well as productivity tools like notes, reminders, and todo's. Imified helps you get things done faster.

To get started, just send a message in AIM/iChat/Yahoo! Messenger to the IMified buddy (imified@imified.com for MSN or imified@gmail.com on Google Talk/Jabber). Following a few prompts will soon allow you to IM your favorite web apps, including Google Calendar, Backpack, Remember the Milk, Blogger, and more (here's hoping Stikkit is next).

I can confirm that it works seamlessly and easily with WordPress (though I couldn't get it to work with Blogger). Setup was easy and I composed and posted this test message in just a minute or so entirely through iChat:

IMified Wordpress

February 5, 2007

Automate Your Backups

There's a classic horror story that keeps me from sleeping at night sometimes. I've heard it told a few different ways. I've even told the story myself more than once, but Phil's version that he posted yesterday morning was one of the most frightening:

A couple weeks ago a flood hit my apartment/office area and soaked the desktop system, monitors, equipment *and* back up drive (along with a ton of other stuff) - luckily I have a daily back up on a Powerbook. But, of course the Powerbook decided to completely stop working while at our ETSY event before that could be backed up too. Zapping the PRAM revealed the hard drive failed, so the usual steps of Disk Util, TechTool and then finally drive removal and DiskWarrior were attempted - for the most part the drive seems completely dead - there might be a chance to recover some data under linux, or from a data recovery shop, but it's not looking good.

According his latest update, the backup drives dried out okay and appear to be working fine, so I guess that means he's managed to survive the perfect storm, but it got me thinking - how many of us ever keep a regular, daily backup in the first place? I've suffered several near-misses in the past, and I'm still guilty of not keeping good backups.

Never Again
So, February isn't too late for a new year's resolution. Don't go another day without your important files backed up. Let's sit down for 15 minutes, right now, and set up an automated backup system for ourselves. All you need is an external hard disk or a remote server with sufficient storage for a couple copies of your data. Based on Phil's story, you might want to situate your backup system on an elevated surface and not beneath any water pipes.

We're not focusing on a perfect backup solution here, with off-site, fire proof, vault storage. Don't let the nay-sayers stop you with the long list of things that can go wrong with a simple back-up solution, or explanations of how to do it the "right way". In 15 minutes you are going to be significantly more protected from data loss, and this will give you the time you need to relax and find a good price on your fire proof vault.

Read full story

February 1, 2007

Stikkit: Open for Hacking

Stikkit API News

Apropos of my previous post today, in which I mentioned that Stikkit would "likely be the source of great productivity hacks in the future," I'm happy to report that the future begins in earnest now. Just in from Stikkit HQ, Rael tips us off to the brand-new Stikkit API:

As much as we believe in how Stikkit "thinks" about your data, only you know how to best organize your notes so they work for you. The Stikkit API lets you "get at" your Stikkit data so you can shape it, direct it, and mash it up with other applications.

Remember, you heard it here first. Now, get hacking and report back with the ways you're extending, tweaking, or enhancing Stikkit to suit your personal organizational needs.

Related:

Life Hacking News: Mann to Stikkit

Merlin Mann

In life hacking news, I just learned that Merlin Mann (life hacking pioneer and one-person productivity guru behind 43 Folders) is now an adviser for Values of n (founded by former Hacks series editor Rael Dornfest), the company behind the impressive new Stikkit productivity app. I'm looking forward to seeing some great results from this collaboration between two of my favorite life hackers. If you haven't tried out Stikkit yet, do so now. It's a great life hack in itself, which is just getting better and better as it develops, but will also likely be the source of great productivity hacks in the future (note: some power users are already hacking it).

As a bit of an aside, there's a hack to be found in the links from the Values of n announcement too, a hack in which I have some personal involvement in the telling. Though Merlin was kind enough to leave my name out of his 43 Folders podcast on "the perfect apostrophe," I am, in fact, the "very nice man whose life [he] temporarily ruined." While he overstates the damage done by just a tad, his depiction of me as "a character out a 30s screwball comedy" is uncanny:

The link to Merlin's hilarious podcast isn't simply gratuitous or intended to feed my own vanity. If you listen carefully, you'll find a valuable life hack in there, a perhaps more nuanced and intereresting way to "not sweat the small stuff" or, more accurately, to recognize the right stuff to sweat and just get it done. Beyond my obvious involvement as a character in his story, it resonated with me on a number of other levels as well, which I explained in a bit more detail a while back on my personal blog (note: this link, unlike the previous links, is indeed intentionally gratuitous).

January 25, 2007

Access Gmail Behind a Firewall

Without getting into the ethics of employers blocking access to certain sites on company machines (and without comment on the ethics of subverting those filters), if you need to access your personal Gmail account from an office that restricts access, engtech has a number of solutions for getting around the firewall. Check out the linked post for details, but here's a quick rundown of your options (the last of which I hope is entirely tongue-in-cheek, which might save it from being offensive):

Use different web addresses.
Configure your mail program to access Gmail (through POP).
Access Gmail through Google Desktop.
Use a web server with Gmail Lite installed.
Bribe the IT guys at your work.

If nothing else, this hack would help on days when the company email fails and you still need to reach someone urgently on professional business.

Related:

Shopping Sniper: Score a PS3 or Wii Online

Xbox 360_Tracker.jpg

Posted before the holidays, Sean Alexander's article on how-to snipe a PS3 or Wii online (or, originally, an Xbox 360) should still be valuable for gamers who have yet to get their hands on the out-of-stock console of their choice:

Here's a fool-proof way to get notified when PS3/Wii/etc are available for online ordering--no online auctions required. I've tested it personally--and received my premium system in time for Christmas.

His method relies on configuring URLyWarning to notify you of status changes with retailer-tracking sites specific to the console you're still drooling over.

January 24, 2007

Automatically Ignore Entire Conversations in Gmail

Mute Gmail Conversation.jpg

Anyone who's a part of a mailing list has been party to email threads that just went on way too long. If you use Gmail, did you know you can mute the conversation to keep all future additions out of your inbox:

By using the 'm' shortcut key, new messages added to the conversation bypass your inbox so that the conversation stays archived. If your address appears in the to or cc field, though, the conversation will pop back into your inbox ready for your attention.

The muted messages you never see remain marked as unread and you can still find them with standard Gmail search syntax. There's even a special search syntax that returns muted messages only:

is:muted

If you later discover that some interesting talk has been going on behind your back, unmuting the conversation is as easy as selecting the conversation and choosing "Move to inbox" from the "More actions..." menu.

Now, what I really want to see is a way to mute conversations where my address is just on the cc line, for those many times when I'm copied on a message that never should have gone to me in the first place, or when friends or colleagues hijack a relevant message with off-topic chatter. Anyone have a hack for that?

(Via Mark Pilgrim)

Related:

January 23, 2007

Skeleton Barcode Card

Skeleton Barcode Card.jpg

In the Hacks Instructables pool, tracydanger provides a great life hack for downsizing your wallet:

I got sick and tired of having a dozen little "bonus" cards to carry around, so I made this simple fix. Basically, I just scanned in all my barcodes, fit them nicely into a row in photoshop and then printed them out onto a card.

Check out the Instructable for detailed instructions and troubleshooting tips.

UPDATE: jeff_1868 comments:

Someone has come up with an online service. Simply, go to http://www.justoneclubcard.com/ and enter in the barcode numbers for 8 of your club cards. The service generates a card, front & back, with the barcodes for those 8 cards. It's free and you can create as many as you would like. If you cannot find a store listed, just e-mail him photocopies of your card & he will add it to the service.

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