Productivity

  • September 18, 2007

    Good Things from Google

    Google Presentations

    I know I have been skimping on the posts a little lately, but things are really starting to move with school and the business. Hopefully I’ll be able to write some cool things about what I am doing in grad school. Right now however, I want to talk briefly about 2 things from Google.

    The first is pictured above, and is new to Google Docs today. Presentations have been added to the Word and Spreadsheet support. And from what I have seen already, it looks awesome. You can create new ones or upload current ones, and the interface is pretty easy. You can also share a URL with people to view the Presentation online, and it tells you who is doing so. I will play with in more to review it in depth when I get some time.

    The second is Google Checkout, which I knew about and signed up for, but didn’t really use. I still use PayPal as my online payment method. Well, I did until yesterday. My friend Dan informed me that Google Checkout doesn’t (Does Not) take out a cut from invoices and money requests. That is completely awesome, because when I am requesting money from clients online, the PayPal fees can get a little pricey. It also seems it offers the functionality I was looking for to use in another project. Excellent!

    In the coming weeks I will [hopefully] be looking at these in more depth to write a review on them, but for now I suggest you take a look and let me know what you think!

  • August 16, 2007

    Plaxo

    Plaxo

    Just recently I started using Plaxo, an online calendar and contacts manager. When Plaxo first started, it was a contacts manager that bought out the online calendar I was using at the time, HipCal. I never really got into Plaxo, especially once I got my Treo, but revisiting it, I’ve got to say it’s quite powerful and has a great interface.

    It handles everything Outlook can handle in a web-based format. A really nice feature of Plaxo is that it automatically updates your address book with any changes other friends on Plaxo make. It also give you access to the RSS feeds they choose to share with Plaxo Pulse. The calendar is very slick, displaying the next two days in agenda form and then the next 3 weeks in calendar form. It also displays the local weather and any ‘countdowns’ you add, such as days until your birthday. My favorite part, however, is the powerful syncing options Plaxo offers.

    Online calendars have always been a project of mine. GCal has been my web-based one of choice for a while because it’s easy to access when I use GMail. But since getting Yahoo! Go on my Blackberry, I’ve tried going back to Yahoo! Calendar because it autosyncs with Outlook. But this means at any given time, GCal, Outlook/Yahoo and my Blackberry could have different calendars. With Plaxo’s Sync Dashboard, I can set up my Plaxo calendar to sync with GCal and all of Plaxo (calendar, contacts, tasks, notes) to sync with Outlook. Then I sync my Blackberry with my computer. Yahoo is automatically updated, though Plaxo offers Calendar and contacts sync for that too, as well as MSN, Outlook Express, Mac OSX, AOL/AIM and LinkedIn. It also offers a mobile web interface so I can access it via my blackberry. The only thing that would make this better is over the air (wireless) sync with my Blackberry, which I believe they are working on.

    All in all, Plaxo is a very nice web app that I am glad I discovered before the start of the school year. With it’s awesome accessibility and sync options, it will definitely keep me more organized.

  • August 4, 2007

    Twitter & Productivity

    Twitter

    Twitter, a website that allows you to post short (140 characters or less) updates, has been becoming more and more of a productivity tool. I have been a Twitter user since April, but haven’t really started using it until just recently. With integration for Google Calendar, Remember the Milk and GTalk among other things, using Twitter isn’t just a fun little app anymore. It’s a tour de force of productivity for those who use it right.

    First thing first: Anything I can do from IM is a great thing. While it’s AIM support has been on and off and is currently off indefinitely, the recently added GTalk support is awesome. I can send updates from GMail or my desktop quite easily now, as well as eliminate those direct message emails I get by just allowing Twitter messages to go to IM. Plus, I have GTalk for my Blackberry, which is an added bonus.

    With a number of different bots, I have all the information I want at my fingertips. Weather, sports, headlines, etc. Not to mention an alarm with Twitter Timer, integration with GCal and especially Remember the Milk. My favorite Tasks web app got better because now I can easily, from anywhere, send a task to my phone.

    Finally, with TwitterBerry, I can easily send updates from my blackberry, without the extra resources required for GTalk. This program was the final nail in the “Use Twitter to GTD” coffin. In the coming days I will be scouring the internet for more Twitter Resources, and frequently checking Retweet for news on new Twitter Bots. So…How do you use Twitter?

  • August 1, 2007

    Software for College Students

    College Life

    In the last two installments of this series, I mention 10 Items and 10 Websites for college students. Now, here is some essential software for college students.

    Microsoft Office
    This is a Software Suite you will use every step of the way throughout college. Familiarize yourself with Word, Excel and Power point. Not only is it the best of its kind, it’s pretty much the standard in college and the real world.
    Free Alternative: Open Office– With Open Office you can create and open Word, Excel and Power point files. A great alternative if you don’t want to shell out the $100 for the student version of MS Office.
    MS Outlook
    With Calendar, Address Book, ToDo List and Notes, MS Outlook is a nice one stop shop for organization. This also comes with the MS Office software suite. It also syncs with most smart phones and PDAs.
    Free Alternatives: While I haven’t seen something quite like Outlook, there are a number of tools (mostly web-based) that can help you out. Online, I use Google Calendar, Remember the Milk for tasks and Google Notebook for notes. As far as desktop software goes, Thunderbird is the way to go for email. Plus with Lightning, you can get a calendar built right into Thunderbird.
    Anti-Virus Software
    Let’s face it. You will be on a residential network with possibly thousands of students using the internet. Most wouldn’t be able to spot a virus. Anti-Virus software is essential all of the time, but especially if you are moving out of the house and onto a shared network. My school made me install their brand of computer protection, but if you have the choice, I recommend Norton Anti-Virus.
    Free Alternative:– AVG Antivirus. It’s pretty rock solid and a nice free piece of software.

    Those three, I feel, are the most important pieces of software. Below is a list of free software that might not be exclusive to college students, but still very helpful.

    • ITunes– I am not a fan of ITunes. I use Windows Media Player 11. However, living on campus, where a majority of people on your network use ITunes, it could make discovering music easier. With MyTunes Redux, it is easier to share music with your friends. There is also something out there called ITunes U, which allows schools to add content to ITunes for its students to download.
    • Picasa– Photo Organizing and Editing by Google
    • Ad-Aware– Free Spyware cleaning program.
    • AIM/Google Talk– Instant Messaging programs are pretty essential in college. IMing is the quickest and easiest way to get in contact with someone, especially since most campuses are pretty well connected; not to mention IM makes it easy to keep in touch during the summer and after graduation.
    • FireFox– The best, most secure browser, period.
    • Skype– Free VoIP (over the internet phone calls) and very cheap calls to US and Internationally. Great if you have a prepaid cell phone (or no cell phone).
    • FoxIt Reader– PDFs in college are inevitable. While Adobe Reader is the more popular PDF reader, FoxIt Reader is much more lightweight and very easy to use.

    As a Comp Sci guy, IDEs, Linux and notepad got me through my Undergrad program. What software helped/helps you?

  • July 23, 2007

    10 Websites Every College Student Should Know

    College Life

    Last week I wrote about 10 Things Every College Student Needs. Now I want to tell you about something a little cheaper and possibly more useful than some of the stuff I listed. Here is a list of 10 essential websites for every college student.

    Facebook
    This website is the de facto site in social networking for college students. If you don’t already have one, get one. You’ll want to keep track of all those people you meet, get to know them and view their pictures from the weekend, on top of all of the other things you can do on Facebook.
    Webshots / Flickr
    You do have photo albums on Facebook, but you will want a public place to add photos for people without Facebook to see. Webshots seems to be the most popular one among college students, though I prefer Flickr.
    Half.com
    Half.com is the site I use to buy and sell most of my textbooks. A subsidiary of Ebay, it’s easy to use, you will find books cheaper than your school’s book store, and if you sell on Half.com, you will get more money than selling back to the book store.
    JourneyEd
    This website is great for student discounted software. A student is usually able to get deep discounts on software for educational purposes- For example, you can get MS Office Pro ($599 value) for $84. You can also grab Adobe Photoshop ($999) for $189. If you are even in need of software as a student, this is the place to go.
    EasyBib
    A great Bibliography generator for MLA style. If you need APA, you can try BibMe.
    Rate My Professor
    This is a good site to get a feel for the kind of professors your school has to offer. It comes especially handy when it’s time to make a schedule. While it’s not always accurate, it does give good advice on the teachers you are looking to take.
    Student Central
    This site lists any part time jobs, full time jobs or internships right through your school.
    Wikipedia
    Know it. Love it. Many professors don’t allow citing Wikipedia directly, but you can usually get a good start by going there and looking at the other sources for the articles.
    Online Note taking Sites
    To be honest I’ve tried a few, but nothing really worked for me. However, there are some great one-stop resources out there for students. I personally recommend MyNoteIt. Of the ones I’ve used, it’s the best. There is notes, a calendar, to-do list, and a social networking aspect to it, so your friends can get in on it too. Another successful one I’ve seen is Stu.dicio.us.
    Your School’s Website
    In most cases, this is the best resource at your disposal. From the University of Scranton’s website, I can get a listing of classes they are offering as well as my current schedule, a student and faculty directory and information about just about anything else on campus. Familiarize yourself with the school’s website and I think you’ll find it will come in handy

    I know there are a vast amount of resources out there and I most likely missed a couple of sites. What has helped or is helping you as a student?

  • July 1, 2007

    Freelancing: Distractions

    work

    As a freelancer that’s still in school, I move back home for the summer into a house with my parents and three younger brothers; and we are all close in age. That translates into a lot of distraction when I am trying to get work done. Between my parents asking me, since I am home, to do chores or run errands and my brothers bothering me to hang out, play cards, watch a movie or just plain bothering me, it can be pretty tough to get work done around here. So here are some tips on getting some work done if you face distractions like these.

    Close and Lock your door
    This might be the best method since when people see my door closed they usually know not to distract. Without people coming in and out of my room, it’s much easier for me to sit down and focus on what I need to do.
    Headphones
    My friends at school like to make fun of me for them, but I have a pair of big headphones that really do a great job of drowning out any and all ambient (and not so ambient) noise. With my music and nothing else in my ears, I find even in crowded rooms I can focus.
    Work when your friends work
    The nice thing about freelancing is you make your own schedule. So if you find yourself tempted by going out or working, just find out when your friends work and get your work done then. That way you get to work free of distraction (from them anyway) and get to hang out later when they get off work.
    Saying No
    My parents and friends don’t like this one so much, but when it is crunch time and my friends want to hang out or my parents need me to go to the store, sometimes I have to say no. It’s tough to draw a line between work and play (or whatever not work is) when you don’t have set hours, but when it comes down to it they will understand you need to get your work done.

    For me, the first three methods work better than the last one. As many of my friends know, I have a hard time saying no to people. That’s actually why I have so much work, which is what lead me to write this post…

  • May 12, 2007

    The Business: Document Tools

    Google Docs

    Hands down the best tool for documents is Google Docs & Spreadsheets. With Microsoft Office support and the ability to access the documents anywhere as long as you have an internet connection, why use anything else?

    With Google Docs, I am able to upload Word and Excel documents, edit them, and export them into Word and Excel documents. They stay in your documents until you delete them, and there are multitudes of ways to organize them. Much like GMail, Google Docs has labels and the ability to star documents. You also only view your “Active Documents” (edited within last 30 days) until you choose other wise.

    One other really nice thing about Google Docs is the ability to share any document with anyone with an email address. Excellent for collaboration. With Google Docs, I can get a lot done, and have access to all of my important documents from anywhere at anytime. And best part is, it’s free!

  • April 26, 2007

    Sync Lightning with GCal

    provider for GCal

    A few days ago I wrote about how to get calendar functionality in Thunderbird with Lightning. Today I want to talk about making Lightning 100 times better by giving it the ability to sync with Google Calendar. Since Google is my primary source for Email, Calendar, online document storage, notes and whatever else they offer, I always look for ways to seamlessly sync these things with my desktop or PDA. Since I’ve started using GooSync to synchronize my Treo with GCal, I’ve been more productive, being able to check my calendar anywhere online. Now with Provider, I can synchronize my desktop calendar with Google Calendar, “completing the circle,” so to speak.

    Sure I could use Outlook or Palm Desktop, but why if I don’t have to. I have Google. Now I can have bidirectional synchronization between my desktop and GCal or my Treo and GCal. Plus, installation is easy and updates are automatic (and instant as long as you have an internet connection). Simply download Provider, open up Thunderbird, go to Tools>Add-ons and choose install. From there all you have to do is add Google Calendar to your list of calendars in Lightning. Click on the calendar tab (bottom right) and click New. Then Choose “On the Network.” From there choose Google Calendar and copy your Google Calendar feed in to the box. There is a nice step-by-step with screen shots here.

    I find this solution especially nice because it’s quick and easy. Now If I can’t get WiFi in a classroom, I don’t have to sweat not accessing my calendar and pulling out my PDA to add an important date. Since I take notes on my laptop, I just have Thunderbird open and add appointments and due dates that way.

  • April 19, 2007

    Get Calendar Functionality on Thunderbird

    Lightning

    Gmail is my numero-uno choice for email. However, in my constant quest to backup all data I have anywhere, I felt Thunderbird would be a good desktop email client. After using Thunderbird a couple of days, I wanted to make it more “Outlook-esq.” I wanted calendar functionality. Knowing Mozilla made Sunbird, I figured there was something out there to integrate into Thunderbird. That something was Lightning. It’s a nice little plug-in that gives great functionality, supports multiple calendars and even iCal, for those of you who use it. It gives you the basic Day, Week and Month view, and lays it out pretty nicely. If you are a big Thunderbird user, I strongly recommend it.

    In the next couple of days, I will also do a write up on a really easy way to sync Lightning with Google Calendar, making the program even better.

  • January 12, 2007

    The Business: Project Tracking

    BackPack

    In the second installment of this series for 2007, I would like to talk about another ‘problem’ I have run into since getting a higher volume of clients; keeping track of projects. If you do not stay organized and on top of what you have to do for each client, you will ultimately fail as a business. That’s why you need to set up something that works for you. The system I am about to describe is something I find works very nicely for me.

    Backpack is a well-developed web interface by 37 Signals that allows you to keep pages and within those pages notes, tasks, files, and Writeboards (a collaborative tool, also by 37 Signals). Also included in Backpack are reminders and the calendar(if you pay for it). When I get a new project, I create a new page, put in general info about the site, notes on ideas and brainstorming, all of the tasks, etc. I have also been toying with the idea of buying the Basic account, which would include the calendar, file and image storing and a lot more reminders. And at $5/month, I can’t go wrong. By having a calendar and reminders ‘in house’ so to speak, I would be able to keep track of all deadlines, billing, and other important dates.

    So far, Backpack has been working out great for me- I just bring it up in a web browser where ever I am and get to work. And when I do collaborative work on a project, the writeboards are perfect. If I were to build something to help keep track of projects, it would be Backpack.