Know When to Stop Automating to Manage Email More Efficiently

There are a lot of ways to automatically filter your email, but automation can only go so far. After a certain point, you can actually kill productivity by trying to automatically manage your inbox. More »

Take Back Your Free Time: Establishing Boundaries Between Work and Play

Widespread Wi-Fi coverage, smart phones, ultra-portable computers, and other technological marvels of the 21st century blur the line between work and play more than ever. Here are a few tricks for reclaiming your time by setting boundaries between work and play. More »

Everything Portable Finds Files Fast

Everything's portable version takes a few seconds on launching to build a database of all the files on an NTFS-formatted drive, saves it in whatever folder you've saved the application, then brings up a single text box to type into, and a big white space without any files listed?yet. As soon as you start typing in file names, regular expressions, or boolean-style operators (like ! in front of "not" phrases), Everything almost instantly pulls up the files matching that search.

Download it here! http://www.voidtools.com/download.php

~SP

Crap, I Missed It!

Crap, I Missed It! sends email notifications before a new episode of your favorite show comes back on TV, or when your favorite artist releases a new CD.

Using the web application is easy?just pick one of the topic areas and either drill down or use the search box until you get to the subscribe page, enter in your email address and click Subscribe. After confirming your subscriptions, you will receive emails each time there are updates (with all updates for a single day combined into a single email). The site has quite a few topics to choose from, including Amazon bestsellers, top YouTube videos, new music albums or concerts, movies, TV shows, and even sports scores?but the navigation could be improved if they had a site-wide search or RSS support.

Crap, I Missed It is a free service, and could come in handy whenever your favorite TV show comes back from the holiday hiatus.

Courtesy of Lifehacker

Is Your Connection is Being Throttled?

Google and a host of net-savvy partners have opened up a free set of web tools to help anyone determine if their net connection is blocking or throttling BitTorrent or otherwise limits their bandwidth.

At the moment, three tools are available?when their servers aren't jammed up, and they seem to be pretty popular at the moment. The Glasnost tool determines how your ISP is handling BitTorrent traffic and gives a readout on whether it's being denied, throttled, or otherwise impaired. Network Diagnostic Tool covers other problems that might affect your upload or download speeds. And the Network Path and Application Diagnosis tries to reveal the routing, network tools, and other "last mile" issues that affect net performance.

The tests are fairly simple, and each seems to require a working Java plugin to run. The Glasnost test, for instance, creates a fake BitTorrent stream between your connection point and the test's servers, then monitors what happens to the packets.

That's one reassuring block of HTML.

It doesn't take a senior analyst to see that Google is looking to shine some light on internet providers' moves against net neutrality, such as Cox Communications' "time sensitivity" throttling. In fact, the next two products due out of the "Measurement Lab" are DiffProbe and NANO, which will tell a user whether certain types of traffic, for specific applications or users, are getting priority over others. The side effect of the net giants' tussle, though, are some handy tools that (should) tell the user exactly why they are or aren't getting the speeds they paid for.

Measurement Lab [via Google Blogoscoped]

iConvert - Multiple Platforms Conversion

iConvert is a web-based application for converting icons from the format of one operating system into another and from image files into new icons.

The iConvert interface is straight forward, select a compatible file from your computer and upload it. There is no editing or tweaking just a straight conversion into a slew of compatible formats. iConvert supports the following file types: .icns, .ico, .png, .svg, .tif, .jpg, .bmp, .tga, and .cur and outputs to .hqx, .icns, .ico, .png. If you're new to tinkering with icons, the output files are flagged by which operating system they go to making it even easier to grab the correct format for your system.On caveat: iConvert shows a constantly updated banner of the most recent conversions across the bottom of the site interface. Proceed knowing the icons will be available for public viewing and downloading.

iConvert [via MakeUseOf]

Find the Best Outdoor Antenna

If the upcoming switch to HD digital broadcasting has you considering dropping cable for the free stuff, the AntennaWeb site can help find the receiver that will net the most channels at your address.

The free-to-use site only requires your street address or ZIP code and asks whether you've got any tall buildings or trees nearby. Based on your location (which it sometimes details down to the street level), it lays out how far each local broadcaster is from your house, what channel and signal type they're offering, and what kind of antenna will net you the best reception for the most digital channels. You can even get a map showing which direction each station will come to your house from, for those who need to point a directional unit (or plan to stick with a strategically-placed indoor antenna).

AntennaWeb leaves the purchasing of your outdoor model to your own preference and Google abilities, but the site does explain the whys and hows of antennas pretty decently for those who haven't worked at a RadioShack. Confused in a more general sense about the Feb. 17 transition and what it means? Try the official DTV 2009 site.

AntennaWeb

VortexBox Turns Your Old Computer into Music Server

VortexBox is an open-source CD ripping and media server solution. Based on Fedora 10, VortexBox is capable of streaming in multiple formats allowing you to hear your music on your other computers, iTunes, media centers, slim devices like squeezeboxes and other media devices. Installation is straight forward, download the ISO file, burn it to a disc, pop the disc in the unused computer you want to turn into a jukebox and you're on your way. Once the installation is complete you can access the box remotely with the build in web server. Ripping is completely automated, just pop in the disk you want it to rip and it rips, tags, and gets the cover art. VortexBox is an open-source linux-based media server.

VortexBox [via Freeware Home]

Track Your Computer Usage

Productivity Meter is a time tracking tool from Fruitful Time, makers of the task manager we reviewed earlier this year.

Once installed the software sits in the background and keeps tabs on your activity. Productivity Meter tracks the active versus idle time, how your active time is split among applications, which applications were used the most, and which websites you browsed and for how long. You can review the stats for the last day, week, month or a user defined block of time. One of the most useful features is the ability to tag programs, windows, and domains.

It would be entirely useless to many users?myself included? if the program simply told you when you'd been using a web browser and time spent on certain domains. I use a web browser for nearly all the work I do on my computer. By using the tag function I can tell Productivity Meter which domains I access for certain tasks and jobs. It's tracking for how much time I spend doing Lifehacker related work became significantly more accurate when I tagged all the domains I use. Another concern was that with a triple monitor setup and a huge number of windows open at any given time it wouldn't accurately track what I was really focusing my time and attention on. After testing it for the better part of a day it does a fantastic job tracking what I'm actually working on.

The program is free for personal use, with the small caveat that after 30 days the ability to generate time cards is removed. If you don't need to generate time cards to show a boss or client how your time was spent on a give project it shouldn't matter much. All the graphs and information in the main dashboard is available even after the 30 days window. Productivity Meter is freeware, Windows only.

Controlling Your Attention is the New Work Ethic

Tech writer Mike Elgan brilliantly argues that while our parents taught us hard work and long hours will lead to success, in the internet age the ability to control what you pay attention to is the key.

A person who works six hours a day but with total focus has an enormous advantage over a 12-hour-per-day workaholic who's "multi-tasking" all day, answering every phone call, constantly checking Facebook and Twitter, and indulging every interruption. It's time we upgraded our work ethic for the age we're living in, not our grandparents' age. Hard work is still a virtue, but now takes a distant second place to the new determinant of success or failure in the age of Internet distractions: Control of attention. Hard work is dead. Are you paying attention?

His points about the merging of work and play onto our computers?which we are on all day, which can make play look like work?are well-outlined and spot-on. Read this whole article; it's a great kick in the pants for getting focused in the New Year.

the new work ethic: just paying attention at intellectual properties [via ]

Everything You Need to Know How to Do in Windows

Format Your Hard Drive and Install Windows XP from Scratch

(Published 2006)
"Hey, Windows XP users: The blue screen of death got you down? Missing dll errors making you frown? Frequent software crashes leave you yearning for that fresh, new PC you unpacked with glee three years ago? If you've scrubbed for spyware and viruses, defragged, chkdsked and done the requisite rain dance but things are STILL wonky on your computer, it may be time for extreme action."



Automatically Back Up Your Hard Drive

(Published 2006)
"Don't expect yourself to remember to back up your data, or stack your closet full of burned CD's or DVD's. Today we're going to set up automated nightly, weekly, monthly local and off-site backups for your PC using free software."



Slipstream Service Pack 3 into Your Windows XP Installation CD

(Published 2008)
"Next time you wipe your PC's hard drive clean and reinstall Windows with that old installation disc, you don't want to connect your fresh, unpatched and vulnerable system to the internet only to download 176 new updates from Microsoft."


Make the Most of Your PC's Dual Monitors

(Published 2007)
"Now that you've added another monitor to your computer setup, you've got double the screen real estate to get things done?but are you putting all that space to good use?"



Crack a Windows Password with Ophcrack Live CD

(Published 2007)
"Whether you need to recover the lost password to a Windows account, you're looking to ensure that your passwords are secure, or you're a super l33t h4x0r, the Ophcrack Live CD is a pretty useful tool."



Download the Most Popular Free Windows Apps of 2008

(Published 2008)
"In the past year we've highlighted hundreds of Windows apps aimed at making your life easier, boosting your computer productivity, and powering up your PC."



Turn Your Windows PC into a Media Center Powerhouse On the Cheap

(Published 2007)
"If you've purchased a new Windows computer in the past few years that's running Windows Media Center Edition or Vista Home Premium or Ultimate and you aren't taking advantage of its baked-in DVR Media Center software, it's time we change that."


Turn Your PC into a DVD Ripping Monster

(Published 2008)
"Commercial DVDs are far too expensive to let scratches turn your video into a glorified coaster, but most people still don't back up their DVD collection."



Replace Crappy Windows Software with Superior Alternatives

(Published 2008)
"It may be the year 2008, but a whole lot of sucktacular software still rears its ugly head on PC's everywhere, even when better-behaved options are freely available."

Limit Your Input to Increase Productivity

Chris over at the productivity blog The Art of Non-Comformity wants you to say no. Frequently. So frequently in fact that the quality of the things you say yes to rises exponentially.

Chris advocates radical exclusion as a solution for overwhelming demands and new inputs. Rather than stretch yourself thin saying yes to everything and ultimately failing to deliver you should focus on the commitments and projects you really want to make something of:

I may or may not have a good excuse for why I failed to honor the commitment, but one thing?s for sure: if I make a habit of it, I will soon lose the trust of the person who had relied on me.

To prevent this from happening, I sometimes practice the fine art of radical exclusion. This is where I deliberately ignore or decline any number of inputs, messages, or requests for my attention in order to focus on what I decide is more important.

By using his limited reserve to energy and attention to tend to the things most important, the quality of the time he spends on things in turn rises and creates a superior widget?whatever that widget may be: a product, a design, time spent with family. Having spent most of my caffeine fueled 20s taking on mountains of projects, I found I too have embraced his notion of radical exclusion. How do you deal with tactfully declining some commitments and negotiating others to be more manageable? Photo by Dave Parker.

The Art of Radical Exclusion

Tough Questions to Help You Declutter

With an influx of holiday gifts and trinkets, now is the perfect time of year to ask some tough questions about your things. Erin at the blog Unclutterer has a list to get you started.

In an effort to make more conscious choices about the objects she shared her home with, Erin began aggressively asking questions about them. The questions helped her overcome a dilemma:

Each object exists in my space for a reason, and a chunk of time, planning, and research was dedicated to its acquisition, and there are further evaluations to let it stay. I make an investment of myself in every object, and that is why it?s hard for me to say that I?m not attached to these objects.

Even dedicating more thought to her acquisitions than most do, she still found it hard to work around the attachments we all form to things in our physical space. Using a series of questions like: "Does this item make my life easier, save me time, save me money, fulfill an essential need?" helped Erin sort through things more effectively and objectively. The questions are divided into two camp, those for the things you already own and those for the things you are about to acquire. If you're looking to live more consciously with your things this year and make better use of your physical space, Erin's list is a great spring board to taking an engaged look at your possessions. For other decluttering techniques check out how to declutter your home with the suitcase test and how to form an attack plan for a cluttered messy home.Photo by Diego Cupolo.

Tough Questions for Your Things [Unclutterer]

Add a Mini Calendar to Outlook's Out of Office Reply

No matter how clear you write it, some folks just can't grasp that you'll be out of the office for a certain period.

The Outlook development team's blog explains how you can insert a miniature, HTML-formatted calendar into your auto-replies. You basically email yourself an Outlook-formatted, date-selected calendar, copy it from that email, and then paste it into an Out of Office message. You could also likely paste that same calendar into any email service that supports HTML signatures, and if you give that a shot?or find another way of creating mini-format calendars?let us know in the comments.

Cool Trick: Making Miniature Calendars [Microsoft Office Outlook Team Blog via Lifehacker AU]

VirtualBox 2.1 Now Available

All platforms: Free and open source virtualization software VirtualBox gets a "major upgrade" to version 2.1 which is now available for download.

Besides a gaggle of fixes, the changelog details new features:

• Support for hardware virtualization (VT-x and AMD-V) on Mac OS X hosts


• Support for 64-bit guests on 32-bit host operating systems (experimental; see user manual, chapter 1.6, 64-bit guests, page 16)


• Added support for Intel Nehalem virtualization enhancements (EPT and VPID; see user manual, chapter 1.2, Software vs. hardware virtualization (VT-x and AMD-V), page 10))


• Experimental 3D acceleration via OpenGL (see user manual, chapter 4.8, Hardware 3D acceleration (OpenGL), page 66)


• Experimental LsiLogic and BusLogic SCSI controllers (see user manual, chapter 5.1, Hard disk controllers: IDE, SATA (AHCI), SCSI, page 70)


• Full VMDK/VHD support including snapshots (see user manual, chapter 5.2, Disk image files (VDI, VMDK, VHD), page 72)


• New NAT engine with significantly better performance, reliability and ICMP echo (ping) support (bugs #1046, #2438, #2223, #1247)


• New Host Interface Networking implementations for Windows and Linux hosts with easier setup (replaces TUN/TAP on Linux and manual bridging on Windows)

We've already shown you how to run Windows apps seamlessly inside Linux with VirtualBox; what OS combinations are you using it with? VirtualBox is a free download for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

VirtualBox

UnChrome Anonymizes Your Installation

Free application UnChrome bolsters your browsing anonymity by removing the unique ID from Google Chrome that Google associates with your Chrome installation.

UnChrome isn't the first app to do this; we highlighted another program called Chrome Privacy Guard in our power user's guide to Google Chrome. But for the many who installed Chrome for the first time after Chrome officially left beta last week, it's worthwhile to highlight this kind of tool once more. UnChrome is a free download, Windows only.

UnChrome [via Download Squad]

Put Remember The Milk in a Stand-Alone Window

Windows/Mac/Linux: Remember the Task simply puts web task manager Remember the Milk's familiar gadget interface into a stand-alone Adobe AIR window, but maybe that's just what you need.

RTM's stripped-down, vertically-aligned rectangle is the same you'll see in its Gmail and iGoogle gadgets, as well as a Vista Sidebar widget and desktop embeds. But since Remember the Task is its own desktop window, you can minimize it to your tray, keep it on your second monitor, or simply have it available by hitting Alt-Tab.

Remember the Tray is a free download for all systems, requires the Adobe AIR platform to install and run.

Remember the Task [Adobe AIR Marketplace]

Convert Your PowerPoint to DVD with Freeware

Weblog FreewareGenius walks through three different methods for burning your PowerPoint presentation to a DVD using free software. Photo by garethjmsaunders.

The three methods discussed involve converting the presentation to an intermediate format like video, Flash, or JPEG, and then burning that more DVD-friendly file format to a DVD. If you've ever needed present somewhere where all you had was a DVD player and monitor, this post has you covered inside and out. Unfortunately there are no free one-step options, but the post is detailed and easy to follow along with.

How to convert PowerPoint to DVD for free [FreewareGenius]

Beat Your Insomnia with Herbal Remedies [Sleep]

Before you reach for the sleeping pills when you're having trouble grabbing some shut-eye, Yahoo's Healthy Living weblog suggests six effective all-natural herbal sleep inducers you may want to try. Photo by Joi.

A couple of the suggestions probably won't surprise you (namely chamomile and lavender, which are always among the first recommendations of this kind), but there are several you may not have seen before. They are:

• Valerian root


• Chamomile Tea


• Celery


• Lemon balm


• Lavender


• Hops

Before you get too excited about hops, keep in mind that a pre-bedtime beer can actually disturb your sleep according to the FDA. Instead, the post suggests a bag of hops under the pillow can be a great sleep inducer, particularly for women. Be sure to check the Yahoo post for details on how to use each. (Hint: Apparently valerian root is the most potent of all.)

On a similar sleepy food note, we've also heard that a lettuce-filled sandwich can help you sleep like a log.

Skip the Sleeping Pills ? These 6 All-Natural Herbs Can Ease Your Insomnia [Yahoo Healthy Living]