Displaying All Posts from March, 2011

Awesome Links #39: Human Nature, Smart Labels, Tumblr Guide

What the Science of Human Nature Can Teach Us
An intriguing article from The New Yorker that talks about the science of human nature and what exactly makes us happy. Turns out that socializing with people is an integral part of the equation.

New in Gmail Labs: Smart Labels
The Gmail team has launched what they call “Smart Labels”, a feature that can automatically organize your incoming emails and put them into appropriate labels. Part of Gmail Labs, this feature could greatly enhance email productivity — if it works as well as it sounds.

Understanding – and Maximizing – Your Brain’s Reward and Planning System
An interesting article over at the Intrinsic Motivation and Magical Unicorns blog at Psychology Today magazine. It gives a deep insight into the brain’s reward system and how you can actually use it to your benefit in order to get motivated and excel at seemingly mundane tasks. Well worth a look.
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Strike: The Little App That Does a Lot

Mike Vardy 11th March Productivity Leave a Comment

From the minds at ZURB (developers of the aforementioned Verify) comes Strike, a simple and effective web-based application that lets users set up to-do lists and share them with others.

Strike has an interface that is stripped down so that it just lets you create new lists, add tasks to the lists and then check tasks off in the lists as they get completed. The collaboration takes place when you share the unique URLs of each list with others. They can then work to finish items on the list as well. Progress is made through “knocking tasks down” using a combined effort. That said, you only need share the lists you want, so it makes it easy to run individual and team projects using Strike.
Click Here to Read Article …

10 Productivity-Enhancing Apps from the Chrome Web Store

Connor Turnbull 11th March Software Leave a Comment

Google launched their Chrome Web Store last year to some well-received notice. But in reality, it serves only as a glorified directory for web apps accessible on any standards-compliant browser. And that isn’t necessarily a downer. In fact, with little intervention needed to work on Chrome, many web apps were immediately available via this store — including a bunch of awesome apps that can enhance anyone’s productivity.

The range of productivity-enhancing apps available on this web store range from PowerPoint replacements to full-fledged viewers for AutoCAD files. Let’s take a look at a few that you can use in a generic workflow.

1. MindMeister

MindMeister is a web-based mind mapping and brainstorming tool that allows you to create maps that can be worked on collaboratively. This collaboration is in “realtime” and is also global — with an integrated live chat to communicate with your coworkers when working on a map.

Once your session is over, you can export maps for offline browsing in popular formats such as Office and PDF. Plus, an iPhone and iPad application can access the maps for mobile browsing.

2. Vyew

Vyew is an app that’s “beyond web conference” which warrants its title thanks to its realtime whiteboard and document collaboration tools. Multiple viewers can join a session in a “room” and review documents — or watch a stream of the host’s desktop.

Webcam streaming isn’t the main feature of this app, but it is used to create a real, lifestyle conference when you just can’t meet up with your team.

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WorkAwesome Podcast: Episode 15 – Adam Lisagor

Mike Vardy 10th March Podcast Leave a Comment

Our guest on this week’s episode of the WorkAwesome podcast is Adam Lisagor. Adam has a lot on the go, including developing iPhone apps (like Birdhouse with Cameron Hunt), being involved in a couple of podcasting projects (You Look Nice Today with Scott Simpson and Merlin Mann) and acting as what some may call as a “reluctant” pitchman for products such as Square and Flipboard.

But what Adam primarily does is make video. Really good video. With clients that include the aforementioned Square and Flipboard, he also has created some great spots for Jawbone’s JAMBOX and Peel. Adam’s videos don’t really feel like commercials, which is what may have led to a steady stream of work over the past few years. WorkAwesome editor Mike Vardy has more of a discussion than an “interview” with Adam about things like workflow, how he keeps on top of all that he has going on, and his particular drink of choice. (Hint: it’s not coffee, tea, or soda…)
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Workspace Before + After Competition – 200 MOO Business Cards for 5 Winners!

Skellie 9th March Site News Leave a Comment

Does your workspace need a lift? Is it messy and cluttered, lacking personality, or have you had the same decorations in the same places since 2005? It’s time for something different!

The WorkAwesome + MOO Workspace Before and After Competition challenges you to give your workspace a makeover. Will you create a sleek minimalist setup? Clean away years of detritus? Give your workspace a theme? Cover your desk with cherished photos? Display your collection of Star Wars action figures? Or will you do something nobody else has ever thought of?

To enter, take a photo of your workspace Before the makeover. Then, create a workspace you truly love. Next, take an After picture to show us the complete transformation. Our five favorite transformations will win 200 crisp new business cards from MOO. Click Here to Read Article …

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5 Smart Routes to Gain Respect in the Workplace

Mark Garrison 9th March Office Life Leave a Comment

In the minefield of office politics, gaining the true respect of your colleagues, your subordinates and your boss is a true achievement. It can be difficult — but if you succeed — the benefits are numerous. Here are some tips for gaining more respect in the workplace (and in life in general).

1. The Only True Respect Is Mutual Respect

Take a moment and think of a few people that you have respect for. Are any of them people who don’t respect you in return? Or, if they’re people you haven’t actually met in person, are there any that you feel would not treat you with respect if you were to meet them? If you answered “no” (and I hope you did), then I’ll take that as point made. If you answered “yes”, then I want you to think about it again. It’s easy to confuse respect with admiration, envy, or even fear. If the respect isn’t mutual…then it’s one of them in disguise.

2. Practice What You Preach

I once had a job where I supervised 30 or so people in a retail business. My boss used to sit in his office all day, rarely showing his face on the sales floor. He also used to ride me constantly about making sure the staff were productive when it wasn’t busy, but when he made his infrequent jaunts out of his office, he acted like Steve Carell’s character on the TV show The Office (cracking jokes, goofing around and keeping people from their work). I think you can probably guess how much respect he had from his employees: very, very, little. The moral of this story is that if you are a leader, then leading by example builds respect.
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Top Productivity App Wunderlist Available Today for Android

Mike Vardy 9th March Software Leave a Comment

We’ve covered Wunderlist before at WorkAwesome; it’s a truly elegant and simple productivity app available on multiple platforms. Today its developer, 6Wunderkinder, made a major announcement: today it is launching Wunderlist on its newest platform…Android. What is truly amazing about this release is that it only took 4 weeks for them to port Wunderlist to Android, thanks to Appcelerator’s Titanium platform.

Wunderlist has made a hugh splash in the productivity space over the past few months, most recently with the release of Wunderlist HD on the iPad. The app has proved so popular that it has been downloaded over one million times across all platforms and has had over 6 million tasks logged in the process. That’s an impressive feat considering how many productivity apps there are in the marketplace.

6Wunderkinder attests that this porting to Android couldn’t have happened so quickly without a significant head-start with how they developed Wunderlist from the onset. That head-start is a result of building Wunderlist from the ground up using Appcelerator’s Titanium platform. “Time-to-market is critical for us, and Titanium lets developers write mobile apps for multiple platforms from one code-base. We were able to publish Wunderlist to iPhone, iPad, Android, PC, and Mac while reusing 90% of the base code. That’s an enormous cost and time savings compared to building each app in a separate language, not to mention the time-to-market advantage this has given us,” noted Christian Reber, CEO of 6Wunderkinder.
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eCrypt.me: Simple and Easy Encryption

Mike Vardy 8th March Communication Leave a Comment

Email has come a long way, in terms of all levels of functionality and feature sets. Email security, however, is an ongoing concern. It’s not terribly secure — and any security features offered through email are heavily reliant on the end-user in order for them to have any sort of impact. So if you’re working in a profession that requires a higher level of discretion with the documents that you’re sending back and forth, then you’ll need to be particularly careful with what you’re sending over email. This is where the new service, eCrypt.me comes in.

eCrypt.me is a web-based, secure and encrypted email environment that looks a lot like Gmail or Hotmail — and is just as simple to use. The difference is that it has high-level security built right into the environment.

There’s no concern about setting up any sort of privacy system — in fact, there’s no need whatsoever. eCrypt.me solves this problem by making it easy for people working in professions that require a great deal of discretion (consultants, accountants, lawyers, financial planners, etc.) to communicate with their coworkers and clientele without having privacy concerns. But it’s not just for people in those types of professions. If email security is a concern for you, then eCrypt.me may well be a great choice as your new web-based email client. And you can use your current email address with the service, so there’s no hassle in dealing with an email address change to get started.
Click Here to Read Article …

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1. MindMeister

2. Vyew

1. The Only True Respect Is Mutual Respect

2. Practice What You Preach

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