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Spam, the scourge of inboxes everywhere. Until recently, I used SpamArrest -- a server-side challenge/response system that worked quite well for the most part -- to keep it out of my inbox. But I'm a cheapskate (no, seriously, I have a whole blog to prove it), so I decided to try some free alterna...
Happy new year, frequent flyers! When the ball dropped three days ago, new TSA rules went into effect regarding spare batteries -- the kind smart travelers bring along for their phones, notebooks, etc. Here's a summary from SafeTravel.gov: Spare batteries are the batteries you carry separately f...
If you've ever reformatted a hard drive and reinstalled Windows, you know that the biggest hassle is finding and installing all the drivers for your hardware. DriverMax promises to take the pain away by exporting all your currently installed drivers, then importing them after you've reinstalled ...
Ever wish you could load multiple Web pages every time you start Firefox or Internet Explorer? You can, so long as you have the latest versions of each (2.0 and 7, respectively). In Firefox, set up the tabs the way you want them: Google in one, Business Hacks in another (hint, hint), your co...
How often do you find yourself in the backseat of a taxi, rental, or client's car feeling nauseated because the driver is swerving like a madman or pumping the gas pedal? It's an awful feeling (I speak from experience), and a potentially damaging one if you're on your way to an important meeting or ...
Problem: Your cell phone, iPod, BlackBerry, digital camera, or whatever gets lost. Even if some honest person finds it and wants to return it, how is he/she supposed to find you? (Does your camera have a good place to write your name and phone number? Mine doesn't.) Solution: StuffBak. The servic...
When you look at your calendar, can you tell at a glance which items are business meetings, personal meetings, special events, overdue tasks, and so on? You can if you color-code the calendar, which Productivity Cafe describes how to do -- and why: When I demonstrated this one to 50 salespeople yes...
Ever need to "sign" a PDF, meaning insert your signature in a document as though you'd handwritten it? Productivity501 shows how you can sign PDFs using Adobe Acrobat's stamping feature: It turns out you can import an image file and use it as a stamp as well. If you follow the instructions from...
Do you reach for your mouse every time you want to run a program, open a Web favorite, or load a document? Believe it or not, you can do these things a lot faster with your keyboard. All you need is Launchy, a command-line launcher that lets you swing into action with just a few keystrokes. ...
Yesterday I listed my top software picks for 2007. Now let's turn our attention to the Web, where some truly stellar services appeared and/or evolved this year. Seriously, how did we ever call ourselves productive before the Web came along? Google Everything I can't pick a single Google produc...
Today over at Web Worker Daily, they're discussing a new productivity book from Kimberly Weifling called Scrappy Project Management. It's for people trying to get stuff done as leaders in a group setting. They list several tips, including my favorite: Provide Status Reports: "We have to commu...
As the year winds to a close, it's time to look back on some of the killer apps we've covered in 2007. Here's a list of my personal favorites: GIMP 2.4 Photoshop-caliber image editing without the high price. In fact, there's no price at all: GIMP is an open-source (read: free) application. OD...
Ever wish you could attract new customers without spending a penny on advertising? You can, provided you leverage word-of-mouth marketing. Specifically, by maintaining an active and useful blog, you can generate goodwill among existing customers and land new ones. So says Marketing Pilgrim blogger J...
A few days back, David posted the tantalizing news about DocSyncer, which syncs your Microsoft Office documents with Google Docs. Alas, the service was in private beta testing at the time, meaning you had to request an invitation. As of today, however, DocSyncer has reached public beta status, meani...
