Reactions to story from Stepcase Lifehack : Productivity, Getting Things Done and Lifehacks Blog

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  Summer Giveaway: Work 2.0

  http://www.lifehack.org/articles/site-news/summer-giveaway-w...
  9 days ago in How To Initiate Conversation - Stepcase Lifehack · Authority: 1

  Yesterday, I asked you about the hardware and software you use to get things done. TOday, I want to expand on that: How have the new web technologies – social media, web 2.0, interactivity, cloud computing, etc. – affected the way you do your job? Or even created your job? Today’s winner will be ready to attack the Web with two years of web hosting from powerMonster and a copy of PhraseExpress to automate repetitive tasks. monsterSlayer! powerMonster offers web hosting with quality, service, value, and integrity. With three data centers around the US, nightly off-site backups, and 24/7 tech support, powerMonster’s clients enjoy unparalleled security and performance. Plus, every account comes with a free domain name and unlimited subdomains, FTP accounts, and email lists. The monsterSlayer plan is powerMonster’s top tier service, with 15GB of disk storage, 150GB of bandwidth, and as many hosted domains, mySQL databases, and email accounts as you want. Ideal for personal and family sites, as well as small businesses. (Retail price: $270 US) PhraseExpress Pro  PhraseExpress Pro saves you time and energy by automatically replacing selected words and keystrokes with boilerplate text. Snippets of text are cattegorized binto groups you create, and are available at any time from the Windows task tray – or can be inserted on the fly when you enter certain trigger words. PhraseExpress also allows you to save snippets to the clipboard and organize them on the fly. THe base version for home users is free; PhraseExpress Pro allows for commercial use. (Retail proce: $49.95) How do you win? I want to know how web 2.0 – however you define it – is changing the way you work. For example, knowing I can access my work in progress from just about anywhere has completely changed my attitude about where and when I can work – I know I can get a few minutes of work in between classes, and another couple minutes on my BlackBerry while I walk to my car. These “micro-minutes” of work simply weren’t possible a few years ago, but for a writer like me, they make a world of difference. Since it’s a contest about web 2.0, I wanted a web 2.0-ish way to enter, so here’s the deal: post your answer into the Lifehack FriendFeed Room. If you aren’t already a member, you’ll have to join, but I think you’ll find FriendFeed well worth the effort. If you haven’t shared anything in a FriendFeed room before, here’s what youdo: Join the Lifehack FriendFeed Room. Click the “Share Something” button at the top. Type in your message and make sure the “Share to” drop-down says “Lifehack”. Your comment will appear instantly below. Click where it says “More” and select “Link to this entry”. A new page will open up, with just your post. COpy the URL and come back to this post and paste it into a comment. You have to do this so we have a way to contact you if you win (and so I can sort out the entries from the usual flow of comments in the Lifehack FriendFeed Room). The winner will be chosen by random drawing from everyone who has left a link in the comments on this post by 12:00 Noon PST on Thursday, September 4th. The drawing will be done by random number generator within a few days of the close of the drawing. All links will be verified. The prizes will be sent direct from our sponsors. Stay Tuned! We’re kicking off the second week of the Lifehack Great Big Summer Giveaway with a great prize, but there’s still plenty of other great prizes on their way! Tomorrow’s the last day, and we go out with a bang – a lucky winner will receive: A leather computer bag, made of Rawlings baseball glove leather, from Sports Accessories, and A $100 Amazon gift credit from Ubernote. Don’t forget to enter last week’s contests in the Lifehack Great Big Summer Giveaway. Don’t forget to write a blog post about work and style to win the Careerbags.com JoJo Laptop Tote in Monday’s contest! We’ll be announcing winners for the first week early next week, after Labor Day. And check back every day this week for more chances to win! Dustin M. Wax is the project manager at Stepcase Lifehack. He is also the creator of The Writer's Technology Companion, a site devoted to the tools of the writing trade. When he's not writing, he teaches anthropology and gender studies in Las Vegas, NV. He is the author of Don't Be Stupid: A Guide to Learning, Studying, and Succeeding at College. Share This Related PostsSummer Giveaway: Your Working BookshelfSummer Giveaway: Tech SupportSummer Giveaway: Work Hacks and Rules of ThumbSummer Giveaway: Work and StyleSummer Giveaway: Living Your Values at HomeSummer Giveaway: Let’s Relax!Summer Giveaway: Let’s Organize StuffSummer Giveaway: How Do You Balance Your Work and Home Life?Home/Work: The Great Big Summer GiveawayLast Call for Summer Giveaway Sponsors4 Firefox Add-Ons to Ease Your Online LifePromote Yourself! Seeking Sponsors for Our Great Big Summer Giveaway11 Ways to Detect and Solve Internet AddictionA Beginner’s Guide to E-BooksThe Art of Finding Internet Access on the Road
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  Summer Giveaway: Work 2.0

  http://lifeclerks.com/2008/08/summer-giveaway-work-20/
  9 days ago in Life Clerks · Authority: 18

  Yesterday, I asked you about the hardware and software you use to get things done. TOday, I want to expand on that: How have the new web technologies – social media, web 2.0, interactivity, cloud computing, etc. – affected the way you do your job? Or even created your job? Today’s winner will be ready to attack the Web with two years of web hosting from powerMonster and a copy of PhraseExpress to automate repetitive tasks. monsterSlayer! powerMonster offers web hosting with quality, service, value, and integrity. With three data centers around the US, nightly off-site backups, and 24/7 tech support, powerMonster’s clients enjoy unparalleled security and performance. Plus, every account comes with a free domain name and unlimited subdomains, FTP accounts, and email lists. The monsterSlayer plan is powerMonster’s top tier service, with 15GB of disk storage, 150GB of bandwidth, and as many hosted domains, mySQL databases, and email accounts as you want. Ideal for personal and family sites, as well as small businesses. (Retail price: $270 US) PhraseExpress Pro  PhraseExpress Pro saves you time and energy by automatically replacing selected words and keystrokes with boilerplate text. Snippets of text are cattegorized binto groups you create, and are available at any time from the Windows task tray – or can be inserted on the fly when you enter certain trigger words. PhraseExpress also allows you to save snippets to the clipboard and organize them on the fly. THe base version for home users is free; PhraseExpress Pro allows for commercial use. (Retail proce: $49.95) How do you win? I want to know how web 2.0 – however you define it – is changing the way you work. For example, knowing I can access my work in progress from just about anywhere has completely changed my attitude about where and when I can work – I know I can get a few minutes of work in between classes, and another couple minutes on my BlackBerry while I walk to my car. These “micro-minutes” of work simply weren’t possible a few years ago, but for a writer like me, they make a world of difference. Since it’s a contest about web 2.0, I wanted a web 2.0-ish way to enter, so here’s the deal: post your answer into the Lifehack FriendFeed Room. If you aren’t already a member, you’ll have to join, but I think you’ll find FriendFeed well worth the effort. If you haven’t shared anything in a FriendFeed room before, here’s what youdo: Join the Lifehack FriendFeed Room. Click the “Share Something” button at the top. Type in your message and make sure the “Share to” drop-down says “Lifehack”. Your comment will appear instantly below. Click where it says “More” and select “Link to this entry”. A new page will open up, with just your post. COpy the URL and come back to this post and paste it into a comment. You have to do this so we have a way to contact you if you win (and so I can sort out the entries from the usual flow of comments in the Lifehack FriendFeed Room). The winner will be chosen by random drawing from everyone who has left a link in the comments on this post by 12:00 Noon PST on Thursday, September 4th. The drawing will be done by random number generator within a few days of the close of the drawing. All links will be verified. The prizes will be sent direct from our sponsors. Stay Tuned! We’re kicking off the second week of the Lifehack Great Big Summer Giveaway with a great prize, but there’s still plenty of other great prizes on their way! Tomorrow’s the last day, and we go out with a bang – a lucky winner will receive: A leather computer bag, made of Rawlings baseball glove leather, from Sports Accessories, and A $100 Amazon gift credit from Ubernote. Don’t forget to enter last week’s contests in the Lifehack Great Big Summer Giveaway. Don’t forget to write a blog post about work and style to win the Careerbags.com JoJo Laptop Tote in Monday’s contest! We’ll be announcing winners for the first week early next week, after Labor Day. And check back every day this week for more chances to win! Dustin M. Wax is the project manager at Stepcase Lifehack. He is also the creator of The Writer’s Technology Companion, a site devoted to the tools of the writing trade. When he’s not writing, he teaches anthropology and gender studies in Las Vegas, NV. He is the author of Don’t Be Stupid: A Guide to Learning, Studying, and Succeeding at College. Share This Related Posts Summer Giveaway: Tech Support Summer Giveaway: Work Hacks and Rules of Thumb Summer Giveaway: Work and Style Summer Giveaway: Living Your Values at Home Summer Giveaway: Let’s Relax! Summer Giveaway: Let’s Organize Stuff Summer Giveaway: How Do You Balance Your Work and Home Life? Home/Work: The Great Big Summer Giveaway Last Call for Summer Giveaway Sponsors 4 Firefox Add-Ons to Ease Your Online Life Promote Yourself! Seeking Sponsors for Our Great Big Summer Giveaway 11 Ways to Detect and Solve Internet Addiction A Beginner’s Guide to E-Books The Art of Finding Internet Access on the Road 5 MORE Ways to Make Your Computer Work For You (And Not The Other Way Around) Original post by Dustin Wax
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  11 Ways to Detect and Solve Internet Addiction

  http://lifeclerks.com/2008/06/11-ways-to-detect-and-solve-in...
  89 days ago in Life Clerks · Authority: 18

  Today when I tweeted a call for topic requests, Vered from MomGrind asked me if I could talk about internet and computer addiction. This is a serious problem these days and a lot of people from all walks of life fall prey to it. It might not be unanimously recognized by all psychologists, but it has a great deal of traction and support among many reputable psychiatric researchers. It doesn’t really matter what internet addiction’s “official” status among academics is: almost everyone has known or does know someone who is seriously affecting their life and the lives of those around them through internet addiction. I’m not a psychiatrist: if you fear your problem is so serious you need professional help, go out and see one. I’m going to write this article for those who might have trouble leaving the computer behind when the back of your eyes are telling you it’s definitely bedtime, but your spouse hasn’t packed up and left yet as a result of it - not quite a full-blown addiction, just on your way there. Detecting the Problem The problem with many addictions is that it can be hard to tell when a hobby has become more than just that, and taken a hold on you. It can also be hard to be honest with yourself when facing a list of symptoms, so make the extra effort now - we’re going to go through a few. 1. You spend more time with the computer than with people. Doesn’t matter if they are your family, your friends or random people you stalk at the mall - the first symptom of the problem is spending more time with the hunk of metal on your desk than with the people in your life. If there are no longer any people in your life because you spend so much time online, then you really need to close your browser and book an appointment with a professional! A good start would be to use the paper version of the phone book. 2. You can’t abide by your own boundaries. Part of personal development is about setting and abiding by boundaries, which happens to be where most people fail when it comes to addiction. If you tell yourself you’ll only spend an hour online before playing with the kids and end up online until after they’ve gone to bed, you’re in trouble. This self-deception is a clear sign of internet addiction. 3. Lying to others about your computer usage. Number two was about self-deception - this one is about lying to others, particularly members of your family who you may have made deals with regarding your computer usage. Lying about your usage so you can stay on that “little bit longer” is a big, glaring warning sign. 4. Feeling unable to live without the computer/internet. If you feel you can’t go without the internet for more than a few hours, you have an internet addiction. “But I make my living online!” Ask yourself if you could do the work offline and then give it to someone else to execute online - such as writing an article on paper for an assistant or friend to type up and post. Can’t bear the thought of that one degree of separation for even a week? Not a good thing! Likewise, anxiety when you’re separated from computers is a sign to watch for. I get like that when I leave my mobile phone at home - perhaps I’ve got a problem there! 5. Misguided spending on your computer. Did your hard drive just die and, despite the fact you couldn’t afford rent or Johnny’s daycare fees this week, you went out and bought a replacement? When the anxiety of having no functional computer demands money required for other expenses, it indicates a dependency. Solving the Problem Solving the problem on your own, or with the support of your family, requires that you’re doing so before it gets out of hand and to the point where you need to pay excessive prices for therapy. If you’re unsure, trying to solve it on your own and seeing how far you get is a great test - if you can’t manage it, go get help. 1. For the web-workers - get a virtual assistant. They can be fairly cheap and every hourly rate spent on them is one hour that you can shave from your computer time. This won’t solve the problem on its own, but web-workers will have a harder time defeating internet addiction and need to spend as little time as possible online when not completing essential work, at least until the addiction is dealt with. 2. Set your computer usage boundaries early on. There’s no point trying to change your habits if you haven’t decided on your new boundaries. How long are you going to use the computer from now on? For what purposes? Decide this first, take action second. 3. Get your family and friends onside. Ensure your family keeps you accountable and limits the amount of time you spend online. Set a time limit in hours or minutes and make it clear that there are no valid excuses for extended use; you’ve got to be dragged away from the computer no matter what, once your time runs out. 4. Give them the passwords. Once you’ve got the agreement of your family or roommates to help you out, let them change the passwords to your computer’s user account, the modem or router, and your email account. I’m tempted to leave this next sentence out for the sake of the self-deceivers, but you may be able to avoid this pretty ruthless precaution if you can still manage to self-regulate with the help of some self-discipline. 5. Modify your routine. If you trap yourself by checking email first thing in the morning or heading straight for the computer when you get home from work, intending to get off and do other things but never quite getting there, change your routine a bit and get other things out of the way first. It’s much easier to get off the computer if you don’t get on it! Wait until you’ve done your household chores and got time spent with the kids (or pets, if that’s more your thing) out of the way, then give yourself some net time. Reward yourself, in small amounts, for holding out. 6. Don’t use the computer for recreational purposes. Remove the emotive feel-good incentive to use the computer by using it for business and email. Get it done and get off. Uninstall computer games, and vow to stay away from social networks and other recreational web destinations for at least a month or two. Find recreational activities in real life and completely replace your internet entertainment with them. Completely. Seriously, I mean it! 6. Track your progress. Remind yourself how much good progress you’re making by tracking the amount of time you spend online compared to the boundaries you set in step one. Only spent 8 hours online out of the 10 you allotted for the week? Great work - you’ll do even better next week! These tips should get you well on your way to a more balanced life - what are your tips? Leave them in the comments! Offering a unique perspective and insight on productivity based on his experience as a writer, musician, family man and manager, Joel Falconer has been published online and off, and brings to Lifehack’s readers practical advice you can use to be more efficient and effective. Share This Related Posts A Beginner’s Guide to E-Books The Art of Finding Internet Access on the Road 5 MORE Ways to Make Your Computer Work For You (And Not The Other Way Around) 5 Ways to Make Your Computer Work For You (And Not The Other Way Around) Save Your Sanity: Have a Communications Blackout Day How Reserving a Domain Name Can Boost Creativity Bad Habits Aren’t All Bad 100 Websites For Internet Beginners 10 Simple Tips for Using Email Does the Internet Really Increase your Productivity? Free Wireless Internet On Your Laptop - Through Your Cell Phone! 5 Web Worker Mistakes 15 Coolest Firefox Tricks Ever 12 Rules for Self-Leadership 12 Rules for Self-Management Original post by Joel Falconer
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  The Art of Finding Internet Access on the Road - Stepcase Lifehack

  http://gpctech.tumblr.com/post/34696560
  116 days ago in Technobits Lite · Authority: 1

  The Art of Finding Internet Access on the Road - Stepcase Lifehack

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