Productivity501 » Asides http://www.productivity501.com Pieces of the productivity puzzle. Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:32:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 Facebook http://www.productivity501.com/facebook-3/5920/ http://www.productivity501.com/facebook-3/5920/#comments Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:40:05 +0000 Mark Shead http://www.productivity501.com/?p=5920 You can connect with Productivity501 on Facebook by becoming a fan of the Productivity501 Page. Please consider helping promote the site by becoming a fan. Thanks!

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]]> http://www.productivity501.com/facebook-3/5920/feed/ 0 More Infuential than David Allen? http://www.productivity501.com/more-infuential-than-david-allen/5771/ http://www.productivity501.com/more-infuential-than-david-allen/5771/#comments Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:44:06 +0000 Mark Shead http://www.productivity501.com/?p=5771 We Follow ranks twitter users by their influence by topic.  According them, Productivit501 is more influential than David Allen when it comes to productivity. I’m questioning how they calculate “influence”, but it still feels good to see Productivity501 at the very top of a list like that.

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]]> http://www.productivity501.com/more-infuential-than-david-allen/5771/feed/ 0 Leadership Traits http://www.productivity501.com/leadership-traits/5742/ http://www.productivity501.com/leadership-traits/5742/#comments Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:30:18 +0000 Mark Shead http://www.productivity501.com/?p=5742 If you work in a leadership position, you’ll probably appreciate this article that looks at leadership traits from the perspective of what followers desire in a leader.

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]]> http://www.productivity501.com/leadership-traits/5742/feed/ 0 Review of DropBox Updated http://www.productivity501.com/review-of-dropbox-updated/5729/ http://www.productivity501.com/review-of-dropbox-updated/5729/#comments Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:00:58 +0000 Mark Shead http://www.productivity501.com/?p=5729 We’ve updated our review of Dropbox after using it a bit more.  If you need to sync or share data, it is worth reading.

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]]> http://www.productivity501.com/review-of-dropbox-updated/5729/feed/ 0 Utah’s 4 Day Work Week http://www.productivity501.com/utahs-4-day-work-week/5682/ http://www.productivity501.com/utahs-4-day-work-week/5682/#comments Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:30:50 +0000 Mark Shead http://www.productivity501.com/?p=5682 Previously we mentioned that Utah was trying a 4 day work week to save energy.  The results are in and there was very little energy savings.  However, they made a lot of savings in other unexpected ways. It is still up in the air whether they will keep the program or not.

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]]> http://www.productivity501.com/utahs-4-day-work-week/5682/feed/ 2 Random Thoughts on Comments http://www.productivity501.com/random-thoughts-on-comments/5644/ http://www.productivity501.com/random-thoughts-on-comments/5644/#comments Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:50:33 +0000 Mark Shead http://www.productivity501.com/?p=5644 We have made a few changes and you can now have a picture show up next to your comments by creating a Gravatar. It is simple to do and will give you a visual presence on many websites.

We have published 386,590 words since Productivity501 was launched.  Not bad, but even better is that readers have contributed 300,264 words in comments!  Thank you to everyone who is helping make Productivity501 a better place by adding comments and opinions to posts.

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]]> http://www.productivity501.com/random-thoughts-on-comments/5644/feed/ 0 WikiReader – Wikipedia in your pocket http://www.productivity501.com/wikireader-%e2%80%93-wikipedia-in-your-pocket/5627/ http://www.productivity501.com/wikireader-%e2%80%93-wikipedia-in-your-pocket/5627/#comments Mon, 19 Oct 2009 05:40:36 +0000 Mark Shead http://www.productivity501.com/?p=5627 A $99 device that lets you carry all of Wikipedia around in your pocket:  WikiReader

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]]> http://www.productivity501.com/wikireader-%e2%80%93-wikipedia-in-your-pocket/5627/feed/ 0 Dealing with Signatures and Email http://www.productivity501.com/dealing-with-signatures-and-email/5575/ http://www.productivity501.com/dealing-with-signatures-and-email/5575/#comments Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:50:39 +0000 Mark Shead http://www.productivity501.com/?p=5575 Today an insurance company needed my signature, and they sent me a TIFF of the file.  I used my scanned signature, added it to the TIFF and sent it back. They said they couldn’t accept that because it came over email.  Since the document they sent me had their signature, I asked if I should reject it because it came to me over email.  The agents said I was “too funny”. I sent them the same TIFF via fax and they seemed happy with that. This is why we need to get everyone using true digital signatures and encryption on email.

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]]> http://www.productivity501.com/dealing-with-signatures-and-email/5575/feed/ 4 Discount on Deck http://www.productivity501.com/disounts/5506/ http://www.productivity501.com/disounts/5506/#comments Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:32:50 +0000 Mark Shead http://www.productivity501.com/?p=5506 Today I was getting ready to order material for a new deck.  The manufacturer was already giving me about 20% off the normal price.  I figured that the sales of high end decking materials might be down in this economy so I decided to ask for an additional $1,000 off.  The sales person said he would call me back.  Thirty minutes later I had reduced the price by $1,000 simply by asking for a discount.  Not everyone will be willing (or able) to give a discount, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.

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]]> http://www.productivity501.com/disounts/5506/feed/ 0 Minimalist Guide to Mac http://www.productivity501.com/minimalist-guide-to-mac/5457/ http://www.productivity501.com/minimalist-guide-to-mac/5457/#comments Wed, 23 Sep 2009 19:10:44 +0000 Mark Shead http://www.productivity501.com/?p=5457 Leo at www.mnmlist.com (got to love that url) has a Definitive Guide to a Minimalist Mac Setup that is an interesting read for OS X users out there.  I think he is missing out by not using Time Machine, but he links to a bunch of great apps and has a lot of ideas on how to keep your computer lean and work focused.

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]]> http://www.productivity501.com/minimalist-guide-to-mac/5457/feed/ 9 Save $10 on Ambient Nature Sounds http://www.productivity501.com/save-10-on-ambient-nature-sounds/5397/ http://www.productivity501.com/save-10-on-ambient-nature-sounds/5397/#comments Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:28:04 +0000 Mark Shead http://www.productivity501.com/?p=5397 For the next 24 hours we are doing a sale on our Ambient Nature Sound CDs.  These CDs are designed to make it easier to concentrate by covering up distracting conversations.  You can choose from the sound of a Brook, Rain, Ocean or Rain on a Lake and if you use the code HKBHVUXS you’ll get $10 off each CD. (You can also buy directly from Amazon, but there they sell for the full $21.75.)

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]]> http://www.productivity501.com/save-10-on-ambient-nature-sounds/5397/feed/ 0 Making Sense and Dictation Software http://www.productivity501.com/making-sense-and-dictation-software/5303/ http://www.productivity501.com/making-sense-and-dictation-software/5303/#comments Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:33:55 +0000 Mark Shead http://www.productivity501.com/?p=5303 The other day my assistant told me, “When I proof your writing I can tell if you used Dictate. Usually you make sense.” Every once in a while she will run into a sentence that she can’t make heads or tails of that came from MacSpeech.  It is still a wonderful tool, but her comment underscores the importance of carefully proofing your work if a computer transcribed it for you.

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]]> http://www.productivity501.com/making-sense-and-dictation-software/5303/feed/ 0 The Noguchi Filing System http://www.productivity501.com/the-noguchi-filing-system/14/ http://www.productivity501.com/the-noguchi-filing-system/14/#comments Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:45:49 +0000 Mark Shead http://x.xeric.net/productivity501/?p=14 Link: The Noguchi Filing System is a way to organize the paper in your life without requiring that you categorize it. Basically, you use “pockets” to hold everything and place them vertically on a shelf. Whenever you need something from a pocket, you remove it from it’s place and place it back on the shelf as the leftmost pocket. This means that, over time, all of your frequently used pockets will be on the left and the least used pockets will be on the right.

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]]> http://www.productivity501.com/the-noguchi-filing-system/14/feed/ 5 Google Voice Mobile App http://www.productivity501.com/google-voice-mobile-app/4936/ http://www.productivity501.com/google-voice-mobile-app/4936/#comments Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:14:10 +0000 Mark Shead http://www.productivity501.com/?p=4936 If you have a Google Voice account (formerly Grand Central) you might want to check out their new application for Blackberries and Android phones.  It appears to do a lot of what the GVDialer does, but it is free.  You can send SMS messages and place calls using your Google Voice number.  If you have a plan where you can add a number to your “circle” or “friends” you can add your Google Voice number and drastically reduce the number of minutes you have to use.  Google Voice is still in a closed beta, so there doesn’t appear to be a way to sign up for an account if you don’t already have one.

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]]> http://www.productivity501.com/google-voice-mobile-app/4936/feed/ 1 Great Amex Platinum Concierge Service http://www.productivity501.com/great-amex-platinum-concierge-service/4921/ http://www.productivity501.com/great-amex-platinum-concierge-service/4921/#comments Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:58:00 +0000 Mark Shead http://www.productivity501.com/?p=4921 I’ve been critical of American Express Platinum Concierge Service, but last week I had an interaction that was very impressive.  A deer ran into our car and broke the mirror.  Due to a misunderstanding, the local shop didn’t order the part in time for our trip.  I sent the concierge service a map of the route we were going to take, the time we were leaving and asked them to find me any dealer with the part in stock on our route.  The concierge came back with a list of dealers with it in stock along with a list of dealers that could get it in two days near our destination. This was a huge time saver for me and very helpful.  Do you have any success stories from using the concierge service?

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