Archived entries for Productivity

BillMonk keeps track of IOUs

BillMonk is a free service that keeps track of shared bills and money lent or borrowed. Let’s say you go out for dinner with a couple of friends and decide you will pay the whole bill and have your friends pay you for their portion later. Log in to BillMonk, enter your friends’ email addresses (no spam!) and the amounts they owe you. They’ll get an email with the details, and have the option to settle up in person or by using Obopay, a service that lets you send money using your cell phone, similar to Paypal.

I have not tried settling up using Obopay yet, but have been using the rest of BillMonk’s features for about four months now. It’s a simple way to keep track of who owes what without having to do any hounding. I don’t think I’m alone in saying that settling up at the end of a meal is no fun.

Some other neat BillMonk features:

  • Itemized bills
  • Recurring bills (rent, for example)
  • Ability to add comments and tag bills
  • “Library” feature which provides a way to keep track of things you’ve lent and borrowed
  • Add bills by phone

Zen Habits Blog

Zen Habits is a fantastic blog about productivity, finances, and “implementing good habits”. I’ve been reading Zen Habits for about a month now and have found lots of interesting posts:

I’ve tried each of these and can say they really do help. Though I can’t get up before 5 a.m. as is suggested. That would leave me no zen left for the day ahead. Thanks to the author (Leo) for the great work, and for inspiring me to start my own blog.

Google Gears for reading and working offline

Google has released a beta version of Google Gears, which allows users to work offline with content that previously required an internet connection. As of now, Google Reader and Remember The Milk have implemented this feature. All you have to do is install Google Gears (note this is beta software) and access a Gears-enabled site. Once you’ve done this you’ll be able to read your Reader posts and update Remember The Milk while you’re offline. When you reconnect and access either of these sites your data will be synchronized.

The real power of Google Gears will be apparent when they implement it into Google Docs. One of the major limitations of Google Docs is the internet connectivity requirement. Who isn’t online all the time anyway?

Links:

Remember The Milk

Remember The Milk is an online to-do list that does more than your post-it note will ever dream of doing. Here are a few features that I use regularly:

  • Add to-do items to lists (one or multiple) or tag an item to be added to a particular list automatically.
  • Send to-do items to other users.
  • Add an address to a to-do item and see all of your items on a map. For example, if you have to pick up groceries, go to the mall, and get an oil change, you can map these out to figure out the best route.
  • Sort tasks by list, due date, location.
  • Get a text message notification of today’s to-do items.

There are a few advanced features that I’ll write separate posts about:

Now use your last post-it and write “Check out Remember The Milk”. Poor post-it.

Getting Things Done by David Allen

Getting Things Done by David Allen is the book that got me started on the productivity stuff. The author walks you through setting up a simple system for organization, and leaves the level of commitment up to you. Some people will read this book and apply it to every aspect of their lives, while others may take bits and pieces. Either way, it’s a fantastic book if you’re looking to squeeze a little more productivity out of your time.

Personally, I have set up a pretty basic system using Remember The Milk. Post in the works…

There’s a great GTD primer at 43 Folders.

YouMail voicemail service

YouMail is a free service that replaces your mobile phone carrier’s voicemail service, and adds some great features.

  • Custom greetings for individual callers. For example, when Mum calls YouMail greets her with my recording “Hello Mum, leave us a message”. There’s a default greeting too, for everyone who doesn’t have a custom greeting.
  • Check messages on the web, or have them emailed to you as an attached audio file.
  • Create a list of numbers you wish to block.
  • Save messages indefinitely (most carriers delete messages after a while).
  • Works with your phone’s voicemail notification.

The YouMail website guides you through the setup process, which takes about five minutes, and they provide you with instructions on how to switch back to your carrier’s voicemail service.

I’ve been using the service for about a year and really like being able to check my voicemail on the web, which is very convenient since I’m on the computer most of the time, plus I save my minutes.

BluePhoneElite for Mac

BluePhoneElite, by Mira Software is a Bluetooth application that interfaces with your mobile phone, providing caller ID on-screen, the ability to dial from your computer, and send text messages without pressing the 7 key four times for an ‘s’.

The software has some additional features that are pretty awesome in my opinion. One is the ability to customize “proximity behaviors”. I have my MacBook set up to lock when I walk away with my phone, which is usually in my pocket. Another neat feature is the DVD player and iTunes pause feature, which pauses whatever your playing when your phone rings.

This software is not free, but worth every one of the $20 it costs. Check it out.

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