Web Worker Daily

Singletasking Tip: Ditch the Big Bag, Go With the Sleeve
Toodledo Brings Your Tasks to Gmail
How Do You Gear Up?
Is Competition a Numbers Game?
Using Spaces to Manage Information Overload

Singletasking Tip: Ditch the Big Bag, Go With the Sleeve

Posted: 29 Jun 2009 04:00 PM PDT

black_sleeve We like stuff, it’s fair to say, and I only just said so earlier today, in fact. But like having multiple applications running at the same time, having lots of gadgets close at hand will unavoidably split your focus — which is a bad thing if you’re trying to do more singletasking like me, and less driving yourself insane doing 50 things at once.

So as part of my new program of simplification, I’m re-evaluating what kind of kit I roll with on a regular basis. My weapon of choice used to be a large, multi-pocket bag (or two) with ample room for my computer, camera, and countless other attendant knickknacks including portable hard drives, USB keys, and most recently, a small secondary screen for auxiliary tasks like monitoring Twitter or my IM client.

It’s nice to have everything at hand, but it also means that no matter what workspace I choose to occupy, I come complete with my own built-in tools for distraction and procrastination. I could, theoretically, be trying to get work done in a monk’s chamber and still have the attention span of a goldfish. So starting this week, the Big Bag is taking a much-deserved break, and the Laptop Sleeve with Handle and Shoulder Strap (or just sleeve, for short) is coming into its own.

Friends on the same path to webworking Zen recommended the approach, claiming that my back will thank me, in addition to my addled brain. And so far, I’m impressed with the effect the sleeve is having on both. All it has room for, basically, is my MacBook Pro, its power brick, an Airport Express, and my iPhone sync cable for Internet tethering. (I’m in Canada, where it’s officially supported.) I’m sure I could fit more in there if I wanted to, but I resist the urge.

Psychologically, it feels tremendously liberating to be professionally productive with such minimalist outfitting. I also have less travel restrictions and inconveniences to deal with since I’m carrying less and taking up little physical space. And I don’t have to worry so much about leaving something behind. All I have to do is make sure I stay on target when I boot up the MBP. Easier said then done.

Have you experimented with different kit arrangements when working remotely from locations away from your home office? What do you find to be your most effective on-the-go equipment configuration?

Toodledo Brings Your Tasks to Gmail

Posted: 29 Jun 2009 01:00 PM PDT

Written by Scott Blitstein.

I firmly believe that any to-do or task management system will fail if creating tasks is too difficult. For me, the key is getting them out of my stream of consciousness and into a system that I trust, where I know they’ll be when need them, as quickly as possible.

One of the things I’ve always appreciated about my task manager of choice, Toodledo, is the ubiquity of its data entry points. I can enter tasks by email, through a handy Firefox extension, through Twitter, Jott, and more. So I was jazzed to see the availability of a new gadget for Gmail that lets me enter and monitor my tasks right from my email provider of choice.

Given that the majority of my tasks originate from email, I’ve always really appreciated that I could forward messages directly to a special Toodledo address and have it create a task for me automatically.

But as good as that system is, it can be a bit clunky. I have to clean up subject lines and info and then remember all the syntax required to have it sorted and completed fully and properly. I’ve longed for an easy way to create tasks right from within Gmail. Basically, I’ve been jealous of Remember The Milk users, who have had a Gmail gadget for some time.

The new Toodledo Gmail gadget mirrors the company’s slim widget interface available for iGoogle and mobile users. While not as feature-rich as the normal, full interface, it so far has been very useful. Not only does it allow me to quickly create tasks on the fly, but it also allows me to monitor and change the status of my tasks based on feedback from others. Because I spend so much time in Gmail, having direct access to my to-do items has proven indispensable.

The Gmail gadget is available for free to all Toodledo/Gmail users. You can get more details on their Google Gadgets Page. Be sure to to enable the Gmail Navbar drag-and-drop labs feature, which allows you to reorder the items on your Gmail sidebar, to get your tasks right up at the top.

How well does your task manager get along with Gmail? If your task manager doesn’t integrate with Gmail, or if you don’t use Gmail at all, what other systems have you come up with?

How Do You Gear Up?

Posted: 29 Jun 2009 11:00 AM PDT

Written by Darrell Etherington.

gadgets I’m not gonna lie, a big reason that I like my current freelance tech blogging gig is the gear. But even if I wasn’t in this particular line of work, I’d still take an unnatural amount of interest in outfitting my office or workspace, regardless of whether it happens to be in my home or not. Computers, gadgets, office supplies, office furniture — these are the things that get me truly excited about doing my job, from the lowliest stapler to the most extravagantly outfitted desktop computer.

While just acquiring and setting up new gear is cause enough for celebration, better still is getting great deals on new work-related stuff. For instance, re-purposing an old SLR camera bag as the perfect clandestine portable HDD/DVD-RW/cable tote, or having Best Buy match the deep discount a much smaller competitor is offering on a 16GB SDHC card.

Gear-swapping via Craigslist or with friends and colleagues is another favorite pastime of mine. Through straight-up trades, I acquired my first film SLR camera (a Canon Rebel that’s still in great shape), a flatbed scanner with a special film/slide slot in the lid for archiving my parents’ extensive collection, and a Palm T|X that for a long time served as my go-to mobile device.

I’m curious about the hardware-sourcing habits of other similarly positioned freelancers. Do folks normally buy new, as might be expected from those who largely write about the cutting edge of remote working trends? Or is the preferred method to look for deals on gently used or refurbished goods in order to keep costs down and profit margins high? Personally, I find my own gear strategy to be a blend of both, though as a general rule it tends to lean strongly towards the new-and-shiny end of the spectrum — an approach much noted and frowned upon by my significant other.

Any and all tips, tricks, and strategies you have to share would be greatly appreciated, and maybe we can all save a few bucks in the process! So my question for you is, how do you manage your hardware/home office/tools and supplies acquisition process?

Image by SlipStreamJC from flickr

Is Competition a Numbers Game?

Posted: 29 Jun 2009 09:00 AM PDT

Written by Dawn Foster.

I read about a study over the weekend that suggests the number of competitors can impact our motivation to compete. The researchers found that with a small number of competitors, people had increased motivation to compete, but even with equal chances of success, our motivation can drop when we are faced with large numbers of competitors.

“The simple act of comparing yourself against someone else can stoke the fires of competition. When there are just a few competitors around, making such comparisons is easy but they become more difficult when challengers are plentiful. As a result, the presence of extra contenders, far from spurring us on by adding extra challenge, can actually have the opposite effect. Garcia and Avishalom call this the “N-effect” and they demonstrated it through a number of experiments.” – Ed Yong

Photo by nicolai36*

Many of us are freelance consultants, and I chose to go the freelance route before the economy took a turn for the worse. In the past few months, I’ve seen more and more people being laid off as a result of corporate downsizing or startups that have closed their doors under the current economic pressures. With full-time gigs becoming more and more difficult to find, many of these people are turning to freelancing and consulting to pay the bills while they continue their search for another full-time job. In a previous post about unemployment, the economic downturn, and web working, I talked a little more about this trend with a few numbers to back up my assumptions.

I’m starting to wonder about the impact of this new influx of freelancers. On the one hand, it seems like more companies are turning to freelancers to fill the gaps in their workforce during hiring freezes, but on the other, any large changes in a market are likely to have unanticipated side effects. After reading the study about motivation, I wonder how these new entrants will impact motivation to compete for freelancing jobs. More companies hiring freelancers could potentially drain motivation even if the chances of getting the contract are the same; however, I suspect that the number of people freelancing is probably exceeding the increase in freelancing jobs thus resulting in more competition and a reduced chance of success.

Keep in mind that the study was looking at motivation in student settings, not careers or job motivation, so the idea that the results may apply to freelancers competing for jobs is speculative, though reasonable, but it has given me food for thought.

What changes have you noticed in the freelancing market as a result of the economic downturn? How does your perception of competition affect what contracts you bid on and how you bid?

Image by nikolai36 from flickr

Using Spaces to Manage Information Overload

Posted: 29 Jun 2009 07:00 AM PDT

Written by Charles Hamilton.

Everyone has their favorite tricks to keep focused while working at the computer. Mine can be summarized as “out of sight, out of mind…but easily accessible.”

The Spaces function is one of the nicer features that I discovered in OS X when I started using a Mac as my main machine a couple of years ago. Spaces allows me to open programs in multiple virtual desktops, then move between them using mouse movements or hotkeys.

Space 1 (the default workspace) is where I do most of my work. My browsers (Firefox and Safari) live here, along with Dreamweaver, Photoshop, iCal, Address Book, and Mail (which I still use, despite my earlier comments, as it’s the best way to manage multiple email accounts and move messages between them). Adium lives here, too, taking up a few pixels of space on the left of my wide-screen monitor, as my colleagues and I use instant messaging to communicate frequently between our home offices.

Space 2 is dedicated to a Remote Desktop Connection to my Windows XP computer. There is still some software that’s Windows-only, so I keep an old XP machine around. If preferred, you can set up a virtual Windows machine in this space through Parallels or other virtual-machine software.

Space 3 is where I put the communications that I look at when I have some extra time: RSS news feeds, Twitter and Facebook. For RSS feeds, I use Prism, which turns Google Reader into its own desktop application. For Twitter, I’m currently using Nambu, but am testing a bunch of other software, as Twitter apps seem to be progressing very rapidly. I’m not sure why RSS feeds aren’t more widely used. Dawn has written several great posts on how they can help improve efficiency. Updates from Facebook and LinkedIn can be collected via RSS. Even Twitter updates can be turned into RSS feeds with Gtweet.

Space 4 is used for fun stuff, notably Songbird, so that I can control what I’m listening to while working.

spaces-preferences You can control the layout, mouse shortcuts and hotkeys for Spaces from “System Preferences > Expose and Spaces”. You can also make certain programs always start in a particular space. Finally, you can move between these spaces using Control+(arrow keys), a combination that I actually had to look up as I was writing this, as my fingers have it so memorized!