It’s time to sweep 2009 under the rug and celebrate 2010 the only way us geeks can … Web 2.0 style! Most of us use the new year as a time to reflect and make resolutions for the coming year. Unfortunately, after a few months, we forget all about those resolutions and go back to our old habits. The number one cause for this is the lack of accountability. While self-accountability plays a key role, having the support of others, is often just the motivation you need to follow through.

Of course, you could use the old fashion method of simply telling your friends and family your resolutions, but then you probably wouldn’t be reading MakeUseOf.com if you participated in such old school methodologies. I’m kidding of course, but if you are reading this, you are interested in how to help make your resolutions a reality using free web 2.0 tools.

Following are two free social networks that can help you create, share and follow through with all of your 2010 new years resolutions and beyond.

continue reading "Keeping Your 2010 Resolutions, Web 2.0 Style"

Your significant other says “What are you going to do with all that junk” and you reply “I’m going to sell it on eBay”. Tick … Tock … 6 months later … “We should have a garage sale!” … shudder at the thought of actually trying to sell stuff without technology! If you wanted to do that, call Clean House or be satisfied with having the world’s filthiest apartment. We’ll maybe not, but the point is that you have lots of stuff that other people want and will pay cash. In this post I will get your creative and motivational juices flowing by offering you some easy options to turn your junk into cash. You can follow any of these tips to get the wheels in motion today from the comfort of your home and computer. I personally recently transformed some junk into this.

continue reading "Online Garage Sale"

For many years it was just one tab for me: www.google.com. I can’t remember what it was before then, but it was probably some portal site like www.msn.com or www.yahoo.com. But since the introduction of tabbed browsing, we are no longer constrained with just having a single home page open up when we launch our browsers. Here I share what’s on my auto-launch list, what is on yours?

continue reading "What tabs do you open first when launching your browser?"

There are many moments where computing is available in the palm of your hand, but using a NetBook is not. For example: waiting in line anywhere, executing tedious chores or performing any type of repetitive task. In these cases, you can maintain your quest for ultimate productivity with your trusty iPhone or iPod Touch. Following are some ideas you may find useful during those times when the only computing device you can use, fits in the palm of your hand.

continue reading "Mobile Productivity with the iPhone or Touch"

More deadlines and more responsibilities combined with less time has driven us all to look for more ways to increase our productivity and efficiency. In short, every second counts. In this post I share the top ideas that have increased my productivity dramatically.

continue reading "What Ideas Have Increased Your Productivity the Most?"

My wife asked me the other day if it was possible to lose all our family photos and videos (this happened before on a small scale). My eyes glazed over and I began to experience high blood pressure.

Currently, I backup to a Western Digital MyBook and a second internal hard drive. That’s all fine and dandy until the house burns down (knock on wood). I definitely don’t feel like making backup DVD’s and putting them in a lock box somewhere. That would be so Web 1.0.

So thus, my search for an online  backup solution begins. Here I share my findings for your pleasure.

continue reading "Top Online Backup Solutions"

After acquiring a MacBook Pro, and basking in its glow, I became motivated to re-evaluate my overall system for managing my life. I began to conceptulize an all encompassing master system some time ago under the massively creative name Life 2.0. I invite you to take a journey with me towards … drum roll please … Life 3.0! I will start first with a very high level overview of what elements the system must contain for maximum effectiveness.

continue reading "The System"

I know it is not good practice to assign due dates to tasks when using the GTD methodology. However, when serving multiple clients where there are many items attached to a specific due date, I find it better to assign the due dates in the task rather than put it on my calendar (which clutters my calendar far too much, especially on my Smart Phone). Also, when you assign due dates to Tasks in Outlook you can have them show up on your desktop client calendar at the bottom.

The negative to this method is that you may have many items that are past due that you wish to move to another date. My Google-Fu must have been busted, because I could not find out how to do this, so I resorted to manually changing each one.

Today, I finally figured it out! And being the nice guy I am, the fruits of my labor are now available to all.

continue reading "Changing the Due Date on Multiple Tasks in Microsoft Outlook 2007"

In a time of information overload, less is more is an appealing mantra. So when I heard about start.io on net@night, my interest was immediately piqued. It took me about 10 minutes to setup my dashboard. So far, I find it to be a fantastic, minimalist dashboard.

continue reading "Moving from iGoogle to Start.io for my Internet Dashboard"

If you travel a great deal in your line of work, you know the trade offs involved with trying to pack and transport as many business tools and reference materials as possible into the smallest amount of space (in addition to the rest of your luggage). Mastering this art can mean more productive business meetings on the road; fewer missed flights from running through concourses with excess baggage; and far less stress in your life overall.

continue reading "Essential Gear for the Traveling Businessperson"