Productivity, life and computer tips. Tricks for a better day.

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By teaching better ways to use your computer, recommending new software tools that make your life easier, or suggesting ways to improve your personal mindset or lifestyle, this blog was all about improvement: personal improvement and technological one alike. This is why, although self-promotional, I won’t shy away from recommending you my latest creation:

The Self Help Classics iPhone E-book collection

Created using my own personal iPhone ebook software (TouchBooksReader), this book collection follows the same basic idea of the famous Classics.app of Andrew Kaz and Phill Ryu : a hand-picked bookshelf of major classic masterpieces in the fields of Self Help, Personal Improvement or Productivity.

So far, Self Help Classics contains:

• Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill - the biggest seller of Hill’s books, selling over 20 million copies worldwide, and probably the most successful motivational book in history
• The Art of Public Speaking by Dale Carnegie and Joseph Berg Esenwein - a best-seller in all its re-editions, since 1915 to the present. Learn how to talk to conferences, how to sustain presentations and to become a captivating and charismatic speaker.
• The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles - has been cited by the author of the bestselling The Secret as a primary source
• The Master Key System by Charles F. Haanel - developer of the Law of Attraction theory, which has been acknowledged as one of the primary sources for The Secret.
• Benjamin Franklin’s The Way to Wealth - a famous essay written in 1758 for the Poor Richard’s Almanac
• Acres of Diamonds by Russell H. Conwell - originated as a speech, one of the most successful in its times, delivered over 6,000 times around the world. It became a short book the success of which financed the creation of Temple University

And here comes the fun and really interesting part:

1. there’s a SPECIAL SALE for the first few days of the app launch: $0.99 instead of the regular $2.99! Don’t miss it, it’s a limited time offer!
2. In the following free updates I’ll be adding to this impressive pack other classics about success, self improvement, wealth, business or entrepreneurship. This is where you can join in: either by using the TouchBooksReader contact form or by leaving a comment below, you can suggest any number of major works to be included in the Self Help Classics collection. The one criterion is that you recommend real classics - we only want to publish great classic works that stood the test of time.
   
   The authors of the first 5 comments will automatically get free promotional codes for downloading Self Help Classics on their iPhone/iPod Touch.
   
   The best 5 suggestions will receive promo codes for both Self Help Classics and the fairy tales ebook Wonderful Stories Collection.
   
   Even if you don’t have a iPhone / iPod Touch, you can still join in the discussion and share your ideas.
   
3. Also, promotional free access codes will also be given to the first 10 bloggers who blog about Self Help Classics (at their choice, one promotional code for any of my iPhone ebook apps)!

What do you say? Care for a comment or suggestion?

Update:
It just came to my attention that the aforementioned promotional codes only work in the US version of the AppStore. Sorry to my non-US readers out there.

It’s a common symptom among new Mac users to be really ecstatic about their new MacBook, praise the speed and functionality, then after a month or so start seeing some flaws; much like in any relationship, where your passionate blind love from the first weeks starts to fade, giving way to more realistic assessments.
Some hard-core Linux geeks will probably miss their configuration files, kernel hacking and source code install. Windows users might miss their favorite software(Picasa, Winamp or Total Commander). I didn’t miss my Windows machine one bit, partly because I got used to other essential Mac software, partly because I use my Windows software from within Windows virtual machines, and mostly because I realized the Mac offers me all the productivity tools I ever wished for, out of the box or for free.

This article lists several essential but frequently forgotten configuration tips that make the most of your Mac. A future article will cover some vitally important FREE (or really inexpensive) Mac OSX software for your daily chores.

Faithful readers might have already read these tips here, on HackTheDay, but I do hope they’ll learn a few new things as well.

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Quick question: what is the One and only most essential tool for any productivity fan?

You guessed it - the calendar.

There are many reasons why you’d want to use Google Calendar for your time management: first of all, it’s free; second, it’s online(you can access it from everywhere). Third, it has SMS alerts, which is probably the single feature I use most. The one major downside of Google Calendar has is… being an online tool; a less than perfect user interface, less than instantaneous responsiveness. Luckily, this all is in the past as of today:

Google announced CalDAV support for Google Calendar in Apple’s iCal(version 3.x - on Mac OS X v10.5+ ). In layman’s terms, this means seamless bidirectional synchronization of calendar events. No more awkward emails, no more missed meetings(actually.. this isn’t such a good news, as we all know it - meetings are productivity killers).

Here’s a step by step walkthrough in setting up Google Calendar synchronization:

1. First, you download on your OSX 10.5 mac the setup tool, called Calaboration. It’s in zip format, so you’ll want to unarchive it. Go ahead and run it, entering your Google login credentials, then click Sign In.

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If you don’t want to fumble around just to learn the current date, you can display it in Leopard’s Menu Bar, right by the clock, to always have under your eyes.

What I did was to follow TUAW’s tutorial, but here’s a quick summary, just in case you’re in a hurry:
1. in System Preferences, International, Formats submenu. Select Customize date, then chose the format you want, and COPY it (select all, Cmd+C).

2. Press Ok, then from the same window, Customize for the Times part. Move the cursor before the time format, press Cmd+V(Paste). Press OK.

Easy peasy.

I know I changed the blog’s theme like 6 times these last two days, and like 20 times overall. I do think/hope this one is here to stay, I put a lot of effort into customizing it to my liking.

What do you think? Doesn’t it look cleaner and .. better?

I never really managed to get GTD working for me.
The basic concepts of the GTD (Getting Things Done) method are really easy to grasp and pretty useful:
Write stuff down instead of trying to remember it, do the easy tasks quickly to get them out of your way, divide projects into smaller tasks and review your tasks periodically.

However, just like so many things in my life, turning a nicely put “method” into a productive habit is… almost impossible for me - my attention span lasts at most a couple of weeks, as if I were related to the common goldfish.

The one method that’d work for me… generally, would be one where I could write down my projects and goals, somehow mark my progress (I’m in constant need for confirmation and gratification, just to keep me going), automatically have it under my eyes on a regular basis (I kept forgetting to open up the GTD software I’ve been trying for the last couple of years), help me prioritize between different tasks and, most importantly, be really easy to use(no complicated setup, hierarchies or folders).

There is a lot of software out there that meets this criteria, offline or online. The one I use for the time being is TaskFive. Gorgeous, really easy to use, pretty effective.

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During the last year I almost never reposted the links and resources readers of HackTheDay have send me. It took a simple comment(might be a spam, but I hope it’s not) to make me want to get back to blogging over here on HTD.

So, here’s a couple of productivity-related links received from my readers during the last year or so, togetger with a bit of link love :

• 45 mobile resources for the road warrior
• A simple GTD online tool - Task Writer
• Time management teleseminars from time experts
• GTD agenda - another nice looking GTD online tool
• Eluma - “It’s like iTunes, but for your web stuff instead of your music, a free desktop-downloadable personal productivity tool”
• GTDInbox, a Firefox addon for Gmail that “transforms Gmail into a powerhouse of productivity”

Enjoy your productive day, and keep in touch : I’m back, baby!

Phew, the title took more to write than what the post really should contain, that is:

Keep Command key pressed while dragging the Sync icon out of the menu bar.

Now, why would you do this? Maybe, like me, you have a fresh Leopard install and you NEVER use MobileMe, and you want to declutter the menu bar. Easy, ain’t it?

I was eating plums in the orchard of my girlfriend’s grandparents. The countryside evening was spectacular: dogs barking here and there, night butterflies flying around us, birds chirping to sleep. Surrounded by all the beauty of the simple life, I remembered this post.

Learn to be in the here and now, and experience life as it’s happening, and appreciate the world for the beauty that it is, right now. Practice makes perfect with this crucial skill.

Maybe happiness isn’t something you should aim for. Maybe happiness isn’t something you need to work at.

Maybe happiness is just like sunglasses.

Happiness is a state of mind. You shouldn’t leave in the pursuit of happiness. Instead, happiness is all around you.

It’s in the simple things, in the delicious taste of a fresh fruit, in the silent peace of countryside evenings. In the flapping of a butterfly’s wings, in the curly smoke floating out of a cigarette, in the smile of your loved one, the voice of your kids. Reaching happiness is just a matter of changing your point of view: change the way you look at the world.

Instead of focusing at the future, desperately waiting for it, just focus on the present and the beauty it gives. Instead of craving for the past pleasures, enjoy the current ones.

What are you waiting for? Put on your happiness sunglasses and enjoy your holiday!

Google just released Google Visualization API, which is a really cool great way to generate and embed beautiful charts into any webpage.
While the API is really Javascript based targeting web developers, the really cool thing about it is that you’re now able to generate Gadgets from within any Google Docs spreadsheet.

Easier done than said, actually. Just take a peek at this nice chart attempt:
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