Open Loops

Storming the Matrix: Can You Live Online?

In the movie, "The Matrix", the hero spends all his time trying to escape from living in a computer generated world.  It's funny to think that there are those of us who would prefer the opposite, and want to storm the matrix to get inside, living completely in a digital world.  We are coming very close to that with web apps that are improving each day to the point that it is very tempting.

Is it possible that one can do everything one needs to do to accomplish required tasks and achieve goals by using online tools only?  That question popped in my mind years ago when I read a quote from Bill Gates who said that the future would be oriented to an online world and that Microsoft would lead the way.  Since then, with the proliferation of WiFi hot spots, home wireless networks and wireless cards for laptops, as well as the new Google Gears that allow web applications to work offline, that future is close to being here.  However, Microsoft is not leading the way.  Instead, one of Microsoft's top officers stated that they are now years behind other companies in preparing viable web applications that Bill Gates promised.  Other companies, however, have blazed the way with webapps that promise everything that installed software promises -- but are available anywhere, anytime, on any computer.

2000 Bloggers Can't Be Wrong

What do Mark Cuban, Donald Trump, Rosie and I have in common?  We have all been chosen to be in Tino Buntic’s 2000 Bloggers project! 

According to Technorati, there are 55 million blogs out there.  That’s hard to fathom.  Tino Buntic’s 2000 Bloggers project attempts to bring 2K of them together in one web site.  That’s only .0036% of all blogs!  I was pleased to find out that Open Loops was one of the first 100 chosen to be included!  That is only .00018% of all blogs!  Sweet!

Click the link below and take a look at the 2K kids as it stands today!  By the way Tino, nice touch putting Rosie and the Donald side by side!

Schneier on Security: Choosing Secure Passwords

Most people think their passwords are secure.  Bruce Schneier thinks otherwise and writes a very compelling piece:

"Ever since I wrote about the 34,000 MySpace passwords I analyzed, people have been asking how to choose secure passwords.
My piece aside, there's been a lot written on this topic over the years -- both serious and humorous -- but most of it seems to be based on anecdotal suggestions rather than actual analytic evidence. What follows is some serious advice."

Schneier on Security: Choosing Secure Passwords, http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/01/choosing_secure.html

Find Any Computer File...FAST!

“Let me show you this file.  I think I put it in My Documents.  Wait a minute, maybe I put it on the desktop.  Surely, I haven’t deleted it.  Let me look in another folder.  Nope, not there.  Let me run a search.  First, I’ll check the My Documents folder.  Wait — I looked in there didn’t I?  What did I name that file, anyway?  Okay, I’ll search the whole damned C: drive.  How long will that take?   ARRGGHH!!”

Taming Your Outlook Inbox

Richard Kuo's Personal Blog : Optimize your life #3 - how to manage e-mail effectively (1/2)

Those of you who read my email rant last year, know that I stand among those who say that misuse of email is the biggest waste of productivity that I know.  Richard Kuo adds a little more information on how to make Outlook heel, sit-up, roll-over, and play dead instead of dragging you out of your office for a walk when it wants to.  Check out his two articles to see how to silence new mail notifications and to configure your personal folders to be GTD-friendly.

Google Releases New Calendar Component

Google released its new calendar.  This was something that I've been waiting on for a few months after hearing rumors of it.  For years I've used a variety of calendar programs for work and personal uses.  Between Outlook, Yahoo!, and, most recently, EssentialPIM.  I was very interested in Google's offering, due to Google's reputation for innovation.  I have to say, I was very disappointed.

Of the features it offers, most have been available to Yahoo! members for years.  Shared calendars, reminders, and guest invitation to meetings offer nothing new.  The two nice features, however, are the speed of entry and the ease of changing days and times of appointments.  One can write the appointment right on the calendar page, with no details of course, and it is posted immediately without having to use an additional dialogue box.  To add details, make the appointment repeating, or to invite guests, one has to use the dialogue box.  If the appointment needs to be changed, it can be done by clicking and dragging.  Other than these enhancements -- and they are nice -- the calendar is found lacking.

There is no notes section.  There is no To Do list component.  Other than a very small text link at the top that takes one to Gmail, there are no other components that are integrated to make this a truly useful PIM the way that Yahoo! has theirs configured.  If one needs contact information, one has to go to Gmail and use the contacts section there.  As a PIM, it just feels disjointed.

To sum it up, the speed of entry and ease of changing times and days of appointments are a step in the right direction.  Past that, the new Google calendar is no better than any other web-based calendar and falls short of being a useful PIM.

Tags: GTD, Time Management, Productivity

Jump Drives - Productivity on a Key Chain

New technologies — and I include hacks in this category — are always fertile ground for making one’s life more efficacious and efficient.  One of the hottest technologies is finally coming of age and is ripe for use in making one’s productivity soar.  That technology is the humble jump drive.

Also known as flash drives, these simple plastic devices are the natural replacements of floppy discs.  Affordable units are available from 64 MB units the size of a penny to 2 GB drives that fit neatly on a key chain.  As technology advances, memory capacity is growing at an astounding rate while prices are falling.  When first introduced, the problem for some operating systems was that they required a driver to be installed prior to use.  Even then some computers still refused to recognize them.  That has changed and most computers seem to accept them as an additional drive very easily.

At first glance, one will assume that the best use for these pocket drives is simple storage of files.  Indeed, for the last two years, I’ve done exactly that.  In fact, I have three years worth of documents related to my profession and still have over half of the memory space still available.  This ended the hassle of e-mailing myself documents to work on at home and then e-mailing them back to work.  Now I simply set up a “Briefcase” (a windows folder designed to carry copies of documents from one computer to another while keeping both sets updated) on my jump drive and work from that folder at home.  I open my folder and see the exact same set up that I have at work.  Every morning, I update my files with one click.

Back Online With an Amazing Technology!

PlumChoice Computer Help

After updating my virus definitions, my computer started acting strange.  It began to start very slowly.  When it was finally up and running, the firewall stopped me from getting online.  It also began to refuse to shut down. So what did I do?  Closed it up and headed to Best Buy to have their “Geek Squad” rescue my proverbial behind.  The “geek” behind the desk made me feel right at home and left me with a feeling that my machine was in good hands.  Little did I know that my great misadventure with Best Buy had begun.

Employees Being Watched by Big Brother

Interesting report over at the American Management Association.  There is an increase in the monitoring of employee use of technology in the workplace.  Monitoring included watching which web sites employees visited and storing/reviewing employee emails.  Other technology tidbits include the use of software to block access to “inappropriate” web sites, monitoring time at the keyboard, and the use of software to record employee keystrokes.

On the positive side, companies appear to be doing a good job in informing employees when they employ these technology surveillance methods.  They have also begun to create instant messaging rules for employees.  It doesn’t stop with computers, as telephones, cell phones, and camera phones are bringing interesting wrinkles to the workplace rule book.

In short, watch what you do at work.  Your technological DNA is being gathered by your employers — and they’re not afraid to use it.

Links:

• 2005 Electronic Monitoring & Surveillance Survey: Many Companies Monitoring, Recording, Videotaping—and Firing—Employees
• Google Blogger Fired
• via The Monster Blog