That’s Incredible?

So I’ve been living with the HTC Incredible for almost a week now and I must say that although it’s not actually “incredible” it is very cool when compared to my old Blackberry Curve.

My smart phone life started with the less than incredible T-Mobile Dash, which was everything a productivity tool shouldn’t be. It was constantly locking up and if you actually used it for it’s designed purpose of email, web browsing (yeah right!) and maybe listening to the odd mp3 file your expected battery life was about 4 hours.

My next smart phone was the Blackberry Curve and it was a breath of fresh air, it just worked. It was like a reliable pick up truck, you could always depend on to get the job done.

So I’ve only used an iPhone for a few minutes so the following statements aren’t a backhanded commentary on it. So with that said, I must say that the HTC Incredible is the closest thing I’ve had to an actually computer that can fit in my shirt pocket. It can do almost anything my Macbook Pro can do…almost. It’s fast, for a smart phone and up to this point it’s worked without any major hiccups.

Now is it perfect? Nope, there are issues with the battery life, issues with the screen in bright sunlight and issues with some lame applications. I had all the same issues with both the Dash and Blackberry by the way.

But all in all it’s a step up from my old Blackberry Curve and movement towards a truly smart phone.

I Have Google Wave! Now What?

The Lord has heard my cry and hooked me up with a Google Wave account.
So I’m sitting here waiting for the fun to start…

Google Quick Search Box

So since it does pretty much does the same things as Quicksilver why would I want to switch?

Last month, I made the switch to Google Quick Search Box from Quicksilver on my Mac. While Quicksilver improved my efficiency and cut the time I spent searching for files, Google Quick Search Box has upped the ante even further by adding in the ability to speedily access all my Google services through the same interface. I’m very impressed with it.
Google Quick Search Box is available as a free download for OS X. On the surface, it seems fairly simple. Just like with Quicksilver, you hit a keyboard shortcut and up pops a box where you can run a search. You can access applications and files from there, too.

via web worker daily

Schedule Meetings With ScheduleOnce

Look’s cool right?

Firefox/Internet Explorer: Meeting planning web site ScheduleOnce has a new Firefox and Internet Explorer add-on that adds a new widget to your Google Calendar that helps you and your co-workers find a good time for a meeting.

via lifehacker

Productivity Power Links 03-25-09

His Daveness says that Facebook and Twitter can make you more productive at work…

Someone noticed that I was now on Twitter and said: "How can you be productive on Twitter?" My simple answer: "If I want to have Twittered, then it’s productive!" I wasn’t trying to be facetious. The truth is, if you’re taking a vacation to relax and you don’t relax, then it’s an unproductive vacation.

via businessweek

Oh these productivity bloggers and their groovy catch phrases…

Productive capacity is different than what you’re actually producing. The way I think about it is that it’s the amount of productivity that you’re capable of in a given amount of time. Of course, many different things affect you’re ability to be productive, so there’s often time a bit of difference between productive capacity and productivity.

via productive flourishing

Hey the government is giving away free money!

If you live in the US and haven’t owned a house in the last 3 years, the government will give you up to $8,000 if you buy one in 2009. The money is a refundable tax credit, which means you get it even if you owe no taxes in 2009. This shouldn’t be your only reason to buy, but it is worth keeping in mind.

via productivity 501

More free stuff!

For the paper lovers out there, here’s a nice resource for gridded paper. Free downloads abound.

via the weekly review

The Four Hour Work Week has been sitting on my bookshelf for over a year…unread. Which may be more of a commentary about me than the author.

The four hour work week is a myth and a lie. Not only is it highly implausible, but if you ever do achieve a four hour work week, you’ll probably want to get rid of it.

via illuminated mind

Yet another GTD app for Windows…

Tudumo is pretty flexible as a to-do list manager: it doesn’t constrain you to the GTD model. Indeed, in the documentation you’ll see that Tudumo’s goal “is not to exhaustively represent all areas of GTD, but rather to create an enjoyable and effective day-to-day experience that includes some GTD concepts.” This suits me perfectly as my own system is based around GTD, but doesn’t follow it too religiously.

via web worker daily

Gina slobbers over Google Voice…

I’ve been a GrandCentral user for well over a year now, but Google Voice adds two key components that complete the must-have feature puzzle: voicemail transcription and SMS. Now that I can read (read!!) my voicemail and you can text message my Google Voice number, I’m making it my primary phone number. Alongside its awesome filters, Google Voice is essentially the Gmail of voicemail and phonecalls.

via smarterware

Related articles by Zemanta

• GrandCentral Becomes Google Voice! (voyagerfan5761.blogspot.com)
• Can You Find Employees Through Social Media? (deanhunt.com)
• 7 Productivity Tips, Plus Tools for Freelancers and Web Workers (mashable.com)

Getting Things Done With Gmail…Really?

As a long time Gmail user I fell into the trap of trying to make it jump through hoops (with lame grease monkey scripts, etc.) and meet all my needs…but in the end I found out that for me it’s most productive use was just as a web based email client.

While my search for the perfect Windows Getting Things Done (GTD) app continues, I’m resorting to using Gmail Tasks as an interim measure. While it’s not perfect — it’s nowhere near fully-featured enough for me — Google’s addition, last week, of the ability to move tasks between lists was definitely a step in the right direction for GTDers. You could use Tasks for GTD before, but moving actions between lists was painful, as you had to manually copy and paste the tasks

read more

(via webworker daily)

The whole trying to make square pegs fit into round round holes side of the productivity cult isn’t really working for me at the moment.

Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.

peter drucker

Your thoughts…

Productivity Power Links 02-03-09

• Gmail adds tasks to iPhone app…Google has just announced a new way to manage your Gmail Tasks from your mobile device or your iGoogle homepage.
• To lazy to write my own review of the wholesome yummy goodness that is Dropbox so here is a link to one…Dropbox could be considered an extension of the operating system, just as Apple has tried to make the iDisk feature of the MobileMe/.Mac service. It’s fits in so well you barely notice it’s there. To me, that’s a utility.
• Yet another web app claiming that it can make our time management fetish easier…Just when I needed her most, along came Doris, a free, web-based task management app developed by Seagull Systems originally for their internal use.
• Talk about an oxymoron, a Twitter client for business…Twalala allows you to filter your twitstream by keyword or phrase, and you can temporarily silence twitterers who might be getting on your nerves and/or spamming.
• More social networking time suckage…Trigga.Me enables group based updates for twitter, facebook, friendfeed, xing, pounce, identica, plurk, plaxo, frazr, rejaw, brightkite, linkedin and some others.
• All GTD black belts have an effective weekly review, right?…Bottom line, if you don’t have a systematic and thorough approach to reviewing your work, you’ll never break free from the busy trap of thinking you need to be thinking and worrying about your work all of the time.