faster.better.smarter

Twitter is not exactly the most productive web app out there, but there are some good reasons to use. Sometimes you want to post more than what you are up to at the moment though, maybe that recent blog post that you found interesting. If you use Google reader to follow your RSS feeds then this handy little Greasemonkey script will help you do just that. Simply install the script and when you log in to Google Reader you will see a little Share on Twitter link. Click it and a window will pop up and ask for your twitter username and password. Once you get past that log in to your Twitter account and there at the top of your timeline will be the article that you posted.

Google Reader + Twitter

Happy Twittering!

Some of the posts in the near future will be old news. I hope you’ll forgive me but some cool things have popped up since I last posted. Anyway….

I was very excited when I woke up on one Wednesday morning about a month ago. The day I had been waiting for had finally arrived. Google had allowed calendar syncing directly with the Blackberry calendar. This development gets me one step closer to mot having to plug my Blackberry into my computer to synch my info. Fortunately the only remaining feature that I need is contact syncing and my contact data doesn’t change all that often.

Anyway, if you carry a blackberry and have been longing to sync your Google Calendar directly and over the air, head over to Google and download this great little app and start getting in sync. click on this link on your Blackberry browser: mobile.google.com and then select Google sync.

Hopefully contact sync won’t be far behind. Once I have over the air sync of contacts, I’ll have the perfect poor man’s Blackberry Enterprise Server. With Gmail’s super fast delivery to the Blackberry, it’s nearly the same level of service, seriously.

 Note: I just discovered that I never published this, so here you go.

One of my favorite web apps, Google Notebook, recently added a mobile version of its website. Google Notebook is great because it allows you to save web content and other text in an easily searchable personal website. There is a nice Firefox extension that allows to copy info directly into the site. The mobile version doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that the full version does, but it’s huge that you can now keep all of your notes (to-do lists and reference data) on your mobile phone.

To check it out go to http://www.google.com/notebook/m on your mobile device.

via Lifehacker

Google Blogoscoped points out some helpful features that Google is testing in Google Labs. I’m especially impressed by the keyboard shortcuts “experiment”.

Check it out here.

I’ve recently reinstalled a great little app to help me control iTunes, without actually switching to iTunes and thereby distracting me for the next 30 minutes. It’s called Bytecontroller.

Bytecontroller lives in your menu bar and has a very simple, three button interface. You have back, play/pause, and next, which is fine for simple tasks. But there are other features under the hood.

The General preferences are just about as general as you can get. You have a launch at startup option and a space-saving show only when iTunes is open.

The Hot Keys panel allows you to setup hotkeys that allow you control iTunes without moving your hands from the keyboard, including increasing the volume.

The appearance panel allows you to change what the controls look like in the menu bar. It also seems to allow you to add your own “themes” but it’s unclear where you would get these from. It’s a great little app and you can get for free here.

I like to use the integrated software in Mac whenever I can, but I resisted using Mail to take care of my gmail account for quite awhile. I like Mailplane, which offers great integration with OS X, but there a few things about t that i don’t likeabout it.

When Google announce that they were adding IMAP support for Gmail and it became available for my accounts, I immediately set up Mail as my email app. My exerience so far has been great but some things have been a little…wierd. Not everything seemed to be in sync and that is really the whole point of IMAP.

LAst night I started searching for the answer to the problems I was having. I found an article that solves the problems I was having, by using Mail’s Sent, Drafts, Trash, and Junk folders to corespond with Gmail’s default folders. This seems to have cleared up the out of sync issues that I was having.

5thirtyone.com

I hate screensavers. I usually just have the screen turn itself of if I haven’t done anything in the last few minutes. But I ran across one the other day that actually has a purpose. It turns your computer screen into a large clock. And not just any clock, the old school flip style alarm clock.

Download it here for Windows or Mac

I recently ran across Beamberry, which allows you to save various types of attachments that you receive via email, for later viewing and/or printing via bluetooth. My printer does not have bluetooth, but this is shaping up to be a great app for the blackberry.

There is an OTA download available, just visit http://beamberry.com/download on your blackberry browser.

I have tried a lot of software on my blackberry over the years, but the first thing I install when I get a new blackberry is Berry 411. It’s a great peice of software that allows you to do multiple types of searches with opening the browser and going to Google or Yahoo. It also allows you to do a search for a type of business and when you find it, you can call or add the contact info directly to your address book.

One of my favorite features is the option to add 9 custom plugins for search types, including the ability to create your own. I use the standard Weather, Shopping and IMDB plugins that I found on the site, but I created my own netflix mobile plugin that allows me to search directly from the app and then it opens the results in the blackberry browser. Then I can simply add the dvd to my queue. It’s great for searching while on the go.

Pocketmod is a great web app that allows you to select 8 panels from several categories and they get printed on a regular sheet of typing paper. The you fold the paper into a little booklet. Use it for a day or a week and then toss it (after capturing the data into a more permanent place) and then use another. This is great for someone who likes to have a their quick to-do lists and the ability to catch notes quickly.

1. Pick the 8 panels that you want on your little notebook.

2. Drag the panels into the area that you want them.

3. Then print and fold your planner.

I have also run across some plugins for Pocketmod that allow you to import your Stikkit account or Remember the Milk todos. I’ve never used those, so proceed at your own risk.

I just checked out Blackberry Cool and discovered that my online Word Processor and Spreadsheet app of choice now has mobile access. No editing yet, but this is a great start. Check it out at docs.google.com/m. It looks great on my Blackberry Pearl.

I don’t use windows much at home anymore, but I still use XP at the office. Most of my day consists of sending emails to test and make sure that blackberry/pda user’s email is working. I created a shortcut to create a new email without having to open Outlook first. There is a nice long list of Outlook shortcuts mentioned in this article. It’s a great tip that saves several clicks and is sure to save you, I don’t know, five to six hours a day.

Outlook Shortcuts - via Lifehacker

There are a handful of things that I have launch at startup on my MacBook. I had my favorites that booted up on XP as well, but these little jewels are the tools that I use all day.

1. Meterologist - I have tried several different weather tools on the mac but this is the one that I like the most. It’s nice and compact, but unfolds to offer an extended forecast for the next several days and a radar image of the current conditions.

2. Mailplane - I looked at this a while back and thought it was interesting but not necessarily great. Recently I ran across it again on Simple Help and gave it a second look. Boy was I wrong about this little program. It allows you use gmail as your default email app in a stand alone browser. It manages multiple email accounts for easy switching. Mailplane offers drag and drop uploading and a default folder for attachment downloads. Tight integration with iPhoto’s send photo option and the ability to take a screenshot and immediately email it to someone make this my email client of choice. Oh and did I mention that if you use google apps for your domain that it will handle those accounts as well?

3. Last FM - This is a far cry from a productivity tool, but I leave it runing all the time. It updates my Last.fm account so that my friends can see what I’m listening to lately and the service can recommend new music for me. It also uploads all of my iPod songs when I plug it in. Also allows easy access to Last.fm streaming music.

4. Skitch - I found Skitch while listening to Macbreak Weekly. This is a fantastic little app that gives you a variety of screenshot tools. I can’t describe it all here, but you should download it and try it out.

5. Quicksilver - If you are using a Mac and you haven’t already installed Quicksilver, you should stop what you are doing right now, download it and then come back and read this later. This app is an app launcher, a quick email tool, a way to access bookmarks, and so much more. When I sit down at a Mac I have to think about how to use rather than just use it.

6. Alarm Clock - There are several programs out there that let you use your Mac as an alarm, but this one fre, flexible, and full featured. It allows you to set a one time or repeating alarm. It uses your iTunes library for the alarm source. Also it has an ascending alarm feature that lets you wake up gently, rather than jerked awake by your rock and roll wake up call.

7. Plaxo - Plaxo is a webservice that synchronizes your data across multiple platforms. It syncs contacts, calendars, tasks, and notes, with iCal, Addressbook, Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL, Outlook, Outlook Express, and certain mobile phones. It also has a mobile version that you can access on your phone’s browser. The day this service has a client for the blackberry, I will be more that willing to shell out 50 bucks a year for this service.

Check all these out, they are sure to please. I also have a few invitations to Mailplane, if you are interested please leave a comment. First come first serve!

Cheap stuff is usually better than expensive stuff. I purchased my first Mac (the mid-grade MacBook, if you must know) earlier this year. After looking around on the site I discovered the refurbished products page and discovered that I could save 200 hundred bucks by buying refurbed. Considering that you get the same warranty that brand new mac owners get, this is a good deal.

Today I discovered a nice widget that monitors the store and reports what the current deals are. This is great if you are in the market for a new iMac or Apple TV but don’t want to have to check back on Apple.com on a regular basis.

I found it on TUAW. You should check it out, if you haven’t already.

Which is better, the iPhone or the BlackBerry?

As much as I enjoy Apple products, I LOVE my blackberry. I have played with the iPhone and I prefer the productivity features that I have set up on the Blackberry Pearl, over the elegance of the iPhone.