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New Fujitsu Scanner

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If you've been following my paperless office experiment,  you  might be interested in Fujitsu's new ScanSnap model.  The S1500M for Mac and S1500 for Windows looks to replace the 500 line.  Most of the specs are similar, but the 1500s have some more advanced paper handling and sensing to prevent double feeds. … [Read more...] about New Fujitsu Scanner

Digital Letterhead

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PDF For Laywers has a nice discussion about the benefits of using a digitized letter head.  Basically he recommends creating a letter head that is part of your word processor template so you can print your letter and letter head together (to paper or to a PDF). Some good thoughts and worth a read for people experimenting with paperless offices. … [Read more...] about Digital Letterhead

Fruitful Time Business Edition

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Fruitful Time makes a free Productivity Meter that we've mentioned before.  It tracks how your computer is being used and gives you a good idea how your time is being spent.  They now have a paid Business Edition that lets you do the same thing for a group of employees.  I have used some tools like this in the past so my staff could tell where they are spending their time.  It looks like it is still windows only.  For a cross platform (OSX and Windows) tool, check out Slife. They make a similar free personal/paid team product. If you are looking at a product like this, one of the big things you want is the ability to track things based on the path or name of the document being used.  So … [Read more...] about Fruitful Time Business Edition

Google Voice

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Grand Central is becoming Google Voice.  While it isn't open for the public just yet, it is a step closer.  If you have a Grand Central account you can convert it to Google Voice.  There are a quite a few new features.  Some of the big ones are: Voicemail transcription, free outgoing (and incoming) calls, and SMS messaging.  It sounds like they are looking at adding the ability to port numbers into Google Voice in the future. This could be a very big deal.  You could move your main number into Google Voice and then have it ring whatever numbers you want. … [Read more...] about Google Voice

Couple’s Finances

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Money can be one of the biggest strains on relationship.  Many couples are at odds financially and when things get tight, the relationship suffers.  With the current state of the economy, now is probably a good time to review this older post on working together financially. Any investment you make in your relationships are going to have much higher returns than the stock market. … [Read more...] about Couple’s Finances

Behaving in Court

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Lawyer Andrew Flusche has some recommendations on how to behave in court based on what he sees people doing in Virginia Traffic Court.  You would think people would know better than to show up while chewing gum, but evidently not.  His advice is good for pretty much any situation where you need to make a good impression on someone in authority. … [Read more...] about Behaving in Court

Skydeck

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I am really enjoying the Skydeck service on my Blackberry. It basically gives you an inbox for all your phone calls and gives you voice mail transcription that is quite a bit more accurate than Vonage. One of the best features is the way it adds contacts automatically.  If I call a restuarant, Skydeck will notice, look the number up in a directory and add the information to my address book.  So I can place a call and within a few minutes I have their name, number and address in my phone. … [Read more...] about Skydeck

Harvard and the Economy

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You know there are significant economic problems when Harvard---an institution known for having the largest foundation endowment in the US world--starts looking for ways to cut back.  I got an email from the president this morning outlining the ways they are trying to cut expenses.  They plan to slow the construction on a science complex and possibly scale back their plans, offer early retirement options, look for ways to streamline operations, but still keep tuition increases in check. Most notable in the email was the closing paragraph--a reminder that we are defined by what is in our heads and hearts rather than our bank accounts: In a time of dramatic and often disquieting change, it … [Read more...] about Harvard and the Economy

Return it!

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This weekend I tried to help my grandmother with her new cell phone.  She purchased a phone, bluetooth headset, and another bluetooth device that lets you talk in your car handsfree and broadcasts the callers voice over an FM channel that you can tune to with your radio.  I got the handsfree device setup and showed her how to use it, but my final recommendation was to take it back to the store.  While it was great in theory, in actually use I know it was far more complicated to be useful to me--even though I knew how to work it. It is easy to get enamored with how something is supposed to make your life simpler to the point that you overlook how it makes things more complicated. … [Read more...] about Return it!

Circuit City Deals

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Circuit City is closing all of its stores and liquidating all of the inventory. Usually this means that they keep dropping the price until everything is sold. I visited a store on Friday and they said they were planning on wrapping everything up on Monday. This means that Monday will probably have some of the most discounted prices. When I was there the TVs were still overpriced: A floor display (missing remote, stand, instructions, etc.) Sony was going for $1100, but you could get it new for $1400. However, there were some reasonable deals on movies, cables, camera batteries and speakers. I was amazed at how little was left in the store. Oh and the water had been turned off so there … [Read more...] about Circuit City Deals

Kindle 2

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Amazon is showing the Kindle 2 right now.  The two biggest advances are: 1. Syncing your current page across devices.  So if you are reading on your phone and then pickup your Kindle you can start right where you left off.  2. Text to Speech.  The book will read itself to you.  So you can be reading your book and then have it read itself to you while you drive to the store.  Those two features will make the device much closer to the dream device I previously described. … [Read more...] about Kindle 2

HyperSpace

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HyperSpace is small OS that lets you boot up a computer very quickly for basic tasks like web browsing and email.  It doesn't replace windows, but provides a lightweight environment that boots in seconds with very low battery consumption.  It looks like a great way to check  your email when you only have 5 minutes and don't want to spend half of that time just getting your computer OS up and running. If you find yourself constantly running out of battery or waiting for your laptop to boot, this might be worth looking into. … [Read more...] about HyperSpace

Skydeck

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Skydeck is a new service that integrates with your cell phone to give you a number of features.  It syncs with your textmessages, transcribes your voicemail and lets you call people from your computer using your cell phone as your caller id number.  You can then do stuff like search through all of your voice and text messages just like you'd search through your email. Plans are $10 to $30 and you have to have a Blackberry or Android phone.  If you place a lot of outgoing phone calls, the ability to make them from your computer may make the service pay for itself. On of my favorite Skydeck features is the way it handles new phone numbers.  When you dial a number on your phone, Skydeck will … [Read more...] about Skydeck

Lotus Symphony

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IBM has released a free office suite called Lotus Symphony.  It runs on Windows, OS X, and Linux and includes a wordprocessor, presentation software, and a spreadsheet.  If you are looking for an alternative to Microsoft Office, it is worth checking out along with Google Apps, Open Office, and iWork (OS X only).  We will do a review of it in the near future once we've had more of a chance to play with it. … [Read more...] about Lotus Symphony

LiveScribe on OS X

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LiveScribe is a pen that records the audio as you take notes. You can then click on each section and hear the audio that was recorded when that part of the note was written.  They have released a beta of their software that now works on OS X.  The concept is pretty slick and I could see it being a very nice tool for students. … [Read more...] about LiveScribe on OS X

Mathematics – Best Jobs

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CareerCast rated 200 jobs.  Five of the top 10 are careers that involve the study of mathematics including actuary, statistician,  and software engineer. Lumberjacks, dairy workers and EMTs made it into the bottom 10.  WSJ has a nice article about it and you can read about the methodology here. Personally, I've found that mathematics is one of the most rewarding fields to study.  Regardless of what you do, math is essential in making decisions and analyzing data. … [Read more...] about Mathematics – Best Jobs

Time Tracking

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Back in July we reviewed Fruitful Time. They have just released a new product called the Productivity Meter.  It lets you track how much time you spend on different (Windows) programs and graphs the results.  The personal edition is free.  The paid edition will let you do things like create time cards.  I have previously used a similar program called Job Capture (OS X/Win) to  track time for billing in a graphic arts department I managed.  RescueTime is another similar app with free and paid versions.  If you haven't ever used something like this, it is worth trying. It can be pretty scary to see where your time is actually going. :) … [Read more...] about Time Tracking

Alternative Education

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My friend Jon Dale was accepted into Seth Godin's "Alternative MBA".  It is worth taking a look at the program. I think we will see more of this type of education in the coming years. Seth gets a bunch of free help and the students get an education and networking opportunities that would be hard to come by elsewhere.  By the way, Jon is looking for a room to rent in Hastings on Hudson New York.  If you have any suggestions or recommendations that might help him out, please drop him a note. … [Read more...] about Alternative Education

Smart Shopper

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Smart Shopper sent me their interesting grocery list device yesterday.  Basically it is a box that does voice recognition on grocery items and then prints them out when you are ready to go to the store.  At $79 it isn't cheap, but it might make a unique present for a gadget lover who seems to have absolutely everything.   I haven't had much of a chance to play with it, but the idea is very interesting.  We are going to try using it for our grocery lists for awhile. I'll let you know how well it works. … [Read more...] about Smart Shopper

Manly Contest

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Just a quick reminder about The Art of Manliness'  Old Spice contest to find the Man of the Year. You have a few more days until November 8th, to nominate the person you feel displays the ideal traits of “Manliness”.  The winner gets $2,000 in cash and the top 10 entries all get a selection of Old Spice products. … [Read more...] about Manly Contest

Protecting People From Themselves

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With credit markets freezing up, I thought it might be a good time to put some money into Prosper.com--a site that lets you loan money to individuals.  It seemed reasonable that if people couldn't get loans elsewhere you might be able to make a reasonable return filling the role that banks have filled in the past.  Unfortunately they aren't allowing you to lend money to people.  The best I can tell the SEC has decided that they need to be more tightly regulated and wants them to apply for some type of license or certification.   I'm concerned that in trying to fix things the government is going to put too many regulations in place to try to protect people from themselves and in the end … [Read more...] about Protecting People From Themselves

Jamming Paper Shredders

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After a large batch of scanning items into my paperless office, my shredder seemed to be jamming more than normal for my assistant. After helping her clear the stuck paper I got to wondering if there is a way to minimize the jams.  Fellowes claims they have created a jam proof shredder.  It look like it basically just stops before the paper gets packed in so tight that you can't remove it.  Has anyone used one of these?  Do they work very well? … [Read more...] about Jamming Paper Shredders

Ergonomic Giveaway

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We are doing another give-away of the fine products donated by Fellowes. To enter, just sign up for our new weekly newsletter below (you can always unsubscribe after the contest). We will be giving away your choice of a wrist support mouse pad or a back support. We will be drawing names later this week and sending out prizes this weekend. Productivity501 Newsletter Name: Email: Don't forget to verify your email address by clicking on the link in your email. If you don't see the above signup form in your email or RSS reader, you may have to visit the site to sign up. … [Read more...] about Ergonomic Giveaway