Time tracking blog

As TSheets customers (present, past or future), you’ve probably at one point or another worked as a freelancer.  Ah, the joys of working when you want, where you want, and for as long as you want.  Sorta.  When you first went solo, you probably had dreams of working from a beach somewhere in the South Pacific, or mountaintop in the Austrian Alps.  But one thing leads to another, and you find yourself having to ‘check in’ with the boss man on a regular basis, and probably attending a staff meeting at least once a month – i.e. seriously putting a cramp in your newfound nomadic workstyle.  Any of this sound familiar?  Fast-forward to today’s economic climate, and now it’s YOU, dear freelancer, that has the opportunity to sit in the driver’s seat.  Here’s how.

First and foremost, as a freelancer, you’re probably supplying your own technology.  My MacBook Pro and I have been having a love affair for the past year, and I love her dearly.  However, in tough economic times, one of the first things that retailers notice is a dramatic shift in spending patterns.  This ultimately leads to a price drop war in favor of the consumer.   A recent report now confirms what we’ve been thinking for a long time: notebooks outsell desktops on a global scale for the first time ever, and who doesn’t already own (or want) a low priced netbook?  These two factors combined have led to cutthroat competition resulting in notebooks as low as $600 and netbooks at the silly low low price of around $300.  If you’re not already mobile or need an upgrade, now might be the time to get on board.

Along the same lines, the pipes are getting bigger – and cheaper!  If you’re like me, you’re probably piping as much bandwidth into your home or workspace as fiscally possible.  I currently pay around $100/month and get got around 1.3 mbs down and 800 kbs up, along with cable and VoiP (which I’ve never used).  One of the first things that people start to consider during a recession is ‘Why exactly am I forking over $100/month for all of this?’.  This ultimately leads to ISP competition, as they want your dollar just as much as the next guy.  Case in point, I recently called my provider and told them that I wanted to switch ISPs, as a competitor was offering me more bandwidth for a lesser cost.  One ‘please hold’ and a conversation with the supervisor later, I’m not clocking close to 3mbs down and 1.5 mbs up – and not paying a dime more for it.

Online meetings.  Here’s a no brainer.  As more and more budgets get smaller and smaller, those ‘non essentials’ are generally the first to get cut.  Bringing in the East Coast sales manager to sit at the same table as Bob from the Mid West and Sarah from the West Coast simply isn’t an option for lots of companies at the moment.  This has already led to a number of online meetings where you as the freelancer are no longer the only person in the room on speakerphone.  There are a number of online meeting solutions out there, but if the client is hesitant on any additional spend, there’s always the relatively low tech/no cost skype solution (I’ve personally been going this route for years).

The world is your oyster.  Factoring into the online meetings, more and more companies are looking for freelancers from all over the world, not just all over the area code.  Some refer to this as ‘extreme telecommuting’ – the process of working and collaborating with a team from around the world.  I’m a perfect case in point.  One of the things I work on is film production.  I regularly receive gianormous raw video files from filmmakers from around the world (hence the need for mawr bandwidths); I cut them on my mac, and collaborate with a sound engineer that lives in Oslo, Norway.  If you’re working in any of the creative or tech industries you probably already know teams of folks that work in this manner.  If not, now might be the right time to take the concept to the boss, because doesn’t living in Tahiti for a few months (while keeping up your regular work) sound a heckuva lot better than Fargo, North Dakota (sorry readers from Fargo)?

And this is just the tip of the iceberg.  There are services popping up on a daily basis that help bring the business world closer together, while physically being miles apart.  If there was ever a time to start suggesting not only cost savings, but personal fulfillment to the upper management, it’s NOW!

Think about your daily routine for a second.  Chances are it involves the obligatory email check with the morning coffee, either handheld or laptop.  A ride on the subway or train might be your chance to catch up with last night’s tweets, facebook messages, or answering some of those incoming emails.  First thing in the office requires a wake up (or boot) of your daily tool of productivity: that silicon chip based metal or plastic box containing most of tools you need to get the job done, aka your computer.  Your day will most likely progress in the same manner, and when the network goes down, the first response is to flip the switch on the 3G-network function, and merrily carry on your way.

Now imagine every single one of those tools is ripped out of your hands, all in the name of National Security.  That’s exactly what may or may not be happening to President Obama when he takes the reins full time today.

The story comes from Jeff Zeleny’s coverage of Obama having to part with his dearly beloved Blackberry in last November’s NY Times.  Some quotes from the article that REALLY raised a couple eyebrows included:

For all the pre-requisites and power afforded the President, the chief executive of the United States is essentially deprived by law and by culture of some of the very tools that other chief executives depend on to survive and to thrive.

Aides said he [Obama] hopes to have a laptop computer on his desk in the Oval Office, making him the first American President to do so.

A decision has not been made on whether he [Obama] could become the first e-mailing President, but aides said that seemed doubtful.

There are a number of ways these arguments are flawed, and I’m quite convinced that Mr. Zeleny did an excellent job in the journalism department, I’m not so sure about the National Security Administration.  Let’s take a look at a statement Mr. Bush made just before taking office in 2000:

“Since I do not want my private conversations looked at by those out to embarrass, the only course of action is not to correspond in cyberspace. This saddens me. I have enjoyed conversing with each of you.”

Here, President Bush is indirectly referring to the Presidential Records Act.  Basically, this act states that any and all communications the President (directly) makes should be recorded and available for public viewing.  Fair enough.  But.  There are a few convenient exceptions to the rule in so much as the President has an executive right to delay this information by up to 12 years.  By default, the information is withheld from the public for 5 years.

What we’re seeing here is a literal hand-tying of one of the most important men in the world.  What would happen if every CEO of every Fortune 500 Company were suddenly told that they could no longer use the Internet, email, or mobile device?  Pure outrage, and perhaps a collapse of business as we know it.  So why then cut the man with his finger on the red phone out of the loop?

I honestly don’t think that Obama is the type of guy who’s going to be emailing classified documents from the East Wing to his buddies in Chicago at 3 a.m. anytime soon.  And even if he does, Google’s beer goggle feature might be able to prevent him from doing so.

Ok, so we’re covered on any embarrassing public record conversations coming to the light of day (5+ years after the fact), which inevitably leads us to the security concerns.  There’s no doubt that the President of the United States is a high-risk target to hackers of every variety under the sun.  The presidential computer (AirMacOne?) would be a target for just about every intelligence agency in the world.

But before I shoot myself in the foot with this argument, let me remind you that the CIA, FBI, and each branch of the military regularly use email.  And what’s more, the FBI even has a tendency to lose these computers, and as of 2007, have implemented none of the recommendations made in the 2002 internal audit.  But yet, the man in charge can’t have his own email address and laptop?

The United States Government employs a LOT of smart people.  These smart people know a lot of things about secure environments, both physical and virtual.  All emails to the presidential email address (which in all actuality never reaches the president) and any incoming and outgoing network communications are monitored extremely closely.  Why would it be difficult to create a special presidential task force for the existing system?

And the penultimate statement from the NY Times article:

“The nature of the President’s job is that others can use e-mail for him.”

Whatchutalkin’aboutWillis?  Here’s just another example of an overly sensitive response from an overly critical ‘security community’ with the be all/end all answer of “Don’t use a computer”.  The way I see it, an email is an email, no matter who sends it.  I guess technically, the President would be cleared of all guilt and association if he did not physically send the email, but still, are we really cultivating a system of @$$ covering?  This hearkens back to the days of secretaries where Peggy Olsen was responsible for getting Don Drapers coffee, answering his phone, and typing his correspondence.  The Oval Office is rapidly growing out of the touch with the country it’s designed to serve.

So in essence what we’ve got is THE CEO of all CEO’s that’s going to be forced to work with 19th century tools in a 21st century age.  Imagine your only source of information came second hand from advisers.  Would you still be doing as good a job as you’re doing now with the world readily available at your fingertips?  How would you be able to see the big picture in an unbiased way?

If the President of the United States of America is truly a figure that many turn their eyes and ears to in times of need or otherwise, why then are we strapping the blindfold on, and sticking the earplugs in?

Photo and Quotes from the NY Times

Related articles:

• Missing White House E-Mails Traced, Justice Aide Says

It’s no secret – 2008 has not been the highpoint of the American economy.  With record numbers of layoffs and downsizing, chances are that some of you out there might be in need of a job.  After reading a bit more about Jen’s appointment to TSheets via conversations with Matt on and off Twitter, I thought it might be a good time to take the temperature and see just what other web2.0 technologies are out there making the dreaded job search just a bit easier.

While I found a bunch that can help you network and increase your chances of making a connection which eventually leads to a job, outside of grinding through Craigslist, there wasn’t a whole lot o’ tech that actually puts job ads in your hand.  Until I found JobCompass.

JobCompass is a new app for the iPhone that allows for location based job searches and plots them on a map for you based on your location.  JobCompass will then allow you to search by geographic range (5, 10, 25, 50, and 100 mile radius) and specific jobs based on keyword search.  Once you’ve found a position you’re interested in, it’s relatively simple to email yourself with a link to the job ad, or you can open the listing in Safari, and apply for the job directly (warning: Bluetooth keyboard recommended).

Currently, JobCompass utilizes Indeed.com’s API to pull job data, but plans are already in the works to include Monster, HotJobs, Dice and others to create the most extensive mobile job search application available.

Creator Titus Blair explains,

Current website solutions are not ideal since they do not pinpoint your location to provide you with job listings in relation to where you are at the moment. I was also traveling regularly and thought it would be interesting to see what jobs were available in my field in the cities and places I was visiting.

Currently, JobCompass will only list jobs based on your current location.  Great if you have no plans of moving, but if Seattle has been calling your name for ages, JobCompass won’t do you any good unless you’re within 100 miles of the Emerald City.  Fear not though, Blair and company are already working on developing a version that will allow the user to select the area that they’d like to search in.

While JobCompass is probably not going to replace your main resources for the job search, at the nominal iTunes store price of $3.99, it very well might make a great addition to any job seekers arsenal, and an indispensible tool for recruiters.

New Years Resolutions.  Made any yet?  Me neither.  I always find the annual process as a bit of a set up for a let down.  You’ll always find excuses or ways not to stick to them, so I prefer to cut on the fall, and simply not make any.

However, not making New Years resolutions is not to say that the beginning of a new year is not the perfect time to start fresh.  While according to the Chinese calendar, 2009 will be the year of the Ox, characterizing those that are steady, plain and quiet.  Steady, plain and quiet?  This doesn’t sound like any SME owner that I know, so let’s toss the Ox out and replace it with the Ant.  I’ll save the lesson of Ant productivity for another post, but the point is, 2009 can and should be your year of increased productivity.  Here are a few points to consider for a more productive 2009.

Track it

We all know and love the multiple job codes that TSheets lets you create so that you can have a clearer picture at weeks/months end of where the time went, and what you’ve billed for and not, but what about all those ‘others’?  I recently started tracking a multitude of ‘others’ and simply attached notes to them.  By reviewing this ‘other’ time and reading the notes, I managed to weed out about 20% of ‘wasted time’.  With this ‘wasted time’ cut out of my daily routine, I’ve noticed decreased working hours, thereby giving me time to focus on new projects.  Rinse and repeat at least once a month to maintain optimal productivity.

Spread it

Once you’ve whittled away this excess, start spreading the good news.  Introduce your line managers and/or staff to the process and ask for a small report at the end of January.  These reports don’t need to be a massive undertaking, but rather help to pinpoint areas of weakness, and where productivity can be increased.  Review these reports, and include opinions and suggestions.  This is also perfect exercise in eliminating redundant job functions.

Get Up, Stand Up

Company Meetings.  While necessary, they can sometimes lead to a productivity drain if each and every single staff member is not involved.  Make sure that a meeting is 100% necessary and make sure that each and every participant is there for a valid reason, to contribute, listen, and actively participate.  To optimize the productivity of the meeting remove all the chairs.  Nothing says, “Get to the point, and keep it on topic, short and sweet” like nowhere to sit.

Chill

Studies show that the average human being shows a decrease in productivity after prolonged output.  So give those models of productivity, including yourself, much needed breaks throughout the day.  Already have a dedicated ‘break’ room?  Congrats, you’re already a step ahead.  If not, have a look at that empty office at the end of the hall, or perhaps that underused conference room (not the one you’ve already removed the chairs from).  Would this make a suitable location?  Try to carve one out, and take a page from Google’s playbook – install a gaming console (or two or three).  Giving employees a chance to take a break mid-day and frag a few opponents in Halo, or come in three under par in wii golf, might be just the sort of frustration release or bragging rights they need to return to that desk, and not have to come in on Saturday just to finish those TPS reports.  A great resource for employee incentive based gaming solutions can be found at snowfly.com.

While not all of these solutions are right for every business situation, they can all be modded and customized to suit your needs.  Remember, it’s not about following the plan, but following the plan that’s right for you.  Hopefully a few of these suggestions will get you off on the right foot to make 2009 the year of Ant.

I don’t have any kids, but I have friends that do.  Being the good guy that I am, I reluctantly agreed to that ‘Hey, can you watch Jessica tomorrow night?’ question that pretty much every childless friend is bound to encounter at one point or another.

After piling stuffed animals, phone numbers, and a few books into my arms, Katja and Mike were off for a night of merriment, while I was at home with a 4 year old.  Naturally, my first reaction was ‘How the heck do I keep a 4 year old entertained until she passes out’?  As it turns out, 4 year old girls aren’t that interested in basic movement and combat controls of a level 72 Tauren Shaman, which left me with those books.

Hmmm…what’ve we got here?  Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Little Engine That Could, and Snow White.

Take a knee little Jessica, Uncle Dan is about to unleash a whole load of productivity life lessons that you’ll thank me for later down the road.

To be fair, it didn’t start off like this, but about three-quarters of the way through Goldilocks, a lesson in productivity started to form in the back of my mind.  It seems like I’m not the only one who’s had this revelation as well, Hunter Nuttal at Pickthebrain.org wrote an excellent article about Goldilocks and Productivity back in October.

To summarize Hunter’s article, Goldilocks and the Three Bears represents an example of an economic concept known as maximum sustainable output.  This is a concept that measures a country’s (or individuals) highest level of output over a sustained period of time.  The Bear’s porridges represent 3 different phases of productivity output.  The ‘too hot’ porridge can be seen as kicking your personal productivity into overdrive, eventually causing a ‘crash and burn’.  The ‘too cold’ porridge can represent underperformance, or doing less than you’re capable of.  And the ‘just right’ porridge can be seen as the perfect medium – representing maximum sustainable output.

After an encore of ‘again, again, again’ (this girl is destined for CEO level work), we moved on to The Little Engine That Could’ (coincidentally also mentioned by a commenter on Hunter’s article).

‘The Little Engine That Could’ has to be the genesis of the ‘Positive Mental Attitude’ school of thought.  Generally when I’m reminded of PMA, I usually respond with a ‘Yeah, I got your PMA right here buddy’, but after reading this story to a four year old, I’m starting to rethink this theory.  If you’ll recall, the Little Engine was faced with a challenge that even the larger Engines in the trainyard either refused, or didn’t even attempt.  With the assistance of a PMA, this little Engine overcame an insurmountable obstacle.

Jessica ended up falling asleep somewhere around page three of ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’, so sadly I wasn’t able to impart the words of social responsibility and word ethics hidden in ‘Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work I go’, but we can save that lesson for the next visit with Uncle Dan.

Lessons learned:  Always seek to obtain that ‘just right’ level of your maximum sustainable output, Think you can – Think you can – Think you can, and wait until at least age six before starting ‘em on WoW.

Due to a technical snafu at a site I agreed not to name, I ended up getting a repeated “Hey, thanks for commenting on my site.  If you’ve never been here before, and enjoyed the post, why not sign up for my RSS feed?” etc. etc.  A quick email back and forth, and she’d solved the problem, but this got me to thinking about the importance of personalization.

We’ve all received these automated messages, and while the first 3 or 4 might slip by, after a while, the auto-responder is a real turn off.  If you’re going to make the effort to make the experience personal – don’t do it with an Auto-Responder.  Carve out the time to actually make a connection with someone who signs up for a subscription, or makes a ‘value’ comment.

Let’s look at this from a different angle.  Let’s say you’re having a dinner party – a really, REALLY big dinner party.  You head off to the printer to have invitations printed.  Cooking preparations start weeks in advance of the big feast.  GaryVee himself has selected the wine.  In other words – you’ve got a AAA dinner all set to go.

The table is set, the wine is decanted, the candles are lit…..and the guests begin to arrive.  Now, you’ve got two ways to handle that doorbell.

1. You promptly answer the door, smile, greet your guests, take their coat, and offer a drink and a place to sit.
2. You send your automated robot to the door welcoming guests.

Right.

Your site is your dinner party.  You’ve made all the preparations.  Your CSS is clean and crisp.  You’ve checked your feedburner feeds thrice.  Your appetizers (twitter) and main course (blog) should all lead towards dessert (the sale).  Imagine sending your Auto-Responder bot to the front door to greet your guests.  Yes, it’s better than not answering the door at all, but still not quite the overall effect we’re going for.

First impressions count.

So do yourself a favor, and go that extra mile, find the time to respond to each of your new commenter’s and/or subscribers.  My first experience with this approach came via Julian Seery Guide from Local Na8ion.  I left a comment on his personal blog, and got a human typed, actual ‘thank you’ note within the hour directly from Julian himself.  A back and forth ensued throughout the day, and low and behold, I’ve got a new follower on twitter, a facebook group request, and a new subscriber on YouTube.  Total time invested by Julian?  I’d reckon anywhere between 15-25 minutes tops.  Time invested on my end?  Approximately the same amount.

Once I started doing the same with my commenter’s and subscribers, I noticed a whopping 20-40 percent response rate to my handcrafted ‘hey thanks buddy!’ emails, which in turn has precipitated a number of great conversations, knowledge sharing and learning, and garnered a number of new connections across various social networking platforms.  Could your Auto-Responder accomplish that?

While I know that responding to each incoming message is going to take some time, it’s not a question of having the time, but rather making the time.  Agreed, not all responses are going to lead to a gold egg, but chances are, you’ll catch more flies with honey than vinegar.  Or Auto-Respond bots.

While sitting on my local equivalent to the LIRR the other day, I took a look at the amazing device in my hands and what I was doing with it.  My new shiny iPhone (or any current generation smartphone for that matter) allows me to read, create, and send/receive email, write documents and/or notes to myself, view and create spreadsheets, presentations, stay in touch with both family, friends, and clients, and administer my blogs and websites, all in the palm of my hand at 65 mph.

With the wide variety of applications now available for smartphones, there’s something for every type of user out there, and this really got me to thinking about mobile productivity.  Obviously at TSheets, we’re a bit biased on the ‘time is money’ and ‘being more productive’ opinion, but with costs of said phones falling everyday, isn’t it about time YOU started thinking about a mobile strategy for your business?

What does this all mean for you and your business?  How do you go about it?  Which plans?  Which phones?  How do I deploy all of this seemingly complex gadgetry?

Well, hold the phone partner (yes, pun intended).  Here’s a list of things to think about before you take your growing enterprise mobile.

1. Are your communications mobile friendly? While time might be money in the TWorld, size is often money in the mobile world.  Are you using a logo in your email footer?  This extra bit of transfer can add up to quite a bit of extra, unneeded cost at the end of the month.  Think about slimming everything down.
2. Are you working with the best Technology? While Palm and Apple (and quite possibly the T-Mobile/Google Android phone soon enough) have been making great headway into the mobile enterprise market, there’s a common misconception that Blackberry is the way to go.  Perhaps the pricing structure might work best for you, but don’t be too quick to rule other smartphones out simply because they’re not carrying the crackberry logo.
3. Are you in sync? If you’re using Microsoft Exchange, chances are you’re already covered, but a good thing to think about is ‘Is everyone on the same page?’  Can all mobile users synchronize email, contact lists, calendars, etc. to ensure that everyone is, literally, on the same page?  Would this help grease the productivity wheels within your team?
4. Do you have a mobile plan? If you’re already issuing company phones, check with your wireless carrier if they offer enterprise smartphone packages, what features they offer, and what the price difference would be.  It’s entirely possible that some of the features designated for smartphones are already covered in your package.  Try getting a test phone or two that you and another trusted member of the team can use for a month or so.  Keep track of the usage: emails, calendars, meeting planning times, how often you use it to increase productivity on the LIRR for example.
5. Is your website mobile compatible? Here’s one that often goes unsaid, but is your main website already mobile compatible?  Do you offer a .mobi version of the site, or perhaps a text only based version.  Again, these things might not seem like a big deal now, but once smartphone mobile deployment is issued, with your entire staff accessing the site on a regular basis, it IS something you’re going to have to think about.
6. What’s your 20? This may be your most important consideration when deciding on a mobile strategy for your business: Security.  Do you have a backup plan if/when a smartphone goes missing?  Not just the actual hardware, but the potential loss of data and thieves access to sensitive company data.

Obviously, there’s a lot of factors to consider in whether or not you should or even need to deploy a smartphone solution for your business.  I personally know some managers and execs that couldn’t live without their mobile devices, while others that I’ve spoken to enjoy simply leaving the phone at the office.  Interesting to note, these people often also have a corporate smartphone tucked in a briefcase or bag nearby.

Having access on the go certainly leads to increased productivity, as there’s never a moment lost.  This mobile productivity can even lead to increased creativity, as a changing landscape often leads to changing thoughts, ideas, and ways to tackle a project.

Michael Hunger was searching for a way to track his day.  He finds that task tedious and inconvenient.  Some of his suggested time tracking methods came in the form of software:

• Spreadsheets
• Plain text files
• Browser based time tracking
• Outlook/iCal
• Popup applications/widgets asking for the current task (hmmm…has he not yet found TSheets?)

And others in the form of the physical:

• Sticky Notes
• Paper
• Tally sheets
• Notebook
• Diary/filofax

All are ok solutions.  Naturally, we’re a bit preferential to the application/widget genre, but let’s hear the man out.

What Michael stumbled upon in his daily ‘blue hour’ (time he spends reading in a café before work) is a childhood toy that we all know: Lego.  He quickly realized that events in iCal look remarkably like building blocks of time.  The transition from playing with his daughters legos to iCal’s block of time to Lego as time tracker is simply genius.

With a box of 600 legos purchased from Amazon, Michael set out to track his day in a colorful desktop form.  What he found was that there was a wide variety in color, length, and width of the 600 pieces.  By using the ‘one row’ blocks, Michael builds he day (literally) by segmenting 1, 2, 3, and 4 studded pieces to represent 15 minute blocks of time, 15, 30, 45, and 60 minutes.  By stacking these individual blocks of time on top of each other, he builds a project (color) coded map of his time throughout the day.

Using a ‘one row’ piece to represent the day, Michael lays bricks on top of this ‘day ruler’ so that he can see what he did, and where in his day he did it.  Each day of the week is then coded by a rainbow color scheme.  Red, orange, yellow, green, and blue represent Monday – Friday.  At weeks end, he then uses his lego blocks to enter the data in a timesheet software package.

Michael has found that by using the Lego time tracking system, he can even pre-plan days by using temporary bases and allotting time via the same color coded method.  Benefits include (in Michael’s own words):

• it works (for about 4 months now)
• I have something to play with while pondering stuff
• it looks great
• it’s incredibly fast with no overhead
• planning is possible

He is however quick to point on the one disadvantage:

coworkers coming to your place and disassembling your time tracks

He’s recently updated the original post with an announcement of a small java application that will work in conjunction with a webcam or phone so that the time block is automatically entered in the week’s end timesheet.

This is a fine example of independent ingenuity when it comes to personal time tracking.  Certainly this will work while sitting in a closed environment (read…office), but has little practical application in the mobile work.  You might be hard pressed to pull out your Lego block set while sitting in economy on the next flight to Atlanta.  The Lego system can and will only work for personal time tracking, as just with the time clock or paper and pencil sheets, there are almost certainly time fudgers that would take advantage of the system.

As always, TSheets remains your one stop, easy to use, corporate wide time tracking solution. With widgets, gadgets, and iPhone apps, we’ve got more ways to track time than hours in the day!

Now….off to the TLabs to talk to the Time Scientists about the Lego app integration….

A couple of weeks ago I took a look at Google’s Chrome browser and it’s ‘interesting’ EULA, and if it was right for enterprise users.  As with most products that come out of Mountain View, Google stole the show from an otherwise equally interesting product designed to not only make you more productive, but in a fun and easy to use format: Mozilla Lab’s Ubiquity.

Plain and simple, Ubiquity is an experimental Firefox extension that bills itself as “a powerful new way to interact with the web.”  After using ubiquity for a few weeks now, I say that’s a bit of an understatement.  For those of you on OSX, think of ubiquity as a Quicksilver, but for the entire internet.  For those of you on windows, think of it as, ummm..well, like something you’ve never seen before!

While a good friend and colleague has been extolling the virtues of semantic web to me for years now, I’d yet to see a ‘well functioning, real world’ example.  Quite simply, we’ve all be raised on the standard point and click, drop down menu, long URL strings way of doing business.  Ubiquity seeks to change all that through a highly intuitive interface.  For example, when I find an article like this one, and want to digg it, I normally have to search for a digg button somewhere on the page, clicky clicky, etc., or have to copy the URL myself, navigate to digg, login, paste the URL, click submit.  Ubiquity?  “digg this”.  Done.

With Ubiquity,  semantic web just made one small step for computers, and one giant leap for computing.  By recognizing the phrase “this”, we’ve just connected the word to a variety of input mechanisms.  Granted, this seems like an incredibly simple solution, but until now there really hasn’t been the correlation between “What I’m looking at right now” and “input”.

OK, so what’s the big deal?  What’s ubiquity going to do for me?  Well, glad you asked friend, step right up to one of the most powerful moves in productivity in years.  Ubiquity will do just about anything you tell it to, and how!  Not so hot on your one line command writing skills?  Me neither, so without further adieu, some common and helpful ubiquity productivity tools:

To summon ubiquity to your service: Alt/Option + Spacebar

Email this:  Here’s a great time saver.  Let’s say you just found a really great article about Time Tracking software and want to send it over to Jim in accounting.  Normally, this would require a copy of the URL, a trip over to the email client, new message, Jim, subject line, paste URL, click send.   With Ubiquity open, simply type email this to (contact), and Ubiquity launches gmail, inserts the correct address and, subject line and text.  Time saved?  Approximately 20-30 seconds.  Not a big deal right off the bat, but think about how many emails you send per day.  The time savings begin to add up quite quickly.

Define:  As seasoned a wordsmith as I am, even I, dear readers, come across a phrase every now and then, when I think, is that REALLY the correct meaning?  Or better yet…what the heck does that mean?  Simply type Define in Ubiquity and either jump to answers.com, or give ubiquity a second to call answers.com and deliver the definition of the word right there in your ubiquity window.  Quite handy when readying legal or technical documents.

Wikipedia: Who doesn’t love Wikipedia?  For all the strengths and weaknesses, Wikipedia is still packed with an amazing amount of information.  Instead of surfing over to the big W everytime you want to do a bit of research, bring up ubiquity and simply type w.  Ubiquity calls Wiki and delivers an astonishing amount of information on the word you’ve highlighted in the webpage, or any other phrase you choose to enter.

Map:  Whoa nelly!  If I had to rank a favorite feature thus far, Ubiquities’ mapping features would take the cake.  This one is a major time saver and productivity tool.  Need to find the address of that widget company in a hurry?  Bring up ubiquity, enter the map command, and type the name of the business.  Sometimes this works, sometimes not.  The other solution is to find the company address somewhere on the site (usually under the ‘contact’ page), highlight the address, open ubiquity and enter the map command.  Google maps will deliver up a fresh and tasty map of the location.

But wait…there’s more.  Simple mapping of a location within Ubiquity might not save you a bunch of time, but what if you could enlarge that map to get a better view, drop it into an email, AND attach a restaurant review?  With Ubiquity, all this can be done with a simple few clicks.  If you’re on a regular HTML page, the ‘insert into page’ option is obviously not going to work, but if you’ve already opened an email to a friend with ubiquity, you’re then in an ‘editable’ HTML section on a page.  In other words, dropping a map into an email now can be done in a few clicks instead of the previous 5 minutes it took prior to ubiquity being on the scene.

So what’s the big deal?  If these few examples haven’t started you thinking about shaving seconds, minutes, hours off regular everyday tasks, keep in mind that Ubiquity is still in the ‘experimental’ phase, meaning alpha, beta at best.  Given Mozilla’s open source philosophy, the additional uses and functionality are limited only by user’s creativity and need.  Speaking of which, the Herd has already sprung up, and is addressing the collective as a one stop shop for safe Ubiquity scripts (I’m already using the facebook scripts with delight).  Is Ubiquity perfect?  Far from it.  There are still a number of holes in the dam that need plugging, and it’s certainly got room to grow before anyone calls it a finished product.  But, right out of the gate ubiquity is saving time and endless searching all from within your current browser.

Give Ubiquity a download and a go.  It’s going to take a few hours to get used to, but once you do, it can be a massive time saver, and a great productivity tool.  Hey TLabs guys…how about a Ubiquity script that will allow me to clock in/out and switch job codes?

As far as business blogs and productivity tools go, there are a great number of them that, well frankly, bore the pants off of me.  Sure there’s Lifehacker which is always a guaranteed smile, but for the most part, lots and lots of business bloggers tend to grab a bunch of statistics and/or other data, run it through the ‘What would my big fancy diploma on the wall say about this’ filter, and generally spit out material that’s about as exciting to read as sniffing glue.  Wait…sniffing glue might be more entertaining.

Thank heavens for Merlin.  Merlin Mann that is.  If you’re not already familiar with Merlin and his 43 folders blog, do yourself a favor.  Merlin’s recently posted an update to slideshow/presentation that he debuted back in January at Macworld.  While I only caught bits and pieces of it through the grapevine, Merlin’s done a whole lotta work on this one, and revamped a number of topics and material.

The subject of this talk is ‘Time and Attention’.  He’ll be delivering it….hang on, just got an email.  Brb.  Right.  Where was I?  Oh yeah, Merlin’s going to be talking with the folks over at GoDaddy abou…a sec…phone.  Ummmm.  Oh right…talking to the folks at GoDaddy.com about Inbox Zero and Time and Attention.

Merlin fully admits that the irony of über cool picture slides is that you don’t get the slick audioness of it, so this deck includes some of Merlin’s main talking points.  And if you’ve never seen this guy speak…the subtitles are almost as accurate as a German translation of a French film that was directed by a Mexican director.  In other words…they do only a third of the justice as seeing Mann in person.

Mann’s main focus in this deck is Time and Attention and how to manage both to work in the utmost productive state.  Give it a whirl…tell the boss its ‘research’.