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Buffer Twitter scheduling screenshot

It might be a marketing tactic, but it’s certainly a refreshing one: Buffer, the app best known for scheduling your tweets and Facebook status updates, candidly explains how they’ve been profitable so far and why they aren’t necessarily looking for more fundraising right now. Read more »

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I’ve heard mounting complaints about the Google-centric focus of web workers from those using other scheduling tools, but the fact is that the plethora of tools designed to make scheduling easy can actually make it more difficult. Are you guilty of these scheduling faux pas? Read more »

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The return of daylight savings time often brings with it a flurry of complaints about losing something web workers treasure most: time. Here are twelve ways to claw some if it back: Read more »

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It’s Friday afternoon. You clean up and get ready for respite. Surprise, surprise … within an hour of checking out for the weekend, a phone call comes in. What do you do? Ignore the call? Pick it up? Read more »

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Google has what it calls “20-Percent Time”, where its employees spend one day each workweek on projects they’re passionate about, while 3M calls its version “15% culture,” which “encourages technical employees to spend 15 percent of their time on projects of their own choosing and initiative.” Read more »

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Popular online scheduling tool Doodle (as used by WWD writer Aliza Sherman) today launched a Premium Edition. This new version of the app, which costs $28 per year, lets people present a more professional image by removing advertising and allowing customization of their Doodle pages. It […] Read more »

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How long should a Mac last? Mac360′s Alexis Kayhill posed the question recently, and it got me thinking on the topic, especially since Alexis framed her column around the experience of a co-worker who had purchased a new unibody MacBook (on her recommendation) only to have […] Read more »

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One of the best things about being a freelancer is that I can schedule my time in a way that works best for me; however, this flexibility can be a double-edged sword. While I have quite a bit of freedom to work on projects whenever it […] Read more »

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We’ve covered a lot of scheduling software here on WWD. For example, I wrote about When Is Good, a lightweight solution that offered very basic, easy-to-access scheduling for busy folks, and there are many other services available, too, as apparent from the “Calendars and Schedules” section […] Read more »

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When you’re working on your own, setting up appointments can take you away from more important tasks. Even if the appointment itself is something crucial — a meeting with a client to go over a new project’s specs, say — the back and forth of trying […] Read more »

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I have a singletasking tip for you, and it’s an important one: Work like you’re on vacation. Before you type up the smart-aleck response, “You mean don’t work at all?” let me explain. I mean work like you’re taking a working vacation. If you’re a full-time […] Read more »

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Recently, I posted about singletasking, a new trend that many are turning to after having burned out on multitasking. One key component of singletasking is setting aside blocks of time during which you check and deal with email, instead of having it interrupt your work flow […] Read more »

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I can always tell when I’m just putting out fires (moving from one “urgent urgency” to the next).

“What? A client needs help with an über pressing concern, and it has to be handled right now or his website will explode? I’ll get on that right away!”

“What, Ms. Prospective Client, you have the ultimate web project, but you need a quote within the hour? No problem.”

It starts with checking email first thing in the morning. Open, read, react, and an hour later, reply. Open, read, react, and an hour later, reply.

On and on it goes, until it’s two o’clock and not one smidgen of paid work has been done, or if it has, it’s been done in a haphazard way, usually at the client’s demand instead of using my own tried-and-true schedule and system.

By the end of the day, I’m zapped and feel like a heel for allowing my work to control me instead of the other way around.

There has to be a better way, and you know there is. Read more »

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One of the advantages of working from home is the flexible schedule. No matter how many things you need to accomplish, or how many simultaneous projects you have, you can still control when you can perform certain tasks, as well as how long they take. While […] Read more »

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Scheduling a meeting can be a trying business with all the back and forth over email trying to find a time and date that suits everyone. Fortunately, there are a few scheduling web apps available that can help to streamline the process. What makes MeetingMade stand […] Read more »

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In the Windows world, system administrators are likely to be familiar with the Scheduled Tasks service. This allows you to schedule processes, scripts or applications to run regularly at a specific time. In the Linux (and UNIX in general) world the cron daemon has traditionally handled […] Read more »

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In general, I am meetings-averse. Most of the time I find them of questionable value, with attendee lists that defy logical explanation, and a frequency which is almost never merited. They are also frustratingly difficult to schedule at a time that suits all of the attendees. […] Read more »

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Universal Music Making “Tens of Millions” from YouTube; between YouTube and other streaming sites, company has gone from making nothing on music videos to nearly $100 million today. (CNET) YouTube Responsible for 25 Percent of All Google Searches in the U.S.; if it was on its […] Read more »

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Whether it’s vacuuming your keyboard, taking a long walk, or making a pot of coffee, you probably have a routine that you do before you get started with work.  This routine seems so mundane and simple, yet, without it, you can’t get started. Many artists and […] Read more »

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There are so many available tools and resources on productivity that it’s bound to make one crazy.  I confess that I was one of those productivity addicts who subscribed to all the GTD and lifehacking blogs out there, downloaded all the tools I could find, and […] Read more »

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You need to schedule back-to-back demos with different tech companies. Or you want to hold “virtual office hours” for lead generation and effortlessly book them based on your actual availabilities each week. You don’t have a personal assistant. So what do you do? Take TimeDriver for […] Read more »

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Ribbit, a Mountain View, Calif.-based company that is pushing a VoIP platform that marries web with voice is subject of acquisition rumors this evening. VentureBeat reported that the company was close to being acquired by British Telecom (BT), but later changed their story. When contacted by […] Read more »

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Solid state disks (SSDs) have the opportunity to revolutionize computing technology, especially mobile tech.  The lack of moving parts and the speed of data transfer can make any device a speed demon.  Throw in the elimination of heat that conventional moving hard disks generate and SSDs […] Read more »

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Scheduling meetings is a necessary chore we face in business.  Managing multiple person’s calendars and finding a good time to meet involves many back and forth emails.  This is especially true when the persons you’re trying to meet with are on another electronic calendaring system. To […] Read more »

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The folks behind financial web show Wallstrip — who cracked the nut of online video if only because they got CBS to buy them for $4 million — are launching a new show on Friday. Moblogic is a show about popular opinion. Host Lindsay Campbell (who’s […] Read more »

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[qi:018] One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. How to e-cycle your gadgets. NewTeeVee: What will become of the 30-second spot, the very symbol of the golden age of TV advertising? FoundRead: You’ve got a great idea for a company, but how do you go from […] Read more »

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People called us crazy when we announced we were giving away an unlocked Dash, OK they call us crazy anyway, but even so the contest was a smashing success with over 150 entries!  Kevin’s kids have rolled the old "pick a winner" dice and the winner […] Read more »

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Although I’d like all my video to be online and accessible at any time, the studios and the cable companies would prefer that I purchased physical media or downloaded titles through my locked set-top box. Personally, I don’t subscribe to cable or own more than a […] Read more »

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For some reason, I thought Avis was already offering 3G data connectivity as an option in rentals, but I must have read that they were in the planning stages. Apparently, they’re ready for the implementation stage since BetaNews is reporting that Avis Connect is going live. […] Read more »

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As if the PC magazine world wasn’t bad enough with PC World’s 10 Reasons We Hate Apple, now PC Magazine is running reports on Apple by “ThinkSecret.com Staff.” Gee, no thanks, guys. Today’s report is about the “iPhone Launch Crisis,” and ThinkSecret’s sources “report Apple will […] Read more »

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From a conceptual standpoint, the Cario Notebook design is interesting and innovative. The Cario is intended to be standard notebook that you can mount to a car steering wheel as needed. While that’s nice for when you’re sitting in the local Starbuck’s parking to steal borrow […] Read more »

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Computer scientists at the University of California, San Diego have developed a new way of mixing images and video feeds from mobile cameras in the field to provide remote viewers with a virtual window into a physical environment. Dubbed ‘Reality Flythrough,’ the application constructs a 3D […] Read more »

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Wayport, a US-based Wi-Fi aggregator/service provider with over 9000 US locations has acquired NetPoint A/S, a high-speed Internet access for the hospitality industry in Europe and the Middle East. Yesterday Boingo announced that it was partnering with Ireland’s BitBuzz. Maybe there will be global WiFi roaming […] Read more »

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The only good thing about using the mass transit, is that one gets to watch the masses, or the human species closely. Good place to pick up the vital market trends. San Francisco is a good test bed for what consumer technology could actually get better, […] Read more »