I spend a good deal of my working day living inside Google Reader. It is my research assistant, bringing me stories from multiple sources all over the web that I may want to follow up on later. But the continual problem with “multiple sources” is the increasing “noise”, the information overload and the increased likelihood that in among all those stories crowding into Google Reader is the one truly great story, the gem that is going to get trampled by the crowd. That is why AideRSS is becoming an interesting assistant to my assistant!

One of the many problems trying to actually GET anything done online these days is the multitude of distractions that are available on the internet. Short of unplugging your network connection, there are a few things the undisciplined can do to minimize the sites calling your name.

Over the past few years a new breed of text editors have flourished - so called ‘minimalist’ text editors - which can be used to block out all other distractions and let you focus on the task at hand - crafting words into sentences. These “no-frills editors” don’t offer formatting or many of the other features you see in modern word processors, what they offer is the ability to concentrate solely on your writing.

If you’re spending considerable amount of time of your daily life in front of the PC then you should consider learning touch typing.

Although it may take anywhere from a couple of weeks to 2-3 month before you can master your keyboard it totally pays off in the long run. Plus there are plenty of free programs and websites that make it an easy and fun process.

Whether you’re a beginner or simply want to improve on your current typing speed, these free typing exercises can help you improve the accuracy and the overall typing speed. You will learn how to type fast, using all of your fingers, without looking at the keyboard. There is something for everyone here, from online games to excellent typing programs.

Evernote which is currently in private beta, is a very versatile note-taking application that has powerful and commendable features that make it really useful. It has the capability to make you a rockstar note taker.

While previously mentioned Uber Note can be accessed only via your browser, Evernote can be accessed via your desktop, web and mobile. Evernote is not just another note taking application where you just copy paste text and images - it can do much more than that.

How does Evernote work?

Despite having fifteen years bureaucratic and administrative experience, I still don’t like office work. Routine paperwork overwhelms me to the point where I want to commit cold-blooded murder, I hate answering letters and emails, I hate having to remember appointments, birthdays, bills, and all the other routine drudgery that goes with life. I just want to write my articles, surf the internet and read my books. In other words, the simple life.

Why would you want to map a folder to a drive letter? Maybe some folder you work with constantly is hidden under a convoluted folder structure, like:

‘U:\Data\User Files\Shared\Clients\VIPClient\Pensky File\Project 232\’

Wouldn’t it be easier to refer to it as: R:\ ?

This is pretty common to do with network locations under Tools -> Map Network Drive. However I didn’t know of a way to do this with local folders until recently. You can either do it via command line or use a simple program known as Visual Subst.

(1) Using “subst” command