If you’re like me, the Pomodoro Technique may appeal to you more. It’s deceptively simple, to the point where it may make you wonder if it will work, but for people with a short attention span, it can be the perfect antidote.

The first step before using the Pomodoro Technique is familiarizing yourself with it. While the technique is simple, reading Francesco Cirillo’s book, provided as a free download on the site, is a great way to understand how it works and discover the ways in which you can use it to its full potential.

In order to use the technique, you need to begin your day by creating a plan. Make a list of the tasks you are going to tackle. An extremely simple To-Do list template, available for download with the PDF of the entire book, or as an individual sheet.

The basis of Cirillo’s concept is that all tasks should be done in increments of 25 minutes, followed by a 3 to 5 minute break. Each 25 minute time period is called a Pomodoro. After 4 Pomodoros, you can take a 15 to 30 minute break.

When planning your day, you need to estimate how many Pomodoros each task will take, although this is something you might not be able to do until you get a hang of the technique and understand exactly how you use your time.

In order to find the method that works best for you, there are several free apps that you can use to boost your productivity. While you can order the book and kit from their online store there are many free online and offline apps that are just as useful.

Pomodairo (Windows/Mac/Linux)

The Adobe Air app Pomodairo takes all of the essential elements of the Pomodoro technique and rolls them up into one tidy little package, and is the best choice for someone who wants the full Pomodoro experience.

You can use the app to create a task list, adding a short description and the estimated number of Pomodoros needed for the task.

Once you start the task, begin your timer. If you’re interrupted, hit the interruption button, after which you will have to re-set the timer for another 25 minutes to work on the task at hand.

Once the 25 minutes are up, the app’s alarm will go off (with a less than appealing buzz) after which it will start timing your break automatically, but rather than a 5 minute countdown, it will count up how long you take a break, with the buzzer going off at 5 minutes.

Right clicking a task allows you to mark it done/undone, edit it or remove it from the list.

Pomodairo is not only a great app to use to keep you on track, it also keeps a searchable log of your work and statistics, making it easy to analyse your work patterns and use of time.

Tomato Timer (Web)

If you’d rather not download an app, Tomato Timer is useful webapp for keeping track of your time. Unlike Pomodairo, the app does not account for your task list or log, so if you want to keep a task list or a log of your work you will have to use a separate app. Something as simple as a combination of Google Tasks and an Excel sheet would be sufficient.

As far as the online timer is concerned, you can start, stop and reset the timer for your Pomodoro, short and long break, and in the settings you can alter the lengths of each time period.

Tomato Timer is compatible with Chrome 4.0+, Firefox 3.5+, Internet Explorer 8.0+, Safari 4.0+, Opera 10.5+, and the iPhone & Android’s mobile browsers. Chrome users have the added benefit of desktop notifications and an alarm.

Focus Booster (Windows/Mac/Web)

Focus Booster is available as a desktop version, either as a free Adobe Air download or as a free Windows download, as well as as a free web-based version. Both the desktop and web versions don’t have any bells and whistles. A timer counts down your 25 minute Pomodoro.

A small alarm will sound and your 5 minute break will automatically begin.

Settings in the web version include toggling the alarm sound on and off, as well as toggling a clock ticking sound on and off.

Settings in the desktop version are identical, with the exception of having the choice to keep the Focus Booster window on top of other apps, and to bounce the dock icon when the time period is finished.

If keeping track of your work or visualising your use of time is important to you, Focus Booster isn’t the app for you. If on the other hand, you simply want to use the timed method of working without the analytical aspect of the Pomodoro Technique, it will be sufficient.

Have you used the Pomodoro Technique? Do you prefer it to the GTD Technique? Whatever be your productivity mantra, download MakeUseOf’s Smart Productivity Guide for more tips.

Also, let us know about your favorite Pomodro app.

At the heart of the Chrometa 2.0 time tracking application is a desktop service built upon a Java framework. You can download it today for Windows and they are working on a Mac version which should be released within a month or so.

Chrometa 2.0 has been out for a while now, however the developer recently dropped the $99 price tag. You can now receive a free license key for Chrometa 2.0 at this location. The license key works with version 2.0 of Chrometa which is available for download here.

After installing the software (and any necessary Java components), Chrometa will launch and start collecting usage data on your machine. Ignore it for a day and go about your normal business activities. After you come back, you will see a screen with your most frequently used programs.

After you use it for a few days, you will start to see some trends emerging. Categorizing your applications will allow you to break apart the time you use for projects or personal use. This can then allow you to bill for that time where you might not have kept accurate time previously for that project.

Privacy is always a concern with time tracking applications. Chrometa has this covered by allowing you to clear your private data or even password protect the Chrometa interface. This is good for two reasons: the first is that you can prevent prying eyes from seeing what you are doing, or if you are a business owner or manager you can install the software on your employee’s PC to see what they are doing without giving them the ability to remove their tracking data.

It will also ask you to enter your time when you are idle at your computer for a certain amount of time. This could be because you are on the phone with a client (paid) or were out to lunch (not) so it is important to track this information as well.

All said, Chrometa is a great free time tracking application which you should use if you want to have an automated way to track where you spend your time. A very similar program is RescueTime, which we have mentioned in the past. The main difference that I see between these two pieces of software is that Chrometa is completely offline, which for someone interested in privacy may be a very attractive option.

Chrometa also has some other options available if you are able to pay for a monthly subscription. They have just released their web-based software app which starts at $19 per month. They have introduced some new features including splitting categories into clients and projects, adding billing information directly into the program, and more.

The web interface is very similar to the offline app with the exception that it is available anywhere online.

With all of that being said, Chrometa 2.0 (desktop version) is a very capable time tracking application that would work well if you are interested in tracking personal time or time to be billed for a business. If you are interested in some of the billing features, you may want to check out the web app (not free) but it is well worth it if you can recover previously unbilled time. If you just need to track time on the web and in applications, the free version (Chrometa 2.0) works just as well.

Let us know if you have any other preferred time tracking applications or interesting uses you have found for Chrometa!

Image Credit: harshlight

Even though most of us won’t go that far, it’s nice to have something to nudge us along every once in a while, just to remind us that we’ve been doing something for a certain number of hours and it might be a good time to have a break. If you have an iOS device (iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch) user, you might want to try Cuckoo.

Say Cuckoo!

Cuckoo is a simple application that will chime every hour just like a grandfather clock. The app will help you to keep track of the hours that have passed by. But unlike a grandfather clock, you can customize the sound that will be played. You can also choose the working hours of the app so you won’t be bothered during your good night’s sleep (or any other settings that you choose).

After installing the app, you can easily turn the app on and off, and have a quick preview of what kind of sound the app will play. If there’s something that you want to change, you can access the settings from the bottom of the screen.

The settings mainly consist of “General” and “Sound” settings. There’s also the option to follow Cuckoo on Twitter and Facebook.

“General Settings” is the place where you can change the start and stop hour. You can set the range to cover the hours when you do your work or any other arrangements that suit you best. To adjust the range, tap the “Start Hour” or “Stop Hour” and tap the time.

Hear More Sounds

In the “Sounds” settings, you can choose one of the many available sounds. However, there’s only two activated sounds when you first start using Cuckoo. To activate the others, you need to “Join The Game“.

Joining the game means connecting Cuckoo with your Facebook and/or Twitter account. This action will put a post on your Facebook wall, or a tweet on your Twitter account, promoting Cuckoo. If you feel uncomfortable allowing Cuckoo to access your account but you want to activate all the sounds, you could create a new Facebook/Twitter account and link Cuckoo to it.

After the linking process is successful, other sounds will be unlocked and ready to use. There’s also the option to “Get More Sounds“.

There are options to get Animal Sounds, Funny Sounds, and human sounds that will Announce The Time. However, these additional sounds packages are not free. You can buy them for $1 each.

After finishing the settings, you can close the app. You don’t have to keep Cuckoo running to make the chime sounds.

Simple But Useful

Cuckoo might not be for everybody, because it does only one thing: chime the hours (even though it does it very well). Some people might also think that Cuckoo is too simple. But I think it’s the simplicity that makes Cuckoo great, and you should try it to get the experience. Even though it’s possible to use iOS’s “Clock” to set off an alarm every hour, setting up those alarms might be troublesome. If you need to hear 12 alarms for the next 12 hours, you’ll need to set 12 different alarms. Cuckoo makes everything easier. The best combination would be using the Clock for a daily alarm, and Cuckoo to fill the gaps between alarms.

One feature that I hope will be added in a future version is the ability to set the chimes for customizable intervals – like 30 minutes, 15 minutes, or 10 minutes. There are choices for 15 and 30 minutes chimes, but they are limited to only “Grandfather” sounds.

I found Cuckoo to be very useful, but different people might have different opinions. What about you? Have you tried Cuckoo? Do you have your favorite free alarm application? Share your opinions using the comments section below.

Online timers have many uses. It can not only be used to track time and keep to deadlines but also be used for play and tests. It can also be used to do everyday stuff like cook eggs and workouts.

Here are ten free online timers that may help you use time more wisely.

Tabata Timer

Tabata is a high-intensity cardio workout with alternating cycles of different exercises and short rest intervals. This free online Tabata Timer mirrors the iPhone app but is free unlike the app. Of course, unlike the iPhone app you cannot carry it around. But if you are exercising in front of your computer, the vocal prompts and the configurable exercise options should do the trick.

You can find two more Tabata clocks at Online Tabata Clock and SpeedBagForum.

Chess Clock

Each player gets the default of 20 minutes in a game but you can click on the clock to change the time. Hit Start and the game is on. Clicking Switch or hitting the spacebar shifts to the other players’ chess clock. You also get five time control options. If you aren’t sure of your Internet connection, the file can also be downloaded and used offline. Online-Stopwatch.com also has a cool collection of nearly dozen stopwatch and timer apps which can be run online or downloaded to the desktop.

CubeTimer

If you think that you can best the Rubik’s Cube in the quickest time possible, log all your solve times on this online timer app. Using the dropdown, you can keep time for different variations of the Rubik’s cube.The timer uses a cookie to store your solve times and computes your average time from the total. Added usability includes clearing the solve times individually, or all at once.

Egg Watchers

The concept is about having some idle fun while an egg gets cooked. The egg timer takes your choice of egg preparation and calculates the time to cook it and accordingly shows you a YouTube video. The video is random, so there’s a chance that you will get a blank black screen if the YouTube video has been removed due to any reason. But yes, you will need a computer in the kitchen to watch the egg timer counting up (see also Directory mention).

Kitchen Timer

If you are still there on the stove, the Kitchen Timer does double duty as a recipe search engine and as an egg timer. Search for your favorite recipe using the integrated Google Search and set your timer according to the recipe. You can also add multiple timers and run them simultaneously.

Steep.it

This timer does for tea what the above two do for eggs and other recipes. You can follow the times listed for different types of tea or just type in the time as shown in the address bar. The timer announces the countdown with a ring.

Focus Booster

If you haven’t heard about the Pomodoro Technique, it’s not a problem. It is a time management method that breaks down any task into chunks of 25-minutes with short rest intervals and is based on the idea that frequent breaks can improve focus. The online app works on the principal by counting down the 25 minutes (and also recording the sessions) and helping you boost your focus in the process. You can also download the free desktop app (see also Directory mention).

x.Minutes.at

Here’s another way to stop wasting time by idle web browsing. Use the field box to enter the URL of any site with the time you plan to spend there. The online timer lets you know when the time’s up. Minutes.at uses frames to display the countdown. I really wanted to use it on my Gmail account, but one has to open Gmail in a separate window as Gmail does not play nice with frames. Facebook doesn’t do too. But the timer still functions in the adjoin tab and pops up a alert when the clock runs down (see also Directory mention).

The Poker Clock

A fancy online poker clock helps you do away with a physical one. The online clock has a really loud bell when the countdown to a round ends. You can choose the blinds and set the time for the rounds before clicking on Start (see also Directory mention).

Do Nothing For 2 Minutes

Reading this post must have been a strain on the eyes. Click on the above link and seek a bit of relaxation. Just don’t touch the mouse or the keys.

At the end of 2 minutes, do let us know about any cool or unusual free online timers that got left out of this list. Also, let us know about any favorite timer or clock app that you regularly use for time management or productivity.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Well, recently things changed. My client list expanded and my available time to work shrunk. I realized that a lot of my online time was wasted with constantly checking and responding to email or checking and responding to Facebook posts. What I needed was a way – some sort of daily work log – to track and quantify just how much time I could gain in productivity by cutting those areas where I waste time.

I took a look at some of the apps covered here at MakeUseOf, like the online trackers Shankar covered, the web-based time tracker called Yast, and the desktop trackers Damien covered. The problem was, the online trackers weren’t quite as versatile as the desktop ones, and the desktop ones listed above were either too complicated, or not detailed enough for my needs. So, searching on the web, I finally discovered the perfect daily work log on SourceForge called PC Fare Meter.

Getting Started With Monitoring Your Work

You see just how easy it is to use the Fare Meter when you start it up and see the helpful list of 4 steps to get started.

The software is called PC Fare Meter for a very simple reason. The PC Fare Mater essentially logs the time you spend on specific tasks just like a taxi cab driver logs the time spent driving particular customers around. This software will also help you figure out how to show that time in terms of real money.

On the main screen you’ll see the list of clients (or projects). You can add a new one at the bottom of the screen. If you are in a business like web design where you charge hourly rates, you can enter your hourly rates. You can also further organize these clients into “groups”. This helps you keep track of how much time you spend on different “types” of work.

The software is also configurable enough so that you can tell it how much of your computer activity to log, and you can even allow the software to monitor more than one project at a time. Multiple project tracking works by assigning certain window text to specific projects (as you’ll later see in this article).

Once you have your project list ready, monitoring your work time is as simple as clicking one of the stop watches and starting work. So, for example, before I start working on my next MakeUseOf article I click the little stopwatch. At that point, the software logs all of my activity and how much time I spend in each window.

This gives a much more accurate representation of how much you actually worked on what you wanted to work on. When you open the project, you’ll see a breakdown of the individual windows or apps you used, and how long you spent in each one. The software will also break it down by browser window, so I can see how much time I actually worked on the article and how much time I spent Facebooking.

Sometimes, you might remember something you had to do for a different project, so you’ll open up a new window, finish that task, and then get back to your original project. You can go into the PC Fare Meter and reassign that activity time to the correct project by simply clicking on the activity and clicking the “Move Windows” button. You can select the correct project for that activity in the pop-up box.

As another useful organization feature, you can also name the task grouping based on what you were working on. This means that within a project like “MakeUseOf”, I might start the timer at the beginning of writing an article, and I’d call that “Writing”. Then I’ll start the timer again and call that grouping of tasks “Editing.” This lets you break down your work, especially for clients that like to see a detailed breakdown of work on an invoice.

Don’t feel like going in and “fixing” those little tasks that you perform? Let PC Fare Meter automate the process with the “Auto Move” feature. Here you can tell the software that if you’re using a window or browser tab with certain text in it – always log the time in a particular project bucket.

Of course, the software wouldn’t be complete or even very useful if you couldn’t export all of your time logs. With this app, you can export your information to a CSV file. You can also archive logs (a good idea when they get very large), or just save individual files locally.

For the most part, PC Fare Meter not only tracks your time, but it helps you to automatically organize that time into buckets that later allow you to get a better picture of how much time you actually spend working on what you think you’re working on, and also accurate charge for the time you’ve spent on different jobs.

Have you ever tried PC Fare Meter? Did it help you organize your computer time better? Do you use another activity logging app to develop a daily work log? Share your insight in the comments section below!

Image credit: A Syed

I’ve been using the web-based time-tracker, SlimTimer which is a simple but elegant solution. However, web apps don’t always suit everyone. There are neat desktop applications that offer tighter integration with the OS (and offer free accounts), such as RescueTime and ManicTime, which sit in the background, monitor your activity on the computer and provide charts to let you visualize the time you spend on specific tasks.

However, if you’re more of the privacy-concerned type of user, you might be interested in TimeEdition, an open-source, cross-platform time tracker that requires no installation. The download for Windows is 5MB in a zipped file so it’s not exceedingly enormous. It can export data to Excel, iCal, Outlook and Google Calendar.

With TimeEdition, you don’t just track time for an activity. You log customers, projects and tasks, so in other words, to track any task, you’ll have to create a new customer first, then a project, then a task, which you can do by heading into the drop-down menu for each field in the main window, or selecting the appropriate entry under View in the menu bar.

You can still use it even if you aren’t working for a client. You could just list yourself to track your different projects.

While TimeEdition has a more customer-project-task system that might be too specific for the non-freelancer, it’s very easy to use. The program itself has a simple GUI, and sports a single button to start or pause the timing. To see more features that make this application really appealing, read on.

Track How Much Time You’ve Spent On A Project

What makes TimeEdition very useful is the fact that you can view how much time (specifically, minutes) you’ve spent on a single client, a specific project or task while TimeEdition is running and counting for you. That means you can stop timing or recording and resume the timing later without having to break a sweat to manually calculate time spent yourself. You simply have to go up to the View menu and select something other than Daily Records (default) which you’ll want if you’re looking to see how much time you’ve spent for the whole day. The other options include viewing by current session, in whole, or in retrospective (Project countdown).

To view project countdown, you have to edit your project and estimate how much time the entire project will take, or just make sure for your future projects, to input your estimated time in the right field when you are creating a new project.

You can also choose to not track anything after your computer is idle for a specific time, by going to Extras > Options.

Google Calendar Integration

For those that want to time how long an event lasts, TimeEdition will be a great tool to download as it can create an event in your Google Calendar after an event is done timing. This would be very handy if, say, I wanted to keep track of how many hours of studying I did over a whole semester, I could use TimeEdition to track studying habits, and then create charts with Youcalc, like this person did. If you use Google Calendar to journal your day or track hours spent on a project, TimeEdition can help you create events after timing your activities.

Depending on whether you have Windows or Mac, this window will show you options to create events in desktop calendars, such as Outlook and iCal.

Exporting Or Backing Up

If creating events in Google Calendar is not enough for you, you can also export your record in iCal, CSV, Excel or even XML formats. Just go to the File menu and select Export. You can even choose to export record from a specific time frame.

You can also back up your records by going to File > Backup Database. The file will be saved as a .edb, which is TimeEdition’s database file type and can be restored by going to File > Restore Database.

While it’s not an automated solution like RescueTime or ManicTime, TimeEdition is an easy time tracker and integrates with other popular services, all while being open-source and available for Windows, Mac and Linux.

Got any other excellent alternatives to TimeEdition? Feel free to comment!

For the time being, until iOS 4 is made available to iPad users, be sure to launch the app before you go to sleep if you want to use your iPad as an alarm clock.

Nightstand Central

The free version of the iPhone and iPad app, Nightstand Central displays the time, date and weather of the location of your choice. The alarm can be set to the sound of church bells, a traditional alarm clock and a dial up modem, amongst a few other sounds.

Nightstand Central has a snooze feature, and also gives you a variety of wallpapers to choose from, although one of the darker wallpapers will make more sense if you’ll be keeping the iPad or iPhone by your bed.

Alarm Clock HD Free

If graphics are of no interest to you, the aptly named iPad-only app Alarm Clock will do the trick. There are no bells and whistles with a large digital clock filling the screen. You can also choose to display your location’s weather and the day of the week.

Alarm Clock’s additional features include a snooze option and a small selection of free sounds including a cuckoo, old clock and school bell, amongst others.

Waku Free

Waku Free is a quirky alarm clock app for the iPad and iPhone that sets itself apart from the rest of the apps with its unique graphics. Waku is also a cut above the rest of the free apps because it allows you to use the music on your iPad as the sounds you’ll wake up to. That said, their own hilarious sound effects might help get your day started on the right note.

And don’t be put off by the bright screen – it actually has a switch that allows you to dim the lights and get some shuteye.

goodNite

If the one and only green colour in the free version of Alarm Clock doesn’t appeal to you, give goodNite a try. The free iPhone and iPad app allows you to change the background, font and font colour. You can also choose to use a photo of your own choice as a background.

Alarm sounds include a dog barking, morning birds and a rooster, amongst a few others. The app, like Waku Free, sets itself apart by allowing you to use a any one of your iPod’s playlists.

Night Stand Lite

Night Stand Lite, not to be confused with Nightstand Central, is another minimalist iPad and iPhone alarm clock with two choices in the app’s appearance. You can select the digital clock, with the colours of your choice, or set it to display 6 clocks set to 6 different timezones.

While it has no snooze option, you can choose which days you want the alarm to be repeated, and can wake up to a small selection of sounds from birds to glass breaking. Although waking up to the sound of glass breaking doesn’t really sound all that pleasant.

Ambient Alarm

Ambient Alarm, an iPad only app, takes a slightly different approach, and includes some unique features, although some of them seem to take things a little far.

The background constantly changes colour, so if you’re a light sleeper this isn’t the app for you. Others may find it soothing and it will help them sleep. The feature that seems unnecessary is that you can shake your iPad to stop the alarm. I don’t know about you, but the last thing I want to do when I first wake up is attempt to do anything that involves shaking a $500 gadget. That said, Ambient Alarm does also allow you to wake up to songs from your iPod music selection.

What’s your favourite iPhone or iPad alarm clock app? Let us know in the comments.

Image credit: Shutterstock