In Your Corner Coaching & Consulting Services

We admit we have a somewhat unbalanced perspective about the tools that help us be more productive. When we find something that is innovative, effective, elegant and free, our eyes light up and we are tempted to steer strangers into a corner to tell them about our wonderful discovery. Here are some we’ve found helpful, plus a smattering of those we expect are valuable but just haven’t gotten around to trying.

Firefox Browser

Although Internet Explorer 7 fixes some of the problems that have existed in IE since the beginning of time, Firefox offers the significant advantage of being “open source”. This means that all of Firefox’s programming is an open secret, allowing bright, creative techies to work night and day to develop “extensions” — software add-ons that can tailor its functioning to our wants and needs.

We get a lot of use from extensions that strip ads from many popular web sites, highlight e-mails that require action and integrate them with a to-do list, save selected web pages to a scrapbook for offline access and even color-code browser tabs. Fun, yes. Attractive, yes. Plus work is easier, faster, and more efficient.

Gmail, Google Calendar

Although we confess an early concern that Google would become nothing more than a new edition of “Micr___ft, the Evil Empire”, the exceptional usability and responsiveness of these applications has won our loyalty. Gmail is robustly searchable by any keyword or label, so you don’t have to worry about filing a message and later having to hunt through folders for it. Google Calendar is accessible from any computer anywhere, and you can easily include or exclude other people’s schedules, holidays, sports schedules, etc. from your view. Great for integrating work, personal and family commitments with ease.

Jott

How often have you wanted to make a note to yourself while you’re speeding down the expressway? If you make a dental appointment without your calendar nearby, are you afraid you’ll forget to add it later? Have I got a deal for you. Just let Jott know your mobile phone number and your e-mail address (plus addresses or cell numbers of others you might want to message on the fly). Then call the toll free number at any time and get your voice message transcribed and sent to e-mail or via text to a cell phone. Free, of course. This is the application we’re buttonholing people about these days.