When you have the exact same schedule each working day, setting the alarm clock is relatively simple process. However, for many entrepreneurs and shift workers, this simply is not the case. You may have to get up at 8am one morning, but at 6am the next.

Since it can be such a pain re-setting your alarm clock each evening for the following morning, wouldn’t it be better if you could set several alarms ahead of time? That’s the exact idea behind the Neverlate 7-Day Alarm Clock. As its name implies, the goal here is to prevent you from ever being late for work (or anything else) again.

Unlike most other alarm clocks that may have just one or maybe two alarm settings, the Neverlate solution gives you seven different alarms. This way, you have one setting for each day of the week. This kind of system is great not only for the employed, but also for students with their erratic schedules.

Other features include the ability to set your snooze length (between 1 and 30 minutes) and the inclusion of a “nap” button, which automatically sets an alarm for between 1 and 120 minutes from the time you press it.

Find the Neverlate 7-Day Alarm Clock on ThinkGeek for $35.

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Typically, you’ll find that most WordPress themes take on the typical blog layout. They will organize your posts in reverse chronological order, highlighting the most recent update and going backwards in time from there. This can suit some purposes, but may not be appropriate for others.

If you prefer more of a magazine-style layout that can simultaneously showcase multiple articles, you may want to consider something like the new Black Stone theme from DynamicWP.net. This is a two-column theme with multiple theme options.

Going to the download page, you’ll see that the articles are shown as a series of preview blocks in a grid pattern. This gives you an opportunity to show off a thumbnail image and a brief snippet of text. This gives the familiar appearance of a static site, but it can be dynamically populated with your most recent blog posts.

The theme is release under GPL License, so you can use and alter it to suit your needs as you see fit. It is a free download and you can find it available on DynamicWP.net. Based on the four votes cast so far, the Black Stone theme has a current rating of 9.8/10.

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How did your work week go? Do you have any exciting plans for the weekend? In the meantime, let’s have a look at what the blogosphere had to offer us this week.

The Urban Muse makes her living through writing, but she wonders if writers should date other writers? They say that birds of a feather flock together, but it’s also true that opposites attract and variety is the spice of life. Do you date within your own industry?

Neil Patel has managed to find a great deal of success from a young age and this is partly because he knows how to listen. Check out his expansive list of business advice in three words. It’s amazing how much insight you can gain with just three short words.

Ed Lau is no stranger to the variety of food available in the Vancouver area, but he has only recently discovered the authentic Mexican cuisine in the city. He made a recent visit to Dona Cata on Victoria Drive and set his mouth on fire with the seemingly docile-looking green salsa. Smart.

Beyond Robson takes a moment to consider alternative forms of transportation. There is already a dedicated bike line on the Burrard Bridge in Vancouver and now they are proposing one on the Dunsmuir Viaduct too. Will this help with congestion? They say that it won’t take away any driving lanes for cars.

Tyler Ingram is a budding photographer with an ever-expanding portfolio. In one of his more recent collections, we get some terrific shots of urban wildlife, an affectionate aquatic companion, and some snowboarders catching some crazy air. Bring on the Olympics!

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Going through this week’s flyers, I noticed a common thread among many of the advertisements that arrived in my mailbox. This isn’t a new phenomenon, by any stretch of the imagination, but it is an interesting observation nonetheless.

Most people will know that Super Bowl XLIV is scheduled ot happen this Sunday in Florida, pitting the New Orleans Saints against the Indianapolis Colts. This is a big deal and it’s easily one of the most expensive days for television advertising. What happened with the flyers is that they were trying to avoid paying the Super Bowl-related royalties.

Instead, nearly every flyer I saw featured some football-related motif, as well as references to things like the “Big Game” rather than to the “Super Bowl.” The relationship was very clear and very obvious, but there was no wording that involved the Super Bowl, the NFL, or other similar licensed content.

How do you feel about advertisements that use this implied connection rather than paying for the official licensing? I don’t mind it, but I do find it a little funny that they would try to do this.

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Are you offering some kind of free download on your website or blog? Maybe you’re giving away a free e-book for marketing purposes and you want to know how many people have downloaded it thus far? The trouble is that Google Analytics may not supply this kind of information for you.

To overcome this mild shortcoming, you may want to consider the DownloadCounter WordPress plug-in. This plug-in will track the number of times a file has been downloaded from your site, giving you an accurate representation of how well that product is doing and how popular it has been.

This doesn’t work automatically with all files, of course, as you could be overwhelmed with the amount of stats available. Instead, this plug-in can automatically generate a special link and code that you then embed in your website. You can manage your chosen files through the administration page.

More information can be found on paran0id’s blog. The plug-in has not been updated since 2006, but it still seems to work for most current users. Here is the direct download link, which is also representative of the links the plug-in creates.

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Whether you’re willing to accept it or not, it’s that time of year again. It’s typically in your best interest to deal with your income tax return sooner rather than later, but it’s also important to educate yourself about all the potential benefits and rules that you can use in your favor.

If you run your own small business out of your home and you have a room in your home that is dedicated to this purpose, you have a home office! Assuming that you keep all your receipts and you have everything properly organized, this can open up a world of tax write-offs and legitimate expenses.

In addition to things like stationery and web hosting, you can also legitimately write-off a portion of your home expenses as home office expenses. The best way to do this is based on your square footage. Let’s say that you have a 1000 square-foot condo and you have a 100 square-foot home office. Using this information, you can legitimately write off 10% of your mortgage interest, heating bills, and other similar expenses.

As always, since I am no accountant, you should check with your preferred tax professional if you have any questions or concerns. Better safe than sorry!

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The netbook has taken the world by storm, because these little devices are able to offer a laptop-like experience in a smaller and more affordable package. Taking a similar approach to the desktop computer world is a device called a nettop. One of the most popular takes on this new niche is the Asus EeeBox.

Coming equipped with specifications and features that are much like its netbook counterpart, the Asus EeeBox is also affordably priced. You get the standard 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, 1GB of RAM, 160GB hard drive, and Windows XP Home. You can likely install Windows 7 Starter in there if you prefer too.

Further still, the EeeBox comes preinstalled with Asus Express Gate. This is a pre-boot environment that allows you to check email, surf online, play music, or chat with friends without having to enter the full operating system. The small size of the EeeBox also reduces energy usage by about 90% compared to a typical PC.

The Asus EeeBox EBXB202-WHT-X0081 Desktop PC is currently on sale on Amazon for $279.99. This represents an $80 savings over the regular price and there is an additional $30 mail-in rebate available if you buy before the end of this month.

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Do you like the light and airy feel of Twitter? Do you want to give the same kind of atmosphere to your personal or professional blog? One of the newer themes to hit the Internet recently is called Bright Sky and it’s clear that it was inspired by a tweeting bird.

By and large, the color scheme for bright sky is comprised of white and light blue, giving you the sense that you are hanging out in the clouds. The header image elicits the same kind of reaction as the Twitter homepage, but hopefully without that ever-present fail whale making an appearance.

Further to its Twitter inspiration is the inclusion of widgets for showing your most recent tweets. Alternatively, you can use that same space as a “lifestream” on your blog, displaying not only Twitter updates, but also the updates you post through Facebook, Flickr, and other online communities. Substantial integration has been included for advertising as well.

You can see the live demo of Bright Sky on KreativeThemes.com. More information and the download link can be found there too.

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Well, we’ve made it to the end of another work week, so it’s time to treat ourselves to some of the best from the blogosphere. Enjoy!

Free Money Finance has uncovered an interesting piece on how different age groups view their careers. Baby boomers tend to define themselves based on their job choices, but busters see work as an irritant and a necessary evil. Do these guidelines fit with your viewpoint?

Scott Young knows that there is a time to have fun and a time to be serious, but did you know that there is such a thing as the serious pursuit of fun? As it turns out, if you want to have a whole lot of fun, sometimes you have to put in the serious effort to get everything properly organized and ready to go.

Darren Barefoot, along with everyone else remotely interested in technology, heard about a little Steve Jobs announcement on Wednesday morning. As nice a device as it may be, Darren has a hard time finding the purpose of the iPad tablet. If the iPad is a hammer, where is the nail?

Hummingbird604, who you may know better as Raul Pacheco, recently made his way over to Glowbal Grill in Yaletown for a delicious lunch. If you go to this classy bistro before the end of the month, they’ll give you 50% off your lunch bill! The Dot Com Pho crew indulged in some Australian Wagyu steak there earlier this month too and they were thoroughly impressed.

Jay Piddy continues with the theme of food, but takes on a completely different spin. Check out the fantastic photo he took of the Crab Man at Pike Place Market. It doesn’t get much more random than an older gentleman, wearing a military uniform, posing with a live crab in his hand.

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A great marketing strategy is to distribute free promotional t-shirts to your customers and partners, as well as through any networking events or trade shows that your company may attend. The recipients feel like they are getting a free gift and you are effectively hiring a number of walking billboards.

That sounds like the ideal situation, but there is one major hurdle that you must first overcome. Convincing people to take a free shirt is not the problem; it’s convincing them to wear that shirt on a regular basis. After all, that shirt isn’t doing much advertising if it spends its lifetime in the back of a closet or in the bottom of a drawer.

In this way, it pays to spend some time with a creative team to decide on the t-shirt’s design. A shirt that has nothing but the company logo emblazoned across the chest will likely not be worn by too many people. The shirt from MarketLeverage, for example, has “I’m blogging this” written on it. That’s unique. In like manner, a shirt from OCZ Technology says that “SSD killed the HDD star” with some great graphics to boot.

It’s important to keep branding in mind, but too much branding can turn someone off from wearing your shirt in the first place. You want your company name or logo on there somewhere, but it doesn’t have to be the primary focus of the shirt.

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