When I was in high school, my friends and I had something of a ritual. We’d go to this dingy Chinese food buffet, and then to a movie. It was our standard movie-going evening, and always led to one thing: me, about an hour in to the movie, needing a bathroom break like never before. I’d then have that awful internal battle over when to go to the bathroom, trying to game the movie to only miss the boring parts.

I’ll see that, and raise you another movie conundrum: many filmmaker’s favorite thing to do is to put, at the very end of the movie, after 14 1/2 hours of credits, a 15-second clip that everyone then talks about for six months. And I always miss it.

Here comes the Web to the rescue once again! There is a fantastic Web app that alleviates both of these annoyances, and makes you better at going to the movies. It’s called RunPee.

Runpee is a constantly-updated list of movies in theaters, with the best time to, as the name suggests, "RunPee." The cleverly-designed timeline tells you how far into the movie the optimal point is, how long you’ll have to go pee, and (if you want a spoiler and click "unscramble") exactly what it is you’ll be missing while you’re gone.

Take, for instance, the new film "The Proposal." (Good movie, by the way). A quick look tells you that, about 36 minutes into the movie, right after Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock kiss for the first time, that’s your cue to run to the bathroom. You’ll have about four minutes to spare, and RunPee tells you exactly what you’re going to miss.

Don’t have to go 36 minutes in? No worries – RunPee always comes up with alternatives for you at various points in the movie. It’s actually funny – bad movies tend to have a LOT of possible PeeTimes (as RunPee calls them). Obviously, if it’s a matter of dire emergency, you’re going to want to go when you gotta go. But RunPee’s looking out for you if you can hold out for the boring bits.

You can add your own PeeTime to the site, if you notice a perfect moment. Ironically, it’s a good thing to do while you, ahem, powder your nose.

Now, on to the other problem: those earth-shattering scenes at the end of the credits that I never see, but always wait for at the wrong movies. At the end of a lot of RunPee’s movie timelines is one last dot. Select that dot, and you’ll see if there’s another scene after (or sometimes during) the credits that you want to stick around for.

In "The Hangover", for instance, where there’s a montage of pictures shown during the credits, RunPee tells you that: "There are some photos when the credits start. But after that nothing at the very end."

RunPee’s a site I now check every time I’m going to a movie. Its usefulness is exploding, with a newly-release iPhone app that even lets you figure out what you need to know while you’re sitting in the theater. It’s a good thing, because I’ve found I can’t always know when I’m going to have to pee. Though I’m working on it.

RunPee is a great way to find out what you can afford to miss, and when it’s worth staying through for some epicness at the end.

What other sites make going to movies better?

Photo: JanneM

Always "Go" At The Right Time with RunPee

Among people who spend a significant amount of time online, like myself, there are some applications that are just standard. We’ve all heard of them, we all use them, and we all consider them to be the best. Google Docs is one such example; Digg might be another one. We like them, we use them, and they become the default application for their functions.

Funny story, though: there’s one application out there that’s better than almost any app I’ve ever tried, but no one ever uses it. It’s feature-rich, has some unique features that make it different than anything else, and does its job better than almost all its competitors. But I’m willing to bet 80% of the people who read this post have never heard of it, and 95% have never tried it. It’s called Zoho.

Zoho combines great things about a huge number of other applications – everything from Google Docs (Zoho Writer, Sheet, Show, and Docs) to Evernote (Zoho Notebook), to invoicing software (Zoho Invoice) and task and project software like Basecamp (Zoho Projects and Planner). There’s even Zoho Mail, which rings a lot like Gmail. And those are only a few of the great products from Zoho, most of which are free (the ones that aren’t free aren’t especially expensive, either). The full list has just about everything you’d need to start a business, run it, and make it huge – or just write a blog post.

Zoho’s even willing to play nice with apps you already use – there’s a plugin for Microsoft Word and Excel, and a calendar you can sync between Zoho and Outlook. Zoho’s smart in doing this – the biggest barrier for most people switching applications is the “head room,” trying to figure out how to set everything up, import everything, and so on. With Zoho, just log in, install a simple plugin, and you’re switched!

You can even sign in to Zoho with your Google or Yahoo account, making the transition process crazy-easy. Now, I’ll admit – not every Zoho feature is the best thing in the history of the world, and they’re not all worth switching for. But the integration between services, the ability to have them all available to you in one place, and the sheer number of offerings mean Zoho, by itself, is replacing a number of other applications for me – Google Docs, for one.

On the Web, where everything tends to be single-purpose, and many of us use different applications for just about each thing we do, that’s a welcome change.

And I don’t think I’m the only one. ReadWriteWeb reported in September 2008 that GE, after spending a ton of time debating between Google and Microsoft’s offerings in the realm, actually chose Zoho. That’s a huge decision for a huge company, and you’d think everyone else would take notice. But for some reason, I still don’t hear about Zoho much.

Zoho’s a fairly large, fairly old (by Web standards) company that’s built a great product over the last several years. It’s where I do all my online writing, and a lot of planning and working with the business side of what I do.

Why haven’t more people heard of Zoho? And if you’ve tried it, what’d you think?

Zoho: The Best App You’ve (Probably) Never Heard Of

As I begin this post, it’s exactly 38 minutes before I officially turn 21. It’s very exciting. Vegas, anyone?

Over the last couple of months, I’ve been getting the inevitable question: “what do you want for your birthday?” For years, I’ve always said the same thing: “I don’t know, whatever’s fine.” That, for the record, is a huge mistake. Not being specific means crappy gifts you don’t get to be mad about – not a good combination.

But this year, I’ve got it covered. I’ve got a wish list a mile long of the things I want for my Birthday. They’re all, not surprisingly, tech-related.

I won’t bore you with the details (fingers crossed for the $2 headphone splitter), so instead, here are the top 9 things I want for my Birthday.

9. A Flip Cam ($150)

This thing is just awesome. The Flip is a $150 video camera that is both crazy-powerful and crazy-simple. It takes fantastic video, and then uploading it is as easy as attaching it to your computer. I’m not in need of a camera with tons of features, and I don’t notice the difference between good and great video – I just need something I can whip out at a moment’s notice, take cool video, and share it easily. The Flip’s got that down.

8. A Man-Bag ($20)

There’s bound to be a better name for a man-bag (satchel’s the best I hear, but I don’t like it), but whatever you call it, I want one. Bags are as stylish as we men get to be, and with all the stuff I carry around on a regular basis, having a good one’s pretty important. My personal favorite is the one Jack Bauer used, because, well, Jack Bauer used it. It’s made by Rothco, and I think would make me almost as cool as Jack Bauer.

7. Verizon MiFi ($60/month)

Get this: portable WiFi, that goes with you wherever you go, and works anywhere you’d get cell phone service. Awesome, right? That’s the MiFi. It’s a little credit card-sized gizmo that creates a WiFi hotspot that you can jump on from anywhere. The plan’s not cheap, but total Internet access might just be worth the price. And hey, I pay $30/month for data on my phone already, and the MiFi’s not much more than that!

6. Rock Band: Beatles (Some Amount of $)

A guy’s gotta have fun, right? Epically awful as I am at Rock Band (the whole “pressing the orange button” thing isn’t working for me), I still love it. It’s a great game, and especially with a catalog of exclusively Beatles songs, is pretty hard to beat in the fun to awesomeness ratio. Which totally exists.

5. LiveScribe Pen ($149)

Two of the things I do most are interview people (for my job at school) and take notes (for that whole school thing). For both, the LiveScribe Pen is pretty amazing. You take notes on a special type of paper, and the pen records as you write. Then, later on, tap a spot on your notes and hear exactly what was being said as you were writing. Now, my ridiculous scribbles as I fall asleep in class might actually be useful. Who’da thunk?

4. Amazon Kindle DX ($489)

The Kindle, I think, is a device that’s poised to take over. Except that it costs $500 to read things, and I don’t usually do that for free. But the Kindle has some great potential – especially with the DX, a larger version that’s designed to, among other things, read textbooks. The idea of having all my textbooks on the Kindle, where I can read, take notes and highlight, is a pretty compelling one. The book catalog is huge, newspapers can be downloaded, and even blogs can be read on the Kindle – it’s the most convenient way to read just about anything. But did I mention it’s $500?

3. Things Task Management ($50)

This is the only piece of software that’s crept up my list, and it’s a new addition for me – Things, by Cultured Code, is the best task-managing software I’ve ever used. It’s gorgeous, super-flexible, and features a fantastic iPhone app; it’s single-handedly beginning to revive my productivity system from the brink of disaster. I’ve tried a ton of these applications, and never been so smitten with one as I am with Things – but $50, plus $10 for the iPhone app, means I’d better be more than just smitten.

2. Blackberry Tour ($200)

My Windows Mobile phone (a Motorola Q9c), which I’ve used for a while and will still adamantly defend to anyone who wants to tell me to get an iPhone, is starting to fall apart. I pulled it out of my pocket the other day, and discovered that evidently there’s a vicious monster living in my pocket, because there were two scratches and a big ol’ crack that weren’t there when the phone entered my pocket. Which, you know, is kind of a problem. As a loyal Verizon user, it might be time to upgrade to the Blackberry Tour, which has all the fun bells and whistles I’d been hoping for – plus a real keyboard, which never hurt.

1. Macbook Pro 13″ ($1200)

This one’s cheating, because I already got it – a brand spankin’ new Macbook Pro! Moral of the story here, kiddies: dropping not-so-subtle hints every day for eight months really pays off. And I love this computer. It’s fast, the battery lasts about 13 years, and it just works (a feature noticeably absent on my PC). I just became a Mac, and I’m sure not sure I’m ever going back.

So there it is; the top of my geekiest of geeky wish lists. What’s on yours?

Photo: Augie Schwer

My 21st Birthday Geek Wish List

So, as we’ve all figured out by now, you (the readers of The 2.0 Life – a smart, attractive bunch) are much smarter than I am. You’re constantly alerting me to the best and the brightest of the Web, and engaging in fantastic and fascinating conversation on this blog and elsewhere.

So now, in an effort to solicit the fantastic advice and genius of the readers of this site, I’m hoping you can help me.

My productivity system is broken. I’ve got a perfect, foolproof, loophole-free system – and I just don’t use it.

It’s got too many parts, too many things I have to check, and not enough ways to put in front of me what I need to do.

My System

Here’s how my system works at the moment:

Everything starts in one of three inboxes: Evernote, email (I use Gmail and Postbox), and a physical inbox that hardly ever gets any use. The only thing in it at the moment, actually, is a speeding ticket… But anyway, that’s where everything starts.

Then, from there, things go into one of three places. Definite actions go into Remember the Milk, calendar events into Google Calendar, and things I want to do that don’t have firm due dates or contexts stay in Evernote.

What I Want

I, simply put, need a system. My inboxes are going to stay the same (I LOVE Evernote), but the rest of the tools are negotiable.

I’ve got a new Macbook Pro, on which I’m writing this post. I’ve also got a Windows PC, an iPod Touch, and a Windows Mobile phone. Any system I use needs to be at least quasi-functional with all of these.

I’m constantly on the go, and frequently without an Internet connection. This, over the years, has been my biggest beef with my system – RTM, for instance, loses tons of functionality when used offline. I can’t be counted on to be near my computer, and I need a system that doesn’t require an Internet connection.

Otherwise, I’m flexible. I need a calendar, a to-do manager, and a place to capture all my thoughts and ideas. Right now, within a system I’ve spent endless hours creating and refining, things are slipping through the cracks because this perfect system just doesn’t work for me.

Any and all advice is appreciated. I’m hoping this will be an ongoing conversation, because my hunch is that I’m not the only one going through this type of problem. Let’s work together to figure out what works best for each of us.

Help!

My System is Broken. Help!

Major companies and corporations, it appears, are finally understanding how significant this whole "Internet" thing must just actually be. For a series of tubes, it’s become a pretty big deal.

The potential benefits of this are fantastic, both for companies and consumers. For us, the consumers, it means we get more personal, transparent, and efficient interaction with the huge companies that used to just ignore us and put us on hold for 37 minutes, playing the same Sting song over and over. And over. Thanks to the Web, things might just be looking up – though Sting’s royalties’ll go down the tube.

One of the best examples of the changing landscape of the corporate Web is Dunkin’ Donuts. The company is hugely active on Twitter and Facebook, offering everything from discounts, to contests, to cool factoids about the company. They’re interacting with their customers to improve their products, their reputation, and their consumer commitment – and it’s a plus for us, too!

There’s also DDPerks, which is essentially a VIP email list. Sign up, and you’ll get notified of important news, in-store and online offers, and discounts that no one else gets. It’s a little more volume than I might want, but I’ll take a few extra emails if it means the coffee I can’t be without anymore is cheaper.

The latest and greatest from DD is called Dunkin’ Run, and is just flat-out awesome. The application, which has both a Website and an iPhone app, lets you create what they’re calling a "Dunkin’ Run." The idea is this: you send out, to your coworkers, friends or whatever, a notice saying you’re going to DD. You set a deadline for when you’re leaving, so everyone knows they have 15 minutes to get their order in before you leave.

Everyone can see the menu and pick what they want; once everything’s compiled, you can access the list from the Web or your iPhone app. Then go get your coffee, and rejoice in the undying love and adoration of your coworkers!

The app is a huge time-saver. No running around with a pen getting orders, or having everyone yell as you’re leaving, saying "hey, you’re going to Dunkin Donuts? I’d like the following 41 things. Thanks!" Everything goes into one place, and you can even show the order to the people at DD and they’ll make it all for you – you don’t have to remember a darn thing. Except your iPhone.

I’m a huge DD fan myself (better than Starbucks? Check. Cheaper? Check. Less pretentious? Check.), and I love that the company is trying to stick out as a user of social media and the Internet to promote its product. There’s more that could be done, sure, but Dunkin’ is very much at the forefront of interacting with users over the Web, and through social media. They’re making their product easier to use, their brand more friendly, and are getting the Dunkin’ Donuts name out on the Web in a way that’s pretty hard to miss at this point.

Here’s hoping more brands come along and do it! Come on, Huggies!

Dunkin’ Donuts: A Prototype for Branding and the Social Web

College students are increasingly reliant on computers – and, for many of us, that means spending tons of money software that we’d rather not use anyway. The reality, though, is that there are a ton of great, free alternatives out there for almost any purpose.

Using free web apps is an easy and cost-effective way to increase your academic productivity. A well-designed app can also replace expensive software products and free up space on your computer. Here is a list of 15 web apps that would prove useful to almost any college student:

Posti.ca – Students who love sticky notes will also love Posti.ca. It can be used to create and place digital notes around the web that can be accessed from any computer. Sticky notes can also be sent via Twitter and iGoogle and may be shared with anyone–even people who do not have a Posti.ca account.

Adobe Buzzword – Buzzword is a word processor that works in a web browser instead of on your desktop. This Adobe beta site can be used to create documents, collaborate with others, and track changes from anywhere.

Creative Pro Office – Creative Pro Office is a free suite of web-based office management tools. Features include an office dashboard, project manager, time tracker, calendar, and expense tracking. Creative Pro Office was designed for independent professionals and small tech teams, but it would useful to any student who wants to boost productivity.

Whiteboard – With this free web app, students can collaborate on documents from anywhere and view changes in a snap. Whiteboard allows users write, collaborate, and compare in real time without fear of losing information.

Bubble.us – This free web app allows students to turn ideas into color-coded mind maps. Bubble.us is the perfect tool for brainstorming with visual aids.

PromoOnline – PromoOnline is a free way to create PDF documents without having to install software. With a few simple steps, you can create a PDF version of any file.

BibMe – BibMe is a free bibliography maker for students who want to create a fast bibliography or works cited page in MLA, APA, Chicago, or Turabian format. You can enter the required information in yourself or use the search feature to find books, articles, websites, or films.

ThinkFold – Students needing an easy way to work on group projects may find what they need in ThinkFold. This free web-based tool allows users to create documents, add images, and make changes–all in real time.

Awesome Highlighter – AwesomeHighlighter takes some of the confusion out of online research by allowing students to highlight the important parts of a web page and transform it into a less wieldy link.

FlashcardExchange – Easily the world’s largest online flashcard library, FlashcardExchange can be used to create and study flashcards online. Students who don’t have time to create their own flashcards can use ready-made cards created by other people.

Mindpicnic – Using Mindpicnic is like using learning software without the download. Visitors can choose from a wide range of Mindpicnic courses and begin learning as soon as they sign up for a free account.

NoteMesh – Created by students, NoteMesh in a free online service for university students who want to collaborate on a set of notes for a particular class. NoteMesh creates an easy-to-use wiki that can be updated by anyone in the group.

CollegeRuled – CollegeRuled can be used to create a color-coded class schedule, classroom message boards, to-do lists, and much more. Schedules can be linked to from a Facebook profile and accessed from any computer.

NetVibes – Netvibes is a handy app that brings all of your favorite blogs, email accounts, social networks, video providers, and more to one place–great for students who visit the same sites each day.

Walletproof – The beta version of Walletproof is a great online tool for students who need help with their finances. It can be used to set budgets and track expenses. Walletproof will also make budget recommendations and help you find money saving deals shared by other users.

What are your must-have apps for student life?

Photo: foundphotoslj

15 Must-Have Web Apps for Students

When I write How-To articles, it always strikes me how easy they would be to do if I didn’t write anything and simply showed a screencast. But alas, I write.

Screencasts can be helpful for showing your friend how to do something, taking a video of your latest creation or simply having some fun. Here are some helpful tools, and tips.

At this point, some may be asking, "What the heck are screencasts?" Well, screencasts are basically videos of your screen, that often include a voice over explaining what is happening on the screen. Usually you install software, and use the software to capture screen movements.

Now why would anyone on earth want to do this? Most of the time, it is to demo a product, like a new website, or to show someone how to accomplish a feat with a program. How-To videos and demo videos often include screencasts.

Most online screen capture or screencast tools work the same way. Generally, you go to the site, click record, then up pops a popup. It asks the size of the screen space you would like to record, ie the whole screen or only part. Then it gives the controls to start, pause and stop the capture. Most of these tools run on Java and require you to say that you trust the site to proceed. When you are done with a screen capture, it should give you some options to share with friends, either by embedding, linking or uploading to another site.

Screencast-O-Matic

It feels to me that the oldest of the screen capture tools is Screencast-O-Matic. The tool requires no installation, which is the same case for the next two. In fact, like the next two, Screencast-O-Matic uses Java. This means that when that creepy window pops up asking if you trust the website, you can say yes and not feel like you just stepped into the hall of doom. Really, all of these tools are all similar in the fact that they do the exact same thing. The differences lie in the UI, and the publishing tools. Screencast-O-Matic.com gives a you a box that you can size and drag anywhere on your screen, then record. Here is a screencast in progress:

With a 15 minute limit, you can share plenty with out running out of time. However, after taking the screen capture, I found that Screencast-O-Matic took too long to process it.

ScreenToaster

ScreenToaster’s service won the UI award for the cleanest and speediest UI. The minute I was done, the screen capture was ready to upload or download, with a one click button to YouTube. The service also offered capture of the webcam as well as the microphone. This is one of the best screen capture tools out there. You start out capturing with this screen:

Screencastle

Screencastle crashed my Firefox browser, but when I used Safari it performed fine. The only hiccup in this service is in the UI which tends to make the start and stop controls disappear. The service has a clean interface with intuitive sharing capabilities. Take a look at the share screen here:

Jing

Jing is software that you download to your desktop, but is still a worthy competitor in this race. Jing is for Mac and PC and its UI is very simple. Jing saves in Flash, which can be a pain. You start off with a small icon at the top of your screen that looks like this:

This is your controller. It allows you to take screenshots, screencasts, share them and change your settings. The screen controls are much like other services, which helps reduce the learning curve. The only I problem I found was when sharing screencasts. The program is fine when using its built in sharing controls, but when saving the screencast, it saves in a .flv format. This makes it hard to upload to normal video upload services. After researching a bit, I found that you can use Screencast to upload and share your saved .flv files. [Screencast is under the same umbrella company as Jing].

Screencasting’s a great way to do everything from explain things to showing how cool your computer is. What’s your favorite tool?

More: Want more about Screencasting? Mashable has a great article about it here.

Photo: waynesutton12

4 Apps for Crazy-Awesome Screenshots

One of the new trends in a lot of productivity blogs, websites, and applications is a focus on "single-tasking." Rather than multi-tasking, doing thirteen things at once, do one. Do it well, do it with your entire focus, and then move on to the next thing.

Thing is, that’s tough to do. Even if we shut everything else out, we’ve got this long list of things we need to do, and it’s hard to focus on just one at a time. My task list for today, for instance, is 12 items long. They’re not all long, difficult tasks, but it’s hard to put all my effort into just one, when there’s 11 more to do!

One solution that I’m enjoying using is called NowDoThis. It’s an application built especially for people like me, who can’t keep their eyes from jumping around the page as I try to do only one thing.

NowDoThis literally couldn’t be any simpler. It starts with this box:

Enter into that box your list of things to do, one line at a time. Put them in the exact order you want to do them, and press Enter between items. As best I can tell, there’s no upward limit on the number of tasks you can enter, but don’t go too crazy. If you try and make NowDoThis into your same old long to-do list, it won’t work. Enter the finite number of things you want to do, one at a time.

Click "Save", and poof! You’ve got a task list. The first item on your list will show up, saying exactly what you wanted it to. Go do it, and when you’re done, click "done." (yeah, the app’s so simple it doesn’t even have time for capital letters.) As soon as you click, the next item on your list comes up. Do that.

Rinse, and repeat. One at a time, your tasks will appear and disappear, and when you’ve reached the end, NowDoThis celebrates with you on being done with your tasks!

You can, at any point, click "edit list," and then edit the items still remaining on your list. You can’t go back, you can’t create due dates, or anything else. You can’t even save lists for editing and completing later. You just enter the tasks, and go do them. You can only see one task at a time, so you can’t multi-task even if you wanted to.

NowDoThis is perfect if you’ve got a bunch of rapid-fire things to do, and want to get in the habit of doing things one at a time, with increased focus on each one. It’s not a fully-featured to-do list, and doesn’t try to be. It just wants to keep you working, and let you know what you should be doing right now.

How do you stay on task?

Single-Task Like a Champion with NowDoThis

This is a post I never, ever thought I’d be writing.

One of the new popular things to talk about in productivity circles is "unplugging." The idea is that so much of what we’re logged in and connected to is just a time sink – Twitter, instant messengers, and the like. So, even for people who work with and through the Web, sometimes logging off can be a huge boon to our productivity. I’ve always thought that was crap.

This weekend, I went to the US Open golf championship. By the way, golf is officially the most frustrating sport on the planet. Basketball, football  – they all do things I know I’m not able to do. But Tiger’s golf swing doesn’t look all that different from mine! Except, you know, the whole "going in the hole, making me millions, and attracting supermodels to me" thing. Very frustrating.

But back to the story. The USGA, who runs the tournament, wouldn’t let anyone bring in cell phones, cameras, iPods, or any other electronic device. You either had to not bring it, or check it before you got on the shuttle bus to the course. So, for the first time in an awfully long time, I left the house without cell phone, laptop, or iPod. It was weird.

And it was kind of wonderful. Over the course of two days spent without any technology, and without anyone having technology, I realized that there are, in fact, a few great things about being unplugged.

Being in the Dark is Good Sometimes

The reason I wanted my cell phone so badly was not to make calls, or check my email – though I certainly would have done that. I wanted to be able to check the leaderboard, see what was happening at other holes, and follow the day more completely than from just my sweet viewing spot on the 18th green. Which was really sweet, by the way. You might have seen me on TV. I’m basically famous.

I spent the majority of the day having no idea what was happening on any hole other than the couple I could see and hear. And it was so much more fun! I got to get wrapped up in what I was watching, never felt like I was missing anything, and always made new friends asking newcomers what they had been watching.

My natural tendency is to always be "up on it," to always know exactly what’s happening – and there’s something to be said for that. But it’s also fun to be wrapped up in the moment, rooting like crazy for the two guys in front of you, even though they’re 25-over and have been out of the running since the first hole of the tournament.

There were a couple of people with radios (provided by the tournament), who were getting periodic updates on the major plays and players. We all made friends with them, and they were soon sharing their updates and analysis with about 40 people. Being connected to nothing but golf gave us all something to talk about, a common interest, and nothing to distract us and keep us from interacting. I’ve never had so much fun with a crowd than at this tournament, where there were no emails to check, no tweets to send, no business to conduct – just golf to watch, and friends to make.

Being Bored is Good

I hate being bored. I do just about anything, including giving myself 83,000 things to do, to avoid the bored, thumb-twiddling, time-moves-slowly feeling. I think we all do, and I’m realizing more and more that we do a disservice to ourselves in that.

Boredom forces us to use our imagination, a sorely under-utilized muscle these days. When I was standing in the concession line, where I would normally pull out my cell phone and knock out a couple of emails, I had to look around and think. That boredom, waiting in the ridiculously long lines (how long does it take to serve a hot dog?), led to everything from the idea for this blog post to crazy, weird daydreams about how Chinese food names make for great band names (Poached Rooster would be an awesome punk band).

We spend so much time wrapped up in doing, reading, writing, and checking that we sometimes miss out on being bored. For kids, being bored is the best possible thing – it fosters imagination and self-entertainment, and lets them dream and think. I think it’s at least as useful, and much less used, for adults and professionals.

I’m the last person who would ever recommend unplugging from technology for days, or weeks, or even hours. But, in small spurts, it can be a great thing. Have an errand to run? Don’t bring your cell phone. Enjoy the fact that even if you wanted to be productive, you can’t. Be bored, be present, and be in the dark – it’s a weird feeling, but it’s a good one.

Everyone loves to recommend "unplugging to be more productive." Try it. Not because it makes you more productive – in fact, it’ll probably make you less productive. And, just for a little while, that might be a good thing.

When can you afford to unplug? When might it be good to not be able to be productive, even when we want to?

Photo: commish96

Unplug Yourself. Sparingly.

On a regular basis (read: altogether too often), I check a bunch of different sites to find out what’s popular on the Web– Delicious, Digg, Reddit, PopURLs, and a few more. It’s fun, it’s usually mindless, and it’s a great way to be at the forefront of the burgeoning memes and whatnot on the Web. But it’s not always interesting, and it’s a lot to keep up with.

There are already a bunch of applications that aggregate popular stuff from a variety of sources to make surfing the popular Web a bit easier, but a new one has come out that does it in a new way – OurSignal.

OurSignal is a one-page, visual site that shows some of the most popular stories from around the Web, pulling in Digg, Reddit, Delicious, Hackernews, and Yahoo Buzz. A few more sources might be good, but those five tend to be fairly representative.

It’s much like another favorite application of mine, the Newsmap – it’s not nearly as slick or feature-rich as Newsmap, but it works in essentially the same way: by size and color. The larger the headline of the story, the more popular the story. Brighter, "warmer" colors suggest a growing story, while blues and other soft colors are for stories that are fading out.

At a glance, you can see what’s particularly popular – click a headline, and you’re taken to the site. The site is crazy-simple, and seems as if it could have been thrown together in an afternoon. Which, weirdly, is one of the things I love about it. There’s no in-house toolbar or log-in they want you to use, or anything interactive within the site itself– just pick what you want to read or watch, and go to it.

On a Web where it seems everyone, even aggregators like Digg and Reddit, want you to use their own websites more than the one you’re looking for (the fact that you have to click, and then click again on Digg just to get to the story you want has always annoyed me), OurSignal is a refreshing change. The visuals are easy to learn and understand, and they do a great job of giving you, at a glance, a sense of what’s really hot on the Web.

OurSignal definitely has its issues – for instance, not-particularly-popular stories tend to have tiny print that’s essentially unreadable. But that’s kind of the point, isn’t it? If you’re looking for what’s popular, why do you care what’s not popular?

The only options you get are to hide the thumbnails that come up when you hover over a headline, to open links in a new window, or to hide visited links (if you don’t hide the links, they get crossed out after you click them). It’d be nice to be able to weed out a topic or a site, but that may not be in the cards for OurSignal. Stories get refreshed every fifteen minutes, but you’ll have to refresh the page itself.

But what OurSignal is great for is what I need so badly – a way to figure out what people are talking about, without wading through all the useless stuff that tends to come up on Digg, Reddit, and elsewhere. 

Photo: dsevilla

The Popular Web at a Glance