Weboo’s Blog

Recently I have been visiting a few new sites and online tools. These tools and systems have drastically improved my productivity and hopefully they can improve yours.

Google Spreadsheets
Google has created an excellent product called Google Spreadsheets. I have recently been using this to track the work remaining on work-related projects. The system also has unique collaboration features. I share these spreadsheet with my co-workers so when they update the spreadsheet I immediately see the changes and vice-versa. This feature is extremely powerful and something which standard spreadsheets do not offer. The system is also easy to use and exports to numerous standard spreadsheet formats.

http://docs.google.com

Google Reader
Have you heard of RSS feeds? RSS or Real Simple Syndication is a method for web sites to output the latest information in a file format which can be interpreted by software or other web sites for the purpose of consolidating news from different sources. For example, I read or ‘subscribe’ to a variety of RSS feeds from the ABC Australia, Google news, various technology and internet-related web sites. I can quickly and easily browse all of these RSS feeds using a RSS reader. The best RSS reader I have found so far is Google Reader. It has an easy to use interface, good sorting and management features plus I can easily mark all the items I am not interested in as ‘read’ so I can quickly see any new ‘unread’ items as they appear.

http://reader.google.com

Digg
Many people don’t know about Digg so I will quickly explain the idea behind it - Digg is a web site which has a large active user base. Members of the Digg user base can post articles they find interesting on the internet to Digg’s website. The user base review these articles and ‘digg’ the article (approve it) or disapprove it if they want to. The Digg front page shows only the articles that have been digged (or dugg) a lot. Therefore, when I check Digg I see articles which a large user base deem interesting. The articles on the front page change frequently as new items are always being added to Digg.

http://www.digg.com

Zazz
I’lll admit, this is the web site I check every single day without fail. I eagerly await its daily newsletter and I frequently wait until mid-night to see what has been put on Zazz for the new day. Why, you are probably asking, does Ian put this much effort into a web site with too many letter ‘z’ in it?

I check Zazz every day because every day Zazz has a new product to sell. You see, Zazz is a store which stocks 1 product each day until the end of the day or when the product is sold out. Zazz specialise in technology and geek-related products. So far I have purchased from Zazz:

• A web cam
• A graphics tablet
• A iPod charger
• A 1 Gigabyte USB memory stick
• A bluetooth earpiece for a mobile phone
• A wireless mouse and wired mouse

Many of these products were purchased for well below their retail prices and shipped to me for a small fee. What’s more, purchasing from Zazz is also easy making purchases at 6.45 am in the morning, when I first see what Zazz are selling, quick and easy.

http://www.zazz.com.au

Have you found any other excellent web sites which you think visitors would like to know about? If so please add a comment.

Recently a friend of mine suggested I listen to an audio book by Robert Kiyosaki, the author of ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ and other popular finance and investment books. After copying the files to my MP3 player I realised that the book he was suggesting, called ‘Choose to by rich’, was actually 12 CDs! This was a bit of a shock although I persevered and I was very happy I did.

I drive to work, it is about 30 minutes there and home so this gives me about an hour a day to listen to my MP3 player. This meant I should be able to finish all 12 CDs in roughly 2 weeks. Well I began listening and found this audio book was actually read by the author. Immediately I found Robert Kiyosaki to be a very inspirational speaker and I found myself really enjoying the audio book.

After listening to ‘Choose to be rich’ I began branching out. So far I have listened to:

• A number of Robert Kiyosaki books.
• Coversation Power (it was average and out of date)
• A short history of nearly everything (16 CDs!)

In my brief experience I have found audio books to average 4 CDs in length which means I can complete one per week. I have a preference for audio books which are read by professionals rather than the ones read by their authors. Professionals tend to speak more clearly and the momentum of the speech is retained throughout the recording.

I have found audio books enable me to maximise my time. Instead of listening to music or the radio I find I learn something new every time I go to work and every time I come home. I really miss my audio books when my MP3 player is flat.

If you have any spare time I suggest giving audio books a go. There are many interesting topics out there and they cover a huge range of topics. Many online download stores are now offering audio books such as iTunes as well as specialty stores like Audible.

Have you listened to any good audio books lately? If so please add a comment below and tell me about them.