Twelve great productivity boosters
Useful tools and online timesavers
By Robert Strohmeyer | PC World | Published 12:00, 14 November 10
5. Taska for iPad
More than a few people in this office have taken to carrying their iPads around from meeting to meeting. Our favourite task manager for Apple's slate is Taska, a $5 download that syncs with Toodledo.
6. Instapaper and ReadItLater
If you're focused on getting things done during the workday, you don't have time to read every interesting web link that people forward to you throughout the day. Offline readers Instapaper and ReadItLater solve that problem by letting you send the link to your phone or tablet for perusing during your free time, even if you're away from an Internet connection.
Instapaper is by far our favourite, but for now it lacks a decent Android app (some compatible apps are available for Android, we're just not impressed yet). ReadItLater works very well with the Android-based Paperdroid app.
Get Instapaper and ReadItLater
7. Android Voice Text
I don't care how good smartphone keyboards get, they'll always be small and typo-prone. Since everyone expects me to send mistyped text messages and email from my phone anyway, I skip the keyboard entirely and dictate messages to my Droid with Android Voice Text.
The feature is included by default with Android 2.0 and later, so most new Google-powered smartphones already have it built in. You can also use Android Voice Actions (in Android 2.2) to perform basic tasks such as "call so-and-so" or "get directions to Chez Panisse." Sure, the translation is far less than perfect. But it's a lot less work than typing and your friends will forgive you for the occasional wacky texts you send.
8. Dragon Dictation for iPad/iPhone
If you use an iPhone or iPad, you can skip the keyboard for capturing long form messages and notes with the free Dragon Dictation app. The app requires you to speak slowly and clearly, but its accuracy is impressive. And if it messes up a word, you can tap to make quick corrections.
9. PamFax
I hate, yes literally hate, fax machines. Every time a contractor asks me to fax back a form, I bristle. But with PamFax, you can keep Luddites in the loop for about $6 per month and receive unlimited faxes yourself with no annoying ads. It supports Windows, Mac, Linux and even Android. You'll want a scanner if you plan on faxing forms and such.
10. XMind
Sometimes the best way to capture all the important variables around a project is to map them out visually. For my money (which is exactly zero dollars), there's no beating XMind. This free mind mapper runs on Windows, Mac and Linux, and even comes in a cross-platform portable version that you can run from a thumb drive.
Once you create a mind map, you can upload it to XMind.net (either publicly or unlisted) to access it from all of your other computers. For $49 a year, you can also add security and collaboration features.
11. Evernote
Hard-core productivity types need no introduction to Evernote. This online capture tool is way more than a note-taking service. You can type in notes, capture pictures from your smartphone camera, clip content from web pages, dictate voice notes into Evernote and then search for them, even for handwritten words on scraps of paper in pictures, when you need them again.
12. Huddle
Keeping a team on track takes focus. To ensure that everyone is concentrating on a shared project, try Huddle. This web-based project management service gives you a workspace and calendar that you can share with your entire group, so you can dole out tasks, share whiteboards for brainstorming, collaborate on documents and chat about how terribly behind schedule you are.
Have an amazing productivity booster I didn't mention here? Tell me about it in the comments and I'll most likely give it a try (if I haven't already).
