wahlau's online hut

i last wrote about finding some FOSS tools that i find nice, but since a few weeks ago i have decided to also take on a few more to use them to help me in my daily work. I have read David Allen's Getting Things Done long ago, but i have not really put things into practice. So first step is to organize things right. Been writing down tasks on paper for a while, and that really help to give me an overview on things i must complete within the indicated deadlines. With computer we can do that long ago :) well, as i have learn it the (hard) way, it is the discipline that ensures the success.

What i recently start using again is the service from Remember the Milk. It provides simple and free To-Do list management, and it is also possible to share the list among friends/contacts. What i now find practical is a desktop tool call Tasque. It is a simple task management app (TODO list) for the Linux Desktop. It runs flawlessly on my Ubuntu desktop, and it only took an 'apt-get install' to start using it. I have the choice of using either a local file, connect to Evolution or Remember the Milk. Exactly what i want to try. The result? I have now less excuses to forget things. Once you have things listed down, you can always check them at specific time to plan your day, and i believe that helps lots in improving your productivity.

One more thing i realise i can improve is how i read online resources and blogs. Especially with blogs it can sometimes take more time than you think. Using a nice simple blog reader will really help sort things out. You can limit yourself to only read what are polled in the reader, and read only once a day. No more clicking and changing from page to page on your web browser. I used to use Liferea but sometimes i prefer to have all online. So i now switch to Google Reader. All i need now is a web browser, and i can slowly go through the list to catch up with news and updates from my frequent blogs and sites. If you like standalone tools, Akregator is another nice one.

For using the ubuntu desktop, i started also combine deskbar-applet with command search to start applications. just ALT-F3 and 2-3 alphabets of the name of desired application, and the application will be started in next moment. I realise this is even faster than using Gimmie/Mayanna. I started changing this behaviour because somehow Gimmie/Mayanna stopped working in Interpid. The conventional menu is, erm, long. I have no problem with command lines and the frequently used applications are actually not more than 10. Therefore such quicky tool does save my time, though i think if these apps can be started at the right time by itself, wouldn't it be better? :)

do you know any nice little apps? do share.