Over the years, I have read many articles presenting the authors’ opinions of tools that have helped increase their productivity. \u00a0Some were good, some were debatable. \u00a0Over the years I too have developed my own way of doing things that are, at least in my opinion, smart and efficient ways of being more productive. \u00a0In this article, I will present those tools that I use on a day-to-day basis both for work and home. \u00a0I will not include socializing apps nor software development tools (that’s worth at least one or more articles) nor games.<\/p>\n
Let’s start with work. \u00a0I’m a telecommuting computer consultant working currently for one client. \u00a0I charge by the hour. \u00a0I am aware of tools that actually monitor what you are doing on your computer and associate that time activity to whatever project you define. \u00a0I am using a far simpler tool for managing my work hours: MPS TimeLog Pro<\/a>. \u00a0You can find it on the Google Play Store for $3.99. \u00a0It’s a simple app that allows you to define clients, projects, and activities. \u00a0You press “Start” when you start working on some activity and later press “Stop” when you are done or want to change activities. \u00a0A log file shows everything you’ve done. \u00a0Filtering, importing, exporting are all available including the ability to manually update and change start\/stop times. \u00a0There’s nothing particularly fancy about this tool. \u00a0It performs one function, keeping track of my hours according to my activities, and it does that well.<\/p>\n People use Dropbox <\/a>for keeping all sorts of things synchronized between computers and devices. \u00a0Until recently I would travel frequently between my two homes in Maryland and Maine, USA. \u00a0This entailed bringing my computers with me. I used to also bring a couple of computer reference books. \u00a0I quickly realized that bringing books with me was a lose-lose proposition. \u00a0I couldn’t bring all my computer books with me; and I never knew what I needed until I needed it. \u00a0So I started buying all my work-related books as either PDF or EPUB books. \u00a0 I place all my books in a “books” folder within Dropbox. \u00a0Computer books are arranged by subject: \u00a0Java related books were placed in folder “java”; Linux related books were in “linux”, etc. That way, all my books are always accessible, either via laptop, tablet, or smartphone and no matter where I happen to\u00a0 be.<\/p>\n So how do I read all the various PDF or EPUB computer books that I purchesed? \u00a0I own a Samsung tablet which is the perfect size for reading books and magazines and for that tablet I purchased an Android app called Bookari Premium Pro<\/a> (downloadable from the Google Play Store). \u00a0There are many ereader apps out there but I chose this one for its number of convenient features such as being able to read both PDF and EPUB files, organizing my collection of books and magazines, and keeping track of where I last left off in each book.\u00a0 One of\u00a0 the really nice features of this app is that it interfaces directly with Dropbox. \u00a0I can point to my ‘books’ folder and download any and all of my books to my tablet for offline or simply more convenient reading.<\/p>\n Unless you’re one of those people who cannot forget anything, maintaining a task list is an important way for remembering everything you need to do. \u00a0The tasks can be work-related or home-related. \u00a0I use a wonderful application called Wunderlist for managing my tasks. For work, I use it to remind me when I need to invoice my clients or that I have a computer-related article I had planned on reading. For home, I use Wunderlist <\/a>to remind me when particular bills are due or what errands I need to run. \u00a0You can associate completion dates and reminders as well as notes with each task. \u00a0Plus you can store the tasks inside different folders (e.g., work, bills, etc). \u00a0Of course Wunderlist has a Winodows app as well as an Android app. Using their server all tasks are kept in sync.<\/p>\n There is however one little problem with Wunderlist. \u00a0The German-based company that created Wunderlist was recently purchased by Microsoft. \u00a0And Microsoft has already announced that they will be folding Wunderlist into their new task management software. \u00a0Based on many comments I have read Microsoft’s product is not nearly as good as Wunderlist<\/a> (nor is it even ready for prime-time). \u00a0I, and maybe millions of other users of Wunderlist, will continue to use the existing product as long as it is available.<\/p>\n Besides keeping track of tasks, keeping track of meetings and appointments is very important. \u00a0Google’s Calendar app is the perfect solution. \u00a0As it is browser based it works everywhere (there is a Google Calendar app for Android as well as competitor apps that use the Calendar API for accessing the calendar information). \u00a0A nice additional feature is the ability to share calendars amongst different people. \u00a0My wife and I share our calendars so we can keep track of each others’ activities.<\/p>\n For all my calendar needs I use Google Calendar<\/a>. \u00a0It’s not what my client uses so whenever I have a new meeting or conference call scheduled, I will quickly jump to Google Calendar and mark that same date\/time as a “Busy” item. \u00a0This reminds me that I have some work activity even when not next to my work computer. It also lets my wife know that I am not to be disturbed.<\/p>\n For brainstorming activities I use a program called Freeplane<\/a>. \u00a0This program is categorized as a “mind mapping” application. \u00a0Per Wikipedia<\/a>, “A\u00a0mind map<\/b>\u00a0is a\u00a0diagram<\/a>\u00a0used to visually organize information. A mind map is hierarchical and shows relationships among pieces of the whole. It is often created around a single concept, drawn as an image in the center of a blank page, to which associated representations of ideas such as images, words and parts of words are added. Major ideas are connected directly to the central concept, and other ideas branch out from those. In addition to brainstorming, I use Freeplane for taking notes and creating outlines. \u00a0(Full disclosure: I recently began contributing to the development of Freeplane and am now involved in the development of a future collaborative version of Freeplane.)<\/p>\n One of my absolute favorite programs is Evernote<\/a>. I use Evernote as a repository for everything. \u00a0You can store text notes, PDF and DOC files, pictures and virtually any kind of file inside Evernote. \u00a0I associate my notes with different “notebooks”. \u00a0One is for my personal stuff others are for each of my clients. Work-oriented notes include all my billing statements, invoices, and technical documentation. \u00a0I also save interesting technical documents that are either PDF files that I have saved or by using the Evernote Google Chrome extension, I can directly save web pages off of the browser.<\/p>\n On the personal side, I save all my monthly bank and credit card statements. \u00a0I use Evernote’s powerful tagging mechanism to separate each credit card and bank statement. When I buy some new gadget that requires downloading a PDF document to learn how to operate the gadget I save that PDF file in Evernote. \u00a0I bought a new smartphone recently and took a picture of the serial number and other identifying numbers off of the box. I added that photo to Evernote with a title saying this is the phone serial number.<\/p>\n For Windows and Android, Evernote has standalone apps. \u00a0The product also works very well via a browser. There is no official Linux client available but I am currently using a third-party program called NixNote <\/a>that seems to work quite well. \u00a0There are third-party programs available for Apple’s MacOS, too. \u00a0I personally have Evernote installed on my laptop, smartphone as well as my tablet. One last really cool feature for premium subscribers is that Evernote will scan all saved PDF and DOC files creating an further index of words that you can search for.<\/p>\n The client I work for has distributed developers all over the USA as well as in some “off-shore” countries. \u00a0Being able to communicate easily, consistently and with quality is very important. \u00a0We typically communicate via Skype for Business for both phone calls as well as for desktop sharing. It is a product that works quite well.<\/p>\n For the open source project I am working on we had the same requirements. \u00a0Unfortunately we didn’t have as much luck with the personal version of Skype<\/a>. \u00a0So we switched to and are now using Google Hangouts. \u00a0We can send instant messages to each other, talk and view each other as well as share our desktops. \u00a0There are many, many different programs that offer somewhat similar services, mostly desktop sharing. One program I have successfully used in the past is TeamViewer<\/a>.<\/p>\n Using a computer to manage finances is fairly ubiquitous. \u00a0I used to use Quicken, possibly the most well-known application name for managing personal finances. \u00a0But over time the program has become more and more expensive. \u00a0And I finally gave up on the product when they insisted I upgrade “or else”. \u00a0I particularly wanted a program that ran both on Windows and Linux and that would not require separate licenses for each. I have now been using Moneydance <\/a>for a number of years. \u00a0It’s fairly straight-forward and easy to use and serves my needs. There’s even an Android version that synchronizes with the main application if you store your data in a Dropbox folder. \u00a0 Data can be encrypted so the data is safe even in Dropbox. \u00a0 The only parts of the program that I do not like have to do with budgeting. If budgeting is very important to you, I would suggest looking elsewhere first. It does work, in theory, but I’ve had issues using it.\u00a0 One suggestion for an alternative program might be GnuCash <\/a>which is actually free. \u00a0Caveat: I have not used this program.<\/p>\n There is one last program that I use on a daily basis: Feedly<\/a>. This program is a news aggregator. \u00a0Per Wikipedia, a news aggregator “is\u00a0client software\u00a0or a\u00a0web application\u00a0which aggregates\u00a0syndicated web content\u00a0such as\u00a0online newspapers,\u00a0blogs,\u00a0podcasts, and\u00a0video blogs\u00a0(vlogs) in one location for easy viewing. \u00a0I personally use Feedly to read the daily news on particular subjects of interest to me from a number of different sources, blogs by people I follow as well as monitoring the release announcements of specific software.<\/p>\n Perhaps you have a favorite program or application you want to share with the world. \u00a0Let me know.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Over the years, I have read many articles presenting the authors’ opinions of tools that have helped increase their productivity. \u00a0Some were good, some were debatable. \u00a0Over the years I too have developed my own way of doing things that are, at least in my opinion, smart and efficient ways of being more productive. \u00a0In … Continue reading “Productivity Tools for Work and Home”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[30,18,20,19,23,28,22,24,31,25,17,27,26,16,29,21],"class_list":["post-120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-android","tag-bookari","tag-dropbox","tag-evernote","tag-freeplane","tag-gnucash","tag-google-calendar","tag-hangouts","tag-linux","tag-moneydance","tag-mps","tag-nixnote","tag-skype","tag-time-tracking","tag-windows","tag-wunderlist"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7qelO-1W","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/computermoose.topshot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/computermoose.topshot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/computermoose.topshot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/computermoose.topshot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/computermoose.topshot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/computermoose.topshot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138,"href":"https:\/\/computermoose.topshot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120\/revisions\/138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/computermoose.topshot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/computermoose.topshot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/computermoose.topshot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}