by Scott | Dec 7, 2011 | Uncategorized
Ever since I updated to the latest iTunes and iOS 5 I’ve been trying to get the WiFi syncing and home sharing to work with no luck. I scoured the Internet and found all sorts of guesses and theories on what you can do to get it all working.
After hours of trial and error I finally came across the solution that worked for me that no one seems to have mentioned: it appears that (at least for my set-up) the Windows PC running iTunes has to have a WIFI connection and not a direct wired connection to the router. This doesn’t make any sense to me – when my PC is wired to the router directly and the iOS devices (iPhone 3GS, iPad and iPad 2) are connected to my wireless router they are all on the same network (same subnet) and can see each other fine. Why it matters how the PC connects to the wireless router for WiFi syncing is a mystery to me – but hey, it works. Hopefully this may help someone else that’s in the same boat.
Here’s my set-up:
Oh Apple – I love you and yet I hate you.
by Scott | Nov 20, 2011 | Uncategorized
A new version of Watchme (ver 2.1.2) has just been released. This new version includes the following new features and fixes:
- Fixed an issue with the Focus Light not moving down the screen when new timers were added.
- Increased the maximum text size for a timer note to 10,000 characters.
- Added the ability to export the timers for the active tab only.
- Added new keyboard shortcuts (PgUp, Alt – PgUp, PgDn, Alt – PgDn) to increase and decrease the time displayed in a timer. Focus must be in the timer’s textbox for this to work.
Visit the download page to get this latest version. Just copy the new executable over top of your existing WatchMe.exe file and you’re good to go.
by Scott | Oct 15, 2011 | Uncategorized
If you’re looking for a system to help you keep track of work that you have to do, I can’t recommend Toodledo enough. It’s a feature rich web-based task tracking system that can be configured in many different ways – from just a basic task tracking system to a full on implementation of GTD. They also have mobile apps (iPhone, Android, Blackberry and more) that integrate with the website so you can access your task list while you are on the go.
I track all of the things I need to do in this app (both work and personal tasks) and I don’t know how I’d survive without it. Do yourself a favour and check it out.
www.toodledo.com
I’m looking at possibly integrating ToodleDo with WatchMe to allow you to tie timers to tasks and update the timer on a ToodleDo task based on the time collected in WatchMe. If that sounds like something you may be interested in, feel free to add a comment on this post. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
by Scott | Sep 29, 2011 | Uncategorized
A new version of Watchme (ver 2.1.1) has been released. This new version includes the following new features and fixes:
- A new “Minutes” timer format that displays your time in minutes only.
- New functionality to automatically check for new versions of WatchMe.
- A fix for the “valid Date Time” error that would occur with different regional settings.
Make sure to visit the download page and get this latest version.
by Scott | Sep 18, 2011 | Uncategorized
Check out this list of things you can do to help you stay focused while you work.
http://www.toiletpaperentrepreneur.com/managing-focus/how-to-stay-focused-63-very-focused-ways
by Scott | Sep 11, 2011 | Uncategorized
The work that I do requires me to spend longer periods of time focusing on a single task. The more focused I keep myself (i.e. avoiding distractions), the faster and better the work tends to be. My biggest problem tends to be distractions, either external (people coming to see me) or internal (me finding other shiny objects to look at like new email, small tasks that pop into my head, etc).
I read a short article a little while ago (http://zenhabits.net/how-not-to-multitask-work-simpler-and/) that talks just about this, and how multi-tasking can be a real productivity killer.
After reading this article and others like it, I decided to add the new “Focus Light” feature to WatchMe so that I can get feedback on how focused I actually am. I set my copy of WatchMe up so I allow 4 task switches every 60 minutes (some days I’ll even bump it down to 2 per hour when I want to try to stay really focused). I’ve been running this new feature for a couple of months on a beta copy and it has helped me quite a bit.
This feature certainly doesn’t stop the distractions (stopping distractions is a topic for another time) but it does indicate to me how things have been going, and when I reach for my WatchMe to switch to some other task and see that yellow or red light – it reminds me to try and stay on target.
Here’s to staying in the green…
