smart computer use?

I frequently go through stages where I feel like I’m in a rut when it comes to keeping on top of projects. One thing that I find to be important to keeping out of ruts is keeping my workspace fresh.

Fresh?

By a fresh workspace, I mean this: don’t let your workspace feel stale and non-maintained.

• Don’t just let stuff pile up do something with those piles, stay familiar with them. Don’t have a pile on your desk or work area that you look at and say “I’m not really sure what is even in that pile of stuff”. If you don’t need it file it and get it out of the way.
• Clean your workspace. Use an air can to blow dust off it the desk and shelves. Get rid of garbage. Don’t let coffee cups and water bottles and pop cans stack up.
• Change it up every now and then. Subtle things. Put up new pictures on the wall, take some things down, etc.

I like to try to put up new posters or pictures every now and then. I don’t let the bulletin board go unrevised for periods of time. I’ll also try to switch up music often. Keep it fresh. It seems to keep me more motivated.

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What is the difference?

I recently browsed the isles of a local HDTV dealer. There were walls that were many, many feet in length. Expansive isles of HDTV’s. There were many options. Many price differences. I saw many situations where two very similar HDTV’s were sitting next to each other, but each was priced on a wildly different level.

The difference? It’s the resolution of the HDTV’s that is different. The main point to recap this whole comparison is that if you don’t have an HDTV that is bigger than 50 inches you probably won’t be able to tell the difference between 720p vs 1080p.

Why the choice?

1080p is the top level spec to shoot for. 720p will suffice for now, and looks great, but will not be a great long term option.

1080p will probably be a better bet long term option for power savvy folk.

First and foremost, some people just want what’s considered the best spec on a TV. If you’re one of those people, spend the extra dough, you’ll feel better in the long run. Secondly, if you’re thinking of going big, really big (a 55-inch or larger screen), or you like to sit really close (closer than 1.5 times the diagonal measurement), the extra resolution may make it worth the difference–as long as you have a pristine, 1080i or 1080p HD source to feed into the set. And finally, it’s a good idea to go with 1080p if you plan to use your TV a lot as a big computer monitor.

720p is the most cost-effective option, and not necessarily the worst option.

If none of those factors jump out at you as true priorities–and you are working on a tight budget and want to save some dough–a 720p set is going to do you just fine. HD will still look great on your set, I swear. In fact, our current highest-scoring HDTV, the Pioneer Kuro PDP-5080HD, is a 720p, er–768p, model.

Read the entire source article here.

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Earlier today I was working on some quick updates for this site. I wanted to add a tag cloud. I do think that sometimes tag clouds are tacky, but I wanted to try it and I think it’ll help users understand this site faster and find content on this site faster. Ease of use is top priority.

I found that the tag cloud is easy to implement on the code side. So easy, in fact, that I might argue it’s easier than dragging and dropping a widget in the admin side of the web site.

Here it is:

<?php wp_tag_cloud(''); ?>

That’s all there is to it.

I found these options to be suitable:

<?php wp_tag_cloud('smallest=7&largest=25&number=50'); ?>

These options set the smallest font size to 7, the largest font size to 25 and the number of tags to show to be 50. Pretty easy.

There are also some more comprehensive explanations of the tag cloud code available.

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Have you been a big fan of saving and organizing your emails into folders? Have you ever pondered this question? If not, you maybe should. Organizing emails into folders has long been a standard. There is now finally something that will allow us to break from that folder-use standard, and it is provided courtesy of Gmail.

Introducing Labels.

(cue the audience cheer track)

From Gmail Tips - The Complete Collection:

Labels. Gmail lets you assign a Label to a message and then view all messages assigned to that Label. Sounds a lot like the typical “Folder”, right? Well, almost. Unlike Folders, you can assign multiple Labels to a message letting the message span multiple categories. To better understand how Labels differ from Folders, consider the the real-world counterparts, and it should become clear.

Read the rest of the article to get a better explanation and tips on how to use the labels. It’s a fascinating yet kinda obvious concept. One of those things that just makes you wish it’d been available widely before. Before you got the folder system etched into your habits.

If this is a new concept to you, and your excited, wait til you see this: Colored labels. Look at that screen shot. A brilliant way of organizing email. Good stuff.

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You don’t need to buy an external hard drive. You might be able to build one for cheaper. You might be able to use existing hardware you have laying around to get off to a cheap start in building your own external hard drive.

It’s nearly 2008, and nearly all PCs are multimedia these days. Though not everyone’s PC harbors hundreds of downloaded movies, even the most workaholic business traveler has a few tunes for the road on his laptop. And if it’s not Hollywood movies and music taking up room on your system, then it’s personal photos and videos that are multiplying faster than bees around your picnic lunch. No longer constrained by the limitations of film, the average vacationer takes hundreds of snapshots or hours of video without thinking about where it will all be stored. Eventually, inevitably, you will run out of space and be faced with two options: Delete your precious memories and purchased content or upgrade your storage options. One quick and relatively easy way to get more room is to build an external hard drive. It is a great time to build one because hard drive memory is really cheap right now.

Read the rest here.

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