Did you know? Cleaning up Gmail, Tip #10
One of the simplest things you can do to clean up your inbox is to set up a quick reminder in Google Calendar to take a few minutes every so many days and clean up your messages.
First create a new event.
Name it and set for 10-15 minutes for a time you know you’ll have free.
Set your reminder preference; either through SMS, email or a popup.
Simple.
Did you know? Cleaning up Gmail, Tip #9
The Trusted Trio refers to a simple approach to cleaning up your inbox using these labels/folders – FollowUp, Archive and Hold.
Wait, what?
FollowUp – These messages represent any task that you need to complete, regardless of the type.
Archive – Messages you might need to refer to at some point in the distant future need to be archived, anything else needs to be trashed.
Hold – Only place in here the important messages that you need to quickly access over the next few days.
So how do you actually use this method with your emails?
In Gmail, you don’t need to set up an Archive label as it’s already an option but you’ll need to set up a FollowUp label and a Hold label.
A few things to keep in mind with this approach -
Get to it! Cheers!
Data Portability
The basic concept behind data portability is to allow users to have “[the] capability to control, share, and move data from one system to another. Data Portability is the idea that users should be able to move, share, and control their identity, photos, videos and all other forms of personal data.”
Simply put, you should be able to keep your data and use it however you choose.
Lovely. So how exactly would this work?
Instead of maintaining multiple contact lists across Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Gmail, Yahoo and so on, you would have one contact list with your relationships to those people defined, like who’s your co-worker, friend and family member. You would then have access to that list on the different web sites you use.
You would have one identity to log into every website and your profile will automatically update your bio, education and background, books and movies you love, your music preferences, etc.
A great example of this is the MySpace Data Portability project from last week’s post, where MySpace allows you to share your icon, bio, blog posts and other information with Twitter.
What else what data portability allow you to do?
Say that you decide to leave one web service for a similar service, you won’t have to worry about what’s going to happen with your data, you can take that information with you.
For example, if you left Shelfari for Goodreads, both popular book listing and sharing web apps, you won’t need to re-enter all your book data from Shelfari into Goodreads.
These are only a few examples of how data portability would work, and I could go on, but I won’t. There are a number of standards being developed to port your data around, some of them you are familiar with, like RSS and hCal/iCal, and some of them you are not, like XFN.
Check out some of these standards below -
APML – for capturing a person’s interests and dislikes
FOAF – for describing people, their activities and their relations to other people (like social network relationships) and objects
hCard – or publishing the contact details of people, companies, organizations, and places
OAuth – this is a method to publish and interact with protected data, like your Gmail contacts, with out giving up all the access to your data (like passwords)
OpenID – allows Internet users to log on to many different web sites using a single ID, eliminating the need for a different user name and password for each site
OPML – format for outlines, like the sites you follow
RSS – a really simple way to syndicate (hence RSS) all sorts of stuff, like blog posts, videos, pictures, audio and so on
SIOC – used for interconnecting discussions such as blogs, forums and mailing lists to each other
XFN – XHTML Friends Network, a simple way to represent human relationships using links
How could we use these standards and ideas for data portability? I have a novel idea, why don’t you tell me in the comments and share these ideas with everyone. What do you think? How can we apply this and help our users? How do we already apply it? Let me know. Cheers!
From jnail on PoliticalBase.com –
“At 8:30 this morning, Senator Obama called Senator McCain to ask him if he would join in issuing a joint statement outlining their shared principles and conditions for the Treasury proposal and urging Congress and the White House to act in a bipartisan manner to pass such a proposal,” Obama spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement. “At 2:30 this afternoon, Senator McCain returned Senator Obama’s call and agreed to join him in issuing such a statement. The two campaigns are currently working together on the details.”
So Obama led by calling him to do something in a bipartisn way and McCain then has to shoot first and try and gain advantage from it in the face of 3 polls that have him in real trouble as well as others in the battleground states.
Note he returned Obama’s call 6 hours later – AFTER this stunt
There were two and both of them were Republicans.
Spiro T. Agnew was governor of Maryland for less than two years before he was selected and he ultimately was indicted and replaced by Gerald Ford.
The other? Chester Alan Arthur, VP to James Garfield. His only governmental experience was as Collector of the Port of New York City.
With the exception of Chester Arthur, Sarah Palin has had the least experience compared to any VP ever.
Nine VPs of the 46 have had to take over from the president, giving the VP a 20% chance of succession.
If elected, McCain would be the oldest person ever to be elected, and he has had serious bouts with melanoma cancer, with some metastasizing. Melanoma is a very serious and nearly fatal form of cancer.
With serious issues facing us today, war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the very serious economic crisis and the gravest threat, global warming, the question becomes – Can we risk the least experienced candidate in the history of the office?
No.
http://www.politicalbase.com/profile/Mark%20Nickolas/blog/&blogId=4215
Did you know? Cleaning up Gmail, Tip #8
On Monday, I showed you a glimpse of what my labels look like, so I’d like to give you a brief overview of how I use them to organize my personal emails.
When new emails comes in, I immediately categorize them with one of the nine different color-coded labels (you can color code your labels by clicking the little box to the right of the label). The color coding allows me to know at a glance which category they’re in and the importance of the email.
Emails labeled Friends or Family usually can wait, emails labeled Work or Peace Corps usually need immediate addressing. Debbie G. pointed out on Monday that labels have an advantage over folders by allowing users to apply more than one label to an email. This isn’t possible with a folder.
Knowing which label an email is in allows me to quickly search that category instead of searching through all of my emails. I can skip right to my Personal or Internet emails -
Labeling also gives me a sense of closure on an email. When an email has been labeled, addressed and sent to an actual “place” as opposed to an “archive,” I feel better about it.
Friday, I’ll write about another approach to using labels to clean up your inbox. Cheers!
A brilliant idea! I just did this for $5.00. Please consider joining in with a donation to a worthy cause, and PLEASE pass on!
Instead of us all sending around more emails about how horrible [Palin] is, let’s all make a donation to Planned Parenthood in Sarah Palin’s name.
And here’s the good part: when you make a donation in in her name, they’ll send her a card telling her that the donation has been made in her honor. Here’s the link to the Planned Parenthood website:
https://secure.ga0.org/02/pp10000_inhonor (this is where http://www.plannedparenthood.org/ takes you)
You’ll need to fill in the address to let them know where to send the ‘in Sarah Palin’s honor’ card. I suggest you use the address for the McCain campaign headquarters, which is:
John McCain 2008
P.O. Box 16118
Arlington, VA 22215Have fun! And a worthy cause too. Spread the word!
Public Policy Poling is putting out a new state poll for Colorado with a teaser about Palin’s sinking favorable rating compared to Obama’s rating a week ago. They got this comment –
WOOOOHHHHH!!!!!!! MCCAIN/PALLEN 2008!!!
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