Ian's Messy Desk

Office Depot Online has a number of business resources listed under the Business Tools section of their web-site.

GeoURL is a location-to-URL reverse directory. This will allow you to find URLs by their proximity to a given location. Find your neighbor's blog, perhaps, or the web page of the restaurants near you.

Site Explorer allows you to explore all the web pages indexed by Yahoo! Search. View the most popular pages from any site, dive into a comprehensive site map, and find pages that link to that site or any page.

Learn more about Yahoo! Site Explorer.

Google turns seven today.

Lisa has posted some titles at Management Craft.

• "MS Office Tip: Assign a Keyboard Shortcut to a Word Menu Item"
• Wipe your hard drive before selling it with Eraser.
• Bring Notepad to a higher level of syntactic awareness with Notepad2 replacement software.
• Banish spyware with Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta.
• Save space on your task bar. Use Tray it to tray your windows rather than task bar them.
• It’s the best free photo editing software out there. It’s GIMP.
• Grab your Win PC screen shots with SnagIt.

Adobe's pdf format has become the standard for exchanging documents, both on and off the web. However, Adobe's software for creating pdf's can be pricey for some users. There are a number of free alternatives out there and in this week's Office Letter lists user-suggested free software for creating pdf's.

Oslo, Norway - September 20, 2005 - Opera Software today permanently removed the ad banner and licensing fee from its desktop Web browser. Acknowledging that the ad-banner and the option to pay for its removal has limited mass adoption of the browser, Opera is now offering its ad-free, full- featured browser completely free of charge in a move to grow its user base and penetrate the mass market.

The removal of the advertising banner and licensing fee is made possible by a gradual increase in revenues from search and service partners, including a new revised search agreement with Google. The extended contract with Google includes a search revenue deal, marketing support and technical cooperation. Opera expects this contract to increase the revenue per user.

During the first half of 2005, 30% of Opera`s desktop revenue was generated by selling advertising displayed in the integrated ad banner, 25% by licensing sales and 45% by Google search and other affiliate partners. Users have had the option of removing the ad banner and receiving support for a fee of US$39.

By removing 55% of the current revenue stream, Opera expects to see a decrease in desktop revenue in the short term. However, revenue in the long term is expected to increase as the ad-free browser is expected to significantly expand Opera`s market share and the contract with Google provides more search revenue per user.

The ad-free, full-featured Opera browser is now available for download, completely free of charge, at http://www.opera.com.

New blog search tool in two forms:

Google

Blogger

New Mindjet MindManager Pro 6 Helps Business Users Create Visual “Blueprints for Action”

I've been playing around with a beta version of this for a few weeks now and it's a great upgrade to a great product.

Larkspur, Calif., Sept. 13, 2005 - Mindjet Corporation, the leading provider of software for visualizing and managing information, today announced availability of Mindjet® MindManager® Pro 6, the newest version of its flagship application for business professionals and teams. Available September 20, 2005, MindManager Pro 6 is a tool for graphically representing the core communications of business: from capturing meeting notes to creating sales campaigns and drafting business plans in an “at-a-glance” view. Now with enhanced integration with Microsoft® Office, each resulting Mindjet MindManager Pro 6 “map” can contain additional information via hyperlinks to documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Maps can also be connected to corporate applications and databases, and to Web services.

New Mindjet MindManager Pro 6 features include:

* New Microsoft Excel integration: Embed spreadsheet information into maps

* New Microsoft Visio export: Quickly create flow charts, map out processes

* Improved Microsoft PowerPoint integration: Quickly create and preview slides

* New editable outline view: Switch from map mode to standard linear mode

* New “Add Attachments”: Add multiple documents, URLs to each map topic

* New Topic Alerts: Receive alarms for appointments created in your maps

* New Organizational Chart view: Create dynamic, data-rich org charts

* New Ink-enabled Notes: Adds new power to mapping on a Tablet PC

* Improved Map Formatting commands: Make maps look better than ever-fast!

If you've not given much thought to mind mapping, you can find a post on the effectiveness of mind maps at Between Seeing.

No, this in not a Weekly World News headline, this is a technological "advance". Given the amount of rain in the U.K., this is probably a great idea.

Smart pegs keep rain off washing

Hanging out the washing only to witness a downpour five minutes later has long been accepted as one of life's little bugbears.

But a final year student at Brunel University has come up with a weather-predicting clothes peg he hopes could solve the issue.

The peg holder can sense changes in air pressure and send electrical signals to metal strips on household pegs.

If rain is forecast within the next half hour, the peg will lock itself.

The lock-down prevents the washing being hung on the line.

Link from ideas@aside

• Using Thunderbird to Get Things Done
• Idea Generation Methods
• Outlook and GTD - Filing and Archiving Tips
• Pocket Mod - The free disposable organizer
• The Ultimate USB Key

I'm on Google Talk.

They say talk is cheap. Google thinks it should be free. Google Talk enables you to call or send instant messages to your friends for free–anytime, anywhere in the world. Google Talk offers you:

• Choice: Get in touch how and when you want to–over email, IM or a call
• Quality: Talk through your computer but hear your friends as if they were in the same room
• Convenience: Your Gmail contacts are pre-loaded into Google Talk so inviting or talking to your friends is just a click away
• Google Talk is in beta and requires a Gmail username and password.

You can contact me via my Gmail address - ian.mckenzie AT gmail.com

Richard points to the first podcast from the Methodist Church in Great Britain.

"The first podcast from the Methodist Church. A discussion on: a first timer's view of the Methodist Conference, websites, Pray Without Ceasing. You can listen to this using i-tunes podcasting software (or similar) or use the links below to stream or download. If you want to use podcasting software click the 'RSS PODCAST' (not the XML) link at the top of the page and use that URL."

Walt Mossberg has posted a positive review of EverNote at his Personal Technology column in the WSJ.

Tags: GTD, Getting-Things-Done, Time-Management, Organization