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Your memory is one of the greatest tools you could possibly have. Indeed, what could be more important than processing and retaining the huge amount of information that you receive every day of your life? It’s good to know then that you can improve your memory, and by doing so you can make those minutes count. If a book, article or report really matters, then being able to hold onto that information is vital. If you can’t remember it, then you wasted your time absorbing it the first time. Here are 20 tricks to help you improve your memory. Continue reading ‘20 Indispensable Tricks to Improve Your Memory’ »

With the advance of technology, we are getting better and better tools with which to work – but they can always be made better! Here are some iPhone accessories that really can help you to save time, allowing you to use your iPhone more effectively and more efficiently.

Apple Remote: This sleek aluminum remote can be used to control your Mac, iPod, or iPhone from a distance. You can use it to adjust volume, forward, rewind and access menus. During presentations or when collaborating via videophone conference you could use it to save time by operating and coordinating all three Apple products with one remote. It also comes standard with the Apple Universal Dock.

Apple World Travel Adapter Kit: This is an obvious time saver. It has a USB power adapter, cable and six interchangeable plugs which give you a wide variety of components. When traveling, save the time spent looking for a compatible power outlet to recharge your iPhone by carrying this handy iPhone accessory everywhere you travel.

Apple Component AV Cable: An excellent accessory to integrate your iPhone with a TV and view media files. It contains component input jacks as well as USB connectors and a power adapter. Save the time it would take to transfer video to USB or DVD format for playback on TV.

Apple Bluetooth Travel Cable: Charge your Bluetooth and iPhone at the same time with this handy accessory. Plug it into a power source and then plug in your iPhone and Bluetooth set at the same time to charge. This allows you to save the time you would have spent charging these components independently or looking for that Bluetooth charger you forgot at home or in the office.

Griffin PowerJolt Car Charger for iPad, iPhone and iPod: The charger comes with a cigarette-lighter adapter with a powerful 2AMP charging circuit. This innovative product comes equipped to charge your iPhone, iPad or iPod, all from the convenience of your car. Easily save time by merging commuting time with charging your gadgets.

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As part of its second anniversary, Google Chrome is celebrating its achievement as the third most popular web browser available. The innovative features of the software have contributed to its success as a competitor to Internet Explorer and Firefox and if used properly it can be a great time saving tool. However, if you’re not using the browser effectively, then you won’t be able to make the most of it. Here’s how you can do better.

i) Basic Calculator Hidden in Omnibox: Instead of opening the calculator on your computer, Chrome allows you to compute simple math calculations in the URL bar. Answers to your mathematical queries are displayed where you would normally see auto-suggestions. This tool can also process unit conversations such as feet to meters.

ii) More Than One Homepage: You can set Chrome to open multiple homepages on start-up to increase your surfing speed. Click on the wrench icon and select “Options”. Under the “Basic” tab, select “Open the Following Pages” button. Next, click “Add”. There you can manually add URLs or select recently visited sites.

iii) Chrome’s AutoFill: You can add your address to the list of items that Chrome will automatically complete for you. Return to the “Options” screen through the wrench icon and click “Personal Stuff”. Once there, choose “AutoFill” options and select add address. Enter your details and you will never have to manually enter your address information on another web form.

iv) Sync Google Account with Chrome: You’ve spent hours setting your options and preferences on your home computer. With Chrome you can access all of those settings through your Google Account on another computer. Select the “Personal Stuff” tab under the Google Chrome Options menu. Sign in to your Google Account and you will instantly have access to your Chrome settings.

v) Shortcut Keys: Lose the mouse and save time with these shortcut keys:

• Open a new window with Ctrl + N
• Open a new tab with Ctrl + T
• Close current tab with Ctrl + F4

Using tricks like these you can boost your productivity and ensure you get the most out of your browsing time.

Spam is one of the great inconveniences of modern life – every day you have to carefully sift out unwanted (and likely offensive) emails from business communications, in order to get your job done. There is then an added level of risk should you open a message containing a virus or accidentally discard important messages along with the garbage. All this means that an anti-spam filter is essential for anybody using email for business.

What qualifications separate a good program from one that is only average? There are a number of factors that have to be looked at in order to narrow down the list of candidates.

1). It has to be able to work by itself, checking each packet header of incoming emails, and deleting those that are inappropriate.

2). It has to kill these spam emails before they reach a user’s inbox. This saves on bandwidth, and reduces the need to sort out the important stuff from the junk.

3). It must be able to effectively analyze both sides of the firewall, checking each part of the message, including the header, body and source. A list of addresses, that is easy to adjust by the administrator of the system, is also of great help in filtering spam out. A Bayesian filter is an important feature for a good anti-spam application.

4). A good program will be able to let a user preview any of the emails that have been marked as spam. Sometimes emails are miss labeled for a variety of reasons and these may need to be retrieved on some occasions.

The spam utility should also allow for flexible filtering and a separate folder should be available for spam emails. The software should also allow a user to recover an accidentally deleted email.

Generally speaking, this type of program has to be able to work by itself, be easy to use and have the best filters, able to be easily adjusted by any user. There are many great options, but three top choices include SpamFighter, ChoiceMail, and SpamEater Pro. By making the right choices you can save yourself a considerable amount of time every day.

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Many working professionals are intimately familiar with the mechanics of Parkinson’s Law. This law states that work will expand to fill the amount of time available for completion. In the most basic sense, if you have 2 hours to complete a 30 minute task, the average professional will end up taking the entire 2 hours.

There are certain business strategies and techniques that actually use the Parkinson principle to profit and prosper. In fact, giving tight deadlines actually allows many tasks to be handled more effectively. One common strategy involves making a list of the tasks that need to be completed during the workday. These tasks are analyzed to determine the average amount of time that each typically requires for completion. Once time estimates have been established, divide the amount of time required for the completion of each individual task in half. While this may push employees towards a “race against the clock” type reaction, it also focuses them on the essentials of each item. It is important to remind employees to continue striving to produce high quality work and to avoid non-productive or problematic shortcuts.

Parkinson’s Law can also be used to get more done by identifying time fillers that tie up employees during the workday. These time fillers are typically tasks that could be completed in 5 to 10 minutes, but in reality end up requiring 30 minutes or more to get done. An example of a common time filler is checking personal or company email. Perhaps this task would normally require about 5 minutes to complete if it were to be done quickly, efficiently, and without distraction. However, this 5 minute task can expand to fill a huge amount of time if the person is not focused. Identifying time sinks like these, and then eliminating or capping them, can offer a significant boost in productivity. For example, if you know you should be able to complete an email check in 5 minutes, only allow that amount of time for the task.

By using techniques like these you can ensure that you and your employees remain focused on your fundamental goals and reach the highest level of efficiency.

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