Nur Ahmad Furlong

Category: Productivity

A few ways Firefox rocks my day
I’ve used Firefox for years & it’s grown into a real gem of a tool. Not so much for it’s standards support, but due to a great community of add-on developers. It’s also just geekishly cool & makes a huge difference in my day as a designer, developer, blogger & general surfer. A Few Reasons why:
Firebug
– ranks as my favourite add-on for FF. It makes my task of web dev so much easier, helps find problems and teaches me a few things about where I’ve gone wrong in my code.
Fireftp
– Helps you upload to your sites from your browser in 2 ticks. It’s all right in front of you and makes for a nice seemless testing routine.
TwitterFox
– I did find tweeting a hassle without this add-on and now I find keeping track of my tweets & tweeple a breeze.
GTD inbox
It takes your regular gmail & jacks it up for super web GTD. Projects, next actions and the works to keep you productive.
Fireshot
I take a fair amount of screenshots & Fireshot makes it so easy to grab a screen, edit it and then do with it what you like.
Scribefire
I just started using it & it already looks like a Windows Live Writer replacement. Faster & more convenient, I now blog and surf at the same time.
So, What do you add to your firefox?
August 6, 2008
Time to refresh my GTD approach with GTDinbox for gmail
Having spoken a bit about GTD (Getting Things Done) in the past and being a fan of the personal productivity system, I seem to be making all the major productivity mistakes of late. So I made a mental note in the last few weeks to start taking steps to fix some of these problems, but as you all know, the mental note approach is not always the most reliable.
I have a problem with the paper based systems I’ve tried, including the hipster PDA which I found sometimes just went missing in my many pockets & bags or just got a little clumsy or messed up after a while.
GTDinbox with Firefox & Gmail – starting afresh.
No matter how much effort you put into staying organised, when you let things slip and don’t take corrective action, chaos “will” start to develop, and you “will” lose control. I found a really great solution to keeping track of tasks and TO-DO’s. I’ve already been using Gmail Labels to send myself important notes and resources and keep control of the many varied bits of info and reminders I need to quickly access, but the GTDinbox extension for firefox has just made this a whole lot simpler & cooler.
This cool extension was developed by productivefirefox.com. Because I use Gmail all the time and am pretty much permanently attached to my gmail account on any given day it makes sense for me to maximize my use of it.
The Firefox Extension adds a few crucial little bits to your gmail account which allows for better task & resource management. As you can see I’ve already got a few coloured labels for different types of messages. Now with GTDinbox I can assign messages as tasks, within projects and track them through the expandable panel at the top of my gmail window. It works with the gmail labelling system and adds GTD labels which are then organised in the top panel according to the GTD system.
In general Gmail is a great tool to use and it can be used in conjunction with other email accounts. I just wish Google would work on integrating it’s many services like docs, google notebook and others into a more jacked up online app which allows quick crossing over between the different apps.
It too me a while to get used to labels after using yahoo’s cool drag & drop folders for a while but slowly I’m seeing the light here.
Setting up filters which automatically label mails from specific clients, and other personal messages you send to yourself is a simple way you can start getting into the power of gmail if you don’t think you’re ready for something like GTDinbox quite yet.
If anyone needs an invite to Gmail I’ve got a few lying around, It’s free, powerful, accessible from anywhere with a connection and can be integrated into quite a growing number of online and offline apps. Post a comment if u need a gmail invite sent to you.
April 22, 2008
iPod nano, my favourite new toy / tool
I wrote about winning an iPod a little while ago, something I was ecstatic about at the time. I had no idea though just how much this little device would change my life so I feel I have to share the benefits of owning an iPod nano. I say iPod nano because I don’t have any experience with any other models of iPod.
I’ve become somewhat of a podcast addict of late. Not having spent a single cent at the iTunes store as I’m not much of a music lover, I quickly found that there are tons of freely available podcasts available through the iTunes store. A few of my recent favourites are “Grammar Girl“(all about using the English language correctly), Design Guy(podcast about being a good designer), TED talks(inspirational talks by the best minds in the world), Freelance Radio(from freelance switch) & The Common Craft Show(simplifying web 2.0 concepts). There’s a wealth of knowledge out there waiting to be accessed. I did a quick search through iTunes and found a stack of design related podcasts ready to inform and inspire.
Once you get hooked by the podcast bug you’ll realize there are really talented, entertaining speakers all over the world sharing their ideas and experiences. Many Universities have also provided material on subjects they cover either in an official capacity or through the students recording lectures or classes.
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January 16, 2008
Eco-friendly organisation – why kill trees to keep yourself organized?
I’m always excited when I see new products attempting to make life easier, simpler and more eco-friendly. The more beneficial a product is to the user and to the environment the higher it ranks in my book. Having hunted around for quite a while for the perfect organisational tools, this latest find seems really promising and very nicely designed for modern living as well.
Introducing the Jot-it Eco friendly desktop write board designed by cocoa living:
Basically it’s a plastic base, with another plastic sheet on top which allows you to insert a template between the 2 layers. A note taking template, calendar (perpetual template maybe), a task organising template, or you could customize your own template. The beauty is that you can quickly jot ideas, rough ones without wasting paper and without cluttering up your desktop with scraps of paper you’ve jotted all kinds of random stuff on.
It’s not perfectly designed. You aren’t able to use multiple templates simultaneously, it seems a little clunky to carry around, though it has been designed specifically for your desk and not your pocket. According to the review on Yanko Design the plastic makes a squeaky noise when you write on it so there’s a few bugs which need to be ironed out. The basic idea though is what makes this a good find and I can see this being modified and upgraded to be an extremely useful device. I’ve started thinking about how I can modify my hipster PDA to make use of this white board style note taking, not paper wasting and easy to delete entries.
The flexibility of of this tool is easy to spot. Using it in the classroom situation, in a design agency, in & around the office, next to the phone at home, just about anywhere where you need a quick & easy way to jot down notes.
So head on over to www.cocoaliving.com and see if they have a product to suite your specific needs, or you could devlop your own eco-friendly write board system like I hope to do using a few low cast elements from your local stationery store. If you do please tell me about so I can give it a try.
November 10, 2007
Every problem can be solved by following the right process
Having & following a process is something I keep trying to enforce when I take on projects of all types & sizes. Following a process from start to finish gives us a way of planning our specific activities at any point along the course of a project and tailoring those activities to that specific aspect of the project. A process gives us a clear idea of what the next step is, and helps us assess what percentage of the project has been completed. Some processes can be as simple as: think – decide – do, or as involved as some design thinking processes used for more detailed projects. A nice design thinking process breakdown I found on wikipedia looks like this.
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November 7, 2007
Speak to the world with WordPress

WordPress is a state-of-the-art semantic personal publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. What a mouthful. WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.
More simply, WordPress is what you use when you want to work with your blogging software, not fight it. http://wordpress.org/
The fact that you are reading this post right now is enough of a testament to the power of the blogging revolution. Even though I am a web designer and and have the ability to design and code my own websites with the assistance of fancy tools to make the job easier for me I have still chosen to use WordPress for my personal and professional publishing purposes.
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August 21, 2007