I think the word austerity is getting misused, somehow it has become associated with cutting police, spending money in Europe and maybe punching dolphins.

I propose the following changes be used from now on:

Austerity = “paying your bills”

Investment = “using your credit card”

So that people can have a sensible conversation around this stuff like so:

“Its the end of the month and your rent is due, do you:

A: Pay for the rent on your credit card and double what you owe next month (“investment”) so you can buy a new TV.

or

B: Pay your rent (austerity) and make do untill you can afford a new TV.”

Answers on a postcard….

http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news/snoopers-charter-black-boxes-77206

The government has now ordered that people accessing the pirate bay should now get redirected to a warning message. Whatever your feelings about the site this now puts us in a category with Iran and China of countries that censor its population.

The technology used to perform this blocking is BT Cleanfeed, a platform that was designed to block access to childporn, it was sold to technical users on that basis and many supported it. That system is now being turned on the population of the UK to enforce the will of media corporations, it is increasingly likely that the courts will begin to use this to enforce blocking of other content, such as libel disputes, it is not outside the realm of possibility that this could extend to sites critical of government or other organisations.

The government already has the ability to read your email / every single website you visit / listen to all your telephone calls. Soon it will dictate what you can read.

The internet was designed to be technically pure, just like a knife it can be used for great good or great harm, but it has no feeling on the matter, it is simply the greatest collection of data humanity has ever managed to gather, no single group should be deciding how it is used, the creator of the www protocol designed it to allow all information to be free, it is up to the individual how it is used.

The government is now kickstarting an arms race in which they will ultimately lose, the bad guys that we genuinely need to track down will be lost in the circumnavigation programs that are popping up on a daily basis, like sand, the more the government tries to grab in its hand the more is running between its fingers.

Please consider being vocal about censorship, your right to be heard and to understand the thoughts of others was won in the past in many battles, do not let it die in the shadows.

But very funny…

A lot of truth for anyone thinking about working from home. Created for you by The Oatmeal.

Hat tip to Hyperbole and a Half for the artwork on this one.

…Please oppose this whenever possible:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17576745

Ever wanted to show somebody your computer screen but you cant be bothered to install the software at either end? ScreenLeap will let you share your own computer screen with a remote viewer for free and with no software to install (it uses Java)

It really is as simple as this:

• 1. Click share button.

  

• 2. Click “Run” button.

  

• 3. Send your friend a link.

  

Today actually is WorldBackupDay, whatever you are doing, right now, check your backups. If you dont have one check my quick guide here. If that does not grab your fancy then consider:

1. Thumb drive– Thumb drives are dirt cheap and found everywhere – even at job fairs. The price does fluctuate depending on the price and demand, but as technology improves so does the capacity. For those of you who are looking to save essential written documents that most often are only kilobytes in size, including Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, spreadsheets, or photographs – you can quickly store the data in a thumb drive and stash it away in your safe for safekeeping.

2. External Hard Drive – There are two options here. Use an existing hard drive and purchase an external enclosure to transform it into an external drive, or you can simply purchase an external hard drive altogether.

3. Cloud service – Today, everything can be uploaded onto the cloud, and the storage services are endless. Dropbox and SugarSync, are some services to name a few. One simple, free option is simply using Google Docs. Just upload all of your important Word documents, presentations, spreadsheets and photographs onto Google’s servers. Apple’s iCloud service makes backing up your data particularly simple.

4. NAS – Think of a network attached storage device — or NAS — as a hard drive you can get to from anywhere. They can be used for storing data or streaming media, locally or even across the world. You can purchase a NAS for several hundred dollars, or you can save the cash and create a NAS box using an old computer and the free softwsare FreeNAS. Lifehacker has outlined the steps in the detailed guide, “Turn an Old Computer into a Networked Backup, Streaming, or Torrenting Machine with FreeNAS,” which will allow you to create your very own NAS.

5. CDs – This is an old-fashioned methodology, but some of you may find it comforting that somewhere resides a CD or DVD discretely nestled in a dictionary with your files. It’s also dirt cheap, and a ton of modern hardware has the ability to burn CDs or DVDs.

6. All of the above – It’s naive assume that technology will last forever. Hard drives break or fail, CDs can be scratched or cracked, companies that offer cloud storage services can go bankrupt or get hacked, and thumb drives can be easily misplaced. Sensibly, the right move would be to use a mixture of the above.

I am standing for election and its eating my every waking moment! I will be posting more regular after May 3rd.

Fantastic mashup of Evernote and email to create a productivity process:

http://www.thesecretweapon.org/

I have been using it for about two weeks now and it really helped to ensure no “todo” actions falls through the cracks, you can also carry it around in your pocket due to the Evernote client being available on Android and IPhone.

It takes about 20 minutes to watch the videos and setup the enviroment, but once in place I “resolved” my email list 2 – 3 times a day and have yet to leave an item unactioned.

As always, this costs nothing to use or operate.

*Update* Went off Pomodoro, it was good for forcing my to focus but had no actual task tracking process.

*Update* I dont recommend converting emails into evernotes in batches of more than 30, it seems to really grind down in Outlook 2010.

Its working for me, Pomodoro!

“Get your timer and set it for 25 minutes. Start the timer, and start working. Focus on your work, and don’t stop for 25 minutes. When the timer goes off, stop working and take a short (5 minutes) break. That’s one “pomodoro.” Repeat the process, and every four pomodoros, take a longer (15-30 minutes) break to recharge. You’ll feel rested, recharged, and you’re encouraged to focus on your work in short, sustained bursts.”