Links

Sketchup (from Google) is now available for free download. It’s a 3D modelling tool.

Why are you afraid of process?

… we bristle when we’re asked for our weekly goals sheets, or when the boss wants us to use a database or when the insurance company requires docs to follow data-driven guidelines. We pass up the tenth novel by a successful author… because the process has become too transparent.

And yet, in many cases, process is underrated.

Process is your ace in the hole when your intuition stops working.

Process is the system that doubles a plant’s efficiency when you’ve done everything you can think of.

What Drives Bloggers?

I think what most bloggers are doing is thinking out loud.

It’s a little misleading to talk of “putting things into words,” because that implies the ideas come first. In fact, expressing thoughts creates them. And especially expressing thoughts to other people, even people you don’t know. So I think the reason many people like blogging is that they like the thinking it causes.

How to get Yahoo Mail Beta. Since I’m in the UK, I have it already. It’s excellent. I now actually check my Yahoo mail thrice a week, and feel happy while doing it.

The Great Google Float. Interesting article on how Google makes money by holding Adsense payments until it hits $100.

How to tie a bandage without it falling off. It’s in Japanese, but the video is pretty clear.

Create Google calendar events via SMS. Just SMS 48368 (in the US) with a message like “dinner tomorrow 7pm”. 48368? GVENT?

Pirates still exist.

According to the International Maritime Organisation, 266 committed or attempted acts of piracy were reported last year. Although this was a lower figure than in 2004, in part because many small-time pirates died in that December’s tsunami, risk experts say that a more brazen, violent and organised strain has emerged. Pirates are said to have injured or assaulted 152 crew in 2005; they abducted 652, of whom 11 are still missing. They hijacked 16 ships; a tug and a barge are unaccounted for.

The virtues of a second screen.

So now, while I am editing this article on my main screen, the screen beside it shows the outline or earlier draft I am working from — and, sometimes, Web sites or other documents I keep referring to.

When I edit photos, the second screen lets me compare the copy I am working on with the original, or shows tool palettes and thumbnails of other images, and I can blow up panoramic shots for closer viewing (though with a bar down the middle, like the central pillar of an old car’s windshield).

When I am shopping on the Web, my two screens let me compare products.

When I work on tables or spreadsheets, I can see all the columns at once. When I expect important messages, I keep my e-mail program open on the side monitor while I work on something else.

Angry or negative people can be bad for your brain.