Usually we just go for one tip on our Tech Tip Tuesdays, but the truth is that just one tip doesn’t make for simplicity in technology. It’s a bunch of little things, all added together that create the serene, productive, simple place to get things done. So here’s 25 things you can do TODAY to simplify your digital life. Read the rest of this entry »

The simplifide who have been with us for a while, know that I (Luke) am a big fan of Gmail and Google Apps. I’m convinced that it’s the simplest, most useful and intuitive email system out there, and most people would benefit greatly using it vs. Outlook, Mail, or other desktop email clients.

That being said, I’m not the fanboy that refuses to acknowledge the weaknesses, either. One of my biggest complaints about Gmail has been the lack of html-rich signatures – the signatures in Gmail have always been nothing but plain text. I like to have my name, (sometimes a digital signature), the simplifi.de logo, and a link to the latest key piece of content on simplifi.de, all at the end of every email – it is huge marketing and branding tool, and I had to do it manually with every email I sent from Gmail.

Well not anymore! A couple of weeks ago Gmail quietly added a new feature… html signatures! Now I can save my signature and have it automatically added to every email I send! Here’s how… (Note: This feature is only available in the latest desktop version of Gmail… plain HTML and mobile versions don’t have this feature yet.)

Go to Settings >> Signatures and instead of just a plain box, you will now see a Rich Text box, similar to the Compose Mail page. Here you can add text, links, logos, anything you want, any size you want, any color you want! Simple!

Have any other fancy signature tips, or other Gmail-ly goodness? Tell us about it in the comments – we learn best when we learn as a community!

“When is good for you?”

“I’m busy every night except Thursday this week.”

“Oh, well my boy has a baseball game on Thursday night. What about Tuesday?”

“Sorry, Tuesday I have a PTA meeting, can we possible do it on Saturday morning?”

“No, my in-laws are coming to town and we’re going out on the boat on Saturday. What about…”

Ever had a conversation like this before? Planning a meeting time for a group of busy people is usually an exercise in frustration. Especially this time of year, everyone is so busy that it’s very hard to find a time when EVERYBODY can meet.

Barbara recently had to organize a meeting like this with six very busy people. Instead of calling everyone, or worst yet, emailing them, we looked up different web based scheduling software options. We decided on When Is Good, it worked out very well, so we thought we’d share it with you! Read the rest of this entry »

Most of the time I try to fill Tech Tip Tuesdays with… tech tips (brilliant observation, I know). But I just didn’t have the motivation for another tech tip tonight. Since blogging is all about being real and authentic, this post will be just be my current musings on how simplicity and technology interact. So bear with me.

You constantly hear about simplicity giving you freedom, and rightfully so. But there’s a flip side that most people don’t like to talk about, because it’s not as trendy: it actually takes away some freedom.

A perfect example is the iPad. I told you all back in the post on scanning my books that I was going to buy an iPad. While I’m still waiting to buy it, I have taken some time at our local Mac store to test it. Every time I’m more convinced that it will revolutionize the mobile computing industry, mainly because it’s just preposterously simple to use. A toddler who can barely talk can turn it on, find her app, and do a puzzle, and a 99 year old lady can still write funny limericks on it. The simple design and interface gives you the freedom to read books, interact with the internet, and use apps in an entirely new, more intuitive and productive way.

But the simplicity which makes it an game-changing product also takes away some other freedom as well. For instance, you can’t replace the battery yourself, hook up your external hard drive, play Flash games, or manipulate the file structure of the iPad. So you gain a product that’s intuitive and simple, but you loose the ability to do certain (generally techy) things.

And that’s okay.

The principles of simplicity are the same no matter what the subject you apply them to. If you’re decluttering your closet, you gain simplicity but loose the freedom to wear certain clothes. If you rip all your CDs and sell them at a garage sale, you no longer have the option of popping your favorite in the CD player on a trip. Everything is a tradeoff – one kind of freedom for another.

The challenge for all of us is to know how to find the equilibrium of simplicity and options… and that will be different for every person. What we would argue for, especially related to technology, is to err on the side of simplicity. Most people will buy and use products that are much more complex than they need, simply because “they might need it some day.” (which, incidentally, is the same argument most people use for keeping piles of useless crap around the house)

If you can use a more simple solution, do so. You’ll thank yourself later. If you absolutely need more options, at least hide them so they’re not cluttering your screen. Just don’t let the paralysis of “I might need it someday” keep your physical or digital life cluttered anymore.

Google gets simplicity. Hold your mouse still while on their homepage, and everything but the essentials fade away. Their simple mission statement: to organizing the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. It’s no wonder that in the 11 years since they started in a friends garage, Google has come to dominate the world in searching… so much so that “google” was added as a verb to the Oxford English Dictionary last year.

The main reason Google has done so well is they have made searching for information simple and easy for the average person. And yet, their search so powerful that with the right tools you can find exactly what you want . Here are some of the tools that you can use to find what you’re looking for….

Read the rest of this entry »

Google is an amazing company – they have went from a startup in 1998 to the most visited website in the world… and they know about simplicity (just look at their homepage!)

But do you ever find yourself searching Google for the same thing, over and over and over again? Maybe it’s things related to your business, what people are saying about you, or your competitors. It could be a topic or hobby that you’re interested in. Or maybe you’re just ego-searching – it’s good to check every once in a while to see what the first results are if you Google your name (although this is irrelevant to me… for those of you who may have been confused, I am not Luke Wilson the movie star. Sorry to disappoint! ;-)

One of the basic ways to simplify a workflow is to automate what you were previously doing manually. And that’s all that this post is about, automating those searches that you do repetitively. And the tool is (drumroll, please…) Google Alerts!

The idea behind Google Alerts is that you put in your search terms the same way you always would, and Google will send you an email alert when the results of that search changes.

Here is one way I use Google Alerts that GREATLY simplifies my life: While I love connecting with people all around the world, I also like to keep track of the tweeps where I live, beautiful Traverse City, MI. Now I could manually search by town in Twitter if I was so inclined, but to keep up with new folks I would have to go back and do it on a regular basis. Instead, I search: “location*” site:twitter.com traverse city. And then I just set up a Google Alert to come into my inbox weekly with these results. When I get the email, I can scan through it and see who from Traverse City recently jumped onto the Twitter bandwagon! Simple, right?

If you prefer to keep the email to a minimum, but still want to use Google Alerts, it also allows you to create an RSS feed with results. (If you want to know more about RSS, check out this previous Tech Tip Tuesday article!)

The possibilities of using Google Alerts are really limited only by your creativity and searching skills. You can search for anything you want, and now you can keep up on what’s new without doing anything at all!

So that’s it for this edition of Tech Tip Tuesday – short and sweet. Please, enlighten us in the comments as to the creative ways that you use Google Alerts, or how you plan to!

NOTE: If you’re a Gmail power user, then this may not be breaking news for you, but I know it opened up tons of possibilities for me, so I thought I’d share it.

I read a lot of productivity blogs, and while they may contradict each other on some things, there is one thing that the vast majority agree on: Gmail is the best and most useful webmail service. It has tons of storage, tight security, and loads of features. You can install it on your own domain as well via Google Apps, like we have on simplifi.de (you can email me at luke@simplifi.de).

I signed up for Gmail in the wee hours of the morning on May 6^th, 2006 – I remember because I did so in the waiting room while my little sister was being born! I loved the simple design immediately and haven’t looked back since. Over the years I have gotten to be quicker and more efficient with it, and learned some tips and tricks along the way. Today’s tip is the most useful one I know for Gmail, or really all of email.

Typical productivity expert advice concerning email is to file or label it when you get it, and move it out of your inbox. The problem is that with more and more email coming in every day, manually labeling them can be time consuming, tedious, and frustrating. But there are some solutions – this one is my favorite:

The Tip

Here’s the foundation of today’s tip: Read the rest of this entry »

Well, the Apple iPad has been in the store for 3 full days now, and it’s still dominating the technology news. I even heard about it on the financial news report this morning – after telling the world that they sold 300,000 iPads on Saturday alone, Apple’s stock went up over 1% Monday.

When there’s so much buzz about a product, it’s easy to fall into the trap of “I gotta have it!” It’s reminds me of  the kid’s book I grew up reading, when Brother and Sister Bear Get the Gimmies! The only difference is that now we are adults, and there is no Mama or Papa Bear to stop us from buying all the junk we don’t need.

So here are five questions that I ask myself when I’m getting ready to buy a new gadget… Read the rest of this entry »

This is a more personal Tech Tip Tuesday than normal, but it’s one that I wanted to share with you, because it’s my big tech-related simplification project right now.

I like to read. A lot. But in light of trying to lead a more simplifide life, I recently went through my bookshelves and ruthlessly purged. I tried very hard to look at the books and be realistic as to whether I would ever get around to reading them. It was a painful process, because as much as I love simplification and minimalism, I still hate to get rid of books. So I decided to scan them. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s not the big things that complicate our lives the most. It’s the combination of all the little annoyances that build up and build up, until you feel like you’re going to explode with frustration.

So today’s tip is not about some major conflict of the simple life – it’s just attacking one of those little annoyances. If it makes your life a little easier, then we’ll be happy and the post will be a success. Plus, if you count the saved seconds a few times a day over the course of a few weeks, months, or years, it will add up quickly.

There are lots of instances when you would send an email to multiple people instead of just one person. For instance, if there is a project at work with multiple people involved, you may have to email them all multiple times. You could type every person’s name/email address every time, and try to make sure you remember each person every time. Or, you could just make a group, type it’s name in the “To” field, and be confident that those who needs to get the email are going to get it.

So here are instructions on how to create these groups of contacts in the most popular email programs…

• Gmail
• Yahoo Mail
• Outlook
• Windows Live (Hotmail)
• Apple Mail / Address Book

So that’s all for this Tech Tip Tuesday; hope it saves you some time in the future! Please share your best time-saving email tips in the comments below – we all learn more when everybody participates!