Both kids were home from school today, and I had work to do. My solution? Bring ‘em to the coffee shop, which, thankfully, has a play area and lots of toys.

The remote office

Over at Mashable today, Josh Peters has an interesting write-up on 30 apps you can use to run your business almost completely (well, maybe not completely) via Facebook. This isn’t about promoting client products or that sort of thing, it’s actually tools you’d use around the office every day. LinkedIn, Xing and even VOIP tools are covered.

Have a look over at Mashable…

Looking to get some work done with your iPhone? Mashable’s put up a great list of 30 productivity apps today, and it’s well worth a look. Check it out here -

http://mashable.com/2008/12/30/organization-iphone-apps/

I’m a big fan of Reqall, though I wasn’t big on Remember the Milk. But check out the list and try some for yourself.

Today is the big day, when Microsoft pulls the plug on Foldershare, the awesome PC peer-2-peer file/folder syncing service they bought a year or so ago. it’s been prettified and re-branded as “Windows Live Sync”, and well, the launch has not gone well for me and my clients.

You see, with this new version, Microsoft has said “too bad” to whatever ID you were using as your Foldershare login in the past, and now requires you use a Windows Live ID. Fair enough, it’s their product. The problem? With a new ID, comes a whole slew of syncing issues - the main being, it’s a new ID, so you lose all the “syncs” you set up, which is pretty close to disastrous for me, as I have many, many synced folders set up with clients. I do this for clients who don’t want to bother with having an in-house server, or just love the instantly updated access to files as we edit them. But now, I just lost all that access.

It’s typically a simple process to add a sync folder - you just choose the folder to sync, and send invites to everyone’s IDs. Problem? We all have to get new IDs, tell one another what they are, decide who’s going to manage all this sync re-creation, and spend days getting back in sync. Right now, I have some clients traveling, so they don’t have time to do all this, and so I can’t edit any documents in the shares, otherwise, it’ll be an out-of-sync nighmare fest.

At this point, I may be done with Foldershare. It’s always been a touch flaky, but now that I have a chance to “zero out” the whole thing, I think it might be time to try something else, as I know there are a few alternatives out there.

- Sugarsync (www.sugarsync.com): This is a fantastic paid service and I use it for my own activities, but haven’t asked clients to check it out yet, since they were already on Foldershare. The advantages of Sugarsync are many, including:

• *Easy* web-based access to your files
• A “Magic Briefcase” for on-the-fly access to files
• A wonderfully executed iPhone app that lets you share files and folders easily with others via emailed links
• An online backup of all your files. So if someone blows out a synced folder by deleting it, you can still go online and retrieve those files
• A great online and client interface that works like its own little filesystem for easy file management

SugarSync’s premium service is $5/month, but well worth it for 30GB of online backup, and unlimited syncing. It gets pricier for more space, but it’s well worth it (cost of doing biz, and all that!). And since it’s time to get your year-end tax deductions in, might be a good time to jump on the service.

BeInSync (www.beinsync.com)- I have to admit, i tried BeInSync a year or so ago, and found it pretty counter-intuitive. But they’re still around and claim over 4 million users, so they must be doing something right!

Google Docs, ThinkFree Office and Zoho Docs - if you’re just sharing office-type files (documents and spreadsheets), these are very solid options. They all have very powerful online editors (Thinkfree’s the best one, Google Docs is a close second) so you can easily edit a document, and every single revision is tracked and reversible.

NomaDesk (www.nomadesk.com) - I have been checking out Nomadesk for the past few weeks, and have been suitably impressed, even with the few bugs I’ve hit upon. NomaDesk eschews peer-2-peer sharing and instead gives you a “Virtual Fileserver” out in the cloud. After installing the client, you create folders on your virtual server, and assign them to virtual drives (which show up in “My Computer”) on your PC. From then on, it’s just like being on a corporate network with easy fileserver access. If you update a file on the virtual fileserver, it’s immediately updated. There’s no lag like with the peer-2-peer apps that must sync everyone on the network up with one another.  I found Nomadesk easy to use and understand, though it seems better for a small-volume user (not someone who likes to throw 30GB around the cloud all the time, like some of my clients)

There you have it, several alternatives to the freshly broken Foldershare / Windows Live Sync.

A quick follow-up - This morning, after fighting through Windows Live Sync’s inability to simply even log on, I suggested Sugarsync to a key client. Within an hour, everyone in the office had installed it and had it running, with comments along the lines of “Amazing” “Fantastic” and “We should definitely use this.” I guess I won’t have to bother with Live Sync now.

It looks like a whole lot of iPhone app developers are getting into the Black Friday spirit today, as Lifehacker (courtesy of Appshopper) notes that there are quite a few apps that are now free in the app store. Head on over and check out the list, there’s sure to be something you want.

Just a few moments ago, I posted that “I Want Sandy,” my personal favorite productivity app, is closing its doors in two weeks. Well, after a little sniffing around for alternatives, I actually came upon a whole slew of comments from users where were VERY unhappy about the same loss I’m suffering. It seems a lot of folks feel that the developer of the product has broken their trust by basically saying “So long, and thanks for helping me build my resume.”

The more I read, the sadder I get, seeing a lot of people left to hurry up and figure out what to do now, since there are no plans to keep the service alive, or pass it along to someone else. Which leads me to the question - how many fans of “Web 2.0″ really have backup plans for when their favorite service either tanks, gets bought out, or changes the way they do business (a la Jott).

I think that as we see the economy continue to spiral, there are more Web 2.0 companies heading down the “change, die, or sell out” path, and we all need to start thinking about alternatives, even to some of the better paid apps. If the “I Want Sandy” shutdown is proving one thing - it’s that at any time, a developer can call it quits, and leave you hanging, so have a backup.

Being a big fan of Foldershare, my ears immediately perked up when I read (courtesy of DownloadSquad) today that Microsoft is replacing (or possibly just renaming) Foldershare with “Windows Live Sync.” It sounds like they are adding a few new features and a new name, but not much else. I really hope they don’t replace it, I have a ton of folders shared with clients who prefer Foldershare to dealing with the IT hassles of creating an Internet-accessible File Server.  I am surprised they never made Foldershare the core of their new Mesh service, but I imagine within the next few months, we’ll likely see the death of Foldershare completely, or that it’ll take over for some components of Mesh. Either way, I’m glad I’ve been testing out alternatives lately, like NomaDesk (a writeup on that one is coming soon, but in some - it’s worth checking out for a virtual file server that doesn’t force every client PC to download the files every time they are updated).

It’s been a good week for couchworkers as far as new iPhone app announcements go. First off, ReadWriteWeb has spread the word that DataViz, the guys who made some great portable document editors for the Palm (I used Documents to Go for years), is making Documents to Go for iPhone, which finally means a real document editor, not just modified Notepad applications.  You can sign up to be notified of the office suite’s release here.

Along with that good news, there’s word that LogMeIn Ignition will be coming to the iPhone. If you’re looking for a great way to easily remote control a PC or Mac from your local network or the Internet, this is good news. It’s a pay app, but I can’t wait for it.  Sign up for a shot at testng it here. (Courtesy of The Unofficial Apple Weblog).

Courtesy of Lifehacker comes news of this gem - Firemail. The app, which is free, allows you to compose emails in landscape text-entry mode (iPod/iPhone on its side, for a much larger keyboard), then save or send it. You can also create a bookmark for text you frequently type, then use it in future emails, sort of like a template.

Read more, with screens, over at LifeHacker.

Recently, I finished reading “The Four Hour Workweek,” and well, it’s done wonders for making me a fascist about my work hours, ensuring plenty more time for leisure than I ever had in the past.  While I’m certainly not getting away with a four-hour work-week, I’m certainly getting myself back under control when it comes to time management.  One trick I used to use, that had dropped off the radar when things went uber-busy about a year ago (and needed to do a ton of client travel,) was my “Four things in four hours” policy.  I fired it back up about three weeks ago, and man, I’m so much happier now, and find myself no longer glued to my PC at 7pm saying to my wife, “Just gotta finish this, then I’ll have dinner.” Now, I’m done by 1pm every day (assuming no emergencies come up with clients) and I’m much more relaxed.  Here’s how it works -

- Every morning when you get into work, pick four things you absolutely must get done that day. Write them down. Be realistic about these things, as you’re going to be jamming through the workday to get ‘em done, and picking something you KNOW would take the whole day by itself to get done is not a good idea and defeats the purpose of the exercise.

- Schedule the next four hours to get those things done.  No email checking, no phone answering, nothing. Shut the door and lock it (either at home, or in your office) - Just hunker down and do nothing but those four things. You can send email (as you’ll likely have to, in order to get some items done) but don’t start reading any non-related email. If you’re worried about missing some emergency “thing,” think about it - is there any sort of emergency that will come up and need resolved in a four-hour period? No, there isn’t, short of a major physical/medical issue.  That’s why I picked four hours, it’s just right for giving enough padding to get work done, and still have time to catch up after.

Note: we all have tasks that will sometimes take more than 4 hours, in that case, break that task down into smaller goals which can be accomplished in time allowed. This way, instead of groaning about having to finish a press kit in 4 hours, when you know it will take 12, break it down into several two-hour chunks. For example - two hours on writing the documentation, 2 hours on collecting information, two hours on getting approvals, etc etc. You can break a task down over several days if it’s a big one.

- As soon as an item is done, strike it from the list. You need that feeling of accomplishment to really keep in gear for the next items. Did I mention no multitasking? That’s right, don’t even think about jumping back and forth between the four items, just pick one, get it done, move to the next.

- After three hours, look at the list and evaluate where you are.  Did you get most of the tasks done? No? Then try to finish 1-2 more if possible, but be sure you’d done at least one for the day.  If it looks like you’ll be done all of ‘em for the day, hooray, go celebrate as soon as you’re done. Me personally, I go play a game, watch a TV show, listen to some music or something to flush work out of my brain for a bit.

- Once you’re done those four items, forget work for a few hours. Go find a way to relax for a few hours. You’ve just accomplished a heck of a lot more in four hours of focused work than you’re likely to in 10 hours of scatter-shot “little bit o’ this, little bit o’ that” work.

- After your break, come back and check email, voicemail etc and decide if anything needs done immediately, or might work in tomorrow’s list. If there’s nothing in dire need of completion, it’s time to call it a day.

Some people might think that setting yourself up to work for only four hours per day means you’re slacking for four hours after, but honestly think about it - how much do you really get done in an unfocused eight-hour day? I bet it’s a lot less than four tasks.

How does this all work (at least for me) -

First off, it forces me to prioritize and assign deadlines. As the saying goes, “A project will take up as much time as you give it.” If you don’t stick a serious deadline on something, you’re going to futz around day in and day out, picking at sub-tasks and sub-sub-tasks like scraps off a roasted chicken dinner sitting in the fridge.  Instead of just saying “I have to have this report written in an hour” you end up writing, walking away, writing some more, getting a coffee with friends, and by the end of an eight-hour day - you’re still staring at paragraph one. But, give yourself only an hour or two to do it, with the reward being that you’re going to freely enjoy the rest of the afternoon (after getting your other deadline items done), you’ll be surprised how focused you can get.

It also forces you to keep track of to do’s in some sort of written format, rather than bouncing around in your head. Now that you have to write ‘em down and sort/prioritize, you’ll be surprised at how few things fall through the cracks.

It works as a great incentive-based system. First off, you get that delicious feeling when you strike a task off your list. Secondly, your big incentive is all that free time after you do your four things. Trust me, after a week of stopping work at 1pm and going out to enjoy some time with my kids, or playing a game, or taking a nap, I’m incentivized to focus like a madman on getting things done, and done right the first time.

Work-quality significantly increases. You can bet that I don’t want to see that press release come back on my desk with edits/changes, which will force its way back onto my 4 Things list for the next day, noooo thank you.  When you get focused on getting things done on a deadline, you’ll be surprised how much higher your quality of work is, even if you think (like I often do) that your work is awesome as-is, you’ll be surprised at the quality boost you get when you focus like this.

Give “Four Things in Four Hours” a try and let me know what you think.