I really love items (articles, lectures) that talk about a certain topic, but actually if you were to replace the topic with another one you would still learn the same insight or knowledge. Gregory V. Wilson talks about processes, decisions and methods in software development. He talks about common beliefs in that area, but the lessons learned are applicable to many other fields: you should take decisions and get to conclusions based on data, not opinions. 

 What We Actually Know About Software Development, and Why We Believe It's True

You can read here a summery of the talk.

Google analytics can now display clicking data visually on the pages of your website. This presentation, called 'In-Page Analytics', can help you understand how people use your website – where they click and where not. You can use it to decide whether to move certain components to a more prominent place, remove uninteresting things, redesign or rewrite certain parts, and so on. 

To see your site's 'In-Page Analytics' click this option under the 'Content' section in Google analytics.

Continue reading “New in Google Analytics: See Your Stats laid Out on Your Website pages” »

I'm listens to a huge amount of podcasts and recently I thought it would be a good idea to share them. Since I'm getting them through Google reader, I could generate an RSS feed you can subscribe to.

Subscribe to the feed of the podcasts I listen to: Daily email | RSS | iTunes (lunches iTunes).

Note that I hand pick each episode (according to my preferences, of course). I'm subscribed to lots of podcast channels. Every  time a new episode is published, I read what it is about and decide if I want to download it – and now, share it with you.

Continue reading “Get a Feed of Awesome, Hand Picked, Technology Podcasts” »

Recently Google launched a feature that lets you Access two Gmail accounts at once in the same browser. This is nice but I prefer to keep doing it the same way I've done it till now: Opening an Incognito window. Continue reading “Use Incognito Mode to Log in to Multiple Accounts Simultaneously” »

The video below is a nice animation of a lecture by Dan Pink. It talks about the things that motivate people, and especially knowledge workers (my wording). The interesting thing it reveals is that in activities that are highly cognitive (versus mechanical), it is not money that motivates us, but the following three factors:

• Autonomy - the ability to be self directed, that is, control our activities rather than being managed.
• Mastery – the urge to be better at stuff we do. The example given in the video is of people who play instruments just for fun, and not for money.
• Purpose – making a contribution to something transcendent.

I think that the most interesting practical suggestion in the video is this:

Pay people enough so that monIey is not a consideration anymore, and then making sure the three motivation factors are satisfied.

Continue reading “Video – The Three Factors That Motivate People” »

When you’re trying to organize a particular area of your life, perhaps shopping, your finances or stock orders, it can be a huge help to have technology on your side. Just recently I’ve been trying out Google’s Gmail filters, and I’ve found that if you use them in a certain way (in conjunction with FireFox and its addon), you can come up with some cool ideas.

One of the most fun ways to use Gmail Filters is to use it for organizing coupon codes and hence creating shopping lists.

Continue reading “Guest Post – Get Ready for Shopping Season: Collect Deals in Your Gmail Inbox” »