As one might expect, the data in the report (collected and processed by Nielson) shows a 65 percent increase since 2007 in the average amount of time each participant spent online.

Social networking and blogs were the fastest-growing sector. Almost a quarter of all online time was spent on these as the pie chart below, which represents the average online hour, makes clear:

On average participants spent 13.5 minutes out of every hour on blogs and social networks.

Instant messaging, regarded by some (like Business Week) as the “email of the future”, was the biggest casualty. Three years ago it accounted for 14 percent of internet time, now it is only 5 percent.

Email, on the other hand, is rising. As the UKOM press release puts it:

In contrast, personal Email, which many predicted to be another casualty of the social networking phenomenon, has actually increased its share of online time from 6.5 percent to 7.2 percent – a relative rise of 11 percent. In absolute terms, Britons now spend 88 percent more time on Email sites than they did three years ago but 42 percent less time Instant Messaging

The full press release can be downloaded from the UKOM web site.

A video clip on the BBC web site explains the significance of the findings in more depth.

[The survey is based on data collected from at least 35,000 people -- 31,000 of them at home and 4,000 at work.] email, not apple mail, not mail.app, web 2.0, social networkingSimilar Posts:

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Along with a raft of bugfixes, the new version (0.9.2) can now turn the browswers into menubar items for even greater flexibility.

Longtime Hawk Wings readers will remember the small flurry of site-specific web apps two years — Michael McCracken’s WebMail app for Gmail and Chip Cuccio’s GCal app for Google Calendar. With no bookmarks, other windows and other temptations, these apps allowed users to focus on their productivity without distractions.

Fluid works on the same principle. Based on Mozilla’s Prism app , it creates a site-specific app, complete with its own Dock icon, menubars and other individual settings.

Here are some that I made earlier for Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, mint and facebook:

Now, when I want to get the email done, I open the Gmail app, when I want to unwind I turn to the facebook one. I am never tempted to work when I should be relaxing, nor to relax when I should be at work. (That’s the theory; as every “Getting Things Done” fan knows deep in their heart, in the end no app can save you from yourself!).

The ability to run Greasemonkey scripts inside these Fluid apps is very cool. Previously only really available to Firefox users, Fluid now lets me load my two favourite scripts from userscripts.org so that I can use Gmail with killer keyboard macros and some of the noise taken out of the Gmail interface:

Fluid’s free-standing apps can each have their own preference settings. The overall behaviour of the window is also customizable — overlaid on the Dashboard, normal, floating or embedded in the Desktop. Here, for example, is my mint in Fluid’s simple black HUD style:

A Flickr group – Fluid Icons – offers lots of nice looking Dock icons for various web sites. I scored most of the icons in the screenshot above from there.

The possibilities seem enormous, and this article only scratches the surface of the app’s potential.

This updated version lets you turn a browser into a menubar utility, so that clicking on its menubar icon opens its window–instant, roll-your-own to-do lists in a Fluid-generated Remember the Milk or Stikkit app!

Fluid is freeware and available from the Fluid web site . productivity, GTD, Getting Things Done, webkit, fluid, gmail, google calendar, facebook, mint, google docs, web 2.0, web apps, greasemonkeySimilar Posts:

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She starts off with some basic tips, keyboard shortcuts, integration with Gmail, reminders and so forth.

Things get more interesting for seasoned users with her collection of 15 (mostly Greasemonkey) scripts that offer skinning, interface streamlining and more, including the Better Gcal script, which combines several of the most useful scripts (à la Gina Trapani’s Better Gmail Firefox extension).

Finally, she provides a list of Firefox Extensions, hacks and some syncing utilities that help Outlook users and others get the most of Gcal. She doesn’t mention BusySync’s public beta that offers iCal-Gcal syncing or Spanning Sync , but I guess you knew about those already.

If you use Goolge’s Calendar, you will want to bookmark Christina’s collection of tips for sure.not mail.app, not apple mail, google, calendar, tips, scripts, greasemonkey, web 20, ical, productivity, firefox, syncingSimilar Posts:

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will be the year when it becomes truly obvious … that email’s days are numbered. Not that it will disappear — surface mail and fax will linger on due to the long-tail of communication media — but it will clearly be a byway, and not the highway, for communication and collaboration.

Now ValleyWag has dredged up the first actual statistics that I have seen, in defence of its claim that “email is dying as a form of communication”:

I’m not a statistician, but it seems that there are least two things to say about this “evidence” from Valleywag.

1. The chart displays the amount of traffic – or “hits” – to email services and to social web sites. The number of times a person visits his or her email service provider may not be a safe indicator of the value that person places upon email, nor of the frequency with which email or other forms of online communication are used. All it shows is that people in the UK now visit social web sites more often than they visit their email service providers, which is… well…. unsurprising.
2. The general trend is not one of social web visits supplanting visits to email service providers, but of supplementing them. As the social web site traffic grows, visits to email service provider do not decline by a corresponding amount for most of the graph.

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Basically, it adds a pane to iPhoto’s “Export…” dialog:

The updated version offers a Contacts button that pulls down your Gmail contacts so that you pick the recipient(s) from that list.

Other new features include:

- A bugfix for RAW and other non-jpeg files that were not properly renamed when scaled.
- A fix for some situations in which the plugin would try to send message without recipients.
- Re-written code to be Object Oriented and Modular for maintainability.

You can get the revised version from Juan’s web site .iphoto, gmail, photos, webmail, plugin, web 2.0, integration, emailSimilar Posts:

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The latest release makes a number of significant improvements.

It has repackaged as an application, and features a ‘Safe Mode’ with the option to restore your Address Book to its initial contents.

User interaction has been streamlined and improved, and the app no longer leaves extraneous data in your Address Book (altough it still leaves “<myABGmerge>” in Gmail notes so you know which ones are synchronized to your Address Book).

It’s also faster: the basic synchronization algorithms are significantly refined.

Benjamin says,

It is still complicated, and probably not for people without some savvy. It doesn’t necessarily handle foreign addresses all that well. And it probably still has some bugs. But it is far more robust now than it was before – and it sure beets doing a one off import / export between the two applications. Address Book is such a good repository for address information, but if you don’t have .mac – Gmail may be the best bet to get at that information when you are at work or away.

You can get ABGMerge from Benjamin’s web site .address book, gmail, google, syncing, contacts, web 2.0, applescriptSimilar Posts:

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Gene at Fred’s house worries about it too.

He looks around his Desktop and sees Google This and Google That and Google The Other Thing. He’s becoming dependent on Google apps to get through the day. And each new, undeniably clever and good, constantly improving Google app adds to the amount of data that Google knows about him.

He has an idea:

I think I need a new Google product to drop into beta. That would be, let’s see, Google Data Privacy. GDP would allow me to review all of the information that Google retains on me across all services, from all devices, and from all sources. GDP would allow me to determine the maximum data retention period for each of my services. GDP would allow me to selectively opt out of cross-service data mining & correlation, even if it reduced the quality of the services I receive. GDP would allow me to correct any inaccurate data in my profile. And GDP would log and alert me when my data was queried by other services.

I want my Google Data Privacy.

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He talks a bit about the GTD system and getting yourself organised in general, then reviews nine web-based GTD solutions.

They are not the same as the ten I picked out. In particular, I would have added GTDGmail, a triumph of interface hacking and adaption.

Still, the fact that I can quibble about little things like this shows the abundance of Mac implementations we enjoy these days and how stimulating a list Ed has put together.

Well worth a read .

He has just posted a second part on twelve desktop GTD apps, which is worth reading too. Easy Task Manager wins the GTD app shoot-out for him.GTD, getting things done, mac, apple, productivity, web 2.0, tips, reviewsSimilar Posts:

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Whatever the answer, it is asking for ideas :

Is there a cool trick you’ve discovered in iWeb? Have you found some new use for Photocasting that isn’t mentioned in the instructions? Is there an advanced feature in iCal you’d like to know more about?

Or it doesn’t have to focus on features. We’re always curious to know how .Mac fits into your life.

Here are a few pointers, if you are stuck for something to suggest:

• Apple/Google Mash-up. BusinessWeek Online offers some ideas on how Google and .Mac could work together better.
• Rui Carmo spanks .Mac. Rui takes the hatchet to .Mac.
• Do it yourself .Mac. Matt Simerson decided not to wait for tips from the .Mac blog. He’s making a better .Mac service for himself.
• Four more suggestions. Four interesting manifestos on how to improve .Mac’s value for money.

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A Tickler file is a set of 43 folders (geddit? ) into which you can file future events that will require your attention later but which don’t need to sap your energy right now.

There are ways to get a tickler file going inside Mail.app itself using MailTags or AppleScript, but for those who prefer a web-based solution, MyTicklerFile will do the job nicely.

A upgraded version of the service was launched today. It adds Projects, time-tracking, syncing with iCal and Basecamp for paying customers and new daily, monthly and project views.

Also new is the TicklerCal, an “iCal-like” representation of all your ticklers:

Click image for a full-sized view

MyTicklerFile offers a free plan with one project, 15 ticklers and 10 Backpack-style reminders, and two paying plans (USD 9/month and 19/month) which include more projects, ticklers and reminders and other extra features.

Head over to the site, read its blog and look at some sample screenshots.GTD, getting things done, tickler file, productivity, projects, reminders, web 2.0Similar Posts:

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