The Cranking Widgets Blog

Blog News: I Blog Elsewhere and People Read This

Good day, friends. Just a couple quick announcements, then you can get back to work:
I’ve recently accepted a “guest blogger” spot over at lifehack.org. I’ll be writing there once per week, posted whenever Leon feels it’s appropriate. Since lifehack and CW cover similar topics, I think you folks might enjoy it (provided [...]

How to Go from Joe User to RSS Badass

Written by Brett Kelly

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Long gone are the days of feebly visiting every website on your daily reading list, checking for new content. These days, all the kids seem to have their favorite RSS reader dialed in with all of their favorite blogs and newsfeeds, eating it up like it’s Thanksgiving dinner. But, dear friends, there’s more [...]

4 Fantastic Reasons Why GTD Converts Should All Start with Paper Systems

Written by Brett Kelly

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As I’ve said in the past, I was an analog GTDer (but have since converted to a kick-ass digital solution). I used paper products for absolutely every aspect of GTD when I started and found the experience to be extremely valuable. So much so, that I’m going to tell you now why every [...]

What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up? – A Meme

Written by Brett Kelly

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Well, Frank, you caught me in a good mood – so here goes
As a Kid
Truth be told, I don’t really recall. I’m sure I had aspirations of being a fireman, a police officer, etc. like most young boys do, but I can’t think of anything concrete. I have vague recollections of [...]

Site Happenings: Weekend Updates/Upgrades

Written by Brett Kelly

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Just wanted to drop a quick warning that I plan on reworking certain elements of the site, including the theme. If you happen to visit and it looks nothing like you’re used to, please understand that it’s a work in progress
Thanks, and have a great weekend!

Friday Fun: Possible Closing Lines for Law & Order

Written by Brett Kelly

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So, because all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, I’ve decided to start doing something a little different on Fridays (at least, that’ll be the goal). These posts will give you a little insight into my off-beat (or what my wife calls “weird”) sense of humor…
The other night, I was watching [...]

An Ode to Twitter

Written by Brett Kelly

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Twitter. Oh, Twitter.
You enticed me with your bubbly logo and simple interface. You wined and dined me with your promises of increased communication and the constant knowledge of the whereabouts and doings of my friends and cohorts. You took the Internet by storm and made us all believe you were the next [...]

WinStikker – Quickly Create New Stikkits From Your Windows Desktop

Written by Brett Kelly

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(Update: WinStikker is now Open Source!)
Any more of this stuff and people are going to start to wonder if I work for Values of n (makers of Stikkit – and no, I don’t work for them – yet . After writing the python script described (badly) in the previous post, I was somewhat [...]

Import Your Gmail Contacts into Stikkit With This Free Utility

Written by Brett Kelly

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By now, my Stikkit fanboy status is hardly a secret. And while there have been a couple of other posts around here dealing with some theoretical Stikkit coolness, I figured it was time to give something a little more concrete to my Stikkit-loving brethren. Oh, and I also thought it a good opportunity [...]

Hacking Twitter: How to Capture Everything, from Anywhere

Written by Brett Kelly

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Most folks have downed their cup of the Twitter Kool-Aid (myself included). If you haven’t heard of Twitter, then we must be using different internets on different planets. Here’s a 2 sentence introduction:
Send a little status message about where you are or what you’re doing (via web interface, IM or cell phone) to [...]