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Welcome to the Cranking Widgets Blog. We exist to help you get more done by showing you ways to be more effective and let go of the stuff that doesn't make you awesome. Be sure to subscribe to our feed and follow us on Twitter here.
Google Maps

Being the total and complete Google fanboy that I am, Google Maps is where I typically turn for all of my mappy needs. I realize there are tons of other options, but Google’s directions are pretty consistently accurate – plus the application is just easy and fun to use.

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Every so often when I’m out running errands on the weekends, I’ll catch a radio talk show dealing with technology (users call in with questions, etc.). I swear I can’t get through an hour of this show without the subject of data backup coming up at least once (or perhaps the entire hour will be [...]

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A couple days ago, I was buying some groceries at a nearby supermarket. As I gently slid my bank card through the terminal at the register, I was prompted to enter my PIN. It’s something I do so often that I rarely consider the potential security risks. What if somebody were to get a look [...]

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All of us productivity nerds have our tools of choice. Some instinctively reach for a stack of index cards, others for a PDA or Pocket PC. I’m here to tell you that your regular, everyday cell phone can probably be just as effective as any other swiss army knife out there. It’s all about taking [...]

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Not so long ago, cell phones were reserved for society’s wealthy and privileged. Yes, carrying around that small suitcase only for the pleasure of spending $.50/minute to call your stock broker or nail salon – that’s what separated the haves from the have-nots. Thankfully, those days have ended. Everybody and their freakin’ mother has a [...]

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Everybody’s favorite productivity guru/wordsmith gave a Tech Talk at the Googleplex on getting your inbox to zero. If you’re a 43f reader, this will likely be a rehashing of some older material, but still worth the time. If you’ve never heard of this man(n), you’re in for a treat. Have a great weekend, everybody!

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Let’s face it – GMail is pretty much the coolest webmail application in existence. It’s simple design and slick interface (not to mention it’s unparalleled search capabilities) make it a pure joy with which to work. Having said that, there’s something to be said for standing on the shoulders of giants, so to speak. A [...]

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Just a quick one, kids. I was recently invited to test drive the new Twitter-ish web app, Pownce (from Digg-founder Kevin Rose and others). It uses the new AIR interface stuff from Adobe, and it’s pretty slick. My only complaint thus far is the inability to send messages from my cell phone. Otherwise, it’s pretty [...]

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Ahem. Cough. Cough. Testing. 1. 2. 3. Well hello there gentle readers! My name is GTD Wannabe and I’m standing in today for Brett, who’s about to give birth. Well, my name’s not really GTD, and he’s not really going to be doing the heavy lifting but you know what I mean. I want to [...]

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Just a quick update regarding WinStikker (a little Windows desktop application I wrote to quickly and easily create new Stikkits from your desktop). One of the biggest requests (read: complaints about it was the 500-character limit on the main input field. It was written this way because, per Stikkit’s documentation, the Stikkit engine will only [...]

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