Twitter has become an integral part of both work and play for millions of its users. It’s insanely useful and highly addictive. So addictive, in fact, that psychologists are starting to talk about it as a legitimate problem for some, in the same way they do  World of Warcraft and other online addictions. For smart, rational people like you the chances of becoming obsessed with Twitter (or anything else) are low – but it can be a distraction and hinder productivity. Attention deficit disorder has become epidemic in the 21st century, and Twitter is yet another diversion that feeds the plague.

A colleague recently asked me how to manage Twitter so that it remained useful, but was less of a distraction. “How do I use Twitter productively” is also one of the top questions I am asked when speaking about social networking. I’ll give you the list of recommendations I usually respond with – but note that these are more aimed at personal Twitter users and do not necessarily apply to using Twitter as a business, for example; (more…)

Just when you thought Windows 7 couldn’t get any better, this week geeks unlocked a hidden feature in the operating system called ‘GodMode’. The tweak lets you configure a number of settings and access system tools in Windows 7 from one, central place. Think of it as the Control Panel on steroids.

It’s also really easy to activate. All you have to do is:

1. Create a new folder somewhere (right-click -> ‘Create folder’).
2. Name the folder “GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}” and hit enter.
3. You’re done. The folder icon will change to look like the picture in this post. Click it to open up your new, super Control Panel.

GodMode is awesome. I find the standard Control Panel somewhat counter-intuitive. Fortunately Microsoft really did think of everything with Windows 7. And thanks to my cousin Alessio Camera who gave me the heads-up =)

Oh, and apparently this will work with up to date versions of Windows Vista too…

Apple’s Mail.app email client gets a lot of flack for being a bandwidth hog when used to access Gmail via IMAP. The reason for the bandwidth sink has to do with the way that Gmail archives email. To cut a long story short: no matter how you label or delete your email in Gmail it is always stored in a master folder that contains all the email you have ever sent and received, even deleted messages. Keeping the ‘All Mail’ folder in constant sync via IMAP consumes a lot of bandwidth. But there is a way to set up your Gmail -> Mail.app integration that makes this problem disappear, optimises bandwidth usage and improves the experience of using Gmail with Mail.app, which is an awesome mail application, once you have it configured correctly.
(more…)

Skype 2.8 for Mac (and 4.1 for Windows) is a decent update to the application with some welcome new additions, including improved video quality, Skype Access wifi management and screen sharing. However, it also adds annoying notifications every time someone updates their mood message, or status.

Disabling the notifications isn’t obvious either. I expected the setting to be under the ‘Notifications’ area in the Skype options or preferences window – where it intuitively should be. But it isn’t. (more…)

Note: I have updated this guide for Snow Leopard. If you use OS X 10.6+ then make sure to follow step 3.

The following is a guide for setting up a Huawei cellular USB modem on a Mac. It will work with any cellular network, any APN and does not require any third-party connection software. Just your Mac, OS X Leopard or Snow Leopard (10.5+ or 10.6+), and a Huawei modem with an active SIM card for the network you are connecting to.
(more…)