At first glance it is not obvious how to link to items in the iTunes Music Store — whether it’s music, podcasts, movies, tv shows, etc. — but it’s actually fairly simple and can be done in a couple easy steps as I demonstrate below.

First, go to the product page on iTunes you’d like to link to.

Then right click on the title and select “Copy iTunes Store URL.”

Then use this link to direct people to that page in the iTunes store. If you’d like to make the URL shorter or more memorable you can use services like TinyUrl or Snipurl. That’s it. Happy linking!

If you’ve recently upgraded to the new Firefox (Firefox 3), one of the first things you’ll notice is the enlarged back button in the top left corner of the browser.

Personally, this is one of the few changes in the new Firefox that’s bothered me. Thankfully — as I outline below — there’s a very easy fix for this.

Continue Reading: “Fix the New Firefox 3 “Big” Back Button”

So I know this is going to sound slightly new-agey and really dorky, but I tend to get really stressed out at work (sometimes for good reason, other times not) and I have a tendency to clench my teeth, tighten muscles, slouch, and any number of other things that lead to feelings of soreness, stress, and other unpleasantness.

I’m also frequently distracted by twitter, email, my own “brilliant ideas,” co-workers, etc. To counteract this mental clutter and stress, I decided to set up some desktop reminders to ping me on a regular basis throughout the day.

Basically, every 15 minutes I get pinged using FlexTime (I’m sure you could do a similar thing in Outlook/Entourage as well.) and a little message pops up saying, “Be Mindful,” “Focus,” “Breathe,” etc. The idea is to remind myself to release any stress that is building up in my system and to bring the focus back, in case I’m distracted, to whatever I’m working on.

Continue Reading: “Stress Less And Stay Focused With Helpful Desktop “Alerts”"

Gina Trapani of Lifehacker was interviewed a while back on Tim Ferriss’ blog and was asked about some productivity tips. The entire interview is worth checking out, but I thought the most important point coming from it, and one of the best things you can do to increase your productivity, is to act on new information immediately (something I have been working on A LOT recently) — to process new stuff and move it along, instead of just letting it sit in your mind, your inbox, etc. collecting dust. Here’s what Gina had to say:

Q: Which some small life hacks—little changes—have had the biggest impact on your working life?

A: One simple but powerful habit is this: To act immediately on things as they come up.

For example, if I have an idea while I’m on line at the grocery store, instead of thinking “oh, I’ll write that down as soon as I get home,” I force myself to take out my phone and send myself an email or jot it down on a piece of paper in my pocket. If I get an email that requires a quick response, instead of moving onto the next one, firing off that response immediately and archiving the message. If I see a web page that looks like it might be a good Lifehacker post at some point, instead of just bookmarking it for later, creating a draft post in Lifehacker’s publishing system on the spot. This practice requires some discipline to develop, especially when you’re feeling lazy or distracted, but it can make a huge difference.

Mostly, it’s about putting things in the right place as soon as you possibly can, to avoid having random stuff hanging around your mind and space.

Read the rest of the interview here.

If you haven’t yet checked out Fluid for OS X Leopard, you should. Essentially the idea is to create site specific browsers for selected sites. Some of my favorites include Fluid with Muxtape, Digg, Mahalo, and Google. With all of these, Fluid allows you to preview mulitple links at the same time using a cover flow-like interface. I put some screenshots below and link to a nice video tutorial of how to get started with Fluid.

Fluid with Digg:

Continue Reading: “Fluid For OS X Leopard: A New Way To View The Web”