INFO

While it may seem like the internet is populated by people with endless time on their hands who are out to torpedo our productivity, there really are web-based applications that can improve productivity -- or at least make some things easier. 

Customizable Homepages

A customized homepage -- or "start" page -- allows you to collect and organize information of importance to you all on one page.  Having everything on one page (rather than at multiple URLs) can really save you time.

• Are You Making Your Life Easier by Using a Personalized Start Page?
  

Online Calendars

To Do Lists

Just about everyone makes lists.  But are they effective?  Here is some good advice for making your To Do List (whether online or on paper) more effective.  Some highlights:"the main reason most people fail, get overwhelmed, or drive themselves to the cardiologist with worry and stress is that they don't have a good grip on what they need to be doing" and "the key to an effective todo list is not the list itself, how it is organized and managed, but the habit of using, adding to, and reviewing the list."

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Customizable Homepages

• You can choose to try out igoogle, Netvibes, Pageflakes, or something else.  Here are 14 Personalized Homepages Compared.  Note that igoogle is completely private whereas you can choose to make part or all of Netvibes or Pageflakes public (which can be help in some scenarios.) 

• Explore the Demo and Help section in the start page you choose to use.  As with a lot of web 2.0 tools, a customizable homepage is extremely easy to begin.  And then there is more you can do with it that you ever thought imaginable.  So, watch the demos, read the Help section, and play around with it.  As with the blog, getting used to playing around with the widgets, gadgets, and such of a start page will make you more adept at using other web 2.0 tools.

• Choose headlines, weather reports, links to your emailand RSS feeds, and dozens of other widgets (or gadgets) to manage information -- or your life.  Note that many widgets require a download.  Add features, delete features, and re-arrange the features on your page and/or create multiple pages. 

Online Calendars

Choose a calendar from this article and try it out. 

To Do Lists

Try one of these online list tools to manage your activities: Ta da list, Remember the Milk, Todoist, Backpack 

More

• Top 10 Productivity Websites
  
• Top 25 Web 2.0 Apps to Improve a Student's or Professor's Productivity

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• Which customizable homepage did you choose?  Why did that one appeal to you?  Will you make it your permanent home page?

• Did you find a tool that has some uses for you at school or home? Which tool(s) would you recommend to others?

• How can the online calendars be useful to you?

• What about the To Do Lists -- helpful? too much work? 
  

• How would you compare and contrast the use of paper-based assignments and assigment notebooks to the potential use of online assignment calculators and to do lists for students?