But it turns out that Timbuk2’s new Commute 2.0 bag is just the right size for adding a single insert to carry a DSLR. Two inserts that seem to be the right size are the Billingham 12-21 Superflex insert and the Domke FA-211 insert. I didn’t really feel like paying $30 for this experiment, so I constructed one myself from some foam and duct tape, then attached it to the inside of the bag with industrial strength Velcro. I’ve been using it for a couple of months now, and it has held up nicely.

As you can see, there is plenty of room for my camera, along with the other items that I like to carry with me. If i need to bring my laptop, there’s a zipper compartment on the outside of the bag so that the laptop doesn’t take up interior space.

Built with Adobe AIR, Klok is a lightweight and cross-platform tracking solution. You can create a hierarchy of projects and sub-projects in the task-management sidebar and then track the time spent on each by dragging and dropping them into the workflow for the day. While you can delve into the details of each block of time, simple adjustments like expanding the amount of time you’ve worked on a project is as easy as grabbing the edge of the block with your mouse and tugging it down.

Also on their list are Manic Time (Windows), SlimTimer (web-based), RescueTime (Windows and Mac), and Project Hamster (Linux). All five of the applications mentioned in the article are free to access or download.

If you haven’t tracked your time before, I recommend keeping records for at least two weeks to see how you spend your time. The data you will acquire will give you insight into your most productive hours of the day, your low-performance times, when people tend to interrupt you, and how much time you waste during an average day. Then, you can start to tweak your work habits to get the most out of your time in the office.

If this statistic is true, and I know from experience that there is a refractory time after any distraction, it is strong evidence against leaving the notification alert active on your e-mail program. Instead, you should schedule time in your day to check your e-mail. Based on the type of office environment you work in, you might need to check your e-mail at the top of every hour. However, most people can get by only checking their e-mail two to four times during the work day.

I also recommend checking e-mail during the times when you are usually distracted during the day. Whether this is when others tend to interrupt you or when your mind typically wanders on its own, it’s best not to try to do high-functioning activities when you plan to work through your e-mail inbox. For me, this is right after lunch when I find it difficult to concentrate for more than a few minutes at a time. I check e-mail, return phone calls, and do a little bit of filing.

Try turning off the notification alert on your e-mail system and only checking e-mail on a schedule and see if it improves your productivity. If the interruption refractory period really is 17 minutes, you should immediately notice significant gains in your focus.

Digital sheet music for the MusicPad Pro can be purchased and downloaded from the website FreeHandMusic.com. If I understand the information on the website, there is also a subscription service where users can have continuous access to a music library for around $50 per month.

Upon further research, I’ve learned that my comparison of the Music Pad Pro to a Kindle is actually quite common — so common in fact that FreeHandMusic has now made their sheet music available for purchase on the Kindle. Since the MusicPad Pro retails for around $900 and the Kindle around $300, I believe the Kindle is a better deal since it also has the ability to download books, magazines, newspapers, blogs, etc. However, you can scan your existing sheet music into the MusicPad Pro and you can annotate and make notes on page — neither of which you can do on a Kindle.

Irrespective of which digital device might be of interest, I think both are an organized solution for young musicians who are just starting to acquire a sheet music collection. If digitizing your sheet music collection isn’t your forte, you might consider spiral binding your music.

(Image of the MusicPad Pro via FreeHandMusic.com)

1. Remember where you parked
Whether at the mall, an amusement park, or a concert with your kids, the last thing you want to do is delay getting home because you can’t find your car in the enormous parking garage or lot. When you first park, snap a picture of identifying information near your space and save it to Evernote. If you’re in a rental, also add a picture of the license plate of the car you’re driving. Once you’re back, either delete the pictures or add notes about the quality of the spot if it’s somewhere you might want to park again. “Great place for quickly getting onto the highway ramp after a packed concert at Wolf Trap Amphitheater.”

Feel welcome to check it out and come back here and add to the list. Tell us how you use Evernote and other technologies to organize your busy family life.

I didn’t grow up playing video games like many of my peers, but got into it in college thanks to my friend Clark. (Clark also introduced Stevie Case to computer gaming their freshman year of college … small world.) I like solving puzzles and gaming is my constant outlet for that aspect of my personality, and I’ll always be in debt to Clark for being my guide.

There are a couple Nintendo DS Lite games coming out in the next few weeks that I’ve pre-ordered to take with me while I’m traveling for my book publicity. Unfortunately, I don’t have a very organized method for taking all of my DS Lite games (about 30) with me. After a little research, I’m looking at getting one of these:

A Memory Card Album with anti-static pages that can hold three games (or SD cards or MMC cards or other small discs) per page:

Or, a Memory Card and Manual Holder that has places for games and the instruction manuals that come with the games. It too could easily hold other small memory cards:

Do you have multiple games that are stored on small discs or do you carry small cards for work or your camera? How do you keep them stored in a safe and organized fashion? I’d like to know what you use. The smaller memory cards get, I think the more we’re going to address this issue.

Based on algorithms and other technical things I don’t fully understand (kind of like the iPhone app Shazam), TuneUp picks up where iTunes leaves off at properly identifying the music in my collection. I no longer have seven Track 03s on my playlists. All I have to do is drag the misidentified song into the “cleaner” and TuneUp pulls up possible matches. (The cleaner function is displayed at right.)

In addition to identifying songs, it also fixes formatting, finds rarer cover art, matches artist names, and even gives information about the songs in your collection sort of like VH1’s old Pop-Up Videos.

There are other programs out there similar to TuneUp, I just happened to find this program first and since it worked for me I didn’t try the others. If you have tried other programs and had success, please tell us about your experiences in the comments. TuneUp is free for a “limited-access” download, and is around $20 for an “unlimited” version.

If only I could find a program to clean up my digital photographs as easily …

(Image from TuneUp’s website … I fear if I show my music collection you all will make strange — but probably correct — assumptions about me! And, it should go without saying, but I wasn’t paid to write this review.)

… I don’t want a mass tangle of wires — there should be individual drawers with gratifying slots for all my gadgets. And like GBear’s idea for a streamlined dockbook, my dream docking station would connect to my laptop via a single, elegant plug.

Simple and clutter-free to the eye, my docking station would also have muscle, with heavy peripherals like DVD burner/player or secondary processor all built directly into the station, which means my laptop can be ultra light, petite, and purse-friendly.

I agree with her ideas and would add that I would also love a back up hard drive dock. What would you like in your dream docking/charging station? Tell us your ideas in the comments.

My honking and screeching brakes didn’t phase him as he swerved directly into me and ran me off the road. Afterward, another driver pulled onto the median behind me to check if I was okay, and the lunatic in the Jaguar just kept barreling down the road, totally clueless.

I have seen some truly horrible forms of clutter — time, physical, mental, behavioral — and texting while driving is the second worst type of clutter I can name in the behavioral clutter category (drunk driving is definitely the worst).

If you’re someone who thinks that it’s completely safe to text while driving, I’d like to suggest you play an eye-opening game in the Technology section of this weekend’s online New York Times.

Gauging Your Distraction
New studies show that drivers overestimate their ability to multitask behind the wheel. This game measures how your reaction time is affected by external distractions. Regardless of your results, experts say, you should not attempt to text when driving.

How did you perform? As expected, I was dismal. I didn’t even see the people on the road.

Peter has gone on to create a 15-minute video for Microsoft talking about how he recommends using Microsoft Office to organize three specific areas of one’s life (family, finance, and health). It’s on the Microsoft for Mac section of the website, but I’ve watched most of the video and can’t really see that any of his tips are necessarily Mac-specific. If you’re a Microsoft Office PC user, you can benefit from the video just the same.

A few words about the video:

• If you don’t have Microsoft’s Silverlight browser plugin on your computer, you’ll be prompted to download it. It’s free and you don’t have to reboot your computer after installing it.
• The video includes helpful advice, but in this specific situation Peter talks much slower than he usually does. His slow speech is obviously so that people can open up programs and move things around while following along with the video. However, if you’re not opening programs and following his advice while watching the video, you’ll probably miss his typical fast-paced, cheerful style.
• He recommends backing up your data to CDs or DVDs. I disagree with this since a disaster that could destroy your computer very likely would destroy this disc-saved data. It’s better to back up your data online (gmail, Mozy.com, a Flickr Pro account for your pictures, etc.) at an off-site location than having your backup and the original in the same house.

I was particularly interested in seeing how he recommended using Office to help track health-related matters. If you’re a Microsoft Office user, you might be interested in checking out Peter Walsh’s video.

Google recently released four tip sheets to help you get your e-mail clutter under control with Gmail. The tip sheets come in four levels (white, green, black, and master) and are targeted to how many e-mails you receive a day (white being just a few messages a day, master being a “massive number”). Even if you only receive a dozen e-mails a day, it’s still beneficial to check out all four tip sheets for additional ideas.

The following are some of my favorite tips:

Use filters to control the flow of incoming mail

Set up filters to automatically label, archive, delete, star, or forward certain types of incoming messages. You can create a filter based on any message — just choose “Filter messages like this” from the “More actions” drop-down menu to get started.

Get through your mail faster with keyboard shortcuts

Using keyboard shortcuts will help you shave milliseconds off every action, which can add up to a lot of saved minutes each week. Enable keyboard shortcuts in Settings and use “j” and “k” to navigate up and down within your inbox, “o” to open messages, “r” to reply, “c” to compose, “s” to add or remove a star, “e” to archive, and more. Hit “?” at any time to see the reference guide with a full list of keyboard shortcuts.

Send and archive in one step

Turn on “Send & Archive” from the Labs tab under Settings, and you’ll see a new button that sends your replay and then archives the thread with one click.

There is also a printable guide for easy reference while you’re in your e-mail inbox.

(Once again I’m thanking my friend Erin Kane for introducing me to another valuable resource for Unclutterers.)

Smartphones are all the rage these days. From Palm’s earlier creations, through the Blackberry and the iPhone, I’ve managed to resist the urge to upgrade from my old Motorola RAZR. As my thinking went (and had for nearly a decade), all I needed was a phone that worked — not one that included the kitchen sink. All of that went away this past weekend when I finally upgraded to Palm’s newest creation: the Palm Pre.

The Palm Pre sports a veritable plethora of features found on many competing smartphones: a camera, integrated mail and contact management, an easily-accessible online store (called the App Catalog), media playback, and more. What set the Pre apart from the others in my mind were some distinctive features that promised to make life just that much easier: Synergy, multitasking, iTunes sync, turn-by-turn GPS, and a very sharp 3-megapixel camera with integrated LED flash.

Synergy, Palm’s contact management system, integrates and merges your contact lists from Gmail, Facebook, Instant Messaging, and Microsoft Exchange into one easy-to-manage profile for each contact. Merging my Facebook contacts with my AIM list was easy; out of approximately 175 contacts, only three wouldn’t automatically merge. Linking the remaining three unmerged AIM contacts with the profiles they belonged under took maybe two extra minutes.

One of the more quirky and unexpected features of the Pre is its ability to masquerade as an iPod and synchronize with your existing media library using iTunes. While it won’t allow you to listen to files containing Apple’s DRM, it will synchronize your non-DRM MP3 and MP4 video collection to its 8GB storage without a problem. One caveat: Apple may not look upon this feature so favorably in the future, so you may not want to exclusively depend on it.

With the Pre’s on-board 3-megapixel camera, I no longer find it necessary to bring my everyday point-and-shoot along with me. The pictures are more than acceptable in both well-lit and low-lit situations. The LED flash works well enough, providing just enough light to get the right shot in dim light. That said, if you’re a dedicated amateur photographer, you may want to stick with your higher-end camera because the configuration options are currently slim.

The on-board turn-by-turn GPS system, called “Sprint Navigation” by Telenav, could easily replace most in-car GPS systems — provided you’re in a coverage area. Looking for the nearest bank? Three button presses and your directions are already queued up. While Google Maps on the Pre also offers much the same functionality, the spoken directions of Telenav’s system make it a much safer proposition. Sprint Navigation is provided free on the Pre.

And now we come to multi-tasking, perhaps Palm’s biggest achievement with the Pre. WebOS, Palm’s new operating system, allows multiple applications to be opened and used at once in the form of “cards.” While the iPhone has unofficially supported minor multitasking in certain applications, Palm takes it to a whole new level, allowing a user to view a PDF (through either the included PDF Reader or the newly-available Shortcovers e-reader application), listen to Pandora, map out a route using Google Maps, write an email, and browse the web all at once without having to close out from any of them to access the other.

While the App catalog may be sparse until more developers get on-board, there’s already evidence the organization-minded will have even more to enjoy on the platform: Evernote and SplashID Secure Password Manager were both released last week, offering even more tools to keep everything in its place.

With the Pre, I’ve come to realize just how much the smartphone has to offer: an innovative OS just ripe for organizing multitaskers, and (most of all) I no longer have to keep a notepad, GPS, point-and-shoot camera, or iPod with me. While I’m not going to step into the inevitable “Is it better than the iPhone?” fray, I can at least tell you that Palm has most certainly made me a believer in keeping life organized using the Pre.

(The Palm Pre is currently available for $199 (after $100 mail-in rebate) with a 2 year contract through Sprint, but other Palm phones using the WebOS platform are expected to find their way to other carriers including AT&T as well as Verizon in the next 6-12 months.)

I really like the cord identifier straps and the cord identifier buttons for labeling and controlling the mess under your desk or behind the television. Pre-printed labels come with each package, and you can also print your own labels with their DIY sheet. A pack of 10 buttons or straps sells for $10. Oddly, to purchase the items, you need to click on the “locate” tab on the homepage.

The company I went to work for in March has both Macs and PCs (me=graphic designer, Mac). The IT department has all of us using Entourage to keep us on a consistent system. I know that Entourage has features to help organize e-mail and create tasks, but I’m not using them yet. Help–please!

Bev, either you’re a plant, or you have the best timing in the universe. Last week, Microsoft arranged for me to have a phone call with Peter Walsh about Entourage for Mac. I’m not kidding. So, even though I’m not an Entourage user, I have a little more insight into the product than I did before the call.

For starters, Microsoft has fantastic training videos on their website to teach you how to get your e-mail, to-do lists, and calendar in sync. After watching the “Get started” video, choose from the other 11 videos in the left column under “Entourage 2008: videos.”

Peter Walsh is actually a fan of using Entourage as a home maintenance system, tracking everything from appliance warranties and finances to children’s schedules. “It’s a simple spreadsheet to manage all aspects of your life,” Walsh said.

He likes its comprehensive nature because in one place you can have your e-mail, calendar, and task/to-do lists. You can also color coordinate messages and calendar items.

For anyone not using Entourage, you can download a 30 day free trial of Office 2008, which includes the program. And, as Walsh said, “If it works, great. If not, move onto what works best for you.”

However, Bev, at work you don’t have much of a choice about the program that you use. So, learn all that you can from the videos and take advantage of the planning features in the program. Peter Walsh seems to like them, and that is an organized endorsement if I ever heard one.

Thank you for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. Good luck getting your e-mail under control, and check out our other posts on e-mail management for non-program specific ideas.

Do you have a question relating to organizing, cleaning, home and office projects, productivity, or any problems you think the Unclutterer team could help you solve? To submit your questions to Ask Unclutterer, go to our contact page and type your question in the content field. Please list the subject of your e-mail as “Ask Unclutterer.” If you feel comfortable sharing images of the spaces that trouble you, let us know about them. The more information we have about your specific issue, the better.

To my surprise, however, I liked the NeatDesk for Mac. Specifically, I really liked the NeatWorks software. (If you buy the scanner, the software comes with it. The software also sells as a stand-alone product.)

The physical scanner is basic. It was easy to assemble, simple to install, is speedy, and it has a streamlined, uncluttered design:

What I want to talk about more in-depth is the accompanying software. Like most other programs, it automatically straightens scans, has text OCR and a document feeder, can automatically generate PDFs, and has settings for color, black/white, and image-only. Where it stands apart from other programs is with its field mapping on business card scans (it generates a contact card in Address Book with the data populated straight from the scan), it supports third-party scanners (Fujitsu, Canon, HP), and it allows you to create custom field values (this is great if you scan both business and personal receipts on the same scanner, so you can have drop-down menus for different credit cards, etc.).

Additionally, I liked that I could create custom reports based on my scans. If I wanted to pull up only my receipts from May 2009, I can do that and have the cover page reflect that information. If it’s a nice receipt, the software will also map vendor, date, and amount fields, similar to how it does with business cards. However, I only got this to work twice out of 10 times because I usually crumple up my receipts when I stick them into my purse and the text wasn’t very clear on the receipt when I scanned it. (I think of this as user error, not the program’s failing.) Here is an example of a good scan:

My only real complaint is that color paper seems to throw off all field-mapping abilities. If a piece of paper, receipt or business card isn’t black and white, it won’t map the information well, if at all. Take for example, my business card:

My card is just white text on a green background, and the software program didn’t map any data off of it. Actually, the system initially thought it was an image, not a business card. I was able to type all of the accurate information in by hand, so it doesn’t completely mess up the system, but I still wish it were more accurate. That being said, a lot of document feed scanning software systems have the exact same problem. In my opinion, it’s not a reason to keep from buying the software.

I think the scanner is fine, but I strongly recommend the NeatWorks software for Mac to use with whatever scanner you own. The software was extremely convenient and performed very well. It is much better than the software that ships with the Fujitsu ScanSnap, is right around the same price as DevonThink Pro, NeatWorks is simple to use with Evernote, and it’s a great way to control paper clutter. It earns a big thumbs-up in my book.

And, my cat Charlie is a big fan of its storage box:

Then, I dropped my timer and the digital face distorted to only read 88:88. The thing was close to 20 years old, so I couldn’t be too upset that the $4 piece of equipment had failed.

To replace my beloved timer, I decided to download a program called Alarm Clock 2 by Robbie Hanson for my Mac. (A comparable program for the PC is XNote Stopwatch and you can find a review of the program on Texas-based professional organizer Lorie Marrero’s blog.) I chose Alarm Clock 2 because it is free to download and it does everything I want it to do.

There is an alarm feature (which I use to remind me to break for lunch), a timer (to help me stay focused on a task), and a stopwatch (to help me keep track of how I’m spending my time). I like that I can set the alarms and buzzers to be songs from my iTunes folder, and that I can have them change volume based on how long they have been “ringing.”

If you haven’t used a timer before to help you with your productivity, I highly recommend using one. After lunch, when my energy level takes a nose dive, I like to set the timer for 10 minutes and see if I can finish all of my filing before the music starts playing. I also set a timer during phone calls to help me stay on topic and keep the business call to under 15 minutes. I also like to make sure that I’m spending the majority of my day (close to 80 percent) behind my desk completing important tasks that help me to advance my goals. I know that I’m procrastinating or avoiding the big-picture items when less-important tasks start filling more than 20 percent of my work day.

Do you use a computer-based timer to help you be more productive? What program do you use and why do you like it? Share your experiences in the comments.

A good cleaning once a year isn’t a bad idea for your keyboard, either, and her instructions will get you back to new. Keep the clutter out from under your fingertips.

Windows Defender (which is already installed on Windows Vista®) is a very good start [when scanning for spyware]. Simply install and follow the prompts to check your system. There are other excellent tools available from reputable download sites too, many of the best ones completely free. Again, multiple layers of protection can save you from terrible heartache – it only takes one bad infection to ruin your whole week.

I’m a Mac, so I had no idea that there was a spyware program built into Windows Vista. It’s one of many great suggestions from the article.

What do you do to keep your PC clean? Let’s fill the comments with ideas and suggestions to help all of our PC readers.

If you’re looking to improve your speed and productivity behind your keyboard, start by learning and practicing the basics:

• For Mac
• For Windows

Once you have these mastered, it’s time to give your productivity another boost.

• For Mac users, keep a list of the programs you typically open in a given day and create launch and program-specific action shortcuts by going into Settings –> Keyboard Shortcuts. Then, hit the + sign to create your own program actions.
• Windows users can download the program ActiveWords and create actions through it. (Free trial available, $30 for purchase.)

Then, stop typing the same words repeatedly by creating shortcuts for commonly typed symbols, code, and words.

• For Mac users, download TextExpander and paste limitless text into your documents, e-mails, and programs.
• For Windows users, keep using the program ActiveWords that I mentioned previously. In addition to creating program and action commands, it also inserts words with keyboard shortcuts.

I love TextExpander on my Mac and use it to enter Amazon links, the blurb at the beginning of every Unitasker Wednesday post, the templates for the Workplace of the Week and Ask Unclutterer posts, all five of my different e-mail signatures, our site’s submission guidelines, and hundreds of other paragraphs, sentences, and words that I type repeatedly.

How much time are you wasting by not using keyboard shortcuts? Take the time to learn, practice, and use keyboard commands to improve your productivity.

This week, Filemaker released Bento for iPhone and iPod Touch, which can function as a standalone application, or sync with the latest version of Bento for the desktop. I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical of the idea of a database application on a smaller device such as the iPhone, so I decided to test it out for a couple of days to see if it was as usable as advertised.

My first impression was that it’s clear that Filemaker took great care in making Bento for iPhone as iPhone-like as possible. I’d almost say that it’s easier to use than its desktop counterpart. And, while it lacks some of the deeper functionality of the desktop version, what’s included is extremely simple to use.

As I browsed through Bento for iPhone’s default templates, I was delighted to find one for creating a home inventory, something that has been on my mind ever since reading Gary’s experience of losing everything in a fire.

Adding a new inventory item was intuitive, and about as quick as possible given the limitations of the iPhone keyboard. But, adding a photo was much easier than it could ever be on a desktop, because Bento for iPhone integrates core functionality such as the iPhone’s camera. You can also use data from Contacts, iCal, Maps, Mail and Safari. I found that it was faster to add the item name and photo on the iPhone, then sync with the desktop to add other information. I was able to add a few dozen items in a fairly short amount of time, and never encountered any problems syncing data.

Bento for iPhone will appeal to anyone who wants to stay organized and take their data with them. The portability makes it much more convenient for capturing many type of personal data. Whether you want to take your recipe collection with you while you shop, track the foods you eat during the day, or make sure you’re prepared with a home inventory.

Bento for iPhone is currently available for $4.99 through the iTunes App Store. It’s bit more expensive than the typical iPhone App, but for what it does I consider it a bargain.