Kolz Blog

Want to find out if your favorite author has a book coming out? Use Amazon's advanced search in the book section to get the scoop. Not only can you search by author, but you can also refine your search to find specific upcoming books and subjects. For instance, say you wanted to know all the books about cats that were coming out in 2009 - you can do that (and get a jump on the pre-ordering if you really want to). — Wendy Boswell

Advanced Search: Books [Amazon.com ]

Want a better shave? Of course you do - and with these tips from Deeper Motive, you're sure to have that baby smooth skin that you're shooting for (you *are* shooting for that, right? Not the Grizzly Adams thing.). One of the better tips here is don't go cheap on the supplies - your face will not appreciate it. Buy yourself some good razors, creams, and cleansers and you're already halfway to your optimum shaving experience. We've blogged about getting a good shave before, but do you have any more tips you could add? Let us know in the comments.— Wendy Boswell

A Simple Guide to Shaving [Deeper Motive ]

The New York Times has a thought provoking article on multitasking; basically, does it really make you a more productive person?

Several research reports, both recently published and not yet published, provide evidence of the limits of multitasking. The findings, according to neuroscientists, psychologists and management professors, suggest that many people would be wise to curb their multitasking behavior when working in an office, studying or driving a car.

Basically, there might (maybe) be limits as to what you can accomplish simultaneously. What do you think - are you more productive when you're doing less or more stuff at once? Thoughts in the comments. Sorry for the duplicate, folks.— Wendy Boswell

Slow Down, Brave Multitasker, and Don't Read This in Traffic [New York Times via Web Worker Daily ]

Having trouble getting a good signal with your wireless network? Before you dropkick the kitty, consider these ten tips from Microsoft on how to improve your signal range and strength. Now, for the more experienced user, these suggestions are all pretty basic. However, for anyone who's just getting started on the road to wireless connectivity, all ten of these tips are must-haves. What's the best way you've been able to boost your wireless network's efficiency - legally, of course? Let us know in the comments. — Wendy Boswell

10 tips for improving your wireless network [Microsoft]

Filed under: Peripherals

Belkin's no stranger to innovative USB hubs, and the outfit seems to have struck gold again with its latest lineup of hole clogging USB / iPod hubs. In an attempt to plug those often unused desk holes which always seem to fall just out of reach when trying to route your myriad of cabling, Belkin's two- and three-inch In-Desk USB Hubs provide a nifty excuse to decorate your aging computer desk whilst adding some much needed (or wanted) functionality. Available in a slanted front-access edition or a flush-mounted version, each of the four-port USB hubs will run users $39.99 whenever Belkin decides to unleash 'em, and for the iPod owners in the house who've somehow avoided another docking solution, the $39.99 In-Desk Dock for iPod provides the obvious connection for syncing / charging while still neatly covering that gaping spot. [Via SciFi] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

David Allen digs into core principles of GTD in this lively, informal and ever-insightful conversation with a practical small-business marketing expert. Click here to listen now or click here to download. (mp3, 22:18). For access to all previous podcasts, check out our complete podcast feed. Related Links:

FREE Five Phases Of Mastering Workflow Whitepaper
Getting Things Done (the book)
Duct Tape Marketing

The Lockergnome weblog details how to speed up your Vista start menu search by selectively enabling how deep your search goes. For example, the author notes that if you're only really interested in using the start menu search to launch applications, disabling the file search will tremendously speed things up. Aside from that, since the "Search communications" option currently only searches email and contacts kept in Windows Mail and Contacts, it can be disabled - and if you don't use IE, "Search favorites and history" needn't be enabled, either. Point is, if you want to stick to launching apps with the start menu search and searching your desktop with a different desktop search app (say, Google Desktop), this should help you speed up the start menu search for launching. Beyond that, the Customize Start Menu dialog is worth a look for anyone who's recently installed Vista (right-click the start button, select Properties, then click Customize...). It operates pretty much the same way as XP's customize start menu, but it's worth looking at to make sure the items you want show up and you get rid of the items you don't want. — Adam Pash

How to speed up Windows Vista start menu search [Lockergnome]

If you've got to perform an action on a bunch of files at the command line, you want to master the for statement. The Daily Cup of Tech web site explains how the command:

for /R %z in (*.zip) do unzip "%z"

Iterates through all the zip archives in a folder and extracts them. If you're starting to get your feet wet automating tasks with batch scripts, this is a nice for primer. —Gina Trapani

Quickly Perform a Function on Several Files [Daily Cup of Tech]

Your iPod just crashed, and it's gasping for breath and giving you the black iPod screen of death. Resuscitate it with the magical, life-giving key combination:

1. Toggle the Hold switch on and off. (Slide it to Hold, then turn it off again.) 2. Press and hold the Menu and Center (Select) buttons simultaneously until the Apple logo appears, about 6 to 10 seconds.

This works on the latest click wheel 'pods; check out the whole Apple document for instructions on older models and other iPod troubleshooting techniques. —Gina Trapani

How to reset iPod [Apple]

Windows only: Freeware application Send To Toys lets you customize the hell out of your irregularly used (if I'm any indication, that is) Send to context menu. Send To Tools adds a slew of useful defaults you can send an item to (like the clipboard, command prompt, a mail recipient, or any folder you choose). If you're sending a file to another folder, you can choose to copy it, move it, or just create a shortcut. Allowing for quick customization of pretty much every menu item in the Send To menu, this is clearly a program built by someone who decided it was time to get better use out of a potentially useful menu. (To be honest, the only Send to item I ever use now is the Compressed (zipped) Folder command.) If you're already a big fan of the default Send To menu, let us know how you use it in the comments. — Adam Pash

Send To Toys [via FreewareGenius]

I'm gonna try something new here. Every friday I'm gonna give you five tips, pointers, possibilities, tweaks for a single GTD-related or productivityproblem. I will call the The friday 5ives. I hope I can keep up with this series and I hope you can learn something from it. I already have a couple of items waiting, but we're gonna start with some tips for a moment we all have experienced. Working on tedious or mundane tasks... Now matter how much fun GTD or doing your work is, we all have to do some tasks every now and again that we rather not do. Some parts of projects have tasks that are simply no fun at all. But you have to do them to get the job done. So what better way to do some hacking in your brain to make sure you get it all done. Here are five tips to get those mundane and tedious tasks done

1. Make fun of it: Just find some way to have fun with the task at hand. For example, recently I had to work on an Excel sheet where I had to enter lots of numbers in different cells and columns. Pretty stupid work but it had to be done. What I did is I entered those numbers with the numeric pad on my keyboard. And I found out that the number of keystrokes per number and cell could be done in a little beat. So instead of entering those numbers one by one in a dull way, I got that beat in my head and I entered the numbers "on the beat". I was flying!
2. Break it apart: A tedious task can sometimes be a large task. Try breaking it up in little parts where each part is small enough to get done without getting annoyed by it.
3. Reward yourself: One of the best ways. Trick your mind! Make sure you can reward yourself when you get that laundry done. Chill out for a while or do something fun like writing part of a blogpost when you have finished doing the dishes. How do you think this post was put together? Rrrrrright.....
4. Delegate it: This may not work all the time, but you could try to have somebody else do the task for you. This might only work with the above option, rewarding that person...
5. Don't do it: This is the big thing. Decide that you don't do the task at hand. Can be easy to decide (those drawers can be cleaned up some other day) or a tough decision. But it's really up to you and yes it is an option.

Anyone had any experience with the above options? Some more ideas or thoughts about this?

I appreciated Umpqua president and CEO Ray Davis' comment in his book, Leading for Growth concerning the true function of a leader:

If you’re a president or CEO or senior vice president, no doubt you worked hard to earn that position. And yes, your title gives you a certain amount of authority. But it doesn’t tell you what is really important—it doesn’t tell you what your job really is. My title is president and CEO, and that’s the title I use when I’m out in public representing the company or when I’m on the phone talking about our quarterly results with Wall Street analysts. But when I’m talking to our people, I tell them to scratch out “President and CEO” on my business card and write in “Head of Support,” which is my real title in their eyes.

In practical terms:

Because things are moving so quickly, I can’t assume that the tools and support that worked yesterday will be sufficient today. I’m out there all the time, asking, “What is it you need?” It’s a constant. It’s the only way we can keep up with our own growth.

Davis says that support goes beyond just training and tools. The standard fare usually doesn’t get at what people need in a specific way in order to meet your goals. So you always need to be asking people directly what they need. This may mean you need to give different things to different people. The idea that you shouldn’t make individual exceptions “I think is dead wrong…. When people are exceptional, you must make exceptions for them.”

Filed under: Gaming, Wireless

So along with new video resolutions, some slight PSone tweaks, and what was no doubt a bit of homebrew-busting code, it looks like the recently released 3.30 firmware for PSP also came bearing another little gift, in the form of a six-month pass to T-Mobile's WiFi Hotspot network. To cash in this sweet little freebie, all you have to do is setup a new connection when in range of any of the Mob's 'spots, and a new icon will appear that allows you to trigger the promotional period. Now of course nothing in this world is totally free, and the real reason for this present seems to be hooking users on the service and then offering them a "special rate" at the end of the trial -- but hey, since you don't need to submit a credit card or remember to cancel anything, we don't see any reason not jump right in. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Last count, there were something like 60+ software programs based on GTD. Add another several hundred, if not thousand, ...

I recently listened to some parts of the GTD Fast seminar again and I must say, there are some true pearls in them. Great quotes, stories and hidden little stuff which give you some food for thought. One revelation in those series is the next line: Do you know that there are only two problems in your life? No matter how though it gets, no matter how swamped you are in work and you have bad days with a big honkin' backog of things to do. There are, really, only two problems in your life. Want to know which one and how to deal with it? First problem: You know what you want but you don't know how to get it. Second problem: You don't know what you want. Isn't that great? Think about this for a minute or so and you will see that every open loop, every issue you have, little or big, can be reduced to the above two problems. So, if there are only two problems, there must be only two solutions right? Right. And look at the above problems. You know what the solutions are? Make it up. And make it happen. It's that simple. You don't know how to get from A to B but you know you want to in B? Well, make up the next action. Think, brainstorm about the possible succesfull outcomes and how to get there. And then think about your Next Action. You don't know what you want? Same thing. Is it because you can't decide? Think about the succesfull outcome and go back to your next action. Or is it because you don't have all the information yet? There is your next action. Make sure you get the info. Call, email, walk into a library, talk to someone, whatever. But make it happen. So when you look at those two solutions, make it up and make it happen, it really boils down to the heart and soul of GTD. What's the succesfull outcome and what's the next action? Pretty deep huh? But it makes sense to me. To you as well?

What are blind spots? Claudia Shelton, author of Blind Spots: Achieve Success by Seeing What You Can't See, explains that they “are patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving we often do unconsciously that can negatively influence our relationships with other people. They often show up when we are under stress and overuse our greatest strengths. So why are blind spots a big deal? Blind Spots can become possible problems in our working processes and relationship and if left unchecked, they can become serious obstacles to our progress. Shelton has developed a plan to help us develop what she terms Clear Sight by first recognizing our blind spots and then turning them into strengths. This book is an excellent tool to help you to see yourself differently and thereby increase your self-awareness. What you don’t see is holding you back. She presents five strategies for turning each of the five most common blind spots into strengths. Here is an overview: Identify Your Strengths Not being clear about your strengths is a major blind spot. It can undercut your confidence and reduce your energy and vitality. Your strengths are the anchor of your self-confidence. Check Old Habits Old habit blind spots are often developed in adolescence when they prove successful in helping us reach our adolescent goals. Blind spots may keep us from realizing that these old habits are not part of who we are; they are just habits that do not serve today’s goal. They block us from developing a clear sense of who we are. Old habits are hard to recognize because they are so familiar to us and so comfortable. Address Stress We may be experiencing stress that we believe others can’t see. They do see it and it interferes with our goals and relationships. Importantly she cautions, “Constant unchecked stress can make us inflexible, overusing our strengths, increasing our blind spots, and undercutting our relationship every day.” We most often negatively express the stress we feel by criticism, anger and mood swings. Tune Your Radar We need to be aware of the nonverbal cues we send out, as well as recognize the non-verbal cues others are sending. When we communicate conflicting non-verbal signals, we lose influence. “When our radar is tuned, we synchronize what we say with how we say it in a way that has positive impact.” Connect With Others Our integrity and trustworthiness are often perceived by our ability to connect with other people effectively. “Connection is more than just information sharing….To connect, we need to be able to bring ourselves into the present moment.” Shelton provides techniques to help you with the principles outlined here. She suggests however, that you focus on only one or two at a time as more than that can become a bit overwhelming. A Blind Spots Profile and a Blind Spots 360° questionnaire and Workbook will be available soon for purchase on her WhatsMyBlindSpot web site. In the meantime you can take the Blind Spots Snap Shot. It will help you to quickly identify your blind spots.

What are blind spots? Claudia Shelton, author of Blind Spots: Achieve Success by Seeing What You Can't See, explains that they “are patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving we often do unconsciously that can negatively influence our relationships with other people. They often show up when we are under stress and overuse our greatest strengths. So why are blind spots a big deal? Blind Spots can become possible problems in our working processes and relationship and if left unchecked, they can become serious obstacles to our progress. Shelton has developed a plan to help us develop what she terms Clear Sight by first recognizing our blind spots and then turning them into strengths. This book is an excellent tool to help you to see yourself differently and thereby increase your self-awareness. What you don’t see is holding you back. She presents five strategies for turning each of the five most common blind spots into strengths. Here is an overview: Identify Your Strengths Not being clear about your strengths is a major blind spot. It can undercut your confidence and reduce your energy and vitality. Your strengths are the anchor of your self-confidence. Check Old Habits Old habit blind spots are often developed in adolescence when they prove successful in helping us reach our adolescent goals. Blind spots may keep us from realizing that these old habits are not part of who we are; they are just habits that do not serve today’s goal. They block us from developing a clear sense of who we are. Old habits are hard to recognize because they are so familiar to us and so comfortable. Address Stress We may be experiencing stress that we believe others can’t see. They do see it and it interferes with our goals and relationships. Importantly she cautions, “Constant unchecked stress can make us inflexible, overusing our strengths, increasing our blind spots, and undercutting our relationship every day.” We most often negatively express the stress we feel by criticism, anger and mood swings. Tune Your Radar We need to be aware of the nonverbal cues we send out, as well as recognize the non-verbal cues others are sending. When we communicate conflicting non-verbal signals, we lose influence. “When our radar is tuned, we synchronize what we say with how we say it in a way that has positive impact.” Connect With Others Our integrity and trustworthiness are often perceived by our ability to connect with other people effectively. “Connection is more than just information sharing….To connect, we need to be able to bring ourselves into the present moment.” Shelton provides techniques to help you with the principles outlined here. She suggests however, that you focus on only one or two at a time as more than that can become a bit overwhelming. A Blind Spots Profile and a Blind Spots 360° questionnaire and Workbook will be available soon for purchase on her WhatsMyBlindSpot web site. In the meantime you can take the Blind Spots Snap Shot. It will help you to quickly identify your blind spots.

• Compare prices via SMS
• SMS shorthand for the alpha geek
• Get notified with ZapTXT
• Texting do's and don'ts
• Track what everyone's up to with Twitter
• Create your own text message distribution center with TextMarks
• Send multi-person SMS with Jyngle
• Make your lists come to you with Gubb
• Google SMS adds flight info

Google's updated to their previously-posted Windows software package, Google Pack. Changes to the Pack address our biggest initial complaint: that the original AV software, free for six months, would nag you for pay-for updates after the trial was over. Now Google's included the no-nag, no pay-for-updates-needed Norton Security Scan antivirus and PC Tools' Spyware Doctor Starter Edition. We're still fans of Ad-Aware for spyware scanning and ClamWin AV, but hey - at least GOOG's new choices are free. Also, the screensaver (which was our favorite part) now supports photo feed slideshows, like from Flickr. Neat! — Gina Trapani

Google Pack cures the PC blues [Official Google Blog via Google Blogoscoped]

Windows only: Freeware application LetMeType monitors what you type and suggests auto-completion words and/or phrases as-you-type. If you're familiar with Microsoft Words' AutoComplete function, it's similar to that except it works globally. LetMeType is a peculiar, tool, though. You can either let the app monitor everything you type (minus password fields) and begin suggesting autocompletions from your commonly-used words and phrases, or you can put together a list of pre-defined words that LetMeType pulls from for the suggestions. In the end, the pre-defined list seems like the best option, since you really don't need suggestions for finishing words like "really" and don't. Even then (as the FreewareGenius review mentioned) you'd probably only want to use it if you frequently need to type long or technical terms and jargon that aren't the easiest to remember and type out without looking them up. Of course, a biased editor might point to Lifehacker's very own Texter for this sort of job, but if you need the visual cue to see what your replacement options are, LetMeType provides a good alternative. — Adam Pash

LetMeType [via FreewareGenius]

Google has unveiled a redesigned mobile search interface with an emphasis on varied result types. Rather than giving you choices for your search type (e.g., web, images, local listings), the new mobile search automatically searches across different Google search types and gives you a short list of results for each. The idea behind the new interface is to let you get the information you want with the least amount of click-work (useful for any mobile app). The results vary based on your search terms, so search results for Lifehacker start out with web pages, while a search for cat starts with stocks, cute images, then web pages. What do you think, mobile users, love it or lump it? Give us your thoughts in the comments. — Adam Pash

Google Mobile Search Walking, Talking, Searching, Finding. [Official Google Blog]

Filed under: HDTV Got more HDMI devices than available HDMI ports? Since getting up off the couch to change connections is not an option, you're going to keep everything plugged in all the time. IOGEAR just announced it has begun shipping the first "true" automatic HDMI switch, the GHDMIAS2, using its patented HDAS technology to instantly lock on to the correct HDMI source. The HDMI 2x1 Automatic Switch detects an active source, switches automatically and delivers perfect quality 1080p resolution and HDCP compatibility with no latency. We've seen automatic switches before but they usually take a few seconds to change between devices. The MSRP for adding one more automatically switched HDMI port to your setup is $169.95, so its probably still cheaper to count the jacks on your new HDTV before purchase. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

We've long been fans of using Google SMS to fetch information from our phones. Now we can use it to retrieve airline numbers and flight status. Just text your flight number to GOOGLE (466453) and in short order you'll receive a message listing arrival/departure times, flight status and even the airline's phone number. If you need only the latter, just text the airline's name. Of course, you can still use Google SMS to get driving directions, stock quotes and tons of other useful info. This is just a bit of extra icing on that already yummy cake. — Rick Broida

Google SMS [via The Official Google Blog]

The man at One Man's Blog explains how alarmingly easy it is to crack passwords and offers tips on choosing safer ones. First, he breaks down the steps he'd take in cracking a password. That includes the simple act of guessing the top ten passwords (pet's name, "1234," date of birth, etc.) used by 20 percent of all users. If that doesn't work, he'll turn to a brute-force attack, which, as you can see in the table above, can get the job done in as little as 0.02 seconds. This is eye-opening stuff, even for users who know better than to use "1234" as their password. Thankfully, the author goes on to provide seven great tips on choosing safer passwords, including using Microsoft's password strength tester. Required reading. When you're done, check out our other posts on smart password selection. — Rick Broida

How I'd Crack Your Weak Passwords [One Man's Blog]

Getting Unstuck: How Dead Ends Become New Paths by Timothy Butler is an interesting look at a chronic human problem: not being able to see the forest for the trees. There are times when we get stuck and find ourselves stewing in our own juices. Our stuck feeling comes from our inability to get our thinking moving again. Sometimes we get hit so hard that it is hard to get our mind off of the point of impact and instead focus on our response. The decision to get on with it, frees us to rally our resources and broaden our repertoire of responses. We will, with the proper outlook, grow to a higher capacity to handle the next crisis that life throws at us. Bulter offers these thoughts: “When we are at am impasse, we often cannot even sense this flow [the connection we feel to the energy in our life] — or to see how close we are to a dynamic dislodging that would place us back into the energy of the moving current….When we have run aground, we sometimes fail to realize that his is a necessary crisis; without it we cannot grow, change, and — eventually — live more fully in a larger world.” “Self-images often seem to have lives of their own, separate from our daily reality, and they exert a powerful presence that affects decisions and distorts perceptions. These distortions lead us away from the ability to pursue the work and the relationship that hold the greatest promise for fulfillment.” These self-images keep us suck. “The problem with any mental model is that it is always operating on information from the past. In contrast, true vision is never an arrangement or rearrangement of solutions that have worked in previous circumstances, but springs from the immediacy of today….Life is always breaking our mental model…A life shock momentarily awakens something I us, and for a moment we are fully alive, with no model at all. We all want this, to be touched directly by life itself.” “When we are at an impasse, we need new information, especially information about what is missing rather than a summary of what is already there.” Getting unstuck ultimately comes down to a choice. Our lives do not change without action. “The only way forward is to bring our whole person into the tension of the choice. The temptation when experiencing the tensions of a difficult choice is to seek a quick compromise, to find some middle ground that seems to offer some of the best of the conflicting pole. This rarely works and rarely satisfies.”

Butler offers some practical ways to get ourselves thinking again through practicing free attention and some healthy ways of looking at crisis in our life. His One Hundred Jobs Exercise presented in this book, is aimed at helping us to reexamine our outmoded mental models and identify essential work and life themes that will bring us back to our place (authentic) where we can offer our contribution.

The folks at Gallup have developed a Strengths Finder for kids ages 10-14 called the Clifton Youth StrengthsExplorer. It is an instrument designed to help young people discover and develop the unique talents within them. They explain: "The Clifton Youth StrengthsExplorer is designed to help make a lifelong impact on youth based on decades of research. As a parent, it can be a challenge to identify your child's innate talents. This tool can enhance your insights into your child's discovery and growth process. It can help you understand your child's unique perspective of the world. And, it can help shed insight on what are his or her greatest talents—natural patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior—and how to build on those tendencies for success." In my own experience, this is a helpful tool to help you to understand and encourage your child. I recommend having them take it once a year at this point in their life. The cost is $25 (online version) or $35 (printed version) and you get the following: First, youth get access to the Clifton Youth StrengthsExplorer assessment—a Web-based program made up of items the participant rates based on how much each specific statement relates to him or her. Immediately, an individual can print a Clifton Youth StrengthsExplorer report based on his or her responses. This customized report reveals a person's top three themes—descriptions of his or her areas of natural talent. Also included in the Clifton Youth StrengthsExplorer report are action items for youth and adults. Action items are just that—ways to put talents into action. Finally, two Clifton Youth StrengthsExplorer guides—full of even more activities and ideas to help youth focus on what's best about them—are available:

• Youth Workbook
• Parent Guide

For those of us who have a hard time checking out of work mode when it's time to kick back and enjoy normal life, the Web Worker Daily weblog posts a few tips for going off the clock when you're out of the office. The tips offered include setting up a work-to-home transition period, setting strict limits between the two, planning your non-work evening, and learning to better stop and start on work instead of pushing back quitting time until you finish with what you're doing. Aa a fella who works from home, I know how easy it can be to let the line between work time and recreation time blur. These suggestions offer some good advice for making sure you have time away from work to unwind. On that note, share your favorite Friday tips for unplugging from the work grind and getting in some good R&R in the comments. — Adam Pash

When Worlds Collide: Transitioning Between Work and Home [Web Worker Daily]

Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

If we had a dollar for every time we've heard someone complain about the PSP's price, we could probably afford one (we jest! LocoRoco fuhevah!), and it seems like someone has finally heard those pleas. The latest GameStop ad touts a newly slashed the price for the PSP Value Pack: $200, a full $50 off of its normal price, and the same amount of dollars the PSP goes for in the buff. No word if this is a Sony-originated price drop, or if GameStop was just feeling generous on the PSP's two year anniversary, but we won't look a gift horse in the mouth -- let's just hope a $150 PSP Core unit is soon to follow. [Via PSP Fanboy] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Recently U.S. Navy Cdr. Kirk S. Lippold spoke about leadership at Highland School in Virginia. You may remember that he was the commander of the USS Cole when it was attacked in Yemen in October of 2000. Lippold said, "When you talk about leadership, for a lot of people, it boils down to one word, and that is integrity. If you have the integrity to do what's right regardless of the circumstances and the situation, you are a leader in your own right, because so many people today fail or waiver on that one key trait. "As commander, you provide the crew with the command philosophy, then you give them goals and guidelines to get there. By that philosophy, you start with the foundation of integrity, but it is also good work ethic, taking care of your fellow sailors, making sure that you look out for each other, not just for the time you are there on the ship, but when you are on liberty.” What he is referring to is similar to an idea Edwin Friedman presents in A Failure of Nerve. It’s what Friedman has termed the well-differentiated leader. It is similar to what is most commonly termed authentic leadership, but I like the way it is articulated here. The well-differentiated leader is not “an autocrat who tells others what to do or orders them around, although any leader who defines himself or herself clearly may be perceived that way by those who are not taking responsibility for their own emotional being and destiny.”

By the well-differentiated leader “I mean someone who has clarity about his or her own life goals, and, therefore, someone who is less likely to become lost in the anxious emotional processes swirling about. I mean someone who can separate while still remaining connected, and therefore can maintain a modifying, non-anxious, and sometimes challenging presence. I mean someone who can manage his or her own reactivity to the automatic reactivity of others, and therefore be able to take stands at the risk of displeasing. It is not as though some leaders can do this and some cannot. No one does this easily, and most leaders, I have learned, can improve their capacity.” Two key concepts here are self-knowledge and self-control. What Friedman spurns is a highly anxious risk-avoided, someone who is more concerned with good feelings than with progress, someone whose life revolves around the axis of consensus. He calls this a failure of nerve. Friedman writes, “It is the integrity of the leader that promotes the integrity or prevents the dis-integr-ation of the system he or she is leading.” It was Lippold’s understanding that “you have the integrity to do what's right regardless of the circumstances and the situation” that enabled he and his men to get through the attack. It points again to the fact that leadership is really a character process and not an intellectual one. Previously: Friedman - If You Are a Leader, Expect Sabotage

Datamation columnist Mike Elgan says that in the age of information overload, you can send "just-in-time information" to yourself using various methods.

Send yourself notes about people you're about to meet just before you meet them. Set up alerts about staff birthdays, personnel events and other random data. Your colleagues will think you're a caring genius with a photographic memory.

The article covers several services that can automatically email, SMS or call you at a specific time with a reminder. Sounds a whole lot like my dated - but still beloved - web-based tickler file. How do you get yourself just-in-time information? Let us know in the comments. — Gina Trapani

Manage Your Personal Data Flow [Datamation]

All platforms: If there's one thing Windows Vista has, it is a stunningly beautiful collection of default desktop wallpaper options. Happily, the photographer Microsoft commissioned to do the photo shoot is offering the images that didn't make it into Vista as a free download. The 22 1920x1200 pixel images were meant for Vista, but you can use them on any OS that supports .jpg wallpapers. Wallpaper fans, these are absolute must-haves. The Vista Wallpaper pack zip archive is a free download.— Gina Trapani

World of Photography [Hamad Darwish via tumbléo]