A hot topic just now seems to be people are going postal with the amount of e-mail they have to cope with.

http://news.google.co.uk/nwshp?oe=UTF-8&tab=wn&ned=uk&ncl=1119345204&hl=en&topic=t

This reminded me of a Video I recently saw with Merlin Mann of 43 Folders entitled “Inbox Zero”.

This is an hour long talk he gave to some people over at Google.

I got some good tips from this but alas still have 2323 things in my inbox. You could argue the time spent watching the video would be better spent dealing with your inbox. But still check it out.

Link: http://www.43folders.com/izero/

My mind may be cluttered but my Windows desktop is really tidy.

I visited an IKEA at the weekend and throughout their stores they have a few PC’s lying around.

I always like a peek at other desktop’s to see how organised they are. The one I saw was very similar to the one below.

Who can work in this chaos and I am pretty sure none of the desktop clutter is getting backed up (important or not).

For me regardless of which version of Windows I am running I like to keep the desktop clean and tidy (for my sanity if nothing else).

Much like a teenager who shifts the mess in his bedroom from one place to another I create a folder on the desktop called “Clean Desktop” and all the various files you accumulate during the day get stored in the “Clean Desktop” folder.

Don’t let me fool you. inside my “Clean Desktop” folder is pure mayhem. It is currently 5,500 files and about 10.5gb worth of..well stuff really.

So I have a two Icon desktop: My Computer and Clean Desktop.

When I am working I need order. I do however use the Windows Vista sidebar to help keep me productive.

My current sidebar gadgets are.

1) A Countdown timer to the birth our new baby (23 weeks to go). 

2) A Digital Clock 

3) A Calendar

4) A Pop3 Mailbox checker that polls any new e-mail in 3 accounts.

5) A To Do list

6) Gmail Checker with e-mail pre-preview.

On my Windows Taskbar I have:- Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Internet Explorer, Task Switcher, Picasa, Firefox, Windows Live Writer, Shortcut to VPN Connections Folder, Windows Sidebar, Remote Desktop Connection and the two most used VPN connections themselves.

So there you go “order amongst chaos”.

Note to Microsoft: I tried to use the filing system in Windows Vista but just couldn’t get to grips with it. I say this as a user of Windows Vista 7 months down the line. I am either too stubborn to change or your filing system is counter intuitive.

Go on clean your windows desktop. You will feel better for it.

Jeff is a great tech blogger with a site called www.codinghorror.com I read Jeff’s blog so was interested to hear about his experiences with the Dell XPS M1330.

Overall it seems very positive. Zip on over on the link below are read his full article.

Link: Dell XPS M1330 Review

For Back story see here (in order)

Permanent Link to Acer Customer Support (AT3201W)

Permanent Link to Acer Warranty or how Tech Support abandoned me

Permanent Link to Acer reconsider their stance on my warranty issue

The short version is I have an Acer display product that has developed a fault within the warranty period.

Well here we are again in another episode of my very own mini soap opera that is called  ”Hey Acer fix my product”.

I arranged for a second engineer to come today and a nice chap turned up with a tuner board from a completely different Acer display.

The part number on the box was correct but the board inside the box was wrong.

The saga continues.

The 17″ monster that is the Dell XPS M1730. I wonder why is the track pad off to the left?

Any 17″ laptop is going to be huge. Apple do a range of sleek and slim 17″ Laptops but the Dell XPS M1730 is aimed at the PC gamer or ultimate power user. So you can forgive a little bit of weight gain.

For some reason I don’t like large laptops (of any make or model). Even Dell’s 15.4″ models are too cumbersome for me.

My logic is: if you need a laptop and a large display, get a small but powerful laptop and hook it up to a large low cost display. (the best of both worlds).

I have been an XPS M1210 user for more than a year now and I don’t see any other laptop out there that can give me what I don’t already have a 12.1″ form factor and powerful.

Another downer for me from Dell is their choice of Blu-ray over HD-DVD. Having a choice of optical in this format would be nice. The drives just swap out after all. 

Link: http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/12/new-dell-xps-m1730-pics-pop-up/

Link: http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/04/dell-xps-m1730-spotted-in-the-wild/