by Nicholas Montgomery on 01/19/2012
Note: This post I wrote initially appeared on Sprouter’s blog.
If there is one type of web app that is overdone, tasks lists might be it. New startup Sandglaz is taking a different approach to the task management app, giving users a better way to get things done.
The web app syncs with your Google account and allows you to share a to-do list in the same way you can share a document on Google Docs. You can also share tasks with someone else by @ tagging their name. Productivity apps should make you more productive and make sure you’re not spending time in the app, but on the actual tasks. It really helps that you can navigate almost the entire app with your keyboard. The shortcuts come naturally, but the tutorial really helps you get into the groove.
One of the other cool features is the infinity grid. The infinity grids can be shared with select people and can scroll forever left to right, moving by tasks for the specific day.
[click to continue…]
by Nicholas Montgomery on 01/15/2012
These CEOs all do one thing that you probably don't do, but you easily could.
Here’s the one productivity tip with the largest impact you’ll ever learn, used by Apple CEO Tim Cook, Disney CEO Robert Iger, General Motors’ CEO Dan Akerson along with dozens of other executives and other highly productive people. It isn’t sexy advice, but it works and the benefits will blow you away, making you wonder why you didn’t start earlier. That life changing advice is to get up at 5 a.m., everyday. I made this switch to a high-productivity start to my day about two months ago. It wasn’t easy to get into the habit, but the rewards have been tremendous. Most people won’t be able to do it, but that just means you can have an edge over most people if you can do it. With this guide, it isn’t really that difficult to get in this habit.
[click to continue…]
by Nicholas Montgomery on 12/16/2011
On my most recent segment on the Marilyn Denis Show (CTV), I decided to bring a live goat in the studio for my Teen Holiday Gift Guide!
The segment was a Teen Holiday Gift Guide… but goat did fit in! Instead of simply purchasing things for the holiday I suggested that teens should be socially conscious. Try to volunteer at a local food bank this holiday with your free time. If you’re good with technology use Koodonation to help out charities by completing microtasks. Examples of these “microtasks” include designing a logo, helping with web design and many other small tasks which allow charities to focus their main goal. I also talked about charity:water, and of course the goat.
The goat, named Yasmin, was a female Nubian goat, which was only six months old. It’s the same type of goat someone in a developing country would be receiving if you donated one. One goat can provide 20 litres of milk a month. We need to focus on long-term, sustainable aid that will help local economies grow. Donating a goat does exactly that. Many charities allow you to buy a goat, but I like the World Vision offer because it includes training for the community that receives the goat for the $100 donation. Special thanks to Tindall Dairy Farm for letting us borrow Yasmin for the day!
In addition to the goat on the segment, 65 of all the gifts featured were donated to the CTV Toy Mountain Drive.
by Nicholas Montgomery on 12/15/2011
PostageApp aims to take away the burden of sending email through your website or web app by providing an end-to-end solution that fits between your SMTP & web app. A new version of the service launches today, which includes analytics, a new email delivery engine, and new plans for high-volume senders. PostageApp initially launched in 2010, and was developed by The Working Group (TWG) to deal with a problem they faced internally when dealing with sending emails from client’s apps.
The service handles all the typical problems you run into like scalability, making sure all emails are received, and the overall workflow. The API is created to be simple and to handle one, 10, or 10,000 emails in a single call. The PostageApp workflow takes care of the the entire process. From creating emails to the analytics and tracking, it bills itself as the all-in-one solution.
Recently many startups have outsourced aspects of their business so they can focus on their core product. If you’re a web developer and don’t want to tie up servers, but still want rich features and tracking, this is where PostageApp comes in.
Read the rest of my post at Sprouter
Nicholas Montgomery is a 17 year-old technology blogger and entrepreneur in Toronto, Canada. He has been featured on CP24, CTV News, CityTV, and is the "Technology Expert for The Marilyn Denis Show on CTV 
