I have been working from home for over two years now, and people often ask how I manage to be productive at home when there are so many distractions. The key for me is to start the day correctly.

How you start your day can be a catalyst to how productive your day is.
Over time this is what I have found works for me.

Want a productive day? Get the right start!

Read on to see what works for me!

1. Wake up naturally (I do not use an alarm, but tend to wake between 8 and 9. I would like to wake earlier, but that requires going to sleep earlier).
2. Shower first thing, and put on smart casual clothes to set the tone of the day. If I do not shower first thing I tend to laze around the house, and treat it as a weekend day.
3. In the shower I think about what it is I REALLY need to do for the day, and visualize the next steps to achieving that. By visualizing I mean think / plan out the next actions.
   

   Photo by Steven Fernandez

4. Eat breakfast – I tend to have a grapefruit or cereal, take my vitamins with water ( I’m currently trying to drink more water). Showering, taking vitamins and drinking water re-enforces my brain into thinking I have started the day well, and encourages me to continue the day this way.
5. Stay away from the computer for now and sit down with a pen and paper. I ask myself what is the top task/ project for the day, and what are the next steps to achieve this. (I highly recommend the livescribe pulse pen as I can import and digitize my notes afterward, this allows me to think differently than if I am in front of a keyboard, and saves having to re-type later)
6. Put on music which features a fast beat but minimal vocals (as vocals tend to
   distract me). Daft Punk or similar music works best for me.
7. I commence work on the project with the highest priority (or importance).
   (Initially i would break my projects down into smaller mini-projects)
8. I am trying to get some exercise before lunch time (P90/ P90X), and tell myself I will not eat lunch until I exercise (this can sometimes lead me to not get lunch on time).

• If I find I want to take a break, or get bored with a project I try to do a household task, put on some laundry, turn on my roomba, empty the dishwasher etc

Things that turn a potentially productive morning into an unproductive morning:

1. Lying in bed thinking about what will I do today.
2. Checking email first (it is guaranteed to put me on a tangent, or firefighting a task that can wait. If it is urgent a client will call). DO NOT check your email until you have made some progress on your first task.
3. Going onto Facebook and looking at a friends updated photos (will end up going on a 2hr Facebook photo session)
4. Going anywhere near Google Reader (I will end up with 30+ tabs of interesting stories open, and this will nag at me all day until I read them , or instapaper them). I am currently experimenting with checking Google Reader every second day as it is more efficient, and a lot of breaking stories will have updates allowing you to skim quicker.

What works and doesn’t work for you in the morning? Please leave your comments below.

I ordered a mirrored screen protector for the Nexus One from Ebay to test. I am not a big fan of mirrors or mirrored phones, but I do like the idea of the display lighting up through the mirror like something out of a James Bond film.

Screen turned off , Mirror effect visable

Screen turned on (Full Brightness)

Review:

• The protector was very easy to install and did provide great protection to the screen. If it is your first time fitting a protector then check out an installation video on Youtube.
• The Mirror effect works very well (see photo 1), in fact it works too well. Even at full brightness it is extremely difficult to see through the screen in a bright environment (It is like using a projector on a white wall on a sunny day)
• Photo two shows how hard it is to see content behind the display.
• The Nexus one uses an AMOLED screen and one of the benefits is that unlike a LCD the blacks are not back-lit. This stops any dark text or images being seen through the protector.
• The mirrored screen protector lasted about 30 minutes on the phone before it got replaced with an anti glare screen protector.
• It has been reported that the silver mirror surface can look worn very quickly.
• Finally the mirrored screen really really shows finger prints. Your phone will look dirty / grubby all of the time.

To summarise this does not work on the nexus one, so do not waste your money.

If you want to see the screen in action see the video below:

If you got the latest and greatest iPhone, Nexus one or other popular electronic gadget then you will want to keep it scratch free. I feel the iPod and iPhones are designed to scratch easily (the rear not the screen) so that you are encouraged to update your device from time to time, and it also lowers the resell value of the device.

There is a booming business in covers for your devices, but they tend to make your device bulky and change its shape. If you want to appreciate the design gone into your Nexus One / iPhone etc then you do not want to lock it away in a cover.

The solution is to wrap your device in a clear durable material that does not scratch easily. This is called a full body shield, or a full body wrap. It is normally comes in 2 – 10 different sections and must be applied with a soapy water. Currently there are 5-10 different manufactures competing for your hard earn money.

Check out my reviews for the Zagg Invisible Shield , and the BSE (BestSkinsEver.com) protectors for the Nexus One phone.

Some great tips when applying your protectors:

1. Use a spray bottle with some clean soapy water
2. Wash hands, and then spray hands with bottle (stops finger prints)
3. Start with the main screen(so that it is protected when you are applying protectors to the back
4. Once a piece is fitted move it to the correct position and leave it dry for a few minutes, this increases the “tackiness” before moving onto the next piece.
5. If you are fitting a section that is on a curve then hold the plastic over the curve in the correct position and get a hair dryer on a cold setting to speed up the drying time (2 mins should be fine), if you do not have a hair dryer then use the palm of your hand to hold the section in place. The warmth of  your hand will speed up the process.
6. Get a roll of Teflon tape. Once you have some pieces in place I recommend wrapping your device in Teflon tape. This helps hold the corners down, is flexible and is easy to remove. Keep your device wrapped in Teflon for at least 20 mins, or ideally overnight. Do not apply the tape until the plastic has stopped slipping around (or else it will move your protector around)
7. Let your device dry / cure for 24 hours before putting it through its paces.
8. If your screen looks fuzzy (mine did with the BSE protector) then give it 24 hours for it to dry and cure, the next day my screen was crystal clear (well apart from two specks of dirt that I missed.)

Review of the Best Skins Ever (BSE) protector for the Nexus One :

After the Zagg Invisible Shield I ordered the Best Skins Ever protector It is meant to be less rubbery feeling for the screen etc and it was the cheapest of the protectors.

Cost: $10.50 delivered to France from the bestskinsever.com online store

Unlike the Zagg that comes in ten separate sections, the BSE comes in only six pieces. As this was my second time applying a skin I was more prepared and more careful applying it.

The package was an envelope with a copy of my invoice and two pages with the cutouts on them. The invoice recommends that you visit the following link for instructions

http://www.bestskinsever.com/blog/index.php/application/

The instructions could be improved. A spray bottle with a mixture of water and some liquid soap works best. Basically you spray your hands, peel off the piece, spray the piece and apply it to a clean phone.

Good things about the BSE Skin:

• There is a slight rubbery feel to the device which makes it harder to slip out of your pocket
• Its half the price of the Zagg protector
• Fingerprints on the device / screen are greatly reduced.
• The individual sections of plastic are not obvious, it just looks like a gloss version of the nexus one.
• The screen feels a lot smoother then the Zagg screen, in fact the difference is as if you took the zagg screen protector off.
• Excellent joins and corner protection.

Bad Things about the BSE:

• You must supply your own spray bottle, or a bowl will also do.
• Limited instructions

You can buy one here: (FYI I do not profit from this sale)

Some great tips when applying your protectors:

Do you have any comments or tips that you want to share? What is your experience with this protector?

Review of the Zagg Invisible Shield for the Nexus One :

The Zagg was my first full body shield fit for a mobile phone. The Zagg Invisible Shield comes with a lifetime warranty, so they will replace your shield if it gets torn etc. I choose the Zagg protector as my Macbook Pro is currently covered in it.

Cost: $23.98 from the Zagg Ebay store

It comes in ten separate sections to put together on the phone. I made the mistake of trying to put them all on within a few minutes of each other. The kit comes with a sponge applicator to help you moisten the pieces prior to fitting. Zagg do have excellent instructions on their website along with videos to help you. I recommend that you watch them prior to application.

Good things about the Zagg Shield:

• There is a rubbery feel to the device which makes it harder to slip out of your pocket
• Fingerprints on the device / screen are greatly reduced.

Bad Things about the Zagg Shield:

• It has a strong orange peel effect
• The rubbery feel adds a bit too much friction to the touch screen which reminds you of nails on a chalk board, or a squeaky clean feeling of a just washed plate.
• It comes in too many sections (10 is way too many, it just adds more joins and more chances of corners to come undone over time)
• The corner protection has been done better by competitors
• After a week of use I am noticing dirt creeping under two of the corners.

Summary review of the Zagg Invisible Shield phone protector:

I feel the Zagg product is over priced, comes in too many sections and is not suitable to be placed on a touchscreen. It is more then twice the price of the BSE protector. I would not recommend it for the Nexus one.

Some great tips when applying your protectors:

Run evilvte, then type sudo leafpad /etc/apt/sources.list
All you need in this file is the following line:
deb http://ports.ubuntu.com karmic main universe restricted multiverse
deb http://ports.ubuntu.com jaunty main universe restricted multiverse

– then save & exit leafpad. While still in evilvte type sudo apt-get update, this will update your system to reflect the changes you made to your sources.list. Now when you sudo apt-get install “name of app here” your system will know if it exists and how/where to get/install it.

Why add / change the password on your device?

It is important to add a password for the root account in order to secure your device and to allow you to connect to your device remotely via SSH

1. Click start menu
2. Select Run
3. Type evilvte
4. Press Ok (evitvte is a terminal interface to the SmartQ allowing you to run commands on the device)
5. Type the following into the evitvte command line and press enter
6. passwd
7. Type the following into the evitvte command line and press enter
8. sudo passwd

Why install SSH on the Smart Q 5 or 7

Secure Shell or SSH is a network protocol that allows data to be exchanged using a secure channel between two networked devices.

Unless you have an external usb or blue-tooth keyboard it can be annoying having to do a lot of typing using the onscreen keyboard. Therefore installing SSH allows you to connect to the device from your normal computer and run commands from the comfort of your home computer as long as both devices are on the same network.

You can also connect and transfer files via Sftp once SSH is installed. This saves you pulling in and out the SD card, which can be annoying as the sd card slot is deep and this makes it difficult to remove the sd card.

How to install SSH on the Smart Q 5, SmartQ 7, SmartV5 and SmartV7

Thanks to empireum for his help here: http://www.smartqmid.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=280

Assumption:

• Wifi is installed and device is connected to your network.
• SD card is removed from the device while you install SSH to ensure it is installed onto the Device

Password for the user account and root account have been set

1. Click start menu
2. Select Run
3. Type evilvte
4. Press Ok (evitvte is a terminal interface to the SmartQ allowing you to run commands on the device)
5. Type this line into evitvte and press enter

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install ssh

Next step is to allow root login over SSH as it may be disabled by default.

Look for a line saying “PermitRootLogin yes” (with no # in front of it). If it’s not present, add it to the end. Save the file.

2. Start the SSH server:

How to use SSH on the Smart Q 5, SmartQ 7, SmartV5 and SmartV7 once it is installed.

If that completes successfully, you’re all set. The server will be auto started every time you boot or reboot the SmartQ so you only have to do this step once.

3. Now it’s time to initiate the SSH connection to the SmartQ.

Linux, Unix (*BSD etc.), Mac OS X

$ ssh user@192.168.1.2

or

$ ssh root@192.168.1.2

(This is done on the remote box, not on the SmartQ. Of course you need to have the SSH client installed on the remote system.) Answer ‘yes’ to the question, enter the password (‘user’ for user, the one you assigned previously for root) and viola, you’re in.

Windows

Google Search “PuTTY” and download the latest installer, install it and then launch it. In the ‘PuTTY Configuration’ window, enter your SmartQ’s IP address as Host Name (shown on first screenshot). Hit ‘OK’, say ‘Yes’ when the warning comes up. A black PuTTY window will open saying ‘login as:’ (second screenshot). Enter user or root and then the password. Bingo, you’re in.




4. Congrats, you can now remotely access your SmartQ’s command line as in evilvte or whatever terminal app you use. Great for long commands and fixing stuff. To end the sesson type ‘exit’.

How to access the files on your SmartQ, SmartV device remotely (via SFTP)

You can then connect to your device via SFTP,

Windows: Use WinSCP

Mac OSX: Use Cyberduck or ExpanDrive (My Favourite)

Prerequisite: This works over ssh so you need to have it set up and running on your SmartQ. See my other tutorial on how to do this in the stock OS. When you have ssh installed and running and you can connect to your SmartQ, read on As an ssh connection is all you need, this will work with Android, Mer etc. as well just as long as sshd is running.

1. Download WinSCP from http://winscp.net/eng/download.php. Get the newest installation package. Install it and keep the default settings. You can choose between Explorer and Commander mode. I personally use Commander because it makes file transfer so much easier.

2. Launch it, the Configuration window will open as shown below (click on the thumbnail to view full-size screenshot).

3. Enter your SmartQ’s IP address as Host name and ‘user’ as User name and Password. Leave the other settings alone for now. If you desire, you can save the session for future use. WinSCP will then open a list of saved sessions when launched so you can connect with just one click, assuming you also saved your password.

4. Hit Login. If everything goes well, a window like the one shown below will open. You will see your My Documents folder on the left, and the SmartQ’s /home/user folder on the right. You can now copy and paste and do everything you want. The SD card is accessble under /home/user/SDCARD.

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