The alarm clock that runs away and hides when you don’t wake up. Clocky gives you one chance to get up. But if you snooze, Clocky will jump off of your nightstand and wheel around your room looking for a place to hide. Clocky is kind of like a misbehaving pet, only he will get up at the right time.

‘Clocky’ earns grad student 15 minutes of fame – MIT News Office

The idea for Clocky came to (Gauri) Nanda a couple of years ago. Her cat had had seven kittens, and she was charmed by the way they would nibble her toes each morning to wake her. Clocky works by the same principle. “I wanted Clocky to be like a troublesome pet that you love anyway,” said Nanda, a Michigan native who has received thousands of e-mails from around the country requesting a Clocky to take home.

Here’s the designer on the Big Idea Show (CNBC) showing the little tyke in action:

They link to some neat (but not cheap) collapsable measuring cups. I actually need to get some US measuring cups so I don’t have to go through the painful conversion process so maybe I’ll indulge. Or maybe I’ll find some that are less expensive.

Good to see that CableOrganizer.com are advertising on them. I think I first found out about them from one of their ads on Penny-Arcade and have lusted after their cable tamers ever since.
 

While you’re reading all this, check out musicovery in the background, it’s a cute interactive radio station, it’s like the music genome project only it’s less linear. You can choose mood or dance and you can limit the choices by genre and decade (as far back as the 50s).

Software:

• My Life Organised – I’ve played around with this software a little and I think it has real potential. It’s got a really simple interface but is powerfully flexible. You can export in and out of MindManager mind mapping software which is pretty cool if you use it. Here are some reviews at 43 Folders, this one and this one explains how the program works a bit. There are some instructions for implenting the GTD system (see below). The developer is still very active and it has community support.
• For Mac users, Kinkless looks like it could be worth a test drive, it’s free but you need to have bought OmniOutliner (though that’s meant to be good too). What’s cool too is that it is should sync with your ipod.

Advice:

• 43 Folders advice on building smarter to-do lists: Part 1 and Part 2.
• To-done is a blog that isn’t updated anymore but worth looking through the archives for tips.
• Get Things Done (GTD): The system of allocating time and place to next actions promoted by Dave Allen (the other main competitor is the Franklin/Covey system which concentrates on importance/urgency – here’s a weird article about the Franklin Covey synthesis, a forum post on which system is better – I think a combination is best – it has some neat tips). 43 Folders is one of the big promoters of the GTD cult – here’s a nice intro to GTD.
• Flylady: Rather popular system for managing households and their chores. She suggests creating a Control Journal. One way to domestic goddess status I suppose, but all a bit TOO orderly for me though.

For more paper based to-do lists:

• The Pocket Mod: An online wizard for creating printed organisers. You can also download an offline version. Very neat.
• The Printable CEO Series: Free printable forms to help you manage your day to day tasks so you can focus on being a CEO/your business.
• 5 Steps of My To-Do Lists Revolution: How throwing away traditional to-do lists can be more productive for some people.
• Hacking a GTD Moleskine: A low-tech solution using my favourite notebook, the Moleskine.

Miscellaneous Stuff:

• Darkroom: A cool download when you have a writing project to concentrate on, it blacks out your screen so there are no distractions, your text then shows up in Matrix-esque green Courier.
• Discovered listible which is a community list making project, worth checking out: they have a list of best GTD software, online calendars and firefox extensions.
• Found some stuff on sleep and making it/you more productive, here’s one and another on polyphasic sleep (”taking multiple short sleep periods throughout the day instead of getting all your sleep in one long chunk”) – I can’t think that it would be good for you. And one on How to Become an Early Riser and Tips for getting to sleep faster & sleeping better.

Anyway, good luck with your New Year resolutions/goals and HAPPY NEW EVERYONE!