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”What’s 43 Folders?”
43Folders.com is Merlin Mann’s website about finding the time and attention to do your best creative work.

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Merlin joins Stikkit advisory board

Values of n Blog: Merlin Mann advises

I'm happy to announce that I've accepted an offer to advise Values of n on the development of their Stikkit web application.

In fact, although I've been using and loving Stikkit for several months now, I've held off talking about it much on 43f until this addition was made official and public1. But, since I stand to have an advisor's stake in the business as a result of this work, it was important to tell you guys and properly disclose my involvement before doing much gushing in the content well here.

I have a pile of tips for how I'm using Stikkit and have been regularly poking Rael, Michael, and crew (to what I imagine is the point of polite professional annoyance) with feature ideas and things I want the app to do (hint: everything). So I'm glad I can finally start sharing this stuff, here and elsewhere.

This is the first Advisory Board thing in which I've participated (my OmniFocus advising is pro bono and will continue as before), so I'm pretty excited to officially get started.

Anyhow, I wanted you to know about this and to say that I'll be linking back to this post whenever it's appropriate to remind you of my proud involvement in Stikkit. I am enthused about where this project is headed, and I'm honored that Rael and his team have let me in on their process.

1. Note that folks in Canada can catch a demo of Stikkit I did on Call for Help which I taped in December, before this was approaching officialness.

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MacBreak Weekly taping tonight at 21st Amendment

MacBreak Logo

Upcoming.org: MacBreak Weekly Live @ 21st Amendment at 21st Amendment (Tuesday, January 9, 2007)

Directions to 21A, from Moscone Center

Just a reminder that tonight's live taping of MacBreak Weekly takes place at 21st Amendment starting at 6pm. If you're planning to come to the taping, my advice is to get there early, because we're anticipating a capacity audience (that's a big reason everyone agreed it was better not to do this event at the Apple Store on Steve Day).

Leo, Alex, Scott, and I will be discussing today's announcements and may even have some guests.

A propos of nothing, I will also take this opportunity to remind Mr. Bourne of his (often repeated) promise to buy everyone on MBW an iPhone on the day that they come out. Just saying.

If you come out tonight or see me on the Macworld show floor with MacBreak today, please say hi and introduce yourself.

January promo updates (and thanks)

  • Thanks, Office Depot! - First off, a big thank you to Office Depot for sponsoring the 43f feed for the last few weeks. I was thrilled that they were our first sponsor because, personally, I drop a lot of dough at my Office Depot each month, and I think they're a swell company. I have appreciated their support very much.
  • A2 discount ends soon - There's eight (8) days remaining in A2's 10% lifetime hosting discount, so get in there while you still can.
  • Advertising on 43f - Finally, just the occasional reminder that if you'd like to reach one of the smartest (and best-looking) audiences on the web, you can advertise on 43 Folders, via our pals over at FM. Big ads, little ads, ads that climb on rocks -- we got you covered.

Thanks, and now back to our regularly-scheduled productivity programming.

TOPICS: Admin, Promos

43 Folders at Macworld '07

Macworld is in full swing this week here in SF, and Merlin will be there, covering the expo floor for MacBreak, participating in a live taping of MacBreak Weekly, and much more. Details inside »

All subject to change, cancellation, force majeure, or ejection by security guard:

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Am I missing anything? Invite me via Upcoming.org.

Update: 43f Deals & Discounts

Just some quick reminders and news on a few current discounts and special deals available for 43f readers.

In somewhat related news, the Working and Living Life Smarter Conference announced last month is being rescheduled to a TBD date next year. Registrants have been notified and received refund info, but you should feel free to ask any questions to either the conference's organizer, Kay Ethier (sales at aboveandbeyondlearning daht com), or me. Will update when the new dates are announced -- I imagine that we'll have another discount to offer for 43f readers.

Post your MacBreak Weekly ideas to del.icio.us: "mbwideas"

I'll steal a page directly from Amber's book on this one -- if you have something that you think might make a good story for us to cover on MacBreak Weekly, you can add it to del.icio.us with the tag "mbwideas". We check that page pretty regularly (I actually look at it once a day or so), so it's an easy way to get your favorite Mac and Apple stories of the week into the queue for consideration.

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Inbox Zero series extended

This past week ended up throwing me a couple curve balls, so I only ended up finishing about half of the Inbox Zero articles I'd expected to -- including the very in-demand "Okay, smart ass, enough with the hand-waving and tell me how to actually deal with these 5000 emails" post. Couldn't not deliver that one.

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TOPICS: Admin

43F Series: “Inbox Zero”

This post is part of the Inbox Zero series.

43 Folders Series: Inbox Zero

Ever since I posted my suggestion about the email DMZ, I've received a steady stream of requests -- nay, desperate pleas -- to go into more detail on how I take an email inbox from overstuffed to zero and then keep it that way.

Clearly, the problem of email overload is taking a toll on all our time, productivity, and sanity, mainly because most of us lack a cohesive system for processing our messages and converting them into appropriate actions as quickly as possible.

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TOPICS: Admin, Email

43F To Go: Update on RSS & Atom Feeds

I've fixed 95% of the upgrade problems I'd had, but I'm still getting the occasional report of trouble with the 43F RSS and Atom feeds. So sorry about that, because I know it's how a lot of you all prefer to keep up with the site.

If you're experiencing any kind of delays or if you notice items on the site missing from your feed, please ensure that you're subscribed to http://www.43folders.com/feed/; it's the only feed for the site that won't move or change (and it's the URL that all correct 43 Folders blog feeds should resolve to).

If you're unsure of the feed you're viewing in your reader, you might want to delete it and resubscribe. Further help awaits:

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TOPICS: Admin

Use the Interwebs to Get Rich!!! Promote Your New Product for FREE on Blog$!!1!1!

So, either I forgot about sending out a lot of requests to receive press releases or, more likely, an extraordinary number of people have suddenly decided I should be talking about their product on this site. Lucky me.

My mitzvah to you once and future senders of PR comes in the form of these million-dollar tips for promoting your product. Before you send email to (or, God forbid, telephone) Z-list bloggers like myself, please consider these friendly tips for not coming off as a complete tool:

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