I’ve been blogging a lot lately about this whole economic crisis and how/why you might care. Lets switch gears a little bit and delve a little bit into the technology world… into the happy world of Facebook.

People are always talking about Facebook these days. Microsoft even threw them something like $240 million dollars just to be a minority stakeholder (no official decision making power). Why exactly is Facebook so damn cool from a business perspective other than because you can “socially network” aka “stalk all your friend’s hot friends?”

1. Because Microsoft cares - Ok, that a bit of an attention seeking headline. The history of companies that Microsoft has invested in or taken over is both extermely long and definitely not 100% successful. However, Microsoft is enormously rich, powerful and and is one of the most profitable companies on the face of the Earth. Ever.  They’ve thrown about $240M in investment capital at Facebook in exchange for having exclusive rights to deliver ads on Facebooks website + 2% stake in Facebook. Yes, those ones that you’ve never clicked on. Nevertheless, the fact that Microsoft is paying attention ($240M worth) is not something to ignored…

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I am always looking for ways to increase my productivity both at work and at home. Afterall, at work, the more productive I am, the more value I can produce for my employer (leading to good things like promotions/raises/etc). At home, each minute I save in productivity can be spent elsewhere (sleep, play, drink, eat, relaxation, slaying dragons, taxedermy, creating a human shaped computer)

Here’s 3 easy technological innovations that are HUGE boosters in productivity no matter who you are!

Email on your phone - This is an absolute must.  After you try using email on your phone, you will never go back to not having it.  This will help you be very responsive to email and more aware of what is going on at work.  However, I must warn you that your significant other will probably not like this feature.  The ultimatly means you will be working more but it will work out to your advantage in the long run. Learn how to turn this to your advantage without getting addicted to the drug known as the crackberry and you’ll crush your current productivity level.

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I suppose not everyone in the world yet is sure of what a “reader” or “RSS Feed” is, but damnit – get with the times! (If you already know, just go ahead and skip this post entirely).

For the rest of you, I’m about to teach you how to use an incredibly useful tool that will allow you to really “tune in” to the world(s) you are interested in.

First! Check out this video to avoid reading the paragraph below:

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