Skype

It’s an obvious choice that we just couldn’t forget. Skype has become the alternative of choice for millions of people. It’s free, easy to use, and quite addictive. All you need is a microphone and their free software, and you’re good to go. As an added bonus calls to normal phone numbers are still free until the end of the year. We love ya Skype.

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Startup Journal

This site is a spinoff of The Wall Street Journal, made just for entrepreneurs. It’s fresh articles cover every aspect of entrepreneurship and take you in new directions each day. If you’re not subscribed to the Startup Journal RSS feed, do it right now and let them know how much we love them.

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Fox Trot 2.0

I saw a FoxTrot cartoon a few days ago that was spot-on with this new web craze. When you’re working on your website focus on the problem you’re trying to solve, not including all the latest doo-dads.

Creating Passionate Users

If you’ve ever been to a meeting or read a business plan you’ll appreciate the spin CPU puts on charts and graphs. This insightful blog focuses on how to create the evangelical customers every company dreams of and actually be compassionate while doing so. We love this site for yanking the plastic face off all the corporate execs inside us.

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Daily Dose of Imagery

Sam Javanrouh is a Toronto based photographer who shares one new photo each day on Daily Dose. He has an uncanny ability to capture colours and emotions, and his collection of photos has become the best depiction of the city in which he lives. Get your creative juices flowing every morning with today’s site we love, Daily Dose of Imagery.

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Hidden talent

While browsing through some different cover performances on YouTube I came across a girl named ReoRae. She’s a hidden surprise based in the UK. Most of her videos only have a few thousand views, while her first video has managed just under 20,000; far from impressive stats on a site like YouTube.

After watching and listening to her seven videos, and waiting for the goosebumps on my arms to subside, I wondered how such a beautiful and powerful voice could not be a gigantic act in the music scene.

Understandably, there are thousands of different sites, publications, and platforms out there to absorb—which entertainment labels have always tried to do—but it’s never been easier.

People like ReoRae fall into the cracks of YouTube, Myspace, sites like them, and can be really difficult to spot at times. These are the types of people that we should always be looking for. Imagine how many e-mails the most popular girl on Myspace or the music era dancer on YouTube get per day. Thousands and thousands. Imagine how many ReoRae gets per day. A handful at most.

Cambrian House

Few companies actually relate to the buzzword they’ve coined. Cambrian House is one of those few. They call themselves “crowdsourced software”. Buzzy, eh? It’s a simple concept: you submit ideas for radical software, if it gets a great score it gets made and you get paid. That’s why we love Cambrian House and their user-generated-ness. (another buzzword)

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How to get things done

There are many books out there that try and help people make sense and order of their lives. David Seah has built some fanfare through his system, as has David Allen with his Getting Things Done book. (I guess all David’s are organized) Both of which I’ve tried and haven’t been able to stick to.

The one system that I found really worked for me was writing a task down on a blank business card, stacking them in order of importance and date, then tearing them up and throwing them out when complete.

A couple things I learned from this process were that having record of the things you’ve done is just as important as the things you haven’t done. It’s very frustrating to spend time doing something that you already did and couldn’t remember. Tearing up and throwing out those records isn’t too efficient now that I look at it.

Things can get really messy when you have dozens or hundreds of cards on your desk, especially when you’re looking for a certain card and have to dig through those stacks.

Also, simply writing a task down told myself that I had something to get done and took the responsibility and pressure off of my memory.

I’ve taken those lessons and have found a new system that works even better. Here’s the system that I’ve been using lately and effectively:

Problogger

Darren Rowse has established himself as the go-to guy for blogging. His entries are read by tons of bloggers around the world hoping to strike gold on the net. Darren’s a great example of a successful blogger whose made blogging his full-time job and is willing to share how he made it to that point. That’s why we love that Problogger. Click here to visit this site.

The two year itch

In what were called “the good ‘ol days� you studied one field, entered that industry at the bottom of the ladder, and worked your way to the top over your career. You stayed with the same company for 20, 30, 40 years. You did the same thing everyday for most of your life, but didn’t mind, because that’s what everyone cherished, security.

The times, they are a changin’. Unless you still have a black and white television and spend your evenings jamming with your eight-track, chances are you’re familiar with something called the two year itch.

It’s a term that’s synonymous with the ad industry but is used in every aspect of life. It can be reasoning for why you just got fired, or a slice of hope you can serve to your spouse after telling them you quit your job because “its not fun anymore�.

In many industries two years can be considered a lengthy career. In others it’s still just the beginning of a lifelong investment into one company.