No, this is not the blog where heavy-hitters come to pound on each other, however, The Fight Spot does pack quite a punch as one of those blogs you just can’t miss out on. With the rich, interesting content and the amazing design my bet is that in the first round of visits The Fight Spot will knock you out with what it has to offer. So lets get ready to review one of my newest favorite blogs, The Fight Spot.
Categories: Blogs To Read Series
Summer 2006, like millions of others I too fell into the Getting Things Done trap. I don’t know what it is that makes this system such a draw. Maybe I just wanted to have a black belt in something and productivity seemed easy enough. Since then I have pretty much staturated myself in blogs upon blogs of GTD information. However, eventually it just became too much and I had to purge my feed reader. I managed to keep some of the standards like 43Folders and Lifehacker, but there was one lesser known blog that I just couldn’t get rid of, Organize It. Soon you will understand why.
Over View
Organize It is not your typical GTD blog. In fact, it is not really (see: technically) a GTD blog at all. No, instead of pointing at the trendy new hacks and going nuts over productivity p0rn, Organize It offers a simple service to all its readers, good tips and tricks for getting your life organized. Yes, some times that means implementing GTD and its various phases, but it also mean other things like learning how to delegate and getting rid of clutter. This is why I can’t live without Organize It. There is a lot more to life than the GTD system (GASP!), and Organize It really fills the void opened up by other sites. Organize It gives advice on “organized living through life hacks and GTD”, but it is the life hacks that has brought it the success it has earned recently and for good reason.
The Man Behind the Magic
The author of Organize It is James, a 23-year-old UK native. As a fan of the GTD magic James wanted to move from reading about GTD to sharing his own ideas, Organize It is the spawn of that plan.
“Organize IT was really my first proper attempt at a blog and as I got more into lifehacking, GTD, etc I found I enjoyed writing about it, sharing my own thoughts and developing my own ideas on the subject,” said James.
James’ site was “discovered” when his Clutter 101 series was featured on Lifehack.org, and his site accelerated to the top 10 on the popular bookmarking website, del.icio.us.
“[Clutter 101] continues to send lots of hits my way. Clearly de-cluttering their homes is a big deal for people,” muses James.
As far as other projects, James has two other sites he is currently working on besides Organize It. He has a clever Nintendo Wii/gaming blog, as well as the site Creating Worlds, which is best explained on the site itself.
The Content
Organize It has some of the best general life advice that I have seen on any other site of this type. There are posts on all sorts of different subjects pertaining to organization in many key areas of life. For example, the site offers a series on “getting creative” where it displays the importance of things like locations and having the right tools in the creative process.
“I try to position Organize IT so that it offers precise, actionable advice regarding all the key areas of life, such as career, finances and personal-growth,” said James.”
Additionally, this site offers posts in categories from inspiration to health. Truly the advice and tips offered on this site, whatever the category, can help you to improve your own life. I have follow many of the suggestions this site has offered and continue to see real results. This guy just has ideas that work, plain and simple. If you are interested in reliable advice which you just can’t find anywhere else then you really need to keep an eye on Organize It.
Site Design
The design of Organize It falls right in line for a blog with its purpose. The site itself is nothing super fantastic which is great because it shoves the content out at the reader. The content of this site is its best quality, and what I like about the design is that it doesn’t try to distract you. Trust me, for a guy who needs GTD to stay focused, it is important to me that I don’t have any more distractions in life when I am trying to learn how to live without them!
The site is easy to navigate with its two panel design. On the right hand site is everything you need to get around easily enough and all the different elements are placed perfectly so that one can find what they need. Unfortunately, a block of text ads divides a lot of those elements, but I understand that income is an important part of independent blogging so I can’t jeer too much.
Check it out
CLICK! I promise you won’t be disappointed. This site is great, really. GTD guru, maybe not, but certainly one of the smartest blogs out there that isn’t getting the attention it deserves.
Other blogs in this series:
5thirtyOne
HyalineSkies
The Qwertyrash Blogs
Moleskinerie
The Blog Joint
To see some other stuff I have written click here,.
Categories: Blogs To Read Series
If you are looking for technology news in the world then don’t miss out on The Blog Joint. This blog is all about “tech news, reviews, and how to’s”, and I just can’t keep my eyes off it. The Blog Joint has been a personal favorite of mine for a few months now. The site has helped me learn about so many different aspects of blogging and general technology. Also, the humor and wit it delivers is simply unbeatable.
As the name suggests this blog has multiple writers (you weren’t thinking of the other joint right?) which comes in handy for a continuous stream of content. As opposed to some blogs which have one writer whose interest in the site may fade, one can count on this blog for good solid posts frequently.
Vlad Akilov, the original author of The Blog Joint, is a computer science major and sports nut at The City College in New York, and only recently founded this project. Since then Akilov has brought in Phil Mosley, Marcus Price, and Delta Taph to help him continually improve his blog, and let me tell you these guys are not your usual suspects.
For instance, how about Taph is only 12 years old and from Manchester. This kid is great. He works on blogs like Tech.co.nr and Profy.com (pretty cool blogs in themselves). It gets better. Going from one extreme to another the blog also hosts a 4th team member, 46 year old IT professional, ALex Rodriguez who lives in Nor. Cal.
With the variety of writers displayed in this blogger there is certainly something for everyone as far as content is concerned.
Learn more about The Blog Joint’s team here.
The sheer variety offered in this blog is enough to keep any hungry minds salivating. Their previews of up coming Google apps (like this one) are really helpful for getting to know Google’s online arsenal better. Additionally, they also offer help on all sorts of blogging related topics (click) which are splendid. Not to mention a bit of humor is thrown in the mix giving the blog a rich texture.
When I first found The Blog Joint I was amazed at how sticky it was. The content is just amazing and I find myself gazing through their archives for hours. There is no telling how much I have learned from this site that I just don’t get from pro blogs in the same field.
Honestly, I’ve seen a lot of professional blogs, but this one ranks highest for its amazing simplicity and aesthetic beauty. The Blog Joint is designed in a two column format which is really easy on the eyes. The right side bar has a clean set up, and is generally unobtrusive in their advertising.
Nothing here is really bothersome which is nice considering a lot of people these days are getting carried away. One jeer that I have is that the front page doesn’t give me an categories list, you actually have to click a post to see this so it can take some digging to find the particular content you need. Also the archives list isn’t confusing which, again, practically hands you the shovel.
On the flip side, you really have to check out their logo. As far as web 2.0-esc logos are concerned this one is my personal favorite.
…For you to go check it out. This is one of those blogs that doesn’t get the attention it deserves and that is a shame. If you are not reading this blog then you’d better start, your hungry mind will thank you later.
Other posts in this series:
Take a look at what else is going on here.
Categories: Blogs To Read Series
Alright so this blog is coming from out of no where considering the last few posts have been pretty tech slanted. Well, I’ll return to that angle tomorrow, but for today I would like to present one of the best niche blogs out there, Moleskinerie. Admittedly you may have heard of this blog. It ranks just under 5,000 over at Technorati, but there is still a chance that you are not reading this blog and should be.
About six months ago I got into the whole moleskin craze when I implemented Eston Bond’s GTD Moleskin hack (Bond’s blog featured here). As soon as I bought my new notebook I learned quickly what all the fuss was about. However, this isn’t a post about my moleskin passion, its one about another man’s, Armand B. Frasco, original owner of Moleskinerie.
Frasco claims that not all notebooks are created equal, and this site certainly pontificates that fact. Also, recently Moleskinerie was bought by Kikkerland Design, Inc., and has excelled further since.
That’s okay! You should probably still read this blog. Truly the multiple daily submissions really stir the creative juices. There have been several times when I have just began to feel creatively stifled, and believe that I just can’t get over this wall I’ve built up. When that happens I just pop open Moleskinerie and take a look at the sheer brilliance of others, and I am instantly inspired.
Great! This site has more than enough content for you to devour. Not only are there posts about moleskin products and reviews, but there is also a plethora of other material. I like reading about what other people are doing with their moleskins, its not all GTD hacks you know. Also, I love checking out the latest moleskin accessory. Additionally, many of the submission are pretty clever, and others practically comedic.
This site is like a walk in the park in early spring, or a drive past the lake on a autumn day. Truthfully. There is not a lot of savvy posts about tech this or 2.0 that, its just an interesting peek at a subculture of highly intelligent and uber-creative people. You really should check it out. If moleskins were good enough for Hemingway then the product itself must be pretty awesome, and this site really does it just.
So go take a look, your creative unconscious is begging you to!
In the words of Frasco, no moles were harmed in the making of this posts.
Categories: Blogs To Read Series
There are literally millions of blogs out there about blogging itself, and sometimes it becomes very difficult to weed though all the bad content and half-baked tips and tricks. This is why The Qwertyrash Blogs was such a pleasure to find. This blog really has it all for the blogger/tech savvy reader.
From way down–well way down for me–in Australia one of the blogosphere’s most under-acclaimed authors emerges. Chris Howard, blogger in question, is a self proclaimed “key board junkie.” Interestingly enough this is where his clever blog title gets its name. A QwertyRash is a skin affliction affecting the fingertips resulting from prolonged activity, according to the site’s about section. Regardless of this condition’s validity there is no question about how impressive Howard’s blog truly is.
I first stumbled upon Qwertyrash when I began my blogging research. This site has just about everything you need to know whether you are a beginner blogger or a seasoned pro. From WordPress to blog news and even a “Blossary” this blog has it all.
The site itself is set up with minimalism in mind. It is super easy to navigate, and the sections are specific enough to find anything you are looking for swiftly and efficiently. The lack of obtrusive ads is also a plus and makes reading the blog a true pleasure. Also, concerning design, the blog is set up in such a way that at the end of one post a group of links to similar posts are clustered which is nice for finding posts that you might otherwise have to dig around for.
Furthermore, content-wise, Howard shots it straight. The tips he gives are both impressive and innovative. Most blogs of this type seem to shine up the same old junk with a fresh coat of wax, but Qwertyrash provides unique insight that is just brilliant. Certainly this is to be expected from such a writer as Howard who has a weekly column at Apple Matters.
Howard is an avid Mac fanboy after becoming a “refugee of the Windows world.” If all things Apple is your type of blog you can get more than enough of Howard’s excellent posts about the subject as well as Apple products, Linux, and software reviews. I’ve read most of the posts in this area, and I have to say that I have come to trust Howard about as much as David Pogue, New York Times technology columnist.
Additionally, what really brings this blog to life is not just the tech and blogging end, but the other more general topics. For a long time now I have enjoyed the posts in the humor section as well as his general musing. Howard really has a bit of a comedian in him which makes his posts light hearted and amusing to say the least.
After checking out Qwertyrash’s Technorati stats which rank it somewhere in the range of 300,000 I felt that it was time to help out the cause of this under-read blog. For too long Qwertyrash has been one of those blogs that I really liked to keep to myself, but if you are not reading this blog then you are defiantly missing out.
For other blogs you should be reading check out the series here.
Categories: Blogs To Read Series
