Tuesday, March 05, 2013

Single most annoying Prius problem

I'm a happy Prius driver. But one thing that bugs me a lot in Prius 2006 is that Consumption MFD screen doesn't show the current consumption value, only the approximate bar. I have to switch between the information screens to read that value and then switch back to see the chart quite often.

As a side note I'd also like driving instructions (turns) to appear in the corner when Consumption screen is active. This way I would not need to switch to the map screen either.

P.S. I accidentally googled an interesting screen. I wish I had this one as well.

Source: http://priuschat.com/threads/next-generation-mfd-check-it-out.84493/page-2

Friday, March 01, 2013

Why time tracking is best with Rechnung+

There are dozens of time tracking apps and sites, no surprise it's very hard to choose one which fits you best. Here I share my reasoning so it may be easier for you to choose.

1. It needs to be free.

While it may be OK to pay for some larger software which is outmost important for your work (I think of the PHPStorm, other examples are Photoshop, 3DMax, MS Office, etc.) I'm not ready to pay for dozens of smaller tools which make my life easier but are too cumbersome to take extra efforts to choose the payment plan, choose payment method, pay and wait for payment to arrive or investigate why payment didn't pass through.

2. Registration should be easy.

Login and password is the minimum necessary data for the registration. Everything else is redundant. Extra information may be filled in later when I'm sure I'll continue with the selected tool. Registration with OpenID from Google or other providers will make it even faster and easier. A demo account without registration at all is even better.

3. It should be quick to track.

Noone wants to track the time, it's a distraction from the actual work. If I do it, I don't want to spend more than 1 minute. After login I should be able to fill-in the rest of the pre-filled form with default data. So then I can return to work or get rest
without wasting my time.

4. Getting data under control.

Well, it's my own time tracked even though it's stored on some server somewhere else. I need to be able to download the whole package of data for private backups, importing into some other system or even post processing in Excel.

Rechnung+ can do it all.
1. It's free.
2. Registration is easy, just three obligatory fields. Demo account can be tested without any registration and OpenID is supported.
3. Time tracking is fast. The only necessary field is the "duration". Rechnung+ allows real-time tracking with start/stop buttons.
4. You can download your data for a local backup, export project data into CSV, run built-in time and money analytics and even delete your account completely.

Please comment if your time tracking tool can do all of that and maybe some more.