The last time I did this was over 2 years ago, when I recommended Dropbox as a way to do backups and to get files between different computers. I am still loving Dropbox.
I've been getting some physical therapy lately because I get too many headaches, and my neck is often tight. My physical therapist asked lots of questions about my computer habits: Where do I sit, how do I type, do I take breaks? Nope, I told him, I don't take breaks, mainly because I forget to. When I'm writing or powering through my google reader, I forget about anything else.
But as we talked I remembered that Maria Andersen had recommended some software that would make you stop working. She recommended WorkRave, free for the PC (not available for the Mac). I tried finding something for the Mac, and didn't see anything good. I asked on her blog, and Maria suggested Time Out. I've been using it for over a month, and I love it. It's freeware, but of course they want donations. (I've paid them $10.)
Every 15 minutes, Time Out comes on top of what I'm doing, and tells me it's time for a 15 second 'micro-break'. Every hour, it has me take a 1 minute break (which I can skip). All the times can be changed, and there are other settings you can fiddle with. Whenever I'm on Skype, I have to tell it to 'pause breaks', which takes 3 quick clicks.
If you work intensely on the computer, and need to take more breaks, Time Out works great.
And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming....
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Wow! I didn't even know there was something like this available. I know several people that NEED to use this, so thank you for sharing.
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