I used UStart to create my homepage. Mainly, I liked that it still looks similar to other pages I have had, like Yahoo or AOL, but it is customizable. Maybe I'm a little too easily distracted, but I don't think I need my laptop looking like my iPhone (which Symabloo would certainly do), or my productivity will decrease instead of increase. However, I probably won't make it my homepage for a similar reason- I would rather read the news and gossip online than start my homework. I think plain old Google is the best choice for me.
I really like online calendars because I have access to my schedule just about anywhere. I still can't survive without my planner, but an online calendar allows me to have a back-up plan just in case I do forget my planner one day.
I am already a huge fan of Mint.com. I really can't think of a more useful tool that does, in fact, increase your productivity and save you time. It puts all of your financial accounts on one page for you. You can make budgets, start savings goals, and pay bills all in one place. I would 100% recommend this to everyone! My finance professor recommended it to us during an undergraduate class, and I only agreed to try it because he assured us he used it personally, and could vouch for the safety of the site. Now, I am so glad I gave it a try.
I agree with you on the homepage and new feeds on it. I generally prefer to have a plain looking start page that way I can get right down to what I need to do instead of being distracted. I also had tried the UStart page and what I liked about it is that you have the Google search bar right there to where you can just type words in and your off to search the web. All the news feeds are still distracting though.
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