mastering the tab game (and other internet optimization tips)

browser tabs, that is.

(and if you’re not using chrome, start now. your internet lifestyle will improve ten-fold, not kidding.)

if you can identify with the photo to the left, this short article is for you.

if you’re anything (specifically, a nerd) like me, you currently have about 8 tabs open to various different sites, ranging from gmail to trello to linkedin to google docs to product hunt to techcrunch. don’t worry about it — this is what people like us do.

it can get a bit cluttered, which doesn’t particularly bother me, but it’s destroying my computer.

so today, i collected a few resources for your busy mind in order to save your laptop from exploding into a million pieces and organizing your online life a bit. trust me, i’ve used these tools for years, and i can’t tell you how much they’ve impacted how i work on my computer.

OneTab

first, onetab is a great extension to save all your favorite pages on the internet. sure, you have your bookmark bar, but that can get cluttered very quickly.

onetab isn’t so much for your bookmarks as it is for your tabs. simply select a tab, and “onetab” it in order for it to stop sucking your computer’s battery. yes, pages that you aren’t actively on are still running and refreshing in the background. “onetab” them, and they’ll all be saved to a distinct tab with multiple pages within it so you can return to them whenever you’d like.

i added the onetab chrome extension about a year ago to my laptop and it’s saved me hours and hours of battery.

Trello

trello is a great project management app that you can use almost to its full capability with the free version. use it for your team or school project or just your personal life (i do a combination of all these).

just for a sneak peek, i’ve posted a screenshot from my personal trello board below. see how i categorize all my things to do by their topics? personal stuff, yep!, my college courses …

trello is a fantastic resource for organizing your things and collecting data within cards. a wise man once said, “organize it.”

Bonus: Appear.in

this is one of my favorite apps on the internet right now. appear.in allows you to video chat someone wherever they may be in the world — for free! all you need is a camera on your laptop and a secure internet connection.

instead of calling your parents every night out of fear that you’re broke, appear.in them instead. it adds a visual, personal touch that they’ll appreciate.

book a “room” and lock it so no one else can join. there will be no creepy dudes trying to barge in on your room!

my cofounder and i have been communicating through appear.in when we record our podcast episodes remotely. it’s been a god-sent, a wonderful tool for so many reasons.

i’ll continually post about life optimization hacks, but these are just a few of my favorites for now. let me know what you use to hack your online life.

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