
RescueTime Out Of Private Beta, Tracking How (Un)Productive You Are - drm237
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/14/rescuetime-tracks-how-unproductive-you-are/
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pc
My signup mail sent my password in cleartext. Please, please don't store it
like that, and especially don't send it over the wire like this.

Update: having used it for the past few hours, the product itself is very well
done. Nice work.

~~~
bfioca
By popular demand, we have now removed the cleartext password email _feature_.
:D

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as
Is Linux support in the pipeline?

~~~
webwright
We've had some interested Linux folks, but only about 5-6% of our users are
Linux folks. 35% Mac, the rest PC. It's on the list, but not super high. :-(

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bfioca
Jump in, everyone! We've been getting so many closed beta requests we just had
to open up.

RescueTime is a good compliment to noprocrast settings. It will show how much
time you spend here, as well as the countless other things you do during your
day.

~~~
queensnake
errr, what's the link, exactly? I don't see a 'sign up here' link there.

\-- oh, duh - <http://rescuetime.com> (big button on the front page to sign
up)

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bfioca
<http://www.rescuetime.com/signup> will work

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webwright
Note: cat out of bag. We (RescueTime) are a YC Winter '08 company. Yay!

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e1ven
The beans were forcibly spilled a few days ago.
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=77631>

Sorry guys, I didn't mean to preempt your announcement submitting your URL, I
just thought it was a service that YCers might appreciate.

~~~
Dauntless
I don't really look forward to any time tracking program that uploads my stats
to a server. I guess Google will buy it, if you have success, as they want to
know everything about everyone. I don't think anyone would want the government
or Google to know your habits so well that they can make a profile for you...

~~~
webwright
Privacy is certainly a concern... But with Google storing every search on a
server and every single email on a server... Well, I know someone could do a
lot more damage to me with my gmail inbox than a sea of app usage data.

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kingnothing
Look cool. Too bad it doesn't run on Linux or I'd check it out.

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sspencer
I met one of the RescueTime guys at the Miracle of Science meetup in Cambridge
(his name escapes me, unfortunately) a few weeks ago. They are very bright and
seriously committed, with an excellent product and idea. Good luck! Can't wait
to see you guys in some of the YC photos this winter!

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mynameishere
I can only think of one real application of this.

~~~
webwright
Really? What?

~~~
mynameishere
Tracking employees.

~~~
webwright
There are plenty of employer spyware apps out there that lurk in the
background any log employee activity. We will have a business offering, but
we're going to go to great lengths to keep it from being evil.

Lifehacker.com gets 15 million uniques a month of people who want to optimize
their lives. GTD and the vast array of "productivity self-help" resources seem
to indicate that there is a lotta demand for things that can increase your
personal productivity.

Not to mention the "4 Hour Work Week" marketing phenomenon.

~~~
donal
I actually just had to write a paper on the employer spyware type software. I
found an interesting article that is very applicable to this discussion:

Urbaczewski, A., & Jessup, L. M. (2002). Does electronic monitoring of
employee internet usage work? Communications of the ACM , 80-83.

To summarize: Theory X management that thinks that the employee is trying to
screw the company will use tracking software to enforce policy and morale and
job will be low. Theory Y management will use tracking tools as metrics to
identify areas of improvement and provide the data to the employee for their
betterment.

Identifying trends in your own behavior can increase your productivity, which
means that you'll take less time to complete your work. This has the potential
to lower your stress and make you a happier person.

Just a general feeling, but I think this appeals to the Theory Y crowd.

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danielha
Nice work, guys. Looking forward to seeing you around YC.

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MisterMerkin
Well that didn't take long. Wasn't much of a beta was it.

~~~
webwright
It's still in beta! :-) If you didn't think it was much of a beta, you shoulda
seen it from THIS end. <grin>

