4 ms·

RescueTime Out Of Private Beta, Tracking How (Un)Productive You Are

33 points by drm237 19y ago

bfioca 19y ago
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 19y ago
  errr, what's the link, exactly? I don't see a 'sign up here' link there. -- oh, duh - http://rescuetime.com http://rescuetime.com (big button on the front page to sign up)
  - bfioca 19y ago
    http://www.rescuetime.com/signup http://www.rescuetime.com/signup will work
mynameishere 19y ago
I can only think of one real application of this.
- webwright 19y ago
  Really? What?
  - mynameishere 19y ago
    Tracking employees.
    - ivankirigin 19y ago
      Not tracking your own time?
    - webwright 19y ago
      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 19y ago
        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.
webwright 19y ago
Note: cat out of bag. We (RescueTime) are a YC Winter '08 company. Yay!
- e1ven 19y ago
  The beans were forcibly spilled a few days ago. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=77631 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.
  - webwright 19y ago
    Heh-- no need to ever apologize to a startup guy for helping spread the word. No harm done!
  - Dauntless 19y ago
    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 19y ago
      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.
- nostrademons 19y ago
  Congrats! I'm not surprised at all...
- SwellJoe 19y ago
  Congrats. I liked the looks of your project when you posted it several months ago here. I'll look forward to meeting you guys at one of the YC dinners.
as 19y ago
Is Linux support in the pipeline?
- webwright 19y ago
  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. :-(
kingnothing 19y ago
Look cool. Too bad it doesn't run on Linux or I'd check it out.
pc 19y ago
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 19y ago
  By popular demand, we have now removed the cleartext password email feature. :D
MisterMerkin 19y ago
Well that didn't take long. Wasn't much of a beta was it.
- webwright 19y ago
  It's still in beta! :-) If you didn't think it was much of a beta, you shoulda seen it from THIS end. <grin>
danielha 19y ago
Nice work, guys. Looking forward to seeing you around YC.
sspencer 19y ago
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!

33 points by drm237 19y ago

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 19y ago
errr, what's the link, exactly? I don't see a 'sign up here' link there. -- oh, duh - http://rescuetime.com http://rescuetime.com (big button on the front page to sign up)
- bfioca 19y ago
  http://www.rescuetime.com/signup http://www.rescuetime.com/signup will work

mynameishere 19y ago

I can only think of one real application of this.

webwright 19y ago
Really? What?
- mynameishere 19y ago
  Tracking employees.
  - ivankirigin 19y ago
    Not tracking your own time?
  - webwright 19y ago
    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 19y ago
      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.

webwright 19y ago

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

e1ven 19y ago
The beans were forcibly spilled a few days ago. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=77631 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.
- webwright 19y ago
  Heh-- no need to ever apologize to a startup guy for helping spread the word. No harm done!
- Dauntless 19y ago
  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 19y ago
    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.
nostrademons 19y ago
Congrats! I'm not surprised at all...
SwellJoe 19y ago
Congrats. I liked the looks of your project when you posted it several months ago here. I'll look forward to meeting you guys at one of the YC dinners.

as 19y ago

Is Linux support in the pipeline?

webwright 19y ago
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. :-(

kingnothing 19y ago

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

pc 19y ago

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 19y ago
By popular demand, we have now removed the cleartext password email feature. :D

MisterMerkin 19y ago

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

webwright 19y ago
It's still in beta! :-) If you didn't think it was much of a beta, you shoulda seen it from THIS end. <grin>

danielha 19y ago

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

sspencer 19y ago

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!