I like sleep. I like it a lot. I'm not sure I know anyone who doesn't. If you like sleep, then read on, because I will tell you how you can have awesome sleep every night.

A few years ago I realized that I was waking up every morning feeling achy, sore, and generally unrested. When I complained to my wife, she said she was experiencing the same thing. So, we decided, it must be time for a new mattress!

I'm a science geek, so I wanted to head straight down to buy a mattress made out of that stuff developed by NASA (which turns out to be bullshit, by the way). You know what I'm talking about, the foam that you can jump on without spilling your wine. My wife, however, is a hippie tree-hugger, and she did the research and put the kibosh on that plan. Too many chemicals in that stuff, and there was no way in hell we were going to spend a third of of the rest of our lives sleeping on congealed chemical soup no matter how comfy it might be. In addition, we learned that memory foam doesn't breath, so it can get kind of hot. My wife is one of those women who is usually too hot or too cold, so getting a mattress that can get hot just seemed like a recipe for disaster. No space foam for me.

Then we considered an air mattress, the kind that let each of us decide how firm or soft we wanted our side of the bed to be. That sounded like a great way to ensure we were both comfortable and would help to ensure marital bliss. So the intrepid researcher I married went out to find out whether that met her high standards, and surprise! it did not. In fact, it met neither of our standards. We learned that people naturally sweat a little while sleeping, and that sweat sinks into the mattress. In most mattresses the moisture spreads out and eventually evaporates, but not so in an air mattress. Turns out moisture just pools on that giant plane of impermeable plastic, where it starts to cause mold after a while. Lovely.

Then my wife found the solution. Savvy Rest. All-natural organic latex foam. This is the real deal. It breathes, so it doesn't get hot. It's natural and organic, and it's foam, so it's safe and incredibly comfortable. They sell it in 3-inch layer strips, so we can customize each side of the bed (my wife sleeps on three layers of soft foam, I sleep on two layers of soft and a layer of medium). Dust mites don't live in it, so it stays clean. It lasts forever. And I haven't woken up with a backache in three years. Honestly, this is the best mattress I've ever owned and every time I travel and sleep in a hotel room, no matter how nice the bed is, I miss my Savvy Rest.

 

This week's edition of Stuff I Like is all about Tungle. Stated simply, Tungle solves all my scheduling problems.

There are two problems I have with schedules. First, I'm involved in three companies, each with its own calendar, and I have a personal life. So I have to manage four separate calendars and ensure that each one reflects something scheduled on another so I never double-book myself. Second, I can't afford to waste time going back and forth with potential investors or clients trying to find a time when we're both available.

Tungle solves both these problems by providing me with an online calendar that aggregates all my other calendars into one place, and lets me make that calendar public. Of course I aggregate my calendars in iCal, too, but Tungle lets me check that calendar on any device with Internet access. And Tungle let's you check my calendar, too.

Here's an example: Let's say you're a reporter who wants to interview me about my views on the future of the social web (shameless plug). Instead of telling you that I'm available at 2pm Tuesday and 4pm Wednesday, I can just say, "You can check my availability at http://tungle.me/rfawal and find the time that works best for you." Now you can quickly schedule an available time, directly through Tungle, and I've saved us both time.

Seriously, try it now. Go look at my schedule: http://tungle.me/rfawal. You'll notice that you can't see what's actually on my schedule, just when I'm available or unavailable. That's good for me, because no one has to see that I can't meet at a certain time because I'm doing yoga, so no one feels less important than anything else on my agenda. Of course when I log in I see all the details of every schedule item.

The only downsides to Tungle at the moment are that I must select one calendar as the default, so every meeting scheduled through the site is set to that calendar and if I want to move it to a different calendar I have to do it manually in iCal, and that my profile is very limited to only one email address and one phone number.That's counterintuitive given that Tungle is so effective at organizing the multiple calendars I have.

 Considering the fact that Tungle is completely free, those two issues are tolerable for now. If they want me to start paying, or they want me to stay loyal as I discover competitors, they'll have to resolve those quickly. But for now I'm very happy with Tungle and its ability to solve real problems for me.

 

 

Today I'm starting a new regular Monday post, Stuff I Like. Each week I'll tell you a little bit about a new technology or product I'm using, and why I like it. This week's topic: Fuze Meeting.

Fuze Meeting is an online conferencing service similar to WebEx and GoToMeeting. Unlike those services, however, Fuze Meeting is entirely browser-based so it doesn't require anyone to download software onto their computer unless they plan to share their screen. In most cases, everyone can join the meeting by simply clicking a link.

With Fuze Meeting I can quickly set up a meeting right now or at some time in the future. My invitees receive an email that includes a direct link to the meeting, which I can send through Fuze Meeting's server or my own (to minimize spam designations). I can store my entire contact list in Fuze, making it easy to invite people quickly. One of my favorite features is the "Fetch" capability, which allows me to have the system call attendees when it's time for our meeting to start. That goes a long way to help us start on time, instead of waiting for someone who hasn't noticed the time!

Another great feature of Fuze Meeting is its integration with common IM services like Yahoo!, which makes it easy to interact directly with others during a meeting without interrupting a presentation or demo. I can also import contacts from LinkedIn or a CSV file. Also, Fuze Meeting has great apps for Blackberry, iPhone and iPad so you can participate in a meeting even if you can't get to a computer.

The only downside to Fuze Meeting is the lack of video conferencing capabilities. I'm pretty sure they are aware of users' desire for that functionality, and I'll bet they are working on it. I'll let you know if it gets added anytime soon.

At $23/month for the annual plan ($29/month if you pay monthly), Fuze meeting is more affordable than the alternatives, and in my opinion just as good if not better. Give it a try, and let me know what you think.