I'd begin using an offline browser and retrieve content from my regular haunts (the 15 sites I read every day). I'd write e-mail offline and connect only to send and receive. With conservation I bet I could consolidate 90% of my regular activity into 15 minutes connect time.

OK, ok, a real answer. I have to divide this into my two worlds - work and home.

At work I would use the web only for looking up task-related information, so Google would be my primary stomping ground. (WebWord would be off-limits. Reading WebWord expands my knowledge, but doesn't help me accomplish tasks immediately at hand.)

At home I'd visit my local daily newspaper site and a handful of blogs that give me tech news. Again, I would conserve time by launching links into new windows to be read later offline.

Posted by: Jack on August 1, 2002 12:35 AM

 

Communicate:
Check and reply to emails.

Learn:
Catch up on daily news events - Headlines, IT

Time permitting:
For example, last 3 mins ... check on some sports news.

Last 20 secs ... webword.com of course :)

Posted by: daniel on August 1, 2002 02:42 AM

 

You can look to see what people do when they're on vacation and go to an Internet Cafe...the clock's ticking, so people tend to limit it to e-mail. That's probably the single most important application. For me, looking up random stuff on Google would come in second.

Posted by: Kirk on August 1, 2002 09:31 AM

 

I would agree with Kirk. E-mail. Keeping up with friends, family, and the various online communities (hobby- and professional-related) from which I derive value. If there's any time left, I would start hitting websites I now visit on a daily basis, beginning with news-related sites.

So my priorities are 1. Personal, 2. Professional, and 3. The Rest of the World. :)

John

Posted by: John on August 1, 2002 01:20 PM

 

I would start with e-mail. I don't get much but it takes me forever to respond, so I'd probably just download it and move on to surfing. I'd visit the blogs of my friends to see what's up with them (about 5 mins), then I'd pop by my weekly visited sites (dealmac one day, macsurfer the other, etc.) and end by visiting my "gauntlet of usability" - as much as I could get in of the five usability related blogs I visit each day. This probably means I work too much or that I have no life. (Is there a difference?)

Posted by: Lydia on August 1, 2002 02:06 PM

 

Read my news sites and check out the surf site. Everything else is just filler... sorry JR, but you only gave me 15 mintues:)

Posted by: JB on August 1, 2002 02:11 PM

 

I would get together with 6 friends, pool our time and we could all sit round a screen every night for 105 minutes and have a communal surf. Each night someone would take control of the mouse and guide the session.I would also forget e-mail and start writing letters again.

My goodness, this is starting to sound good !

Posted by: Mac on August 1, 2002 02:50 PM

 

- Send/receive email
- Check Web stats & server status for my sites
- Update weblog
- Get my daily dose of Photoshop-manipulated animals/celebrities from B3TA
- Visit one of the following each day: WebWord, Metafilter, Jeffrey Wells, Windows Update (can't make things too easy for the script kiddies)

Posted by: Matt Round on August 1, 2002 04:11 PM

 

1. I'd use IM as an e-mail app, it has minimal spam and the chance to catch family live. After responding to cold IM messages, I'd start multi-tasking -

2. initiate chats with the live IMs I'm interested in.

3. load both Google News and Daypop Top 40.

4. Google News loads quicker, so I'd scan the front page opening anything interesting in another browser window.

5. Daypop is probably still loading, so I'd scan and close an article or two, perhaps send a couple of IM messages.

6. Daypop has finished loading by now, so I quickly scan the page, opening anything interesting in a new browser window.

7. The hunt is finished and I now I split the time left, probably about 10 minutes, between the 12 or so pages open in my taskbar. That is about 20 seconds each for scanning and a couple of minutes each for the couple of articles that stand out from the pack.

8. In the dying seconds I'd say goodbye to whoever is on the other end of the IM client, perhaps sending them the links to the articles they would find interesting.

I'd update my weblog via SMS.

Posted by: Lyle on August 1, 2002 07:12 PM