Web operating systems unfortunately haven’t caught on yet, but their time is coming, just you wait and see. With connection speeds and performance going up and the complexities many face with organizing their data across multiple workstations and mobile devices, the need for an easy to use and centralized OS is becoming more and more apparent. Desktoptwo is one of a few high quality web operating systems which provide some pretty intense features for the round sum of $0 (my favorite price). Along with 1GB of storage space which you can publicly share with others (file sharing, helloooo), you also have an integrated mail client and address book, web-based IM, office and collaborative apps and a public URL for which to host your personal Desktoptwo blog.

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Working in web development I’m constantly finding myself taking screenshots, which I am then manipulating manually, cutting and pasting here and there and back again, in an attempt to get the perfect shot. I knew of screenshot tools on the PC, maybe even used one or two here and there, but, for some reason they just never stuck. Now that I’m fully using OS X for everything I do, I’ve noticed the need for taking screenshots rapidly, with as little downtime as possible, and I think I’ve finally found the perfect piece of software for me. InstantShot! is a freeware piece of software (free as in beer, or bier) which creates a menu icon under OS X, assigning an easy to use UI for OS X’s screenshot functionality, allowing you to capture whole screen, partial screen and timed captures. All this for the low-price of nothing, but donations are highly encouraged.

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The future of office interaction is coming my friends and I for one am welcoming my whiteboard masters with open arms. The brainy folks at MIT have developed an amazing system (Assist Sketch Understanding System) which recognizes drawings on a smart board allowing users to create dynamic sketches with varying degrees of interactivity and intelligence. One of the examples shown involves the presenter sketching a small car on an inclined plane. After sketching this on the whiteboard, he presses the run button and the drawing is instantly animated and even reacts accordingly to the presenter NOT having drawn axles for the wheels! I can see this being used in many industries, especially by game designers and animators in order to mock up level design or character prototypes! I have no information on whether this technology will be available anytime soon or ever at all, but we can all hope to have one day have one of these boards in our meeting rooms.

Watch the MIT presentation after the jump..

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Perfect for offices that have a problems with wallspace, these giant monster sticky notes are almost as large as one’s head, meaning, you’ll always be able to cover up your coworkers notes, getting you one-step closer to that promotion you’ve been dreaming of. Called the Genius Pad, these giant sticky note pads measure 30cm x 30cm and come in Classic Yellow (just like the ‘real’ sticky notes). Unfortunately the 100 and 150 sheets package are sold out, but, there are plenty of 300 sheet packs left!

Read more: Arash and Kelly’s Giant Sticky Notes

I can’t count how many times I’ve been in the office and needed to keep whiteboard sketches from a meeting, only to have them erased by someone who didn’t pay attention to my “DO NOT FRICKIN’ ERASE” note. Those days are over, thanks to the genius web application scanR. With scanR, you simply take photos of business cards, whiteboards or documents using your mobile phone (have to have 1 mega-pixel+ camera though) or digital camera, then email or MMS them to scanR. In return you’ll recieve an activation code in order to create your account and set where you’d like to receive your scans. You then get the business card, whiteboard or document you scanned in your email (or you can set someone else’s email, say, a business partner) in PDF format, ready to print out and save.

Read more: Scanr - Scan, copy and fax from your digital camera or cellphone

Typetester is an online application used by web-designers to compare different fonts on-screen during the planning stages of a project. Extremely useful for those who don’t like to implement, then change, Typetester is a an extremely slick example of fine CSS and xHTML implementation and includes examples of almost every font bundled into the most popular operating systems for comparison.

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Business travelers and consultants have been fans of portable apps for ages, rightfully so. Portable applications are computer programs that are small enough to fit on portable devices (USB thumb drives for example) and able to be launched from almost any (Windows in this case) computer without leaving your personal data behind. Carry your email, web broswer, calender and address book in the palm of your hand and never worry about having to use someone else’s computer to work with your data. Portableapps.com offers many portable versions of today’s hottest software, from Firefox portable to GIMP portable, allowing you to slim down your computing life and never worry about your private data being left behind anywhere (just don’t forget your USB stick in that internet cafe).

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Dare I say that Gmail is close to being the perfect webmail service? Sure there are ads specifically targeting the contents of my email that freaks me out a little sometimes, but I can look past that in exchange for the great services that Gmail (and Google) provide me. I and many others have begun transferring all of our email to Gmail, so the more I use it, the more I begin looking for shortcuts and hotkeys, which I was sure existed. Thanks to our pals over at LifeHack, we’ve found them, and in a handy printable form to boot! In order to use these shortcuts, you must have keyboard shortcuts set to “On” in the Gmail settings and then get used to the new shortcuts (it’s funny to forget you had them enabled and then accidently open or send an email by accidentally hitting a key on your board).

Read more: Printable list of Gmail shortcuts (Via LifeHack)

Calcualating color combinations is the bane of my existence when I’m doing web development work. Although there are millions of various tools and color theory exercises, none that I’ve found are as useful as what I’ve found with the color tester tools at ColorCombos.com. Built to help web developers quickly choose and test their color combinations, the color tester allows users to easily see how different color combinations and text will interact on screen. Users are then able to save palette images (to easily work off of in Photoshop or Fireworks), submit their combinations to be included in the color gallery, share combos with other users and much more.

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The lifehack community has posted a 16-step beginners guide to project management. A great summary for beginners, even going so far as to stress the importance on team commitment, happiness and enthusiasm level, a very important lesson for those beginning a career in project management/production. Click through to read the complete list.

16 Steps to a Finished Project

1. Determine the objective and specific desired outcome. Write it down.

2. Identify and organize the people who might be interested or are required in order to bring the project to completion. Ask them to participate, and comment on their level of enthusiasm or belief that the project can or will be successful.

3. Identify a project leader and coordinator, this should be accepted by all involved in the project. No consensus, keep trying.

4. Begin “brainstorming” and create scenarios on how to achieve the desired outcome (this may have be broken down into sub-tasks). Make a date when all this creative thinking will be finished and a written draft can be printed and shared.

5. Identify factors that influence or limit the project that are beyond your control (global economic forces, natural disasters, competition, etc.) and factors that are in your control (capital invested, personnel, prices, etc.). Identify the risks or warning flags that might surface. Write this down.

[Step by step beginners guide to project management]