RescueTime Out Of Private Beta, Tracking How (Un)Productive You Are
techcrunch.com
techcrunch.com
Update: having used it for the past few hours, the product itself is very well done. Nice work.
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.
-- oh, duh - http://rescuetime.com (big button on the front page to sign up)
Sorry guys, I didn't mean to preempt your announcement submitting your URL, I just thought it was a service that YCers might appreciate.
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.
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.