Spirit Deletes Time-Sensitive Tweets with a Simple Hashtag

Some tweets just aren't meant to last forever. If you're posting something that won't be relevant after a certain period of time, Spirit can delete it from your account just by adding a hashtag. Once you connect Spirit to your Twitter account, any tweet with a hashtag indicating an amount of time (think #30m, #10h, #5d) will be deleted automatically when it expires. This is great if you're running giveaways or posting time-sensitive information to your company's account, but it can be useful for personal accounts too. For example, maybe you don't want your thoughts on Miley Cyrus to be visible to the public five years later. Once you install Spirit, you never have to think about it again until you use it, so it's definitely worth checking out.

Apply the 80/20 Rule to Creating and Nurturing Relationships

You've probably heard of the Pareto Principle: 80% of consequences stem from 20% of causes. When it comes to networking and meeting people though, the same ratio can help you nurture existing relationships, and create new ones. John Corcoran at Dumb Little Man thinks a lot of us don't have our priorities straight when it comes to networking: If you were to measure the amount of time most people spend on networking activities aimed at meeting new people vs. the amount of time they spend following up with the people they already know, you’d be shocked at how imbalanced it is. People spend too much time trying to meet new people and too little time following up with and nurturing relationships with people they already know. In fact, your efforts should be the other way around: use the 80/20 rule (aka the Pareto Principle) to further and develop relationships with your existing network. He explains that if you spend most of your networking time connecting and catching up with people you've already met, they'll be more likely to introduce you to others. By comparison, spending a ton of time at networking events with strangers who you rarely speak to again won't get you as far.

Typeform Creates Attractive Online Surveys for Free

If you need to poll a big group of people, Typeform offers an intuitive interface and a ton of options, all for free. The de facto free choice for creating web forms and surveys has been Google Docs, but Typeform has a much nicer interface, and a few more options. The survey creator lets you drag and drop 20 different question types, each of which has a ton of options like requiring responses or adding multimedia. Once you're done, just share the link to your survey, and watch the results roll in on an easy-to-read analysis page. Typeform is in open beta, and only lets you create three forms with 20 questions and 5,000 responses at first. Sharing a few words about it on a social network though will remove the restrictions.

Luxuries are a Weakness, So Indulge Yourself Responsibly

Whether it's expensive computers, nice cars, or meals at five star restaurants, everyone has a weakness for something expensive. While it's okay to indulge ourselves every now and then, it's important to treat these splurges as a personal weaknesses, and work to minimize their prevalence. Mr. Money Moustache explains how he sees his own luxury items: If I were to get used to all of this, to feel like it were my inalienable right to have it, and become unhappy if I could not have it, I would be pretty much screwed. Because at that point, I would have designed a lifestyle so narrow and delicate, that it could easily be toppled by something as trivial as an economic collapse. And yet people do this all the time. Most people, even. When you borrow money to buy a consumable product, you are instantly teetering atop the ultimate house of cards. You are getting yourself used to the rare luxury of your new toy, even while you are speeding up the treadmill you have to run upon even to get close enough to use it. This is why I laugh and cry with frustration at the absolute insanity of borrowing money for a car, and the fact that ninety percent of Americans do it. The real trick, according to Mr. Money Moustache, is to enjoy your luxuries from a position of strength, rather than dependence. For example, I'll occasionally splurge on a bottle of Chimay to celebrate something, but I try not to let that diminish my enjoyment of more reasonably priced beers. This is all about how you perceive the things you spend money on, but it's great advice to remember whenever you do want to splurge.

Xbox Music Syncs Libraries Across Platforms, Streams Free on the Web

Android/iOS/Windows/Web: Today, Microsoft announced brand new Android and iOS apps for its Xbox Music service available to subscription customers. With the simultaneous addition of the top two mobile platforms, Xbox Music joins the big dogs of music streaming. The app for both mobile platforms doesn't have the ability to download music for offline use, which creates a huge usability gap when compared with Play Music, Spotify, or iTunes. However, to make up for it, Microsoft has opened up the web player to non-subscribers which includes free, ad-supported access to the same library that Windows 8 users have via the built-in app. With this launch, users on virtually every major platform is supported. Xbox Music | iTunes App Store via Microsoft Xbox Music | Google Play Store

This Tiny, DIY Zen Garden Keeps You Calm at Your Desk

For many of us, the only things we get to see each day are cubicle walls and office furniture. Sometimes all you need to take the edge off is something nice to look at that calms your nerves and helps you relax. This tiny zen garden can do the trick and it's super easy to make. You can check out the step-by-step over at Free People (linked below), but it's fairly simple. You'll need a small shallow bowl, some fine sand or gravel, a few interesting-looking pebbles, and any other trinkets that catch your eye. Just arrange them all in the shallow bowl the way you like, and keep it on your desk. She even constructed a tiny sand rake from coffee stirrers to go along with the garden. A little greenery or something soothing to look at can do wonders for your stress level, and this project is easy enough that anyone can do it. Plus, you don't have to take care of it or water it—just leave it alone and enjoy it. If you do want some greenery though, we've shown you how to make a few terrariums before. They're also low maintenance, and can add some green to an otherwise dull space.

Why You Should Hang Up Immediately When You Get a Robocall

In the past, you could press pound to escape Robocall hell, but that's not so much the case anymore. These days robocalls are like spam: If you press anything, even the number they say you should press to be removed from the list, you'll get more calls. The solution? Hang up immediately. If you're like me, you probably just don't answer the phone at all unless you recognize the number (if it's important, they'll leave a message, right?) but if you're hoping for a call back from a potential employer or a company you've recently called, you may be more likely to pick up the phone anyway. Well, The Consumerist reports that even robocalls that pretend to give you an opt-out ("Press 1 to speak to a customer service rep, press 2 to be removed from our list") may sound nice, but it's not a good idea: Pressing “2″ may work, but more than likely it does nothing more than end the call; and you’ll probably continue receiving calls. In some cases, it may actually put you on additional scam-bait lists, because the caller at least knows that it reached an active line owned by someone willing to pick up when an unfamiliar number calls. Some exasperated readers have told us they pressed “1″ because they knew they could at least then yell at a real person. Problem is, the simple act of pressing that “1″ puts you on a so-called “hot” list of consumers. This list will be sold and resold and resold and you will now continue to get calls from additional scammers. At the end of the day, your best bet is to hang up immediately and file a complaint with the FTC at DoNotCall.gov. It's also worth noting that even if you're on the Do Not Call list, companies that robocall you or try to scam you over the phone aren't likely to obey the law or the Do Not Call list, so those reports are necessary to help track them down and prosecute them. Hit the link below to read more.