Happy March, co-remote workers of the Triangle!

Despite what the groundhog predicted last month, Spring seems to have come early to the Triangle this year as we've already seen multiple 80 degree-plus days leading into March. Hopefully you're making the most of it and flocking back to some of your favorite outdoor venues to remote work. We'll certainly start hosting events at some of our favorite outdoor spots soon, so stay tuned on our Meetup page.

Being that many of us will be heading outside and working on the road more soon, I thought this month I'd share some of the apps I've found most useful – both at home and when I venture out – as a remote worker. And the best part about these is they're all free!

WiFi Map

When you want to go out to work, this is great for making sure you’ll have WiFi. Not only does it show you a crowdsourced map of WiFi connections near you, but also their passwords and internet speed. Once you’re logged on somewhere, you can also use the app’s ‘speed test’ feature to see how your connection is at the moment. There are many similar WiFi-finder apps in existence, but when relying on crowdsourcing, scale is key and the large number of users WiFi Map boasts makes it one of the more useful ones I've come across.

Coworker

If you like co-working spaces, this is a very useful app – particularly when you’re in a new city or unexpectedly need to book a meeting space or conference room. Essentially a Yelp for co-working spaces, it displays a map of venues near you with a description, prices, amenities, reviews and booking information. In most relatively large cities, you can find at least several venues – many that offer daily rates for individual desks or conference rooms.

Stand Up!

Most of us remote workers routinely do something the human body isn’t built for: sit for long periods of time. With all the awful and compounding health effects associated with the habit, it’s been said that “sitting is the new smoking.” So, true to its name, this simple app reminds you to stand up regularly. It goes a few steps further than most standard smart watch standing apps in that it lets you easily set the frequency of these reminders, the hours during which they pop up, how long you want to get up each time, and it can even use your location so you only receive reminders while you’re at home. The beauty of this app is that it complements those below by helping you remember to get up and use other healthy apps like…

Insight Timer

One of the biggest mental health benefits to working remotely is that you can step back every once in a while to do your own thing without judgement. Getting up to meditate in the middle of the day, for instance, would definitely feel weird in an office environment. But there’s nothing stopping you from doing it at home, and this app is the best I've found to facilitate that. It lets you search over 500,000 crowdsourced meditations by time, rating, target (ie, anxiety, anger, affirmations, religious, etc), and also lets you save and follow your favorite instructors. You can choose from guided meditations, simple ambient noises like rain or forest sounds, music or more active activities like yoga. It’s great for those new to mediation, and with all the health benefits of the practice, it’s definitely worth trying. I often use this when Stand Up! reminds me to get up, then pop in a quick 10-minute meditation.

Daily Workouts – Home Trainer

Another great thing to do with those short 'stand up' breaks is exercise. There are of course many fitness apps out there, but the appeal of this one for remote workers is that it focuses on short workouts (you choose between 5, 8 and 10-minute sessions) that require minimal or no equipment – ideal for those just stepping away from their desk for a short break.

Have any other apps you can't live without as a remote worker? Join our Slack community and share them in the 'recommendations' channel. We'd all appreciate the suggestions!

What we're up to

Two weeks from today, we're setting off for our second co-working retreat, which will be in Surf City on Topsail Island – about a two-and-a-half-hour drive from the Triangle. And we've still got a few spots left!

Meet and learn from fellow remote workers, enjoy a beautiful environment, get great accommodations for much cheaper than it'd cost to go alone, and best of all, you don't need to use any vacation days. From March 15-19, we'll stay in a big beach-side vacation home, where we can watch sunrises over the ocean from our balcony, literally just steps from the beach. We'll get work done as needed during the weekdays either at the house or a nearby café, then let loose and enjoy the island together the rest of the time. Activities on the island include a St. Patrick's Day pub crawl, wineries and breweries, mini-golf, escape room, seafood restaurants, bike rentals, tiki boat tours, and of course, lovely scenery to stroll through.

If you're interested in joining, click here to get all the info, costs, pictures of the house and sign up.

Our other upcoming events

Reminder that these are only the events already confirmed, and they are subject to change. We often post new events less than a week ahead of time, so be sure to follow us on Meetup to stay up on them as they're posted or adjusted.

• Wednesday, March 1 (7pm-9pm) - Digital Nomad Happy Hour at Bond Brothers Beer Company in Cary (Event listing)
• Wednesday, March 8 (2pm-6pm) - Co-working and after-work drinks at Namu in Durham (Event listing to come)
• Wednesday, March 15 to Sunday, March 19 - Topsail Island Co-working Retreat (Event listing)
• Thursday, March 23 (9am-5pm) - Co-working at Frontier RTP + Free beer and wine (Event listing to come)

Other events of interest

Not affiliated with us in any way, but you might be interested in:

• Thursday, March 2 (Noon-1pm) - On the Menu: Innovating Leadership for the Evolving Workforce - Free seminar with free lunch at Frontier RTP's co-working space (Event listing)
• Wednesday, March 15 (8am-5pm) - Free co-working day at Blush Cowork in Cary (Event listing)

Venue spotlight: Duke University

Perhaps an unconventional entry for our spotlight, Duke's West Campus is nevertheless a gorgeous place to spend an entire spring day remote working. There are several nice cafés sprinkled around campus, like Beyu, Saladelia and Twinnies, as well as nearly limitless outdoor seating options. Grab lunch at the Brodhead Center, where there are some 20 different local dining options, ranging from barbeque and pizza, to Thai and farm fresh Southern cuisine. In the afternoon, stroll over to Sarah Duke Gardens and check out the 55 acres overflowing with beautiful plants, flowers and plenty of serene spots to plop down with your laptop. The best part about remote working at Duke is that the entire campus is blanketed with free WiFi that's open to visitors. If you don't want to pay for parking, you can park at the strip mall on Erwin Road that includes Enzo's Pizza, Chipotle and Firehouse Subs, then take a 10-minute stroll to the center of campus.

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March remote work reads

• ​The companies backtracking on flexible work - BBC
• ​What can you do when your company reverses on remote work? - Quartz
• ​Is The End Of Remote Work Jobs Approaching? - Forbes
• ​Anatomy of an Online Job Scam - Wall Street Journal
• ​How remote work “bleisure” is increasing Winter travel prices - Local SYR
• ​Lonely layoffs in the work-from-anywhere world - Axios
• ​One Company’s Trick to Getting 95,000 Hours Back? Canceling Meetings - Wall Street Journal
• ​America’s offices are now half-full. They may not get much fuller - Washington Post
• ​Big city restaurants and bars are missing office workers' spending on Mondays and Fridays - CNBC
• ​Tax Breaks Threaten Remote Work If Cities Start Enforcing Them - Bloomberg
• ​Remote Work Helped Push Disability Employment Up to a Record High - Bloomberg

Thanks for making it to the end. If you enjoyed this newsletter, send this link to a friend so they can sign up too. And if you have any other questions or suggestions, write to us at durhamremote1@gmail.com. Happy working!

-Eric

Note: We have no relationship – financial or otherwise – with any of the establishments (or apps) mentioned in this newsletter. All recommendations are our genuine, unpaid opinions!