[enobrev]

For collecting application usage data, I used to use an application called Timesnapper ( http://www.timesnapper.com/ ), which takes a screenshot every x seconds and keeps track of the application title / etc, with the added benefit of allowing you to automatically categorize usage "Work", "Play", etc.

Found it really useful to be able to literally play back my day in 10 second intervals. Unfortunately it's windows-only. One of the very few apps I truly miss since moving to Linux almost 2 years ago.

-- I have absolutely no affiliation with TimeSnapper besides being a happily paying customer a couple years ago.

[gwern]

You could use arbtt (http://www.joachim-breitner.de/projects#arbtt) and then just toss your favorite screenshot utility like ImageMagick into crontab set to fire every 10 seconds.

[enobrev]

Definitely interesting, and I'll probably try it at some point should I find both the time and the inclination to do so. Admittedly, I paid for that application because I didn't want to implement it myself. But I'm glad there are some building blocks in place that would make rolling my own a relatively easy task. Thanks for the suggestion!

[perssontm]

I think there is some package for ubuntu that tracked everything written on the keyboard, like a personal keylogger. It was mentioned on HN during december, cant find it now though.

[josyw]

Selfspy? (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4590987)