Web/Tech

  • Remember Everything with Evernote

    I have been using a software tool you might find useful.  It solves a problem that you probably have, even if you don't think about it often.

    A Cure for Information Overload.

    It In the old days, you could photocopy something and put it in a file.  So finding it was relatively straight-forward. 

    Captureeverything_art_global Today, you are faced with a different type of challenge (and chances are your filing system is so "1990s").  Nowadays, you might be looking for a picture, audio snippet,  or video … a document (or more likely, just a part
    of one) … or a scrap you saved (like a quote, web-link, or blog post).

    Moreover, as you use the computer for more things (and a bigger percentage of the work you do), it gets harder to find a random "something" that you might be looking for.

    Part of the problem is that we are getting more efficient at creating "stuff", so there is more of it.  In addition, that stuff is a lot more varied than it used to be.

    Capture
    Everything to     Your Personal Digital Memory.

    Evernote makes it easy to store, organize, and find virtually anything.  Even better, it is also good at sharing it with others (award-winning good at it).

    Chances are, if you can see it or think of it, Evernote can help you remember it. Type a text note. Clip a web page. Snap a photo. Grab a screen-shot. It will be there when you need it.

    Finding it Fast, Wherever You Are.

    Everything you capture is automatically processed, indexed, and searchable. That means you can find things quickly and easily.

    You can search for items by keywords, titles, and tags. Evernote even makes the printed and handwritten text inside your images searchable, too (for example, the text on a photo of your white-board).

    There is an application program. However, you can also access your
    information through a Web interface (wherever you are, even if you are away from your computers). In addition, there are versions that work on
    various smart phones and Evernote
    provides "Capture" buttons that integrate with Microsoft Outlook and whatever browser you
    might use. What that means is that it's easy to use, and it's there
    when you need to use it.

    Here is a video showing you how it works.

    One Tool That Takes the Place of Many Others.

    I've tried dozens of programs that do similar things. In the old days, they were called "personal information managers".

    Many of these tools are specialized, so to handle it all you might use a to-do list (or "Getting Things Done" organizer), Internet bookmark manager, screen-capture utility, document management system, and free-form database.

    Evernote does all that, and virtually anything else you throw at it … yet, it doesn't cost you anything until you throw enough stuff into it to pass its generous monthly threshold.  For what it is worth, I clipped over 200 items before passing the limit.

    100510 Evernote LogoBottom-Line:  Use Evernote to save your ideas, things you see, and things you like. Then find them all on any computer or device you use. For free.  It's worth a try, you might like it.

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  • I Played With an iPad, and I Liked it

    100412 iPad Bookshelf The iPad is a revolutionary machine. I had a chance to spend time using one this weekend.

    Overall, the experience was impressive and compelling.

    The screen was beautiful. Looking at a website was
    better than expected. For example, reading the New
    York Times     online (using their iPad App) was, in many ways, a
    better experience than with the actual paper. Likewise, the e-book interface was stunning, easy
    to use, and also more compelling than paper.


    An Incredible "Consumption" Device.

    At first glance, the iPad seems like an incredible tool to
    consume media.

    • If you like to sit on your couch and read the paper or
      magazines, the iPad will clearly make that better.  Why?  Because you will have
      a much wider range of reading material available in one place, along
      with access to multimedia, streaming video and internet links.
    • If
      you play Sudoku or crosswords, again, the iPad will clearly
      make that better. You will have access to extra games, more varieties of
      games, and the ability to play against other people.
    • If you want to do research for something you're writing, it's the
      perfect platform to browse through websites, blogs, or to launch a news reader to scan RSS
      feeds      .
    • You can even use it to watch videos and browse through pictures.

    Here is a video review.

    So, will I buy one?  Not yet; and I do have some mixed feelings about this device.

    So What Was "Wrong" With It?

    To be sure, it is fast and powerful enough to do many of the things I do on a laptop.
    However, I don't think that it's a great "creation" device (at least for me). In other words, I don't believe that I would want to use it to do extensive
    writing, spreadsheet editing, or that type of "computer" work.

    Also, its big beautiful screen makes the device "too big" for me to imagine carrying around.

    One of the primary benefits of my iPhone is that I have it with me everywhere.  That means I use it at the grocery store, while I'm waiting for my car at the car-wash, and to look up something during a business meeting or lunch.  That wouldn't happen with the iPad. 

    Instead, I'd want one in my briefcase, another one in the living room, and another in the bedroom.

    Again, the iPad seems designed to be a "consumption" device for media.  As the price point comes down, I believe that consumers will buy several of them (much the way they have
    TVs in different rooms).

    100412 iPad iBroke Cartoon

    Even though it so impressive and compelling, I will probably wait for its next generation before buying. 

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  • I Played With an iPad, and I Liked it

    100412 iPad Bookshelf The iPad is a revolutionary machine. I had a chance to spend time using one this weekend.

    Overall, the experience was impressive and compelling.

    The screen was beautiful. Looking at a website was
    better than expected. For example, reading the New
    York Times     online (using their iPad App) was, in many ways, a
    better experience than with the actual paper. Likewise, the e-book interface was stunning, easy
    to use, and also more compelling than paper.


    An Incredible "Consumption" Device.

    At first glance, the iPad seems like an incredible tool to
    consume media.

    • If you like to sit on your couch and read the paper or
      magazines, the iPad will clearly make that better.  Why?  Because you will have
      a much wider range of reading material available in one place, along
      with access to multimedia, streaming video and internet links.
    • If
      you play Sudoku or crosswords, again, the iPad will clearly
      make that better. You will have access to extra games, more varieties of
      games, and the ability to play against other people.
    • If you want to do research for something you're writing, it's the
      perfect platform to browse through websites, blogs, or to launch a news reader to scan RSS
      feeds      .
    • You can even use it to watch videos and browse through pictures.

    Here is a video review.

    So, will I buy one?  Not yet; and I do have some mixed feelings about this device.

    So What Was "Wrong" With It?

    To be sure, it is fast and powerful enough to do many of the things I do on a laptop.
    However, I don't think that it's a great "creation" device (at least for me). In other words, I don't believe that I would want to use it to do extensive
    writing, spreadsheet editing, or that type of "computer" work.

    Also, its big beautiful screen makes the device "too big" for me to imagine carrying around.

    One of the primary benefits of my iPhone is that I have it with me everywhere.  That means I use it at the grocery store, while I'm waiting for my car at the car-wash, and to look up something during a business meeting or lunch.  That wouldn't happen with the iPad. 

    Instead, I'd want one in my briefcase, another one in the living room, and another in the bedroom.

    Again, the iPad seems designed to be a "consumption" device for media.  As the price point comes down, I believe that consumers will buy several of them (much the way they have
    TVs in different rooms).

    100412 iPad iBroke Cartoon

    Even though it so impressive and compelling, I will probably wait for its next generation before buying. 

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  • Jobs Delivers the iPad to the Multitudes

    Hopefully you had a nice Easter weekend, or Passover weekend, or Final Four weekend … or if you were lucky, an iPad weekend.

    100405 Jobs Delivers the iPad to the multitudes

    As a staunch early-adopter, it surprises me to report that I do not (yet) have an iPad.  Miracles do happen.

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  • Jobs Delivers the iPad to the Multitudes

    Hopefully you had a nice Easter weekend, or Passover weekend, or Final Four weekend … or if you were lucky, an iPad weekend.

    100405 Jobs Delivers the iPad to the multitudes

    As a staunch early-adopter, it surprises me to report that I do not (yet) have an iPad.  Miracles do happen.

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  • Will “Things” Use the Internet Better than People Do?

    The terms "Internet
    of Things    " and "System of Systems" are concepts that help to explain a great deal about what
    is happening, now, where the digital world meets the physical and
    intellectual.

    In the video below, from IBM, you get a glimpse of it …

    Imagine if your alarm clock talked to your calendar and knows you
    need to catch the
    ferry in 1-1/2 hours to get to work, so it wakes you up. But, a half hour before it wakes you, it turned on the heater in your bathroom; and other sensors started your morning coffee and de-iced
    the windshield in your car.

    Here are some excerpts from the film:

    “Over the past century, but accelerating over the past
    couple of decades, we have seen the emergence of a kind of global data
    field. The planet itself – natural systems, human systems, and physical
    objects – have always generated an enormous amount of data, but we
    didn’t used to be able to hear it, to see it, or to capture it. Now we can
    because all of this stuff is now instrumented. And it’s all
    interconnected, so now we can actually have access to it. So, in
    effect, the planet has grown a central nervous system.

    Look at that complex set of relationships among all of these complex
    systems    . If we can actually begin to see the patterns in the data, then
    we have a much better chance of getting our arms around this. That’s
    where societies become more efficient, that’s where more innovation is
    sparked.

    When we talk about a smarter planet, you can say that it has two
    dimensions. One is to be more efficient, less destructive, and to
    connect different aspects of life which do affect each other in more
    conscious, deliberate and intelligent ways. But the other is also
    to generate fundamentally new insights, new activity, and new forms of
    social relations. So you could look at the planet as an information,
    creation and transmission system    , and the universe was hearing its
    information but we weren’t. But increasingly now we can, early days,
    baby steps days, but we can actually begin to hear the planet talking to
    us.”

    This framework applies to many other things (for example, trading and markets).  Expect to hear more about this type of insight and automation.

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  • Will “Things” Use the Internet Better than People Do?

    The terms "Internet
    of Things    " and "System of Systems" are concepts that help to explain a great deal about what
    is happening, now, where the digital world meets the physical and
    intellectual.

    In the video below, from IBM, you get a glimpse of it …

    Imagine if your alarm clock talked to your calendar and knows you
    need to catch the
    ferry in 1-1/2 hours to get to work, so it wakes you up. But, a half hour before it wakes you, it turned on the heater in your bathroom; and other sensors started your morning coffee and de-iced
    the windshield in your car.

    Here are some excerpts from the film:

    “Over the past century, but accelerating over the past
    couple of decades, we have seen the emergence of a kind of global data
    field. The planet itself – natural systems, human systems, and physical
    objects – have always generated an enormous amount of data, but we
    didn’t used to be able to hear it, to see it, or to capture it. Now we can
    because all of this stuff is now instrumented. And it’s all
    interconnected, so now we can actually have access to it. So, in
    effect, the planet has grown a central nervous system.

    Look at that complex set of relationships among all of these complex
    systems    . If we can actually begin to see the patterns in the data, then
    we have a much better chance of getting our arms around this. That’s
    where societies become more efficient, that’s where more innovation is
    sparked.

    When we talk about a smarter planet, you can say that it has two
    dimensions. One is to be more efficient, less destructive, and to
    connect different aspects of life which do affect each other in more
    conscious, deliberate and intelligent ways. But the other is also
    to generate fundamentally new insights, new activity, and new forms of
    social relations. So you could look at the planet as an information,
    creation and transmission system    , and the universe was hearing its
    information but we weren’t. But increasingly now we can, early days,
    baby steps days, but we can actually begin to hear the planet talking to
    us.”

    This framework applies to many other things (for example, trading and markets).  Expect to hear more about this type of insight and automation.

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  • Finding Wisdom in Mountains of Data

    In this video, Gary Flake demos Pivot, a new way to browse and arrange massive amounts of images and data online. Built on breakthrough Seadragon technology, it enables spectacular zooms in and out of web databases, and the discovery of patterns and links invisible in standard web browsing.

    The big idea that this video demonstrates so well is that the whole of the data in which we consume is greater that the sum of the parts. And, instead of inducing information overload, new tools enable us to use information so that patterns pop and we can see trends that would otherwise be invisible.

    If we can do that, then, instead of being trapped in data, we might
    actually extract information. And, instead of dealing just with
    information, we can tease out knowledge. And if we get the knowledge,
    then maybe even there's wisdom to be found.

    Click here to view the transcript.

    This tool, and others like it, will have massive impact on businesses
    and the scale of projects they undertake.

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    Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

  • Finding Wisdom in Mountains of Data

    In this video, Gary Flake demos Pivot, a new way to browse and arrange massive amounts of images and data online. Built on breakthrough Seadragon technology, it enables spectacular zooms in and out of web databases, and the discovery of patterns and links invisible in standard web browsing.

    The big idea that this video demonstrates so well is that the whole of the data in which we consume is greater that the sum of the parts. And, instead of inducing information overload, new tools enable us to use information so that patterns pop and we can see trends that would otherwise be invisible.

    If we can do that, then, instead of being trapped in data, we might
    actually extract information. And, instead of dealing just with
    information, we can tease out knowledge. And if we get the knowledge,
    then maybe even there's wisdom to be found.

    Click here to view the transcript.

    This tool, and others like it, will have massive impact on businesses
    and the scale of projects they undertake.

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    Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

  • Why Cloud Computing Irks Larry Ellison, But Benefits You.

    The network is becoming the computer.

    Here is a short video that puts "Cloud Computing" in perspective.  In it, Ellison jokes that someone decided to change the word "Internet" to
    "Cloud" because it was a lot easier than innovation.


    Microsoft is spending a lot of time and money to make sure it does better gaining an early lead and monetizing this type of "Internet" service.  Their cloud computing platform is called Azure.

    Amazon also has a cloud offering worth a look. 

    Why Should You Care?

    Basically, you can “rent” a current version Windows Server for as little as 12 cents per hour, and only pay for the hours you need it each month. That’s $12 bucks to use 100 servers for an hour. You also pay for data transfer and storage, but that is negligible. The nice thing is that you can fire up an army of servers to run a batch process … then stop paying when they complete their work.

    You can get access even cheaper under a program where you bid on unused capacity within the cloud at any given time (Spot pricing). 

    I still have reservations about using cloud computing for many daily business applications. However, for “crunch on demand” processes … this model makes much more sense that investing in piles of hardware that all too soon becomes obsolete.

    Most of the data from this post comes from Tim McDonald, the president of Infassure, a technology consulting and out-sourcing company in the Dallas area.  They've been a big help to us on this, and many other matters.