Scarlet Umbrella|Adventures in Mobile Technology

If you are like me, you are getting a little sick of various Web 2.0 companies with names that have no relation to their actual product, sites that all look the same, and all the copycat services, so here is some of the best of Anti-Web 2.0:

• Isolatr: helping you find where other people aren’t
• Supr.c.ilio.us: a snarky look at Web 2.0 companies
• Web Two Point Oh!:Help in creating your own Web 2.0 company
• Building your very own Web 2.0 layout:Once you’ve got the idea for your company, you need to design your site!

Web 2.0, humour, web, design

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So far the Tablet PC experiment is working out fairly well. I’ve learned a couple of important things so far. I have a hybrid tablet so I can detach my keyboard and work entirely in slate mode. I decided to use only slate mode until I was comfortable with manouvering around my tablet. I really recommend this if you have this option with your tablet. I think if I had my keyboard with me, I would have been tempted to use my tablet as a laptop rather than as a tablet.

I’ve found that tablet mode is really good for quick jots and having a computer in places where I wouldn’t normally take my computer. I take my computer to weekly group meetings and jot down any todos or important points that come up. After my fellow lab mates got used to the idea of the tablet, it has been really unintrusive. Microsoft OneNote has become my inbox. I’ve divided it into two sections, Personal and Lab. The advantage of using OneNote is that I’m one of those people who is pathologically dependent on sticky notes. My tablet does come with sticky notes but I’ve found that I can use a note page in OneNote as a scratch page and scribble on it in multiple color pens and it has the same effect. I also use OneNote if I’m brainstorming or trying to plan an experiment. I’m a visual thinker so it’s easy for me to doodle a diagram that will help me formulate my actions.

Another program I really recommend is the Tablet Enhancements for Outlook plugin. TEO allows you to ink in contacts, tasks, and journal notes and generally extends the functionality of the tablet to Outlook. Since I use Outlook to manage my tasks, it’s easy to add a task on the fly.

Tablet PC, software

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If you notice the sidebar, I’ve added several links to Tablet PC sites I have been reading on the side. I’ve been somewhat envious of the Tablet PC crowd for some time now. Of course that’s no secret considering how much I’ve begged Apple to come out with a tablet. I just don’t think that’s part of Steve Jobs’s plan right now, but I still have hopes.

I’ve been hearing enough about Tablet PCs to decide to get one to try out. I managed to score a HP Compaq TC 1000 off of EBay. It’s not new, but it does have several features that I like. The first is that it’s small. It has a 10″ screen and weighs about three pounds. I can fit it in my purse and carry it around with me. It’s a convertible but the keyboard can also be removed so that it becomes a true slate.

I’ve been reading about Eric Mack’s and Tracy Hooten’s
eight-week paperless challenge. In it, they try using their Tablet PCs as replacements for using paper and books in their work. I’ve decided to start my own eight-week challenge to explore the benefits and drawbacks of a Tablet PC. I’m going to be blogging the experience but I thought that I would first do an introductory post on my version of the challenge.

The first step I made was to determine how paperless I could go. I’m a graduate student in Chemistry. I’m far enough along in my academic career that I don’t have any classes and my work is basically a job. Fortunately, I don’t have to go through the difficulty of scanning in my text books. Most of my research papers are available online and I can scan in the older ones without any problems. Due to patent laws and the nature of the scientific process, I do have to maintain a paper lab notebook. So I won’t be able to be completely paperless (and I doubt that putting a Tablet on a lab bench is a good idea).

My other job (the one I don’t get paid for yet) is writing. I’ve decided to keep my story notes that I have scribbled around in various places as they are for now until I can weed out what is something that would be useful to have in digital form. I am planning on digitizing some parts of my books on writing- particularly the fill in charts on characters, story lines, etc.- because this is an area where the tablet PC shines.

I’ve decided to use Microsoft OneNote and Journal for my notetaking and project notes. I am using PDF Annotator to markup my research articles. I also have Tablet Enhancements for Outlook 2.0 which allows you to ink contacts, tasks, notes directly in Outlook. Right now I’m still looking into useful software for my tablet so any suggestions from other tablet enthusiasts are welcome.
Tablet PC, productivity

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Motorola has introduced another Pink phone. This will be the fourth- a pink SLVR L6 to go along with the three shades of pink introduced for the RAZR, one for Cingular, Verizon, and T-Mobile.

Okay, this is getting ridiculous. I know the teen girl demographic is one of the most targeted by cell phone markets but really. How about a nice blue or green, Motorola? Not all girls and women like pink.

Via Engadget Mobile.

Motorola, mobile, cell phone, gadgets

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In Part One of my series on getting back on the GTD wagon, I wrote about the importance of having a good todo list and how that has helped me improve my productivity. In this second part, I want to discuss the importance of having a trusted system and maintaining a trusted system. Your trusted system is where you keep your inputs. This can be a physical system such as an inbox, a Moleskine, a hipster PDA or it can be a digital system such as GTD TiddlyWiki, Backpack, a PDA, emacs planner mode, etc. My problem is that I kept switching between tools looking for the “perfect” system. The problem with this is that I never stayed with a system long enough to become familiar with it. For a system to work, it has to be second nature to use it. This goes back to the idea of not having to stop and think about what you are doing that I mentioned in Part One. So I’ve gone back to the basics- Outlook on my PC and Entourage on my Mac. It’s not necessarily as cool and geeky as I would like but it works. I’ve also been working on merging my digital and physical inboxes by getting a tablet PC which I will be blogging about in future posts.

GTD, software

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