Scarlet Umbrella|Adventures in Mobile Technology

Recently I have noticed a new trend in my daily consumption of blogs. Ordinarily, when I found a page interesting, I would bookmark it with del.icio.us. However, more and more I have found myself just grabbing the feed for the website and putting it into Google Reader.

I find this technique useful for a couple reasons. First, I find that if I like one blog post a person has written, I will probably like other material that they post. Secondly, RSS feeds combined with Google search make a much better method of searching than tags and my own (bad) summaries of web content.

Most sites publish full RSS feeds. This is really useful in Google Reader when I am trying to find that post that one person wrote about, for example, three new and useful GMail Labs Apps. I can use Google Reader’s search function to search for “GMail Labs Apps” which gives me the blog post that I am looking for much faster than searching all of my “GMail” and “useful tags” on del.icio.us.

Of course, I haven’t found a way to integrate all of my internet links into Google Reader. There are still the few sites that don’t have a RSS feed. Also, there are sites that only give the headlines on the RSS feed. While some people may like this, I definitely prefer full posts myself (hint to blogs: provide both).

The best benefit is that I have a database that automatically adds more information to itself. I really can’t express how valuable this is. I love DevonThink on the Mac and I have often wished that I could have something similar on a PC. Google Reader is almost equal and some ways better to DevonThink. When I use DevonThink, I have to continually add to a category. However, once you have enough useful subscriptions on Google Reader (I like to call this critical mass), new content is added every time you hit refresh. Simply awesome.

database, Google, googlereader, hacks, information, lifehacks

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I am going to let you in on a deep dark secret: I still use a paper agenda. I know it’s shocking. I’m a self-professed tablet freak and typical technophile. However, I still need my paper agenda.

I have tried to get rid of a paper agenda several times. Among the tools in my mobile arsenal have been the Palm Tungsten E, the HP Jornada 728, and several web-based applications.

I love the ease of electronic todo lists but until inking tasks becomes as nontrivial as jotting down a note in a paper agenda, I really am tied to an paper agenda. I currently use a Franklin Covey agenda with the Simplicity planning pages.

I like the Simplicity planning pages because they do not have specific blocked off appointment times. I very rarely have appointments so appointment pages were always a waste of paper for me.

While Franklin Covey makes nice templates, they can get expensive. for the true paper agenda aficionado, the first stop in setting up a planner should be diyplanner.com. I currently use several templates from the classic kit and the DIY/GTD Teacher Kit
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franklin covey, hp jornada 728, lifehacks, luddite, palm tungsten e, productivity, technophile

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