I am really starting to love drawing on my iPad using SketchPad Pro. The feature set of this application is solid, however make sure you periodically save your work, because I have had a couple instances where I was working on a wicked piece and *BLAMMO* SketchPad crashes and everything is lost. Still pissed that I lost a few of them…but for those that were saved, enjoy!
Waiting for the Apple Keyboard + Dock? No need to, just pair it with a Logitech diNovo Edge Keyboard and use the charging base as a docking station.
Too funny…
from Foxtrot
As I said before, I’m a data nut full of random useless information (at least some call it useless). While I used to remember everything, in my old age, I have found that I need a tool for archiving the various data sets that I capture otherwise my brain will turn to mud. That is where Evernote comes into play. Evernote is awesome! Plain and simple. It is what Microsoft OneNote should have been (does Microsoft realize what they have with OneNote?). If I need to capture data, say at a pub, I just bust out my iPhone and take the note and save. Or take a picture of that crazy brew I had in Toronto, tag, upload, done. But that isn’t all, the key differentiator with Evernote is this: it is Cross-Platform! You can run Evernote on Mac OS X, Windows, iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Palm Pre (why?), and Windows Mobile devices. Outside of a Linux app, that pretty much covers everything that I can think of. Now to dig deeper….
Features
Premium vs Free
Evernote has two versions: Free and Premium.
The free version allows for:
Limited notetaking: images, audio, ink, PDF
40MB sync in the cloud
Ads within app (minimal)
Standard security (not quite sure what that even means)
For a measly $45 a year you get:
Notetaking: any filetype
500 MB sync in the cloud (25MB max file size)
No ads
SSL encrypted sync
Ability to share notes for collaboration
Platforms
Below are all the platforms supported by Evernote:
Web Clipper*
Mac OS X*
Windows*
iPhone & iPod*
Android
Blackberry
Palm PRE + PIXI
Windows Mobile
*I used all of these platforms!
Data Organization
I was short on Evernote after my first go around with it for one reason: tagging. I am used to being able to tag anything, anywhere in OneNote. Evernote handles tagging differently and it took some time to get used to this change. While I wish I could tag within a note, I am now fine with this different method of tagging. What I do like about Evernote’s method is the actual organization of tags via parent – child collections; it just neatens up everything.
Moving on to where data is actually stored, Notebooks. Anyone familiar with David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” should see the immediate value of this tool.
<GTD Soapbox>
As you can see from my notebook image, I know what buckets have notes and that I have two notes that require action on my part. You can also see that I have 20 items in my Unfiled bucket that require action (categorization). I used this bucket as a catch-all for all notes that I clip, dump, or email into Evernote. From there they goto the actionable To Do, Waiting For, and Someday/Maybe, or other reference buckets (every other bucket outside of those three are for reference). Can you feel your life getting simpler as you read this…
</GTD Soapbox>
Another cool thing to note about the image above is the $$$ bucket. That bucket is a local notebook and is not sync’d up to the cloud. This is an option when creating a new notebook in Evernote.
Sync
As I said earlier, the premium edition allows for 500 MB of syncing into the cloud (free version gets 40 MB). I have used the hell out of Evernote this month and still have yet to crack 250 MB, so 500 MB is quite a bit of capacity in terms of syncing data. In my opinion, this feature is really what separates Evernote from every other tool that I have used. The ability for me to capture a note on my Mac at home, tag it, dump it in a notebook and then have that note show up almost immediately (time depends on your sync config) on my iPhone or Windows 7 box at work is an automatic must have going forward for me. This makes it so my personal workflow is not broken based on the OS I am running. Technically I could also have this on my Linux box via the Evernote web portal.
Mobile
I never really thought about using my phone for note taking. It didn’t seem too practical to me at first, but I do it all the time now. I see something I want to read, or a beer I enjoyed, or a product to research; all I do it take a picture of it with the snapshot function on the Evernote iPhone app and sync. Pretty easy if you ask me!
Conclusion
To sum all this up, as you couldn’t tell from this review, I am a big fan of Evernote! The application has helped me become paperless at home along with improving my overall personal workflow.
2009 is over…as are those crazy deals in the stock market. I’ve never been a fan of buying stocks, but did in 2009, you had to jump in (at least in March)! I learned my lesson years ago buying crap stock like EMC and watching it dwindle down to nothing. Lost a ton trying to beat the market and “get rich”. It was around 2004 that I changed my overall strategy to Dollar Cost Averaging…but still with stocks (and some funds)! I didn’t know any better, I was a 20-something year old playing in the market without a clue. Fast-forward to today…today I’m lazy. I don’t have time to watch the market. I don’t have the desire to watch the market either. Friend tells me that blah blah stock jumped up 30%, I say “cool”…I’m buying the entire market anyways, doesn’t matter to me. I’m lazy in that regard. I’d rather “set it and forget it” than sit there constantly watching the market, listening to Squack Box and wondering what analyst is going to make or break my dream. The science shows that lazy investing works, here are the results (via MarketWatch)
Now my approach is going to be similar to The No-Brainer Portfolio from William Bernstein, with a few tweaks:
25% — Vanguard 500 Index (VFINX)
20% — Vanguard Small-Cap Index (NAESX)
20% — Vanguard Total International Stock Index (VGTSX)
20% — Vanguard Total Bond Market Index (VBMFX)
15% — Vanguard Mid-Cap Index (VIMSX)
Basic concept, all low-cost index funds with a 80/20 split between Stocks/Bonds. Given that I just hit my 30’s I’ll roll with this mix for quite some time. I’ll update everyone if the mix changes, however I do not see that happening for quite some time.
Anyone else follow a similar approach to investing? Anyone hate this method? I’d like to hear both sides!
Have an ETrade savings account? You won’t for long! The troubled discount broker is selling off assets and will continue to focus on shoring up its core online trading business. ETrade also axed their mortgage business in 2009.
Discover acquires online savings accounts from ETrade – chicagotribune.com: “Discover Financial Services, whose online bank reached $12.6 billion in deposits last year, has acquired certain online savings accounts from ETrade Financial Corp.”
(Via Chicago Tribune.)
Until the past couple months all we ever heard about US currency was inflation. You couldn’t turn on the tube without hearing about inflation this and that, but what you rarely (if ever) heard about was inflation’s evil cousin…deflation! What is deflation? Rather than explain it here, Mint.com has created a solid visual detailing what is deflation, what causes deflation, and why we never want to hear about deflation again!
I’m a data freak. I love tagging, analyzing, and re-tagging data. It could be anything from what i’m spending my hard earned cash on to how many comic books I have that were drawn by John Byrne in the 80’s. I like seeing that data. That brings about my problem: What is the best tool for tracking, aggregating, tagging, analyzing, and editing this content? Over the next couple weeks I am going to be assessing and writing about various tools for capturing and organizing data. My short list includes:
- Evernote
- OneNote
- Yojimbo
- Together
- SoHo Notes 8
This is a list that I have thrown together based off initial research. If you guys have any other tools that you would recommend, please feel free to post them! Thanks!
After receiving a letter in the mail regarding Ally’s fee schedule, something caught my eye while reading: Checking! The document had language in it that made me believe an interest-bearing checking offering (not money market) was on its way. One phone call to Ally (took less than thirty seconds to get a real person) validated my assumption. While there is no information online, the rep stated that they just received training on the new account and that it will be announced (available?) on January 16th. Looks like I’m putting my switch on hold!
For those of you that do not know, I had to ship my first iMac back the week that I received it due to issues with the unit. I did not have a flickering screen, or yellowish tint, or loud drive; rather my issue was that the unit did not ship with the wireless airport card installed. After troubleshooting and discussing the issue with Apple, they shipped out a brand new unit.
Crossing fingers on this one.
