Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category
I’m hoping to write a book. Having said that, I wanted to have the right tools first before I began the project. ”Right Tools” in this case means a way to write, store notes and ideas, capture information from anywhere and any time, and be able to work from any computer or even my iPhone! I wanted to be able to write, shoot pictures, brainstorm, archive, document the entire project (you know, for when I’m famous!), and keep everything easily available.
Two approaches made the cut and I’m going to describe each and tell you which one I chose and why. The first solution included using my regular Microsoft Word for writing. Since I want to develop a “virtual world” for my book, I may see people or things that I want to remember so I take a picture with my phone and email it to myself. I sometimes use a large pad of newsprint for brainstorming or “mindmapping” and I need to save those notes.
Again, the first solution included doing the actual writing in MS Word and saving the document to my Dropbox account. Dropbox is a free service that stores documents in the “Cloud” and makes them accessible from any computer or Smartphone. But what if I wanted to capture a thought or some dialog on my phone? An iPhone app called “Nebulous Notes” is a note-taking app that automatically saves the note to Dropbox. I could also use “Send to DropBox” which allows me to send photos to Dropbox with a quick email from my phone.
So I write in MS Word, keep the document in Dropbox, store notes and photos using email and Nebulous Notes. What’s not to like? But I went a different way.
I’m fairly highly invested in using Google tools for a lot of my life. I have Gmail and Google Docs. They are both easy to access from multiple computers and my iPhone. Google Docs has implemented a feature called Collections which is sort of like folders to keep things organized. And Google Docs allows you to easily upload other kinds of files such as photos or notes.
Additionally, the default Notepad app on the iPhone will automatically make a backup copy to my Gmail account and store it under “notes”.
So I’m going to use the Word Processor in Google Docs to write the book. Any ideas I have while on the road I’ll document using the iPhone Notes app which will then make a copy to my Gmail. I’ll send photos as attachments via Gmail and then store them in Google Docs and use the Collections feature to categorize them.
So we’ll see how it goes. Both solutions are free and easy to use. But my investment in Google tools and their ease of use with my iPhone gives the Google solution the advantage
You can never have too much storage space and that includes digital storage. There are any number of online places that are secure and offer you numerous gigabytes of storage for photos, music, and anything else you’d like to back up. And you DO want to keep things backed up don’t you?
As a side note, when was the last time you backed up precious pictures or other memories? On a somewhat unrelated note, did you know you can download your Facebook information? Do you have posts and pictures and comments that you hope not to lose? Then you’d better head over to Facebook>Account>Account Settings>Download Your Information and save a copy of all your information.
But what if your computer dies? Where are all these important stuff? Two suggestions. Gmail from Google offers 7 gigabytes of storage you can use to upload files. Log into Gmail>Documents>Upload (it’s a button next to the “Create New” button). Clicking Upload will give you a screen to drag files from your local drive.
The other option is Dropbox. Dropbox gives you 2 gigabytes of free storage and you can earn more from time to time by telling others about the service. There is also a neat Smartphone app for both iPhone and Android phones so you can access files on the go.
There is NO EXCUSE for not backing up important files – go now, RIGHT NOW, and start backing stuff up!
As some of you know, I’m the highly introverted (INFP) who is also a Sales and Marketing director for a company that sells both nationally and internationally. So, this tells us that I really, really, really dislike sales prospecting — at least in the stereotypical ‘pick up the phone and cold call’ ‘sales hunter’ way. I’m always looking for ways to find prospects in unorthodox ways.
I found another one yesterday — it’s called Google Alerts and, as with most Google tools, it’s simple to understand and use. In a nutshell (“look, I’m in a nutshell!”), you add some relevant search terms, tell it how often you’d want to be alerted and enter your email address. Poof! A Google-formatted email appears in your inbox full of relevant goodness!
Now, you may be saying, “Thank God Almighty! I see the light!” and others may be saying “So?” Let’s give some examples. Let’s say you work in state and local government sales in water purification. You depend on RFPs (Requests for Proposals) so in the Google Alert box enter government, RFP, water, purification — from that moment you will receive everything Google finds that references those terms. Or if you sell large equipment to transportation companies, create an alert with the words heavy, equipment, fortune 500 or whatever makes sense to you.
Be careful not to fill the alert with too many words or you may miss opportunities because you’ve been overly specific. Keep it general — it may be better to create more than one alert that covers different aspects of your field and customers. Now you may get immediate gratification and you may not — but it’s a lot quicker and easier than hunting for these manually. Let me know how this works for you by commenting or email warfieldh@gmail.com.
A couple of years ago Lifehacker asked their readers to show what they carried when out of the office. They called it “Show Us Your Go Bag” and this is what I contributed:
You can see how I travel and work here.
But today my “Go Bag” has shrunk even further. I no longer carry a notebook (though I am waiting to see the next gen iPad). My entire portable office consists of:
*An iPhone 3gs (waiting to upgrade to the 4) updated to OS4 so I can use a bluetooth keyboard.
*A “Freedom Pro” Bluetooth keyboard that works with the iPhone
*My Etymotic Isolater earphones
*A 16 gigabyte Walletex USB card I carry in my wallet
The iPhone Apps I can’t live without include Jott for notes and reminders, Dropbox for file sharing, Dragon Dictation for voice entry, and the Kindle app from Amazon for reading. I’ve got others but those are the key productivity apps.
The Bluetooth keyboard lets me type directly into Jott or my Google Documents. I read books on the Kindle app, I use the IPod software with my Etymotic earbuds, and share files between home and work computers and the iPhone with Dropbox. And 99% of the productivity software is FREE!
Any questions on how to make this work for you – let me know! email warfieldh(at)gmail(dot)com
I have a friend whose job includes document management, tracking and storing important documents, revising and keeping track of them. The system his (large) corporation uses probably costs over $100,000. In simplest terms, a document management system consists of a scanning solution, a database for storing documents, and a means of searching through the stored images.
But, you’ll say, I only have a few folders of paper that I’d like to store electronically – and I’d like to do it without spending a lot of money. My criteria for an electronic document repository include low cost, ease of use, and the ability to search for documents easily.
The key to searching for documents electronically involves “tagging“. Tagging means adding descriptive words to your document that will allow you to find it using a simple Google search. More about tagging later. The underlying “engine” for this system is a Google Mail account (gmail). Each free Gmail account offers over 7 gigabytes of online storage at no additional cost. 7 gigabytes will store A LOT of paper documents. The biggest downside is that, while password protected, gmail is still online and therefore possibly open to hacking.
In my case, nothing I wanted to store online was critical; if someone wanted to read poetry I wrote in college – more power to them.
From a hardware standpoint, you’ll need a scanner. Many people already have them, if you have a multi-function printer it probably includes a scanner. If you don’t have one you’ll have to quit reading and go out and get one. We’ll wait . . .
Possible alternatives to a scanner might include your digital camera or the camera on your phone. I say possible because you’ll be taking pictures instead of nice flat scans. If you want to try this approach simply take the picture and then upload it to your computer or, if with a smartphone, email it to yourself.
But let’s work with the scanner option for now. Your scanner came with software that allows you to scan and save in PDF format. PDF is free and almost universal so save your scans in that format. If, as my first HP software did, your scan software sucks, you can purchase VUESCAN from www.hamrick.com. VueScan works with almost any scanner and is easy to use.
So we have a scanner and a Gmail account ready – here’s the procedure.
1) Scan your document and save as PDF. Here is your first tagging opportunity. Name the PDF file carefully in the “Save As” dialog box with terms that relate to the document. If it’s college poetry then name it poetry-college-title or something like that. Save it to your desktop or a folder you title “scanned documents”.
2) Go to your Gmail account and compose a new email. Address it to yourself – its from you and to you. This is your second tagging opportunity. Use search terms in the subject line to further identify the document and then attach the PDF file to the email and click send.
There you have it – your scanned document is attached to the email which is in your Gmail inbox. When you want to find it you can simply use the search box in Gmail to search for tags you used. If you need to print it out, just click and open it and print.
Now you can either delete the scanned image or back it up to a CD or external drive as an added security feature. The paper documents can be destroyed or stored somewhere in the attic.
Questions? Email me at warfieldh@gmail.com
An amalgam of articles and posts on a variety of topics; all with the theme of being “useful”. Hopefully you’ll find something useful for you! Questions? Comments? email me at warfieldh(at)gmail(dot)com.