Eric Mack posted a teaser Monday about an input tool for MindManager that is similar to what Actioneer was.Actioneer was an awesome little taskbar utility that allowed very quick input into a PIM or other programs (was included on the Lotus Notes 5 CD, I believe.) It allowed categorization, keywords, quickly create tasks/notes/email/etc., quick launch to the internet, and more. Kind of a predesessor to ActiveWords or QuickSilver.
I can’t wait to see what this new capture tool can do. Hopefully Eric won’t keep us in suspense too long.
I’m not very good at setting long term goals, but I’ve been trying to use ThinkTQ to help me out. I haven’t gotten as far as using the whole system, but am trying to build a habit using the daily sheets. The days that I do they have been very helpful.
You can register for the daily emails here (affiliate link).
I just came back from my CS 4001 class, which is an ethics class for software engineers. Usually we talk about different things software developers have to deal with (safety vs. meeting dead lines, fallacies in arguments, privacy issues, etc).
Today, we talked about visual arguments and ways they can be misleading. I won’t bore you with the detail, but basically the professor went over some graphs and highlighted some problems. Over and over, the biggest problems with the graphs was too much information (either too many graphs on one page or too much in one graph). This undermined the entire reason for graphs and charts.
This got me thinking that Information Overload is all around us (TV, websites, blogs, etc). So, if it is so prevalent, is it undermining things? In Part 2, I will examine my own personal experiences with this but for now, I wanted user opinion. What do you think? Do you think Information Overload is around us? If so, give some examples and how you combat it.
Microsoft’s OneNote website recommends students keep a notebook for school and inside the notebook, each class gets a section. In fact, OneNote comes with template notebook and pages to keep you school work organized. Although I like the idea, I think it is poorly executed and shows the OneNote team aren’t students.
When I first used OneNote, I found the student template lacking. For each class, students have many different types of information. For example, we have homework, lectures notes, solutions, quizzes, tests, recitation notes, syllabus, handouts, etc. Most of this information can be organized in OneNote but is very difficult to do so in just one section. So, I decided to create my own template.
Each class gets its own notebook. Inside each notebook, I have a section for each type of information. The first section is the class syllabus where I highlight the grading criteria and test dates. The second section is for lecture notes. The third is for recitation. The fourth is for class handouts. A fifth tab is for example tests and solutions and I have a final tab for miscellaneous. Georgia Tech is a very technology orientated university and most information is online. Handouts, syllabus, example tests, etc are PDF documents and can simply be “printed” to OneNote.
This system works well for me because I know where everything is and can reach it in a few clicks instead of using the search feature. I am curious to know how others have tailored OneNote for themselves. Feel free to leave a comment about it.
I haven’t posted in a while and just wanted to give some reason why and other updates. It’s that time of the semester again. I have midterms this week and have been very busy studying for them. Also, the contest kept me busier than I expected. Luckily, all of that will be over by this weekend or early next week and I will start writing more regularly.
Here are some of things I have on the back burner. A review of a Mind Mapping book by Chuck Frey, Microsoft Office Beta 2, updates on my note taking experiment, finishing my Writely review, and much more.
So, please stay tuned and I apologize for the delay.
We finally have the winners! I am sorry this took so longer, but the juding was longer than we expected. I will post the winning extries and more details within the week. Winners will receive e-mail to coordinate the prize packages.
Click here to see all 17 mind maps and their descriptions submitted. The link is my box.net account and I have made all the mind maps public. I am still working on the screecasts but I have to find a service that lets you upload big media files. Any ideas?
*Note: Bonus prize is only the Camtasia/Snag-It package.
6/20 Update: Uploaded and linked to all the mind maps and their descriptions. 6/21 Update: Linked the winning entries. 6/22 Update: Uploaded screencasts to Google Video and waiting for verification.
I let the cat out of the bag a couple of weeks ago when I said MindManager for the Mac was coming soon. It is officially here. There are sample maps, tours, and a free trial. Check it out.
I use many colors when I take notes for my classes. Lecture notes in blue, important notes in red, and my thoughts in purple. When I first started using OneNote, I would change the colors using the drop down menu in the Standard Toolbar. I also audio record the lectures.
After a few day, I was annoyed I couldn’t change the colors fasters or record the lectures faster. I wanted easier access to all the pens and audio recording settings. So I added two new toolbars and changed my layout.
First, I Pens Toolbar and moved it to the left side instead of the top. Second, I added the audio recording settings Toolbar and placed it below the Pens Toolbar. Screenshot below.
I like this layout because it suits my needs better. What do you think? Do you use different colors and audio notes as much as I do?
Summer is here and it is a brand new semester of classes for me. This semester I am taking CS 4001, Differential Equations, Circuits, and French (I hope). In addition, I am a teacher’s assistant for Digital Design Lab, Helping DramaTech by taking a Theater Production class, and taking a Guitar class for fun. All that in the summer? I know, I must be crazy.
This semester, I have decided to try other note taking programs and collaboration tools. I have tried GoBinder before but I have never really used it. I have decided to take notes in both GoBinder and OneNote (2003 and 2007) and figure out which one works best for me and why. After that, I will report my results.
My CS 4001 class is an ethics class and requires us to use a wiki for everything (homework, readings, assignments, postings, etc).
So, at the end of the semester, I will report on my experiences with Wikis, OneNote, and GoBinder. Wish me luck!
Just a reminder. Office 2007 Beta 2 was recently released and can be tested by the public. So, if you want to test OneNote 2007 and other applications first hand, get it here.
