Most task management apps with any meat on them will let you have both dated and undated tasks. In those cases, it can be a temptation to start adding deadlines to every task - even those that don't really have deadlines. I suggest that this is a temptation you ought to resist.
26 January 2013
20 July 2012
Lamy restores my faith in ballpoint ink
I love fountain pens for writing reflectively. But when I'm working, I often wince at the thought of "wasting" a fountain pen on just scratching out some notes or tasks or phone messages or whatever. On the other hand, I've never found a pen - not even the ubiquitous Pilot G2 - that satisfied my note-taking needs. All that has changed, though, thanks to Rotring and, especially, Lamy.
22 June 2012
Hipster "notebook" - PocketMod
PocketMod is a very cool little trick, whereby you can turn a single sheet of paper into a small, multipage notebook with a few careful folds and one cut of your scissors. And the PocketMod, the website, makes it even easier to design your own little notebook.
The site offers a wide variety of page templates which you can drag to any one of the 8 pages of an assembled PocketMod notebook, including calendars, writing guides, organizers, and many others. Design your PocketMod in your browser, choose the paper size (8.5x11 by default) and send it to your printer.
If you're not familiar with how to fold a PocketMod, there's even video instructions available. People have even used PocketMod to create little booklets for specific purposes, like this retro self-help notebook.
Whether you find it useful or not, you have to admit that PocketMod is a very clever design.
The site offers a wide variety of page templates which you can drag to any one of the 8 pages of an assembled PocketMod notebook, including calendars, writing guides, organizers, and many others. Design your PocketMod in your browser, choose the paper size (8.5x11 by default) and send it to your printer.
If you're not familiar with how to fold a PocketMod, there's even video instructions available. People have even used PocketMod to create little booklets for specific purposes, like this retro self-help notebook.
Whether you find it useful or not, you have to admit that PocketMod is a very clever design.
01 June 2012
Google helps researchers with new tools
Google has lately added new research functionality to both Google Docs and Google Scholar. YAY Google!
In Google Docs, you there's a new Research Tool. It will appear as a right sidebar, in which you can search - without leaving Google Docs - for web resources, publications (via Scholar), images, videos, etc.
What's really, really cool is that you can then select a search result and, at a click of your mouse, embed the citation into the Google Doc either within the text or as a footnote. And you can choose whether the citation will be in APA, MLA, or Chicago format!
It's not powerful enough (yet) for professional researchers, but it's a godsend for high-school students writing essays, for journalists, and for some university work. It would be nice if it could produce a conventional "References" section at the end of the document - like most scientists and engineers like it - and it would be even better if it talked to zotero, mendeley, and other citation management tools.
But even in its relatively simple form, it's still a fantastic step forward for Google Docs.
In Google Scholar, you can now build a "My Citations" profile page, that will hunt down all your publications, show you how often they've been cited, and calculate various factors that are supposed to indicate how your publications rank compared to the rest of your research community. (Mine is publicly viewable here.) And you can get citations to export from Google Scholar directly to bibtex and a bunch of other citation management systems (but not to zotero or mendelay - sniff, sniff).
It's wonderful to see Google provide better support for researchers.
In Google Docs, you there's a new Research Tool. It will appear as a right sidebar, in which you can search - without leaving Google Docs - for web resources, publications (via Scholar), images, videos, etc.
What's really, really cool is that you can then select a search result and, at a click of your mouse, embed the citation into the Google Doc either within the text or as a footnote. And you can choose whether the citation will be in APA, MLA, or Chicago format!
It's not powerful enough (yet) for professional researchers, but it's a godsend for high-school students writing essays, for journalists, and for some university work. It would be nice if it could produce a conventional "References" section at the end of the document - like most scientists and engineers like it - and it would be even better if it talked to zotero, mendeley, and other citation management tools.
But even in its relatively simple form, it's still a fantastic step forward for Google Docs.
In Google Scholar, you can now build a "My Citations" profile page, that will hunt down all your publications, show you how often they've been cited, and calculate various factors that are supposed to indicate how your publications rank compared to the rest of your research community. (Mine is publicly viewable here.) And you can get citations to export from Google Scholar directly to bibtex and a bunch of other citation management systems (but not to zotero or mendelay - sniff, sniff).
It's wonderful to see Google provide better support for researchers.
Putting on your pants two legs at a time
Sometimes, you don't even notice you had a problem till you see the solution. Thereafter, you can't understand how you could have ever been so blind.
If you wear boxer shorts, you may have had some difficulty in keeping them from bunching up when you pull up your trousers. It wasn't a problem back in the 1940's because trousers were far roomier than they are these days.
And, if you're like me and getting on in years, your flexibility will start to suffer, and getting one's shorts to un-bunch when one is of a certain age can be a bit of a challenge.
Well, here's the solution. It's a brilliant designerly way to look at the problem: stuff the boxers into your trousers first. Without your legs in the way, it's easy to line everything up. Then you just pull them both on at once. Presto! No bunching of the shorts!
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