Trying New Email & Task System ... Gmail

I have been toying with email systems as long as I have been working on a PC and think I have found a really good system. It centers on Gmail and how it simply handles all the conversation in a recoverable thread. This natural and simple interface makes for uncluttered in boxes and good handle on the flow of information. Couple this with the excellend filtering and search capability and I have moved all my information and email flow to a system using Gmail ...

One use that I find particularly effective is using the email system as a master task and todo list along with a great tickler system ... let me describe the system, I first have started by setting up labels to function as my normal "folder" system ... I have several key labels, @tasks, @personal and @waiting ... then all sorts of others that I can "file" my emails ... the reason I use the @ sign is that the character will take the label to the top of the label list so it is easy to see things as they appear in the folder. I use my mail to send tasks to the folder ... I have set up a filter so any subject line containing "task" goes right to the folder and bypasses the inbox. I do virtually the same by filtering family emails to personal and taking requests for things and labeling @waiting. A quick and easy review of the filters makes an effective scan of the items ... the email of the tasks works like a charm and is very quick as I keep the Gmail program running all the time in my browser.

The final item is the Google Desktop search which indexes all the email and can be used even if you are offline ... amazingly useful and for those of you that have so many threads up in the air, it can be a lifesaver ... I can't tell you how many hours I used to spend trying to find a particular item or thought ... with this system it is almost instantaneous ... good luck with this and let me know if you do other things that work for you ...

New ThinkFree Office ... good stuff

I revisited an old favorite that has been upgraded and it is pretty amazing stuff ... I used the old ThinkFree online to collaborate on documents and to sometimes keep things workable when I thought I might be computerless ... the ThinkFree Office is a web based office suite that features a great set for business use ... word processing, spreadsheet and presentation ... enough to do meaningful work and not get bogged down ... well, I got an email telling me to see the new features and when I got there I was blown away ... take a look at this app as it is slick and very very useable ... even lets you store either on the web or on your drive while connected ... as I was browsing I looked at a couple of wow type features ... take a look at this screen shot of a document I created online and then stored on my hard drive ...

Notice that I have active links in the document ... this was done by opening up my del.icio.us links in the word processing program and inserting the hyperlinks directly into the doc ... this is a great and fast way to do all sorts of things as I use the bookmarks to save all sorts of web information ... great way to aggregate info into a single document ... then it also has an insert item from flickr ... this blows me away as while active, I can search for a photo and simply insert directly from the flickr search ... this opens up all sorts of scenarios ... take a look ... lots of neat features that are very slickly implemented ...

First of all, I used this as an office on the web, now with the neat new things that it can do, it opens up all sorts of creative avenues ... play and learn ....

Docking Station on the Cheap ....

I saw this note on TabletGear and it seems to be the last part of the puzzle ... I always am looking for a flexible solution to desktop use of my Tablet PC and laptop ... well, I have a beautiful 20" monitor and top of the line logitech wireless keyboard and laser mouse ... I normally buy a docking station, but the $200+ accessory for convenience is a little steep ... there are aftermarket docking solutions, but the biggest hangup is the video output (a powered multiport usb hub is great except for video hookup) ... the article highlights a simple usb video adapter ... SO ... take a multiport hub and connect all your accessories along with the video and dock through the one usb connection to your monitor, keyboard, mouse, printer, scanner, etc etc .... plug the ac adapter and have a two connection dock that will work for any portable tablet, notebook, laptop, etc etc .....

Using a Camera to Scan Docs ....

I read a post a while back on using scanr to use either a cell phone or digital camera to scan docs while in remote locations ... well, I attempted to use a portable web cam and the image did not have enough resolution ... so I used my trusty old 2MP Panasonic camera to take an image using the macro settings ...

You then send the photo as an attachment to them and it comes right back as a standard pdf file ... pretty slick and really could come in handy if you are on the road ... need to hold it still, or be under good lights, but it works ....

New Blog

Please go to my new blog envir 2.0 to catch the wave ....

My Absence - Discontinous Innovation

I have been working feverishly on a concept that I need to spread rapidly ... let me explain, my company deals with environmental solutions by integrating and developing technologies ... I have been working for over 7 years on a vision that has finally become focused and the future of us all could be drasitically impacted for the better ... take a quick look at the problems that are outlined, all of them and more can be addressed along with creating a huge flow of capital to create more balance in trade between the US and say China ... we now have the capability of doing this ... please spread the word and have your friends look at this idea ... we are in the process of creating a proof of concept facility in the US ... there are many things that have to happen, but awareness and buy in are key ...

You can post comments or email me .... thanks ... Alan

Power for the Long Haul ....

Ok, after searching and searching and trying and trying ... I think I have a really good solution for travel and powering a unit for a LONG flight ... I have had to power my tablet on several trips to the Far East, and there really was no good solution to power over a 15 or so hour flight ... it was time with ipod and movies and maybe half the time working. I have a Motion M1400 and used to carry with me 2 extra batteries in my case to give me the time I needed when I was working ... I have an iGo juice 70 that has power plugs that will work on the plane as well as in the room, but most coach seats do not have power plugs, so scratch that ....

There are actually two problems here, first is the actual power solution and the second is the way to package it .... well, here goes ... I have purchased a generic Lithium Ion battery on Ebay that had capacity of 130 WH which I figured would give me about the capacity of 3 batteries .... the main thing was a quick recharge time and adequate capacity ... I was able to buy one on ebay for about $125 delivered ... there are lots of choices, so try and get the most flexibility on output configurations so even if you change units, it may still work for you ... anyway, I have used this unit and it works great for me ... I used my tablet until I got a low battery warning, then plugged the unit in. It looks like an external charging source as within an hour or so I was back to a full charge and the battery still had 3 of 4 lights, so my calculations should be pretty close ... figuring 3 full charges plus the battery, I should have a good 12 hours ... I have a second battery, so my 15hr target is made ...

Now I like to carry the bag pictured as it is compact and enough space for short trips or to carry on coupled with another bag through baggage for long trips ... this is a Samsonite under seat unit that does fit UNDER the seat on most planes (light enough to put overhead, but more convenient under) ... if you notice in the photo, my battery cable is coming out the bottom of the unit .... this bag has an access zipper on the bottom of the bag, super configuration and makes for flexible orientation for you ... the battery adds a little over a pound, but because you have wheels on the bag, it doesn't matter ... I am sure that this will give others ideas on how to configure the Mobile Musing power for the long haul .....

30 Minutes to a WOW ...

Have been working on several off the cuff presentations and discovered a couple of great tips for creating a presentation on the fly using the tablet PC ... start with the most used application on my machine ... MindManager ... MM is nicely integrated so you can build a map entirely in ink ... I like the look of the hand drawn map and it makes for a quick information spread ... you take that map and export it to a powerpoint ... I like to use a theme that shows innovation as the tag line and the hand drawn content really makes it stand out ...

Once the power point has been created, the last step is to export it again, but this time to Windows Journal .... once it is there, play it at full screen ... the tool bar on top remains, so you have your inking with marker, pen or highlighter ... this harkens back to the way I always used to present on an overhead and always used writing to emphasize ideas ... well, this use of the journal to present the powerpoint allows for all of the markup capabilities and more ...

This is a really slick way to make a presentation on the fly ... if you have more time you can doll it up with photos or figures or anything you want ... play with this ... you will be amazed how effective it is and what a WOW moment it can create for you ....

Simplify, Simplify, Simplify ....

Like in real estate (Location, Location, Location) the three most important words for one who travels is Simplify, Simplify, Simplify .... I am forever searching for the holy grail of ease of travel, so here is where I am now ...

After the travails that I gave on the last post, I am configured to use a cleaner flow of information ... I have found that it is buggy to use Outlook and all it's great features (read complexity) ... I still use it in the chain, but only now when offline ... let me first describe the email solution ... I have Yahoo Mail Premium (my old Oddpost account) that aggregates my different mailservers ... the raw feed comes into the box and is subject to good spam and virus filtering ... when I am travelling it can function as totally remote work without any other resources, so this remains as my fallback ... now the second crucial step ... I use Thundbird as my email client on the tablet as it seems clean and fast .. the one unique thing that I do is forward by bcc all of my replies to my gmail box (again, for remote access, but really for the superior way gmail allows me find things ... in the case where I just want to index, I will simply send the email to myself ... now on my yahoo box I will save in my folder, in the thunderbird resides another copy and seachable now in my gmail ... SO ... I have all my emails now remotely or on my desktop as I need them ...

For my contacts and PIM functions I use several things, but ease use is key ... I use GoBinder for my repository of information for meetings and inking functions ... it keeps my todo list, etc and projects ... this works great as it has the best inking support for me and I use it for meetings and travel ... I have found the the other web based system called Airset is another great cog in the wheel, it will synch seamlessly with outlook, so I don't have to load outlook, just keep the info current by using Airset and then synching at intervals or before trips ... one particularly useful function is the ability to modify the notes on the contacts, that I use to contemporaneously make notes on meetings, etc .... it is all easy and fast on Airset, then I synch and if I am not connected to the web, I can open Outlook and have all the current info .... works like a charm ... I am toying with the lists function in Airset and it looks like it can serve as my master todo ... but more on that in a later blog ....

Ultimate Bummer .... Reformat Drive C ...

I've been quiet lately because the ultimate problem surfaced ... a boot failure on my trusty tablet PC ... after over a year of constant use (now my only machine) ... last week, the dreaded blue screen showed the OS to be corrupted (had visions of this earlier, as the computer was getting a little ornery on some recent software installs ...)well the basic problem lay in the system not being able to boot after many
"experts" and help desks ... the only answer was to reformat and pray it wasn't hardware related ...

Let me digress to help you understand why I had only one machine and felt I could be OK with this ... I am using a Tablet PC that I dearly love and have had great luck with from both a travelling and remote use (client offices) ... I cannot see ever going back to another form factor as the slate fits my work style perfectly and the weight is the only way to fly (3.1 lbs) ... I was running a laptop and desktop and using folder share to mirror all changes on my machine to my other machines ... so that left me with three identical sets of data on three different computers ... this worked well as when I was traveling, the foldershare would synch automatically with my desktop that is always on ... well, my setup did require 3 different installs of my software, so the update and upgrades were getting a little onerous on this configuration ... so it was decided about 6 months ago that I would have only one machine and keep all my data in multiple places ... I found this little program called Mirror Folder that suited my needs perfectly ... I used this with a Seagate external USB drive and mirrored in real time all of my drive ... works like a charm ... when I travel I have a 5g pocket drive that I use Synch Toy to synch the data on so I have another remote storage unit ....

Back to the story ... SO, I now had a machine that I needed to recover and I had the disks, so there started the clean new machine and all the updates .... the Mirror Folder worked like a charm as all my data (in fact, all of my machine) was on the external drive ... so as I loaded the programs I was able to reorganize everything and now have a much better functioning computer ... it is really great, all the data up to the failure and a new machine to boot ... life is good !!!

A final note, I left my data (cleaned up some of the stuff I don't need and mirrored again today, so now I have my old data, and being mirrored from here ... great stuff and truly a life saver ....

A Little Night Music ....

Have been busy busy busy ... also had a funny problem with my unit and Mindmanager 6 ... we are still working on the problems, but kudos to the tech support from them ... they are very very good and I have confidence that it will be worked out ...

Ok, a friend passed this gem on to me and have been logged in since last night .... Pandora is a really neat app that creates a streaming "radio" station for you ... you guide it by telling it what you like and it will choose songs based on your likes, then as it plays music, you can tell it whether the choice was good, if not, it will start using that as further criteria ... after a few iterations, the play list was great .... really nice to have a feed of music that you like to hear, but all new to me ... WOW ... fun ... helps to have music to work to .... try it, another free app that is awesome and discover some new tunes ....

Master Project Manager Module ... the Real World

We are ready to embark on a major project and I realized that much information and design was scattered on many docs, spreadsheets, pdf's, and maps ... what to do to help being not overwhelmed as the project moves forward ... I have uncovered many sources of nuts and bolts for managing projects and have all the software, but I keep coming back to the flexibility of a mind map ... read a great article on using maps to manage by INNOVATIONtools that gave me the kernel I needed to think this through in my situation ... (I got there by looking on a great resource site ... The Mind Mapping Software Weblog ) ... taking this idea and creating a framework suited to my situation I have come up with what I call my Master Project Manager Module for lack of a better title ... this map will be my container for all the bits and pieces that go into assembling a project and getting it going. Along the way there are numerous resources and ideas that can be thrown into the mix and kept for ready reference or having a plan B when things go wrong. Importantly, all the information is then on ONE map for quick focus ... as the work progresses to the final project implementation, the map will also serve as an archive to all that went into it. Valuable is the ability to bore down on a task or item or looking at the big picture by expanding all items ... you can have as much granularity as you like and still maintain the ability to grasp the big picture .... this is the beginning framework ... I will post more as the concept gets fleshed out and put to use ....

Mind Map Meeting Presentation ...

I have just returned from a critical meeting and used mind maps to convey a tremendously complicated situation and information rich presentation to a very important partner. As you can see the varied topics of discussion it is an extraordinary amount of information to be conveyed ... Look closely at the map and you will see links to other maps ... there were a total of six submaps in the presentation that branched from here and from the subs. I was able to let information and proposals distill from the main map down to the specifics of each. There were also links to spreadsheets, pdf files, docs and pics ... all included in this one sheet ...

The presentation showed the value of this method ... this was a one on one meeting that more or less created a face to face environment to an associate that we had been courting for years and we are finally ready to move forward on a project ... I tried here to create a general framework and flow as we had only a few hours ...

Real world 101 ... I laid everything out meticulously and printed out each map and supporting document and assembled them in a folder to create hard copy, I kept the tablet with me and loaded both mindmanager and gobinder ... I took notes in gobinder as the meeting went on and wrote down notes ( more on this in a later posting ) ... the value of doing things this way was that I let my partner talk first and he actually fleshed out several concepts that were covered in the map, so I showed him the reference and he immediately got the concept as I had fleshed it out ... seeing the picture of the specific in context of the overall flow is an incredibly empowering tool for discussions ... it allows you to immediately convey direction and focus and it gets your ideas and points out in a quickly digested format ... as the discussions continued several more references were fleshed out in other maps that I had printed and we quickly came to agreement and created a process to go forward (which I incidentally mapped on the plane trip back). I could not work without using the mindmapping tool anymore ... it gives you a tightness and focus that cannot be done with any other means ... I could have used the tablet PC to supplement, but just having the printouts to scratch on by both of us was incredibly valuable ....

Great Product, Great Service ....

I am about to go on a quick trip and always tweaking the "mobile" configuration of my machine ... a wonderful Motion Computing M1400 ... there are a couple concerns and annoyances when I travel and just happened to be reminded of a product I had seen a while ago. I had bookmarked the SlateGlove site and went back to it ... let me tell you, from the word go, they were super responsive on the order and were willing to go the extra mile ... very refreshing in this day and age. I am in Hawaii and most shipping calculators do not do the charge correctly, so they worked with me to get it done at a more reasonable cost and they got it out that day !!!!!

Let me digress to tell you what the problems are for me ... I travel with a thinkoutside bluetooth keyboard and always have the problem of how to support the unit ... I have travelled extensively and was using the old plastic motion stand that I got with my first machine ... not elegant, but served its purpose ... when I saw the website, I immediately had to order the unit as it would support the tablet on a table both in landscape and portrait ... problem no 1 solved. Second problem, I carry the tablet in a top loading briefcase and am always gingerly first finding the grip and then applying a "death" grip so as not to drop the unit ... the SlateGlove gives me a secure surface on the back of the machine to grab comfortably ... prob no 2 gone.

There are many obvious things if you go to the website that the attachment will do, including a much better way of holding the slate securely ... ie, probably where they got the name ... the product does not interfere with docking or battery changeout, so it is a wonderful solution for a Motion owner (have all models now including the LE1600 - no 800) ... The workmanship is superb and documentation is detailed and thoughtful ... I really like attention to detail, and let me end with a little something that blew me away ... you install the unit by taking two case screws out and adding on the nicely designed tapered unit that will fit snugly into the case holes ... we in the hinge section is a machined spot to put the original case screws so they will not be lost when you take the unit off ... that attention to detail is indicative of this product ... highly recommended product and company behind it ....

Quick Daily Take on the World ...

My daughter had an interesting assignment in a creative writing class recently ... the proposition was the ubiquitious nature of advertising of which a case was to be made pro or con .... she threw it out for discussion to which I replied ...

"Ubiquity can help one to implement selective focus… you learn from the constant and ubiquitous stream to discern importance and to focus on relevant and consequential products, services and ideas… in the older days, you would be wowed and that was that, mission accomplished… now because everything is WOW… one must learn to discern… that is not only helpful but can serve to create a better flow to life in a modern society where knowledge is everywhere, but wisdom is learned."

This led to an extremely lively discussion and a great paper (if anyone would like to read it, email me and I will send you a copy), which leads to today's post ... how to selectively bombard yourself to benefit from the ubiquity of information and yet not get overloaded to create brain lock .... here is my working flow (please use this as a beginning and modify to your own purposes as this is an individual pursuit) ...

Here is a shot of my Netvibes page I have found this is my basic sieve as I take what I consider to be good providers of information and it highlights for me any new articles that are unread ... from there I can simply click on any article and then I normally hit the read all button to then move all the articles to the read status ... this gives me an extremely fast way of scanning the feed but yet enables a much deeper read if I want (just another window away) ... then I will bookmark to del.icio.us the page with cross references for future digestion and deeper meaning. The page also provides a quick glance at my yahoo and gmail boxes, a little note section, and weather forecast for Makawao, Maui (pretty brutal lately). This one page gives me the quick view I enjoy to start my day and provides VALUABLE information as it occurs ... one area especially useful is the mindjet blog that has on more than one occasion given me helpful maps to work on and great papers for thinking. I like to read as much as I can, but because that can be spotty as far as time goes, this gives me a quick start whenever I can sneak a peak ... there is a new feature that I am going to use on the road next week to try and that is the boxnet storage ... file storage on the page gives me access to key files like the yahoo briefcase .... could be very handy ....

To Synch is Divine ....

In the last week or so I went back to one of my old friends ... GoBinder the 2006 iteration ... after repeated forays into other methods of taking notes on my trusty Motion m1400 tablet PC, I keep coming back. I will go into a more in depth use of GoBinder in a later post, but let me go into the particulars of what I have now that works great for me.

I use Outlook as my hub as it seems most applications have some sort of synch capability with Outlook. Not to disapointed, there is a great mobilizer built into GoBinder that handles my critical apps ... Contacts with copious notes and Appointments on the calendar .. I use the notes function on the Contact screens to create contemporaneous notes of conversations or critical pieces of information that are tied to the contact. These are critical to my work flow and I need to insure that all is well and updated ...

I also use Airset on my desktop always opened in a browser window as I find that using the airset application is actually faster and easier to use than loading Outlook and hogging all the resources necessary. Airset allows me to enter appointments and notes and other information in an incredibly quick and efficient way ... So what I do is use either GoBinder or Airset to enter information and synch to Outlook functioning as a hub of sorts ... works for me ....

I will follow this in the next day or so with the features of the new GoBinder and why I have chosen this over the other numerous note taking choices ....

Another Quick Business Application of Maps ...

Yesterday during a long conference call it was determined that I had to meet with a partner in Seattle in a weeks time. The meeting was to discuss various items including some immediate collabortations and long term planning. Normally a meeting of this nature would tend to ramble because of the breadth of discussions and needs of the two parties.

This is how I prepare and plan for meetings and trips by utilizing the tools and techniques that I have been talking about here. The sample of the map was done in 30 minutes this morning as I was gathering my thoughts ... you can see that already I have linked two other maps (for illustrative purposes dealing with strategic vision and specific future proposals), powerpoint show (use the show, you need to save the presentation as a show, and you will go right through the presentation and return to the map), and a word document ... all of these give you the supporting information. By trip time, there will probably be dozens of attachments, this is to give you all your resources in one place, no more fumbling or searching. This is the key concept here, you take any and all pieces of information that you MAY need and logically put them into areas of discussion. If you go there and need these things, you are a click away .. if you don't it just looks cool ...

I do all my meetings this way and find it invaluable. By preprocessing what may happen, you are much more prepared for the twists and turns that happen in meetings like this. When you use it to create an agenda, you ensure a TIGHT presentation with the ability to fill in info as needed ... once you try this, you will never go back ....

Evolution of the Map

I thought it would be instructive to show you how the map evolves to manage the project. The new figure shows the inclusion of a spreadsheet that is actually linked to our main project submission and contains key elements that are cross linked to working estimates. This dynamic spreadsheet window gives me key numbers used in negotiating that will be up to date and easily modified. Also shown here are the dates and resource use as entered in the task pane ... I use the dates to give me not only deadlines, but aging as required with the specific item. The resource field gives me a way to keep tabs on all the items that are assigned to different members at each juncture. An extremely valuable adjunct is the ability to craft a negotiating stance based on the project being fleshed out ... at a glance using this technique and also highlighting with color it enables you to quickly realize what is a give up and what is critical in a negotiating meeting. All of your details and documentation can be carried by linking key docs and sheets and even presentations to this one map portal as I like to call them ...

I will post later how I tie in the GoBinder inking solution to meetings as I print this map to an ink document to carry into meetings ... and how all the tasks and scheduling are handled in GoBinder linked to Airset via Outlook ....

Practical Project Management

or How to Keep Your Sanity in the Information Age .... as I toil through multiple projects all with a sense of urgency, my methods for managing the tasks, information, resources and people are constantly evolving, but I seem to have hit a sweetspot in the tools that I use ... I think the obvious beginning is at the hub of my projects and for that I use MindManager, time and time again it has allowed quick and ultimately useful sketching out of the idea and what needs to be done, it then evolves into the repository of communications and tasks. I use the note feature to cut and paste emails and random information into a particular topic. I use the task feature to show me the start dates and finish dates to items, this is particularly helpful when you use it as an aging system to see how long a particular item has been going. It becomes easy then to have a simple archive node that serves as your done folder, I take a finished item and simply move it to archive, so you never lose anything that is finished and it does not clutter up the main map. The example I have here is a project that needs many loose ends followed up on and details to be taken care of using other resources and people along with key analysis that must be done once the info is gathered ... did this in less than an hour this morning and have sent out emails, etc based on this ... as the project unfolds, detail is added and things such as spreadsheets and documents are attached to this screen to serve as the project hub ... more to follow on the use of gobinder and the web to complement this ....

Using MindManager to create an integrated presentation...

For the last few days I have been preparing for a meeting next week ... I noticed a couple of templates and ideas on the Mindjet web site and downloaded some examples ... one of them showed how to use powerpoints within the app ... well I decided to use this idea and others and created what you see here. The basic idea is that I bring up this map and use it as the hub of the presentation. I have links to other maps, two powerpoints that when clicked, take me right into a full screen show based on other maps ... the links to the other maps bring in another whole round of ideas that can be used to take more and more detail into the conversation as needed ... you can add offshoots to give as much granularity as needed, but yet leave the hub to give you a sense of the full presentation ... it is more of a meeting, so I don't really want to dictate the direction of the presentation, but rather be prepared to go in any direction ... by using a mind map, you have that available ... I really like this and can see how it would be valuable even in a much larger presentation as you would be able to change direction at any time as the discussion dictates ... how many times have you been locked into a powerpoint and you realize that most in the room are not interested ... here is a great presentation tool that can change your ability to deliver your message ....