Social Media & Digital Marketing in Singapore

Thoughts On Evernote: How It Changed My Life

Evernote

I’ve been a user of Evernote since 8th December 2008, and I don’t think there’s been a day gone by since then that I haven’t used it either on my desktop, laptop or iPod Touch (they have a version for Windows Mobile too).

The premise of Evernote is simple. It’s your second brain. Everything you need to keep track of, or remember, you key it into Evernote and it’s stored in the “cloud”, which then can be accessed via web, mobile or even the Evernote client that can run straight off your desktop. All of these are synced centrally, so you always have the latest version of your updates when you access your notes.

Evernote comes complete with the ability to recognise words within images, the ability to tag and geotag notes, include photographs and voice, and for the premium (paid) version, to sync the same version of files everywhere, which can be useful for people editing documents on the go.

I first really realised the power of Evernote when I clipped some details of my flight on a whim, and then was at the airport trying to check in, but they couldn’t find my name. My e-ticket had the flight number, full name etc, but not the booking number. Luckily, it was a matter of taking out my iPod Touch, checking the tag that said “flight” and all was solved.

Since then, my Evernote usage has evolved in several different ways:

• As a fan of GTD, I have a “tickler” tag in Evernote where I keep track of things I need to pay attention to each day. So I can open up Evernote and know I have a presentation due in 2 weeks. You can read about more about using Evernote and GTD here.

• I’m obsessive about keeping track of what money I spend. I used to key it into my phone, but then would have the hassle of switching between my phone screen and my computer screen (where I key expenditures into an Excel sheet). Now, I just key it into my Touch with the tag “todo”, sync it up, and when I open my Excel sheet, it’s right there on the same computer.

• I keep an “archive” folder in Evernote, where I put things like Amazon shipping costs (so I don’t have to keep going to Amazon and searching for the shipping page), quotes from books, my Sony service number and other things that might be useful.

• I keep track of new books/music/games to check out when I’m at the store, and when I get home it will be on my Evernote so I’m reminded to check out reviews of it to make a purchase decision later

• I used to take notes in class and save them as “week 1″, “week 2″ and so on. Now I just open a note with the tag “comm250″ and type everything in there in chronological order, which makes revising so much easier.

• Everytime an idea pops into my head, I label it “todo” and key it in. When I start up my computer, the “todo” tags are usually the first things I look at, so it helps me focus.

As you can see, the uses and benefits of Evernote really are like having a second brain, and being able to tap into that literally anywhere. I’m rarely in the situation where something important flashes into my head, and I’m stuck trying to recall it two days later.

Because I’m using an iPod Touch, there are a few functionalities that I’m limited from using. Geo-tagging, for one, which can be very useful. For example, if you always have the same type of meeting at a particular spot, you can tag that location, and everytime you’re in there for a meeting, you can call up that tag and see previous meeting notes.

Similarly, if there’s something that needs to be done at a particular store, you can geo-tag it and when you’re in the vicinity, use that to remind you.

Still not convinced? Check out Evernote’s short introduction video. You’ll be sold.

Tomorrow, I’ve got another post lined up with some thoughts on the lessons that can be learned from Evernote, so if you’re a fan, check back for that. Meanwhile, how do you use Evernote? What tips and tricks do you have?

Tags: airport, archive, cloud, desktop, evernote, geotagging, getting things done, gtd, ipod touch, mobile, premium, productivity, sync, tagging, tags, tickler, todo

Posted in Tools | 9 Comments »

Case Study: The Dangers Of Not Being Transparent

Sometimes you (aka the social media manager, PR person, whatever) may stumble upon a blog or forum that’s perfect for you to… “seed” your product or service (I really hate that term. Seed.). For example, you have this list-keeping tool that seems perfect for, oh, a productivity blog. The tendency may be to “casually” reply to a blog post about lists and mention “oh I use this app” in an attempt to make it sound credible. Maybe it might look a little like this (click for larger image):

Not Being Transparent

At first glance, it does sound like a productivity/GTD/insert-your-vertical-here enthusiast talking about his favourite app or service. Here’s the thing: if you don’t mention at the very beginning that you’re intimately associated with the product, this is what happens (click for larger image):

Getting Caught

Needless to say, this “outing” has serious implications for your credibility and you’ve probably just lost any chance of “seeding” at this blog again. (No, changing names or using an anonymous name is not the solution).

Have you had experiences like this before? What do you think someone like this could do to earn back some trust? Air your views!

Tags: Blogs, dangers of not being transparent, gtd, productivity, seeding bloggers, social media, transparency online

Posted in Poor Practices, case studies, community, social media | 3 Comments »

reQall: Current Productivity Tool Of Choice

As the name suggests, reQall helps you recall the stuff you need to do all day long. Although I’m pretty happy with Remember The Milk as a little add-on to my Gmail and I Want Sandy for meeting reminders and the like, the big advantage that reQall has over them is an iPod Touch application.

reQall becomes most effective when you’re in an environment that is highly connected. For me being in a school where there is wireless everywhere, and a home that’s wifi enabled is more than enough. The Firefox extension allows you to enter “What popped into your head”, and it understands simple context like dates and times, which is exactly what I need. So I’d be surfing or chatting to someone and someone says “oh by the way the assignment is due next Monday”, I can type that immediately right from my Firefox browser.

One other thing I like about the interface of reQall, is that it’s separated into an actual to-do list that is time-sensitive, a shopping list and a notes list. There’s even an option to upload images to trigger your memory, if that works for you. I really like the shopping list and notes function now that I’m living pretty much on my own. Everytime something runs out I just enter it in from my iPod Touch and sync it up and when I head out to the store, it’s all in one place (you don’t need internet access to retrieve data from your iPod Touch).

If you’re like me and was thinking long and hard about updating your iPod Touch software to 2.0, I’d almost say that the reQall app alone would be reason enough for me to pay that $9.99, so consider giving it a try.

Tags: gmail, gtd, i want sandy, ipod touch apps, notes, online productivity apps, productivity, remember the milk, remembering things to do, reqall, shopping lists, to do lists, wifi, wireless coneections

Posted in Tools | No Comments »