Thursday, April 14, 2011

Some older things revisited

Sometimes you look at things and go "ah yeah - but I don't think I would really use it". The danger of the web or cloud based programs is that there is so much out there you can download heaps of programs that you never really use or utilise.
I must admit I am one of those people. I see a "cloud" based program and think "yeah - I would use that", only to find later - I downloaded it and it just sits there on my computer. I use it as an experiment but I don't really utilise it or find out what it really can do. Or it just doesn't fit the flow of what I find increases my productivity.
I have looked at a number of products to save notes, web pages, lists of jobs to do, files and reminders.
I really liked the notebook view in Office 2011 for Mac. It had an old fashioned "tabbed" notebook view with the ability to include audio files. Looked like it could be a usable format for me. The problem being - it wasn't viewable on another computer unless they had Office 2007 or above.
Another program I looked at about a year ago was "Evernote". I played with it - used it for a short time and dismissed it. Just recently I have come back to it. Why? Well first of all - it was because I wanted to save web pages/ bookmarks etc. I found programs like "Delicious" too involved and convoluted. I wanted something simple. I don't really want to share my bookmarks, favourite sites etc with the general public. I just want to locate a site or page -that I can easily locate on another computer.
This is how I started to use "Evernote" again. It has the ability to have a plug in on your browser (say Safari) that will do a screen shot of the page. You then can add notes, URL or any extra information. I started using it to bookmark subject bookmarks.
Let's say I found a website that I would like to use with HSIE later. I could bookmark it (including screen shot), give some detail about why I would use it, save it into a category listed HSIE- which I then could easily locate later using a search, listing the topic, HSIE or any other keys words I have used. I could even include a video or pdf I had found.
The other use I found was the ability to make "to do lists". Not something I normally think of (except on paper). But when you are going from one computer to another (as we are now in teaching - from the home computer to the school computer) - it suddenly becomes viable. I made a list of things I have to do at school (with a check button that would be ticked as I completed each task). At school I would activate my Evernote list and check what I had to do and tick them off as I accomplished each task. Very handy.






The beauty of the program is that it can be loaded on a range of OS - therefore it is like a travelling diary/notebook. I have it loaded on my mac's at home as well as my mac's and windows machines at school. You can also use it on iphone/ipad and android phones. Therefore it can give you access to your information regardless of what devices you are using or where.

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