jkOnTheRun

Evernote 1.1 beta for Mac includes PDF support

I see from TUAW that the beta client of Evernote for the Mac got a revision boost recently; the latest version is 1.1 and there's some nice additions in the client. You can now take advantage of Mac OS X's native Print to PDF function as I just did with the silly picture of our coffee coaster. I wanted to use the coaster to test the iSight note feature along with the text recognition of what's on the coaster. Evernote nailed it of course... searching for text in the picture returns the pic in my notebook and highlights the recognized text.

There's also some new views in the new version to help you customize and organize the way you want to view your digital memories. I must have missed the location data that you can save to any note as well; it's probably been there all along. With it you can enter the latitude and longitude of your digital note; handy for pics. I wonder if the client can read and auto-insert that data from digital cameras supporting EXIF?

After a quick sync of my information, it's amazing to see such a seamless experience between the Mac client and the web interface; a quick look on my PC shows the same batch of notes and since all of the indexing is done on the server, it's irrelevant which client I use: Evernote finds the data I'm searching for every time.

GRAHL's PDF Annotator 2 beta available

One of my favorite Tablet PC applications, PDF Annotator, is about to hit a new version. PDF Annotator 2 is currently in beta and you can download it for free right now. The beta version will work until May 31, 2008, but that gives you plenty of time to try it out. Some of the new features include:

• New Page Manager containing thumbnails
• Bookmark Manager with ability to create your own bookmarks
• New completely customizable Toolbox
• Stamps
• Auto-smooth setting to smooth free hand lines
• Enhanced Full Screen mode with fly-in toolbars
• Improved Text Search in new search toolbar with search result highlighting
• New Continuous View and improved view and zoom behaviour
• Pan mode
• Page Navigation with history support
• Additional Text Box Styles with colored backgrounds and borders
• Many more useful in detail improvements like a much better and faster rendering engine

If you're not a risk-taker, that's OK too. You can download the current production version and use it for 30 days to see if it works well for you. I've found it to be an essential tool for inking and marking up PDF files. There are definitely some good alternatives out there, but I've been very happy with PDF Annotator. Before I forget: folks who bought a PDF Annotator license for $49.95 this year will get the next version upgrade for free. Might be worth a download and purchase now, in case version 2 goes up in price.

Labyrinth ported: Mind Mapping on a Nokia N800

Carrying around a Nokia N800 and want to organize some thoughts? Consider looking at Eugene Antimirov's Maemo port of Labyrinth. It's an alpha for now, so be forewarned, but he's got this Python-based mind mapping application working on his Nokia Internet Tablet. While I prefer to do a brain dump on a larger screen, I more often have smaller-screened devices handy when I have that rare "good thought of the day", so I see the draw here.

Document creation on the iPod Touch: Glide OS Mobile

Here's a slick way to create documents on that iPod Touch, provided you have some WiFi connectivity: use Glide OS Mobile. Michael Connick does just that and uses the web-based application to create his WordPress blog posts as well as his tweets in Twitter. Michael couples this solution with the iCopy bookmarklet for copy and paste functionality on his Touch. He has several other core applications and functions listed this morning; well worth the look if you're an iPod Touch or an iPhone owner.

It's been a minor pet peeve of mine that my iPhone doesn't fully work with Google Docs, since that's my main word processor these days. I can view my docs, but I can't edit them, nor can I create new ones. I may look into the Glide OS Mobile solution because that would actually let me create a new Google Doc. I figure I can create the doc and then paste it into an e-mail or provide the URL of the document. Google Docs does support new document creation through e-mail via the old Writely functionality, so that might work. It would depend on the document creation: if it's no easier to use Glide OS Mobile, I can just use the native mail application for the same purpose. My gut says that the Glide OS Mobile approach might work a tad better since it's web-based and Mobile Safari supports landscape mode making for a bigger keyboard.

Xobni beta goes public: a 'must' download for Outlook users

Great news from VentureBeat: Xobni, an Outlook add-on, is now in a public beta. James got a hands-on look at it recently and shot me a beta invite last week. Since I've just rebuilt my Samsung Q1 Ultra Premium with Vista, I only just installed Xobni to work with Outlook 2007. In just a short few days, I can already share my belief that Xobni is a must download for Outlook users.

The application quickly indexes your mailbox and then shares useful information in sidebar as you view your mail. Using a smaller-screened device, I like how the sidebar extends and contracts as needed, just like the To-Do Bar. I should also point out that Xobni works with your mail regardless of the back-end solution you use. James uses Microsoft Exchange as did I, but I've migrated over to Google's Gmail with IMAP. Xobni analyzes your mail regardless because it's indexing the local mail store from what I can see.

Using Xobni, you'll see basic information such as how many e-mails you've traded with people, what time of day they came in, etc... More importantly, you can see contact e-mails in threads to help you navigate through conversations with ease. I'm only hitting the tip of the iceberg to get you curious; while some folks may install it and shrug, I suspect the majority will be very impressed. Look over the features, give it a go and let us know what you think.

Tablet PC productivity tips: GottaBeMobile

New GBM'r, Craig Pringle, has a lengthy and useful article on how to get more out of your Tablet PC with Vista. In the post, he points out several tips and tweaks to help the overall inking experience, ranging from improving the handwriting recognition to modifying the sensitivity settings of Pen Flicks. Rob follows that up with a brief tutorial for multi-selecting items using a combination of the pen and keyboard or using the pen alone.

Note that a few of these items only apply to Tablet PCs with active digitizers or pens that have a button you can customize. Us touch-screen UMPC owners might miss out on some of this functionality as a result. ;)

Sync RTM tasks on BlackBerry devices: MilkSync

Regular readers know we're basically obsessed with data synchronization around here. In our defense, we'd be crazy not to since we use different devices for different tasks. The last thing a mobile warrior wants is to have a piece of data tied to a specific device... particularly when they're not using the device that has the data they need.

Remember the Milk, a web-based task management service, adds yet another option in this vein and this time, it's the BlackBerry device owners that benefit. MilkSync for BlackBerry keeps your tasks in sync between your Remember the Milk account and your 'Berry. The application requires an RTM Pro Account, which is $25 a year, but you can try the application free for 15-days. MilkSync doesn't just sync all your tasks (unless you want it to), you can control which Task lists are synched; useful if you want to keep Work and Personal tasks separate, for example.

RoadSync appears in Nokia Download! store, subscription model added

I was fairly impressed with DataViz's RoadSync client when I tested it last year on a Nokia N80. It's an excellent choice for S60 device owners that want access to a Microsoft Exchange server for their e-mail, contacts, calendar events and more. DataViz just announced two new developments that are worth a mention.

First up, Nokia device owners will find RoadSync a little easier to get to as the application is available in the Nokia Downloads! store. Just navigate to Downloads! on your device and you should see the software available as a free-trial. If you like the application you now have two choices for continued use. A license will cost you $29.99 or you can subscribe for $4.99 a month. The application is well worth the $30 and the only reason I would even consider the subscription is if I couldn't make up my mind after the free trial. Still, it's an option for those that need it.

As far as device support, I'll let the press release tell the story: "RoadSync is now available to consumers on select Nokia S60 devices in North America and Europe including Nokia Nseries multimedia computers (Nokia N95 8GB, Nokia N95, Nokia N93i, Nokia N82, Nokia N81, Nokia N80i, Nokia N77, Nokia N76, Nokia N75, Nokia N73), Nokia Eseries devices for enterprise users (Nokia E90 Communicator, Nokia E65, Nokia E61i, Nokia E51) and additional device models (Nokia 6120 Classic, Nokia 6110 Navigator)."

Outlook task types: use the Icon field for a quick look

What happens when you have so much free time on your hands that you actually look at every possible field in Outlook? You find a useful productivity nugget... or you fall asleep from boredom, whichever comes first. The How-To Geek folks luckily found something before nodding off and I like the idea for smaller-screened devices.

I always take advantage of the sliding To-Do bar in Outlook 2007: it's there when I need to see it, but hides with the touch of a button. By customizing the view of the To-Do list view underneath the calendar and adding the Icon field, you can get an idea of the task type with a quick glance. In the example shown, the icons next to the items in the task list show one recurring task and two e-mails flagged for follow up. Handy when you want to get a handle on your task types and don't want to waste time opening them.

Six more invites to the Xobni beta

I now have six more invites to the Xobni closed beta so click on my cartoon head and email me a request and the first 6 will get them.

UPDATE: They're all gone don't email for one.

Google Calendar Sync updated: removes attendee, organizer requirement in Outlook

A small but important update hit Google Calendar Sync yesterday. The application launched last month and offered up two-way event synchronization between calendars in Google and Outlook. Unfortunately, you either needed to be the event organizer or an attendee on the Outlook side for the event to show up on your Google Calendar. Version 0.9.3.2 addressed that issue and can be found right here. Folks running a prior version should get this one via an auto-update. I've had zero issues with the application so far, although I'm still waiting for support of multiple calendars like I have with BusySync between iCal and Google.

Freeware of the Moment- Xobni

I spend what seems like my whole life in Outlook and as one who gets 200- 300 emails a day without fail I'm always finding myself looking for not just an email from months ago but the entire email conversation.  The search feature in Outlook is good but the way I work I can usually remember who the conversation was with and I need to see the whole thread in context.  I first heard of Xobni (what's that spell backwards?) back in January but like most things I hear about I quickly "filed and forgot" it as just more fluff.  Today I got an invite to the Xobni closed beta from good friend Steven Hughes and decided to give it a shot.  Boy am I glad I did as it has already made a big impact on my productivity.  Xobni has come under the scrutiny of Microsoft as Techcrunch was reporting a month ago that Microsoft might be looking to buy them.

The Xobni sidebar to the right.

The beauty of Xobni is the type of information it presents to you when you click on any email in your folders.  The Xobni sidebar shows everything related to email about the person who sent you that email and makes accessing that information, including any threaded email conversation, just one click away.  There is a degree of social networking (a phrase I have come to hate) to this information as you also see everyone who has participated in any of that contact's email conversations.  I can't overstate how powerful this is for those times when you are looking for that nugget of information that was sent to you oh so long ago.  You also get a pane that shows you every file attachment that a given contact has ever sent you which is also one click away from opening.  Rarely have I run across a utility like Xobni that started doing its magic mere minutes after installing and then impacted my work so greatly.  That is why Xobni is our Freeware of the Moment.  It is currently in a closed beta but you can put your email address on their waiting list to get an invite.  I have used all my invites already so don't ask, they're gone.  Maybe the folks at Xobni will see this and give us a bunch of invites to share.

Threaded conversation- just click one and the whole email is previewed in the window.

BusySync 2.0 arrives: full calendar synchronization between iCal and Google

I'm at the point where I now use Google for all of my calendar activities and I've convinced everyone in the family to do the same. We all share the calendars so everyone can see the "family calendar" at all times. This method comes in handy with all of the activities the kids have, and since my son lives with his mother, we jointly use this approach for me to keep track of his events.

Although it's easy enough to hit the Google Calendar web interface, I also use iCal on my Mac. Back in February, I started using the beta of BusySync to keep iCal in sync with my Google Calendar and it's been working great. It's a full two-way sync so appointments can be created or edited in either Google Calendar or iCal. It also supports the family approach we use because you can view and sync multiple Google Calendars with it.

BusySync 2.0 is now out of beta, so I'll be pulling out the credit card for a full license. The cost is $25, but we early adopters can catch a break: buy before May 1 and the cost is just $19.95. In my mind the price is well justified for folks using Google Calendar and a Mac. You can see for yourself with a free 30-day trial.

Is it time for me to embrace the two laptop minimum?

I have always prided myself on my ability to capitalize on one mobile device that will serve all of my varied mobile computing purposes.  I am in a great position to be able to put my hands on a large assortment of mobile devices and use that experience to pick the one mobile device that will fill all of my needs.  The recent discussion about the "two laptop minimum" first got me thinking about my own mobile computing needs and if it's time for me to make a change along those lines.  That premise is that mobile devices are getting more capable and cheaper and that for some mobile workers it is actually more productive to have a larger laptop for serious work and a smaller, more mobile device for field work.

The recent evaluations I have conducted of the Celio Redfly, the HP Mini-Note and the Fujitsu P1620 (I bought that one) have really gotten my thinking process going in overdrive about my long-time philosophy of one tool for all the jobs.  While that has served me well there is no question that in some areas any one given device requires compromise(s) to get the job done.  One device might be sufficient to get a given task done but if the compromise is too great it can make the execution of that task more difficult than it could be.  This has been driven home to me the past few weeks.  I have used a single mobile device, most recently the Fujitsu P1620, for a long time.  The P1620 is an outstanding Tablet PC which I need in my consulting work for taking gobs of notes and its small size makes it an extremely mobile workhorse for that task.  The ability to swivel the screen around when confronted with the execution of writing assignments and I needed to type away meant that the Fuji was a good device to be the one device I use routinely.

Then I started evaluating the HP Mini-Note that is almost as mobile as the Fuji but has a much better (and larger) keyboard for those writing assignments.  The ability to write gobs of prose on the Mini demonstrated to me first-hand how much I in fact compromise when I use the Fuji for that heavy writing.  The Fuji is a much more powerful and full-featured device than the Mini but it doesn't offer nearly as good an experience on writing assignments.  There is no doubt in my mind that I am more productive with the HP Mini on those types of tasks, just as I have no doubt that the Fuji better serves my consulting note-taking needs.  Sure the Fuji can do both types of tasks OK but I am not as good at some of them as I am with the HP.  The fact that the HP is relatively cheap compared to the "all-in-one" devices like the Fuji means that I can have both tools in my kit and use the best tool for a given job in front of me.  That is more productive and is easier on me too.

I have come very close to pushing the button to order an HP Mini-Note for this reason since the evaluation unit I have will go back to HP soon.  I haven't ordered one yet because until I send that one back there is no driving urgency to do so plus I think I'd prefer to order a Mini with XP installed which should be available next month.  The likelihood is I will order a Mini, or something similar that comes along, so that I can use the right tool for the given job.  These lower cost mobile devices are definitely causing me to change the way I think about how I approach my work.  I'm probably not the only one in that regard.

GooSync mimics task synchronization between handhelds, Google Calendar

One of the few synchronization applications for getting Google Calendar info to your handheld just got a wee bit better. GooSync added a new Task synchronization feature to the Premium Account offering, which costs around $40 annually. Since Google Calendar doesn't offer a native task management function, you'll be handling tasks in the GooSync menu bar. Although that's not the ideal situation, I can understand why the GooSync folks developed their own task management functionality. If they had leveraged a third-party alternative like the Firefox extension we recently highlighted, they'd be sucking wind if that solution ever went kaput.

If you don't need advanced sync features like tasks and contacts, GooSync offers a free account that's limited in functionality, but still quite useful. You can sync calendar events both ways 30 days in advance and 7 days in the past between your Google Calendar and over 100 different handheld devices.

(via Darla Mack)

MindNode: free mind-mapping app for Mac OS X Leopard

Here's a nice productivity nugget: a free mind-mapper for Macs running the latest operating system. MindNode doesn't have all the bells and whistles of my favorite comparable app (MindManager, if you must know), but as we like to say around here: "free is good".

You can export your mind maps as .tiff, .pdf, .html, or .opml (which should make Dave Winer a happy camper). Plus, MindNode plays nicely with Quicklook, Spotlight and iChat Theater; I suspect you can share or collaborate in a virtual meeting of the minds. Or "mind" if you only have half a brain between you. ;) The download link might be getting hit pretty hard as I was unable to grab the app, but this is on my "to do" list for sure.

(via TUAW)

PowerPoint presentations in the cloud with Google Docs

The Official Google Docs Blog shares the news for you presenter types: you can now save your presentations as PPT files. That means if you must share your slide-show in native Microsoft Office PowerPoint, the floor is yours. The new option complements the existing two file formats for your presentations: Adobe PDF and basic text. Luckily, the Google Docs team put this news in a blog post and not a PowerPoint presentation. I've sworn myself off of them several years ago and haven't been put to sleep by one since. ;)

How to view two OneNote notebooks side-by-side

Can't say that I've ever needed to do this, but I can see why some folks might want to view two sections in OneNote side-by-side. It's actually quite easy and Dan Escapa's method can be applied to many apps in Microsoft Windows.

1. Just click "Window" in the menu and choose "New Window" or CTRL+M; your choice. This will open up OneNote in a second window.
2. In your Windows Taskbar, CTRL-click both active OneNote Windows to select them.
3. Right-click on one of the OneNote selections in the Taskbar and in the pop-up menu, choose "Show Windows Side by Side"

Now you'll have both OneNote sections sharing an equal portion of the screen so you can cross-check facts, update older notes, or whatever. Steps 2 and 3 above can be applied to any active windows by the way: you always have the option to show active windows side-by-side with this approach.

Use scheduled Sleep in Mac OS X to unplug yourself

As a full-time content creator, I know I spend way too much time working online. When I forget that, my family is kind enough to remind me I should get out of my home office and leave the Mac alone. Note I said they were "kind enough to remind me"; I never said they're kind when they remind me. ;)

Earlier today we had a post on why do people care so much about computer boot times when Sleep and Hibernate functions exist. Although my on-line habits don't seem related to computer power management settings, some deep thought tells me they are. After all, if my computer is sleeping, I can't very well well be online. Maybe I can combine the two concepts to save power for both me and my computer.

Tiny USB Office: a 2.5-megabyte portable productivity suite

We've many covered portable apps in the past: you know, lightweight applications you can put on a USB drive to use on practically any PC. And while flash drives have increased in capacity and decreased in price, it never hurts to look at a super-small option. Enter Tiny USB Office at just 2.5 megabytes in size.

The package includes a full productivity suite complete with an application launcher. You can create spreadsheets, documents, PDF files, databases and outlines just for starters. There's an e-mail client, FTP app and MSN Messenger app as well. Many of the titles can save in standard Office file formats, but I'd probably try them before depending on them for any serious work first. Tiny USB Office is a free download for Windows only. I just might go dig up an old 128 MB flash drive I've had collecting dust for a few years now... could be a nice complement to the Eee PC or good for an older notebook the kids are using.

(via Lifehacker)

Gain some productivity from that cellphone

Regular readers likely won't learn much from this, but folks that have recently found us might benefit from an article I wrote for today's New York Times. The gist is that even if you don't have a new-fangled smartphone, you can still use that feature phone to be productive on the run. Ranging from voicemail-to-text services, voice searching for information on the web, and capturing text with your cellphone camera, there are several, simple ways to get a few things done with your phone whenever you have a few spare minutes.

As always, the NYT editors make me look better than I are... uh, am. And my standard disclosure applies: I'm paid a flat-fee from the NYT, so there's no financial incentive for me to point you over there.

Offline Google Docs coming next week and that's important for mobile device users

There must be a break in the clouds because Google Docs is about to get a little sunshine in the form of offline functionality. Rafe Needleman breaks news that Google Gears support starts rolling out to Google Docs accounts next week. You won't be able to create a new doc offline initially, but you will be able to edit existing docs.

Why is this important to mobile users? Well, I use Google Docs for all of my freelance writing for example. With my mobile devices, I can work anywhere these days, provided I have connectivity. My EV-DO modem offers that, but it comes at a price, and I don't just mean the $60 monthly charge. It uses valuable battery power. Let's imagine that I'm editing a document. [Actually, that isn't hard to imagine with my writing of late.... three to five go-arounds seems to be norm for me.] I can pull down my doc for offline use while using my EV-DO or a WiFi connection. Once I have the doc, I can shut my radios down to cut down on power use while I edit for the next hour or two. Sure, it's not going to give me hours more run-time, but it's smart power management and it will let me be productive longer.

While folks at the Google are messing with Google Gears: any chance for Safari or Opera support? There's more to the web than IE and Firefox. Ok, thx!

How to send web clippings to OneNote from Firefox

Firefox users rejoice! The "Send to OneNote" feature that's native to Internet Explorer can be replicated in Firefox with the "Clip to OneNote" extension. The extension was originally written for Firefox 1.5 and OneNote 2003, but with some help from other sources, Amit shows how to enable it for Firefox 2.x / 3 and OneNote 2007. You'll need the original extension installed and then you'll create two new configuration keys in Firefox. Once done, you're good to go. Amit has the simple instructions over at Digital Inspiration that provide all the details.

Once installed and configured, you'll have a right-click option in Firefox. Simply highlight any parts of a web page (text, pics and links) and then choose the Clip to OneNote selection in the right-click context menu of Firefox. Anything you've highlighted will be sent over to OneNote for later use.

Windows Search 4.0 preview: 33% faster, better remote PC searching

Since I compute more on web-based apps these days, I'm don't often use the integrated search features in Vista and XP's Desktop search tools. Still, I'm thinking of downloading the new Windows Search 4.0 preview version that became available yesterday. According to the Windows Vista Team Blog, the new version is 33% faster when compared to the search tool in Vista's original RTM version. Multiple device owners stand to benefit as well since the Remote Index Discovery function efficently accesses the indices on other Windows devices. And if your index ever gets hosed, the new Windows Search won't take days to build it from scratch. A rollback feature will pull in the last, known good index so your PC will only need to categorize files after the index went kablooey.

FuseCal can sync all of your calendars for free

The whole problem of managing data on multiple machines seems to be more and more a challenge, which is why I highlight these solutions so often. Although it's listed as an "alpha", the free FuseCal got a nice review over at ReadWriteWeb and what makes it standout from the crowd is the support for many calendar applications. The web service can sync between the following calendar clients: Outlook 2003, Outlook 2007, Windows Calendar, Google Calendar, Yahoo! Calendar, iCal and any other web-based calendar that you can subscribe to. Looks like the first sync will require a little time and effort on your part since you pick and choose what events you want moved around to your multiple calendars. After that, you can set up filters for specific events or just have FuseCal sync all of your events across all of your clients. FuseCal can also send you updates if events change... nice.

I'll have to give this one a try; even though I use Google Calendar as my main cal, every once in a while, I'll open up Outlook or iCal. Although FuseCal doesn't sync directly with handhelds, you should be able to get at your event data through ActiveSync or whatever synching application your particular handheld uses.

Need a PDF converter? Here's one on steroids

If you're looking for a PDF conversion application, I highly recommend you consider Nuance's PDF Converter Professional 5.0 application. I only had a few-hundred words to summarize my review (which is tough to do!), but it's up at PC World and it earned a score of 93 out of 100. I found it to be an excellent tool for converting many document types to PDF and back again. It can even create a PDF archive of your Microsoft Outlook mail and will also create PDF packages of multiple files.

Disclosure: I get paid a flat-fee from PC World for what I write, so there's no traffic incentives if you read it or not. I'm simply passing along my written review to folks looking for this type of productivity application.

Dropbox impressions: great for collaboration, multiple platform device synching

Last week, we mentioned Dropbox as another file synchronization service. Thanks to my good friend Dan at UNEASYsilence, I got a beta invite a few days ago and I've been kicking the tires ever since. I like what I'm kicking.

Since I have multiple devices on multiple platforms, I'm gravitating towards file synch tools that work on both Windows and Mac. Dropbox fills the bill with support for Microsoft Windows XP / Vista as well as Mac OS X Tiger / Leopard. Additionally, there's a web interface that I used in Firefox on Xubuntu; this doesn't provide any sync capabilities, but it does offer the ability to get your files.

Gmail IMAP not working with Mac Mail? Google finally admits the issue.

I've held off on this news for a good week or two for a couple of reasons. If you recall, I'd written a series of posts explaining how my Mac Mail client went completely wonky with Gmail's IMAP service. No rhyme or reason, it just started having a problem and when I let Mail run, it hosed up the mail delivery on my Outlook 2007, iPhone and Gmail web clients. Mail would come in minutes, hours or even days later. The Mac Mail client would constantly be in a state of synching, but no data was actually getting synched. All in all, just a general mess that killed my productivity

The issue has been resolved, but unfortunately I can't tell you how. No, I'm not under NDA or anything, it's just that Gmail's support folks simply fixed the problem after three attempts and never told me what the resolution was. I had a great e-mail dialogue going with them the entire time. In fact, I wrote nearly 1,500 words in the e-mail trail since I was explaining to all of the observable issues and all of my testing on a client-by-client basis. The effort and persistence paid off because they put my account under maintenance three times for a total of around 18 hours and the third time was a charm. Even better: Google has recently admitted there is an issue causing this problem and that they're working on it. I've seen many people report this issue both in the Gmail and Apple support forums, so while I don't have the details, I think there's good news on the way. And boy is it good to have e-mail flowing again!

Google "gearing" up for offline calendar use

The Googlfied folks are living up to their names... how else would you figure that they noticed a new "Offline" setting in their Google Calendar settings? It's a pretty safe assumption that we'll soon hear news from Google telling us that we can view and edit our calendars offline. Based on the new setting which I see in my calendar as shown, the offline feature will use Google Gears for the offline use. Presumably, you'll be able to add or edit calendar events while offline and have them sync up when you get back online.

Personally, I can't wait for the feature as I've moved my calendar completely to Google. I use BusySync for a two-way sync between Google Calendar and iCal on my Mac. For my Windows devices that are running Outlook 2007, I use the free new Google app that keeps the calendars identical on both sides; plus that will push the events over to a Windows Mobile device over ActiveSync. And when I have just my iPhone, I have the calendar events synced via iTunes; if I haven't tethered the phone in a while, the Google Calendar web client is of course always up to date. Of course, now that you know my strategy, I have no excuses to be late for anything you invite me to... crap.

(via Download Squad)

Highlight and send info from web pages with Awesome Highlighter

We're all about sharing here so this Lifehacker tip is perfect. I've lost count of how many links and web pages James and I shoot back and forth when we find good info on mobile tech. Often, the key nugget in the page can be overlooked or buried where one of us can't find it. Makes us read the whole thing and that's too much like work. ;)

Enter the Awesome Highlighter web site. Using it, you enter the URL of a web site or page and then highlight any important text in the color of your choice. Once done, you get a short URL to send to a friend; that URL will show them the web page with your highlights. You can give the same info to your Twitter friends via the website too; there's a Twitter link to post what you've highlighted. For the moment, I'll stick with saving web pages in OneNote and highlighting there, but for web users, this is another alternative. Here's the URL of the highlight I show in the picture if you want to get a better idea of how this works.

Are "no laptop" meetings hitting where you work?

Jeremy Zawodny has an interesting blog post about the rise of "no laptop" meetings due to the abuse of the laptop in some companies.  The thought is that since most laptop users are not paying attention then the muckity-mucks ban them to force concentration on the meeting discussion.  I could see this work but I have to admit that the use of laptops in meetings is almost non-existent in my work so it's not a problem.  I have attended a few meetings where laptop usage was discouraged but once I showed them how I take notes on my Tablet PC all were assured I was paying attention.  Hopefully they'll never see my posts on "stealth blogging" in boring meetings.  :)  I can see that meetings can be derailed if everyone is using a laptop and typing away the whole time but I believe there is a better way to force meetings to be better run for everyone.  That's the "no chair" rule.  I guarantee you that meetings will be better focused and shorter if everyone is standing, laptop or no.

Windows Live FolderShare beta gets refreshed

One of the most useful tools for owners of multiple mobile devices is the free Windows Live FolderShare. A good thing gets better today since FolderShare gets an update that promises:

• A new website designed to makes managing your FolderShare libraries and computers even easier.
• A new FolderShare with a better setup, a better system tray menu, and better performance on Windows Vista.
• Improvements on the backend to keep FolderShare running more smoothly and reliably.

FolderShare is great way to keep files and folders in sync between computers... even a Mac and PC. Yup, you can download FolderShare for either OS right here and start keeping files in sync today. I keep most of my data in the cloud, but once my Samsung Q1 Ultra Premium arrives, I'll be testing out some file synching between it and my MacBook Pro.

Handy OneNote tip for inkers

Craig Pringle pointed to a handy feature of OneNote today that I have totally missed before.  I use OneNote very heavily and have never seen what Craig pointed out and it is going to be a huge time saver for me.  What I often do is take notes in OneNote while referring to information in another program or window and I have always toggled between the two windows while doing so.  It works OK but it's a pain to keep jumping between OneNote and the other window while taking notes.  Craig points out that in OneNote you can tell it to keep the OneNote window on top of other windows meaning you can take notes on your OneNote page while keeping the other program open for reference.  Talk about a big time-saver in this situation!  Thanks for pointing out the obvious to us, Craig!

Firefox 3 extension turns web apps into desktop apps

We covered Prism and Fluid before: these apps help you turn a web service into a close approximation of a desktop application. For example, I use Google Docs for my freelance writing; instead of opening up a browser and navigating to Google Docs, I used Prism to create an application shortcut for Google Docs. For all intents and purposes to an end user, it now looks like Google Docs is "installed" on my computer.

Prism is the result of the Mozilla folks, so it's no surprise that they've extended its functionality into Firefox 3 as an extension. Just hit a web service or page in the newest browser, which is still in beta, and you'll have a drop-down option to create a shortcut and icon for your favorite web app.

(via Download Squad)

Google Contacts API released: contacts about to become more useful

If you're connecting to Microsoft Exchange now (or in June with your iPhone), you won't be affected by this next bit o' news. The rest of us however, could us a little more data portability from all of that Gmailing. Wouldn't it be nice to use that contact data, for example? Google seems to think so and they've released their Google Contacts API to help us along. Granted, they didn't announce any new Contact client or service; we'll have to wait for the programmer types to whip up some Contact apps for us. Let's just hope they don't get consumed by the iPhone SDK and forget about the needs of the many. So say we all.

Google Calendar now syncs with Outlook, Windows Mobile

At long last, there's finally a native sync solution between Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook. With a small download from Google, you can now sync appointments in a one-way fashion between the two calendar instances or have a full two-synchronization. There's no setup involved: simply download and install the application, enter your Google Calendar credentials, pick one-or two-way synching and specify how often you want the data aligned.

At the moment, this only works with your primary Google calendar and default Outlook calendar. Since everyone in our family puts their events in their own Google calendar, I'm hoping to see support for shared calendars in the future. For the moment however, this solution will allow Windows Mobile owners using ActiveSync and Outlook to take advantage of Google Calendar if they want to. Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Gmail IMAP and Mac Mail: Houston, we have a problem

This is at least my third mention of a problem between Gmail IMAP and Mac Mail, but I'm raising it again because many others have the same issue and I believe resolution is near. Switching from my hosted Exchange server to Gmail's IMAP service has worked well in general, but for no apparent reason it just tanked for me about three weeks ago. There were no changes in my environment, nor to Mac Mail and I suspected something changed on the server side.

OneNote Powertoy helps you find your favorite notes

In my Flu-recovery mode, I neglected to point out the anticipated OneNote powertoy earlier this week. Thankfully, several of you reminded me via e-mail which tells me two things: you like free powertoys and my personal memory leak issues are now public. ;)

As expected, the free add-on helps you mark and later retrieve favorite bits in OneNote, similar to bookmarks in a browser. With it, you can tag a page, section or notebook as a favorite, making it easier than ever to quickly navigate to the content you need. A handy little function for when OneNote's awesome search feature might be overkill.

Need to track tasks in the cloud? Don't forget 'Remember the Milk'

My move to rely on web services instead of client software has prompted numerous e-mail questions, so I thought to hit another topic briefly: task management. For the few years I used a hosted Microsoft Exchange account, task management was easy to handle: use Outlook and have the tasks sync on all of my computers and handhelds. Removing Exchange from the equation removes that central repository for easily accessible task lists, but Remember the Milk picks it up quite nicely. When RTM first launched it was a simple, web-based task list, but it's morphed well beyond that in terms of a productivity booster, yet it maintains the simplicity it originated with.

BusySync: a two-way street between iCal, Google Calendar

It's no big secret that I've been migrating to the cloud with web apps over the past months and while the approach is far from perfect, it does become more compelling each month. BusySync looks to be another one of those compelling reasons as it provides a two-way sync between iCal on my MacBook Pro in the home office and Google Calendar. BusySync 2.0 is available in public beta right now, while the current production version is 1.5 and costs $19.95 per machine. Version 2 will cost $24.95 per license, but if you buy or currently own a 1.5 license, you'll get a free upgrade. After my 30-day trial is up, I'll decide to purchase or not.

My first impression is that the software does what it says; the above "BusySync test" appointment was entered in iCal and now shows on Google. My setup to this point was to use Google Calendar for all event entry since they filter down to iCal via the native calendar subscription method. After using BusySync, I see that I can enter events in iCal and have them automatically appear in my Google Calendar. It looks like there are plenty of customization options in terms of calendars you do or don't want synched, which is great for multiple calendar users, how often you want them synchronized and more. So far, so good for BusySync on day one. Folks looking for similar solutions should also consider Spanning Sync and the open source GCALDaemon.

(via Infinite Loop)

Gmail slowness caused by issue in Mac Mail?

Last week I shared a very strange Gmail IMAP issue that I was having: mail was delayed from 30 minutes to three days. Adding to the timeliness issues was the fact that mail wasn't coming in chronologically, so I never knew if my Inbox was actually up to date even when mail starting coming in. All in all, a terrible experience. The Google Gmail team has been responsive in requesting additional information, which is great for a free service. However, it appears I've found the issue through some research and testing. Looks to be a corrupt mailbox on my local machine: specifically, on my MacBook Pro.

Take control of your time the easy way

After watching Merlin's great presentation on taking control of your own work time I started thinking about a lot of the little things I do each day to prevent losing focus on the current task at hand.  The more I thought about it the more I realized I am already doing a lot of things to keep my attention on the job and I want to share those.  I don't use a defined method like GTD but I do a lot of things that when put together helps me concentrate on the real job I need to get done.  I am not advocating that everyone should do these things, rather I am just pointing out what I am doing that works well for me.  Most of these things are what I do using Outlook since that's what controls my email, a big time sink for me.  The concepts should work on just about any platform though so read on if you're interested.

Merlin Mann on Attention Sinks and Time Burglars

One of the basic tenets of trying to get control of your time and increase your productivity is to figure out how to eliminate those things that grab your attention away from the task at hand and to spot those things that take your time.  Merlin Mann of 43 Folders, someone I respect greatly and have corresponded with for years, recently gave a presentation at MacWorld about this very subject.  His presentation is one of the best I have seen on this topic and in Merlin's typical entertaining style and I highly recommend you let him steal an hour of your time and watch it.  I was happy to see him agree with me about the "Ding!" affect and how much that can steal you away from the real task at hand.  You'll have to watch it to see what that is but if you've followed my stuff you have heard me say the same thing for years.  Well done Merlin!

Snail mail is now faster than Google's Gmail

Regular readers know I've been slowly migrating from a hosted Exchange plan for my e-mail over to Google's Gmail service mainly due to their IMAP offering. The delay in my move is mainly due to moving mail from one service to another; when I have time (and remember the task), I move a bunch of mail items from the Exchange server into my Google account. Perhaps taking my time has been a good omen.

For the past week, I've noticed varying delays in receiving messages. The delay can be as little as 30 minutes, but has been as much as three days. There seems to be no rhyme or reason and apparently others are experiencing the issue as well.

Warp between Spaces in Leopard with a mouse

Hot on the heels of yesterday's Virtual Desktop freeware for Windows, we've got a similar one for Mac users courtesy of Dave Zatz. He shot us a note about Warp, a free Mac OS X Leopard download that allows you to use your mouse to navigate among Spaces. Once installed, you'll have a new preference pane in System Preferences to configure Warp and then you're set. The latest version supports item dragging between spaces, ignoring hot-corners, the Dock and Menubar and a few non-English languages. The app is free, but donations to Kent Sutherland, the developer, can be made if you see value from his effort. He's got a great video demonstration of how Warp works right on the product page. Meanwhile, I'm having fun moving around at Warp Speed: I've set the delay to 0.0 seconds, just for fun. ;)

VirtuaWin adds up to 255 desktops to Win 95, 98, 2000, XP

Want to expand your desktop with several virtual desktops? You could go with Microsoft's own Virtual Desktop Manager PowerToy, but it's geared for XP and it only offers four "spaces" to work in. (Sorry Mac fans, I had to use that word)

If you're looking for that same functionality but with more potential desktops or you're running an older version of Windows, you might want to check VirtuaWin, an open source virtual desktop app. VirtuaWin works on practically every version of Windows up to XP and offers you a brain-overloading 255 desktops on your single machine. I struggle to maintain a single desktop, so I'll leave this to those with more neural pathways than me. I suspect I have a case of ADDD: Attention Desktop Deficit Disorder. In all seriousness, an approach like this can help expand the small screen of a UMPC, even if it's only virtually. You can set up a desktop for productivity apps, one for messaging, one for media, etc...

(via Download Squad)

RoadSync from DataViz - 40% off this month

Amidst all of the iPhone hype last summer, I showed a brief video overview of RoadSync from DataViz. This third party app provides an alternative method for Windows Mobile devices to synch with Microsoft Exchange, plus it brings this functionality to other platforms like Symbian, UIQ and Palm OS. Normally the software runs you $49.99, but I just got word from the DataViz folks that you can grab it for $29.99, which is 40% off. You can always trial the software for 30-days before dropping some coin, but this offer expires at the end of the month.

If your running Windows Mobile 5 or 6, you're outta luck on this one as the product only supports Windows Mobile 2003 on the Microsoft side. In the short time I used RoadSync on a Nokia N81, I was generally impressed. It's a great solution for devices that don't have a native way to synch to Microsoft Exchange 2003 or 2007.

TimeBridge meeting coordination service adds free conference calls

Last month I covered TimeBridge for PC World, a service that essentially coordinates meeting times for you among various attendees. I found the service to be every effective and a real time-saver. One of the biggest benefits is that it doesn't require everyone to be on the same mail and calendar platform. Very slick. Since I have an account with the TimeBridge folks, I just got notification from them today about a nice addition to the service.

"These days we often gather on the phone rather than around a conference room table. So we just added a new feature to TimeBridge which allows you to include a free conference call with any meeting. With just one click, your call is automatically provisioned. No credit card or sign up is required. Your attendees will get call-in information automatically so everyone has the information at their fingertips when it comes time for the meeting."

Looks like the free TimeBridge service is taking the next step to make meetings become a little easier to swallow. That's a good thing because if there's one thing I can't stand, it's meetings. At least the set-up and logistics don't need to be painful too now.

Freeware offers simple doc uploading to Google Docs

I'm always on the lookout for ways to make using Google Docs easier on my mobile devices and this freeware meets that requirement. The Google Documents List Uploader is quite a mouthful to say, but it's simpl