Using Evernote
Managing all the information in my life is a constant battle. From remembering little tidbits at work, to recalling the model of a water filter. I’ve found as I get older I have more and more things to keep track of. So, I’ve always been on the lookout for programs which can help me do so. Evernote is a program/service that I’ve used for a number of years. But it is only recently that I’ve begun to use it to it’s full potential. It’s an example of how technology can help humans manage things.
Evernote has two major things going for it that allow it to live within almost any workflow. The first being device independence. You can use it on your desktop, android/ios device, or the web. That combined with the interaction with other applications via its API really makes it shine.
The trick for me to use it more and more has been the tagging. Notebooks are important, but since it is basically a data repository, search is much more important. So proper tagging is required in order to use it. Without tagged entries it becomes nearly impossible to track what you put in it. This also means that I’ve ended up putting all sorts of random, and not so random, data into it. I have technical data, project stuff, travel information, recipes, model numbers for some house stuff. I’ve found that by making it a default to send it stuff I know I may want to keep that it becomes more valuable. It also has saved me quite a few times by having data I could not find elsewhere. It also has me wondering though, how others use Evernote or similar programs.
Steve Jobs Resigns
Steve Jobs resigned as the CEO of Apple Inc. on Wednesday. He will still be the Chairman of the Board though. You can read his letter here.
I am not going to speculate about why though. The media has done an overly thorough job of discussing his health issues of the last few years. He simply stated he cannot perform those duties anymore. Not an easy thing to decide I am sure.
One thing I know is that the reports of Apples demise are being greatly exaggerated. The expected stock dip has occurred as well as the morbidly obituary-like articles about this change. It seems to me that Jobs’ goals regarding Apple were never as simple as building some cool gadgets, some nifty toys for us all to use. To quote John Gruber:
Jobs’ greatest creation isn’t any Apple product. It’s Apple itself.
It’s true. Apple is more than Steve but it also is, in essence, Steve. This is why I think Apple will continue to do what it has done. It will be different but it will still be Apple.
Microsoft Skype?
I am scratching my head over this one. The NYTimes has a story this morning – “Microsoft in Talks to Acquire Skype for $8.5 Billion”. I am rather skeptical Skype is worth even half of that. I guess they don’t recall what happened to Ebay. From the article:
But the deal never lived up to its promise and eBay took a $1.4 billion write-down on its investment.
As it is, I don’t see how Skype has much of a business model beyond ads and some . The whole freemium model has always made me skeptical. Most people are going to go skype to skype which is free.
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