Evernote, convenience, and habits

I was recently catching up on some of my favorite blog stops, and just read an article from a few months back on the Success Begins Today blog, where John talks about the lovely marriage that is Evernote+iPad 2.  John and I are usually of like mind, and our fondness for Evernote is no exception.

Background

I'm a long-time user of Evernote which, if you aren't familiar with it, is an excellent capture and recall tool for storing all kinds of digital information.  You can take pictures of things and add them as a note, you can type things in, you can forward emails and PDF's to it, and much more.

Everything you send to Evernote gets indexed and stored in your account on its cloud-based service.  Once the information is indexed, you can quickly retrieve it based on tags, location, or keyword searches (it will even convert text in pictures to a searchable form - it is awesome for retrieving pictures you've taken on whiteboard diagrams with lots of text on them).

Evernote offers a robust free account, as well as a subscription option (faster indexing of your files, and more monthly storage - most people will be fine with the free version).

Evernote makes it easy to collect and interact with this data - you can run desktop clients on your computer, access it in a web browser, or from mobile clients on most tablets or smartphones.  Very simple.

Challenges

For me, the hardest things with adopting Evernote were:

1. Developing the habit of using Evernote
   • The number of clients available for Evernote (see above) makes this easier but, like with any new process, it took me a while to develop the habit of entering my notes into Evernote.  I wish there were some magic potion that would make this easy, but I don't know of one.
   • One thing that can help is to ditch your paper notepad for a while so you are encouraged to take notes directly into Evernote.
2. Taking notes directly into Evernote in meetings
   • There were a couple of problems in this area:
     • first, my computer was a bit bulky so I didn't carry it around to all my meetings;
     • second, the soft keyboard on my phone or iPad were kind of a pain to type on and I ended up spending more time concentrating on finger typing than I did on the contents of the meeting.
   • The best solution I found for this was to get the Zagg ZaggFolio for my iPad 2.  This is a combination iPad 2 case and Bluetooth keyboard.  When I use this in combination with the Evernote iPad app, I can use my touch-typing skills to easily take notes in my meetings.  The iPad's 10-hour battery life plus the long life of this keyboard (I charge it every month or two) makes this a much better alternative than my laptop.

So, if you're looking for a great way to centralize all your meeting notes, easily retrieve them, and you have an iPad, I think this is a great solution.

I have a new favorite laptop bag

My old laptop bag was beginning to fall apart, so I got The North Face Off-Site Laptop Bag the other day.  I absolutely love it.  You see, I have this "thing" about laptop bags - I'm very picky and usually dissatisfied.  I get a lot of flak from my wife for the number of bags I discard (give away, sell, etc.) because they frustrate me.

But this bag?  Awesome.  The North Face ranks as my #1 favorite bag (I'll share my #2, etc. at the end of this post, along with my favorite laptop backpacks).

Here is why I love this bag:

• This bag is extremely light, but has a ton of space (over 1800 cubic inches)
• There are "cinch straps" on the sides so you can compress it to a smaller size when it is fairly empty, or expand it when you are carrying a bunch of stuff
• Waterproof zippers keep your stuff dry in the rain
• The North Face makes extremely durable products, so this should last a long time (and it has a lifetime warranty against defects)
• There are a lot of pockets with a good range of sizes, which makes it easy to tuck away cables, power supplies, etc. for easy organization and access
• The laptop compartment is roomy for up to 17" laptops (my MacBook Pro 15" fits beautifully) - and the padding along the bottom of the bag is excellent
• There is an expandable front pocket that can expand enough to hold a bike helmet if you are into that sort of thing
• It comes in brown or black (I chose the brown) and looks casual, yet business-like
• The strap and carry handle are very comfortable

So, if you tend to carry a lot of stuff with you when you travel, I think you'll love The North Face Off-Site Laptop Bag.

The rest of the story - other strong choices:

I mentioned I had a few other favorites - here are my top choices:

Shoulder-carry laptop bags:

1. The North Face Off-Site Laptop Bag - see above.
2. Timbuk2 Commute 2.0 - This one isn't quite large enough for me, but it's a terrific bag. If you like messenger-style bags, check this one out.  Good use of space, very tough, very water-resistant, and checkpoint friendly.
3. Briggs & Riley @Work Computer Case - Spacious, versatile with lots of pockets.  A bit on the heavy side, and pricey though.
4. Tumi Alpha Large Expandable Organizer Computer Briefcase - big, lots of pockets and tough. Very expensive and the computer compartment has a very rigid reinforcement panel that can make it tough to get under some airline seats.

Laptop backpacks - note, I don't use backpacks much in business, since they look too casual for some of the meetings I attend. On vacation, backpacks are my favorite.

1. Brenthaven Trek Expandable Backpack - This is a very durable, fantastic laptop bag with great use of space. Comfortable, with nice straps.
2. Briggs & Riley @Work Computer Backpack - Great bag, lots of padding, but a bit short on pockets for me and it's pretty tight (not expandable) so it doesn't always cooperate when I overstuff it. Comfortable and durable.
3. SwissGear Carbon Backpack - Spacious, lots of pockets.  Shoulder straps are too short for someone tall like me, and it doesn't have compression straps so it feel big even when it's empty.

I've used more than my fair share of laptop bags in the last 20 years - I feel like you can't go wrong with any of the bags on this list.  Let me know what you think, if you get one of them.

One thing missing from the Mac: ClearContext

In the past, I've written a lot about Getting Things Done (GTD) and my journey with it.  One of the shining points along the way was finding ClearContext, which is an Outlook add-in for WIndows that transforms how you can use GTD with Outlook. I've written a lot about ClearContext, as well.

As you may also know, I switched to the Mac about a year ago and one of the hardest things to do without has been ClearContext.  I'm now using Outlook 2011 for Mac, but it apparently isn't quite as extensible as the Windows version of Outlook (I'm hoping Microsoft addresses this crippling limitation in future release of Outlook for the Mac).

Anyway, if you are looking for an awesome product to help you up your game with GTD, I encourage you to check out ClearContext.  Their latest release (which a few of my colleagues are using) has a lot of new functions to help automate a lot of the categorization, filing, and other kinds of mundane tasks so you can better focus on getting your work done efficiently.

If you've never looked at ClearContext, start with the intro video before, then head over to the ClearContext site for a free trial.  If you've looked at ClearContext before but not acted, give it a second look.

And Microsoft:  If you're listening, please open up Outlook on the Mac to enable fantastic products like ClearContext.

Longer battery life for your iPhone

Even though my iPhone 4's battery life is much better than my old iPhone 3Gs's battery life, I still need extra juice.  I notice it most when I'm traveling, such as when I attend a trade show or similar event.

In these situations, I am often on-the-go from early in the morning until well past midnight and tend to use my phone a lot more for social media, map searches, email, etc.  That means I often run my phone down by early evening.  Not good.

The solution? For the past couple of months, I've been using a Mophie Juice Pack Air battery pack / sleeve for my iPhone 4 and I love it (I have the black version - the red ones weren't available when I bought mine - bummer).

The Mophie Juice Pack air is a thin, light sleeve for the iPhone 4 that not only protects the phone, it has a built-in battery you can use to fully recharge your phone.

The Mophie has a switch on it that lets you decide when you want to tap into the reserve battery. I tend to wait until I'm at about 15-20% remaining battery, then flip the Mophie's switch and let it recharge my phone.  It has saved me on a number of occasions, I assure you.

The Mophie Juice Pack air includes the battery pack / sleeve itself, along with a cable you can use to charge and sync your phone to your computer (the only thing I don't like:  the Mophie uses a Micro-USB port instead of a larger, more robust port (I think all Micro-USB's are a bit too flimsy for my taste).

So, if you use your phone a lot and find yourself running out of juice during the day, you'll love the Mophie JuicePack Air (yes, it's still small enough to fit in your pocket with the Mophie on the phone).

By the way - if you have an iPhone 3Gs, you can still get a Mophie Juice Pack Air for the iPhone 3Gs - my son is using my old phone and old Mophie, and it would be very difficult to get him to part with the JuicePack Air.

Pzizz Sleep Science - now there is an app for that!

A few years ago, I became an avid user of a product called "Pzizz".  In the words of their website, Pzizz is a "a unique audio system that helps you nap during the day or get to sleep at night, " as well as helping you "Solve sleep problems, boost energy and reduce stress."

The original version of Pzizz that I purchased is an application that runs on your computer, then generates a custom sound file you can play on your iPod or other music player.  Pzizz allows you to create "nap soundtracks" that use scientifically designed audio to help you sleep.  You can create two kinds of naps with Pzizz:

1. "Sleep naps" which help you get to sleep and influences your sleep in a way that helps you get a good, deep sleep and wake up refreshed.
2. "Energizer naps" which help you take a short nap and wake up feeling refreshed.

I am a huge fan of Pzizz - especially for jet lag and long, grueling trade shows.  I wrote about my experiences with it here in two posts: "Pzizz: State Of The Art Power Napping" and  my "Pzizz Field Update."

Recently, I discovered that there are two iPhone apps for Pzizz - one for Sleep naps and one for Energizer naps.  I bought them both a few weeks ago in the App Store - very reasonably priced, and they work like a charm.  Click the links below to see them in the App Store.  Enjoy!