So for about the last month, I’ve been using a steno pad to keep my daily to-do list.
Yeah, I know — I have a to-do list on my Palm, and in Outlook, and they sync, and everything’s cool, so why aren’t I using that?
Because I can scribble notes a lot faster in a steno pad, outlining and arrowing relationships and just plain doodling, than I can in an electronic to-do list. That might be training, but I’ve been doing this for a while. I’ve never managed to keep an electronic to-do list for very long.
The biggest problem I have is that an analog item, like, for example, a steno pad, only exists in one place at a time. It doesn’t get backed up. It can be left places — say, for example, on the breakfast table at home because I went home early yesterday and did some work from there and was too muzzyheaded-sleepy to spot it and pack it up with my laptop when I was heading for work this morning.
For example.
Rrg.
Yeppers!
Still in the Post-it/Steno pad world. Have been known to put post-its on the door so do not forget things when I am in the “muzzyheaded-sleepy” mode in the morning.
And oddly…
Several years ago on fresh air they were interviewing the two big-wigs behind the whole PDA thing. They were asked if they thought that Bill Gates and Microshaft were a threat to them, and if the were worried about MS competition. “No, not really” one of them responded “Our competition is Post-it notes and note pads…we have to be better, faster and easier to use then those things…”
Food for thought for you Dave!
There’s certainly something to be said for that. My Palm is great for reference — phone lists, longer to-do/memo/alarm items, and like that. But as well as I do Grafitti, it’s still slower than handwriting, and a typing model (while having its own advantages) is less dynamic than what I can do with a pen.
Once we have tablet PCs that only cost a few hundred bucks and have perfect handwriting recognition … maybe.
I dunno. I go back and forth on this one.
The most reliable way I’ve found of making sure that I grab something to take with me in the morning is to set my car keys on it. That works great for, say, Katherine’s lunch bag or something, but for something a bit more mundane (like, for example, a steno pad) it’s a bit tougher. I mean, if I’d thought of it last night, I’d’ve put the damned thing in my brief case to begin with.
I’ve been doing a bit of family genealogy in my free time, and let me tell you, paper and pencil is important. In fact, one of my best assets is printing short geneaolgies from my database and then writing on them; it’s a confluence of technologies.
And as long as I’m writing for myself, I’m ok. I don’t expect others to read my writing.
Check this out.
A pen that allows you to write normally and then you can download your writing to a computer.
Logitech is hoping its new Io digital pen will make the PC mightier, and easier to use, than the sword
About the size of a standard ballpoint, the Io captures and stores a digital version of a person’s handwritten notes. These can then be downloaded, still in handwritten form, to a computer. Logitech unveiled the gadget on Wednesday at this week’s DemoMobile conference.
The pen is equipped with an optical sensor that captures the notes a person writes on a special pad of paper. The Io can store up to 40 pages of handwritten notes in its internal memory, using an image file format. These files are then transferred to a PC via a USB (universal serial bus) connection located in the Io’s ink well-like cradle. The notes can then be added to documents or attached to emails.
Hmmm. Seems to me I’ve heard of that. It sounds promising — but I’m awful at losing pens. I just use the cheap ones from the office, because they’re infinately replaceable. Give me a pen that actually costs money, and I’m doomed.