Taking Notes on an iPad 2

November 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I recently purchased an iPad 2, my first since iPad, but have been on the prowl for the best note-taking app. There are so many variations as to why you are needing to take notes, but for me the requirements were simple:

  1. I wanted to be able to type and also use handwriting for marking up as I’m a doodler.
  2. I wanted to have access to my dropbox folder so I can read PDF’s that I’ve saved there, mark them up, highlight, etc.
  3. I wanted to be able to share the final notes easily.
  4. I wanted to have a great way of keeping my notes organized as what I have been using before this was 3 or 4 different notebooks spread around 3 different desks. Not optimal.
Many people swear by Evernote, I haven’t really gotten into it and I’m not sure why, even before getting an iPad. My main hang-up for using Evernote as a note-taking app is that you can’t use handwriting. I moved on.
I tried GoodNotes and really liked almost everything about it, except that it didn’t let me type – though to their credit it isn’t supposed to and I knew that before purchasing. Once I started using it “for real” I realized that was something that I was going to value.
I gave Notes Plus, Note Take HD and Notability a look, but didn’t really feel like paying so much.
Along came a review on appadvice.com and whamo! Lead me to Notarize. This app did the trick. And best of all, FREE. Highly recommend for any iPad users out there.
Filed Under: Reviews, Software/Apps

Still Not Sure About Google Plus

September 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

It’s been a while since receiving my invite to the beta of Google Plus. At first, I jumped right in, updated my profile, created some circles, connected with the people who I knew already on there, good times.

Then the reality hit that there were a ton of people NOT on Google+. The people who were active were people I was already following on Twitter or Facebook or other sites so it began to feel a bit redundant.  As well, I then had to re-connect with everyone and group them into areas that I think they would fit, try and remember why I had followed someone to begin with on Twitter, re-evaluate my “friends”; all-in-all a very time-consuming task. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Online Tools, Opinion, Reviews, Social Media

Google+ Takes on Facebook

July 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Unfortunately I won’t really get to play with Google Plus it until I get my invite. It’s actually a little surprising for me as I have been a google account holder forever and yet still didn’t get the early nod. I did read an interesting take by Chris Brogan that actually makes me quite excited about the possibilities. I’ll post more later once I’ve had a chance to play around.

Filed Under: Opinion, Reviews

I Miss My Tabs, Facebook

March 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Recently Facebook announced a change to pages. While there are some things that are nice in terms of interaction, I really am not liking the new navigation option. Basically they have gone from the tabbed approach to a left navigation one.

While most users do expect to use a left navigation what I really found great about the “old” pages was the horizontal tabs that almost worked as a sub-navigation. Now all navigation items are in a row on the left. I actually find this to be a big disappointment as it’s harder to highlight the apps, pages, information that you really want people to see. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Opinion, Reviews, Social Media Tagged With: ,

Mozy.com Back Up Break Up

February 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

It’s official. I’m single.

Mozy and I had to break up. We had a pretty good run and I will say there was great potential for a long-lasting relationship, but things happen. Namely, this happened.

As in every relationship it’s the subtle things. From the announcement there is the causal line of “we’re replacing our Unlimited backup plan.” Replacing? With what? Oh, that’s right, you’re replacing it with a plan that just quadrupled my price each month. Yeah, thanks for that. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Opinion, Reviews, Software/Apps

One Powerful Shopping Cart

January 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

So you want to open an online store?  Great!  Just get your web-guy cousin to hook you up with one…there’s just a few things you have to get figured out first:

  • What store software will you use?
  • How will you host the store?
  • Will your site have an SSL Certificate installed so you can accept credit cards?
  • How easy will it be to update your store or will you have to wait for your cousin to get to it?
  • How will your store get found online?
  • What features do you want and will all those features be covered by the software you have now installed?  What about in 2 months when a new “big thing” is happening on shopping carts around the world, how will you adapt

The list could go on and on.  Honestly, it’s more daunting than you think to host your own store.  Luckily, the folks at www.bigcommerce.com have come through huge with a complete e-commerce solution to have you up and running in minutes! [Read more...]

Filed Under: E-Commerce, Online Tools, Reviews, Software/Apps, Solutions

Facebook Adds a “See Friendship” Link

December 17, 2010 By 1 Comment

So logged in to Facebook today and saw a new link I hadn’t noticed before. There is now a “See Friendship” link. It basically takes you to a page that shows the interactions, pictures, etc. that you have had between another person. You can even see interactions that other people have had with each other.

At first glance I thought this was a cool idea.  The more I think of it, what exactly are we accomplishing?  Are we trying to snoop on others or “test” friendships?  Do we now need Facebook to decide the value of the friendship?  Maybe I’m over-thinking this, but it seems like an odd thing to add.  I can see this being really dangerous to some relationships, to be honest.  If you have a significant other, but they have more interactions with someone online, yaddi yadda.  It also seems like a further way to embed ourselves in our virtual relationships.

Anyone have other perspectives?  Like it?  Don’t?

Filed Under: Online Tools, Reviews Tagged With:

Why I Gave Up on the Droid Eris

August 31, 2010 By 1 Comment

I have been eyeing the Android market for a while now.  As a loyal Verizon guy (sorry, way too many bad experiences with AT&T) I couldn’t make the switch to iPhone so had to just patiently wait.  In the waiting I started to get excited about Android.  Open-source, cheaper units to buy, integrated with Google where my entire virtual life lives all made it a very appealing option.

I broke down and turned in the Blackberry Curve for an Eris.  I was up for a renewal so my $40 investment felt pretty good, though I hate long-term contracts, but that’s for another post. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Desktop Sharing Using join.me – a Review

August 29, 2010 By 1 Comment

I recently found the need to share my desktop with a few people and wanted a better option to LiveMeeting, GoToMeeting and Yugma.  I could review those as well, but will stick to one that I found recently that is still in beta but was a great alternative.

After stumbling upon join.me (created by LogMeIn) I was immediately impressed with how SIMPLE it was!  Download this packet and presto!  It assigns you a number that you can email or share and people can just go to that URL and they are on.  For those joining the presentation it’s such a clean experience as there’s absolutely nothing to install. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Online Tools, Reviews, Software/Apps, Solutions

WordPress for Blackberry

August 5, 2010 By 1 Comment

I have been wrestling to try and figure out how to get the email-to-post to work on this WordPress installation. This is something fairly straight forward, and yet came to realize that because I am using Google Apps for my email, so far no good. There are a ton of posts ‘out there’ as to something that changed in December not allowing this to happen any longer.

Plan B to the rescue. The issue was that I wanted to be able to post from my phone so I just downloaded the Worpress app for blackberry. The only thing I had to do was enable the XML-RPC option under Settings – Writing on my WordPress install.

Not a ton of bells and whistles but if you’re looking for a nice alternative to posting by email, give the WordPress app a try. This is my first post with it so I might have more thoughts in the comments section…

Are you using it? Anyone using the WordPress app for Android or iPhone who want to chime in?

Filed Under: Reviews, Software/Apps Tagged With: ,

Change Your Business or Your World One Linchpin At A Time

February 11, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Seth Godin Linchpin review

affiliate link

If you are unhappy in your current job, you need to read this book.
If you are thinking about starting (or maybe already started) your own business and have hit some challenges, this is a must read for you.
If you are in a rut professionally/personally, this book should be in your hands. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Books, Reviews

The New Facebook Layout is Much Improved

February 5, 2010 By Leave a Comment

So I logged in to my facebook account today and noticed the layout had changed. I heard rumblings that this was going to happen and honestly, I was hoping for a good change. So far, I think I got what I hope for. The previous version had some pretty frustrating things that have since been changed. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Online Tools, Reviews Tagged With:
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