The Search for the Uber Info Management System Pt 2: Or Why we like a good old SYNC

The attraction of Google Docs was irresistable initially, with the ability to have your files available in any location. In hindsight, Google's cloud provision for true portability forced myself and others to change working practices in order to gain that portability. In reality is this really true portability when you do not have the actual physical document? And I've asked myself this question again, when finding myself with flaky or no internet connections, forcing me to download a local copy and then create my own ad-hoc versioning system to overwrite the old document online in Goodle Docs. Enter DropBox. Actually, I had a DropBox account for a couple of years, but never used it as was blinded by Google's offering. It was initially a need to transfer files to my iPhone that made me revisit the service, then finding myself with an intermittent internet service when travelling that made me look again at my current Google Docs system. Using it for the iPhone again, I realised just how seamless and quick the synchronisation worked, giving me true portability to all my files. I then thought, wouldn't this work great if I had all my Google Docs downloaded into my DropBox folder. No need to to download and create separate archived versions. DropBox would just handle all automagically! Well today rather than attempt at using DropBox purely for archiving or back-up, will make it my primary file management system. Thus keeping all things centralised and no need for multiple Google Accounts. What's your solution? Let me know. Always have your stuff when you need it with @Dropbox. 2GB account is free! http://db.tt/XdAwKX8

Netvibes: the return of the power start page

Way back in the mists of the dawn of the internet, there was once a young Prince among the new internet pioneers, that Prince was Yahoo and their key technology was what was called a web portal. A central hub of content, news, and services. Yahoo gave you the ability to personalise this portal with your own page, imaginatively called "My Yahoo!", in which you could pull content from the main portal and customise and arrange how you see fit.

I recall back in the late 90's and early 2000's that this was my hub of choice and was a fundamental element of my desktop productivity. At some stage however, I stopped using My Yahoo, and later eventually migrated away from all their services (as late as 2007) and sadly said goodbye. This move, you guessed it, was initiated by the arrival of new services that did the job better. Namely, Google. But while GMail, GCal and Google search became an integral part of my online life, iGoogle (Google's answer to My Yahoo), just didn't cut it for me. Specifically the UI was horrid. So my start page days were dead and buried. It was a case of constantly customising my various machine desktops and browser settings specific to that machine. This was a pain, and even with browser tweaks, your customisations were still tethered to specific machines. You couldn't jump on another machine and get all your personalised content to go.

So after a number years messing with machine desktop customisations with each change, the need for a centralised personal portal became more pressing. Also, even with all my most needed resources bookmarked and close at hand, I still found myself managing and switching between multiple windows. So I though I'd check into iGoogle and see if anything's been updated. Sadly, no. Cool gadgets, but still the horrendous UI. I knew of Netvibes but never tried it, namely because I didn't want to move outside of Google's metaverse, but this time thought I'd give it a try. A web search of "google inside netvibes" brought of the following useful links:

http://www.solo-technology.com/blog/2007/12/11/google-reader-in-netvibes-solved/

http://webworkerdaily.com/2007/05/04/web-worker-head-to-head-igoogle-vs-netvibes/

http://mashable.com/2007/05/08/netvibes-personal-office/

http://www.christine.net/2008/04/goodbye-google.html

Initial thoughts. Powerful widget platform. Can add services with a drag and drop, mind you some can be improved upon. Not only can you separate content and services via tabs, but you can also add dashboards which essentially equates to desktop workspaces. This means you can contextualise your work and cut out distractions. So personal items can be easily separated from work items for example. Although very powerful and intuitive there was one thing less intuitive, and that was the ability to copy tabs. You would assume this would be in manage dashboards, but you can achieve this by clicking the share this tab button. Other gripes. Feed content does not update immediately. Hopefully this is a bug with the new Netvibes Wasabi version and will be ironed out at some point.

Overall, have found it a powerful aid to desktop productivity. Haven't decided to ditch Google Reader, as would prefer to just integrate that into Netvibes. Haven't been successful with this so far, as Google as place frame restrictions on its content. If anyone, knows any further Netvibes tips, then please let me know.

The search for the uber info management system...

Haven't posted for a while, but thought it worth sharing my thoughts on the above. I'll add more as I get closer to an ideal system. Much of this post is gleaned from my comments on other blogs. So excuse the format.

Great post! I've posted some thoughts, included below, on my search for an uber info management system on a couple of other blogs recently. I arrived at this juncture simply by looking for a way to sync with Google Docs, but I've always been refining my current system, and so requirements include all info capture. I.e. email, notes on the go, feeds, bookmarks and docs etc. I am looking to replace WriteRoom with either NotesPro, EverNote or email to Blogger.com. Ideally, would like to have my info in discreet silos, but with one centralised view and search. So Gmail for email, GTD, tasks and notes, Google Reader for feeds and mail lists, Bookmarks for web clippings, and NotesPro + Google Docs or EverNote. I think I've already discounted email to Blogger as this is the same as my email note to self method and adds an external app to the equation. Right now I'm leaning towards NotesPro because of it's Google Docs syncing, and don't will probably halt my EverNote experiment for now. I'll let the centralised view and search idea stew for a while and see what comes up

Just wrote a long comment and lost it. Anyway, arrived here looking for an improvement to my current info capture method, which is a very streamlined context based Gmail GTD and WriteRoom. I ditched Superstars and cut some more granular GTD Gmail labels as this was getting unwieldly. Ideally wanted to sync with Google Docs, and believe an iPhone app will shortly be able to do that better than what’s out there right now. But I came across Ruud Heins/Darren Crawford while searching. Whilst I am looking for some justification to use Evernote over my existing system, apart from it’s centralisation, syncing and OCR abilities, the use of it combined with a Gmail GTD system seems like duplication or overkill. People on both threads have talked of emailing to Gmail and then forward to Evernote, and using that Gmail copy as an archive. Doesn’t this make EN superfluous? Would love to hear other thoughts on this.

Just realised this search for a simple way to sync with Google Docs has thrown up other needs. So currently.
- Use Gmail GTD for notes and tasks
- WriteRoom for mobile ideas and text capture
- Google Docs for doc management
- Google bookmarks, Gmail and Reader for web clippings

So I think the requirement is to supplement Gmail GTD and Google Docs, but replace Google bookmarks and Gmail for web clips etc in a more centralised method. Go on convince me!

http://ruudhein.com/gmail-to-evernote-information-management-workflow
http://darrencrawford.com/my-simple-gtd-evernote-combo/
http://justanotheriphoneblog.com/wordpress/iphone-software/notes-pro-new-iphone-notes-app-syncs-with-google-docs-has-spotlight-style-search
http://www.cloudnotes.net/2009/06/why-google-reader-is-still-hugely.html

Not So iPod Touch Heaven

This guy really needs to take a chill pil and take stock of things. Kill the arrogance and start listening to your customers. Says me, one definitely pissed customer right now.

Well there I was last weekend mosing around London town when I decided to pop into the Apple store on Regent street, just to see what the latest was. The guys in the genius bar told me they knew nothing about any upcoming plans for the Touch or iPhone, and they were geniuses! It said so on their t-shirts! They added that even when Lord Steve visits them they are not permitted in his presence, and they have to leave the store. I asked if he was God, they told me it seems so. In any case, they advised me to at least stick with my original plan and don't hack the device just yet, as this would void my warrantly and the new third party apps will require official certificates. I left somewhat a little bemused.

Anyway, a couple days later I check Google Reader to discover that a new update is available for the Touch. Entitled version 1.1.3, it enables movie and TV programme buying via the iTunes store for later viewing on the Touch. In addition you require this version in order to add the new mail and weather apps etc, but wait for it, at a fee of $20. That's £12.99 to us Brits. Yes I heard you gasp, so did many journalists at Apple's keynote speech when Jobsy announced it. Aparently, he still kept a straight face. It seems the price may have something to do with Apple's accounts reporting. Some complex Sarbanes-Oxley compliancy or whatever.

Well like all the other poor sods (sucker for the Yanks) out there I handed over the cash, only to get a few apps, and a customisable home screen that jiggles like jelly. You wonder why, well I still cherish that warranty, the only reason why I haven't hacked the damn thing yet. So I plan to persevere for the next few months until Steve shaft's me proper next time.

What you get? A pretty cool mail app that can support IMAP, but no landscape browsing or search. It's a shame as Google's mobile web offering is pretty cool now, with full optimisation for iPod Touch and iPhone screens. In consolation, the beauty of the Touch email client is that you can switch off the WiFi and still read email, which is a must as WiFi eats battery power like a cookie monster. So not that bad, but would have been much happier if it were free Steve!!!