Before tech...Filofax

Just so my Luddite friends -- I'm looking at you, Daly -- don't feel totally teched-out in this blog, I've prepared the video montage below as a tribute to the Filofax.

Well, actually, it's a bunch of "cameos" a Filofax makes as the MacGuffin in the 1990 film Taking Care of Business. Plot summary: Yuppie Charles Grodin loses his Filofax, escaped con Jim Belushi finds it and takes over this life...

Although I don't use one for data capture or PIM storage any more, I still have my trusty Filofax (four of them, actually, and lots of old filler sheets), and I keep credit cards, checkbooks, deposit slips, stamps, gift cards, membership cards, library cards, and even extra cash stored in one I keep in my desk. I even have a USB key with backups of key files hooked to it. It never leaves my desk.

Anyway, UnDigital Ones, enjoy!

Blogging from OneNote

I'm really on a OneNote jag this week...

One of the cool features I discovered in OneNote recently is the ability to collect ideas, compose blog entries, and publish them directly to a blog.

So, here's a test post, directly from OneNote.

This could be a very handy feature, especially since I have OneNote on my PDA phone and all my computers. Being able to collect, process, and act on information all from the same synchronized platform makes a lot of sense to me.

Is "getting away from it all" the right idea?

I was in a discussion group recently where someone commented that she valued "getting away from the electronics."

This struck me as odd: Why "get away from" electronics? That it would be like saying I wanted to get away from electric lights or modern plumbing. They're all just tools that serve functions, no more, no less. Not having them around means I can do less -- for fun or work.

Although the person later clarified that she meant "get away from it all," not just electronics specifically, I suspect her first thought actually reflects what a lot of people feel: Having electronic devices, especially cell phones, Blackberries and other PDAs, and access to "everything" wherever they are creates stress. Leave the device behind, and the stress goes away.

The thing is, that's a terrible strategy.

Sure, we all need time to think, to disengage, and to relax. But, cutting off access to "the electronics" is really nothing more than "shooting the messenger." The pressures and responsibilities don't go away, it's just that you've removed your ability to manage them.

Ultimately, that's not a work/life balance, that's a crash diet. And, like a fad diet, you might see some benefits for a week or two, but when things return to normal, you're in thicker than ever.

One of the things I've learned from using David Allen's Getting Things Done approach to personal management is the skill of "opting in" to focus on something, releasing my focus, and refocusing on something else. It happens on a micro level with ongoing interruptions, and on a macro level, when I chose to devote my time to doing one thing over another.

As technologies make the old boundaries of time and location even less relevant for determining where your focus evaporate, developing an ability to chose your intentions -- without having to cast off your tools -- is going to become an even more critical skill.

To my mind, this means learning more about how to "get to it all" in all aspects of life, and less about getting away from any of it.

OneNote is starting to blow me away

Although I've had Microsoft OneNote on my computers and my PDA phone for years, I've been slow to the party getting into this program. Every time I opened it I thought, right, it's blank paper that I can organize with tabs. Great. Zzzzzzzzzzzz...

The fact that I came upon OneNote, which syncs to PDAs only manually through ActiveSync, just as I had moved to hosted exchange service to sync all Outlook info wirelessly, didn't increase it's appeal.

The lack of handwriting recognition or even writing -- features that had been in earlier Windows Mobile versions, but are fading fast -- was another strike against.

Now, though, I think I'm finally starting to get it. Here's what's making the difference:

1. Audio/notetaking synchronization -- OneNote automatically syncs audio recordings with the notes you're taking, whether by typing or in writing on a tablet PC. As someone who does endless interviews and has spent hours transcribing and re-listening to tapes, this is useful beyond belief.

2. Audio search -- Similarly, OneNote will index audio recordings so that you can search for phrases or words you SPOKE, as well as wrote. No speech training required.

3. Integration with Outlook Tasks -- Outlook Tasks is my life -- My whole GTD system resides there. OneNote gives me a way to create tasks in Outlook directly from notes I take in a single click. Processing could not be easier.

4. Wireless synching -- It's not quite the same as hosted exchange, but by creating a peer-to-peer network through LogMeIn's free Hamachi service (more on this in the future), I've been able to take advantage of OneNote's PC synchronization features through the Internet. I can write on my tablet PC's screen and what it appear almost in real time on my desktop PC's copy of OneNote.

5. Handwriting recognition -- I miss the excellent handwriting recognition and "Transcriber" functions in the old Pocket PC platforms. (Why are they gone? Dumb, MS, dumb...) But, OneNote's ability to transcribe handwriting is pretty stunning.

I'm still figuring out uses for OneNote, so I'm eager to hear how others are using it. Please send ideas my way!

Amazon info on Allen's new book

Late last year, Amazon and other book-buying sites started showing placeholders for, "Making It All Work," a new book by Getting Things Done author David Allen that is coming out on December 30. Now, Amazon is showing a few more details, offering what appears to be a "back cover flap" description of book:

Now, David Allen leads the world on a new path to achieve focus, control, and perspective. Throw out everything you know about productivity-- Making It All Work will make life and work a game you can win. For those who have already experienced the clarity of mind from reading Getting Things Done, Making It All Work will take the process to the next level.

David Allen shows us how to excel in dealing with our daily commitments, the unexpected, and the information overload that threatens to drown us. Making It All Work provides an instantly usable, success-building tool kit for staying ahead of the game.

Making It All Work addresses: how to figure out where you are in life and what you need; how to be your own consultant and a CEO of your life; moving from hope to trust in decision-making; when not to set goals; harnessing intuition, spontaneity, and serendipity; and why life is like business and business is like life.

December 30. Doesn't give me much time for a new David Allen-inspired life by January 1...

Mygazines' slow erosion

Back in July, I came across Mygazines.com, a YouTube-like site where users could upload scans of magazines or articles for all to share. Although I was a little suspicious about the the excellent quality of the scans -- they had a very high-end look for random user uploads -- I was thrilled to find free copies of magazines I no longer buy in paper.

What's more, the anonymous Carribean-based company running off out-of-reach PirateBay-related servers seemed impenetrable to even the most aggressive publishers.

(Fun? Yes. Copyright infringement? Absolutely.)

Well, I'm betting that some publisher has broken through, because the site's inventory of mainstream magazines is dwindling fast. First went the Time-Life offerings, then the Hearsts, and so on.

I hope Mygazines finds a way to bring them back, even through a paid model. Many of the top mags are offering most, if not all, of their content for free these days, but except for a handful that publish on Zinio.com or Relay, it's hard to find "emags" of top titles.

Infrared dead?

I like do-it-all devices, which is one of the reasons I'm still hanging on to my circa 2005 Windows Mobile HTC Apache (xv6700) PDA phone. True, it's not as sleek as some newer models, it doesn't have as much memory, and it's getting a little slow, but thanks to reflashing with newer, sleeker OS's, it does just about about everything I could want.

But when I first saw the specs of the HTC Touch Pro -- a thin, super-powered WinMob touchscreen with a keyboard -- I thought I might jump...until I noticed the lack of infrared. Why HTC, why? Verizon cripples your devices enough -- do you have to help them?

I know, Bluetooth, EVDO, and wi-fi make data exchange via IR redundant, but as a 24/7 PDA user, my phone is also my universal remote. Wherever I am -- sometimes even in public places -- I can fire up Novii Remote Deluxe, aim my 6700 at a TV or Tivo, and run the world. Don't make me go back to the old remote-control forest.

Bring back IR. I'll wait for you...

How secure is too secure?

Maybe it's the uncertainty in the global financial markets, a wave of crazy weather, or a lousy fall TV season, but lately I've been seeing a near-constant flow of comments and stories about how -- and even if -- home computers need security.

The "lock it down" mentality made sense to me for years -- as someone with a fully paperless office, the idea of having something spew my data out to the world is pretty daunting.

But, earlier this year, my friend John from the Yahoo paperless group suggested to me that I probably don't need much, if any, online security. His advice was to surf in Firefox with NoScript and AdAware on, crank up the spam filters on my email, and use virtualization -- software that lets you operate in a "virtual image" of your system without writing data or making changes to the underlying system

I haven't tried virtualization yet -- although I've been promising John that I will soon -- but I took his advice on the other stuff: I strengthened my router's firewall, moved to Firefox, and got tough on spam. Four months later, scans say I haven't had a spyware issue or problem yet.

Sound crazy? The folks at don't think so. Check out the story from this month's issue about how much security is really enough.

Welcome to The Beginning...

Many thanks to the participants in the GTD and Paperless groups -- and other points unknown -- who have been encouraging me to blog about observations, lifehacks, and other random opinions. I haven't quite figured out whether they're encouraging this to get me to stop talking in discussion groups or expand on some of this stuff even more, but we'll soon find out.

I encourage you all to chime in with contradictions, agreements, more info, gripes, praise, and everything else. My plan is to let the comments go in a free-for-all, unless things get obscene, obnoxious, or spam-filled.

(Of course, I also plan to be an arbitrary dictator, changing course and rules with no notice to anyone, so, we'll see...)

Meanwhile, have fun. I hope we all enjoy the ride.