The Productive Organizer

Spending on Gadgets seems to be the past-time of many men and boys.

I have dabble in my love for Gadgets for a long time since my secondary school days. Back then, money was really hard to come by and whenever I spend on such stuff, I feel a sense of guilt because although I am curious about how they work, spending on them means I will have to forgo something that matters to me.

After I started working, the budget constraints gets relaxed and while I can realistically buy an iPhone every month, it is ridiculous to do that.

1. Enjoying the process of researching/finding out about the Gadgets

I realize that the curiosity to identify how things work and the difference between each brands and trival details can be a form of experience that I grew to like. That is why I started a blog www.productiveorganizer.com to talk about mobile productivity and softwares in general.

I realize that much of the utility for a lot of people probably happens DURING the process of researching for it and gets reduced a lot after the anticipation, and the purchase have been carried out.

Knowing this, I controlled my urge to purchase much better and learn to maximize what increases my utility levels.

2. Assigning a budget per year for Tech Gadgets

Tech Gadgets should be treated as a hobby and as such, it would be best to assign a budget for it. Having a budget means it is likely that you are constraint to spend only this much on tech gadgets and when it runs out, you better not spend anymore.

For me, I budget SGD40 per month to spend on this hobby via Envelope Budgeting . If you are familiar with this realm, you will know that 40 bucks really buys shit in today’s world.

So this would mean that I only have 40 * 12 = 480 bucks to spend on my gadget hobby.

3. Sell Old Gadgets to finance for new ones

A lot of my friends doesn’t do this because of attachment to the gadget or the reluctance to part with the gadget because of the huge depreciation in gadget value.

Gadgets drop in value pretty fast and the only way that your gadgets can still maintain or even be of higher value then purchase is if you are shrewd enough to import from overseas at a cheaper price and sell it locally.

To this all I can say is: If you leave it lying in your house, it is likely that

• You will never look at it again
• The value can never be higher than what it was worth n-months ago
• You will eventually throw or give it away

So my rule of thumb is that if I deem that it has some sizable stored value, I will sell it away.

I bought my current iPod Touch 3G for SGD480 but essentially finance this by selling away my iPod Touch 2G for SGD230, which was bought at SGD330.

Another good friend of mine looks to spend quite a fair bit on his sound system. But turns out that he is pretty shrewd to import them from overseas and when he grew tired of them, the price he sold it was not far from his purchase price!

It pays to:

1. Know the value of what you are playing with. Certain high price gadgets hold value better than those cheapo gadgets.
2. Leverage on overseas opportunities.
3. Sell it off the moment you think its not working out for you. There is a cost to procrastination.

Shuffle is a task management to-do list build upon the Getting Things Done methodology that came up by David Allen

I am still having problems finding quality To Do List application that follows the GTD concept on the Android, while on the iOS platform, we have tons of competitive quality to do list softwares.

Shuffle initially look like a good software for GTD and I hope that it measures up so that it makes my switching over to Android a lot less easier.

Lets take a look how it performs.

Download it here

Pros

1. If you like a task manager that adds to your Google Calendar, this is a good one
2. Great UI
3. Can be Simple
4. Fulfills basic GTD
5. Able to switch perspectives from menu at almost all screens.
6. Shows number of un-completed tasks in the context
7. Very nice contexts

Cons

1. No notification sited.
2. Only 1 level project hierarchy
3. No synchronization to desktop or web (such as Remember the Milk or Toodledo)

Cost

Shuffle is FREE. You can download it from the Android Market.

Version Reviewed

The version reviewed is 1.6.3

Appearance

The UI looks more like a copy of the Sense UI rather than the stock Android UI, which is a complement to Shuffle because I think it generally looks very good.

All text boxes and labels are spaced out well. The color theme is done very nicely.

Projects Hierarchy

In terms of Projects Hierarchy, Shuffle only allows you to have one level. This to me is something negative.

I would prefer one which at least have 2 levels like most on the iOS such as Appigo ToDo or 2Do which have 2 levels.

It would seem that most people use GTD base on this concept

Areas of Focus (AOF) 1

—- Project A

—- Project B

AOF 2

—– Project C

—– Project D

With Shuffle, the best way is really to see projects as the lowest level group of actionable tasks you need to do

—- Project A

—- Project B

—– Project C

—– Project D

Creating a Project

Creating a task is pretty standard.  However you can assign a project to a context. This might afford you to cheat and let your context be your Area of Focus.

Another interesting thing is that you can specify if the Actions is to be completed in sequence or in parallel. Whats the difference? To be honest I can’t really tell since they are all list out in the project view, but it is highly probable that in your other views (Inbox, Contexts, Due) they will only appear after the first one is completed and hide the rest that is not suppose to be done now.

This is a good feature as if its suppose to be completed sequentially, it blocks out the tasks that you cannot do first from the user. However, there could possibly be a lot of projects where tasks are in sequence and others where they are not.

Setting up Contexts

Contexts setup is easy. There is a pre-define set of contexts created that you can use for starters. Those are locational based contexts, so you might want to add your own people based, or time based contexts.

What’s nice about Shuffle is that the user makes creating contexts fun by adding color themes that is similar to that of Google’s Gmail color tags.

You can also assign icons to your context should you be a more visual person.

Good thing i s that you can find icons for

• Leisure
• Internet
• Work or Review
• Computer
• Urgent or Next Actions
• @Home
• @Commuting
• @Boss
• Reading or review

Creating Actions

Right we are down to creating what it matters: Tasks. Or in the case of Shuffle its called Action, which is more or less what David Allen describes them as.

You can add actions in a lot of places and you can specify which project or context it belongs to.

You have the option to use scheduling. This is a concept I am not accustom to as I normally only use due date. Here you can specify start date and due date and their time.

An examination of the check box below probably shows how this is geared up to be. You have the option of adding this task to your google calendar.

Essentially, some people uses the calendar more than a task list, so they might like this.

But for me, there are tasks that takes place as soon as possible ( like the constraint in Microsoft Project and I wouldn’t want to set the start date. I only set the due date to know when this milestone have to be done.

Review and Doing: Switching Perspectives

When it comes to reviewing, Shuffle makes use of a Perspective button in the Android Menu. There it allows you to have a quick access to other perspective views. This is a good feature.

Projects Perspective

Projects perspective shows your projects and its task in a expanded view. It depends on how  you feel but I feel this is good as it shortens the time for review.

Another style common to Smartphone to do list is to bring you to a task list once you click on the project. I feel sometimes that is very crumble some.

Due Actions Perspective

Due actions are split into Today, Next Week and Next Month. Abit limited but I think for a free application I am not asking for much.

Contexts Perspective

If you are doing work, you will spend most of your time at the Contexts Perpective. The good thing is that it is very presentable and you can easily see how much actions in each contexts you have not carried out.

Inbox Perspective

Conclusion

Overall, a very competent Task Manager for a smartphone. Would it make my switch to Android easier? I think if I do not have a choice, I can live with this, but comparing this against the to do list I am using now which is 2Do on the iPod Touch 3G I think its still very far.

The biggest knock back have been the Projects Hierarchy and the form of date entry used. I would prefer something like what some to do list such as Appigo To Do implemented which is a full calendar for selection:

Found this off gHacks and its pretty splendid. I know alot of people buy national geographic magazines just so that they can admire the wonderfully taken pictures, but have you taught of where to find them and add them as wallpaper?

The National Geographic Wallpaper downloader is such a Windows application that downloads wallpapers from different magazines to your computer at different sizes.

The magazine wallpaper categories include wallpapers from the years 2007, 2008, 2009 as well as wallpapers from the International photography contests of 2009 and 2008.

The website wallpapers currently include the categories photography, animals, science, kids and environment. The developer has already promised to add more categories such as history, adventure, traveler or sea monsters to the next version of the National Geographic Wallpaper Downloader.

Do give it a try!

[Hat tip gHacks >>]

The jury as to whether to defrag your computer helps is still out but if you are on the camp that you should defrag, then this is good news for you.

O&O Defrag is one such tool which comes with good features, but this utility is not a free one. Generally the O&O Defrag costs around $50, but now you can get a full professional version for free, but the version is a bit older than the current one. You can now get the O&O Defrag Professional version 10 for free and this version was released back in 2007.

Register for Free O&O Defrag Version 10

[Hattip Life Rocks >>]

nuno here illustrates a good example of how he made use of the software The Hit List as his main electronic GTD application for planning

The Hit List is a great way of implement GTD on a Mac if, for you, GTD is much more than just to-do lists and projects.

With this system I’m basically implementing my runway and 10,000 feet levels. I’ll study the possibility of including the Areas of Focus in here also, but right now I prefer to use Circus Ponies NoteBook for that as it requires a bit more planning and sketching

There are lots of other features in THL which I didn’t cover here (time-tracking, iCal and Mail integration, iPod sync, etc etc). Do check the website to watch some nice screenshots and read about its features. You can also try it for free and register it later. 5 stars

[Read the review here @ his web log >>]

i mention in my previous article on a smashing template that you can use to create a paper iphone stand, well if yours is not an iphone fret not, there are many other ways too!

If you have an iPhone, bully for you—there are roughly 100 ways to elevate and charge it on your desk, many of them previously covered here. For every other phone out there, we present these nine DIY ideas.

Not that there’s anything wrong with owning an iPhone, or wanting to craft a neat little charging dock/station for it out of spare parts and household items. But those of us (ahem) without an Apple-powered cellular device can rest our headsets in style—sometimes very unique and personal style. Here’s our pick of nine brand-agnostic, DIY charging docks. Some were originally posted or crafted with an iPhone in mind, per the pictures, but can be adapted or reused as general purpose gadget docks.

The bent wire coat hanger

Definitely not the prettiest in the pack, but it works for just about any phone with a wide, flat plane, and it’s almost certainly the cheapest out of the bunch, since you don’t even need a tool beyond your hands to make it. (Original post)

The business card stand

Originally built for an iPhone, but given its basic support structure and width, this cheap and fast phone dock would work with any flat-screen phone that’s not too much heavier than an iPhone. When someone hands you an over-designed, high-falutin’ business card, now you can actually put it to real use. (Original post)

The non-slip bookend dock

Those cheap, black metal bookends used to keep volumes upright on a desk have to be good for something, right? Bend one or two of their pieces back quite a bit, wrap the exposed section in automotive non-slip mat, and you’ve got a universal charger that keeps your phone, iPod, or any device in place for charging or occasional time-checking. (Original post)

The K’NEX fold-up dock

Full disclosure: I’m totally making this thing as soon as I get my hands on some K’NEX, or start feeling theft-y around my youngest cousins. Not only can the versatile building block toys be crafted to accommodate just about any phone out there, the dock itself can fold up for storage when you’re not using it if you snap it together properly. This particular charge-friendly dock does utilize one intentionally broken piece, but it seems entirely worth the sacrifice to score both a great dock and notable geek cred.

Simple Lego-powered stand

Similar to the iPod dock we previously posted, this isn’t so much a concrete plan for a dock as a reminder that if you’ve got kids, or just a thing for Legos, you’ve got the ability to build pretty much any shape you want to hold your phone. Don’t like the multi-color look? Black Sharpies or spare paint can take care of that. Want a slot to fit in your charging cable? Pull out your grade school architecture skills and work a small, bridged gap into the design.

The paper cup stand

Everyone who looks at it will know that you cut a very crafty slit into a paper cup, (possibly) colored it, and are charging your phone through a cable running into the bottom. Whether this is a sad statement or great moment of pride depends on how you see things.

Padded charging cradle for any phone

The material that gel-stuffed keyboard wrist rests are made out of must be pretty appealing to your phone, which spends most of its life getting smacked around inside pockets, bags, and on top of counters. Cut a hole into a wrist rest big enough for your phone, horizontal or vertical, run your charging or synchronizing cable into it, and use your eye and knife skills to keep it from looking too rough. (Original post)

Gorillamobile (and its DIY equivalent)

We totally dig the Gorillapod, a three-legged, flexible tripod that you can take and set up anywhere. It stands to reason, then, that its similar, phone-focused cousin would serve anyone looking to stand any phone with enough back space for a suction cup very well. If $30 is too rich for your blood, you can likely craft your own DIY Gorillamobile with just a single trip to a hardware store. (Original post)

The power-saving “Greenbox”

[Hat Tip Lifehacker >>]

The folks at MindJet have finally put into place their powerful Mind Mapping Software for the iPhone and iTouch platform.

And its pretty steep at USD7.99. Cheaper than Appigo Todo but nevertheless it should be worth the money.

MindJet have been creating a smashing Mind Mapping desktop client that integrates well with Microsoft Suite of products.

So how good was this? I didn’t manage to test it out but take a look at the video right below this post. It should give you a comprehensive look at what it is capable of.

What can this MindJet do?

• Attach notes to Topics – with hyperlinks to phone numbers, website, email addresses and other MindJet maps
• Wireless upload download
• Auto align and arrange topics relative to each other
• Zoom and Scroll
• Landscape and Portrait Mode
• Cut,copy and paste, move and merge topics
• Insert color and icones
• Change color
• Expand and collapse Topics

How do you Upload and Download Maps?

The way to upload is the same as GoodReader which i mentioned here. It should make use of WebDAV protocol and should be a breeze. Just click on Transfer in the MindJet iPhone software and a url to your iPhone Device will pop out.

Click on that link and you are able to upload and download Mind Maps

What format is supported?

Do note that it supports only uploading and downloading in .xmmap format, which is not the normal MindManager format. Its not so much of a problem as you can open up the map in your  Windows client and Save As xmmap format.

Other than that you can upload it in

• Mindjet Native (.itm) format, which is the native format for MindJet for iPhone
• Freemind format
• OPML format (RSS feeds?)

So does that mean my map on the iPhone can be edited on Windows,Mac clients?

Yes. According to the FAQ.

Can I save my map as an Image?

No you cannot. According to the FAQ

Does it have To Do list function?

Yes it does.

What can i Embed In the Notes?

• www. will auto generate web link
• http(s) will auto generate web lnk
• A stream of numbers will generate a phone no you can call
• SMS:nnnnnnn will generate and link to the SMS application
• [map name] will generate a link to another map (that includes the brackets as well)

How much it cost?

$7.99 for now.

Mindjet for iPhone from Mindjet on Vimeo.

Overall its a smashing new application on the App Store. This is really good offering to your normal GTD To Do list like OmniFocus, Things and Appigo ToDo in that you can really plan your Goals and see how they link up.

I should be buying this soon.

[Buy MindJet at the App Store >>]

Here’s what i found off Lifehacker. You can basically create a paper/cardboard stand from a paper stencil that enables you to layout vertical or horizontal.

Take a look at how its constructed:

Iphone Paper Dock / Stand from Dessine moi un objet on Vimeo.

[Read the rest of this entry...]

It looks like another faster Google Chrome release. Take a look at the performance benchmarks as well as new features such as themes. Damn i was waiting for plugins/extensions but oh well.

Notably, we’ve improved by more than 150% in Javascript performance since our very first beta, and by more than 25% since the most recent stable release.

Yesterday i told you about this application that lets you sync your contacts to Google Contacts and Windows Live Contacts. The reason why you may wanna do that is because you wanna be able to backup and transfer your contacts, smses, and photo to another phone

What if its an Android phone. Thats where Sprite Migrate comes in. this software from the a company of 2 guys based in Symantec Ghost enables you to transfer:

• Contacts
• Call Logs
• SMS
• Bookmarks
• Photos

To your Android phone. How does it work? I have not tried this yet. But they are from the creators of Sprite Backup and from the looks of things they did with that and Ghost i believe they are the right people to come up with such an app.

Do try and let me know your experience.

[Sprite Backup Site >>]