Device agnostic

I achieved a wonderful liberation when I went platform agnostic. The ability to work on either Windows or OS X opens up many options, and it’s only possible due to the software tools that I use on both platforms. I am mostly able to use the same programs on either OS, something not possible that long ago. Even when I use different apps on the two platforms to do the same task, I am able to use the same documents I create which is very cool.

Being platform agnostic has a big benefit given my work, as it means I can carry it even further by being truly device agnostic. This means I am able to use any computer and get the work done. I can also get the work done just as easily no matter the device I use, which is even more important. I don’t sacrifice anything by using a different device or OS, and that means I am just as productive no matter what.

This week I used a different computer every day, as I wanted to put several of them through a real working experience. I used the MacBook with the external monitor when at my desk in Mobile Tech Manor, but every day I also used a different notebook. The notebooks I used in no particular order: ThinkPad x200t, HP Mini 5102, Lenovo IdeaPad s10-3t, ThinkPad X100e and the Viliv S10 Blade.

These 5 notebooks are all small as notebooks go, but that’s where the similarities end. Three of them have 10-inch screens, one 11.6-inch and one a 12.1-inch screen. Four of them have touch screens, which shows how prevalent that feature is becoming in the notebook space. Three of them have Atom processors, one an AMD Neo processor and the last an Intel Core 2 Duo. One of them has an SSD while the rest spin conventional hard drives. Three of them have swivel screens permitting use as a slate, while the other two have fixed notebook screens.

Looking back on this week, I am surprised that none of these devices stands out in my mind over any other. That’s not saying that none are better than any other, just that for getting the work done they all did a good job for me. There were no hardships that plagued me while working, and that says a lot about the quality of notebooks of today. The tools I used didn’t get in the way of getting things done, and that is wonderful.

Sure the ones with the bigger screens were easier to work with for longer periods, simply because I could see more at a given time. But only two of the devices display the standard netbook resolution of 1024×600; three of them are higher resolution. Logically, the higher the resolution and thus the more on the display at once, the easier it is to get work done. But amazingly I found that it didn’t make as big a difference in usefulness as I thought it would. I found I adapted quickly to the given resolution and just concentrated on the work, not the tool.

Ink and writing

As a long time Tablet PC user, it’s no surprise that I enjoy using the pen on the screen. I don’t claim that handwriting on a tablet is more efficient than typing on the keyboard. I am a good touch typist so that’s not the case. But taking the pen to the digital paper is a big part of my writing process, at least for longer analytical pieces such as the Long Views for our research site, GigaOM Pro. I use OneNote on the Tablet PC to prepare for such articles, by outlining in ink. I find that using the pen in my hand stimulates the creative process tremendously during such preparation, and it expedites the process.

I start out with a blank page, and quickly jot down a crude outline. While I am doing this the ideas flow smoothly, much more so than trying to do this with a keyboard. I find myself solely concentrating on the creative process, which is stimulating.

Once I have a crude outline, I go to another blank page and repeat the process. This pass I am more analytical as a rule, and as the first outline is still fresh in my mind I create a more formal outline quite handily. This outline stays in front of me while writing the article, and it’s a great system for me.

Finding MobileNoter this week has been a boon for this process, as I can sync up these OneNote ink outlines to the iPhone. I keep the iPhone on the table in between the keyboard and the screen while writing, so the handwritten outline is right there for reference. The difference this simple tool has made for me is simply amazing.

Cool web choir

The coolest thing I saw on the web this week still blows my mind. Think virtual choir — a choir with members all over the world. Now think of each of these dozens of choir members singing in front of their computer with web cam recording each solo performance. Then take each video stream and magically, carefully mix them all together for a masterful choral performance.

That’s what Scott Haines and Eric Whitacre did and the resultant video is simply spectacular. If you do nothing else today watch this video all the way through. It is stunning.

American Idol sucks

I have been a fan of American Idol for years, I admit it. As a former professional musician the idea that a show like Idol can create an instant world-wide star is addictive. I can only imagine what it must be like for the contestants. I am often derided for liking the show, and I understand why many hate it.

The fact is that Idol pretty much sucks most of the time. The contestants are mostly pretty bad, the show is campy and it gets monotonous. So why does it continue to be a show that I watch religiously? Contestants like Crystal Bowersox.

Bowersox has a rare natural talent that is absolutely awesome. She is a complete musician, and while lacking the flair and glamor that the show is looking for, her performances are great. Music touches me deeply, and great music moves me. Her music moves me.

E-book of the week

This week I started a novel that kicks off what is turning out to be a good sci-fi series. It takes place during World War II, and is an interesting look at that conflict. The story centers around an alien invasion of the Earth during World War II, which is a wonderful premise for a story. Harry Turtledove has done a good job, and I raced through In the Balance. I’ve just begun the second book in the series, Tilting the Balance which picks up where the first left off. It’s a good read.

Wrap-up

That’s my week, I hope yours was as productive as mine. I love sharing the week with you in this column. While it’s largely tech focused, it gives me a platform for whatever is on my mind. I hope you enjoy it. Until next week — peace out.

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There are two versions of MobileNoter for the iPhone, a cloud version that syncs OneNote to a server and a Wi-Fi version that syncs to any Windows PC directly. I have been testing the Wi-Fi version and while it is a bare bones note taking app it handles my OneNote workbooks quite nicely.

MobileNoter consists of two programs, the iPhone app and the Windows app that runs as a note server. Once installed just tag which OneNote workbooks you want to have available for reference on the iPhone and off you go. Once a sync has been performed on the iPhone side, and this runs quickly over Wi-Fi, all of the OneNote workbooks and note pages are available to view. You cannot edit them on the iPhone within MobileNoter, but they are viewable.

The app does a great job presenting big OneNote pages on the small screen of the iPhone. Tables and complex notes display perfectly, and most importantly to me ink notes look fantastic. Have a look at the screen image included of an ink note in MobileNoter, and you’ll appreciate how well it presents OneNote pages. It’s important to remember that the ink note page displayed was originally a full screen (12-inch) OneNote page.

MobileNoter has basic text note taking capability on the iPhone side. These notes are called Quick Notes and they sync with OneNote back on the Windows PC. It’s a convenient way to get simple notes taken on the fly back to OneNote. The developer has indicated the next version of MobileNoter will allow capturing photos with the iPhone, along with audio recordings to sync back to OneNote. There is also an iPad version in the works, which would be very nice.

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Folks are getting excited about the new OneNote 2010 and I can’t blame them. I’ve said for years that I believe OneNote is one of the best, if not the best, piece of software from Microsoft. Not only will OneNote 2010 be included in all Office 2010 versions, but we know it will be usable over the web and through Windows Live Sync as well. But one question that current OneNote users keep asking is: What happens to the OneNote 2007 data? Can it be used with OneNote 2010? What about data from the new version in old versions?

Dan Escapa from the OneNote team comes to the rescue again with these key points on compatibility:

• OneNote 2010 will fully read & write OneNote 2007 format notebooks, no need to convert a notebook
• There is a new OneNote 2010 format to support new features (such as versions)
• OneNote 2010 can convert notebooks from 2007<–>2010 formats and back

Dan reminds us that if you plan to share OneNote data with 2007 users, you need to convert your 2010 data into the 2007 format before sharing it. Eventually, I’d like to see Microsoft release a converter for OneNote 2007 owners. That would be helpful if they inadvertently get OneNote data in the new format but still have the old software.

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• Sync to Cloud (Windows Live): Your notebooks sync and are available anywhere from any machine. Of course, this is in addition to all the existing ways you can sync notebooks — file shares, SharePoint, USB drives, etc.
• OneNote Web App: You can access and edit your entire notebook from a browser. This is even supported on a machine that doesn’t have OneNote installed.
• OneNote Mobile: A more complete OneNote version for Windows Mobile phones. Syncs whole notebooks. Syncs directly to the cloud. No need to tether your device. Richer editing support.

This is especially good news for Windows Mobile users, as the mobile version of OneNote has been very restrictive. This ability to cut the cord for syncing to OneNote Mobile is very good news, indeed. David’s details about the full OneNote to come are promising, and show a lot of improvements will be coming to a notebook near you.

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This is big news for OneNote users who previously had to buy a premium Office suite to get it, or pay extra for OneNote. The OneNote Blog gives us the straight scoop:

I thought you all would like to know that OneNote is now included in all Office editions! That means no matter what Office box you buy or what you company purchases OneNote will be on the disc!  I remember when I first started on the team OneNote 2003 was a stand alone version of and even though we were a part of Office but wasn’t in the box.  I would tell people what product I worked on and people would ask “is OneNote in standard?” or “I have pro I don’t see OneNote”.  Then when we found that we were included in the Home & Student and Enterprise editions we were overjoyed and excited to be in the box.  But now I can tell people that no matter what version of Office they buy they will have OneNote!  I feel like we have really come along a long way from a standalone app to being a core part of the Office experience.

The OneNote team is understandably excited about this “promotion” at Microsoft. OneNote is a fantastic application that is not promoted heavily by the folks at Redmond. Maybe this means more people will get exposed to OneNote.

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We later heard of a workaround that involved snapping and sending an image of captured data; the image file was then sent into OneNote. That’s a partial help but the ability to read and convert any text or ink data was lost in translation, i.e.: not ideal.

Yesterday I got a tweet from Bhavishya telling me about a newer workaround that appears to be a far better solution. It’s not perfect, but pretty darn close and should carry OneNote users through the issue until the next release of the software. David Rasumussen developed the solution in his spare time and you can find it right on his blog. Essentially, his code uses Vista’s XPS printer driver and monitors a specific folder for new XPS files. Note that this isn’t an official solution from Microsoft, and as such, isn’t supported by them. Thanks Bhavishya!

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Fans of Microsoft OneNote, listen up! If you’re running the productivity software on Windows Vista, you’ll want to download Canvas for OneNote. The prototype application comes from the Office Labs team and provides all new ways to organize your notebooks spatially and find information fast. The above demo vid I saw on Dan Escapa’s OneNote Blog explains it far better than I could.

You can easily move pages all around the canvas, group them, resize the groups and more. Simple zoom controls allow you to see your pages in more detail, so you can verify the information you’re looking for. There’s also a useful Activity View that highlights content you created during a specific period, using a time-frame slider. Very nice!

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The ideal situation is to have access to a few people with freelance experience whom you know well enough to be able to lean on a little, people who will gladly share their wisdom and let you pick their brains. You should have at least one mentor whose expertise you can draw on for tips, tech support, quality control — and even reassurance.

When I first started freelance tech writing, I had no clue how to charge or quote for a tech writing project. I had worked as an in-house tech writer and done some side projects. But I was second fiddle on those jobs; the guy I worked with handled the proposal and contract with the client, and was paying me by the hour. I didn’t have to worry about the details because my colleague, who had been working in freelance tech writing for over 15 years, took the lead.

So when the day came that I actually needed to quote on a tech writing job, I just asked him exactly what to do, and he sent me his secret formula. And then any time I hit a wall, I’d fire off an email to my guru and he’d help me out. In the first year or so, I asked him to give me feedback on what I’d written, to help me deal with scope creep, and for some assistance with software problems, among other things.

Similarly, when I started freelance translating at a high volume, my husband, who’d been at it for years, shared his efficient and logical file naming and organizing systems with me, gave me a quick tutorial and a list of keyboard shortcuts for the most widely used CAT (computer-assisted translation) tool, and was basically there for me while I learned to fly solo.

If you don’t already have such a network, don’t despair. The great thing about the Internet these days is that you have unprecedented access to experts in your field, and chances are good that you’ll find some who are generous enough to share. You may find the info you need just by reading their blogs, but you can also establish relationships with these virtual strangers by subscribing to their blogs and actively participating in the conversation.

If you’re not sure where to find your expert colleagues, mine the web. Set up a Google alert (or use Yotify, Alerts.com, Trackle, or another) to hunt for pertinent key phrases. Join professional groups in the real world and don’t forget to search for groups on LinkedIn (and/or Xing, or Viadeo if you’re in Europe) and, yes, even Facebook. My pro groups on Facebook are bigger and more active than the ones on LinkedIn!

If you have stories of how mentors helped you get started in web working, or ways to find mentors who can help you get started, please share them in the comment.

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As web workers, we’re no strangers to social networks. In fact, they’re probably part and parcel of what you consider your active working time every day. But how do you use them? Take Guy Kawasaki (@guykawasaki), for instance. He’s fairly direct when it comes to marketing via those channels. In fact, he’s often accused of spamming because of his approach.

The indirect approach, which one might attribute to someone like John Hodgman (@hodgman), basically involves being so interesting, funny, useful, or bizarre that people can’t help but try to find out more about you, and, as a result, the products or services you offer. Key success factors for indirect marketing include not looking like you’re trying to actually sell anything, the art of which is described well in this article at Babeloon.com.

I use indirect marketing as much as the next online worker, but recently I’m more skeptical as to how well that method is actually working. I notice spikes when I post new information, but generally speaking, my social network audience appears to be jaded enough to pass up any links they may come across without direct guidance.

I’ve come up with three theories why my indirect approach might not be that effective. First, it could be that in general, indirect marketing requires a certain degree of authority beforehand to be really effective, which would explain why it works for people like Guy Kawasaki and John Hodgman.

Second, it may be that I’ve split my focus too much, providing so many links on my various social network profiles that people are overwhelmed, can’t detect a sense of priority or importance, and don’t bother to visit any at all. Indirect marketing, though a soft sell, seems to work best when focused and kept simple.

The third, and most cynical theory, is that as internet users become more savvy, they also become more impervious to even indirect approaches, and simply know a soft sell when they see one. If this were true, the logical next step would be to ask “What’s next?” for internet marketing.

What do you think? Is indirect marketing an effective method of promotion for web work? How do you measure the effectiveness of your indirect marketing? What alternatives can you suggest?

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A little while ago, I elected to participate in a new product offering from Boinx Software, called BoinxTV. In all honesty, I had forgotten about the product until I recently received an email telling me where to download a current build and give it a try. This application is pretty comprehensive, and more importantly, it makes the process of creating and editing videocasts fun.

Getting Started

Upon initial launch of the application, you are presented with the following screen:

What is really nice is that Boinx has provided some pre-canned templates to easily generate the type of broadcast you would like to make. Each of the templates are fun and easily modified. Another bonus, as shown with this screenshot is that you can select the resolution for the broadcast, including HD (albeit it is a compressed version at 960×540).

Editing

Once you select the type of template you want, BoinxTV generates the necessary components of the broadcast and then presents you with the following screen:

In this window, you control which elements of the broadcast (audio, video, graphics and more) you want to include. You can also define their properties (left-hand side) and see a preview of the video on the right. Note, I disabled the video in this particular screen — none of you want to see my ugly mug.

Because the application is so flexible, you can either record your video first or last. You can edit the elements of the broadcast at any time. One of my favorite features is that you can define what type of marquee content you want to display across the video, including RSS feeds. This makes the content seem fresh and improves the level of realism.

BoinxTV also supports Apple’s Media Browser, so you can easily drag-and-drop your photos, videos or music files directly into the broadcast you are editing.

Exporting & Publishing

When you have finished recording and making the appropriate edits, you can then decide where you want to export the content. What is great is that BoinxTV exports to PodcastProducer and can easily publish your broadcast to it. Here is an example of the publishing process:

Conclusion

One of the quirks of the application, besides the fact that it is in beta, is that the UI can be a little overwhelming at first. There are so many options and controls for editing, you might be confused as to where to start. However, with a little time and practice, it isn’t too hard to get going.

To learn more about BoinxTV, they have created a screencast available for viewing on iTunes. I am pretty excited about this product and believe that anyone who creates videocasts will appreciate the power that BoinxTV provides. BoinxTV is due to ship by mid-November.

Oh, I have two additional beta invites for those who are really interested. Please write a clever reason as to why I should give you an invite (meaning, how it will really help you) in the comments section below and I will then decide the winner(s) in another post.

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One of the coolest features of OneNote is nothing new, it’s been around for a long time but I often hear OneNote users mention that they aren’t aware of it.  That technology is the audio recording feature of OneNote that can be used for a variety of functions.  OneNote will use a computer’s microphone to record a meeting or lecture for example and it compresses it on the fly so the audio file is not huge.  Once a recording is made OneNote puts the player controls right on the note page for easy access but this is just the start of the coolness. 

Audio recordings on a OneNote page are synchronized with the notes being entered on the note page.  This happens for typed notes and inked notes as well.  This means that in the future when you are going back over your meeting notes that if you read a note and wonder exactly what triggered it in the meeting you can hit play on the controls that appear when you hover near that particular point in your notes.  You can thus listen to the audio recording of the meeting or lecture from the EXACT POINT IN TIME that you made that note.  I have done this countless times and been able to hear right away exactly what was being discussed in the meeting that led to my note.  This is just awesome, there is no other way to describe it.  Try it and see for yourself.

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What we know about Cavalcade is it’s a multimillion-dollar-budgeted cartoon series with a deal to be distributed through Google AdSense to sites that are demographically aligned. The variety show will consist of 50 two-minute episodes, and promises to be less censored than MacFarlane’s hilarious Family Guy, which is made for broadcast TV. The Cavalcade release schedule isn’t entirely clear, but according to sethcomedy.com, there will be “new Cavalcade shorts every week.” It also appears that the videos will be archived on sethcomedy.com.

Update: The Burger King channel is now live, and we’re told it will have one new short every week for ten weeks beginning Sept 10. The videos will also be available at sethcomedy.com. And there’s also going to be some kind of fan sweepstakes via the YouTube channel to treat MacFarlane to dinner at a Burger King in Los Angeles.

The trailer is set to autoplay, so please click through the jump. Interesting for those of us who care about the tech side of this, the player is being powered by KIT digital (formerly Roo).

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Baron attributes the show’s business flounderings to being hamstrung by legal troubles (see our NewTeeVee Station story about this; original host Amanda Congdon was involved, in that she tried to file a motion to be recognized as a co-owner of Rocketboom in a lawsuit the show was fighting against Drew Baron’s father over repayment of a loan he made to the show. It went as far as the Supreme Court of New York, where she was denied (PDF). Crazy, huh?).

Baron said in an email about the deal that Rocketboom chose to go with Sony because of its multiplatform experience and resources in the entertainment business. Sony is to sell ads for the show and help with its promotion and content expansion plans. Rocketboom will now be hosted on Sony’s Crackle.com and distributed on the PS3, PSP, and Bravia I-Link, but it will also maintain its existing distribution deals with YouTube, TiVo and iTunes. Rocketboom the company will continue to operate independently.

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And Mr. T, Mr. T, wherefore art thou, Mr. T? The 80s icon’s appearance virtually guarantees viral success, but despite a number of wildly popular clips, the actor/bouncer/bodyguard’s online presence remains largely nonexistent. Why is Mr. T perfect for web audiences, and what are Internet entrepreneurs missing out on? We ask the hard questions today at NewTeeVee Station.

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