This is a tip for anyone who wants to get any web working done while you’re traveling and/or in transit for any reason. If you’re going to be in areas of questionable network access, you’d better have the ability to get work done offline at your disposal, and you should also be ready to dig in for extended periods of time without a connection.
For some tasks, you absolutely need network access, but for others, a rich and varied stock of offline-accessible information and research resources should provide plenty of fodder for getting things done. Your iPhone or iPod touch can be a great supplemental resource for exactly this kind of thing. Here’s how to turn your device into an offline road warrior. Read the rest of this entry »
If you’re like me, you’re faced with a barrage of web links coming at you from all directions throughout your work day, be it the RSS reader, email or the twitter stream. It’s really easy to get distracted.
As much as I try to resist, I do end up spending a good amount of time browsing around. Most things I can quickly dismiss but sometimes I do find something of interest and wish to set it aside for later viewing. I’ve been using a tag in my del.icio.us account for this but am intrigued by some of the services that are designed for just this purpose. A recent entry into this field is LaterThis which launched last month.
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Last week, I took a look at what I called “Brain Tickler Tools” – Notefish and Instapaper – tools that went beyond bookmarking but actually helped me create some kind of writer’s tickler file where I could return anytime and browse over content to get ideas for articles and blog posts. I promised to check out a few more recommended by the WWD community.
I have to say that my experience with two other apps – Evernote (still in limited beta) and Google Notebook – was quite different from the first two I tried. They didn’t work as well for me. Hey, I’ve got to be honest here but also should clarify my criteria for what “works well for me” means.
- This is just my opinion.
- I need things to be very intuitive.
- Because I don’t read instructions.
- Because my brain would explode if I did and starts to smoke when I try.
So in the name of saving my brain, I jump right into using an application and then see how often I use it. Does it become second nature to me? Or am I constantly having to think about using it and how to use it properly?
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Where do you get your ideas? Much of my work on the Web involves content development which is my fancy way of saying I write articles, monthly columns and bi-weekly blog posts for clients. Coming up with new ideas to publish on a regular basis for a variety of media outlets can be a daunting task, but I work hard to be “fresh and original” for each client. So far, so good, but my biggest challenge? Finding a super simple way to save sites and portions of articles and blog posts that I can access easily at a later date as I’m looking for content ideas.
I blogged about a “dream tool” I could use and called it Ticklr, and several WWD readers threw out some possible options of Web tools that actually exist, so I thought I’d try them out.
This is the first of two posts where I’ll test out these tools specifically for creating an online tickler file of potential story ideas. Read the rest of this entry »
If web site bookmarking is something you do day in and day out, there’s a new bookmarking tool you need to add to your browser – Instapaper (via TechCrunch). The side project of Marco Arment, creator of the very cool micro-blogging service Tumbir, Instapaper is online bookmarking that gets out of your way so you can bookmark the way you need to when you spend your working day on the web.
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Web Work 101: How To Escape The Cubicle
