tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34886583654083326152024-03-03T09:22:58.400-05:00Ideas from Mark StoutThoughts of a long time computer user<br> having fun watching technology trends.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger735125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3488658365408332615.post-23633972004988879562024-01-14T09:48:00.003-05:002024-01-14T09:48:37.014-05:00Reddit Comments on my implementation of Google Docs for note keeping and an Update<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxhCIWaVGCcldc7HszbJIiewguBm7y8BdSZ2EWEQ3dpOIcoYH2BXGih7yBBg0zZEgYXWRJEo3wVzaUPLG3mlLoINvU1g5Af44RgKwrSxGew-iXTWmM-1o2V-brzEHkeOONhJlq6p-M7cWMhWJL5AR_9DKLSMRSpJdzMr2s4AOPYGcBS4Jw59yGxYHKoOY/s1024/elephan%20and%20man~2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxhCIWaVGCcldc7HszbJIiewguBm7y8BdSZ2EWEQ3dpOIcoYH2BXGih7yBBg0zZEgYXWRJEo3wVzaUPLG3mlLoINvU1g5Af44RgKwrSxGew-iXTWmM-1o2V-brzEHkeOONhJlq6p-M7cWMhWJL5AR_9DKLSMRSpJdzMr2s4AOPYGcBS4Jw59yGxYHKoOY/w167-h167/elephan%20and%20man~2.jpg" width="167" /></a></div>The post I made here on December 30th <a href="https://markstout.blogspot.com/2023/12/notes-folder-my-new-note-taking-system.html" target="_blank">Notes Folder : My new note taking system</a> I also posted about on <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Evernote/comments/18uwipa/moving_away_from_evernote_like_many_to_something/" target="_blank">Reddit</a> in the Evernote subreddit. Many are posting there about their dismay with Evernote and where they are moving their notes too.<div><br /></div><div>There were some constructive comments there I wanted to share.</div><div><br /></div><div>User Regression4 had an idea on how to move Evernote notes to PDF using a third party :</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "Noto Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><blockquote>Thanks for the post. I too moved to Google Drive. To get my Evernote data to Google Drive, I used a web service called CloudHQ. I connected Evernote and Google Drive. It copied each Evernote notebook to a folder in Google Drive. Each note became a PDF in Google Drive. Each PDF had metadata like created and modified date.</blockquote><p> </p><p>User Loopvariant was concerned Google's penchant for cancelling popular tools could lead to its demise. While it is a concern, I believe since Drive & Doc and something Google sells to business customers it is less of a concern. And there a ways to get your notes of Google to another product, like Microsoft 365 should it ever come to pass.</p><p><br /></p><p> User Devtastic made a good point about future proofing :</p><p></p><blockquote>I would note that DOCX (not DOC) and PDF are both open formats so it is probably safe to assume that you will still be able to open Word documents and PDFs in 50 years time. Microsoft opened up DOCCX for that reason, some organizations were moving to other open document formats because they did not want to be tied in to using Word for archived documents for 50 years.</blockquote><p><br /></p><p>I've been working with Google App Script to make a capability where someone can email into Google Docs to store their notes. It is coming along, but still probably weeks from any form of public testing. I do not have as much time to work on it as I'd like.</p><p>App Script is an amazing tool. I already see how it might solve some other needs for this project.</p><p>Check back here periodically or add the RSS feed to your reader for updates.</p><p>Note: I updated the original post with this information.</p><p><br /></p><p> </p><p></p></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3488658365408332615.post-25974735853567416802024-01-01T20:10:00.005-05:002024-01-01T20:26:52.597-05:00Why I turned my back on Evernote<p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">I have written here about my enthusiasm for Evernote, my note taking app since 2008. Forty two thousand notes and fifteen years later my love affair has ended.</p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">An Italian company purchased Evernote and laid off the entire US staff. The culture changed, long standing implied commitments were abandoned. It was their right to do so of course; as it is users rights to not regard them.</p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><br /></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><b><i><Cross posted from my Newsletter <a href="https://familytech.substack.com/" target="_blank">Family Tech</a>></i></b></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><b><i><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; white-space-collapse: preserve;">To keep up additional posts on this topic, search on the tag <a href="https://markstout.blogspot.com/search/label/Notes%20Folder" target="_blank">Notes Folder</a></span></span></i></b></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><b><i><br /></i></b></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">For example, they doubled the price I was paying. Admittedly it was the only price raise in seven years but many felt doubling was harsh. A gradual step over a few years might have been more palatable.</p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><br /></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">And the severely restricted Free version was kneecapped. It used to be you could upload 2 megabytes of notes a month into up to 99 notebooks. They reduced that to one notebook, and a total of fifty notes ever! The only recourse was to subscribe for $15 a month.</p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><br /></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">If you have a free version with thousands of notes, you can still read them, you just cannot add more.</p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><br /></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">Retaining those limits but charging $1, $3, or even $5 a month would have been palatable. I can not help but to think they made a critical error here.</p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">I looked at alternatives like OneNote, Notion, Joplin and Obsidian and was not thrilled with any of them.</p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><br /></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">Instead, I rethought my use of Evernote and decided I could meet my needs with Google Docs or Microsoft’s OneDrive.</p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><br /></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><span style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">I use this newsletter of my old Family Tech newspaper column, helping those who have to use tech, but are not smitten with it. My blog has always been more for my fellow tech lovers. I outlined my ideas about using Google Docs on </span><a href="https://markstout.blogspot.com/2023/12/notes-folder-my-new-note-taking-system.html" rel="nofollow ugc noopener" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">my blog</a><span style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">, and will publish updates about the idea there. I invite readers to look at it.</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3488658365408332615.post-70783419172403463282023-12-30T21:00:00.010-05:002024-02-06T21:22:07.050-05:00Notes Folder : My new note taking system<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-406e232f-7fff-df5a-ee05-5094d848c726"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 22pt; margin-left: 22pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="border: none; clear: left; display: inline-block; float: left; height: 320px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; overflow: hidden; width: 320px;"><img height="320" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/8Z0vSknWpse5P2_GZTbQy-0maunTXizdyPYQmm73_z7sFrIxxowK5gA5gvpxMyqvwkvjqCtxQW_l7Q8cR078j9QdoMMCI-RJQLZnOnrv3Z7vtv2cNODj9YNYJ-sW4uCJVmRiSYaOWzBX8EnMHCZSpXI" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="320" /></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I'm in the process of moving to a new way to keep my notes.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It would be best to make a separate post on my long time notetaking app, Evernote, and how it now disappoints me. Bottom line, I no longer trust the company behind Evernote since it was acquired.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">My first inclination was to finally look at alternatives. like Notion, Joplin, Obsidian, etc. of I was not enamored with any of them, so I gritted my teeth and stayed with Evernote.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">TThe situation made me think about how I use Evernote.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b><i>To keep up additional posts on this topic, search on the tag <a href="https://markstout.blogspot.com/search/label/Notes%20Folder" target="_blank">Notes Folder</a></i></b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><i><b>Updates : <a href="https://markstout.blogspot.com/2024/01/reddit-comments-on-my-implementation-of.html" target="_blank">January 24, 2024</a> </b>and in updates noted here.</i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Most of the things I store are quick notes, lists, online receipts for online bills, that sort of thing. Kind of an online file cabinet if you will.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If I were a doctoral student though I could see storing PDFs of papers and research materials. If were working on a large project, then plans, communications etc. would all be there.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Back when I began using Evernote way back in 2008, hard drive space was expensive in a PC. What is now 6 cents a gigabyte cost $1.00 a gigabyte. Cloud synchronization and backup eas much more costly than it is now. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Evernote moved the storage out to the cloud. The synchronization allowed me to have my notes on multiple machines and my phone. Its search capability was fast. It even had scripting, a feature lost with the newest version.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As I looked at alternatives, I looked for the features most important to me:</span></p><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Affordability</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Cloud Storage and synchronization </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Local Storage for data redundancy</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Search</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Notebooks</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Tags</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Import folders (anything placed in a folder ends up in your note collection)</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Web clipper</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Future Proofing to some degree</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Scripting</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Link to other apps via IFTTT</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Android Support</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">IOS Support</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Share Notes</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Star Important Notes</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Artificial Intelligence Access to notes </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Email into note collection </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Import Evernote Notes</span></p></li></ul><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As I mulled over that list, I realized much of that is simply online file storage like offered with Microsoft's OneDrive or Google's Drive.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Those kind of services were not as robust as they are now back when Evernote began. Now they are powerful and cheap. Back then, Evernote made more sense. These file storage systems had grown up.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Considering how many of the feature set this system can deliver, I thought it was worthwhile taking a closer look.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I first looked at using Microsoft OneDrive. As part of our $99 a year family scription, we have five terabytes of storage. That is an awesome amount.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I ended up choosing to use Google Drive although much of what I am doing could be done in OneDrive. I have some scripting options with Google Drive that are not as easy on OneDrive. </span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Other's have thought of this solution of course. I'd heard mention of it but failed to grasp the concept until my mind went down the path on its own.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The reason I am writing all of this out is I've given quite a bit of thought to solutions. And I have more features planned for the system than what I'll outline here. I am hoping others will value these thoughts.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This will not be for everyone; note taking systems vary widely and so do the tools that support them. And I admit there are some disadvantages.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If you want to go this route, test it exhaustively and run it in parallel to your existing system until you know for sure it is for you. </span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The setup I'm using inside of Google Docs does not satisfy all the features in my list above but it does many and I have plans for the ones not met.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Let's take a look at my process.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 18pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Affordability</span></h2><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Cost starts at free.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Google Drive is free with 15 gigabytes of storage. Some of that goes to Gmail and other needs, but even if just 5 gigabytes are used for Notes, that can be thousands of notes. Of course, note size varies on size, and if images are used in it.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I brought in 42,000 notes in from Evernote and it only took 24 gigabytes. I pay $2 a month to add 100 gigabytes to my Google Drive. At say 1,750 notes per gigabyte, and only 8 gigabytes of your 15 free gigabytes dedicated to Notes, you could have approximately 14,000 notes for free.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If you need more space, you can </span><a href="https://one.google.com/storage?i=m&utm_source=drive&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=g1_widget_normal#upgrade" style="text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">purchase it from Google</span></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> for as little as $3 a month for 100 gigabytes more. (all prices in US as of December 2023)</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Some additional services, like </span><a href="https://ifttt.com/plans" style="text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">IFTTT might cost you a few bucks a month</span></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> if you use more applets than are permitted under their free tier.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 18pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Setup a Google Account</span></h2><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If you do not already have a Google account, then </span><a href="https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/27441?hl=en" style="text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">take a moment to set one up</span></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. If you have Gmail, you already have a Google account.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 18pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Setup Google Drive</span></h2><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Next, you need to </span><a href="https://support.google.com/drive/answer/2424384?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop" style="text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">setup Google Drive</span></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> on your PC. To have your Notes be both in the cloud and also on your machine for local redundancy, Setup </span><a href="https://support.google.com/a/users/answer/13022292?hl=en" style="text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Google Drive for the Desktop</span></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">.</span></p><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 18pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Start a Notes Folder</span></h2><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In your Google Drive, click the New button and make a new folder. This folder will be your Notes folder. I named mine simply "Notes"</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Click on the Notes Folder to take you to it. It will be empty. Bookmark it. I started a Bookmark Folder on my browser's toolbar for this notetaking.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 18pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Adding Notes to you Notes Folder</span></h2><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Click the New button again. For most notes you can choose "Google Docs" and create a blank note. You can type in it, paste in images, import images etc.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">You can also drag and drop files into the Notes Folder, or upload them.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If you uses an external tool like Word, Wordpad Notepad, the Snipping Tool or whatever, and save the file to the Google Drive Notes folder on your hard drive, it automatically uploads to Google Drive in the cloud. That is the equivalent to Evernote's Import Folders.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Want to dictate notes? You can do it on the </span><a href="https://recorder.google.com/5773859d-5d11-4158-897e-019f2265c96e" style="text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">desktop</span></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> and your </span><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.recorder&hl=en_US&gl=US" style="text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Android</span></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> phone using Google Recorder. </span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I hope to have a method to Email into Notes in the future. I believe I can do it with Google App Script.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 18pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Organizing your Notes</span></h2><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">You can create folders inside your Notes folder.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If you want tags, just include them in the title.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For example : "Electric Company Payment for December 2023 #utilities"</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">You can have as many as you want in the 255 character limit for file names.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Personally, I often add keywords to the end of file names to make search easier or faster. Or you can add them inside of the note itself.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 18pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Searching your Notes</span></h2><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Search could not be easier. Go to your Notes page in Google Drive and type into the search box. If you type your terms inside quotes, it will find text in the Google Doc or Google Sheet itself.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There is a syntax you can use at </span><a href="https://support.google.com/drive/answer/2375114?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop" style="text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Find Items in Google Drive</span></a></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 18pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Web Clipping</span></h2><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Evernote's web clipper is its superpower. Every review I've read of Evernote competitors notes that tool's web clipper is not as good as Evernote's.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That was a challenge for me when considering this toolset.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Edge browser lets you right click and choose a web clipper. It saves the entire page as an image.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 22pt; margin-right: 22pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 320px; overflow: hidden; width: 193px;"><img height="320" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/0rg_Lxdne7rtlp_r5oirDWp0NIXmZLy6mEyrjiaGrvCuVxmXtHl_QaPtusjuc9QBgLwuqYghce6fZG6Cc_vgXAR1gaVTWIy5HMGxs4cb7Tzf8NFd7fMxjlFOlXOb0MwPlmsaA2jANxUGn50kO_gVwQo" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="193" /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Chrome's </span><a href="https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/save-to-google-drive/gmbmikajjgmnabiglmofipeabaddhgne" style="text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Save to Google Drive</span></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> extension does the same.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Another good way to capture a web page is to use the Snipping Tool in windows or any screen capture application.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One way I like is simply to print the page to PDF and print it to my Google Drive Notes folder. Quick and easy.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 18pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Future Proofing</span></h2><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I bought my first computer 45 years ago. There is one data file I could have created on that machine I could read on this one. That is the simple text file. If I had to bet if any of the files on this machine now would be readable in 50 years on a current machine, it would be the lowly text file. Maybe there will be apps that can still read a PDF file or a DOC file but with almost certainty the text file will be readable.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Do you need your notes to be readable in 50 years? Probably for most of us, no. If you become to your own surprise the next Einstein, or another person historians would want to know about, then your notes would be of value.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Ideally we'd save all of our notes as text files. And with this system, you could. Create your notes in Notepad and save to the Notes folder. </span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But what about images? The ever popular jpeg file will be around a bit longer I think. And one good thing, is as a file format is retired, often there is a way to convert existing files to new formats. One nice thing about all of our notes being files as they are in this system, is batch tools can run against them.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I am creating most of my notes in Google Doc format. Those can be exported as text files if I choose. And I could create a batch tool to automatically export new files to text files so I have a timeless version of it.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "Noto Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">Update January 14, 2024: User Devtastic made a good point about future proofing <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);">on </span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Evernote/comments/18uwipa/moving_away_from_evernote_like_many_to_something/" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);" target="_blank">Reddit</a><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);">: </span></p><p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "Noto Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"></p><p></p><p></p><blockquote style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I would note that DOCX (not DOC) and PDF are both open formats so it is probably safe to assume that you will still be able to open Word documents and PDFs in 50 years time. Microsoft opened up DOCCX for that reason, some organizations were moving to other open document formats because they did not want to be tied in to using Word for archived documents for 50 years.</span></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 18pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Scripting</span></h2><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Evernote used to have scripting built into the Windows version. It was abandoned with Version 10. I believe Apple script abilities disappeared at the same time.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/3488658365408332615/7078341917240346328#" style="text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Google App Script</span></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is a JavaScript based scripting tool that lets you manipulate their tools like Drive, Doc, Sheets, Forms, Gmail etc.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I have plans to build a tool that will let me email to myself with a hashtag in the subject line. An App Script will be triggered by that email, and save the text of it, and any attachments to the Notes folder.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Likewise, the tool I mentioned that would make a text only backup of of any Doc files could be done in App Script. If this system develops a community, I could see many people creating useful scripts.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And we wouldn't be limited to App Script but could use </span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/3488658365408332615/7078341917240346328#" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Python</span></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> and other tools as well.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 18pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Link to Other tools using IFTTT and Zapier</span></h2><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">You can create IFTTT and other service's tools to record information in this system.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For example, every time I save a Reddit post, a copy is made in Google Drive Notes folder using this </span><a href="https://ifttt.com/applets/J7ekTuXZ-copy-a-newly-saved-reddit-post-to-google-drive-note-folder" style="text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">IFTTT Applet</span></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">IFTTT is free for up to 2 applets. If you need more you can get 20 for $2.50 a month (as of December 2023).</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Likewise I can create applets to save Feedly posts and other social media posts to the Notes folder.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin: 0pt 11pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 124px; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img height="124" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/FwkWOUJa_jV6mGqwvYNrYn8B_wTzZUTMqE8Hgv-ZdLf6vAeYULm9kvvMDn_oQ-RMp467JSdCa-GfZaNkBV1rwsO-24r9RyquOk_kO2q_46xg7JVw_Gwn2gCfm3mMun9_HYgjDEDaNyGz-RGcZGjWXPI" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="624" /></span></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 18pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Mobile Support</span></h2><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Google Drive has an app for both Android and IOS. Using Notes Folder on both is relatively easy. You can have the folder as a shortcut on your Android home screen. When you click New you have the option of creating a Doc file, upload an existing file, or scan in a document directly to your Notes folder.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And of course, you have full access to search, share etc. </span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And Syncing is automatically done for us by Google Drive.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 11pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 400px; overflow: hidden; width: 180px;"><img height="400" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/La9ujMXBMn3K0Vxdty5i-eSe_jHAk5wNtBqKlTD9aOHsPKSM5P7gvHiC9rtqUpykA0Y4BqZXwPpYhaxfiUG-YKNOQ3ScVCFomjAAm6bMR7UNP_ZHG7J-ivMnAb4-W_EPlE6sqEwYRrAeypb0ZOJb4KE" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="180" /></span></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 17pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Share Notes</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 22pt; margin-right: 22pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 276px; overflow: hidden; width: 320px;"><img height="276" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/sHw2j6v3km7e48Z_LwAQuWrxeCmwWzmPNjjNj_74Q8TN0MvQS83oE_F3952G6FhbCt__EjLLKik9NRWF4-5xw2Zk2nGj29A3U1xWVdaBJ6JJ74_arGjTn5jD2d4cSPmTYXjLtN5WXvdo067RxfpSPxU" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="320" /></span></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sharing of documents to Google Docs. It isn't something you have to pay extra for as you do with Evernote.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 18pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Star Important Notes</span></h2><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A request I saw for Evernote many times was a way to Star important notes. Probably like many, I just created a tag #starred to designate those notes.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">With Google Drive, you can actually Star a note, and quickly find them.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 22pt; margin-left: 22pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 52px; overflow: hidden; width: 320px;"><img height="52" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/psiP58pB4n8NXULv2zdwMRHLLkkV0R7DQT-lLb0927nWxeH9iMoloKFLnfhxyJIBTSAlt2tAp1JF5KAEEFOW5bLPEcP7We5xCgEhb3NDk8Nr4pM3vagTau9YoNpSVw_vz-TkJtRmXzBuybxuPwlRT58" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="320" /></span></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 22pt; margin-right: 22pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 320px; overflow: hidden; width: 187px;"><img height="320" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/9akJZ19YG8Dx9wQdm57xcX5oJorujTgmS3TEqGDYZVzD2ZoGsHJ_qC3POSFrSDIQFMhHcFov2N-OMLDvdOdOfg2G5PfPamiB5KoF7bmDCA6Lj9DC6EOnmjcH5bIXO81HcjqrnfD75mPPpTpIaKOXXeo" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="187" /></span></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 18pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Artificial Intelligence Access to our Notes</span></h2><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Evernote in the last several months added AI to Evernote so you could ask a question like "What is Doctor Smith's phone number" and it would go through all your medical documents and find it.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Moving to this system doesn't deny you AI abilities. AI is moving fast. You can use your notes as source material for your AI system.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Google </span><a href="https://notebooklm.google.com/?pli=1" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">NotebookLM</span></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is an AI system that can read your Google Doc files and then answer questions using that material.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Right now, it is limited to like 20 sources of material each with up to 200,000 words, but I expect that to rise quickly.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 18pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Email into Evernote</span></h2><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As I said earlier, I hope to soon develop a Google App Script to give this tool that ability.</span></p><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 18pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Import Evernote Notes</span></h2><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I have over 40,000 notes created over 15 years. When I finally do stop paying for Evernote in the next month or so, I supposedly can continue to view them in the Free version. It would be foolish to depend on that.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I have had issues downloading some of my bigger notebooks as ENEX files. I'm going to keep trying. Enex is a wonderful file that would allow you to rebuild a note completely with images.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Instead I downloaded all 40,000 notes as Multiple Web Pages.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin: 0pt 11pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 225px; overflow: hidden; width: 320px;"><img height="225" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/kJ3ePpjplcLCmSgzcGN5VCtqkj2zJxKglNGhYiGa_HiMU6T-vP7Jn5ykl7PJyAIUYOH7cA7pyOdL09iAe4JYMXOq4HBCh3LcP7w7pt3h6bONazp0TKZyoOLMMZ0v_ajQv5rIoi50aA-yaMA_Ip_RMmQ" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="320" /></span></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I did put them into their own sub folder in my Notes folder so I can tell them easily from newer notes.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Evernote moved the dates created and dates updated over but not as visible material on the web page. You have to look at the page's source and find the attributes. It is near the end of the source.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 0pt; text-align: left;"><table style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none;"><colgroup><col width="132"></col><col width="403"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height: 38.5pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div class="html-note"></span></p></td><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><br /></td></tr><tr style="height: 25pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><meta itemprop="title" content="Evernote project"></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 25pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><meta itemprop="created" content="20190701T183755Z"></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 25pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><meta itemprop="updated" content="20190709T000629Z"></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 25pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><note-attributes></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 25pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><meta itemprop="source" content="mobile.android"></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 25pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></note-attributes></span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 0pt; text-align: left;"><table style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none;"><colgroup><col width="15"></col><col width="15"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height: 11.5pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><br /></td></tr><tr style="height: 11.5pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That would be another scripting project; perhaps with Python. Read each file and move the date created and date updated into HTML text.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Update January 2024 : </span>User Regression4 on <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Evernote/comments/18uwipa/moving_away_from_evernote_like_many_to_something/" target="_blank">Reddit </a>had an idea on how to move Evernote notes to PDF using a third party :</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face=""Noto Sans", Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); color: #1c1c1c; font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><blockquote>Thanks for the post. I too moved to Google Drive. To get my Evernote data to Google Drive, I used a web service called CloudHQ. I connected Evernote and Google Drive. It copied each Evernote notebook to a folder in Google Drive. Each note became a PDF in Google Drive. Each PDF had metadata like created and modified date.</blockquote></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 18pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Disadvantages</span></h2><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Every system has its pros and cons. I have spent time on what I consider the pros to be. Here are some of the cons I’ve thought of. I’m sure there are more.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">No creation date in the Drive list of files but can find files of a date creation range using the search syntax syntax</span></p><h4 dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 2pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 12pt 0pt 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #1f1f1f; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">createdbefore & createdafter</span></h4><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 3pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Find items created before or after a certain day. Format the date as YYYY-MM-DD.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Examples:</span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="2" dir="ltr" style="color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">createdbefore:2022-05-02</span></p></li><li aria-level="2" dir="ltr" style="color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 9pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">createdafter:2022-05-01</span></p></li></ul></ul><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">No backlinks</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">No central list of tags</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">No backup to ENEX but these are all files so easy to backup to another service</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 18pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 17pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Other Resources</span></h2><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: left;"><a href="https://support.google.com/drive/?hl=en#topic=14940" style="text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Google Drive Help Center</span></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">From </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQYd8VPW_5LCHkVIYnVkdRqm7cfVWPgzAV0CXa0adzRL4EVBJJgEENyMVXRTt6BOeDl4P-kw4zMvKMJ5swsX7_NfqrLsejbc-vbbjKj8AJUzeIyOy4hohKHnFXDFHW8weN4zQ8SlW9wH66qCr5DJ4HXCmPQUBtjyF_KWDC7RAR6vGTIMuuth17YGjnbkw/s1024/elephan%20and%20man.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQYd8VPW_5LCHkVIYnVkdRqm7cfVWPgzAV0CXa0adzRL4EVBJJgEENyMVXRTt6BOeDl4P-kw4zMvKMJ5swsX7_NfqrLsejbc-vbbjKj8AJUzeIyOy4hohKHnFXDFHW8weN4zQ8SlW9wH66qCr5DJ4HXCmPQUBtjyF_KWDC7RAR6vGTIMuuth17YGjnbkw/w244-h244/elephan%20and%20man.jpg" width="244" /></a> <br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">To </span><img height="243" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/YoOa2Kfu1ghgh3OfgWKaip-YGZgKlztgm-sxfO_x-EdA1W2kEb-sDEfYWqCu41foLqOcA7_KVhQH0_yAnMgsDVmUoY1Rb0C29CvK0FVjfkuGPo2gbGKstX51YgwdK57JrG8wpokQIXvc0oL1s5hP3pE=w243-h243" style="font-size: 11pt; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left; white-space-collapse: preserve;" width="243" /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Be sure to comment. If you start using this, please share your insights. If you have questions, ask away.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">And check back. I'll be posting other ideas and things I'm doing and things I'm sure I'll discover.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3488658365408332615.post-16499535633006284532023-12-18T19:34:00.003-05:002023-12-18T19:34:29.414-05:00A new take on Note system coming<p>This is just a placeholder. I am working on a new way to keep notes that might provide a rich feature set, at a low cost. For some, no cost perhaps.</p><p>I am simply organizing some existing tools that work well together. I do not want to say what or how yet, until I can prepare a proper presentation in the coming weeks. Frankly if I heard the one sentence description of what I am doing, I'd be dubious.</p><p>Please check back here periodically for more information. Please say in the comments if you are interested in this.</p><p>For credentials, let me say I've been an Evernote user since the very beginning, July 2008. I've created 42,000 notes. Like many I am growing to distrust the direction of Evernote. I looked at alternatives a few months back and did not find one I liked.</p><p>I was paying the new high price of Evernote, when I started to think exactly how I was using Evernote. That train of thought lead me to the methodology and tools I am starting to use.</p><p>Please stay tuned.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3488658365408332615.post-13366754708747430042023-06-12T11:09:00.001-04:002023-06-12T11:09:10.989-04:00Late to Python<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> After several years of not programming much of anything, I have chosen to finally learn Python.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I tried half-heartedly a few years ago. I wrongly understood it was like PHP and a natural for HTML. I read a couple of cheat sheets and tried to make a go of it.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Sound torturous? That is how I had to learned my first programming language, Radio Shack Level II BASIC back in 1979. I had only a elementary manual on Level I, and then a command reference on Level II. I head to reason out not only how each command worked, but why you would use it. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I've used that method for most of the languages I have learned, which is why I have always been a hobbyist programmer, and not an especially productive one.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I soon learned with Python if I wanted to do websites, I needed to use Djanjo, a web library for Python. Those who know Python and Djanjo are probably moaning right now. Those two together are not a good first day in Python, yet that is what I tried to do.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">This time, I started with a couple videos on YouTube and immediately saw how easy it was for basic things. I was off to the races.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The project I started in 1980 on a Radio Shack Model I was basically an note taking application. I actually developed it in various tools: BASIC, Dbase III, Visual Basic starting with version 3 and maybe before. I went on to PERL and PHP. I more or less stopped in 2008 when Evernote came out. Evernote did what I had been envisioning far, far better.<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I am back to envisioning my own note taking app. There are hundreds in the app stores. I recently reviewed a few of the major Evernote competitors and found them lacking. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">A note taking app is a fun type app for learning. It can encompass a Windows client, a Mac client, a web client, a mobile client, a mobile web client, XML parsing, and database operations. I'm not planning all those, but who knows?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Several predictions :</span></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: medium;">I will never finish it (why now after 40 years?)</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">If I do finish it, it won't be suitable for anyone else to use</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">It will never be as good as Evernote<br /></span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">I will learn a lot.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">I will enjoy this.</span></li></ul><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3488658365408332615.post-91592273305895079902023-04-29T21:30:00.007-04:002023-04-29T21:32:51.373-04:00Death of the Computer Magazine (in print)<p>Other old time PCers from the early 80s might enjoy my <a href="https://familytech.substack.com/p/death-of-the-computer-magazine">reminisces of computer magazines</a> in that era in my latest <a href="https://familytech.substack.com">Substack newsletter</a> (free).</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3488658365408332615.post-58918538798671213692023-02-13T17:09:00.002-05:002023-02-13T17:09:33.538-05:00The Death of Scripting in Windows for Evernote<p>With Evernote 10, scripting is no longer available for Evernote, at least in Windows. The application ENScript is no longer available. </p><p>I never used it much, but I enjoyed dinking around with in. I had a little <a href="https://www.autoitscript.com/site/">AutoIt</a> script that could create individual notes for each line of a spreadsheet. I wrote about it a couple of times, the most recently <a href="http://markstout.blogspot.com/2017/06/scripting-evernote-in-windows-updated.html">here</a>.</p><p>Evernote has been purchased by a new company. Their intent for future Evernote development is unclear. I don't know if scripting will be a part of it.</p><p>I was reviewing the post mentioned above, and realized the ability to create notes from a spreadsheet could almost be done as well using Visual Basic for Applications in Excel. A simple VBA app could generate a a text file and save it to your Evernote Upload directory.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8xoJPvF12OHxSIbqncCETTBXo55C1HaYxU1uPfzZq0o4PKcZwKEowLsqZEtqzgVlhQbL5EsytoWAkaipjEmQVY0dPx-P8Y70TGy-lnr0kyqs6gMVScALKzJ8n0OMTF-2_bsta_EocrXHohfryuhQoMA3URBA23h6rhBVYcvMPUarZHyaLrU-Garst/s966/Screenshot%202023-02-13%20170327.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="598" data-original-width="966" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8xoJPvF12OHxSIbqncCETTBXo55C1HaYxU1uPfzZq0o4PKcZwKEowLsqZEtqzgVlhQbL5EsytoWAkaipjEmQVY0dPx-P8Y70TGy-lnr0kyqs6gMVScALKzJ8n0OMTF-2_bsta_EocrXHohfryuhQoMA3URBA23h6rhBVYcvMPUarZHyaLrU-Garst/w400-h248/Screenshot%202023-02-13%20170327.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>What wouldn't show up is a title and tags. </p><p>Instead of creating an entire script processing utility Evernote could allow simple markup to happen in the note.</p><p>Something like <title>My Title goes here</title> and <tags> a,list,of,comma delimited, tags</tags></p><p>Maybe even get fancy and support notebooks and tasks.</p><p>File this under day dreaming and nice to have,. I'd still prefer a full scripting interpreter though.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3488658365408332615.post-81309611228843766092023-02-07T21:35:00.004-05:002023-02-07T21:36:13.794-05:00Should you build your own PC?<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-size: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I mentioned in my last update how I’d built my new computer. With the seeming adoration we all have for laptops, we seem to have fallen out of love with desktops. Why did I go with a desktop? And why I built my own and not just buy?</span></span></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Some people work from their couches, beds, on travel etc. and those people need a laptop.</span></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><br /></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">Is that you? Or is your laptop setup at your desk and never moves? If that is the case then a desktop might be better. A desktop doesn’t need the many dongles to hook five devices to one USB port many laptops have now. They come with a plethora of USB ports, and can support multiple monitors easily.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><br /></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">Desktops often are cheaper that a similar equipped laptop. Makes sense, it more expensive to build smaller components into a tight case for a laptop.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><br /></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">And building your own desktop reduces the price even more. And it isn’t as hard as one might think. There is no soldering involved. You not building so much as assembling various components together. You get to pick your own components to make the computer ideal for your own use case. And if you want to upgrade, you can do so by only adding the upgraded components you need. Same too if one part fails, it is easy to swap out the defective part.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><br /></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">Gamers need powerful desktop computers and there are sites now to make it easier for them to choose components and assemble their machines.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><br /></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">YouTube for example, has videos on the overall process and again ones for how to assemble each of the components you might have.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><br /></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">What do I mean by component? You need a handful of components:</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: var(--color-primary); font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding-left: var(--size-4); text-align: left;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>A CPU, the main microprocessor</li><li><span style="background-color: white; color: var(--color-primary); font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px;">A graphics adaptor</span></li><li><span style="background-color: white; color: var(--color-primary); font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px;">a CPU Fan</span></li><li><span style="background-color: white; color: var(--color-primary); font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px;">Memory</span></li><li><span style="background-color: white; color: var(--color-primary); font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px;">Power Supply</span></li><li><span style="background-color: white; color: var(--color-primary); font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px;">Hard Drive or better yet, a solid state drive (SSD)</span></li><li><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: var(--color-primary); font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px;">and a case to put it all in.</span></li></ul><p></p><br style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: var(--color-primary); font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px;" /><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: var(--color-primary); font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px;">Then there are ones you might already have from your prior setup :</span><br /><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: var(--color-primary); font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding-left: var(--size-4); text-align: left;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Monitor(s)</li><li><span style="background-color: white; color: var(--color-primary); font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px;">Keyboard</span></li><li><span style="background-color: white; color: var(--color-primary); font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px;">Mouse</span></li><li>Operating System (With Windows you can sometime transfer your license to a new machine)</li></ul><p></p><ul style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px;"><li style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; margin: var(--size-8) 0 0 var(--size-32);"><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; box-sizing: border-box; color: var(--color-primary); line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-left: var(--size-4);"></p></li></ul><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">It used to be complicated. You had to research each part and make sure it would work with all the other parts. If that were still the case, I’d never have built my own.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">Sites like <a href="https://pcpartpicker.com">PCPart Picker</a> ( <a href="https://pcpartpicker.com">https://pcpartpicker.com</a> ) do all the hard part for you. You can start with one of their suggested builds and the modify it by upgrading certain components if you wish.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><br /></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">That’s what I did.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><br /></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">It will tell you if the parts are going to work together or not.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">You can order the parts from Amazon, or PC retailers like Microcenter, NewEgg etc.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">For my readers in Northern Virginia, there is a Microcenter in Fairfax. The staff will help you choose components. They can assemble them for you if you pay extra. Or if you mess up your own build, they can unsnarl it for you.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><br /></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">A year ago, I would not have written this. The price for graphic processing units (GPU) were through the roof. They are important to mining cybercurrencies and the miners had driven the price up. And the ones that did come into stores were few. People were camping out in front of Microcenter I heard.\</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><br /></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">With the recent problems with cybercurrencies, the prices for GPUs has returned to normal.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><br /></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">PCPartPicker has a home office appropriate machine for as little as $474.00 and a starter gaming machine for $431.00, not including the monitor, keyboard, mouse and operating system.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><br /></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">Higher end games will require more expensive systems with better CPUs and GPUs. People doing video editing, flight simulator or race car simulations might also want a faster machine.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><br /></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">If you want advice on your proposed build, sign up for Reddit.com and see their <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskBattlestations">AskBattlestations </a>subreddit for advice : <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskBattlestations.">https://www.reddit.com/r/AskBattlestations.</a> They are a kind place to ask. I saw a father asking about building three low end machines for his son and two of his friends to play Minecraft with while in the same room. If they were not going to play together outside, they might as well play together inside. The subreddit participants lauded him as father of the year.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><br /></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">Another time, a single mother was struggling to build a machine on a tight budget for her son who wanted a gaming machine as his only gift that Christmas. Several people volunteered to send her old components that were perfectly good, left after they upgraded their own systems.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><br /></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">If you want to see what people with crazy amounts of money and room design talents build, check out the <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/battlestations">Battlestations </a>subreddit : <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/battlestations">https://www.reddit.com/r/battlestations</a>.</span><br style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;" /><br style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;" /><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">I look at that the way other men look at sports car sites.</span></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;"><br /></span></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">Building isn’t for everyone. You need to want to do more than save money. This is for the folks who like tech, or learning new DIY skills.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><br /></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><cross posted at my Substack, familytech.substack.com></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"></p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap" style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe" style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: flex-start; color: var(--print_on_web_bg_color, var(--color-primary)); direction: ltr !important; font-family: var(--font_family_ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"); line-height: 1.5; margin: 24px auto; max-width: 560px; padding: 32px; text-align: center;"><div class="preamble" style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; display: flex; font-family: var(--font_family_ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"); font-size: 18px; line-height: 22px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: var(--size-16); max-width: 384px; width: fit-content;"></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3488658365408332615.post-2321437290632450742023-02-02T07:02:00.001-05:002023-02-02T07:02:05.553-05:00Where have I been?<p data-pm-slice="1 1 []">My nine-year-old laptop died and I dithered about how to replace it. Ultimately, I chose to build a desktop. Back in 2014 my adult son and I built a gaming PC for him, so I had some experience. And about the time my laptop died, we needed to upgrade the motherboard, processor, memory, and power supply in his machine. You could say I was in the groove.</p><p>Most of the hot button items I normally needed a computer, I did reasonably well on my phone. I could pay bills, update spreadsheets, and certainly surf the web (does anyone say “surf the web” anymore?)</p><p>I had read for years that in many third world nations without a telephone infrastructure, smartphones had been a major change for many communities. Farmers would get current stock prices, people could do banking for often the first time, order goods, and obtain micro loans, all on their phone. As someone who has always used a computer, I wondered how that all worked. Having primarily a phone taught me a lot.</p><p>Of course, we have multiple computers in the home, just none I could make mine exclusively. I have a work computer, but that use was limited largely to work. </p><p>On my Substack, <a href="http://familytech.substack.com">familytech.substack.com</a>, I’ll return to topics of interest to families using technology. My more technical posts will here on long-time blog, </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3488658365408332615.post-9315252481478487862022-02-11T21:23:00.000-05:002022-02-11T21:23:02.808-05:00Announcing the return of Family Tech - now a newsletter<p>Some readers might recall I once wrote a column for a local paper called Family Tech. It was tech information meant for the casual tech user.</p><p>I discontinued providing it to the paper a few years back. A few weeks ago I resurrected it as a Substack newsletter.</p><p>You can receive free weekly content in an email or by visiting on the web at <a href="http://FamilyTech.Substack.com">FamilyTech.Substack.com</a></p><p>I hope you will visit, and perhaps share it with those who might enjoy and benefit from it. Members of your extended family perhaps.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3488658365408332615.post-53687038748483794712021-09-27T19:01:00.004-04:002021-09-27T19:01:53.854-04:00Lessons from 18 months of Work from home<p>I passed 18 months of Covid related work-from-home last week. I wouldn't be surprised if I hit two years come March.</p><p>I thought when it began I'd do a lot more blogging. What happened is after eight hours in my home office, I am happy to leave it and not return for the day.</p><p>There are lessons I have learned in the past 18 months that do make my life more pleasant.</p><p>My enjoyment of the Twitter account <a href="https://twitter.com/ratemyskyperoom">RateMySkypeRoom </a>did make me finally hang up posters and such I'd bought at aviation museums over the years. While the number of actual camera-on meetings I have is small, it is nice to present the illusion of order and neatness in my chaotic world. Next up is to hang my my ancient Radio Shack Model 100 in a shadow box.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP1N7CkMLmM3MBbzwWtMXga2HB8wZDqgHKbbAsvgphgsNG_9qbrpQ9AY5EGXlToEB5d1Ur8qodOcZr8rgcJY6dbwH6LbXhpQ4Wc9afXD2b-YwnhcBK7XOP4APX23ecm_kUgLZ8Y1aN7Es/s2048/blogpost.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1432" data-original-width="2048" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP1N7CkMLmM3MBbzwWtMXga2HB8wZDqgHKbbAsvgphgsNG_9qbrpQ9AY5EGXlToEB5d1Ur8qodOcZr8rgcJY6dbwH6LbXhpQ4Wc9afXD2b-YwnhcBK7XOP4APX23ecm_kUgLZ8Y1aN7Es/w400-h280/blogpost.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>And the old TV guy in me (I majored in Broadcast Journalism but was seduced into the then-new personal PC space soon after graduation), lead me to use a gifted Amazon card to buy a Ring light. Even before it arrived, I thought that was foolish, I had few video conferences. And indeed I haven't used it much.</p><p>My wife used it quite a bit at first, for online conferences and meetings. My adult son uses it a lot for online Dungeons and Dragons. When he moves out soon, I'll have to make sure he doesn't sneak it out. It bigger success than I thought.</p><p>Several gifts over the last several years were prescient. A Yeti Blue microphone my wife got me is handy for video conferences without a headset. About 2016 I received one monitor for my personal laptop, then asked for a second before Covid. I asked for a third for my 2020 birthday. Three is the perfect number for me. One in the center for active project, and two outliers for communications (chat/email) and statistics of my work environment.</p><p>I've only made a couple of purchases to augment the work-from-home environment since Covid began. The day before we left the office, I purchased a docking station from Best Buy. I was in a hurry and wanted to pick it up on the way home, so Amazon lost that one order.</p><p>My personal laptop is 2013 vintage so no USB C or Thunderbolt ports. I needed a dock that used USB A. I only had two monitors then, so I had one monitor hooked in by HDMI, and the second by VGA. I'm not linking to my dock; there are so many and most are better than my impulse purchase.</p><p>When I added the third monitor, I couldn't hook it to the docking station but could to the HDMI port on the laptops. I now had two cables to swap from work to personal laptops. Obviously that was a problem I couldn't live with! </p><p>To switch the HDMI was easy. I purchased a HDMI switch. The one I bought is no longer on Amazon, but it looks like <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Switcher-Benfei-Bi-Direction-Hub-HDCP-Passthrough-Supports/dp/B07DNB98HH/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=hdmi+switch&qid=1632759804&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1&smid=A22IT5YXEXLEXM&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyN01YQVJVWVJLRzc0JmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMTU3NTgyMkdBVEFaVVJTNVpLMiZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNDg2MDM0UUc1ME9YSzA4R1FRJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==">this one</a>.</p><p>I used a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07T89NTXK?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share">USB </a><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07T89NTXK?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share">switch </a>to switch the docking station from one laptop to the other.</p><p>The problem is that the cable from a docking station to the USB A plug on it is not long, just inches. The signal degrades fast if you extend it much. I have to forget about good cable management, The switch has to be visible of course and the cables from it to the two laptops as short as possible to get acceptable performance.</p><p>Now I can switch from one machine to another with the push of two buttons.</p><p>My dream is a docking station with two switchable outputs. Considering the number of people now running a work and personal machine, I am surprised no vendor has jumped on this. There are maybe costly solutions, but I try to keep each purchase under $100 if I can.</p><p>Which brings me to my final point, none of this needs to be costly.</p><p>My monitors are just 1080p resolution. I don't game, so they are fine. I don't need 4K high performance monitors. My monitors cost about $100 each. The docking station was $79, the HDMI switch $12, and the USB switch $27. The ring light was $50. Cables and such a few dollars more.</p><p>My wife watched me working on my personal machine one day, with windows open on all three monitors, as I worked fast and efficiently and commented that I looked so happy.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3488658365408332615.post-42382454091198920472021-09-22T16:02:00.011-04:002021-09-22T18:04:51.576-04:00Do you lose things? This post is for you.<p>Do you ever put something somewhere and think "This is the logical spot for this. I'll remember it is here easily."</p><p>And often, that is the last you see of it.</p><p>Yet another use for Evernote. I have notes recording where important things are and when I last saw it. It saves a lot of stress.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3488658365408332615.post-17997203291024487112021-08-01T21:38:00.000-04:002021-08-01T21:38:18.130-04:00Instanote - another note taking app joins my workflow<p>Long time readers know I'm fascinated by note taking apps. Primarily Evernote, where I'm now closing in on 35,000 notes since 2008. Google Keep also has a place in my work flow.</p><p>My latest phone has 128 gig of storage. That leaves room for apps I might never use after an initial experience.</p><p>Such was Instanote. It was a fun little app that stored notes on a sequential roll. It was actually reminiscent of an early version of Evernote before it was redesigned and went big time. Evernote briefly used the same metaphor.</p><p>I liked my first look at Instanote, but had not use case then for it. Yet I kept it on my phone. Turned out to be a good thing.</p><p>Life happens, and for me that meant unexpected surgery in early April. I'm okay, but I now need to pay attention to taking pills and taking measurements like blood pressure.</p><p>During my hospital stay, I found Instanote on my phone. It was almost perfect for recording notes from doctor visits, and such. On my release, I used it to record blood pressure, temperature and other attributes. </p><p>My doctors were impressed with the amount of data I could report back to them during visits.</p><p>The only complaint I had was that it showed notes in date/time updated order. If I edited a note, then the note ended up in the wrong place, with the wrong date/time recorded. I mentioned that in feedback to the developer.</p><p>The developer reached out to me and we discussed my need. He updated the app and sent me a beta to evaluate. Amazing response. It now allows sorting by date/time created. </p><p>He also had me a test the export to CSV file. That is good for backup and for preparing a spreadsheet I can send my doctors.</p><p>There is a lot more to Instanote than this. It supports both <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.instanote.instanote&hl=en_US&gl=US" target="_blank">Android</a> and <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/instanote-pro/id1499393902" target="_blank">IOS</a>. It has reminders, lists, sharing, and color coding of notes. Color coding is handy for me to make measurements stand out from medications etc. There is even a web version for when I'm working on my laptop.</p><p>It may not be for everyone; no note taking app. You might find a use for Instanote as I have.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3488658365408332615.post-61856490667987349022021-03-22T11:26:00.002-04:002021-03-22T11:26:15.899-04:00If my cables are not actively trying to kill me, they are managed<p>If you go one of the subreddits on Reddit.com celebrating pristine computer builds, the site of a single inch of cable raises hackles.</p><p>As someone who has been setting up computers since 1979--yes really--I have never worried much about cables. I'm forever having to add/subtract, move peripherals, so cable management would have been inhibiting and inconvenient.</p><p>I've been working from home like many for the last year (it was a year Friday). Over this time I've tweaked my home system immensely. Since I do spend a lot of time in it, I have thought some of cable management. Not so much in making them disappear--that's an ideal I'll never hit--but rather somewhat less chaotic.</p><p>The most offensive part was my docking station. I'd bought a small docking station that accepted two monitors, two USB inputs and an ethernet cable. That way I could switch from work laptop to personal laptop by switching one cable; not several.</p><p>I connected a powered USB hub to one of the USB inputs so I could swap my 2 cameras, Yeti microphone, headset, keyboard and mouse once too.</p><p>That hub and dock made far an ugly rats nest. One day I had an inspired idea. I had a small, empty cardboard box. I punched holes in three sides, put the dock hub inside and passed the cables into them, and then the one out to the laptop.</p><p>For a brief moment I thought I'd made an major invention. I visualized going on Shark Tank and partnering up with Cuban and deftly putting Mr. Wonderful in his place.</p><p>And then I checked <a href="https://www.amazon.com/s?k=cable+management+box&ref=nb_sb_noss_2">Amazon</a>. Alas, cable management boxes are a whole category.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBJXZOFXRr5gBYGnRo76SynwTNd__rrN5IH32bfZvK2kczhLJKby3zZXRhXezNcWCjkJQr6klJ8bTGFO4VKnIqpcyCDd7575tiRImweYydlRPKpUkJ70QcfA_9JU23KqZGicSWcByzZn4/s848/Capture.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="773" data-original-width="848" height="365" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBJXZOFXRr5gBYGnRo76SynwTNd__rrN5IH32bfZvK2kczhLJKby3zZXRhXezNcWCjkJQr6klJ8bTGFO4VKnIqpcyCDd7575tiRImweYydlRPKpUkJ70QcfA_9JU23KqZGicSWcByzZn4/w400-h365/Capture.PNG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>I bought a set of three. </p><p>On a Sunday, I tore everything down, and had a completely clear desk for the first time in years. I moved everything back, cabling carefully as I went. All was wonderful for three days.</p><p>Then my mouse and keyboard got twitchy and I had to hook up direct to my work laptop. Everything got torn apart.</p><p>It was a short lived glitch. At the end of the day I hooked everything back up and it worked, but the cables were a rat nest again.<br /></p><p>Another Sunday, another setting up.</p><p>Then I had to go into the office for a quick trip and needed my laptop. I had to tear it all apart to get at my power supply.</p><p>So the following Sunday I repeated everything, but this time I've added a small power strip outside of the cable boxes for my work laptop and to hook up other devices temporarily. Not as attractive, but more useful.</p><p>Then I added a third monitor. Remember my dock only supports two, so I had to move two cables to switch from work to home laptops; the dock's USB cable and an HDMI for that third monitor. That was a first world problem I could not live with. That's an adventure for another post.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3488658365408332615.post-66453217218335712072020-09-20T21:48:00.003-04:002021-02-22T09:31:20.953-05:00We are learning to telework, and even having fun doing it.<p><span style="font-size: large;">During the all-too-necessary move to more online interactions necessitated by the Covid pandemic, certain truths have come out.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">We've all become voyeurs. Well maybe not become, we've always been curious on how others their lives.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Lora, serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: large;">Now we just have a digital way to do it.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Lora, serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">I do not spend much time in online meetings, but when I do, or watch contributors to television <br /></span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">programs coming to us from their homes, I find myself checking out their homes.
<br /></span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Don't you?<br /></span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">
Which is why I've greatly enjoyed following the </span><a href="https://twitter.com/ratemyskyperoom" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #25a186; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Rate My Skype Room Twitter Account</span></a><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Lora, serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEvbgPjYIhPY4FWnXr1DjhjQ4A02Ji1TBbFETa36BtaHPqcnVZNHrT-PzMExwc5lOEMAi-aFT8p11uKvuVQuGii53ExaqgzVBvkIhlJmGkKPywFC0H48Il6arMZ4-BI_EBBP9WrAIFm4U/s648/zoom5.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="559" data-original-width="648" height="552" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEvbgPjYIhPY4FWnXr1DjhjQ4A02Ji1TBbFETa36BtaHPqcnVZNHrT-PzMExwc5lOEMAi-aFT8p11uKvuVQuGii53ExaqgzVBvkIhlJmGkKPywFC0H48Il6arMZ4-BI_EBBP9WrAIFm4U/w640-h552/zoom5.PNG" width="640" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-size: 20px; white-space: normal;">It started, I suspect, as a lark by someone with too much time on their hands in April; </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-size: 20px; white-space: normal;">the early days of the quarantine. I understand the author is a Democratic political operative,| b</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-size: 20px; white-space: normal;">ut don't let that lead you astray. Even if you ignore his commentary about the rooms, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;">his scoring and his occasional snark about the individual, the account gives you glimpses </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 20px;">into others homes.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: Lora, serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-size: 20px; white-space: normal;">He mostly comments on those appearing on TV news programs. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-size: 20px; white-space: normal;">When TV news sent their own people home to broadcast from there, they realized they can tap</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-size: 20px; white-space: normal;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-size: 20px; white-space: normal;">a huge reservoir of knowledgeable experts who have not seen on network news shows.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Lora, serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-size: 20px; white-space: normal;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-size: 20px; white-space: normal;">When TV News came to us only from their studios, expert commentators we saw were the ones </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-size: 20px; white-space: normal;">who could afford to take a big chunk out of their day to go into the city, often New York, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-size: 20px; white-space: normal;">find parking, go into makeup and finally go on a show.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Lora, serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-size: 20px; white-space: normal;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-size: 20px; white-space: normal;">What about more relevant experts who could not afford the time, because they were using their t</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-size: 20px; white-space: normal;">ime to, you know, do expert things expertly? We didn’t hear from them.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Lora, serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-size: 20px; white-space: normal;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-size: 20px; white-space: normal;">Now, those folks can Zoom/Skype/Google Meet etc. into the program with only a few minutes </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-size: 20px; white-space: normal;">needed ahead of their appearance. We are hearing from a much broader range of people with more diverse views. A boon to us all.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Lora, serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-size: 20px; white-space: normal;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-size: 20px; white-space: normal;">And a boom to we voyeurs. Rate My Skype Room gives you an excellent place to spy.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Lora, serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-size: 20px; white-space: normal;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif;"><span style="font-size: 20px;">Jeff Jarvis, a journalism professor with the lengthy title of the Leonard Tow Professor of Journalism Innovation and director of the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism at the City University of New York's Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism says his wife is proudest, of all of his accomplishment, of his 10 out of 10 score at Rate My Skype Room. She did most of the decorating.</span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif;"><span style="font-size: 20px;"><a href="https://twitter.com/jeffjarvis" target="_blank">Twitter</a> <a href="https://buzzmachine.com/" target="_blank">Blog</a></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif;"><span style="font-size: 20px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif;"></span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFKGSgXcWOxoQBboAMoRoSvIVRHqdJ2Ag1_eqVPBmhMxUNWolEP9z9eINZiYbS0xktEfCpy8rrlFF5Rt8rQiLKUFc0w4f8sU2S9wX3OyN7Hpr9Vt5DRQK_zuirj4X4Tzxj0lmbUQu9daU/s595/zoom6.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="577" data-original-width="595" height="621" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFKGSgXcWOxoQBboAMoRoSvIVRHqdJ2Ag1_eqVPBmhMxUNWolEP9z9eINZiYbS0xktEfCpy8rrlFF5Rt8rQiLKUFc0w4f8sU2S9wX3OyN7Hpr9Vt5DRQK_zuirj4X4Tzxj0lmbUQu9daU/w640-h621/zoom6.PNG" width="640" /></a></span></div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span>And now, attention is being paid to what else is going on the home. </span> </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Recently, one of those rarely heard from before experts, <a href="https://twitter.com/GretchenTG" target="_blank">Dr. Gretchen Goldman, PhD</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/GretchenTG/status/1305974239984484353?s=09" target="_blank">showed on Twitter</a> the professional appearance she made on CNN. Not the defused lighting, and the professional appearance of dress and background. </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/author/gretchen-goldman#.X2gFcj-SmUk" target="_blank">Website</a></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgixEQxeJWCFMi_lQBiwVPQjNdcKqAWz_YV9-z9c0efECN9ZRuwgLMqxJJp9ixzc4Im_CrGCnEQ2DhtFTFjec2z4r3MV8ZIktc89c3lB57c8guZrof9EEOe_rcPlJXakKhRKlvnJBIQdY0/s1601/zoom3.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="936" data-original-width="1601" height="374" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgixEQxeJWCFMi_lQBiwVPQjNdcKqAWz_YV9-z9c0efECN9ZRuwgLMqxJJp9ixzc4Im_CrGCnEQ2DhtFTFjec2z4r3MV8ZIktc89c3lB57c8guZrof9EEOe_rcPlJXakKhRKlvnJBIQdY0/w640-h374/zoom3.PNG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #292929;"><span style="font-size: large;">She also tweeted the reality of what her home looked like behind the scenes.'</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #292929;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: large; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMm1AWU1rpghblSiL1JdWcs0dzGzOuv0t4Kqn1-_ZVlRRa8fj4bzBgNTUs1OBuxaejfggLOJl8hH2-K3NVpbUikJ-XTL8Oq1jjUMwkQFKgoBZp31WL-BsUgavRyiy88_Bc0bu8bjZKxAI/s1268/zoom4.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="932" data-original-width="1268" height="470" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMm1AWU1rpghblSiL1JdWcs0dzGzOuv0t4Kqn1-_ZVlRRa8fj4bzBgNTUs1OBuxaejfggLOJl8hH2-K3NVpbUikJ-XTL8Oq1jjUMwkQFKgoBZp31WL-BsUgavRyiy88_Bc0bu8bjZKxAI/w640-h470/zoom4.PNG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #292929;"><span style="font-size: large;">We're learning the new rules of working from home. Even though I'll never be on Rate My Skype Room, I have gotten around to hanging photos in my home office I've long put off.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">And we owe this guy a lot for his warning back in 2017.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PvjuVnKDUbw" width="480"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Our son built a display of dragons he's assembled and painted for a background.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj41G0GXjsc-WuEBrjfoAIYXmvAPuuJzeAMy8ZKZQpIGTmiz0EROuS-Mfq5GUGjyKehtq36hX2X4MMeZyAoRbY5ZFsBpyzTRoGZKz_hHnO0nWYk3JItwrV0F5xfxYPKuOw2g7jBc99-vYc/s2048/IMG_20200411_200204.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj41G0GXjsc-WuEBrjfoAIYXmvAPuuJzeAMy8ZKZQpIGTmiz0EROuS-Mfq5GUGjyKehtq36hX2X4MMeZyAoRbY5ZFsBpyzTRoGZKz_hHnO0nWYk3JItwrV0F5xfxYPKuOw2g7jBc99-vYc/w640-h480/IMG_20200411_200204.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">And I know one office that held a pet parade before a recent Zoom meeting. Everyone held their dogs or cats up for their colleagues to see.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">We're going to be okay at this. Good thing. Its not nearly over.</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3488658365408332615.post-50337237274455435532020-09-16T21:17:00.000-04:002020-09-16T21:17:19.154-04:00Talking to your phone, and your computer, is starting to make sense<div><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-0c4178a5-7fff-b974-3f84-d282c05640c9">One of the great boons of smartphones is it brings computing and connectivity to entire populations that couldn't afford it before. We've heard about farmers in places like Kenya and such that can track market prices of their products where they couldn't easily before. Banking and micro loans have come to populations that didn't have easy access to banking. Now through smartphones and the internet they do.</p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-0c4178a5-7fff-b974-3f84-d282c05640c9"><br></p><p dir="ltr">After 40 years with either a laptop or a desktop computer, I don't see myself ever completely weaning myself off of a regular computer. Like those people whose first computer experiences were a smartphone, I am doing more and more with just my smartphone. In fact I'm writing this on my smartphone.</p><br><p dir="ltr">No typing on a smartphone is not really conducive to large creation of documents. But I'm getting more and more adept at dictation. My Google Pixel 4A is good at understanding what I'm saying especially if I'm in a quiet room as, I am now. I can even put in punctuation as necessary.</p><br><p dir="ltr">I'm writing this because I find that a lot of people, especially people my age over 60, think of the dictation capabilities as a gadget. I'm not sure they understand just how incredibly useful it can be.</p><br><p dir="ltr">Google has for its Pixels and some other phones an <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.recorder">audio recorder</a> that transcribes as you go. I've used it for some long material. It's not perfect, not by any means. It is suitable for finding a portion of a recording or a certain topic being talked about. And if you do need an exact transcript it's a good beginning that you can edit to closer to perfection.</p><br><p dir="ltr">And <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2020/08/25/microsoft-365-transcription-voice-commands-word/">Microsoft Word for the Web</a> in Office 365 now has dictation and transcription. So this is coming not only to smartphones but also to desktop computers. </p><br><p dir="ltr">This concept has been around for a long time with the Dragon Speak products but they were extra cost and when I first tried them 10-15 years ago not very useful. That is all changed. Dictation is now a very viable way of entering and large amounts of text and creating documents.</p><br><p dir="ltr">If you haven't tried it I encourage you to play with it and give it a shot.</p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3488658365408332615.post-77790837651248034442020-08-23T11:27:00.000-04:002020-08-23T11:27:02.613-04:00I was right to wait. Pixel 4a is awesome. And sad news about Automagic.<p>Four weeks before the Pixel 4a's rumored announcement date my Pixel XL OG died, as I described in my last post.</p><p>I really didn't want a non-Pixel phone so I waited for the Pixel 4a announcement. Thankfully it was made on August 3rd, the rumored date.</p><p>I ordered within minutes of its appearance on the Google Play Store and it arrived on 8/19. </p><p>This is an awesome phone.</p><p>At $350 it has 80% of the value of $1400 dollar phones.</p><p>At that 20%, are things I do not care about.</p><p>This <a href="https://www.slashgear.com/google-pixel-4a-review-performance-camera-value-21634517/?fbclid=IwAR3qXEsXOAbnlnFSpDXz8DlCNAUtVvsToeeG4aatcZLKNud0jnKGEwJPQY4">review summarizes my feelings</a> well.</p><p><br /></p><p>And in adding apps to my new phone, I just found out <a href="https://automagic4android.com/">Automagic </a>has stopped development. That is sad. It was my go-to automation tool for making my own widgets and more. So I'm biting the bullet and finally learning Tasker. I had bought it years ago, but found the learning curve steeper than I wanted to climb. It is still steep but there are now videos and more help documents, and I've already had several "ah-ha, that's how it works" moments in the first few minutes.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3488658365408332615.post-9138400958092237162020-08-12T19:57:00.003-04:002020-08-12T20:02:31.356-04:00Managing without a Cell Phone<p>Funny how tech priorities change.</p><p>In the first 30 years I lived from one PC to another. Starting with a Radio Shack Model I, then an IBM PC, then a long, long succession of PC compatibles; each faster than the last with ever increasing hard drives.</p><p>The change from one PC to a new one was a sea change. Each so much faster and smoother.</p><p>Now, I've been content with a laptop built in 2013. It has an i7 processor and 12 gigabytes of memory, so performance wise it is fine. I admire my foresight then to go big. I do not game play or do high end video processing.</p><p>I rarely use it as a laptop. Its hooked to two monitors and Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. My sole tweak to my home setup when quarantine and working from home started in March was a docking station so I could switch easily from work laptop to personal laptop.</p><p>If I covet anything, its more and larger monitors. You can't go too large, or too many.</p><p>After the fever of wanting a new PC passed from a every two year event, to three four, and now, apparently, over 7 years, fever for new smart phones overtook me.</p><p>I could barely tolerate going two years between phones. And for the same reason I got feverish over new computers in the 80s and 90s. Each generation of phone increased its speed, its camera quality, its features as Android and IOS bounded forward.</p><p>Lately, I've gotten 3 years out of my phone and been content.</p><p>I've been running on the Google's Pixel XL, the original one. It's run fine and the two, three and four haven't seemed worthy of buying unless I needed it.</p><p>I did sense my phone was nearing its end of life when it reached three years. The rumored specs for the Pixel 4a looked awesome, so I planned to order one as soon as announced on the rumored May announcement date.</p><p>And then the date got moved, and moved again, and again. And then my Pixel succumbed to the dreaded and documented <a href="https://support.google.com/pixelphone/thread/2235808?hl=en">boot loop issue</a> on July 10.</p><p>I cast about about for affordable, palatable choices. I'd have gone with a Pixel 3a, all the while ranting at the tech Gods, but they had recently disappeared from the market.<br /></p><p>I considered a Pixel 4 but they too were getting hard to find. These tea leaves were saying the 4a had to be imminent, didn't they?</p><p>I did what everyone does these days when faced with adversity. I whined to my friends on Facebook.</p><p>One couple offered me their bag of old phones to look through. Maybe I could get something going for the interim period.</p><p>One of the phones was okay. A two year old mid-range phone, the <a href="https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_j4-9204.php">Samsung Galaxy J7 Star</a>.</p><p>Their carrier was willing to unlock it. It did take herculean efforts on the part of their tech support to get that done, then more by my provider to get it on the network. I had to wait while my friends returned from a trip, and more while my provider mailed a SIM card their local stores didn't seem to have. None of the process was easy. Everyone had given up on the unlocking, including me, but every couple days I'd try again and was finally successful.</p><p>Alas, I never get it on the cell network.</p><p>But. I've been a user of Google Voice since Grand Central days circa 2005. Its the only phone number I give out. I can receive and make phone calls with it on Wifi. For some reason, I don't leave the house much these days, so it has been fine.</p><p>And the phone runs my most used apps. I'm fine.</p><p>And finally, the Pixel 4a was announced on August 3. I started the order process as soon as I saw it popup in the Google Store. It arrives in a week (come on Google, would it kill you to ship a few days early?).</p><p><a href="https://www.androidauthority.com/google-pixel-4a-vs-pixel-upgrade-1146284/">Android Authority buttresses my decision</a> to jump to the 4a, even if my Pixel XL OG (original generation) was still working. </p><p>This has been quite the stream of consciousness. One intent of this blog has been to be a personal journal of sorts of my tech journey. That will bore many, but maybe help others moving along the same paths as I am.</p><p>I'm already looking down the road at what comes after the Pixel 4a, and what comes after my laptop. <br /><br />Amazingly, they might be one device. The next few years will be interesting in tech.<br /></p><p>It has been so since this began for me in 1979.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3488658365408332615.post-14636986428969415642020-05-03T15:06:00.000-04:002020-05-03T15:06:20.358-04:00This virus is like the dinosaur killing asteroidWe all know about the asteroid that slammed into Yucatan Peninsula 66 million years ago, igniting an extinction event that killed 75% of the lifeforms on the planet, including non-avian dinosaurs.<br />
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Imagine what it was like for the lifeforms that survived.<br />
<br />
Much of their normal food sources would be gone. The climate would alter.<br />
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To survive, animals found new, different food sources. Those that could adjust to the climate survived, even flourished. Those that could not adjust, perished. The pecking order dramatically changed as old predators disappeared and new ones emerged.<br />
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So much changed.<br />
<br />
Covid-19 is having a similar impact now. As bad as it is, hopefully this will be the most significant thing we witness in our lifetimes. Millions are out of work. Businesses are shuttering. Airline traffic is down more than 90%. Workers who can are working from home and finding it works well. Roads are emptier. We are burning a lot less oil. The air is cleaner. Wild animals are less stressed by mankind. Students are learning at home. Families are forced to spend more time together.<br />
<br />
Many expect things to one day return to normal, perhaps after a vaccine. The government likes to contend a vaccine is a anywhere from 7 months to 2 years away.<br />
<br />
I heard that before. In 1984. About a AIDS vaccine. Thirty-six years later, still no AIDS vaccine. We have to accept, <a href="https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/05/03/health/coronavirus-vaccine-never-developed-intl/index.html?fbclid=IwAR2hG20UTYrlXATUrkzi0vY_KPSSdJQglOW-mA6Nixxh0cbYNOFS3BBDMf0&__twitter_impression=true">there might not be a vaccine</a>.<br />
<br />
This situation is going to alter our concept of education, of the need for colleges, the need for massive office buildings, the need and wisdom of mass transit, and mandate huge improvements in network connectivity.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqPUAQ1YOsrvHjnpsXhnNXnalBJR2clz-pwhyNcOJp8IlvdiOv_1Q0blb0M4d9Blw76snUUmPL0sroUCU2v4gVXRFy7HeaolG0txb5W77m7q0RPXFTjE4gb29ZMhSTsrt5xLRonCkJKCQ/s1600/Jarvis_20200503-112644.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqPUAQ1YOsrvHjnpsXhnNXnalBJR2clz-pwhyNcOJp8IlvdiOv_1Q0blb0M4d9Blw76snUUmPL0sroUCU2v4gVXRFy7HeaolG0txb5W77m7q0RPXFTjE4gb29ZMhSTsrt5xLRonCkJKCQ/s320/Jarvis_20200503-112644.png" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Professor of Journalism, CUNY</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
All the assumptions of modern life are going to be reexamined. Some major institutions we took for granted will disappear, or have essentially already disappeared.<br />
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New institutions, new ways of doing things will rise in their ashes.<br />
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Things we thought we had to do before, like attend classes as a group, gather in a building to work, we'll realize we cannot, should not do any longer. And we're finding there are effective alternatives.<br />
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It is scary. No one likes change, especially massive, fast paced change as we're experiencing, all the while fearing we will get sick and perhaps die, and/or infect strangers and loved ones, perhaps killing them.<br />
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I'd be angry if I was a business owner that was going under. That doesn't change the reality. Any attempts for force us back to reality, is going to kill thousands whose deaths are avoidable.<br />
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Even normal can return, perhaps a vaccine is found quickly, with our world travel, new pandemics will always be coming. The greatest lesson we can learn from this one is to be ready. Have the required supplies stock piled. Have plans in place. Have specialists who train and drill on the plans and keep the plans up-to-date.<br />
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Some businesses are adapting fast. Restaurants are doing take out and delivery only. Stores like Best Buy let you order on an app and pickup at the curb. Companies like Amazon were perfectly positioned for this new environment.<br />
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Entirely new businesses will rise to meet the needs previously met by businesses that before required social gathering. If I were a business owner, I'd be thinking of first how to adapt my current business to the new reality, and then how to create new businesses that will be better in the new environment, even if it means obsoleting my current, dying business.<br />
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Imagine if Sears, who started as a mail order business, had had the vision Jeff Bezos had in the 90s, and thought "we started as a mail order business. We could become an internet business. We have the vendor relationships, the distribution centers. All the things Amazon has to build. We can push it hard and work to obsolete our expensive, labor intensive stores and sell that real estate for a profit." They didn't and now they are all but gone.<br />
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The companies that will survive, or be created now, will have leaders with such vision and courage to destroy the old, to birth the new.<br />
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The ones that perish, will be lead by leaders hoping things will return to normal.<br />
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There is no more normal. Norms are evolving.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3488658365408332615.post-6022022425684647302020-04-26T20:44:00.000-04:002020-04-26T20:44:52.342-04:00What's your isolation project? Mine is producing television.A long, long time ago, I earned a BA in Journalism, with an emphasis in television production. Before I could find a job in broadcasting, I started selling computers; a seductive business I am still in.<br />
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About 2003 I bought two consumer video cameras and Adobe Premiere, a professional grade video editing application. . I was astonished at what I could do on my PC. I shot videos of my son's plays, productions done at the local Senior Continuing Care facility, a <a href="https://youtu.be/HDP58qO1i58">documentary</a> for my church, and even a few weddings.<br />
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The cameras are now 17 years old. I cannot trust them to get through an event, so I no longer use them.<br />
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For these last few weeks, I've been exploring the ability to do live television productions from your home.<br />
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A lot of us are working from home, and using Zoom and other video conferencing systems. What I'm looking about goes beyond. <br />
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I found a a free, open source program call <a href="https://obsproject.com/">Open Broadcast Studio</a> (OBS). It doesn't refer to itself this way, but for those who have any experience of broadcast TV, it is basically a software version of a TV switcher. In my college days, a switcher cost $100,000 easily.<br />
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It lets you have multiple sources : cameras, web feeds/pages, pre-recorded videos, Skype callers, text, images, and captures of your PCs windows, including game play.<br />
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Using OBS you can combine these sources on one screen, and easily switch from one source to another, with transitions like fades or cuts in real time.<br />
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You can record video, or better yet stream them live to Facebook, Youtube, Twitch and other services.<br />
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OBS is what enables the YouTube stars.<br />
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I just have a couple webcams. I haven't produced a show yet, but I have some ideas.<br />
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Meanwhile it is a fascinating field to explore. It lets me combine my two interests, computers and television production.<br />
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And it is amazing what hardware is out there. For only a few thousand dollars, I could have a better live streaming production capability than what a TV studio gave me in college.<br />
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I found a couple videos at Twit.TV helpful to get oriented. They are a bit dated now but give a good background. Some of the equipment they mention is no longer available, and all this kind of equipment is hard to find now unless the prices have been jacked up. All this teleworking has caused a run on some PC gear.<br />
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<span style="-en-clipboard: true; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;"><a href="https://twit.tv/shows/know-how/episodes/374">Know How... 374 Stream How: Personal Streaming</a></span>
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<span style="-en-clipboard: true; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;"><a href="https://www.evernote.com/l/AAOInIu9HRVJjY1XNslWweMEBfWv7gXKXJ0/">Know How... 378 Stream How: Personal Streaming Part II</a></span>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3488658365408332615.post-16962928810964023452020-03-23T20:56:00.000-04:002020-03-23T20:56:13.434-04:00Do you want to rock your video conference?With thousands, millions? working from home, video conferencing is the glue holding what office productivity there is, together. Thankfully at my job, we do not do video, only chat and screen share, but many are doing video.<br />
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People are using the built in camera in their laptops, and the lighting in the room.<br />
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And they look horrible.<br />
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I watched an episode of TWIT.TV's now cancelled How-To series where Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ, and Megan Morrone show how to setup an affordable video/audio streaming system for under $300.<br />
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Some of the products they show are no longer available; they made the episode in March of 2018.<br />
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They cover the fundamentals of setting up an environment that will make you look good to your colleagues. Their pointers start with the most critical thing, that most do not think about, good lighting.<br />
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You can see the show <a href="https://twit.tv/shows/know-how/episodes/374">here</a>, and also links to the products they mention.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3488658365408332615.post-71420048318628623462020-03-20T19:34:00.001-04:002020-03-20T19:35:04.998-04:00It's 2002 again! I'm back in the home office."Hey son", I yelled when I came in last night, "do you remember the working-from-home rules?"<br />
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"Fire & blood" he answered.<br />
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My team went 100% teleworking beginning today. For me, it was 2002 all over again. Back then, my group was spun off from the larger company when the founder sold it. He retained my small group. Being the only person on the East Coast then, he asked if I was willing to telework. I did it from my utility room because that is where the internet line came into the house. Wifi did not really exist then.<br />
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Little did I know, I'd be in that utility room, I mean home office, for eight years.<br />
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My son was 12 at the time. The first day he was home from school while I worked, we worked out the rules. He could come in and if I wasn't on the phone, he could say hello, ask a question etc. If I was on the phone, he could not interrupt me unless it involved fire or blood. A simple enough test.<br />
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It worked well. He never had to interrupt. Although, that first day, he walked in while I was doing a demo via Webex. He looked at me a moment -- you could see the wheels turning over in his head --"Not fire, not blood." I could see him thinking. Looking worried, he turned and walked out of the room.<br />
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My concentration was shot. I explained to my prospects that he was home with me, about the rules and how he looked so worried. I excused myself to find his concern was minor. Coming back, my prospects were amused and understanding.<br />
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Flash forward to today. I'm not in sales any longer, but instead mentoring an awesome group of people working a tech support help desk. My day consists of moving resources around, mentoring (the best part), assisting and empowering them by building tools for them, and reminding them where to find the tools we have for them.<br />
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My in-office work day is normally at my desk. Some of my team are feet away, some are the other end of the building, and more and more they were teleworking. Now they are all teleworking.<br />
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You would think a day without my 45 minute commute to & from would be restful, but the struggle of keeping a big picture of what was going on by looking at stats and keeping up in chat tools was exhausting. Thankfully I could nap in the next room from my office soon after my work day ended.<br />
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Yes, I 'am no longer in the utility room. The router is now upstairs in a room my son and set aside as as a home office for me, computer game room for him.<br />
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He went on a 3 hour, four store quest today for basic groceries while I worked. And now he''s cooking dinner. My wife is on her way home, this may her last day of in-office work itself.<br />
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I just hope the internet to the home holds up under multiple people working in the home, and kids on the net as well for school and gaming. Every home on the street is using more bandwidth than ever before. I didn't notice any issues today.<br />
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My advice to first time, full time work from homers? Establish boundaries with your family. Make your kids understand you are WORKING from home, not just at home. You can't cook them a meal, come fix their computer, go for a walk with them, etc. You are working.<br />
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And establish rules like Fire & Blood for when they can interrupt you. And schedule breaks in your work day so you can acknowledge them.<br />
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It gets dicey when you have two people working from home. Hopefully you have the space for each to have a work area. Thankfully we set up an area for my wife in the dining room weeks ago. It has more light than the home office. And those co-working spouses have to have an understanding and respect for each others work days. I'm sure my wife and I won't have any issues. More on that in the future when we've actually worked from home on the same days.<br />
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My biggest issues from 2002-2010 was loneliness. Having my son and wife around should alleviate some of that isolation.<br />
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Unlike back then, I cannot go out at night and mingle with people..<br />
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This won't be eight years again, but it may easily be months. We can do it. The alternative is grim.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3488658365408332615.post-54570547719771448482020-02-11T17:47:00.001-05:002020-02-11T17:49:37.384-05:00Don't charge your phone at the free charging stations at airports and other placesIt is tempting, when low on battery, to take advantage of the free charging stations at airports and cropping up elsewhere.<br />
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The problem is, that USB cable that charges your phone, can also be a data cable pulling your data out of the phone. Passwords, credit cards, photos, location history and more can go to who knows where.<br />
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I'm not saying airports are evil. Those stations they so generously offer may have been compromised by a bad actor.<br />
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Instead, take a power block and look for a regular outlet. Or, and I'm a huge advocate of this, buy a portable charger. A portable charger is just another battery, a large one as big or bigger than the phone itself you carry in your bag and use when necessary.<br />
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The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/18/technology/personaltech/usb-warning-juice-jacking.html">warned of this</a> in November 2019. (behind a pay wall).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3488658365408332615.post-13669962615580489422019-11-07T19:39:00.001-05:002019-11-07T19:39:57.716-05:00Want UTC displayed on your Android phone?The clock on Android phones does not have a setting for UTC or Greenwich Mean Time. Yet so much of our global community now use it to tell time of events enjoyed across time zones.<br />
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Simple trick: Iceland uses GMT/UTC and does not have daylight savings time. Set your clock to Iceland or Reyjavik time and you're set.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3488658365408332615.post-76411556191794491252019-09-17T19:37:00.001-04:002019-09-18T19:58:54.997-04:00iPhone 11 as an interview toolI'm not an Apple fan by any means, but something Leo Laporte said on Sunday's <a href="http://twit.tv/">"This Week in Tech"</a> aka TWIT, got my attention.<br />
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As Android Central described it :<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "merriweather" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">with the new iPhone 11 and "with the popular third-party app Filmic Pro. You can film with all three rear cameras and even the front camera at the same time, saving each feed as a </span><em style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Merriweather, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">separate clip</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "merriweather" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> to then edit at will in post-production. "</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "merriweather" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Laporte mentioned that would be awesome for interviewing. I think he is right.</span><br />
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I'm in the Google camp these days. And I don't need this feature currently, but maybe the Pixel 4 might have something like this as well. Here's hoping.<br />
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Update : Looking at this a day later, I realize I failed to clearly state the use case. Imagine you were a journalist covering breaking news, and all you had was your phone, no crew, no fancy video and sound gear. You could hold the phone up to an interview subject and record them, as you can now of course. But the other camera -- the selfie camera - would capture b-roll of you asking the question. Gives you more flexibility in editing post to tell the story.<br />
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For just personal social posting, imagine videoing an event, and getting your own reaction shots. Narcissistic maybe, but you know it will be used that way. And there will be an occasional valid use, like the look of excitement and love on a woman's face, and the forward shot shows her loved one coming out of the door into the airport. The child's expression, as their new puppy runs into the room.<br />
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