Superior, simplified PDA
p2pnet.net Feature:- PDAs are all very well.
But have you considered Merlin Mann’s Parietal Disgorgement Aid ?
Read On >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Introducing the Hipster PDA
By Merlin Mann – 43 Folders
Recently, I got sick of lugging my Palm V around, so I developed a vastly superior, greatly simplified device for capturing and sharing information. I call it “The Hipster PDA.”
Beauty & Simplicity
The Hipster PDA (Parietal Disgorgement Aid) is a fully extensible system for coordinating incoming and outgoing data for any aspect of your life and work. It scales brilliantly, degrades gracefully, supports optional categories and “beaming,” and is configurable to an unlimited number of options. Best of all, the Hipster PDA fits into your hip pocket and costs practically nothing to purchase and maintain. Let’s make one together.
Building your first Hipster PDA
- get a bunch of 3"x5" file cards (here’s 500 for less than 3 bucks)
- clip them together with a binder clip
- there is no step 3
Settings & Preferences
For you hotrods who like to tweak your equipment, I’ll note a few mods you might make to the basic configuration.
- Consider picking up some different kinds of cards – different colors, lined and unlined.
- Personally, I like the really small binder clips and a stack of 12 or fewer cards; experiment for the combination that suits you
- Try using a single different-colored card as a visual separator between used and fresh cards in your stack (helps you from accidentally giving someone an old, written-on note)
- Buy yourself a Fisher Space Pen. I’ll post more on this later (since I’m a bit obsessed with them), but The Fisher Bullet model is tiny, sturdy, and surprisingly comfortable to use. And, thanks to its famous nitrogen-forced ink well technology, the Space Pen writes upside down, underwater, and – yes I’ve tested it – through a pat of rich, creamery butter. It’s the perfect stylus for your new Hipster PDA.
“Getting Things Done” with your Hipster PDA
Fellow fans of Getting Things Done will instantly see the application here. Try using a separate index card for each potential inbox item you want to track. This requires carrying a few more spare cards around, but it helps ensure you “close the loop” as soon as the throught occurs to you.
When you get back to the office or home (wherever your physical inbox resides), you can toss all your new notes into the pile and process them like you would any other incoming items. Alternatively, you can base a whole GTD system around index cards, sorting them into piles for “Next Actions,” “Waiting,” “Sometime,” and so on. Whatever works for you.
January 9th, 2005 at 7:25 pm
For that matter you can train yourself to memorise data so you don’t forget it.
That way there’s no cards to loose or difficult handwriting to process.
What’s the point of a card system? It’s not convenient or pratical at all!
How can lugging around hundreds of cards “scale well”?
What if you forget the cards?
What if you don’t want to carry them?
Might as well say that you’ll only go to locations with a PC you can borrow.
Now THAT scales well.
But it limits your access, just like the cards are annoying to carry around.
So what is it that is superior or simplified in this concept?
Why use cards to write on instead of, say, your hand?
This is a rather contrived and nonsensical call to using low-tech means.
January 9th, 2005 at 8:06 pm
I used to have a pocket-notebook-wielding colleague who would sneer at electronic organizers and challenge the users to see who could look up a phone number quicker. Like you, he misses the whole point.
No doubt, paper is quicker and cheaper. But that’s not why you would go electronic.
1. What do you do when the paper wears out, gets all dog-eared and torn, or fills up with edits? Or when the 1-year calendar in the notebook runs out? Are you going to re-copy all that information by hand?
2. Do you have your paper with you everywhere, especially when you travel? I can cary a small organizer or a USB keychain in my pocket, and I can put copies of my organizer data on the internet, accessible from anywhere,.
3. What happens when you lose it or drop it in a puddle? Information gone forever, and a security risk as well if you lose it. I can password-protect my organizer, and I have backup copies of the database on my PC.