Taking Notes on the Mac

This last semester I decided to start searching for a note taking application for the Mac.  Because essentially all of my important data lives on my Mac, it makes sense to keep my notes there as well.  There are some situations that require a pen and paper solution, like some science classes that involve extensive sketching, but most classes and meetings in todays world involve a powerpoint presentation and or handwritten notes on a screen somewhere that can be most effectively captured via the keyboard of a laptop.

Given how easy it usually is to find great solutions for educational applications on the Mac, I was a bit surprised at how hard it actually was to find something that fit my few meager requirements:  the ability to annotate PDF files, to embed many filetypes, an intuitive outline structure, and easy organizational features.

After playing with about 5 different applications, I decided on Notebook, which is developed by Circus Ponies.  I was looking for a free solution, but the free solutions I tried were either too feature lean to meet my standards, or to buggy to rely on day to day.  Most of the other applications I tried can be found here, and you may find that one of these alternatives suites your personal style of note taking better.

What I like about Notebook is that you can create new notebooks for different situations.  For example you can have a different notebook for each class.  Each notebook can then have multiple dividers to keep chapters or topics separate.  It really just depends on how the user likes to have things structured.  You can drag and drop most any file type into the page and it will embed it.  The way it embeds can be as simple as a link, to a slideshow of a set of powerpoint slides, or it may ask you if you would like to embed it for annotation.  I do wish the annotation features were a little more fleshed out.  As of now if you embed a PDF version of a powerpoint presentation it will make a page for each slide, whereas I would like to have all the slides on one page so I can have one page for each meeting.

Still, overall, Notebook is the front runner in my opinion for keeping track of you class notes.  There is a very detailed tutorial/review available here, which may help you to get started using all of the great features available.

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Why Students Should be Using Dropbox

I am always looking for ways to improve the way I manage my files.  From experimenting with multiple to using different folder systems, or even downloading preference pane add-ons and or full blown applications, I definitely expose myself to as many tools as I can for keeping things organized and backed up.

I am a huge proponent for Time Machine, which is built into OS X, for backing up files, but I have really wanted a way to also backup to the cloud.  A motto I truly believe in these days is that “If it isn’t in two places, it doesn’t really exist.”  This of course speaking of all of your digital files.  I am starting to think though that it should be increased to three places.  You should try to keep your files locally on your machine, backed up to an external drive and also backed up off site either on another drive or in the cloud if possible.

There are a ton of services out there for getting your data secured off site, but most of them come with a large price tag.  Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Carbonite and many more companies are offering a solution.  However, I, like most students out there, am not in position to drop $50+ up front for storage space.

What I have found is that Dropbox meets most of my needs.  DropBox is great because it creates a folder on your computer, Mac or PC, that is constantly being synced with the Dropbox servers.  That means any file you drop in or save to that folder is automatically uploaded to DropBox and then pushed out to any other device you have Dropbox installed on.  This can be multiple computers or even your iPhone via the free DropBox app.

Not only will Dropbox sync files between your machines, but it allows you to share files with other, great for group projects.  You can have everyone on the team save their files to a shared folder you create.  For you, these files will show up on your computer locally, and the rest of the group will have access via the Dropbox website.

You get 2GB of data for free, which isn’t enough to store your media files, but is probably enough to handle your current documents.  I like to keep a copy of only my most recent documents in Dropbox.  The way I handle my folders on my mac make this all very easy.  I put together a video below to show a way to keep your latest files ready to be accessed from where ever you are.  Enjoy.

Link to download the needed automator action Sync Folders.

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Quick Tip: Facebook Lite

Facebook tip-toes the line between useful tool and complete garbage.  Every student I know is on Facebook.  Therefore I am on Facebook because you have to go where the people are to make sure you have a network in place to use to your advantage.  If you treat Facebook as a tool, then you can use it as a source of information, communication, and network building.

However, there has never before been a tool that has so much utility that is also laced with such overwhelmingly useless noise.  No, I don’t want to be in your mafia war, no, I don’t want a piece of “flare, no, I don’t want to take another quiz, and no, I don’t want to vampire bite people.

While there is no absolute solution for making Facebook less annoying, try browsing to lite.facebook.com instead of your regular page.  It’s cleaner so you can get what you need and get on with your life.  You can find my Facebook lite page at http://lite.facebook.com/brandon.s.pope

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