academiPad

What is really great about this article is how it discusses how note taking can be integrated with your task management. Check the "Action items" section:

"The next step is to make sure I do what I need to do after the meeting.

The key is OmniFocus and its Mail Drop service; put simply, that means I can email to-do items to myself. For this to work, I sync OmniFocus with the Omni Sync Server. You have to apply to use the Mail Drop service; when I did, I received my invite in a matter of minutes. Once accepted, I set up a unique email address that is my direct link to the Sync Server.

Using the latest version of Drafts, I configured a customized email action called ‘Email to OmniFocus Mail Drop’. This action sends a given note to my personalized OmniFocus email address using the first line of the note as the subject."

My first-gen iPad really got slow over time, up to a point that it drove me nuts! I didn't want to buy a new one yet, so I researched and then wrote a post (the best one you will find online, naturally) how to get some more life out of your iOS device. Some things might surprise you.

I originally intended to write a post on how to speed up the iPad (because mine is running slow), and most posts I read mentioned to manually shut down apps in the multitasking bar. Wrong! In most cases, it won't change a thing. Good thing I researched this thoroughly - I don't want to make the same mistake as so many other bloggers.

Still a little surprised that so many people believe in and tell this myth (even some people working as Genius for Apple), I decided to write this as its own post. Read it, you will be surprised. And: You will know for what few apps it makes sense to fiddle around in the multitasking bar.

The post I originally wanted to write about speeing up your iPad is coming soon on http://www.joachim-scholz.com/academipad.

My personal productivity-ninja-friend @bsippel introduced me to WorkFlowy - a dead simple and free to-do and outlining web app. It can help you organize personal to-dos, collaborate on large team projects, take notes, write research papers, keep a journal, and so much more.

A list of wonderful free webpages that keep you focused with ambient noise. From white noise to the sound of a thunder storm, you will be very happy listening to these sounds in the background.

Fluid is a great free Mac app that lets you transform a browser app into a true desktop app. It's a godsent for me, since I really really don't like browser apps. The window gets lost in all the other browser tabs, and I constantly get into troubles with my smart browsing gestures to go back and forward. Anyways, this app solves that, and now Hootsuite lives as a true Mac app in my dock. Aahh...

A new webpage to upload and share all your research output - also (especially?) the non-significant stuff that didn't work out. You make your work citable with a DOI to increase your impact, and you also help out others to not do the same mistakes as you did in those studies that din't work out. Interesting - I can see this work especially in fields that produce a lot of data through standaradized experiments.

There are more and more content curation solution available, so please don't stick with pinterest. Oh whom am I talking to, you are reading this on scoop.it already!

What makes Keeb.it interesting is that the collections are private by default. Not bad, could be nice to organize your online search and interests.

This app could be well placed in between mainstream media (con: what Vicotia Beckham ate for lunch is more important than residents of an entire region in South Darfur didn't) and blogs (con: noise, redundancy, copy and paste "journalism"). It offers an in-depth look at a particular topic through a curation by professional journalists. Here is what Track180 wants to be:

"It's essentially an engagement platform to expose readers to all sides of an issue and help form opinions. And instead of trying to chase the tail of the ever-elusive tiger that is news, Track180 focuses on under-the-radar news that has not yet trended mainstream. Instead, it's more feature-y on the cusp material like the persecution of bloggers in Russia or human rights abuses. If you're looking for entertainment gossip and sports, this isn't the place for you."

Worth a try

This article holds what I believe to be two of the most important things to be productive: medidation and monotasking.

It's a lengthy article, but reading it is very eye opening in how we want to live in a time of internet distraction and information abundance. Plus. it is already an exercise in monotasking - try to get through it without checking twitter! At the core, the idea is to focus your energy on one task at hand. Like in mediation, bring yourself back to the task when your mind wanders.

At the end of the article you are rewarded with a comprehensive list for further reading.

This is a totally amazing webpage to create your own custom design QR code - without any image editing skills whatsoever! And for FREE! 

I discussed before how you can use QR codes in research and teaching (http://www.joachim-scholz.com/academipad/2012/12/25/qr-code-research-teaching/), but I spent 15 minutes in Pixelmator in order to make my own designer QR code. Okay, I spent a little longer to figure everything out, but once you know the way its about 15 minutes.

This webpage here can do an almost as good job in 15 seconds! Downside: The free version only lets you download your QR code in lower quality (mine was 56 KB). This is still good enoug for putting it on business cards. Maybe not the best for presentations, though. The it's back to Pixelmator / Photoshop.

Check it out and play around: the basic version (includes a mobile webpage) is FREE.

I admit that I was one of those who cleared out the multitasking bar on the iPad in order to get some speed back. Then I wanted to write a post on how to speed up an aging iPad (because that's what I have), and to my surprise I found out that closing apps, in almost all cases, does absolutely nothing for you! Despite of most what you read online - it's a complete myth.

A great intro to Evernote by LIfehacker. Great for getting started with Evernote (like me)