Ninja Plan: Tricks for Killer Efficiency

Remember the Milk in Just One Click

Ninja Cheese Wizz — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 05:11:29 +0000

What is the absolute easiest way to add a new Remember the Milk task from Windows?

If it takes you more than one click, then your method is too slow. Here is how you can create an easy shortcut in your Windows Quicklaunch menu, so you are always just one click away from adding a task.

Step one - creating a shortcut.

Right click on your desktop and select “New” and “Shortcut”

This box will pop up

Where it says “Type the location of the item, paste this text: mailto:YOU@rmilk.com

(Replace YOU with your unique Remember the Milk e-mail address, which you can find on Remember the Milk under Settings>Info.

Then it will ask you to create a name for the shortcut. I called mine “Milk.”

Step two - change your shortcut’s icon.

You are going to want to give your make your shortcut look good with an icon –

that hypnotizing Remember the Milk cow.

Back on your desktop, Right click on the shortcut you have just created and select Properties.

In the Shortcut tab, click on Change Icon. Browse to where you have saved the Cow icon.

Now just drag your cool new shortcut to your Quicklaunch menu

There it is! Now test it out!

Extra Credit:

If you frequently use a certain tag, you can create a shortcut directed at it. For example, I seperate my tasks into Work and Home, so I would create two shortcuts like this.

mailto:YOU@rmilk.com?body=Tag:Work

mailto:YOU@rmilk.com?body=Tag:Home

You might want to give these different icons so you can tell them apart. Window’s has a bunch of different default icons that you can choose from.

So what do you think. Is this the absolute easiest way to add a new task to Remember the Milk?

Evernote’s Missing Feature

Ninja Cheese Wizz — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:29:13 +0000

Evernote is Missing an Important Feature

Evernote=Love. Writeboard=Pain.

I do most of my writing in Evernote - including all the writing and image handling for Ninjaplan. But I’m working on a collaborative project now and am forced to explore other applications.

The biggest collaborative writing system currently available is Writeboard. But Writeboard has substantial limitations. Writeboard requires arcane html-like markups. In Writeboard, writing in italics requred _adding underscores_.

You can read Writeboards in lovely Verdana font, but all the writing is in ugly Courier New font. If you want to attach images or any other type of file, you will have to pay to update. After spending a painful week using Writeboard, I have returned to Evernote.

Collaboration is Evernote’s Missing Feature

I can share notes between computers within my own account.
But I can’t share a Notebook with another Evernote user without leaving the Evernote system.

My only options for externally sharing my notes are to email them to someone else’s email address, or publish them for everyone to see on the Internet.

The Evernote Collaboration Workaround:

This is a dirty trick: sign up for a second Evernote account.

I think this kind of thing is frowned upon, but until sharing is implemented, there is no other way. (And when they finally do implement this feature Evernote’s import/export features will make merging your accounts easy.)

So this second sign-up is going to be a shared account. Now I can share my Notes with another person, even though Evernote thinks that both computers are me.

Am I the only one? Or would you like Evernote to implement Notebook sharing too?

Hypnotized by the Cow

Ninja Cheese Wizz — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 09:03:11 +0000

RTM’s most-requested feature

For 21 months, users on the Remember the Milk forums have held a steady petition in favor of an RTM-Outlook sync application.

Since January 2007, RTM users have been requesting, and in some cases demanding, these features. The thread has over 300 postings from users who promise to pay for their service if the feature is added, or threaten to cancel if it isn’t.

Why doesn’t the RTM crew break down against the pressure? The official word on Outlook sync is that it is not a priority for their small development team. Blogger Jimmy Guterman also does a good job of exploring this issue (linked below).

But… Why are we all still standing around waiting then?

If RTM isn’t going to do it, that’s fine. There are alternatives. Toodledo has all the same features as Remember the Milk - and the desired Outlook sync capabilities. This alternative is even mentioned on the RTM forums: “Outlook sync made me choose Toodledo over RTM” said one forum member…”but I’m still hanging with RTM in case they ever get outlook sync–and would certainly go Pro for it.”

Why are so many people so patient for RTM? Why not sign up for Toodledo, and never look back? Why even pay attention to a service that doesn’t meet your needs, when perfectly acceptable alternatives are available?

Is RTM really that much better than Toodledo?

Hypnotized by the brand

Remember the Milk’s branding - the name, the logo and the design - have captured people’s attention. Can a company really be called Remember the Milk? It is unexpected in both meaning and its verb-object construction.

Remember the Milk is, not surprisingly, a name that you remember. My friend first told me about it when we were both out on vacation. Two days later when I finally got back to my computer, I…remembered…it and signed up.

Toodledo, while whimsical, is a name that gets lost in comparison. There are too many similarly named applications: Todoist, Ta-da List and countless generic applications called just ‘To-do List.’

The RTM name tells a story

In my head, I get the imagery of a soccer mom and a post it on the refrigerator. We all have to buy milk (and if you don’t drink milk, there is still something on your to-do list that you have to buy).

Unlike the other applications, whose names approximate “all the shit you have to do,” RTM breaks it down to one thing - MILK - in a way that is closer to how we actually use these applications.

Cow? … Check

Everybody knows the RTM cow. Do you know what Toodledo’s logo is? I wasn’t sure, even though I had registered with them a little while ago. But can you guess? I bet you can.

A checkmark! Zenbe and Ta-da List have a checkmark logo too. When there is such an obvious logo option, it is an easy choice for the design team. But after getting lost in a sea of similarity, it seems like the wrong choice.

So what about you - are you waiting for RTM to add your favorite feature? Or have you jumped ship to a competing task manager with better features?

Remember the Milk forums: Outlook Sync Progress?

Jimmy Guterman on why RTM doesn’t add Outlook sync.

How to Bookmark the Current Page in Chrome

Ninja Cheese Wizz — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 03:47:34 +0000

Now that you have a convenient Delicious bookmark in Chrome, you are ready for all your social bookmarking needs. But what about traditional bookmarking?

It took me a minute to figure this one out, as Google has broken normal menu conventions. Chrome’s bookmark toolbar doesn’t have an obvious ‘Add Current Page’ function. They’ve hidden it in a very clever place.

Look for the star:

Chrome

It looks familiar, right? You can also find these stars on Gmail.

Google Loves Stars

It seems like Google is challenging Microsoft’s conventions by removing the File > Edit > View menu. You probably won’t want to learn a new set of menu placements for every new application, but once in a while it is good to refresh your thinking about these things that you used to take for granted.

What do you think? Do you prefer the new Stars or the old Bookmarks drop-down menu?

Why do people ignore my questions??

Ninja Cheese Wizz — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 10:04:31 +0000

Scenario: You send out an email with three questions. The reply you get back only has one answer.

This is a frustrating situation with a simple fix: When sending an email with multiple questions, make them stand out by numbering them. People respond to numbered content.

Good Example:

Hey there Spaz,

We have all the images prepared for the layout. What resolution do you need? We are also preparing the translations for the Japanese edition. When will you need those by? Do you have any special font requirements?

Thanks,

Cool Meat

—-

Cool Meat,

96dpi will be fine.

Spaz

You’ll noticed that we asked three questions, and only got a response on one. Number all your questions to let Spaz know at a glance that you need three pieces of information.

Good Example:

Hey there Spaz,

We have all the images prepared for the layout.

1. What resolution do you need?

We are also preparing the translations for the Japanese edition.

2. When will you need the translations by?

3. Do you have any special font requirements?

Now Spaz won’t be able to resist telling you everything you want to know.

How about you - do you have any Spaz-types on your contact list?

Delicious+Chrome: Clean and Easy

Ninja Cheese Wizz — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 10:38:58 +0000

The Simple Fix

Delicious does not currently have an add-on for Chrome, but you can still create Delicious bookmarks from within Chrome. Just drag this link up to your Bookmarks Toolbar: Del.icio.us

Better than an Add-on

When Delicious does release the inevitable Chrome add-on in a few weeks or months, will you install it? I will probably just keep this button instead. I think it is the simplist and best way to use Delicious.

Do you remember when Firefox was clean and fast?

You remember. Before you got it all hussied up with Fire Gestures and Adbock and all those add-ons. This time, keep the two browsers seperated - Firefox for the full-featured browsing experience and Chrome for the fast and clean browsing experience. If you are like me, you will probably choose the fast one every time. Its the same reason you use Google search instead of Yahoo.

Now. Tell me how much you love me.

Using Jott outside the US

Ninja Cheese Wizz — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 01:33:41 +0000

UPDATE: Rebtel has made some updates to its interface. Step 3 has been updated to reflect this. Thanks for the heads-up, Kat!

Can people outside the US and Canada use the Jott voice-to-text service? Not according to their official website: "You can only register for Jott with a telephone number from the US or Canada." But with a little trick, we can sign up for Jott without a US or Canada phone number.

Enter Rebtel, the international discount phone service. In essence, Rebtel gives you a local number in whatever country you want. The main idea is to give the people you call an easy way to call you back. But you can also use that number to register for Jott.

Here’s how to do it

1. Visit Rebtel and sign up (you get some free minutes to try it). Then you want to "Add a Contact" called Jott.

2.You need to provide Jott’s phone number, but note that you can’t use the main Jott number- Rebtel doesn’t like it. (Maybe because it is a toll-free number, and sometimes caller ID is blocked on those.) So let’s use the alternate Jott number 347-523-8843.

3. After you add Jott as a contact on your Rebtel account, click on "Find Out How."

A box will pop up giving you the number that Jott can recognize you by. Note that the area code is 646 (Manhattan).

4. Take this number over to Jott.com and use it to register for an account. Note that Jott asks you for a zip code. The Manhattan zip code is 10026.

5. Try it out by calling the number that Rebtel provided for you. If you want to continue using it past the first 10 minutes you will have to pay Rebtel some money - they offer more minutes in $10 packages. But the price per call is very cheap - $0.02 per minute. And every Jott call lasts less than a minute, so it is a good trade-off to be able to use their service.

What do you think - is Jott worth 2 cents per call?