Genuine Curiosity

Author Dwayne Melancon is always on the lookout for new things to learn. An ecclectic collection of postings on personal productivity, travel, good books, gadgets, leadership & management, and many other things.

 

Interesting take on GTD, MindManager and GyroQ

I love mind mapping (I use MindManager Pro all the time), and am into GTD, so I'm always interested in hearing how people put them together.

Eric Mack (or Eric Mac, as I call him) has a great article on how he is using GTD and MindManager, and he has also added Gyronix's GyroQ into the mix. Ironically, I just watched the online demo of GyroQ yesterday (I own a copy of Gyronix's ResultsManager but have never quite gotten it to "click" for me).

One of the things I really like about the GyroQ demo is that it seems like it allows you to simultaneously add a task to your queue, assign an "owner" and file it according to whether it's a commitment you owe to someone else, or one that someone else owes you. That's pretty slick.

If I spent more time at my desk instead of traveling, I think this might be a viable option for me, but I just don't see it fitting with my work style because I don't always have my computer open to capture commitments. What about you?

If I had a magic wand:

In my dream scenario, I would be able to send an email or voice mail to a "GTD parser" service that would decipher my tasks and email an Outlook task back to me that would automatically show up in my list in the proper category/context. That would be cool.

I could also let other people send emails to that address, and they could be added as "candidate" actions. The service would, of course be able to tell me by my originating email address or caller ID from my phone. Any request originating from anyone else would be subject to my reviewing the task before accepting it, assigning it, etc.

[Updated] Occasionally, I wish I had a Mac

Update: There are some good experiential observations on Kinkless GTD in the comments from the original post. Check out the comments here to see what others are recommending instead...

I am pretty happy with my Windows PC's, but occasionally I see something that makes me Jones for a Mac. Here is one such thing - it's about a tool called "Kinkless GTD" and it looks cool. The guy talks a bit fast, but this is worth a look, even if you don't have a Mac.

You can find out more about Kinkless GTD here.

There is no Windows version, but L.S. Russell claims to have found "an almost Kinkless GTD for Windows." However, I'm not in the mood to experiment with a non-Outlook GTD solution right now - it almost seems like it'd be easier to go to the Mac.

Related items:

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Holiday fun, games, and whatnot

I've been quiet here for the last week or so, but having some fun with the family in Louisiana. I'm back in Oregon, and wanted to share a couple of online fun things I discovered this season (that you might enjoy, as well).

Rekindling memories of my Vertibird

My favorite toy of all time was something called the "Vertibird," by Mattel. I had a couple of them as a kid and wish they'd lasted (they were notoriously failure prone, and I couldn't convince my parents to buy me a third). The Vertibird was a helicopter toy that allowed any kid to pilot a helicopter and conduct their own search and rescue or conduct salvage missions right on their own kitchen floor. Tremendous.

Anyway, my first find is Peter Hirschberg's cool computer-based simulator called "VertiSim" that you can download and use for free. VeriSim will give you somewhat of a feel for what it's like to fly a Vertibird. The controls are very finicky, but it's still a really cool program (and you can't beat the price).

Finding old friends

In trying to track down old friends so I could send out cards this year, I found most of what I needed through Whitepages.com - and they (unlike lots of other address searching sites) don't charge you to get addresses. Another cool feature - once you find someone, you can click "Find Neighbors" and find out the names and addresses of the other folks that live on their street. This is handy (though maybe just a tad creepy?) if you're interested in sending cards to old or new neighbors.

This is all public information, and it's interesting to see what you can find about yourself online, isn't it?

Go elf yourself

I've saved the most fun for last. We had a blast this year with www.elfyourself.com, where you can turn yourself into an elf with just a few clicks. Start off the fun by clicking here to see what I look like dancing around in my elf suit!

When you're done watching me, go elf yourself.

Happy holidays from Genuine Curiosity!

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Fresh Gear: Why use a headset that isn’t handsfree?

Free headsets - are they worth the price?

A lot of people use the headset that comes with their mobile phone. Free is a great price, I'll grant you. Unfortunately, most of the manufacturers include headsets that don't work all that well. They ones that come with my phone usually have an earbud speaker, and a microphone that hangs down on the microphone cable. The problem? I've found that I can't use these because a) people can't hear you when you use one, and b) these pick up tons of background noise.

You'll see an interesting phenomenon when you walk around airports, etc. - people that use these headsets end up using one hand to hold the microphone near their mouth so the other person can hear them. That seems a little odd to me.

If you're going to use one hand to constantly hold your headset's microphone up to your mouth, why not just hold the phone itself?!

Use a handsfree headset that really is handsfree

I have a headset I really love - it's a Plantronics MX150 headset, pictured at left. This is my second one - the first one was an OEM version that Verizon included with one of my phones a couple of years ago (very cool that they didn't go with the cruddy ones I mention above). I still use my first one in my car, and bought a second one (non-OEM) which I carry in my laptop bag. Available from Amazon for less than $20, I think it's well worth it.

This thing is tough, doesn't crackle, has great noise canceling so you don't get all the background noise, picks up your voice very well, and is comfortable enough to wear for extended periods of time. Best of all, the adjustable boom is built into the speaker assembly so you don't have to hold the thing next to your mouth. In other words: this headset really is handsfree!

Here's some trivia for you, too - Plantronics has been in the headset game for a long time. They made the first headsets for the first voyage to the moon, for example.

My thoughts on Bluetooth headsets

I've dabbled in Bluetooth headsets a few times, but I always end up back with my trusty old Plantronics MX150. I still haven't found a Bluetooth headset I love - most of them still have problems with background noise and wind. I even have a Plantronics Discovery Bluetooth headset. It's good, as far as Bluetooth headsets go (very small, can charge it from a AAA battery, etc.), but the sound quality isn't as good as my MX150. Also, most Bluetooth headsets have those Borg-like blue flashing lights and look distractingly geeky - I'm geeky enough without flashing lights on my head, thank you!

Free your hand...

Bottom line: if you're still holding that dangling microphone to your mouth, consider trading up to something better. You'll be thankful for it, I'm sure!

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Fresh Gear: NowNow

OK, so it's still in closed Beta, but I am testing a new service form Amazon called "NowNow" and it is pretty cool. I was invited into the Beta because I've purchased a mobile device from Amazon, and they are apparently targeting this at mobile device users.

What's NowNow?

Nownowthing NowNow is a service, through which you send a question to a specified email address, and they send back a response. The questions are fielded by live people, who monitor the address 24x7, research your question and send you a response. The Beta is free, but the info I've seen so far implies there will likely be some kind of charge when it goes live.

What can you ask?

Some of the sample questions they provided by way of example include:

  • Trivia question: "What year did elvis presley's single suspicious minds come out? "
  • Local question: "What is the best sushi restaurant in New York City, NY "
  • Local Address/Phone #: "Is there an ice cream parlor close to 12th & Pike in Seattle Wa?"
  • Personal research question: "Are banana peels edible without side effects?"

My first test

  • I sent my first question to them at 9:29pm: "Who does the voice of Junior Asparagus in the Veggie Tales videos?"
  • I got my first response at 9:32pm: "Lisa Vischer does the voice of Junior Asparagus" -- along with a full filmography. Way cool.
  • I was able to vote on the quality of my answer by simply replying to the email with a keyword indicating how well they did.

You can find out more about NowNow at the web site, and sign up to be notified when it's available. I can hardly WaitWait....

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