GTD Tip: Use Evernote to search text within images

Search technology has really come a long way.  If you have one of the latest Macs, you can instantly "Spotlight" (search) a keyword, and it would go through emails, files, and your calendar to find stuff at ridiculous speeds when compared to old operating systems.  

But there's still one thing missing.  It can't search inside images.  So if you take snap shots of your documents and business cards, they won't come up in your search results unless you name them properly.  I'm eagerly awaiting the day where text recognition technology in images comes to the consumers.  

Until then, I suggest everyone to take a look at Evernote.  This software is available on the web, desktop, and phone to let you takes notes, snap shots, and even serve as storage for files.  The best benefit of Evernote to me is the text recognition technology.  So you take snapshots or scan images of, let's say, business cards, it will become searchable.  

The downside is that these images must be synced and processed by Evernote's servers.  I am not comfortable with having a lot of business and sensitive documents out there in the clouds so I'm currently not using it.  But I am sure many will find it useful and handy.  

Forget that Wii controller, you ARE the controller with Project Natal from Microsoft

The big thing for me from E3 is the Project Natal from Microsoft.  YouTube video below.  

They sure love to share their concepts, something Nintendo would never to.  Simply because someone might copy you.  Anyways, it's an awesome concept, and hope it's gonna happen someday.  It would change gaming, computing, and just interfaces.  This would be our first step towards Minority Report.  

It would be so cool to be able to turn on TV by moving your hands.  Flick to change channels.  You could pinch to zoom in or out.  Possibilities so endless!

Well back to reality.  The real more concrete news I like from E3 is the announcement of New Super Mario Brothers for Wii.  Basically imagine the original side scrolling Super Mario with the ability to play with up to 4 people simultaneously together.  Most games these days are competitive in nature.  What happened to all those co-op games where you work together to pass the game.  Like Contra, Gradius...  So I'm looking forward to this one =)

Thanks for reading!

How Nintendo and Apple are similar?

Other than building innovative products, what do Nintendo and Apple have in common?

They both went through tough times. Apple didn't perform well while Steve Jobs was away. Nintendo went down losing it to Sony's PlayStation during the era of Nintendo 64 and GameCube.

They connect the dots. In many cases, both companies do not use the most advanced technology, but rather a set of proven technology. Apple's iPod is a great example. From Nintendo, both Wii and DS are examples.

They both had popular white products. From Apple, white iPod and white MacBooks. From Nintendo, white DS and white Wii.

They both had "cube" products that didn't sell very well.

They both had portable products that sold like hot cakes - iPod and GameBoy.

And just to throw this in, apparently, Iwata-san, CEO of Nintendo, uses Apple and delivers his keynotes with Apple's Keynote presentation software. And Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, owns both the GameCube and the Wii.

Source: Philosophy of Nintendo - page 162-163

The prototype of the DS was actually a pocket PC

In the summer of 2003, Mario creator Miyamoto-san showed what would become the DS today to Iwata-san, CEO of Nintendo.  

The prototype was a pocket PC.  In order to simulate the dual screen nature, Miyamoto intentionally put a strip of black tape to divide the screen into two halves.  And he wrote a simple program where blocks would fall from the upper screen to the bottom screen.  In the bottom screen there was Mario, and if you tapped Mario with the stylus, it would make him jump.  

Pretty interesting bit of trivia.

Source: Philosophy of Nintendo - pg. 49

Nintendo - how it's different from other innovative companies?

Just finished reading "The Philosophy of Nintendo" (a Japanese business book on Nintendo).  And here is one interesting thing I found out.  It's the "I knew it all along, but never realized it" kind of thing.

Nintendo has always been viewed as an innovative company in the gaming industry, and more so with the success of Wii and DS.  It's often compared to Apple and some may say this company has the magic of Silicon Valley startups like Google.  

The interesting thing is Nintendo is an innovative company, but with strong roots back into history.  Similar to visionary companies like P&G.  In fact, Nintendo's headquarters is located in Kyoto, the old capital of Japan, where things do not change like Tokyo.  

In Built to Last, a famous business book about visionary companies, there was this theme of "preserve the core and stimulate progress".  And that comes to mind with Nintendo.  

Nintendo proves the innovation can happen anywhere, and it doesn't have to be Silicon Valley.  

Source: Philosophy of Nintendo (pg.  13)

Images of Wii Controller Prototypes

Ever wondered what Wii controller prototypes looked like?

Source: http://2tentime.com/archives/50304035.html

GTD Report: 2-3 months later

After adopting GTD for a few weeks now.  Here are some thoughts and impressions:

• Tasks pile up!    With tasks piling up, even with all filters and tagging, it's still overwhelming.  I found myself using the project list to help me focus on the tasks I need to do.   
  
• Since under GTD I organize stuff on a weekly basis into the reference system, I am more exposed to my organizational structure, and am often reminded of how I organize my stuff.  For some reason, it gives me a little peace of mind.
  
• A lot of time is often spent on processing.   The bottleneck is naturally the "collect" phrase.  So the idea is collect less - really think if something is worth collecting before you collect.  Also, bypass the collect pool and process certain items immediately so that the collect pool doesn't grow.  
  

Some better tools I would have:

• Notes and todos live in separate places.  Todos live in Things and notes (i.e. Word files) live in the file system.  Really wish there was a way have a way to view them all in one location.
  

That's all for now and thanks for reading!