Cameron's Brain

Getting Things Done via Google Desktop Search

This morning I had the pleasure of interviewing Bob Walsh of Safari Software for an upcoming edition of THE PERSONAL PRODUCTIVITY SHOW. Bob recently wrote a two-part post where he said:

If you’re not already using Google’s new Desktop Search (Beta 2) released a couple of weeks ago as part of your Getting Things Done process, you are missing out on a seriously useful tool that costs nothing.

I hadn't bothered to install this version of GDS until I spoke with Bob. Now I'm running it and I'm really getting into it. This can be a real productivity tool if you use it the way Bob's recommending. The sidebar feature (see below) makes it a step ahead of MSN Desktop Search in my opinion. So, once again, I've had to CHURN BABY CHURN. I keep switching from Google to MSN to Google to... 

 

So far I haven't experienced the CPU problems with GDS that Toni's had.

 

I also downloaded Bob's own MasterList Professional task management software and I'm pretty excited about it as well. I'll have to get him back on the show in the near future to explain it in more detail. I love the way it synchs with Outlook's own Tasks and Calendar, so I can get the added feature set of MLP, but keep my Pocket PC synched as well. 

 

By the way, I've got a new blogging tool as well. Something I discovered as a result of a comment Tris Hussey made on JK's blog. It's called Qumana. This is my first post with it and so far I'm pretty impressed.

 

 

iTunes 5 the CPU hog?

Anyone else finding iTunes 5 to be a complete CPU hog when it's downloading podcasts? I happened to be working on my desktop today (I'm usually on the Tablet) when suddenly the machine froze to a halt. I checked Task Manager and found iTunes sucking up 97% CPU! When I alt-tabbed to it, I discovered it was doing downloading podcasts. When I killed it, the CPU slowed back down. I did a quick google but can't find many people complaining about it. Is it just me?

TPN in PC WORLD mag

Thanks to Michael from the Teen Podcast Network for showing me an article in PC WORLD called "Listening To The Pod People" that mentions TPN.

Microsoft tried to hire Eric Raymond

Old news (Sept 9) but I missed it until today. Found it on Doc's blog. A recruiter from Microsoft sent Eric S Raymond, the Godfather of the Open Source movement, an email suggesting they set up a time to chat about Eric having a career at Redmond. If you haven't already, read Eric's email response. I went looking on Scoble's blog for his reaction but can't find any mention of it. The guy Eric mentions who left Microsoft after talking to him about open source, Stephen Walli, has a blog and provides his side of the story here. He makes this acute observation:

In discussions with friends about the article, it was observed that the type of people leaving now are the sort that question everything and aren't willing to take "no" for an answer.  Essentially, these are the sort of people that made the company what it is, and exactly the sort that can't be happy in what it's become.

 

I never worked in Redmond but I can relate to his frustrations. The Australian Microsoft operation is very similar. It's hard to get time with the folks at the top who can make decisions and there are lots of layers of padding between them and the people on the street. Lots of spreadsheet jockeys covering their asses and "managing upwards". Lots of great people though and none of them "evil" (a few of them clinically insane perhaps, but not John Carpenter evil). It was a great 6 years but I'm having so much more fun now than it's not even comparable. I think it took me a year to get used to being able to just do things without having to check in with five middle managers first.

That's not to say the company isn't turning out some cool shit. XBOX360. TABLET PC. POCKET PC. MEDIA CENTER. Four cool products at one time is nothing to sneeze at.

Netspace killing their Unlimited plans

Netspace, my ISP, sent me a letter today saying they are discontinuing their Fair Go/Unlimited ADSL Broadband Plans. Apparently they've decided that it is "no longer feasible" to offer the plans. It might have something to do with this.

They've handled it well - the letter tells me what my options are and they all seem reasonable.

But how good is the timing? The day after Chris tells me about Internode offering 24Mbit and me thinking "bugger, I've got a contract with Netspace", they provide an out.

Doc Searls blew it

Found this history reminder on Podcrawl.

Doc was off. Doc was waaaay off. Doc totally blew it. Doc said:

That last link currently brings up 24 results on Google. A year from now, it will pull up hundreds of thousands, or perhaps even millions.

He was talking, of course, about a Google search for the term "podcasts". He said it on September 28, 2004. One year ago.

How many results does Google return today?

61,100,000

What a year.

As Rexblog says, podcasting will go through a boom/bust cycle. Reality will come back in at some stage. We're counting on it. Our goal is to a build a business with solid fundamentals that will survive the bust and grow into the mainstream adoption phase of the cycle.

What things do you need to do to survive the chasm?

THAT is the $64 question.

DON'T PANIC

Hi TPN listeners and fans,

Between the 29th of September and the 3rd of October, The Podcast Network web site will be undergoing some major server work that will increase (fingers crossed) both the speed and the reliability of the service you have come to love and cherish ;)

Access to the web site and the functionality of the RSS feed will at best experience a small blip of down time… and at worst…well..it could vanish into the bermuda triangle that is tech land for upto four days. I have also had to switch of the ability to post comments on all the sites till we are fully operational as well.

Stick with us through this little hick-up and I promise we will return to normal transmission as quick as possible.

Brasso - a geek's best friend

That's right folks. Forget oil. Forget RAM. The big money today is on BRASSO. Todd Dailey explains on his blog how he used Brasso to turn his scratched Ipod nano into a brand-new nano.

Watch Brasso sales go through the roof as the blogosphere picks up wind of this little tip. I'm spending the entire day in Melbourne buying up every last tin of Brasso I can find so I can flog them at a profit on ebay when the "dark times" come and everyone is hanging out for a Brasso fix.

BUY BRASSO STOCK NOW.

City In The Mist

  City In The Clouds 
  Originally uploaded by cameronreilly.

7am in the morning. We were leaving le-Puy-en-Velay, south-central France, 500 kms out of Paris. And we caught this city just emerging from the mist... I don't even know what town it is. Perhaps St Etienne? It reminded me of something from Arthurian or perhaps even Druidic legend. A church steeple rising about the rest of the town building, penetrating the mist. We pulled over our rental Mercedes, took this quick photo, and got back on the trail down to Nice.

Web2MemeMap

Web2MemeMap
Originally uploaded by Tim O'Reilly.

Tim O'Reilly has posted the "What Is Web2.0" meme map up to his flickr account. Are you on it? Is TPN? I'm not sure if we qualify in a pure sense.