I'm using a new note-taking app for project notes, personal notes, goal tracking, checklists, and random brainstorms: Evernote.

Evernote is really the definition of software plus services working harmoniously together to get things done.  Similar to Remember The Milk, which is also available just about everywhere, it’s just a shining example of what can get done with a small, dedicated team of people.

I’m currently using Evernote on a couple Windows PCs, a Mac, and my new iPhone (and before this, on my Windows Mobile phone!) and changes made to notes on one device are almost immediately available on all the others.  The iPhone app is optimized for quick note-taking on the go (with video + audio, and even location tagging!) while the Mac and Windows apps are fully-featured note-takers.  Frankly, neither of them compare well with OneNote’s elegance and ease of use (I don't even really like the Windows app - and I love OneNote)... but the fact that my notes can be accessed and even edited from so many different places makes up for that.  I’ve always wanted OneNote for the Mac (and web) for the times that I’m not on a PC, but more importantly having my full notes available from my phone without ever having to connect to a PC is just a killer feature. (Anything that doesn’t sync wirelessly with an online service is dead to me these days)

The all-time coolest thing happens when you hook Jott up to Evernote though.  I called Jott and just started speaking to see how it would work, and about 5 minutes later the following note appeared directly in my Evernote notebook:

I'm just testing out the note taking feature from Jott to Ever note(?). I really would like this to work because if it does, it would be a fantastic way for me to be able to take note on the go, in the car, and so on. Thanks.

Perfect example of what technology can do for you.

For almost three years I've used my Xbox 360 just about every day - yet I haven't played a game for more than 10 minutes since 2006.  We use it in our house for renting movies (great quality, skimpy selection), watching DVD/"old" HD-DVD movies, streaming Zune Pass and WMA/MP3 music from the PC upstairs, and about once a month, streaming photos for a traditional slideshow for guests.  In our house, the 360 is our entertainment hub - we could almost care less that it plays games too.

Yet I have to admit, when I was in the Apple Store amidst all the chaos the other day, I yearned for an Apple TV.  The visuals are great, but the thing that almost had me is the selection of content (movies mostly, which is what we care about in our house).  Xbox Live Marketplace just doesn't have the same quantity/selection.  Yet did I really want yet another set-top box?  Remote?  Wi-Fi endpoint?  Not really.  I wanted my 360 to just *do* this.  Because no matter how great the Apple TV would end up being for us, we would still need to use the 360 for the Media Center capabilities + the WMA Lossless support, and adding yet another piece of hardware to the fold always complicates things for me.  With my luck, it would crash and destroy my router like the last time I tried connecting something.

Well... Wish granted two days later.  I love technology.

The 360 will have an all-new dashboard (check out the video) updating it's slightly dated look with snazzy new visuals, avatars, and an all-around more immersive experience.  But the kicker: Netflix queue integration.  Add a movie to your Netflix queue on the web and it appears in the queue on your Xbox with direct streams that start in 30 seconds.  It doesn't look like it's HD quality yet, but it's something - and I can't imagine HD is too far off.

This is cool stuff - I seriously thought my 360 would be obsolete by 2008 (I bought it in 2005) but it looks like it's getting another BIG upgrade.  It'll feel brand new again (although the fan is still too loud!)

Read more:
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/events/e32008/articles/0714-nxe.htm

And a great write-up:
http://venturebeat.com/2008/07/14/netflix-comes-to-the-xbox-360-did-microsoft-just-destroy-the-apple-tv/

I swore off the iPhone for at least a year when it was first announced.  I had good reasons (to me at least).  To recap:

1. I couldn’t synchronize with Exchange over the air (ADDRESSED)
2. Couldn’t swap the battery out for a better one
3. The EDGE network was/is so slow to be unusable (ADDRESSED)
4. It was a closed platform (ADDRESSED)
5. It was ridiculously, insanely expensive (ADDRESSED)
6. It was a v1 from a company that’s never built a phone before (ADDRESSED)
7. Typing on something without feedback won’t work
8. I didn’t want a phone that could get scratched easily
9. Functionally, it didn’t do more than my current phone (ADDRESSED)

I compromised on a few of these things – but Apple addressed the important ones.  So I ended up waiting in line for 2.5 hours (I think it was actually more like 3!) yesterday morning to get one.  I don’t even know where to start with this thing, I dig it so much; it’s easily the most excited I’ve been for a toy since I got my first PalmPilot in 1997 (the thing that started this addiction).

I likely won’t be writing too much about my iPhone though, for a few reasons: 1) I don’t want to gush, and I will end up gushing 2) I’m not blogging that much anyway - even though the iPhone is inspiring me to, 3) It’s been covered to death, 4) Anything I write can’t do justice to this little marvel.

So, just in case anyone cares, I now have an iPhone (syncing it with Windows Vista and Exchange Server of course).  Using it is like having a magic wand ;)

I got tired of waiting for the great folks over at Remember The Milk to build a real Outlook add-in to sync tasks.  So I hacked something together myself now that I’m using RTM exclusively for tasks (the iPhone syncs with Exchange – but of course, not for tasks)  As I’ve written about before, I absolutely love RTM – I have Quicksilver and Dashboard widgets for my Mac, I have it working with Jott for “voice tasks” while I’m driving, and I now have it pseudo-integrated into Outlook 2007.

How to do it:

1. Click “Configure buttons” in the Navigation Pane and hide the standard Task list button
2. Open up the Folder List from the Navigation Pane
3. Create a new Folder in the tree and call it “To Do”
4. Right-click on “To Do” and click Properties –> Homepage
5. Enter www.rememberthemilk.com and click “Show homepage by default for this folder”
6. Click OK
7. Go back to your Inbox
8. Right-click on “To Do” again and click “Add to Favorite Folders” to get it to the top of the pane
9. Click To Do

This is what you end up with (upper left corner of Outlook)

It’s a total hack, but I’m going to give it a whirl for a while.  This doesn’t let me attach email threads to tasks which I will sorely miss, but it’s good enough given all the other benefits of RTM – most importantly, the ability to access it from anywhere (phone, web, Mac, PC!)