Off Course-On Target

Cool Tools: Doodling your way to Event Efficiency

I truly believe that every one of us (yes, that includes YOU!) has cool tools that we use on an everyday basis and stories about how we use these tools and how we came to find and use them.  I'd like to hear about yours.  Meanwhile, here's are two simple, but ever so handy, computer utilities that I use regularly and wanted to pass on to you.

Today’s Cool Tool is one I’ve been using to help schedule events such as meetings for about 3 years, and it has been a huge time saver and convenience, not only for myself but for many others whom I have had the privilege to work with around the world on committees, working groups, project teams, and the like. 

It goes by the simple (though not very descriptive) name of Doodle and it is created by a Swiss-based company Doodle AG.

As with most of the things that make it to my Cool Tools list, Doodle is a marvel in simplicity and simply enables you to easily conduct an online poll.  As their site puts it, Doodle involves 3 steps:

Create a poll.

Forward the poll's link to the participants.

Follow online what the participants vote for.

In particular, I use it the most for its original purpose, which is to find the time and day that will work best for the majority of a group of people to meet. As many of you may have experienced, this simple sounding task can become an amazingly long and arduous one as you struggle to find a single time and date that will work for a group of typically very busy people who are often in very different time zones, jobs, etc.  

Using Doodle, meeting organizers can:

1. Create a list of potential dates and times for meetings.
2. Create an online poll with each of these as choices.
3. Generate a unique URL where each potential attendee can indicate which ones they can attend (green) or cannot attend (red). The participant simply checks the square for each choice. 
4. Receive an e-mail letting them know a member's choices.

Anyone who has the URL can see a tally of the voting at any time. 

Doodle keeps tabs on the results as they come in and indicates which days and times are currently the best choice for the meeting based on those who have provided their input at that time. You can see which dates/times work for each individual so if there are some who must absolutely attend you can be sure to choose those times that work for these individuals.

In addition to polls that help find the best meeting time, you can use Doodle to create polls for anything you like, such as choosing a restaurant for an upcoming group dinner, helping to reach consensus by voting on a list of choices, and anything else where you want to provide a quick and easy way for a group of people to provide their input.

The developers have also recently added some features that I’ve long been waiting for, such as “My Doodle” which provides me with a dynamically updated list of all the ongoing polls I have going at any time.  Before this feature was added, I had to keep track of all these different and rather arcane URLs. Now  Doodle does this automatically and the ongoing polls are listed in the My Doodle page. However, to use this feature, you must complete their free registration. 

They have also recently added a PowerDoodle set of features that include:

The ability to conduct hidden polls that hide the results from the participants

A very useful Yes-No-IfNeedBe poll that adds a yellow “if everything else fails” option to the standard green/red yes/no options

Polls that span different time zones and automatically calculate the right time for each participant’s time zone.  How many such meetings have YOU missed by being too early or too late because of time zone miscalculations?

Doodle currently works in 19 languages, including Esperanto, and it works very well for globally dispersed teams and groups, as I can attest. Just do some simple math to figure out the total amount of time and money that can be saved by a group of say, 20 attendees, or even more by the organizer.

And don’t limit your thinking about applications for Doodle to “just” your work-related events and polls. Consider the value of using this for scheduling family events, reunions, quick polls on the best movie to see, book to read, etc.  It’s free, it’s simple, it works, and it’s this week’s Cool Tool, so be sure to give it a test run to see how well it might work for you.  Let us know what you think and how you use it if it is cool to you too. And if this posting reminds you of one of your own Cool Tools, I hope you'll share it with the rest of us here at OCOT.

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Have  "Cool Tools" you use and want to share?  Send me your favorites with the following information:

• Name of the tool and source for getting one. 
• What does it do? 
• How did you come to discover this? 
• How do you use it? 
• Why is it on your top ten "Cool Tools I Use" list?

Cool Tools I Use: Computer Utilities

I truly believe that every one of us (yes, that includes YOU!) has cool tools that we use on an everyday basis and stories about how we use these tools and how we came to find and use them.  I'd like to hear about yours.  Meanwhile, here's are two simple, but ever so handy, computer utilities that I use regularly and wanted to pass on to you.

FinePrint

FinePrint is a fabulous printing utility that lets you:

• Preview the pages prior to printing.
• Create multi-page mini booklets.
• Save print jobs for reuse or modifications in the future.

A side (but significant) benefit is that it helps to reduce the amount of paper I use.

Previewing

I have FinePrint set as my default printer so I always get to see a preview of just how the page is going to look BEFORE it comes out of the printer.  Maybe you are different, but I frequently find something amiss with the layout—something I’ve left out, or how an image will be displayed—when I’m quickly previewing the image before I hit the print button. With this FinePrint preview feature, I’m able to go back in and make my adjustments and I now almost always get it right with the first printout... and I have a LOT less paper in the waste basket.

Creating handy booklets

But of all its many features, the one I use the most is its “booklet'” function.  This too helps me save a lot of paper and is especially easy to use if you have duplex printing available, but it works without as well. Using this feature, I can print out multi-page documents as very handy little booklets that are a set of sheets of regular-sized paper folded in half for reading as a small book.  FinePrint does all the slicing and dicing of the text and images of my original content. It figures out what to print on each side of each page so that when you take the stack out of the printer, all you do is fold it in half and start reading. Each page is in the proper order on both sides of the paper.

They make incredibly handy reading of longer documents, manuals, or guide books, and this format is great for reading in flight or in transit—no batteries required!  Whenever I print these up and give them to others, they are amazed and delighted, and I’ve received a lot of great comments and thanks afterwards from the recipients.

Other features

FinePrint optionally puts in a header or footer that is oriented correctly, and I find that having it automatically insert things like date, page number, file name, and full path, which I find particularly useful when I’m looking at a printout months later. FinePrint also offers the ability to do watermarks on the documents.

FinePrint also makes a companion utility that I use almost as frequently called PDF Factory, which is extremely handy for PDF file creation without requiring a full Adobe Acrobat installation.  It's very flexible and does the job at least 90% of the time...at least for me.

My description doesn't really do this utility justice, and I'll try to write up more about it soon. It is one of those "little tools" that I use almost every day, and I miss it when it is not installed on a computer that I'm using.

KeyText

KeyText is an old utility (like me perhaps) that creates simple macros. I’m sure that many of you will send in some much better and more modern utilities that let you create simple macros, but this is one of the tools I use the most and have had the longest. 

At its heart, it is a simple macro creation tool, but what I use it for the most is the creation of a whole set of keyboard shortcuts for my most common text entries—everything from phone numbers, credit card numbers, common messages, and literally any other text I regularly need to type out or enter into forms.

To use it, you simply create the text you want to have inserted, assign a shortcut key combination, such as Ctl + Alt + S (for signature for example), and now you can insert this text anytime, anywhere with one keystroke. 

KeyText does so much more, so please take a few minutes to read over its description on the Keytext website. Although I use only a small subset of its features, I just know that every time I work on any other computer, I feel lost and am reminded how much I use this tool every day. 

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Have  "Cool Tools" you use and want to share?  Send me your favorites with the following information:

• Name of the tool and source for getting one. 
• What does it do? 
• How did you come to discover this? 
• How do you use it? 
• Why is it on your top ten "Cool Tools I Use" list?

Cool Tools I Use: SPOT on!

I truly believe that every one of us (yes, that includes YOU!) has cool tools that we use on an everyday basis and stories about how we use these tools and how we came to find and use them.  I'd like to hear about yours.  Meanwhile, here's another one of mine:

This SPOT messenger system is one of my newer "can't live without" tools and a "mashup" of hardware and software technologies, namely GPS, satellite-based communications, realtime mapping, and more.  It is also an example of the kind of "advanced" functionality that is quickly moving out of the hands of experts and high budget projects or pure luxury objects into the consumer mainstream. This is a trend we are seeing much more of these days, and is one I see escalating exponentially in the years ahead.

Look, look! See SPOT run!

SPOT is a great example of the power of simple purpose combined with simple design.  It essentially does ONE thing very well: tells anyone you choose to know precisely where it (and you!) is on the planet with the push of a single button. It uses GPS to precisely calculate where it is when you push the "check" button, and transmits the latitude and longitude coordinates via the worldwide (almost) GlobalStar to a list of people (text message or e-mail) that you give it and to a website-based map. 

It costs less than US$150 along with an annual subscription of about $90. For people like myself who are regularly in very remote and varied locations, and involved in possibly life-threatening or risky situations, this is a no-brainer purchase.

Simply Great!

Simplicity is one of the things that makes this such a marvel for me and why it's made my list of Cool Tools to share with you. Designing for simplicity is in fact very difficult, and it seems a bit of a lost art these days, although it one I believe and hope is making a comeback.

The SPOT device itself is relatively small (about the size of slightly rotund older cell phone), and while I sometimes wish it were smaller, I must admit that I lose smaller things much more easily, and this device is not cumbersome. But if you were wearing it on your belt or carrying in your purse, it would be nice if it were smaller. I suspect that the size is mostly due to the lithium battery (replaceable), which is probably more suitable for safety in high risk safety situations.  It need to be very dependable and must last for a long time (years vs. days or weeks). Getting a "sorry low battery" warning is NOT something you want to see if you are using this.

Continuing with the simplicity theme... there are no wires, no plug-ins, no attachments, no protrusions (such as antenna), and it has a VERY simple interface consisting of only four buttons: on/off, OK (CheckIn), 911, and HELP, with a red/green indicator light for each one. 

How Do I Use It?

If you think you or others you know and love might have a good use for this device, you can read more on the SPOT website,  but here is the quick overview to help you see just why I think this is such a Cool Tool for me and perhaps for you.

SPOT has two primary functions that I use on a regular basis

√ Check in:  When I push the "Check In" button on SPOT it sends a short message with my exact latitude and longitude information via satellite to a list of people I have provided. Being satellite-based means this will go out independent of any phone or radio systems anywhere on the planet.*  It can take up to about 2 minutes for the message to go out via satellite, BUT it will go out as long as it has a clear view of the sky, which can be through windows, but not through steel or other physical obstructions.  Of course, this is not a major limitation, since its primary use is for outdoor activities. However, I've had it work well even inside buildings as long as it is placed in an outside-facing window.

*  This is not completely true as SPOT uses the GlobalStar satelite system and they do not quite have true planetary coverage, since there is a "hole" over the Pacific ocean.  Other than for those living in such remote locations and blue water sailing types such as myself, this is not much of a problem and will hopefully be resolved later this year or next when and if GlobalStar adds another satellite to their system.

These messages include both a short bit of pre-set text I can provide such as "Hi, this is Wayne reporting to you with my current location" and the lat/long coordinates at the time I pressed the button.  As part of the setup, I go the website and put in the mobile phone numbers (for text messages) or the e-mail addresses of the people I want to receive these messages. Thereafter, every time I press the √ CheckIn button, all of these people get this short message with my updated location. Simple, handy, powerful.

Having used this for the past few months while I've been out sailing, I've also come to appreciate that this lets everyone who cares not only know where I am, but also that I'm OK since I have had to consciously press the √ CheckIn button.

Track Progress:  The SPOT also has an automated position reporting option that they call "SPOTcasting" and I use this a great deal. When it's turned on (by simply holding down the  √ CheckIn button for 5 seconds), SPOT automatically transmits my lat/long coordinates every 10 minutes for the next 24 hours to a web server. 

 

Of course, it would be rather obnoxious to have these going to people's mobile phones or e-mail inboxes, so instead, these "SPOTcasting" messages are just stored on a server and are accessible to me as either a historical log, or as a set of points displayed on a map that I can share with anyone.  Initially, I could only provide access to people by giving them my login information and password for the site, but a few weeks ago they finally added my #1 wishlist request, which is the ability to create and share a web page that displays all my check and track points "live" on an interactive map like this. By combining or "mashing up" an interactive online map (Google maps) with a feed of my check points and/or track points as they are broadcast from my SPOT via satellite messages to this server page, I am able to provide access to the complete history of my travels and my current or last location to anyone with a browser.

* I do my best to practice the experiential learning I'm so often expound on here, and real-world use is one of the key requirements and values I have for these Cool Tool posts. If you're interested in a real world example of the use of SPOT type technology ,you can follow this link to my personal travels of late.  I'm writing this on June-4-2008 at about 14:07 UTC so I'll let you figure out where I was at that time. 

Emergency use:

Fortunately I have not had to use either of these yet, but SPOT has two more buttons for emergency use:

Ask for Help:  I would press this one for non-life-threatening siuations. It is diffferent from the CheckIn message because it sends out a pre-programmed message to my contact list, telling them I need assistance and giving them my location data and a link to it on Google Maps.

Alert 9-1-1:  This, as you might expect, is for life-threatening situations, and it's the one you hope you never need!  When pressed, this sends an alert to the Emergency Reponse Center and sends a distress signal. the appropriate responders at that location, such as police, Coast guard, country's embassy or consulate or other emergency response or search-and-rescue teams.  It also notifies my emergency contact person(s), which I have provided when I initially set up the device.

And that's it!  Simple, easy, powerful.  The SPOT is not for everyone, but this is part of what I had in mind for these Cool Tool posts—not a Top Ten list of what is most popular (there are lots of these for you already), and not just something shiny and new, but something very useful and valuable for the right person at the right time in the right context. We (both individually and as groups) are unique "snowflakes", as are our situations, and so these Cool Tools are aimed at helping all of us discover things that will match our unique needs or the needs of those around us, and share a part of the overall Snowflake Effect, which my great colleague Erik Duval speaks of and write about so often.

Hope this SPOT satellite messenger is of value and interest to you.

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Have  "Cool Tools" you use and want to share?  Send me your favorites with the following information:

• Name of the tool and source for getting one. 
• What does it do? 
• How did you come to discover this? 
• How do you use it? 
• Why is it on your top ten "Cool Tools I Use" list?

Cool Tools I Use: Digital Pen and Paper

I truly believe that every one of us (yes, that includes YOU!) has cool tools that we use on an everyday basis and stories about how we use these tools and how we came to find and use them.  I'd like to hear about yours.  Meanwhile, here's another one of mine:

This tool is one of those great examples where the very best attributes of the past can be updated with the advantages of today's technology. In this case, it's by combining good old pen and paper with digital technology.

I use Logitech's io2 and have been using it for over 5 years, pretty much nonstop.  It does require that you use special "digital paper" but it comes in a good variety of sizes, pads, sticky notes etc., and they don't cost much more than regular paper and last a long time. The paper itself is very interesting and uses technology licensed from Anoto, one of the first companies to really break through with this type of digital paper, and is licensed by many makers of digital pen and paper. The Anoto-based paper works by having a very fine almost invisible set of little "dots" on each page.  Each of these dots has a unique identifier and so as you write on the paper with the pen, a sensor in the top of the pen keeps track of which dots you are passing over, so it knows exactly what your pen movement and motions have been and stores this digitally.  Then every time you insert the pen in its small pen holder base that hooks to your computer via USB, the software creates a full digital image of everything you've written or drawn on the paper. Think of it as digital carbon paper (if you're old enough to remember!)

Sounds complex, but the beauty is that you just have a very plain looking "regular" note pad and a slightly larger than normal pen that you use exactly as you would any other pen and pad. However, now you get a complete digital copy and backup of every page, which is not only handy, but also enables you to send your pages of notes and diagrams to others.

You also have the option of converting your handwriting to digital text by doing some "training" to recognize your personal style of writing, and this is working better with each release. I don't tend to use this feature too often, since my purpose is to have a visual archive and I'm the only one who needs to read it. Good thing, since I'm often the only one who can!

The Logitech/Anoto paper I use also has a bit of "smarts" to it, so you can use areas on each page set aside to automatically create, for example,  a calendar item or an e-mail.  Or you can take other specific actions based on the notes you take. This is extremely handy, and it can be setup to take these actions automatically every time you put the pen into its cradle and upload the contents to your PC.

This same technology has also been used to create some other fun and interesting devices such as the "Fly" pen from Leapfrog.  This cool tool let's you do things like write a word in one language, and then hear it translated into another language through the speaker inside the pen. You can also literally draw a small calculator on the paper, and then start using it as a fully functional calculator!

Of course, what I'm really waiting for is truly digital paper and paint, where we have surfaces that are digital displays with resolution at the molecular level, but I'll save that for another posting and hopefully it will be a Cool Tool I'm using in the next year or two!  In the meantime, consider trying out the currently available digital pen and paper to help you preserve and share your notes and diagrams.

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Have  "Cool Tools" you use and want to share?  Send me your favorites with the following information:

• Name of the tool and source for getting one. 
• What does it do? 
• How did you come to discover this? 
• How do you use it? 
• Why is it on your top ten "Cool Tools I Use" list?

Cool Tools I Use: Vanishing Point Fountain Pen

I truly believe that every one of us (yes, that includes YOU!) has cool tools that we use on an everyday basis and stories about how we use these tools and how we came to find and use them.  I'd like to hear about yours.  Meanwhile, here's another one of mine:

As digital and geeky as I am, or perhaps because of it, I LOVE writing on good quality paper with a fine fountain pen!  And my favorite fountain pen for many years is the Namiki "Vanishing Point" fountain pen.

Tom King, who helped push me to start up this whole "Cool Tools I Use" theme is also a fellow aficionado of pens and wrote me to say:

"I have a Namiki Vanishing Point pen sitting right here next to me, and I am about to call Parker to get a custom nib for my Duofold Centennial.
How can we not include the pocket-sized Fisher SpacePen (said the instigator of the PENS spec)-- http://www.spacepen.com/Public/Home/index.cfm"

I have tried a lot of fountain pens over the years, but this one is my favorite and the one I carry the most.  Not only is it a very good fountain pen, but it is also one of my favorite examples of what great design is all about. You just need to hold one of these pens to see how well it fits in your hand and how great it feels and writes.  But the true design genius is in how practical it is as well.  Amazing as it sounds (to me anyway) and unlike any other fountain pen that I know if, this one works like a "clickable" ball point pen—you just push in one end and out comes a full fountain pen nib from the other.  Press again and the nib retracts into the body and is FULLY sealed so it never leaks in you pocket or creates any mess. 

This pen is a joy to behold and to use.  Gives me great satisfaction every time I use it.  As one ad puts it, "Think of it as 'Zen and the Art of Pen Making.'"  Indeed!

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Have  "Cool Tools" you use and want to share?  Send me your favorites with the following information:

• Name of the tool and source for getting one. 
• What does it do? 
• How did you come to discover this? 
• How do you use it? 
• Why is it on your top ten "Cool Tools I Use" list?

Google Oceans: Another wish comes true!

While I  can neither take credit for nor claim any influence on Google's recent announcement, I'm pleased to say that some of the things I wished for last year in my posting "New Perspectives; Looking Down and Under" are about to come true!  In that posting, I wished that we would soon have similar capabilities as those provided by Google Earth and Google Sky, but these would vary in that they would look down and under to the earth's oceans and seas. Well, the title of this posting pretty much says it all, and you can read about it in the WebWare article "Google Diving into 3D mapping of Oceans".

Google Ocean (the name is tentative), shares similar goals, as well as the potential of increased collaboration, mass contribution, and "networking" that Google Earth and Google Sky present.  See my previous posts "New Perspectives: Looking Up" and "New Perspectives: The Third Wave" for more details and context about how powerful this can be. These views were summed up in the article:

"In addition to the 'wow factor" Google Ocean will no doubt have for amateur oceanographers, marine enthusiasts, and anyone fascinated by the movie 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the project has the potential to promote more collaboration and advance research."

They also reflect my previous comments about how little we know about the 70% of our planet that is covered by the seas:

"'We hope that one of the outcomes of Google Ocean will be an understanding of how much remains to be explored,' said Miller of Scripps. 'We know far more about the surface of Mars from a few weeks of radar surveying in orbit than we know of the bottom of the ocean after two centuries.'"

Unfortunately, Google Oceans is not yet released, and Google is not saying much officially yet.  I'll be watching for the first chance to start using this new capability, and let you know as soon as it happens.  Since I live full time at sea now, this announcement is particularly relevant and practical for me. I already use Google Earth extensively for surface information, such as exploring a port or anchorage I'm about to put into.  In addition to my charts of the area, the photos and the ability to fly over the area before I get there have made a huge difference in terms of safety and in my confidence for sailing to new places, especially at night or  in poor weather with low visibility.  But I suspect that many of you would have similar fascination with the earth's oceans and be just as anxious to learn more. Perhaps some of you will have research or other information to contribute, and we can add yet another way in which mass contribution and the power of networking helps us all get better at getting better.

This announcement about Google Oceans is yet another great example of the power of wishes and how they often do come true (you might want to read about another wish come true in my recent posting "The Future is about Winning!", which highlighted the wish that turned into Pangea Day).

Although we may want to be careful what we wish for, I could not be more serious or sincere about my wish that you'll keep believing in the power of wishing and do some of your own!  I'll continue to share some of mine. I'm also interested in knowing what are some of YOUR wishes for positive change.

Cool Tools I Use: Cabinet Scraper

I truly believe that every one of us (yes, that includes YOU!) has cool tools that we use on an everyday basis and stories about how we use these tools and how we came to find and use them.  I'd like to hear about yours.  Meanwhile, here's another one of mine:

 One of my favorite hobbies is fine woodworking.  Since I was very young, I've found the entire process of designing and creating furniture, as well as wood sculptures and cabinetwork on my sailboat, to be almost Zen-like in the satisfaction it provides. 

 In a former lifetime I was a woodwork teacher and one of the best tools I shared with my students—one I regard as my "secret weapon" in turning out great works in wood—is a simple little rectangle (or sometimes curved shapes of hard steel) called a cabinet scraper.  This tool is used to "scrape" (cut would be more accurate) surfaces of wood, and is often used in place of sandpaper. Cabinet scrapers work their magic by having a very small "burr" along the edge of the scraper blade that cuts the wood very cleanly, producing wonderful shavings as you work with them.  They work MUCH faster than sandpaper and produce an amazing surface that is flat and smooth and takes a finish extremely well.  Cabinet scrapers are particularly useful when you need to smooth wood with unusual  of different types and at different angles.

They are a bit tricky to learn to sharpen, and as with most cutting tools, having a sharp edge is the key to making them work well.  But once you know the technique, it is quite quick and simple to sharpen a cabinet scraper.  There are some specialty tools for sharpening, but I tend to keep it simple and just use a file and a burnisher.  The two images shown here are from this very good overview from the Woodgears, and a simple online search will produce many more.

Unfortunately most people are unaware of this very old tool and perhaps they disregard it, along with many other "lowly hand tools", which is a shame and their loss.  If you do ANY amount of working with wood, even simple jobs, such as preparing wood surfaces for painting or refinishing etc., you really owe it to yourself to try this one.  They are very affordable (less than $10), easy to use, extremely effective, AND they are the ultimate in "green technology", requiring only the power of your hands—no cords or batteries.  Check online for suppliers. Some of the better makes are from North America, including Veritas and Lee Valley tools.  Once you've used a sharp one, you'll never look back.

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Have  "Cool Tools" you use and want to share?  Send me your favorites with the following information:

• Name of the tool and source for getting one. 
• What does it do? 
• How did you come to discover this? 
• How do you use it? 
• Why is it on your top ten "Cool Tools I Use" list?

Cool Tools I Use: Leatherman "Wave"

I truly believe that every one of us (yes, that includes YOU!) has cool tools that we use on an every day basis and stories about how we use these tools and how we came to find and use them.  I'd like to hear about yours.  Meanwhile, here's another one of mine:

I used a Swiss Army knife for many, many years but have since replaced it with an even more robust multi-functional tool from Leatherman.  I use their "Leatherman Wave" model, but they also have a large variety of others to choose from.

Being all stainless steel has been especially welcome, since I spend a lot of my time at sea or around salt water. But these tools are also extremely well-designed and it is definitely in that category of "what did I do without this?".  Many models are available in different sizes and tool combinations, so you will likely find a one that is particularly suitable for your needs. 

As with many of my Cool Tools, this one makes the list not only because it is so practical and useful daily, but also because of the great design involved.  Every time I use this tool I appreciate how all the functions and tools are combined together into such a small unit, as well as its heft, its fit in my hands, how it folds up into a small space, and the real leather belt holder.

Except when I need to travel by air, I carry this handy tool on my belt, so it is always ready and available for use (which for me is at least 10 times a day!).

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Have  "Cool Tools" you use and want to share?  Send me your favorites with the following information:

• Name of the tool and source for getting one. 
• What does it do? 
• How did you come to discover this? 
• How do you use it? 
• Why is it on your top ten "Cool Tools I Use" list?

Cool Tools We Use

Over the years, many people have asked about some of the "cool tools" I use to do some of the things I do, which range from presentations to podcasts, welding to woodworking, and sailing to speaking. 

In one such discussion a few months ago, long-time colleague Tom King, who now also works with Elliott Masie and the Masie Center as a "Masie Fellow", sent me the following note:

"I'm fascinated by some of the nifty tools I discover one way or another through contact with you. Things like doodle.ch or SlideShare or however the heck you get transcriptions of your podcasts. A totally separate and intriguing topic is how you quickly create such compelling, lengthy, thoughtful posts, podcasts & presentations. I've already seen quite a preso on "Whole New Mind" from you."

"Moving back to nifty tools....I think the interesting idea here is how these tools are discovered and shared-- and what makes them good. That process of discovery & recognition seems to be the long-term value, even if any given "nifty tool" has a place that is only ephemeral in the Internet-time mid-term time phase."

And he went on to say:

"For what it's worth, I think the best tools develop when the tool will "scratch an itch" for their very own developer... or someone near & dear to them. Likewise, I think the best recommendations for a tool comes from someone who uses it, and the second best source is a recommendation from someone who has a trusted/respected source that uses a tool. If the user is passionate enough to convey the value to that second party (who may not even use such a tool), and then recommends it to me.. well sometimes I find that is actually the best recommendation."

Couldn't agree more with your observations, Tom !  I too find great value in discovering such tools, tips, and tricks from you and others. 

Tom being Tom, he had already started to post some of his favorite tools, tips, and tricks on his blog Mobilemind (highly recommended BTW), and you can check out his lists of favorite Web Solutions and his favorite applications from earlier this year.

Cool Tools Kevin Uses:

Of course this is not a new idea. Another of my favorite people, Kevin Kelly over at Wired magazine, has has been doing a phenomenal job of covering a similar idea on his site Cool Tools.  His description is right on target for me:

"Cool tools really work. A cool tool can be any book, gadget, software, video, map, hardware, material, or web site that is tried and true. All reviews on this site are written by readers who have actually used the tool and others like it. Items can be either old or new as long as they are wonderful. We only post things we like and ignore the rest. Suggestions for tools much better than what is recommended here are always wanted."

Even Dads can be Cool!

And then there is the totally cool offshoot that sprang up a bit later by Chris Anderson at Wired magazine called Geek Dad.  Check it out, no matter what your gender or status. 

So Many Tools, So Little Time

But what about the rest of us?  I truly believe that every one of us (yes, that includes YOU!) has cool tools that we use on an every day basis.  Even more valuable are cool stories about how we use these tools and how we came to find and use them.  How many of the cool tools that you use did you discover by seeing someone else use them?  Many, I suspect, but the problem is that as great as such serendipitous discovery is, it doesn't seem to scale very well. Considering that there are about to be 6.6 billion of us populating this planet, I think we may all have a few more to discover!

Later on in my discussion with Tom, I noted that I too am fascinated by the process of discovery, and I often point out that discovery is the opposite of invention—that discovery is the finding of something that already exists—whereas invention is the creation of something that never existed before (though most often consists of new combinations of previously existing ideas or things).  My point is to emphasize the differences and the power of going after both. I’m equally intrigued by the differences between invention and innovation, but I’ll stop myself from digressing (lucky you!) yet again. I merely want to emphasize how strongly I agree with Tom's larger point which is the value of the process of discovery and sharing.

So, thanks to Tom for the push. I'd like to see what we can do here on OCOT and as a group to explore and discover more Cool Tools. For starters, here are some quick thoughts from me and questions for all of YOU:

• Is this a topic that you would find to be of high value?
• Would YOU consider contributing one or more of your top cool tools and stories of how you discovered it, use it, etc.?
• Would this topic be well served by having a longer term “theme” or space on OCOT that is dedicated to “cool tools I use”? Or would one or two blog posts suffice?
• Might we be able to create a template that would help people describe their cool tools and stories, and make it easier for others to discover and use them? 
• Would a wiki-like capability work best for this, so that any given tool or technique could be expanded over time, so that other could add their examples of how they use the same tool differently, provide additional techniques or suggestions for getting more out of them, and add their own stories about how they came to discover the tool?
• Might “Cool Tools I Use” be a big enough topic to deserve its own “space” (section of a site, whole blog/wiki itself, etc.)?  For example, this could be a really eclectic mix of tools, where we are looking to discover them in any and all applications, walks of life, etc.

Please send in your comments or e-mails to let me know your thoughts on these questions.

Serious Fun, so let's make this a game!

In many cases we cease to consciously think about these tools. We use them so frequently and for so long that they are part of our "unconscious competency".  To "discover" them again, you may need to start noticing them again. 

So let's turn this exercise into a version of a once popular game based on the premise "If you could only take 10 things with you to live on a remote island for 10 years (randomly picked numbers), what would those be?"  And in the spirit of a game, let's not get too literal with this. Let's imagine that our basic needs for survival are met and focus instead on those things we could otherwise not live without.  In most cases, we probably could live without these, we just don't want to!

And let's really do some coloring outside the lines with this theme and not restrict ourselves to computers or the net!  I could imagine collecting “cool tool” ideas for anything from cooking to car repair to computers or canoeing (today’s post is brought to you by the letter C!).

Let's get Started!

In the interim, I thought I'd get things started by creating a "Cool Tools I Use" theme here on OCOT and use this to collect and share some of the cool tools each of us have found invaluable and to also share, perhaps even more importantly, the ways we found them or how they found us.  What I'll do on OCOT to help with this effort is create a metadata tag called "Cool Tools" and make sure all "Cool Tools" entries are marked with this tag so you can find them easily in the future.

Oh, and just for clarity, let's be clear that this is NOT to be used for nor does it represent ANY endorsement of promotion of a company or a specific product. These are authentic stories about "Cool Tools" that we use all the time and would not want to be without.

Should be fun, and if not, we won't do it! 

Now it's YOUR turn!

OK, that should be more than enough to give you an idea of what I'm thinking about.  Now it is YOUR turn to think about the "Cool Tools" you use and would never want to be without.  Send me your responses to my previous questions and we'll follow through accordingly.

Meanwhile, have a "Cool Tool" you use and want to share?  Send me your favorites with the following information and I'll start collecting and publishing yours and more of mine.

• Name of the tool and source for getting one.
• What does it do?
• How did you come to discover this?
• How do you use it?
• Why is it on your top ten "Cool Tools I Use" list?

I'm sure EACH of you have a list of tools you would not want to be without, and you probably have tools you know that are much better than the ones I have on my list. I can't wait to start to learning and benefiting from your cool tools!

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