The Perfect Bookmark
We roam the internet like locust during the plague of Egypt, consuming countless amounts of data in any form imaginable. We get over-saturated with images, videos and text, and there simply isn’t enough time in the day to process all of it especially now with our days being shorter by 1.6 microseconds. We don’t have enough resources to process everything we would like the process, and because of this we reach out to web tools.
Can’t ready something now? Oh there is instapaper for that.
Want an easy way of processing a lot of information? Sure, just use Google Reader.
Want to curate your own newspaper based on what your friends are using? Start using paprli or flipboard.
Want to save any of this information? Well here comes the problem with bookmarks. Over the years I’ve been looking for an ultimate solution for my bookmarks, a service which would keep all of them in a visual form. A system with advanced bookmark management system and an easy search functionality, something which would not only allow me to tag my bookmarks but also put them in collections and inspect visually. For the last 3 years my system, however complicated, looked like this:
Favorite bookmarks: Bookmarks bar in a browser.
General bookmarking: Delicious
Products bookmarking: Svpply
Image bookmarking: We heart it
Articles bookmarking: Digg
Links directory with all my social services linked to: Trunkly
Over past week I’ve been looking at my process, realising how ridiculous it is, and thinking that there must be an ultimate bookmarking solution out there, or at least something good. I started talking to some friends and found a question on quora about visual bookmarking , something I needed, a robust visual bookmarking service with some nice functionality. And that’s when I discovered ZooTool among few other services.
Uncertain of it, I tweeted asking the twitterverse about some recommendations regarding the services available, not surprisingly I got a few answers within minutes, and a nice tweet from @zootool themselves. I checked it out closely and started using it. And it’s awesome. ZooTool manages to painlessly combine all the important features of visual bookmarking without making the product suck. I was stricken by a very thoughtful and appleesque GUI and UX which is intuitive and very easy to use. You can bookmark images/videos/websites/documents using a bookmarklet called “Lasso” which you simply place in your bookmarks tab or using a extension available for Chrome, Safari and Firefox.
When you click on the lasso button it takes you to a ZooTool screen which gives you a list of objects on the website and asks you what you want to bookmark.
You can choose to bookmark the entire website or just an image. It then gives you an option to tag, describe and “pack” your bookmark. Awesome. Naturally you can also share it on twitter, facebook or email it.
It’s a simple and intuitive process, it may take a little longer than delicious, but it forces you to do a good job on bookmarking i.e. adding tags, descriptions and choosing what you want to bookmark exactly.
The ZooTool website itself is a work of art. It has a feel of a series A,B,C and D venture backed company with 60 google and Facebook dropouts coding away in a fancy SF loft. Reality is that the whole website was bootstrapped in Germany by two guys. Which makes this whole project even more impressive.
Check is for yourself but in my opinion it’s the ultimate bookmarking service. I could write all about their functionality but the best option is for you to start using it. You won’t regret it.
Positive:
+ Multipurpose visual bookmarking
+ Deep social integration
+ Great UI and UX
+ Import/Export with visual processing
+ Ease of use
+ European !!
Negative:
- Acts funny with certain types of websites
- No screen/website capture
- Lasso favicon is the standard blank page
- No audio capture / audio annotations
Robert I.Brown
Visualizing Creativity: simple approach to great ideas
I have finally managed to read “How I Use Visualization To Drive Creativity” by Mark Suster on TechCrunch. It’s a very long article and I was really looking for the right time to read it and process it. And I must say that it’s brilliant. I’ve been following Mark Suster on twitter (@msuster) for quite some time and always enjoyed reading his blog, Both Sides of the Table. Apart from being a serious entrepreneur, a real businessman he is also a seasoned geek who has dissected many young entrepreneurs and startups. He really knows the trade and his advice is not only good, it awe inspiring and makes you rethink yourself and your ideas.
In his article on TechCrunch he describes how he uses and how we should use visualization to drive creativity. I was extremely surprised to find out that in fact I follow most of the practices he recommends. I suggest you read the article, and here is how I use visualization to drive my creativity:
1. I get most of my ideas whilst running or flying. Small doses of alcohol also increase my creative potential.
2. I prefer being alone in a quiet environment.
3. I always require a blank sheet of paper and a pen. I express my ideas using shapes, arrows and single words.
4. I start my process by putting the task on my to-do list (on paper!). I then scribble ideas around it, research the internet and open interesting things in new tabs, wait few days, read everything and close the tabs, scribble more ideas and bullet points, think of a title and start writing. To be honest, I am yet to refine my creative process.
5. I try not to force anything.
6. I have fun.
Simplicity really is the ultimate sophistication, and creativity can be made really simple. Think of it in terms of stimulus, environment, process, pleasure.
At the end isn’t creativity the art of making mistakes and art the process of keeping the best mistakes? I think so.
What creates separation?
A lack of interaction.
Connection can be created by program.
http://www.universearchitecture.com/a8erna.php
DAY 12. [30 DAY CHALLENGE]
Day 12 - Buller your whole day.
I seriously need to start blogging about more interesting things.
- Woke up at 6.30 am
- Showered and dressed - casual friday meaning no tie
- Ate breakfast consisting of gluten free multi seed bread with New Zeland honey
- Drove to work whilst listening to Mad Decent Radio
- Got to work for 8am
- COFFEE
- Checked my emails, Engadget, TechCrunch, Mashable and Bloomberg
- Went through my to-do list for the day task by task
- Finished off the test spec I had to deliver today
- Cleaned up my work from the week in the lab
- Finished little pieces of work and made arrangements for next week
- Drove back home
- Ate
- Checked my emails, Engadget, TechCrunch, Mashable and Bloomberg
- Procrastinated on Facebook, Twitter and Newsle
- Finished off my summer internship application for BofAML
- Talked to mom and Jack on the phone
- Ate some more
DAY 11. [30 DAY CHALLENGE]
Day 11 - Put your iPod on shuffle and write 10 songs that pop up.
My iPod is in my car so I am going to use my iTunes instead.
1. Stylo Ft. Bobby Womack & Mos Def - Gorillaz
2. (Can You) Take Me Away (D.O.N.S. vs DBN Cr2 Dub Mix) - Damien Wilson Ft Ann Bailey
3. Just Want You (Mell Tierra Remix) - Kid Massive
4. Buttons (Jimmy Vallance Remix) - SIA
5. Galvanize - Datsik
5. Leave the World Behind - Axwell, Ingrosso, Angello, Laidback Luke feat. Deborah Cox
6. The Drums - Basic J
7. Colombian Soul (Funkagenda Wombat Crossing Remix) - D Ramirez & Mark Knight
8. Love You Bye (Daniel Portman Remix) - Tim Davison
9. Almost Nothing ( Patrick Chardronnet Remix) - Adultnapper
10. Baile Funk Two - M.I.A./Diplo
DAY 10. [30 DAY CHALLENGE]
Day 10 - Discuss your first love and first kiss
My dignity and integrity doesn’t allow me to indulge in this activity aimed at hormone buzzing 13 year old girls. So instead of discussing I am going to summarize.
First kiss - I think I was on a riding camp and she was on a scout camp nearby.
First love - It came and went just like any other firsts. Immature and emotionally juvenile.
I really need to start writing more serious posts…
DAY 09. [30 DAY CHALLENGE]
Day 09 - How you hope your future will be like.
The way I build it. Right in the middle of that Venn diagram. I can hope for the best, but getting to the future I want is a painful and long process of hard work and long hours. I have a rough idea of what I want it to be but like everything in life, future is not for certain, there is an infinite amount of paths we can take with an infinite amount of outcomes.
A lot of the young people assume that their future is set and that they will be wealthy by doing very little. That’s rarely a case, naturally, it depends on the kind of future you want. I am referring to what I want, and trust me, it takes a lot of effort and sacrifices. Sacrifices I am willing to make in order to achieve my goals and do what I love doing.
At the end my future is the combined outcome of the years preliminary to it.
DAY 08. [30 DAY CHALLENGE]
Day 08 - A moment you felt the most satisfied with your life.
There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind. There were moments where I felt satisfied with my life, but I can’t think of a moment I felt the most satisfied with my life.
We all have our own definitions of life and success, there isn’t a universal formula for what’s good, there isn’t a solution for satisfaction - it’s all individual. I felt satisfied with my life standing on the balcony at the infamous Attica Shanghai at 1 am, looking at the Shanghai skyline with a glass in my hand, thinking about what the future has for me. I felt satisfied on a beach in Boracay thinking about what path I will follow in the future. I felt satisfied eating a lunch with my friends in London, talking about the future.
I am only 21, and this is a question that I will be able to answer when I am 70. I feel that things I will be most satisfied with are waiting for me in the future. What I have now, are immature guilty pleasures which just complement my life.
DAY 07. [30 DAY CHALLENGE]
Day 07 - Your zodiac sign and if you think it fits your personality.
I am a Scorpio and I don’t believe in horoscope… If I had a choice I’d much rather be a dragon. Way cooler.
