Migrate

All posts tagged Migrate

Forgetting Evernote

Posted by Ripdubski on 2013.02.22
Posted in: Notes. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Forgetting Evernote

A long time ago I used Google Notebook for managing all my notes.  It was perfect for my needs.  It had rich text, managed folders, multiple notes, blah blah blah.  About the time Google released Docs they announced Notebook would be discontinued.  I guess they felt there was overlap in the services, who knows.  While similar, they are distinctly different.  Docs is meant to be an online Office suite and it fills that role nicely enough, but it doesn’t manage notes (documents) into notebooks (folders) very well.  Docs != (not equal) Notebook.

The let you keep Notebook for some time but you couldn’t use it if you didn’t already have Notebook service.  At any rate there would be no more improvements to it.  So I chose to migrate away.  You can’t use it all now: Google Notebook FAQ.

I’ve tried a number of different solutions over the last few years, but none have felt quite like Google Notebook did.  Evernote is close, very close, but not quite the same.  I ended up migrating to Evernote after trying a couple of other solutions, including Simplenote and Microsoft OneNote.  Simplenote did not have folders, only tags, but did manage notes fairly well.  Simplenote also fell short in the way it implemented rich text markup.  OneNote had all the features I need, but I don’t like the desktop application – at all.  I still use OneNote at work and only to store material that cannot be stored anywhere else due to policy, but that’s it – no sync anywhere.  I still dislike its interface.

Over time Evernote has grown a lot through company acquisitions and feature enhancements.  With that growth it has become slower and bulkier.  Their iPad application is a giant poo fest as well.

A few months ago I discovered Catch.  It’s a note application that is geared toward efficient use on mobile devices (ie: not the desktop or web).  They have a decent web front end with only a couple of minor annoyances, but overall it’s a pretty slick service.

CatchWeb

The iPhone and iPad apps are very nice and intuitive as well.

The iPhone Spaces menu:

CatchiPhoneSpaces

Browsing notes within a space on iPhone:

CatchiPhoneNotes

The function menu on iPhone. Add reminder, picture, note, voice memo, or checklist (which is implemented well).

CatchiPhoneMenu

I replicated all my notes to Catch and decided to use it for a while and see if it fulfilled my needs.  So far, so good.  In place of notebooks you get spaces.  With the free version you’re alloted so many with the ability to “earn” more via referrals.  You can also buy more.

What I really like:

  • Nice interface on all platforms (web, iPhone, iPad).  Pleasing to use and look at.
  • Speed.  It’s faster than Evernote, especially the web version.
  • Search.  It’s good and simple.  It’s on par with Evernote thanks to their use of tags.
  • Color Coding of spaces.  I set colors based on type of topic which makes it easier to find things.
  • Sharing and collaboration of notes.

The only real complaints I have are:

  • Web interface locks the width of notes to a pre-set size.  Making your window wider wont help you.
  • There is no ability to mark text up richly (ie: bold, italics, bullets, etc).  Clever use of CAPS and symbols (-, *, etc) helps but really isn’t a substitute.
  • Note names are taken from the first line of the note.  For me, I find myself setting the first line into text that breaks into two sections (section – subject).  See my usage notes below.

What would I like to see, aside from the above three complaints:

  • Sub-spaces.  This would enable the division of a notebook into sections of related notes.  The tagging system coupled with clever note naming mitigates this to some extent, but it would still be nice.
  • Ability to paste images into a note.  Not huge, but would be nice on those occasions when a picture is worth a thousand words.

Usage Notes

Here are some usage notes that make working in Catch efficient:

  • As mentioned above, setting the first line of a note into two sections to form the name.  Example: “ITM6 Info – Port Usage” where this note is in the space “IBM/Tivoli”.
  • Proper use of tags.  For the note in the example above I set tags to make finding it easy: ITM6, Ports.

Now when I want to find it I can open tag search then:

a) Select ITM6 and browse the names until I see “ITM6 Info – Port Usage”.b) Select Ports and browse the names until I see “ITM6 Info – Port Usage”.

Conclusion

I will likely continue to use it because the mobile application interfaces are so stellar.  But I will probably still be looking for that perfect “Google Notebook” as a low priority.

Breaking from Google Series, Conclusion

Posted by Ripdubski on 2013.01.28
Posted in: Google. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

OK, so I didn’t completely free myself from Googles’ grip.  But I did manage to migrate at least 75%.  I could meet a higher number if:

  • I could find a replacement web calendar that supports Outlook 2010 synchronization (for a single work calendar)
  • I was willing to let old forum posts that have linked pictures die with “image not found” for other readers.

So the bottom line is I am still using Google Calendar (for a single calendar), Google Talk (for a few friends instant messaging), Google Picasa (for old forum posts) and Google Voice (because it happens to be awesome and irreplaceable IMHO).

Here is an overview of where I moved everything:

  • Google Mail -> Apple Mail (iCloud)
  • Google Calendar -> Apple iCal (iCloud), except for 1 work calendar
  • Google Contacts -> Apple Contacts (iCloud), except for those used by Google Talk
  • Google Talk -> AIM, except for a few friends
  • Google Photos -> Flickr (Yahoo)
  • Google Bookmarks -> Delicious
  • Google Reader -> subpug
  • Google Docs -> Microsoft SkyDrive
  • Google Plus -> Facebook
  • Google Sites -> Evernote
  • Google Voice -> Google Voice
  • Google Video (YouTube) -> Vimeo

Since the migration I have been completely happy with Mail and Calendar synchronization and alerting, which is the one thing that was most frustrating before.  In Jobs-speak, “it just works”.  And it reality it does.

What am I missing?  Nothing really.  The single sign on aspect of the Google provided services was nice, but the features I gained at the competing services (especially with iCloud, SkyDrive, and Evernote) far out-weigh it.  Single sign on becomes a non issue when you use services like LastPass which can securely sign on for you.

 

Breaking from Google Series, Search

Posted by Ripdubski on 2013.01.27
Posted in: Google. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

Google Search

The grand daddy of all Google services, Search.  For the past 15 or more years Google has been the defacto standard of search on the web.  It has also been turned into a verb – Google it!  A common household name to say the least.

Even before Google rolled out Plus to the masses and started customizing the search results with data from your social network (which you can turn off), I started noticing the results were becoming less and less relevant.  I increasingly found myself looking beyond the first page of results for information.

After I concluded the migration from all the Google web services, I was still using Google for search, even though it was producing less relevant results.  So I started looking at other search providers.  What I found was surprising.

I did side by side tests of several providers.  I started with Yahoo!, but was still unimpressed with the results as I was when Yahoo! was in its former glory.  Since I have started to hear a lot of good things about Microsoft Bing, I decided to give it a try.  I was sure there was no way Microsoft could compete in this space.  Well, guess what?

I was wrong.  Side by side comparisons showed me that Bing is providing the results I want to see (usually on the first page of results).  Just what I am looking for!  I started a trial of Bing using only one web browser on one device.  After a short while I enabled it on another, then another, and then all.

Just as Microsoft quietly built the best online Office suite, they also built a top-notch search engine.  Microsoft is gaining more and more respect in my book, but I still won’t use Windows. 😛

You should give Bing a try as well.  It may just surprise you too.

Here is how to switch the search provider on several browsers.

OSX Safari:

  1. Open Safari.
  2. Select Safari > Preferences from the menu.
  3. Select the General section.
  4. Next to “Default search engine” use the drop down to select Bing or whichever provider you choose.

SearchOSX

iOS Safari:

  1. Open Settings > Safari > Search Engine.
  2. Select Bing or whichever provider you choose.

SearchiOS

Windows Firefox:

  1. Open Firefox.
  2. Click the down arrow button next to the search providers icon.
  3. Click Bing or whichever provider you choose from the list.

SearchFirefox

Windows Internet Explorer:

  1. Open Internet Explorer.
  2. Click the down arrow next to the magnifying glass icon.
  3. Click Bing or whichever provider you choose from the list.

SearchIE

Next up: Conclusion

Breaking from Google Series, Reader

Posted by Ripdubski on 2013.01.25
Posted in: Google. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Google Reader

Google Reader may be one of the best RSS feed aggregators out there.  RSS is how I get most of my daily news, tech, world, local, or otherwise.  In my quest to be Google free, I looked at several alternatives.  One very good one is NetVibes, but ultimately I decided it is too busy and too feature rich for my needs.

So I moved all my RSS feeds to subpug, a very lightweight, very clean, login-less, aggregator.  Yes, login-less. There is no signup, no login!  The feed information is stored in a browser cookie, and you can email a link to yourself so you can view the same feeds in another browser on another machine.  subpug maintains the feed lists and what viewed and not viewed so you are in sync across browsers / devices.

subpug also lets you filter some articles out of a feed.  For example, you like GeekDad (http://www.wired.com/geekdad),  but don’t like the “Dork Tower” articles.  subpug allows you to filter them out.

And subpug has the standard fare of sharing options so you can share something you like easily.  subpug is little known underdog to say the least.

subpug does have two flaws though.

  1. It tops out at 100 unread articles. So if you have some busy feeds, you will miss the oldest ones as they fall off the radar.  So you’ll need to stay on top of it or drop the busy feeds.
  2. You cant export your subscriptions should you want to move them to another reader.  So when you import your feeds, hang on to the import file!

How to export your Google Reader RSS feed information:

  • In Google Reader, go to Settings > Import / Export.
  • Click the link “Download your data through Takeout”.  Takeout is short for Google Takeout (a data liberation tool).
  • You will be asked to sign in to your Google account again.
  • Click the “Choose Services” tab.
  • Select the Reader service.
  • Click the “Create Archive” button.
  • Once the download is ready, click the “Download” button.
  • You will be asked to sign in to your Google account once again.  Do so and a zip file should be downloaded to your desktop (or default download location).  It will be name “username@gmail.com-takeout.zip”.
  • On your desktop, unzip this file.  Each service you exported in Takeout will have a folder.
  • Look for the Reader folder and open it.
  • Locate “subscriptions.xml”.  It is an OPML file.  You can use this as an import source at most RSS reader sites.

How to import your RSS feed information into subpug:

  • Open your browser and go to subpug.
  • Click “Read your subscriptions” in the top right.
  • Since you haven’t visited before they should you a quick popup explaining the buttons.  Once you review them, click the “OKAY, LETS GO!” button.

Web-subpug

  • Click the Edit Subscriptions button (far right).
  • Click the “Import OPML” button in the “Add a Subscription” section.  A file browser will popup.  Find the “subscription.xml” file you exported from Google and select it.
  • Click Choose.  Your subscriptions will be imported.
  • Now click the “Normal View” button or “List View” button, whichever you prefer.

That’s it.  To return to sub pug and read more at another time, simply open your browser and open http://read.subpug.com.  The “Edit Subscriptions” page has a section called “View your subscriptions on another device”.  You can put your email address in and click “Send Me The Link” to open your customized subpug feed subscriptions on any other device.  You only need to open the link once per device to set the tracking cookie on the devices browser.  From there on out, it will know it’s you (unless you delete your cookies!).

Next up: Google Search

Breaking from Google Series, Sites

Posted by Ripdubski on 2013.01.25
Posted in: Google. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Google Sites

I used Google Sites as a notebook rather than a website (web sites are what it’s designed for).  It let me create a browse-able categorized container of information that is viewable on any platform that has a web browser. It produces HTML without writing HTML, and allows it to be private with shared access privileges.  I am completely comfortable writing HTML, but the WYSIWYG design makes it completely seemless.  It also has many customization features to change the look.  I originally moved to Sites when Google discontinued Notebook (something they should have kept IMHO).

I also used simplenote, a very elegant, very simple, notebook with tagging.  simplenote also has an excellent iOS companion application.  I used Google Sites for large static notes, like instructions on how to do something technical, obscure command references, etc.  I used simplenote for small notes, like lists of things I want to research, etc.  The only thing I don’t like about simplenote is their implementation of markdown for rich text.  SimpleNote didn’t start life with rich text, it was bolted on afterward – poorly.

I moved everything to Evernote.  Evernote met all my needs, has a good iOS companion application, ability to create notebooks, rich text, and tagging.  They also have something they call Stacks, which is basically another container within a notebook to group similar items.  I re-thought the way I was managing notes and found it was easier to have all the notes in a single location.

I have about 250 notes in various categories, so it took a little bit of effort to get everything categorized into notebooks instead of web pages, but the effort paid off.  You can use Evernote’s iPhone app, iPad app, Desktop App, or browser App to view and/or update your information.

It’s noteworthy to mention (no pun intended) that I use Evernote for large notes (like instructions), not simple ones (like watch batteries).  For small simple notes, I use the iPhone Notes application.  The Notes app syncs via iCloud so notes can be accessed on the Mac or iPad as well.  When you use Notes sync for iOS, you view the notes inside the Mail app on OSX 10.7 and lower (I know, strange).  OSX 10.8 has a dedicated Notes app.

Next up: Google Reader

Breaking from Google Series, Talk

Posted by Ripdubski on 2013.01.24
Posted in: Google. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

Google Talk

In general I’ve never been a huge fan of instant messaging.  It doesn’t convey emotion well, meanings aren’t always understood, and it’s a waste of time.  You inevitably end up spending much more time “talking” than if you had actually placed a phone call.  You can have more verbal communication in 10 seconds that you could instant messaging in 2 minutes.

That said, I’ve kept an AIM account for years, several actually.  A while back I stopped using AIM in favor of Google Talk.  This lasted a long time.  Within the last year I started utilizing both again mainly to be accessible to some people not using Google Talk.

I still don’t utilize instant messaging much at all, except at work and that is a completely different product with only work contacts.  With the prevalence of cell phones, texting is more the norm now.

I’ve elected to keep Google Talk for only those contacts that utilize Google Talk.  AIM will be my normal one, but in reality, texting is most likely to be used now.  But what I really want is simple phone call instead.

Next up: Google Voice

Breaking from Google Series, Google Plus

Posted by Ripdubski on 2013.01.23
Posted in: Google. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

Google Plus

While there may be some other social networks out there, a social network doesn’t do any good if none of your friends are there.  Google Plus has a lot of great features and possibly a better interface, but the user base doesn’t compare with Facebook.  Google Plus feels vacant.  I tried to make it work, going so far as to deleting my Facebook account.

I moved back to Facebook, even with all the negatives which drove me to leave in the first place a few years ago.  This time though I made it much simpler.  I am only adding family and friends.  I’m sorry, but if you’re an acquaintance we don’t need to know what each other is doing.  Keeping the network small to just those I care about is working out very well.

There is some science suggesting humans can’t effectively maintain large social networks.  In the 1990’s Robin Dunbar theorized that humans can only manage between 100 and 230 relationships, with 150 being the average.  Here is some background on Dunbar’s number.  There exists an alternate theory by H. Russell Bernard and Peter Killworth which suggests the maximum is 290 with a median of 231.

Next up: Google Talk

Breaking from Google Series, Video (YouTube)

Posted by Ripdubski on 2013.01.23
Posted in: Google. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

Google Video (YouTube)

Continuing this series, I now focus on Google Video (YouTube).  Deciding where to move my videos was easy.  I moved to Vimeo .  Vimeo is arguably better than YouTube in regards to rights management, ease of use, and sharing.  Vimeo also has a very nice iPhone app.  With it uploading a video is not as convenient as “Send to YouTube”, but that’s minor.

Migration is simple.  Create an account on Vimeo.  Upload your videos.  Share them as you wish.

Removing the YouTube account is the most difficult aspect.  Depending on when you setup your YouTube account, there may or may not be a “delete account” link in the options.  I had two accounts.  One had it, the other did not.  I still have not figured out how to get the other one removed.  For the latter I just made sure that nothing is shared and there is no content.

Next up: Google +

Breaking from Google Series, Photos (Picasa)

Posted by Ripdubski on 2013.01.18
Posted in: Google. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

Google Photos (Picasa)

Choosing where to migrate photos was another tricky one.  I use Shutterfly to share all personal and family shots with family and friends.  I used Picasa for event shots (i.e.: car shows, etc) and drop box kind of things (ie: single use web posts) that I wanted to share with the general public via forums, etc.  In choosing an alternative, which there are many, I looked at various features such as ease of sharing and copyright retention.

The two that really stand out are Flickr and 500px.  I ultimately chose Flickr to replace Picasa.  I moved all the event albums to Flickr.  For the time being I have kept the drop box things on Picasa, until I can find a better alternative (which may be a second Flickr account).   And moving these from Picasa somewhere else will break the links in forums posts.  I don’t really want to go back to find and edit them.  The only drawback of Flickr are the limits imposed on free accounts.

I know there are are other ways to host and share public photos.  The bottom line is finding one that meets your requirements.  You could use:

  • SkyDrive
  • DropBox
  • iCloud Photo Stream
  • Or move to another service like Flickr or 500px.
  • Or a slew of other online photo sharing services.

For now I’m sort-of content with where things are and I’m only using two Google services (Picasa and Calendar).  I may just kill off Picasa as well and if anyone asks for an old posts pictures, I’ll re-share them from somewhere else.

Migration to the new service is pretty simple.  Create an account then upload the photos. Hopefully you have them stored locally, otherwise you will first need to download them all from Picasa.

Next up: Google Video (YouTube)

Breaking from Google Series, Docs (now Drive)

Posted by Ripdubski on 2013.01.16
Posted in: Google. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

Google Docs (now Drive)

Breaking from Google Docs (Drive) wasn’t tricky, but it wasn’t an easy decision either.  Docs is a terrific idea, all your documents available to you from any internet connected computer or web enabled device.  It’s one of those things that just make sense.

There are many online office suites now.  I looked at a lot of them and noted their ease of use, document compatibility, amount of storage and most of all how fast they performed.  Rather than list the pro’s and con’s of several suites here, I’ll cut right to the chase because one stands out far from the rest.

While I’m not a Microsoft advocate in general, I was simply blown away by their latest SkyDrive offering.  It firmly gets my seal of approval and recommendation.  The online versions of Word and Excel are superb, and SkyDrives interface is easy to use.  I moved everything to Microsoft SkyDrive without hesitation.

I tried SkyDrive when it was in beta (called Office 365 or something like that) but was not impressed with its performance, or ease of use, but it did offer 25 GB of free storage at the time.  In the time between beta and production, Microsoft quietly created the best online office suite – period!   The storage has since shrunk to 7 GB, presumably because that was Google’s storage size (Google is now 10 GB).  But as with Google, you can always buy more.  Microsoft SkyDrive is hands down better than Google Docs (now Drive).

If you are itching to move from Google, a web search for “online office suite” will return several results for similar services.  Do yourself a favor and look at SkyDrive before any others.  And no, I’ve not received anything from Microsoft for endorsing this product.  It’s simply that outstanding.

Migrating was not difficult. I found it easiest to do one folder at a time.

In SkyDrive, create your folder structure to match that of Google Docs (now Drive).

  1. In Google Docs (now Drive), open the folder you want to export.
  2. Click the check box in the title bar to select all the items in the folder. GoogleDocsAllItems
  3. Click the More button and select “Download…”
  4. Verify the formats to be exported for each document and click the Download button.  Google will zip them and then the zip will be downloaded to your desktop (or default save location).
  5. On your desktop (I suggest a temporary folder somewhere), extract the zip file.
  6. In SkyDrive, navigate to the corresponding folder.
  7. Click the Upload button at the top of the window. SkyDriveUpload
  8. In the dialog, open the folder where you extracted the zip file, select each file and click the Choose button.  The files will be uploaded.
  9. Repeat these steps for your remaining folders.

When you open the documents in SkyDrive for the first time, Microsoft may convert them to true Office compatible documents.

Enjoy!

Next up: Google Picasa (photos)