Recently Evernote came out with a great feature called the “Trunk”. This feature is basically an app store for Evernote. Well if you have an iPad, mobile phone, netbook or any other kind of mobile device you probably can’t get access to the Trunk, or if you can it is limited due to the size of your device.

As of this morning I found a way to get around that issue. If you go to http://www.evernote.com/about/trunk/

You get full access to the Trunk and all of it’s features on any web enabled device.

This year I have been trying to make a point to participate in making the web a better place. I know there are a lot of tools and websites out there, and many of us use these on a daily basis, but how often do we notice a bug, or an issue and just move on?

I myself still do this quite often, but I am catching myself doing it and trying to make it a point to correct it.

There are many tools out there that you can use to help notify a website of a particular issue, such as: Google side wiki, forums on their website, contacting the web site owner via email, twitter, facebook, Google Buzz or even calling them on the phone.

If you are a web site owner you should check out my blog postCommunication: A Must For Any Website it will provide you with more in depth reasoning on which tool would work best for you and your web site.

For the websites I work on I make notes of issues or bugs in Evernote. Evernote now makes it possible to easily find all notes that I have made on a particular website using their Evernote Google Chrome extension. Now when I go back to that website I can see all notes that I have made and correct the issues when I have time.

Do you try to help make the web a better place? If so, how?

Since I started to do freelance full time I have noticed that I can easily get distracted by simple things, like checking social media sites, reading emails, writing emails, switching projects and before it became a habit I wanted to stop it, and make sure that I am focused.

I started to use the timer on my iPhone and set it for 15 to 30 minutes, during this time I would not do anything except for the one subject that I wanted to focus on. After a few days I have noticed that I am able to get twice as much work done in a single day, than I did with out it.

It surprised me how much time I get side tracked or multi-tasked even by other work and how this limits the amount of work that I can complete in a single day.

Using my iPhone was great at first but I wanted an even easier way to do this without bringing out my phone 16 times a day. So I did a bit of Google-ing and came across a free Windows app called “Cool Timer“.

If you work on or near a computer through out the day I would suggest giving this a try and see if it can improve your work day.

Last week I sat down and started to look over websites dedicated to Evernote and realized that my article “100 different Evernote Uses” is still very popular compared to others. That got me thinking, why don’t I try to write more dedicated posts related to Evernote. Well, that got me to think even more and I realized that there are no Evernote books here in the US, and there is no one stop shop for Evernote that goes into great detail, including the Evernote website.

So after doing a bit of research, planning and talking with friends and family I have came to the conclusion that I will be writing a book on Evernote.

This book will start out as a web site that will get updated regularly and then published quarterly into an eBook. If the website and eBook become popular, I will look into publishing a printed version.

What will the Evernote book be about?:

I am sure you are wondering what this book will be about and why I chose Evernote. This book will cover everything, from what Evernote is, what features it has and what are some in-depth uses for it. I chose Evernote because it is, hands down, the one tool that I need with me where ever I go. I personally do not have the best memory and I don’t deny that this is a problem. However, ever since I got Evernote my memory has not only gotten better without Evernote (since I write it down, it actually stays in my memory longer), but I am able to do things in meetings and conversations that would not be possible with out it. For example, I have been in multiple meetings, both business and personal where I am able to grab hundreds of website designs within seconds, find a dog friendly park that is near by our current location, be able to order food to go, without knowing what I want, when I don’t have internet access or paper menu and I am not home.

The list of things that Evernote can do can go on forever. I am taking my knowledge of Evernote and how it helps my life and opening it up to the world to share why Evernote is a great tool and how it can improve your life.

If you want to find out more about the book or contribute in any way, feel free to contact me by posting comments here, sending me a message on Google Buzz, Twitter or visiting my company website.

A few weeks ago I built a media center PC using Ubuntu 10.04, an old PC and some free open source software. I was able to turn the old pc into a powerful media center without spending a cent. Now that I have used the media center for a while I started to look for new ways to make it useful while trying to spend the least amount of money possible.

One of the first things that I wanted was a remote control. I wanted a remote that would allow me to control Boxee and maybe even the operating system if possible. I did a little research and came across HippoRemote an app that turns your iPhone or iPod touch into a wireless remote using wifi. They have two versions available, a Pro version for $4.99 and an ad supported version for free.

HippoRemote comes with many remote profiles for popular software, like Boxee, Ubuntu, Windows 7, Mac OS X,  Google Chrome, and Windows Media Player classic.  This was great because it allowed me to control Boxee and Ubuntu straight out of the box.

For my media center I use Boxee for my day to day viewing of movies, tv shows and video podcasts. Every once in a while I want to watch a video while coding or surfing the web, and for this I used Ubuntu’s built in movie player called Totem Movie Player.

I looked through all of the profiles that HippoRemote offered and they didn’t have anything for Totem Movie Player. At first I was a little bummed, but then I saw a feature on HippoRemote that made me smile. It was the words “Upload a Profile”. So I went to HippoRemote’s website and found the basic tutorial to create my own profile.

2 hours later after some reading, planning, designing and coding I have created my first HippoRemote Profile. My first profile is for the Totem Movie Player. This profile isn’t 100% finished but I will be continuing to refine the layout and design as time goes on. Even though it is not perfect I wanted others to be able to use it to control their copy of Totem Movie Player.

Download the source code - Totem Media Player – v1.0

Download the profile to your phone –  Totem Media Player – v1.0

Note: You can download this profile to your phone easily by viewing this page on your iPhone and clicking on the link.

Open Sourced – I have shared my source code and design files so that you can take a look and see what I have done and maybe be inspired to create your own profile. If you have any questions please feel free to comment or send me a message on Buzz or Twitter.

Give it a try and let me know what you think.

The Problem – My blog posts and Buzz comments lived on two different worlds:

I found it messy that I would get great comments in Google Buzz that users wouldn’t get while reading on my blog.

Example:

The Solution (Part 1):

At the bottom of each blog post you will now see a new link and icon that says “Buzz Post”. This links to the static Buzz post that gets created as soon as I publish the article on my blog.

Let me know what you think, and be on the look out for the Solution – Part 2 coming soon.

The new features that I am trying to focused on are:

1. Make posts easier to navigate, read and comment
2. Easier ways to share posts with friends and family
3. Ways to link posts to Google Buzz and vice versa
4. Better viewing capability on mobile phones

Areas that I am looking for help:

1. What are things that you like on blogs/websites that make them easier to use, read and post comments.
2. Where do you read posts from blogs? Buzz, Google Reader, Outlook etc?
3. What things do you find important on a blog or website that makes you coming back for more?

Let me know what you think.

Why is this important you ask?
If you own a website, aren’t you busy writing articles, improving the tools on your site or even thinking of a new design or layout? Sure you are, I know I am. Doing these things are great for your website as they help your company grow in the direction that you want your company to grow, but what about how your users want or need your company to grow for them? How can you connect to your users? How can your users connect with you? How can your users help you out when you make a mistake, there will always be a mistake, no one is perfect.

Some people may say that this is what Facebook, Twitter or Buzz is used for, and to some extent they are right, but do you read every comment, every post on those services? Probably not.

How to let your users communicate with you:
There are many ways that you can get real and honest feedback from your users about your website. Below you will find a few useful tools/methods that I would recommend:

1. Twitter with Hash tags – On your “Contact Us” section of your website add a statement or two to recommend your user to send you a twitter post using some basic has tags.
   • #Bug – Used when your users needs to share a bug on your website
   • #Suggestion – Used when your users wants suggest a new feature, an article or anything else
   • #Help – If your user needs help about something related to your website
   • #Spam – If you allow comments on your website, this will let users help if they spot a spam comment on your website
   • #Critique – If you have a user who wants to vent about your site or just let you know how they feel about a certain feature or article this is the easiest way for them to do so, 140 characters at a time
2. Create a forum on your site which can be found easily such as forum.yourwebsite.com or yourwebsite.com/forum
   • Create 6 categories:
     1. Suggestions
     2. Help
     3. Critique
     4. Bug Report
     5. Spam
     6. Other
3. Encourage your users to use Google Side Wiki
   • Add a link for users to download Google Sidewiki
   • Have a section showing all Google Sidewiki Posts (The good and the bad)
4. Create a comboniation of support methods like TweetDeck – http://support.tweetdeck.com/home

The Goal:
Your users are a great source of inspiration, guidence and they help keep both you and your company honest. Reach out to them and give them the services they want and they will reach out and bring more users to your site.

Global Hotkeys and Misc shortcuts

• Home = Takes me to the beginning of the line in a new post or comment
• End = Takes me to the end of the line in a new post or comment
• Up Arrow = Scrolls up through the page
• Down Arrow = Scrolls down through the page
• F5 – Refresh the page
• Ctrl + F5 = Hard Refresh
• Click the “Buzz” Link to clear all un-read items
• Midle Mouse Button (MMB) = Opens a link into a new tab
• Ctrl + Left Mouse Button (LMB) = Opens a link into a new tab

Built In Gmail Hotkeys using Gmail Labs Feature

• / = Takes me to the top of the page
• / = Takes me to the search box so that I can quickly do a search
• M = Mutes a Post
• Shift + L = Likes a post
• J = Goes to the previous Post
• K = Goes to the next post
• R = Replys to a post
• ? = Lists all of the hotkeys for Gmail and Buzz
• F = Allows me to send a post to my Evernote so that I can either read it later, save it because I find it important

HotKeys using Shortcut Manager

• Ctrl + Alt + b = create a new tab in my browser which takes me directly to Buzz

Image Map for all Hot Keys on the Keyboard

Gestures using Chrome Gestures

• Up = Goes to the top of the page
• Down = Create a new tab
• Left = Last page (back browser button)
• Right = Next page (next browser button)

Quick Links using Gmail Labs Feature

1. author:Andrew Maxwell
2. is:buzz
3. @Andrew Maxwell
4. commentor:Andrew Maxwell
5. “Andrew Maxwell”

Filtering my Buzz posts – This idea was from Marc Thomas)

• Step 1: Look for the subject “Buzz:” (include the quotes)
• Step 2. Have it skip the inbox (this helps if you have a phone that uses push notifcation)
• Step 3. Apple a new label “Buzzz” (This must have 3 Z’s because you can not use “Buzz”)
• Step 4. Make sure you check the box to “Never send it to spam” (This eliminates any chances of missing a post)

My Filter Settings

Buzz in your Inbox

1. Once I like a Buzz post that I was on it will get sent to my gmail Label “Buzzz” and if I want to come back to it again I will Star the item
2. This lets me see if someone has commented after me in a post, sometimes they will mention my name with out @ replying properly
3. This lets me see comments that people have created on my posts, even old posts that I haven’t seen for days or weeks

Organizing my Buzz Contacts

1. Create a group called “Buzz” in your contacts
2. Every time you follow a new person, go into your contacts, find their name
3. Add the users email address
4. Click save
5. Add them to the group “Buzz”

How to @reply someone properly who is not in your contacts (Choice 1)

1. Right click on a users name in a post or comment
2. Copy Link address
3. Type the ‘@’ symbol in a new post or comment
4. Right click right after the @ symbol and paste in the copied URL
5. Remove “http://www.google.com/profiles/” from the beginning of the pasted content
6. Remove “#buzz” from the ending of the pasted comment
7. Add “@gmail.com” right after the users, username
8. Your done!

How to @reply someone properly who is not in your contacts (Choice 2)

1. Midle Mouse Button (MMB) or Ctrl + Left Mouse Button (LMB) on a users name to open a link to their profile into a new tab
2. Copy username from URL string
3. Type the ‘@’ symbol in a new post or comment
4. Paste user name right after the @ symbol
5. Add “@gmail.com” right after the users, username
6. Your done!

Sending a private message the easy way

1. Create a new group in your contacts called “Private Buzz”
2. Now add yourself only to that group

Now when you want to create a private post to someone you just include the “Private Buzz” group and then @ reply to them like you normally would. (This idea was from Michelle Marie)

Links in Evernote of people that I interact with the most

• http://www.google.com/profiles/had3nx#buzz
• http://www.google.com/profiles/Joshua.A.Braun#buzz
• http://www.google.com/profiles/punitsoni#buzz
• http://www.google.com/profiles/ryanitlab#buzz
• http://www.google.com/profiles/abbeyroadgirl#buzz
• http://www.google.com/profiles/finejewels#buzz
• http://www.google.com/profiles/ccuellar#buzz
• http://www.google.com/profiles/svartling#buzz
• http://www.google.com/profiles/nickwaye#buzz
• http://www.google.com/profiles/josh.wills#buzz
• http://www.google.com/profiles/tstrause#buzz
• http://www.google.com/profiles/Jazzyflute#buzz
• http://www.google.com/profiles/denislabel#buzz
• http://www.google.com/profiles/lazarus.anderson#buzz
• http://www.google.com/profiles/loftchris#buzz
• http://www.google.com/profiles/lslawrey#buzz

Sharing from Google Reader

1. Click on your “Sharing Settings” located in the “People you follow” section on the left
2. If you setup your contacts using the “Buzz” group as previously mentioned then this will be easy. Click the check box labeled “Buzz”
3. When you read an article that you like, click the share button at the bottom left of the article
4. If you want to add a comment to this article, then add it right after clicking the “Share” button. A new link will pop up called “Add Comment”. Click the link and it will create a comment on this share into Buzz.

Using Buzz to have people comment on my blog articles

1. Go to your Buzz settings located in your Gmail settings. (A screen shot of mine is below)
2. Go down to the “Your connect sites:” section
3. Click on “View and Edit”
4. If your profile has properly recognized your blog, then it will show it as an option to be added
5. Click on the link at the button that says “Add”
6. Done! Now when you post a new article to your blog, it will automatically post into Buzz

Here are Buzz related articles that I have written about since the launch of Buzz:

• http://www.andrewcmaxwell.com/2010/04/problems-with-google-buzz/
• http://www.andrewcmaxwell.com/2010/05/problems-with-google-buzz-mobile/
• http://www.andrewcmaxwell.com/2010/03/google-buzz-tips-tricks-and-how-tos/
• http://www.andrewcmaxwell.com/2010/04/how-to-save-google-buzz-posts-to-read-later/
• http://www.andrewcmaxwell.com/2010/03/the-proper-way-to-repost-on-google-buzz/
• http://www.andrewcmaxwell.com/2010/04/google-buzz-started-sloppy-but-working-hard-to-change/

If you use Google Buzz right now you will notice that there is no Star feature like there is in Gmail or a way to save a post to read later. Well I found a simple solution using Evernote.

Steps in Evernote:
Step 1. – Make sure you have your custom Evernote email address address turned on and saved in your Gmail Contacts. It will look something like this username.efkgw1@m.evernote.com
Step 2. – Create a new notebook in Evernote called “Buzz”.

Steps in Google Buzz:
Step 1. – Find a Buzz post that you like, or one that you would like to read later.
Step 2. – Click on the “Email” link under the post to open the Email editor.
Step 3. – Enter your custom Evernote email address into the “To” field.
Step 4. – In the subject line include “@Buzz” after the subject of the post don’t include the quotes
Step 5. – Make any notes that you want regarding the post (if any)
Step 6. - Click the “Send” button

Finished. – Your done. Now you’re able to come back and look at the Google Buzz post when it is convenient for you.