The Electronic Post-It: BugMe Notepad
If there is one thing that I can say that having a PDA has enabled me to do, it has been to remove the layer of Post-It Notes that used to surround my keyboard, monitor, desk, and highly visible doorway areas. For me, I needed those notes if I was going to get anything done. And in my age before PDAs (BPDA), where I did not have the illumination of alarms for important things and notes for the others, Post-It Notes were my best friend.
Now, that was a few years ago and I have since moved onto a multitude of PDAs, but one thing has remained the same. I still need to occasionally write down something quickly and easily. And while many of the Palm PDAs that I have owned have had the Notepad app, my Treo 650 has not had one and I have slowly gotten back into using small snippets of paper in order to keep note of small notes. This had to change as I saw the "layer" returning and so I set forth to see if the popular BugMe Notepad could redeem me back into a paperless bliss.
BugMe is a really simple program packed with a great deal of features. Upon opening it for the first time BugMe gives you a blank screen where you can just begin to write whatever you feel you need to notarize. You can erase, adjust colors, and even save it as a favorite so that you can reuse that later to build upon for another note. In this respect, BugMe gets praise from me, you really don't need the manual to get this far.
An additional feature of BugMe that is very vital to the way I work is the ability to write a note and then put an alarm. A good place to use this is when you have parked in a metered parking space but you know your Treo will be in eyesight while you are out. Write on the note that you have to put change in the meter, and then set the alarm to go off in time period before you get a ticket. Needless to say, the time I didn't do this it cost me $15, hence BugMe can save you some funds.
A final aspect of BugMe that I have not used very much of yet (but will as I get the hang of it for specific applications) is the ability to take a screenshot and save it then write on the screen. I know that many times we wish we could handwrite on the calendar screen something we want to add in for some upcoming appointment, but the default apps don't allow that (lest you still use a Sony Clie with Sony Organizer). You can take the screenshot and then write on it and tag it with an alarm so that you don't miss that added detail for an item. Tis a feature that I can see being really useful on a project site with real estate and construction workers, maybe even web developers could use this too (but only so much given the size of a Treo's or any PDA's screen).
So what is happening to my notes? Well, I am still dealing with moving the paper out of the way. Even with an assigned button, I am still finding it not so intuitive to get into BugMe when the PDA is off. Unfortunately for me as well, I use another program with a today-screen (similar to Windows Mobile/PocketPC user experience) and BugMe does not have a plugin that gives recent notes or just an easy way from that screen to BugMe. So to that end, its still a chore, but something that I am making a committment to readjust to, rather than let that layer of paper overrun me again.
BugMe Notepad can be downloaded for trial or purchase from the Electric Pocket website.
Now, that was a few years ago and I have since moved onto a multitude of PDAs, but one thing has remained the same. I still need to occasionally write down something quickly and easily. And while many of the Palm PDAs that I have owned have had the Notepad app, my Treo 650 has not had one and I have slowly gotten back into using small snippets of paper in order to keep note of small notes. This had to change as I saw the "layer" returning and so I set forth to see if the popular BugMe Notepad could redeem me back into a paperless bliss.
BugMe is a really simple program packed with a great deal of features. Upon opening it for the first time BugMe gives you a blank screen where you can just begin to write whatever you feel you need to notarize. You can erase, adjust colors, and even save it as a favorite so that you can reuse that later to build upon for another note. In this respect, BugMe gets praise from me, you really don't need the manual to get this far.
An additional feature of BugMe that is very vital to the way I work is the ability to write a note and then put an alarm. A good place to use this is when you have parked in a metered parking space but you know your Treo will be in eyesight while you are out. Write on the note that you have to put change in the meter, and then set the alarm to go off in time period before you get a ticket. Needless to say, the time I didn't do this it cost me $15, hence BugMe can save you some funds.
A final aspect of BugMe that I have not used very much of yet (but will as I get the hang of it for specific applications) is the ability to take a screenshot and save it then write on the screen. I know that many times we wish we could handwrite on the calendar screen something we want to add in for some upcoming appointment, but the default apps don't allow that (lest you still use a Sony Clie with Sony Organizer). You can take the screenshot and then write on it and tag it with an alarm so that you don't miss that added detail for an item. Tis a feature that I can see being really useful on a project site with real estate and construction workers, maybe even web developers could use this too (but only so much given the size of a Treo's or any PDA's screen).
So what is happening to my notes? Well, I am still dealing with moving the paper out of the way. Even with an assigned button, I am still finding it not so intuitive to get into BugMe when the PDA is off. Unfortunately for me as well, I use another program with a today-screen (similar to Windows Mobile/PocketPC user experience) and BugMe does not have a plugin that gives recent notes or just an easy way from that screen to BugMe. So to that end, its still a chore, but something that I am making a committment to readjust to, rather than let that layer of paper overrun me again.
BugMe Notepad can be downloaded for trial or purchase from the Electric Pocket website.
posted by Antoine @ 7/10/2006 03:20:00 PM
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