.~Javier Plumey~.|Fatih, Technology, Politics, Whatever.

So we’re all slammed by waves of information that hit us every day. We have to remember passwords, profile names, interesting bits of information for work or our personal lives, movies we want to watch, books, etc. Plus those of us with the disposition to learning about the world around us have to manage all of the information so that we don’t forget it or so we can use it later.

I’m no different. I have to keep track of information for work I do on clients, for the podcast I host, for my personal life, and for all of the projects in which I am involved. So what keeps me from tearing my hair out in frustration as I try to manage all of this information? Well, today I will recommend three little tools you can use to keep your digital “mind” sane.

1. Evernote.

Evernote is awesome. It’s a free, cross-platform application that lets you store and create notes. What makes Evernote different from all of the other note taking apps out there is that there are so many ways of getting stuff into the app and that your stuff can be accessed just about anywhere. From PC’s to Macs, to the web, and to mobile devices, if there’s something you need to remember, just put it into Evernote and tag it (or not) and you can retrieve it later.

You can send it pictures from your phone or computer and it will scan the picture for text that you can use to search on later. For example, want to catalog something you wrote on a napkin at a restaurant? Simply take a picture, upload it or email it to your Evernote email address, and then in minutes (or even seconds) you can go online or launch your preferred client and you can search for any text in the image and find the image. You can clip articles from websites, you can email or SMS yourself notes, all of which are accessible from your Evernote account.

I find it really useful to create tags for topics I am researching and then clipping portions of websites or files I have downloaded into Evernote. Then I can review the topics from my phone when out and about. Because it’s so easy to get content into Evernote, I never forget an idea.

It’s all free, and you can upgrade and receive more space if you need it. This has become my indispensable tool. Go to www.evernote.com to check it out.

2. Tiddlywiki.

Tiddlywiki is a reusable non-linear personal web notebook. Think of it as a Wiki that stores everything into one, convenient, cross-browser compatible html file. According to their site:

TiddlyWiki is a single html file containing all the characteristics of a wiki
- all the content, all the functionality (including editing, saving,
tagging and searching) and the style sheet. Because it’s a single file,
it’s very portable - you can email it, put it on a web server or share
it via a USB stick.

I use Tiddlywiki in conjunction with Evernote. I use Evernote to act as my “brain” and tiddlywiki as a way to document what I’m working on. For example, I have a Tiddlywiki file that I use to track everything happening with my contract with the Social Security Administration. I store this on my work laptop, and I sync it with my USB drive. I keep track of open support issues, meeting notes, etc. It has saved me hours and hours of research because I keep everything in the one file. I can search across all the “tiddlers” (like notes) and find anything instantly.

Tiddlywikis support themes and expansion of functionality through plugins. There’s no installation, just a single file with some fancy Javascript and DHTML that stores everything locally. I’ve been a happy Tiddler for over a year.

Go to www.tiddlywiki.com for more info. This is free as well and a very useful little tool.

3. eWallet

eWallet is an excellent and secure digital wallet. With it you can store information securely using 256-bit encryption. What do I use it for? To store passwords to websites, account numbers, credit cards, and personal information I might need at any notice. I currently have the version for Windows Mobile and for Windows, but they also have a version of U3 Flash drives and soon they will be releasing their Web version (I’ve signed up for the beta but the list is long).

Right now you can sync between your device and Windows but eventually there will be a way to sync from your phone to the Web version so you can always get to your information. I can’t tell you how many times this has saved me.

eWallet is not free but a great value at $30. Go to www.iliumsoft.com for more info.