A review on Bamboo Paper
Now that I’ve been using this wonderful app for iPad for more than a month and considering myself to be totally hooked on it, I guess I’m ready to Express my opinión on Bamboo Paper!
As a “beginner”, first I tried to get the best of Bamboo Paper at home, when taking some notes on some important ideas I wanted to keep in mind (befote getting to know the app, I used to miss lots of papers all over home, stuffed into book pages, left “unattended” on shelves, etc., papers that most of the time get lost or into the dustbin.
After the nice experience of making my ideas noted, I just decided to take it to my job, where I used it to make notes on a simple and easy meeting we were maintaning (I didn´t want to spoil an importante meeting by paying too much attention to Bamboo Paper). The experience again was great and nice, being able to make notes as the conversation was going on and getting to the important points commented. As a result, I could review anything later in the day.
And that leads us to the point where I am now, weeks after my first trial, enjoying so much the app that is it one of my favourite productivity apps.
Now, I take my iPad to every meeting I attend, and as soon as it finishes, I forward my notes to my EverNotes account, where I can read or revise everything relevant from the meeting, that way keep my agenda on course, being aware of important ideas to be implemented or simply letting me pay attention to the things that matter.
If my relationship with Bamboo Pape ris confirmed, I think I’m taking it with me all the time (cinema, restaurants, whatever and wherever I may be hahahahaha!) since my brain uses to keep boiling up with ideas all the time, and I don’t want to miss a thing… it’s been many years of (good?) ideas los tinto books, shelves, desks and drawers…
So, here it is my most sincere opinion to using Bamboo Paper as a productivity app.
Saturday, 24 March 2012
Monday, 19 March 2012
More apps I love to use in my iPad
Since I am kind of a nervous type and tend to store & stuff as much info as I can into my brain (thing that makes me forget about the important… and not so important things frequently), I trust on apps like the one I comment in this post.
I spend part of my day (a nice part of it!) reading (be it books, novels, reports, emails, …) and hearing / listening to relevant ideas and opinions. I’m a bit of a Bob Sponge regarding my interest in learning hahahaha!
For that reason, I’m lately unloading and unpacking all the interesting issues I may read or get to know during the day in my EverNotes “repository”.
As soon as I detect or identify an interesting issue going on in my Twitter account, I forward it to my EverNotes app so I can take a deeper look at it later on in the day or even keep it as a future idea for any project I may be involved in.
The use of EverNotes with Twitter is as easy as one may think. To store a Tweet that caught your attention you just have to:
- First, follow the EverNotes account in Twitter
- And that’s all, you are ready to send your important reads to your EverNotes “cahier/notepad” by sending a Tweet to @myen with the original Tweet
For example, if I received a Tweet that says:
@asalbares Wow, do read this article Antonio t.co/npy.com
And I want to read it later on, I just have to Retweet it by RT @myen and that’s it!
That way, you have immediately available for you to read, the article, comment, photo or whatever you may interested in.
The other option I often use involves my email. This second choice is my favourite when having an idea that I think is worth publishing in my Blog. I first write an email, and then send it to my EverNotes email account with the following cast in the address: MyEverNotesAccount name plus name of the folder where I want the entry to be stored (preceded by @) plus any tag preceded with a #. And that’s it. From there I can access my post via iPad and publish it comfortably from my sofa.
For example, to prepare this post I wrote it in my gmail account and then send it to
MyEverNotesAccount @Blog #EverNotes #iPad
The same applies for FaceBook, though I’m not an eager fan of this app, after I discovered the amazing possibilities that Twitter gives me, apart from reminding me of a birthday or showing-off how an incredible bunch of friends I have.
I spend part of my day (a nice part of it!) reading (be it books, novels, reports, emails, …) and hearing / listening to relevant ideas and opinions. I’m a bit of a Bob Sponge regarding my interest in learning hahahaha!
For that reason, I’m lately unloading and unpacking all the interesting issues I may read or get to know during the day in my EverNotes “repository”.
As soon as I detect or identify an interesting issue going on in my Twitter account, I forward it to my EverNotes app so I can take a deeper look at it later on in the day or even keep it as a future idea for any project I may be involved in.
The use of EverNotes with Twitter is as easy as one may think. To store a Tweet that caught your attention you just have to:
- First, follow the EverNotes account in Twitter
- And that’s all, you are ready to send your important reads to your EverNotes “cahier/notepad” by sending a Tweet to @myen with the original Tweet
For example, if I received a Tweet that says:
@asalbares Wow, do read this article Antonio t.co/npy.com
And I want to read it later on, I just have to Retweet it by RT @myen and that’s it!
That way, you have immediately available for you to read, the article, comment, photo or whatever you may interested in.
The other option I often use involves my email. This second choice is my favourite when having an idea that I think is worth publishing in my Blog. I first write an email, and then send it to my EverNotes email account with the following cast in the address: MyEverNotesAccount name plus name of the folder where I want the entry to be stored (preceded by @) plus any tag preceded with a #. And that’s it. From there I can access my post via iPad and publish it comfortably from my sofa.
For example, to prepare this post I wrote it in my gmail account and then send it to
MyEverNotesAccount @Blog #EverNotes #iPad
The same applies for FaceBook, though I’m not an eager fan of this app, after I discovered the amazing possibilities that Twitter gives me, apart from reminding me of a birthday or showing-off how an incredible bunch of friends I have.
Sunday, 18 March 2012
A bit more on cloud computing
I’m getting deeper into the study of deploying a cloud-computing solution in my organisation, and to do, I’ve learned some important aspects about financial issues.
It seems clear that going “cloud” means that your CAPEX (Capital Expenditure, that is, a one-off investment made for example to buy servers) will be reduced drastically, or even, why not, minimize to zero. Since infrastructure (IaaS or Infrastructure as a Service) is provided externally to my company, I don´t have the need to buy it.
But… what’s not so clear is the way that OPEX (Operational Expenditure, that is, monthly cost of operating your business) takes in the financial ladder… though it seems to depend mainly on the use of resources my applications do when running and the length in time of that use. Said that, it means that before going “cloud”, you must at least consider taking these steps:
- Study thoroughly your apps requirements and resources consumption
- Analyse usage of resources on a monthly / yearly basis (depending on the type of operations your company does)
- Get as many metrics as you can of the behaviour of your apps
- Analyse your NPV (Net Present Value) to study your present cash-flow versus the one you’ll have if gone “cloud”
- And most important of all, never go “cloud” in a big-bang approach, just choose which apps are ready to be deployed in the new model
Why do I insist in metrics and consumption? Well, since my financial model will turn completely from a CAPEX model to an OPEX one, I do need to adjust / trim my app performances until I can get the best value of going “cloud”. What do I mean? I mean, if I have apps in my organisation which consume lots and lots of resources but their executions are just planned once a month (as it’s the case in the banking sector), that has to be considered when planning their migration to the cloud, since I must include in the agreement with the provider of my IaaS service that I’ll need resources but just for a day in a monthly basis, and that will mean fewer costs in my OPEX side of the balance sheet.
As a real example out of IT, let’s consider we need a car and we are comparing if we should rent it or just buy it. The quickest answer is, well, it depends on the use you’ll make of it. If you need a car just a few days a month, it will no doubt be cheaper to rent it (cheaper CAPEX, if any, and expensive OPEX) but if you use it in a daily basis, you’d better buy one (expensive CAPEX but cheaper OPEX).
So, cloud-computing mainly involves taking the path from a CAPEX model, the one we are involved and used to now, to an OPEX model.
It seems clear that going “cloud” means that your CAPEX (Capital Expenditure, that is, a one-off investment made for example to buy servers) will be reduced drastically, or even, why not, minimize to zero. Since infrastructure (IaaS or Infrastructure as a Service) is provided externally to my company, I don´t have the need to buy it.
But… what’s not so clear is the way that OPEX (Operational Expenditure, that is, monthly cost of operating your business) takes in the financial ladder… though it seems to depend mainly on the use of resources my applications do when running and the length in time of that use. Said that, it means that before going “cloud”, you must at least consider taking these steps:
- Study thoroughly your apps requirements and resources consumption
- Analyse usage of resources on a monthly / yearly basis (depending on the type of operations your company does)
- Get as many metrics as you can of the behaviour of your apps
- Analyse your NPV (Net Present Value) to study your present cash-flow versus the one you’ll have if gone “cloud”
- And most important of all, never go “cloud” in a big-bang approach, just choose which apps are ready to be deployed in the new model
Why do I insist in metrics and consumption? Well, since my financial model will turn completely from a CAPEX model to an OPEX one, I do need to adjust / trim my app performances until I can get the best value of going “cloud”. What do I mean? I mean, if I have apps in my organisation which consume lots and lots of resources but their executions are just planned once a month (as it’s the case in the banking sector), that has to be considered when planning their migration to the cloud, since I must include in the agreement with the provider of my IaaS service that I’ll need resources but just for a day in a monthly basis, and that will mean fewer costs in my OPEX side of the balance sheet.
As a real example out of IT, let’s consider we need a car and we are comparing if we should rent it or just buy it. The quickest answer is, well, it depends on the use you’ll make of it. If you need a car just a few days a month, it will no doubt be cheaper to rent it (cheaper CAPEX, if any, and expensive OPEX) but if you use it in a daily basis, you’d better buy one (expensive CAPEX but cheaper OPEX).
So, cloud-computing mainly involves taking the path from a CAPEX model, the one we are involved and used to now, to an OPEX model.
Sunday, 11 March 2012
Costs in a Cloud-Computing IT
I’m getting deeper into the study of deploying a cloud-computing solution in my organisation, and to do, I’ve learned some important aspects about financial issues.
It seems clear that going “cloud” means that your CAPEX (Capital Expenditure, that is, a one-off investment made for example to buy servers) will be reduced drastically, or even, why not, minimize to zero. Since infrastructure (IaaS or Infrastructure as a Service) is provided externally to my company, I don´t have the need to buy it.
But… what’s not so clear is the way that OPEX (Operational Expenditure, that is, monthly cost of operating your business) takes in the financial ladder… though it seems to depend mainly on the use of resources my applications do when running and the length in time of that use. Said that, it means that before going “cloud”, you must at least consider taking these steps:
- Study thoroughly your apps requirements and resources consumption
- Analyse usage of resources on a monthly / yearly basis (depending on the type of operations your company does)
- Get as many metrics as you can of the behaviour of your apps
- Analyse your NPV (Net Present Value) to study your present cash-flow versus the one you’ll have if gone “cloud”
- And most important of all, never go “cloud” in a big-bang approach, just choose which apps are ready to be deployed in the new model
Why do I insist in metrics and consumption? Well, since my financial model will turn completely from a CAPEX model to an OPEX one, I do need to adjust / trim my app performances until I can get the best value of going “cloud”. What do I mean? I mean, if I have apps in my organisation which consume lots and lots of resources but their executions are just planned once a month (as it’s the case in the banking sector), that has to be considered when planning their migration to the cloud, since I must include in the agreement with the provider of my IaaS service that I’ll need resources but just for a day in a monthly basis, and that will mean fewer costs in my OPEX side of the balance sheet.
As a real example out of IT, let’s consider we need a car and we are comparing if we should rent it or just buy it. The quickest answer is, well, it depends on the use you’ll make of it. If you need a car just a few days a month, it will no doubt be cheaper to rent it (cheaper CAPEX, if any, and expensive OPEX) but if you use it in a daily basis, you’d better buy one (expensive CAPEX but cheaper OPEX).
So, cloud-computing mainly involves taking the path from a CAPEX model, the one we are involved and used to now, to an OPEX model.
It seems clear that going “cloud” means that your CAPEX (Capital Expenditure, that is, a one-off investment made for example to buy servers) will be reduced drastically, or even, why not, minimize to zero. Since infrastructure (IaaS or Infrastructure as a Service) is provided externally to my company, I don´t have the need to buy it.
But… what’s not so clear is the way that OPEX (Operational Expenditure, that is, monthly cost of operating your business) takes in the financial ladder… though it seems to depend mainly on the use of resources my applications do when running and the length in time of that use. Said that, it means that before going “cloud”, you must at least consider taking these steps:
- Study thoroughly your apps requirements and resources consumption
- Analyse usage of resources on a monthly / yearly basis (depending on the type of operations your company does)
- Get as many metrics as you can of the behaviour of your apps
- Analyse your NPV (Net Present Value) to study your present cash-flow versus the one you’ll have if gone “cloud”
- And most important of all, never go “cloud” in a big-bang approach, just choose which apps are ready to be deployed in the new model
Why do I insist in metrics and consumption? Well, since my financial model will turn completely from a CAPEX model to an OPEX one, I do need to adjust / trim my app performances until I can get the best value of going “cloud”. What do I mean? I mean, if I have apps in my organisation which consume lots and lots of resources but their executions are just planned once a month (as it’s the case in the banking sector), that has to be considered when planning their migration to the cloud, since I must include in the agreement with the provider of my IaaS service that I’ll need resources but just for a day in a monthly basis, and that will mean fewer costs in my OPEX side of the balance sheet.
As a real example out of IT, let’s consider we need a car and we are comparing if we should rent it or just buy it. The quickest answer is, well, it depends on the use you’ll make of it. If you need a car just a few days a month, it will no doubt be cheaper to rent it (cheaper CAPEX, if any, and expensive OPEX) but if you use it in a daily basis, you’d better buy one (expensive CAPEX but cheaper OPEX).
So, cloud-computing mainly involves taking the path from a CAPEX model, the one we are involved and used to now, to an OPEX model.
Wednesday, 7 March 2012
CAPEX vs OPEX Cash Flow Model in Cloud Computing
The graphs shown below want to establish a clear comparison between Cash Flow patterns when your organisation's IT services are on your own premises or on the cloud.
To differentiate the diverse costs incurred, I used following relation:
- A red line for CAPEX (Capital Expenditure). CAPEX, for those who may not know it, is referred to investments made (a one-off cost) in hardware and software licenses.
- A blue one for OPEX (Operational Expenditure). OPEX, is referred to operations costs, from keep your IT healthy to supporting evolutions in software.
- A green one to show the pattern of value added by the application. I guess this doesn´t need any explanation... if it does, do please contact me at asalbares@gmail.com or Tweet me at @asalbares
With the second graph, I want to reflect the behaviour of different costs when an organisation keeps its IT on the Cloud.
To differentiate the diverse costs incurred, I used following relation:
- A red line for CAPEX (Capital Expenditure). CAPEX, for those who may not know it, is referred to investments made (a one-off cost) in hardware and software licenses.
- A blue one for OPEX (Operational Expenditure). OPEX, is referred to operations costs, from keep your IT healthy to supporting evolutions in software.
- A green one to show the pattern of value added by the application. I guess this doesn´t need any explanation... if it does, do please contact me at asalbares@gmail.com or Tweet me at @asalbares
Sunday, 4 March 2012
What do I have in my iPad?
As a recent user of an iPad, I spend some of my time searching for the greatest free applications that are available on the AppStore. So far, the experience has been wonderful, and I would recommend everybody to try out the iPad, since it allows keeping up to date on everything in the simplest way I know!
If you happen to be one of the thousands of new users that everyday join the iPad "family", I guess you may be asking for help on what to install in your brilliant new device, and that's an answer I want to give you today.
All applications that are currently available in my iPad may be classified as follow:
- Reading: I'm not such a big fan of ebooks but since I got the iPad I've given it a go, and must say it's great. So far, I have installed the Kindle app, where I've downloaded several books in French, since I'm trying my best to learn that language. The way I use Kindle is a kind of "give-that-book-a-try", and if I really love the book, just browse through Amazon.com to order it. I'm still in love with the smell and touch of a real book! Sorry for all of you in love with e-books!
- TV: Since I live in Spain, I've downloaded the RTVE app for iPad, a very nice one allowing me to enjoy live programming as well, as "a la carte", thus giving me the chance to enjoy programs that I would miss otherwise. The app still lacks that HD quality that TV offers, but it is more than enough to enjoy programs on the go
- Game: well, I do not use my iPad that much for gaming, and for that reason I just downloaded the "Angry birds" app, that's lots of fun.
- Productivity: that's the main reason why I got an iPad, and so, that's the option that I use the most. To get the best of the device, I've purchased Dragoon Dictation, an app that allows you to dictate notes, without the embarrasing need to key them in, and with a very high stat at recognising your voice. I dare say that 98% of the text I dictate is perfectly written by the app. It's so easy to take notes of books I've read, thoughts and whatever you may love, and then transferred it via email so you can post it on your blog. I also use the app to test my French and English level, since it allows you to change the languague you use when dictating and checking if your pronuntiation is correct (and I think it is since last week I said "On va prendre un verre de vin rouge") and the iPad got it right... hahahaha... not that it took a glass of red wine to my table, but it wrote it correctly as I dictated.
I also use DropBox to store and share documents, photos and whatever I want to share anywhere from any computer I may have access. It's a wonderful solution, since I can access, edit, write or read document I stored in DropBox from my iPad, office laptop, home desktop, or anywhere with an Internet access.
This week I purchased Evernotes, a wonderful solution that allows me to select Tweets, news or whatever I consider interesting on tne net, so I can access that piece of info later on in the day and give it a read. It's wonderful to forward those tweets you consider important, or just send an email to the Evernotes account and have it sorted by topic, tag, etc.
I have also purchased Bamboo Paper, a great app that allows me to take notes free-hand, thus avoiding the use of paper and pen. It's great, fast and it behaves like a real notepad, with no need to use your keyboard, and with the easiness of allowing you to send the notes to your email as a PDF document. I tried it at the office and since then I haven't had the need of carrying with me papers and pens, since I use to miss and mix up papers, making it nearly impossible for me to find the info that I need.
- Social networking: well, I'm a proud fan of them, and as son, I use Twitter / Hootsuite and Flipboard. Hootsuite is easy to use and there is not much more to say, and Flipboard is great since it allows me to read tweets in a more attractive mode (pictures, etc.) and select / subscribe to sources of info I'm interested in, thus saving my precious time when looking for something relevant on the net.
If you happen to be one of the thousands of new users that everyday join the iPad "family", I guess you may be asking for help on what to install in your brilliant new device, and that's an answer I want to give you today.
All applications that are currently available in my iPad may be classified as follow:
- Reading: I'm not such a big fan of ebooks but since I got the iPad I've given it a go, and must say it's great. So far, I have installed the Kindle app, where I've downloaded several books in French, since I'm trying my best to learn that language. The way I use Kindle is a kind of "give-that-book-a-try", and if I really love the book, just browse through Amazon.com to order it. I'm still in love with the smell and touch of a real book! Sorry for all of you in love with e-books!
- TV: Since I live in Spain, I've downloaded the RTVE app for iPad, a very nice one allowing me to enjoy live programming as well, as "a la carte", thus giving me the chance to enjoy programs that I would miss otherwise. The app still lacks that HD quality that TV offers, but it is more than enough to enjoy programs on the go
- Game: well, I do not use my iPad that much for gaming, and for that reason I just downloaded the "Angry birds" app, that's lots of fun.
- Productivity: that's the main reason why I got an iPad, and so, that's the option that I use the most. To get the best of the device, I've purchased Dragoon Dictation, an app that allows you to dictate notes, without the embarrasing need to key them in, and with a very high stat at recognising your voice. I dare say that 98% of the text I dictate is perfectly written by the app. It's so easy to take notes of books I've read, thoughts and whatever you may love, and then transferred it via email so you can post it on your blog. I also use the app to test my French and English level, since it allows you to change the languague you use when dictating and checking if your pronuntiation is correct (and I think it is since last week I said "On va prendre un verre de vin rouge") and the iPad got it right... hahahaha... not that it took a glass of red wine to my table, but it wrote it correctly as I dictated.
I also use DropBox to store and share documents, photos and whatever I want to share anywhere from any computer I may have access. It's a wonderful solution, since I can access, edit, write or read document I stored in DropBox from my iPad, office laptop, home desktop, or anywhere with an Internet access.
This week I purchased Evernotes, a wonderful solution that allows me to select Tweets, news or whatever I consider interesting on tne net, so I can access that piece of info later on in the day and give it a read. It's wonderful to forward those tweets you consider important, or just send an email to the Evernotes account and have it sorted by topic, tag, etc.
I have also purchased Bamboo Paper, a great app that allows me to take notes free-hand, thus avoiding the use of paper and pen. It's great, fast and it behaves like a real notepad, with no need to use your keyboard, and with the easiness of allowing you to send the notes to your email as a PDF document. I tried it at the office and since then I haven't had the need of carrying with me papers and pens, since I use to miss and mix up papers, making it nearly impossible for me to find the info that I need.
- Social networking: well, I'm a proud fan of them, and as son, I use Twitter / Hootsuite and Flipboard. Hootsuite is easy to use and there is not much more to say, and Flipboard is great since it allows me to read tweets in a more attractive mode (pictures, etc.) and select / subscribe to sources of info I'm interested in, thus saving my precious time when looking for something relevant on the net.
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