Review of Writing Machines

Hayles, N. K. (2002). Writing machines. Cambridge Mass.: MIT Press. Reviewed June 8, 2011

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Power brainstorming with Microsoft Word and Evernote

My research computing setup is quite heterogeneous. I regularly use Microsoft Word, Evernote, Preview, Zotero(on Firefox). When I am brainstorming or collecting research notes to be compiled into a coherent outline/analytical skeleton I jump between Microsoft Word and Evernote; I write the outline in Word and keep notes in Evernote. I made a (simple) discovery today that’s quite a game changer. When outlining in Word there is often need to “link” to my notes (so as to make a logical connection that I might later want to expand on). It’s easy to do! 

1. Locate the desired Evernote file on your drive (search for the note title on Spotlight in OS X is the easiest way).
2. In Microsoft Word insert a hyperlink at the appropriate location (Insert->Hyperlink). Select Documenttab, click Select… and locate the Evernote file from step 1). Click Open to close the dialog. TIP: If you are using OS X drag and drop the Evernote file from Finder to the Choose a File dialog in Word to automatically select the location of the Evernote file).
3. Change the Display field if you want to the hyperlink text to be something other than the (obscure) Evernote filename. Click OK.

That’s it! You now have a clickable link to your Evernote file. When the contents of the Evernote file change the link still continues to work.

Follow up review of BlackVPN

After many months of using BlackVPN with occasional frequency I can now speak with more confidence (than my earlier post) that their service is very good, and exactly as advertised. Recently I have been using the US VPN connection to protect my browsing in cafes from Firesheep and other attacks. Their service is always at least 2MB/s (if the cafe’s connection can provide it), and the latency is usually below 100ms. The US VPN is located in San Francisco (at least whenever I have looked). I was using the OpenVPN software to connect, but since purchasing a new Macbook Air I have used the built in PPTP service and everything works fine. Not that I watch much TV, but having the ability to watch Hulu as a Canadian is a real treat.

I highly recommend the service, and I like what they stand for. If you sign up you should use my referral code, that way we both get extra free service: ZQMCTCX