What do you use as an Engineer's Notebook? Time for IdeaBook.com?

I'm thinking Evernote is going to be the ticket.  I really like the browser plug in for Chrome.  Thanks guys!

-4RINGFAN

Respect due for the job creation scheme for trees that you have implemented..

You could even burn the spam mail and probably heat your house with it ..

Power to the carbon cycle ... John A

So going back to your list of devices way up there

One Note is now available for all of them (Actually MS Office is available for all of them for free, except the desktop)

It is one note I was using as my virtual white board and the nice thing is if you use the MS Cloud service they all sync to each other so you draw on one and its available on all of them

I like it

Peter

Mike Wiltrout wrote:

 

There are several reasons why I take issue with the pen and paper method though:

 

1. My writing is horrendous.  Always has been, ever since I was a kid.  Half the time I can't read what I write down.  Missed my calling, I should have been a doctor.

2. My hand hurts after 5-10 minutes of writing.

My handwriting is illegible to others -- I blame all those years in college.  Mine is like Leonardo da Vinci's without the mirror imaging.  I consider it a form of IP security in case I lose a notebook.

I find sketching out ideas is best walking in nature (like Cyrano de Bergerac) and having a notebook (or random piece of paper) works great for unformed ideas.  For writing actual text I'd rather use my document editor, but I still keep the notebook handy to jot down ideas that I'll want to develop later.

As for trees: they are a renewable resource, and if we didn't use them for paper they'd all get chopped down and climate change will kill us all sooner.  If I'm writing documents and programs I still need to get listings and print drafts, so still quite a bit of paper used there.  Whenever possible, I reuse the back sides of junk mail.

Mike Wiltrout wrote:

 

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2012/01/27/write-this-down-note-taking-strategies-for-academic-success/

 

This guy recommends Evernote over Onenote for it's syncing abilities.  He also had this interesting quote:

 

"You can type faster than you can write, it makes organizing your notes easier, and your notes will always be in legible type instead of the chicken scratch you call handwriting."

But then later on:

Even if your professor doesn’t ban laptops, there are some classes where it’s actually better to take notes by hand. Classes that are heavy on numbers, equations, and formulas–calculus, chemistry, physics, economics, symbolic logic, etc.–are best suited for handwritten notes. It’s just too hard to type out that sort of stuff with a keyboard. I also found that pen and paper works best for language classes. Oftentimes you’ll be copying down conjugation tables from the blackboard, and handwriting these are easier than typing them.

Writing schematics using ASCII is not efficient .

Mike Wiltrout wrote:

 

"You can type faster than you can write, it makes organizing your notes easier, and your notes will always be in legible type instead of the chicken scratch you call handwriting."

And of course not forgetting the liberal use of photocopiers if you are working on a collaborative project.

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2012/01/27/write-this-down-note-taking-strategies-for-academic-success/

This guy recommends Evernote over Onenote for it's syncing abilities.  He also had this interesting quote:

"You can type faster than you can write, it makes organizing your notes easier, and your notes will always be in legible type instead of the chicken scratch you call handwriting."

That is pretty neato, but they get you with the price of the paper and shipping of said paper.

In this example: 70 sheets of Link A4 paper:

http://www.whitelinesshop.se/link-a4-lined/340-0

69SEK for paper

79SEK to ship to US

= US $17.24 or basically $0.25 per page.

In comparison, you can get a Mead 70 page notebook for $1.99, or basically $0.03 per page.  Granted the Mead page does not scan to scale.  Might have to save the white line paper for the "good thoughts" and put the bad ones on the mead paper.

It does look like if you order more than 300SEK worth of paper that they will spare you the shipping though.

mcb1 Hi Mark - just had a quick look at whitelines - looks very interesting. Will give it a try when I have time

Neil

The publisher at The Shed magazine thought Whitelines sketch books would be a great hit.

Basically they have the grid in white which allows you to copy them easily.

There is an app to suit.

http://whitelines.se/link/

Haven't tried it yet but might be handy for those that prefer the paper yet want to record it.

Mark