Category: Learner

30 Days To A Better YouTube Channel – Best Book I’ve Read This year ► #SSSVEDA Day 7

This might not be the “best” book I’ve read this year, but it is probably the one I have most been able to apply.

Tim Schmoyer

MarginNote Reader for iPad Review

MarginNote for iPad Review

I have been using Margin Note for iPad lately to take notes in eBooks (ePub) and PDFs. This review is very good and highlights many of the features of MarginNote, but there are several features that are REALLY important and powerful that I feel the author left out.

What is MarginNote for iPad?

MarginNote for iPad
MarginNote for iPad makes your book notes simple and organized

Other productivity apps don’t let users see their notes and their main document text at the same time, However, MarginNote Reader is totally different and completely better! Now, users can see their notes and main document text all at once, without having to deal with distracting or annoying pop-ups. It’s a fundamentally more intuitive and productive way to get anything done, whether at school or at work. – MarginNote Website

In a nutshell, I think it is the best solution yet (that I’ve found) to emulate the usefulness of writing in the margins in a “real” book. Better, in fact, since you can write as much as you want in the “margin” and not run out of space. And it can backup your notes to several cloud services.

The publisher is also very responsive to inquiries, which is good because I had a few questions. One question I asked recently was if I could create one outline or mind map from several books. I am researching a single topic with multiple sources, and want to compile them together. He said you can’t exactly, but you can copy notes into other books. I haven’t tried it yet, but I will be very soon.

How Does MarginNote Work?

Margin note can open ePubs and PDF via iTunes, WiFi, Dropbox and the iOS “open in…” command. I used Dropbox primarily to get my books in by putting all the PDFs and ePubs I wanted into a folder together.

In working with the app, and a little experimentation, I am beginning to prefer PDFs over ePubs when I have a choice. MarginNote gives you a few more tools when dealing with PDF documents. When working with PDFs, not only have you do the typical highlight, underline and notes, but you can create a “box highlight” around a section of the book. This is great if you want to make a note in regards to a photo in the book because it “clips” the scribble you make into the Evernote note.

MarginNote Scribble
MarginNote for iPad allows you to “scribble” in PDF files, and the section you marked up syncs to your Evernote Notebook for the book.

MarginNote and Evernote

The biggest reason I wanted to try this particular app is a feature the MakeUseOf article doesn’t even make much mention of: Evernote Sync! This app syncs your highlights and notes to your Evernote account by creating an Evernote Notebook with the filename of the book. It then puts all those notebooks into a Notebook Stack together. I especially like that the notes have a clear “Make your notes below this line” comment, so you know to be careful and note.

Conclusion

While many people will still prefer to take notes in the margin of their bound volumes, I am quickly moving to buying as many of my books in a DRM-free ebook format. (or you can Google DRM removal, if you so choose. I am not responsible for your actions if you do such things.) And I will rest assured that all my notes will be safely synced and backed up on the Evernote Server.

Links:

 

My First Post

I have been trying to decide between several different types of blog posts for a new writing and blogging project for myself. It was more about my passion, sharing my knowledge, and answering questions.

I then remembered another blogger who was a guest on MacPowerUsers podcast who calls her site “I Wear Many Hats.” Each “hat” is a category in the blog, and represents one of her passions. I think she has 7 or more “hats” featured.

So, this is my “many hats” blog, but I have decided (mostly because I already owned the domain) to not give it a funny name, but to just call it Stuart C. Mackey’s blog (??).

In this first post, I wanted to lay out the categories that I will be writing in the future, for you the readers, and to solidify it in my own mind.

For those of you who find you enjoy a particular subset of this blog, rest assured I will be publishing it in a way that it can be followed or subscribed to by category.

Here are the categories:

Faith (Christianity)

First and foremost, I am a Christian. That doesn’t mean this will be the most common category, but I needed to be honest and share this important fact. In this category will be my reflections on passages of scriptures, as well as thought on Christian topics.

Life and Family

This will be the category that includes my personal experiences and time with family. It will likely contain a lot of pictures and videos. It may also contain some parenting teachable moments, as I learn along the way.

Reader-Learner

I love to read and love to learn. I thought of making “Books” a category, but I decided that the core of why I read is to learn. I also read fiction for fun, but that will be another category. In this category I will share lessons I am learning from books I read, podcasts I listen to and watch, etc.

Leadership

While this could fall under Learner, I think it will be such an important topic that I wanted to separate it out. I resisted being a leader for a long time, but was kind of forced into it by my work and job. Most of the work I do simply can not be done by one person – it requires a team. And I have found that I am not that terrible at leading teams and individuals. This will be a combination of thoughts on what I have learned from other leaders through books, blogs, podcasts, etc.; as well as my own thoughts on what it means to be a leader.

Technician

I wasn’t sure what to call this category. I was trying to be consistent in my category naming conventions. This will be the tech support category. It will contain all the answers to the real world question I get in my personal and professional life on “How do I blank with such-and-such-technology?”

I am sure that it is possible that I will come up with additional categories, but I will try to keep it simple, for myself as well as for the reader.

Thank you for reading. Be sure to share your thoughts below in the comment section.