Which Cloud Did I Put That In?

Image via CrunchBase

“Can you tell me the log in for that iTunes account your set up for me last year?” 

“Yes, I know I saved that information. Give me a minute to find it. I’ll get back to you.” 

Where did I save that? Is it in Evernote, or in Google Drive, or maybe Dropbox? My cloud storage includes several services. All of which serve certain purposes. I have a system. But sometimes the rules for the system change as I go along. Had I been using CloudMagic when I got the request for iTunes account, there’s a good chance that I could have located the information in seconds and avoided the “I’ll get back to you.”

CloudMagic is a search engine for all your data. It lets you search many services through one search box. The list of services is robust but I’d like to see Diigo added.

For example, I searched for “nonpublic” (something I have to do for Federal Programs) and CloudMagic pulled up the emails I’d sent/received regarding this task, the scheduled appointment on my calendar, the templates I have stored in Google Drive, and the past records I have in Evernote!

The results are displayed in a list grouped by service. You can filter results by type. Clicking on a result will show a preview, in most instances. If needed, you can click a link to open the result where it is stored.

CloudMagic supports advanced searches using operators. Which means I can search for a message from a particular contact, an exact phrase, a file type, a tweet from a certain person, etc.

You can access the magic search box in several places:

• Button in your browser 

• In Google search, Gmail or Google Drive: After I installed the browser extension, MagicCloud search boxes appeared in the top right corners of my Gmail and Google Drive. You can click on the red square to drag the box to a better location if need, and can collapse the box to just a button by clicking the chevron to the left of the red square.

Even better, now when I do a search using Google, my cloud results are displayed in a box off the the right.

• An app on your mobile device

• CloudMagic website
  

You can sign up for a free account that allows 50 previews per month. A preview is when you click on a search result. Pro accounts ($4.99 a month) have unlimited previews.

Note: When you first add a service it might take a while for all the data to be indexed. So don’t be disappointed if your first search doesn’t find everything. FAQs says: ”If you are not frequently using CloudMagic, we delete your index and rebuild it when you come back. In both cases, after some time – depending on your account size – all search results should be available.” I wonder what frequently means.

Master Project Management with Trello

“Trello is a collaboration tool that organizes your projects into boards. In one glance, Trello tells you what’s being worked on, who’s working on what, and where something is in a process.”

Great for group projects or long-term multiple step individual projects, Trello is a free, project management tool. You use access Trello on your computer using your browser, and using an app on your iOS, Android device, or Windows 8. This tool could be used to facilitate: committee work, class projects, a building-wide interdisciplinary unit, building/district improvement plans, a brainstorming session, the planning an event, the outlining your new novel, the tracking conferences/conversations with students, personal to-do lists, etc.

BOARDS

You can create boards with lists, comprised of a column of cards/tasks. Boards can be public or private, or set to an organization (group of people and boards). Boards can be printed and shared with URL. You can add members to your board to allow them to participate.

LISTS

A project board can have multiple lists (columns), with headings of your choice. For example, on one board for a current project you might have a To Do list, and Doing list, and  a Done list.  Lists can also be copied or moved to other boards.

CARDS

Lists contain cards. You can drag cards up and down a list to prioritize/organize/sequence them. You can drag and drop cards between multiple lists on your board. Cards can be labeled/color coded and have set due dates. Cards can also be assigned to specific members of the board. Members of the board can vote on cards, as well as comment on cards. Or, comments can be disabled by the board administrator. Cards can include hyperlinks, images, and attached documents (10MB limit) from your computer, Dropbox, or Google Drive. There is no limit on the number of attachments or account data storage. Cards can also include a checklist, or subtasks. Cards can be archived (and unarchived) or deleted, but not undeleted. Cards can also be moved from one board to another board and printed.

SORTING AND FILTERING CARDS

In the side bar you can use the Filter Cards option allows members to filter cards by a keyword, label, or member. Cards can be sorted by due date. The sidebar can be hidden by clicking on its left border.

NOTIFICATIONS

Board Members get notifications in the form of red flags on the board when they have been: added to a card, invited to a board or organization, mentioned in a comment, or when somebody does an action on a card they are on. Members can also be emailed a collection of unread notifications. When a card you are subscribed to is 24 hours away from being due, you’ll get a notification in the app and via email.  Members can set how often they get emails (never, periodically, instantly). Members can subscribe to any visible card to get notifications about that card, or subscribe an an entire list. The Activity list on the far right side is a chronological list of what members have been doing on the board. You can mention members by using @ followed by their username, and they will get a notification.

KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

There are several keyboard shortcuts to quickly perform card actions. Boards, cards, and lists can all be copied, and bulk actions (move & archive) be used on all cards in a list.

YOUR ACCOUNT

Users can login with their Goggle account, which means no additional account registration is required for our teachers or students. On your homepage you will see a list of your boards and organizations, with options to create additional boards and organizations. You can view all your cards sorted by due date or by board, thus you can view cards from multiple boards at once. You can also access a list of notifications for all your boards.

Trello is one of those tools that can be used for so many different purposes. What ideas do have? What can Trello help you do better, more efficiently? How can your students use Trello to take ownership of their learner or collaborate with others?

Ta-dah!

I get satisfaction from using technology to optimize my productivity. IFTTT (If This Then That) is one of my favorite automation tools. Using this free site, I’ve set up a few “recipes” to automate tasks for me.

While reading my feeds, I save noteworthy resources in Diigo. Using IFTT I can simultaneously bookmark a site and tweet it out by tagging it with “tweet.”

I use Evernote to manage my to-do lists (The Secret Weapon). The simpliest and quickest way to add a task from my phone is by sending a text message. Using IFTTT I can send a text message to IFTTT and it appears as a task/note in my Evernote account.

My daughter posts some great pictures to Instagram. I like to backup those images by having IFTTT send them to Flickr as well.

If I get a receipt emailed to me, it will automatically be copied to my Receipts notebook in Evernote.

The process of setting up recipes is very easy. You select your Channels (Gmail and Evernote), set the trigger (email message with the word receipt), and then choose the resulting action (copy to Evernote).

With 57 available channels there is a huge number of possible recipes. A great place to start is the IFTTT Community where you will find 43,000+ shared recipes. For example, you can schedule an event in your Google Calendar by sending a a text message, get a text message (bring your umbrella) when the day’s forecast calls for rain, automatically upload to dropbox any photos on facebook that you’re tagged in, get an email when new ninja items are posted to Etsy, or automatically save email attachments to Google Drive. Using a Weemo, you can create recipes to turn on the Christmas lights when the sun sets, send a text message when a door opens, or turn on a light when someone likes one of your instagram picture (ok-maybe this is taking it too far).

What recipes can you use?