New Look Springpad, New Guide-Thank You Daniel Gold ? Web2 ...

There are some cloud based services that just don?t click when you first look at them.? You sit there, the eyes glaze over and you may even start trembling and dribbling as the waves of incomprehension wash over you. There?s no logical reason. Trillions of people are probably using that service without a care in the world but for you it?s like trying to solve a Sudoku puzzle blindfolded.

I find that this blindspot exists with me and Springpad and when rumours of a new update to the service started filtering through I got a sneak preview of the beta version and fortunately for me I was not left alone to fumble my way through it but was guided by another sneak preview, a new eBook from Daniel Gold who told me I was only the third person to see the book before publication.

Springpad ?For Cretins?

Daniel is currently best known for his eBook Evernote?: The unofficial guide to capturing everything and getting things done which looks at how you can implement David Allen?s GTD (Getting Things Done) philosophy/strategy into your everyday life using Evernote. Daniel is probably the de facto guru on organising your life and the raft of software and apps that can help you achieve this and I doubt if even David Allen has such a comprehensive overview of task management and to do services than Daniel!

Springpad: Smarter Notebooks. Smarter Sharing. A Smarter Way to Get Things Done! is just the sort of guide someone likes me needs. Daniel takes each step of the way, puts it into a sort of ?Springpad for Total Cretins? format and walks you through everything from setting up your account to collecting and collating data. What makes Daniel?s tutorials so easy to understand is that he provides real life examples so you get a real feel for how this service works in real life rather than as an intellectual route march.

For example I love cooking so I set up a Food and Drink notebook (even I could manage that unaided!) and started search for some recipes. Using the Spring It clipper I can quick save the recipe to my Food and Drink notebook. Better still, Springpad recognises my recipes for what they are and allows me to save the ingredients into a shopping list which I can print off and take to the supermarket/corner shop/deli. The beta version I saw did not allow me to save it to my Springpad Android app but no doubt this will be implemented before it is released into the wild so I can sync desktop and smartphone and carry the recipes and shopping list/s around with me on my smartphone.

Springpad Collaboration

One of the key factors about cloud side services is collaboration and sharing and the new Springpad has this in spades. Daniel drives this home in another practical guide on how he planned his ?second honeymoon? to Costa Rica. Using Springpad Daniel and his wife Brodie shared a common notebook to remove the risk of duplication which would have happened if they had used a conventional paper and pen system (One question Daniel, what the heck are Keens?).

Springpad allows you to keep notebooks private, shared with trusted individuals or open to all and sundry on the net. Obviously I would not want to share a financial planning notebook but by making my food and drink folder completely open I can share my collected recipes with others and they can find them by using recipe titles and tags. Daniel also reveals another aspect of Springpad in that notes can exist in multiple notebooks and any changes to one note in one specific notebook, say tags, are automatically updated in all other notebooks. This is one area you don?t want to make a mistake in and Daniel takes you by the hand and guides you safely through, avoiding potentially embarrassing pitfalls!

Screenshots Galore

Because one picture is worth a thousand words Daniel includes a stack of screenshots that further clarifies how the new look Springpad works.

Now, no book by Daniel would not be a book by Daniel without that key TLA (three letter acronym) GTD. Yup, Daniel walks you through how you can utilise Springpad as a Getting Things Done Task Manager and organiser. Now I obviously have a personal and business life that is less complicated than a Buddhist monk on retreat in the Himalayas so I do not need anything as sophisticated at GTD but if you need it Daniel explains how.

Springpad: Smarter Notebooks. Smarter Sharing. A Smarter Way to Get Things Done! at just over 80pages isn?t a large book and you can romp your way through the seven chapters as a stand alone read. However I would recommend that you use it as a live tutorial as you start with Springpad and work your way through both the book and the whole set up procedure and discover the way that the service works. At just $5 it is a worthwhile investment and you can?buy it here (affiliate link)

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