3 cool uses for Scrivener

Scrivener for iOS is finally out so here are 3 ways - other than for novel writing - that it has become a vital tool for me.

1. Collating articles
A .scriv file is a wonderful way to collect and archive articles, whether older ones or current articles. You can drag in Word docs and text files and it stores them all as .rtf documents. It's quick to flick back and forth between different items, and search words and phrases.

2. Client projects
I create a .scriv for each client I work with. This enables me to collate briefs, written work and any background research and information, as well as correspondence and teleconference notes. It's so much easier having it all in one place, rather than as a desktop folder with a range of different items inside it.

3. Collecting & compiling
Recipes, poems, information, snippets: you can aggregate whatever text files you like inside a .scriv - even images (in the Research section). This makes it easy to export a specific set of recipes, for example, as an eBook or pdf, selecting only those you want to export.

In summary, Scrivener works just as well as a filing and easy (multiple type) document viewing solution as it does as writing software. It will be the best 45 bucks you ever spend.

Even if you decide not to buy it after the free demo expires, you can still access your files. They're bundled inside the .scriv (you can just Unpack it) as .rtf files. You won't lose anything.

15 *GENUINELY* free stock image sources

Putting this list together because a search for "free stock photos" always turns up a load of sites that are mainly or entirely payware/premium, or you only get a couple of free images per month.

Bear in mind that even where credits aren't required, they're usually still appreciated.

Totally 100% free photos

Unsplash.com
Beautiful, artistic high-res images that are totally free to use. Lots of nature shots and roads, but a few objects and people as well. Perfect for the cover of that novel you always meant to write.

Wikimedia Commons
20 million images free for reuse, and you can add your own.

Imagebase.net
"Absolutely free photos" (and they are) with helpful categories to get you started.

Unprofound.com
Has a helpful "search by colour" feature.

PicJumbo.com
High quality, artistic images, also accepts submissions.


Free photos but beware the premium pics ads

Pixabay.com
A wide range of free stock photos and illustrations: if you upload ten of your own photos (may as well do something with all those scenic holiday shots languishing on your hard drive) you won't see any adverts for paid sites.

Freerangestock.com
This has an enormous amount of free images, with the usual premium photos bar.

Morguefile.com
Big range of totally free photos, also has tabs to premium sites.

Stockvault.net
Scroll down because the top hits are premium ones.

RGBstock.com
Huge amount of free images between premium bars.


Free photos that require attribution

Flickr: Creative Commons
These images do have various licenses but are free to use in many circumstances.

500px.com: Creative Commons
Huge range of creative commons pics with various licence levels.

Google Images
Click Search Tools -> Usage Rights -> Labeled for reuse (or the usage of your choice), as Google is an Aggregator the exact rights of these images may vary.

Freeimages.com/Stock.Xchng
Wide range of photos, some require credits.

IM Free
Also has website templates, good range of artistic images.

No more waiting around for parcels to arrive. No more rushing to the post office and queuing up with a "misssed delivery" slip.

With drones, you can get packages delivered to your exact location, within minutes.  They target the location of your smartphone, via GPS, so even if you walk down the road they'll still find you.

Flirtey Zookal flight on Vimeo.

6 ways personal data tracking is getting easier

Automation is key with personal analytics, because people are too busy and too lazy to self-record everything, despite increasing numbers of mobile apps trying to make it easier.

Actively self-tracking also introduces errors and reporting bias.  You're more likely to remember recording your mood when you're miserable than when you're neutral, or slightly happy. Here's how it will get easier:

1. Ubiquitous sensors
The Internet of Things will be busy learning about you. Expect a deluge of sensors in every home and every object.  Your phone already collates data on when and where you travel, expect your car and GPS to do likewise.

2. Wearable computers
Google Glass and its rivals have a key role to play, even more so when they can reliably interpret commands given through brainwaves.

3. "Old skool" devices
Pedometers, heart rate monitors, sleep monitors and others will get increasingly connected, transmitting data automatically, in realtime, much like the FitBit.

4. Social mining
Social media networks are already gathering up vast realms of data on users, the next step is grabbing this yourself and taking a look. Give Me My Data, which lets you extract and visualise your existing Facebook data.

5. Smart meters
Already going into homes, the same meter that helps you use energy more efficiently will also be able to tell you about your life: when you're up, how often you cook, how much longer you shower when it's cold.

6. Data interfacing
Mint grabs data from your different financial accounts, so there's no need to add it separately. Similarly you authorise various apps to automatically mine and analyse your Facebook data, or your Google history.

So you've discovered that you sleep longer after eating tomatoes, that your mood is higher when you've seen more yellow, and that you drive faster on days you send less tweets. The question then is what do you do with all these insights?

Personal analytics: tracking yourself

Major technology trends these days tend to lead from the ground up. Consumer adoption is followed by corporate adoption. iPads arrived in the living room long before tablets appeared in the office.

So what about big data? Will personal analytics end up driving BI?

Wolfram Alpha creator Stephen Wolfram has experimented with this, but given his PhD in Particle Physics he's hardly a layperson.

To what extent, then, are we seeing regular individuals tracking different data sets in their lives, and analysing them? Here are some interesting ways:

1. Diet & fitness
FitDay records nutritional intake, activity, mood and custom data, and spits out charts showing nutrient deficiencies or calories vs mood.

2. Conception
Fertility Friend allows women to compare and overlay menstrual cycles with those of thousands of other women, to analyse why they may be struggling to conceive.

3. Infant care
Numerous apps, like iBaby Log, help new parents capture and analyse information about their newborns, to figure out correlations between feeding and sleep.

4. Happiness
MoodPanda records and creates a graph of your mood, which you can compare against the entire world's mood, or the mood of your geographic area.

5. Money
Mint pulls in information from different financial accounts, and graphs how much you are spending in different categories at different times.

If you're interested in turning your own life into a graph, try these sites:

Personal Informatics
Measured Me
your.flowingdata (YFD)
12 apps to track, share and visualise peronal data
Wolfram Alpha Personal Analytics for Facebook

What will really propel the wider use of personal analytics is ease of capture: making the data collection effortless.

How to make love to the camera

So you want to make a video, but you're more George Constanza than George Clooney?

There are quite a few tricks that can help you maximise your attributes and minimise your flaws.

Ultimately it's about having personality and confidence and letting that shine through.

But the camera can also lie for you a bit - here's how.

Seven ways to create easy, affordable video

If you want to do more with video but have limited resources, here are seven options you can try - even for free:

From slideshows to event promos - see all seven on SavvySME.