How to reduce acads-related stress with Evernote

You've probably heard about Evernote, arguably the most popular note-taking app today. Thousands of professionals have praised the app's ubiquity, simplicity, and sophistication. And the app's slogan -- "Remember everything" -- seems to be less an ideal than a description of reality.

But Evernote is a perfect tool for students, too. Below are some of the ways Evernote can make your life at university less stressful:

Take crisp, high-contrast photos of library materials. 

Xerox is dead. The time of the photocopying machine is gone. If you can't take home particular books from the university library (e.g. The Book of Forbidden Potions and Curses), save money instead by using Evernote's "document camera". Just aim the camera at the document, wait for about three seconds, and the app will automatically capture the page with amazing fidelity. Use tags to make future searches much, much easier.

Write multimedia lecture notes. 

If you happen to be a digital note-taker -- as opposed to an analog note-taker -- (either, by the way, has its own set of advantages and disadvantages), you can use Evernote to record your instructor's main points. AND you can take photos of the whiteboard or slides using Evernote's hi-res document camera. Plus, you can voice-record the lecture as well (ask for your prof's permission, though, before doing this).

Search -- including images! 

Say you took pictures of a city map which, of course, includes street names. If you search for a particular street name, the portion of the map with that particular street name will also appear -- with that street name highlighted!

I can add another one -- use Evernote for your research papers -- but that deserves a post (or series of posts) of its own.

So, yeah, bring Evernote to school -- and remember everything.


Text and illustration: Daryl Zamora
Disclaimer: This post is (unfortunately) not sponsored by Evernote.

Win the war against procrastination

The dreaded accounting exam is in three days. So is that position paper. And that group project which -- after looking at your groupmates' "contributions" -- is actually individual in nature.

It's time to go to war -- Sparta style -- against procrastination. Three apps can help:

1. Wunderlist

It's the simplest yet most amazing listing app out there. A stunning eyecandy, Wunderlist also draws its beauty from its sync-to-all-your-gadgets-in-real-time capability. And last but not least, you'll be thrilled by the cute "ding!" it makes when you check another to-do out of the list.

Wunderlist is perfect when you are still figuring out the things you need to do. List everything there, and then proceed to...

2. Google Calendar

Google's built-in calendar seems to be the most sophisticated and convenient in the digital world. Its click-and-drag ease and omnipresence in the Google realm are its finest features.

So when you begin your day to finish all those school requirements, make sure you convert your Wunderlist to-dos into Google Calendar's 'activity boxes'. Just click and extend the box to the period you want to spend on a task (say, "Write draft of the @%#$& position paper") -- and that's it.

The best thing about calendaring your day's activities is, of course, seeing how orderly your day is going to be. Now, really, you have a battle plan.

And, trust me, Google Calendar is user-friendly: explaining here how it works is a waste of time, yours and mine. Try it now. But first, you have to download...

3. Pomodoro Keeper

I use its iOS app, and it's just awesome.

Pomodoro Keeper takes its name from Francesco Cirillo's "Pomodoro Technique", a time management method which allocates 25 minutes of focused work and five minutes of rest every half hour (or pomodoro session); the break stretches to 20 minutes every after four sessions.

Many people found the technique effective. I have, too. And I think its success lies in its emphasis on focus and leisure in every working period. It keeps you awake!

And yes, Pomodo Keeper seems to be the best tool in following the Pomodoro technique. It has a neat interface and very discreet audio prompts (to signal break-time or back-to-work). The ticking clock is also a great help to keep you on your toes (or fingertips) and finish the job on time.

***

But then, apps can only do so much. The ultimate factor to winning our war against sloth is a firm will and -- if things didn't turn out well -- the Spartan mettle to cry, "Ahoo! Ahoo! Ahoo!" not "Huhuhu!"

Text and illustration: Daryl Zamora

To read or not to read? Pocket it

"There is a time for everything." Ecclesiastes 3:1

Ever caught yourself stumbling upon an exciting article, and you know you shouldn't read it...yet? 

Like, when you're doing serious research on climate change for a class the next day, and you find an article on the making of Avengers: Age of Ultron, or a new teaser for Star Wars: Episode VII...

Common sense dictates you shouldn't browse that article or video right now. Maybe next time. But then, you say, I'll surely forget about it if I don't do it now. What dilemma! If only there's an app to deposit all the articles you want to peruse some other time...

The good news is, there's indeed an app for that. And it does its job beautifully.

Pocket works in all smart gadgets | Image by Pocket

Pocket can help students and pros alike to save time online. Just download the app on your mobile gadget and the extension on your browser.

So every time you encounter an interesting article -- and it's not yet the best time to read it -- just click the Pocket extension button. It will instantly save the webpage's text and images into your Pocket account.

And when you finally get the time to read -- say, during commute or in the loo -- you open the Pocket app in your tablet or smartphone -- and voila, it's there, in gloriously clean format. It works even while you're offline.

Pocket's seamless interface on a browser | Image by Pocket

Try it for a week or two. We at iCPA have done it. You'll be amazed how much time you can save and use in the proper way.

Text and illustration: Daryl Zamora

How to NOT waste time on Facebook

You know how it goes.

You log into Facebook…and then get lost in an endless stream of singing cats, beaches, selfies, celeb news, and your friends’ emo posts. Before your know it, three hours have passed. (And you haven’t even done your iCPA mock exam!)

Now you wonder: there’s got to be a way to avoid the news stream — yet without abandoning Facebook altogether!

Well, consider this your lucky day — the Chrome extension Kill News Feed does precisely that. It frees you from the feed, and instead gives you a sobering piece of wisdom: “Don’t get distracted by Facebook!”

All other functionalities — private messages, notification, groups, etc. — are retained. So you can still look forward to something new whenever you log in. After all, it’s really just the news feed that’s a time-waster.

And the best part of Kill News Feed? You can disable it anytime — but preferably only on weekends and holidays. ;)

Text and illustration: Daryl Zamora