Eric Mack On-Line

For those of you following my Tecra M4 repair saga, UPS picked up my M4 on Friday and returned it today. That's a 3 working day turn-around. Impressive!

Interestingly, it did not go to a Toshiba Repair Depot. According to  a reader of my blog, Sean, and the UPS tag, it went to a UPS repair depot. I was very concerned to hear this, but my M4 is back and I'm thankful for that. Before I brag too much about the repair service, though, all is not dust free in tablet-land.

Continue Reading "Toshiba grants 4 out of 5 wishes in only 3 days" »

As promised, Toshiba delivered a prepaid Tablet PC shipping box to me, today. I quickly put my Tecra M4 into the box, along with my cover letter, sealed it shut, and handed it to the UPS driver. (How's that for a 4 1/2 minute turn-around.) The box is now on its way to the Toshiba repair center in Lousiville Kentucky and will arrive Monday. Then, I expect that the real repair adventure will begin. I truly hope that this will be the non-event of my blog and that next week I'll be YABHTU again.

Today, we begin the first in a series of podcasts in which Nick Duffill and I will discuss mapping for results. Today's discussion focuses on an overview of MindManager/ResultsManager, introduces my own personal mapping challenge for the summer, and describes the steps we will use to get there. (If you're using IE, you can view the embedded map, above; for non-IE users, I've provided a link to the map, below.)
Continue Reading "Mind Mapping for Results, Part One" »

I've been mind mapping for results for many years. A few years ago, I started using MindManager, rather than paper and pens. Now that I can to use MindManager as a dashboard for Lotus Notes, I've been integrating MindManager into more of my day-to-day projects. (Thanks, Hobie!)



This summer, I've challenged myself to use MindManager to a greater degree - as a visual project management tool for a few key projects on my plate.  Beyond Crayons creator, Nick Duffill, of Gyronix, has agreed to coach me in using ResultsManager, a powerful MindManager add-in, to help me manage my projects using MindManager maps.
Continue Reading "Greater Results from MindManager - in Stereo" »

This afternoon, one of my mentors, Jason Womack, began a our group conference call by asking each participant how they were doing and where they were calling from. I responded:

I'm sitting in my living room, at the coffee table, calling via Skype, looking out the window.

Oops. Given that Jason's coaching series is called Working Out, While You’re Out Working, let me see if I can do better:

Continue Reading "Fit and Effective: visualizing fitness" »

My buddy, Michael Sampson, the new World-Wide Director of something or other, blogs that Foldera has starting the public beta of their web-based organizer and messaging/collaboration service.

... [Foldera's] web-based solution can save time and boost productivity for a range of businesses and enterprises. Foldera's user-friendly solution uses proprietary intelligent "Activity Folders" to automatically and instantly sort and file emails, instant messages, tasks, documents and calendar events.

Seriously, I know it's become the mantra of the decade, but who wouldn't want to save some time and boost productivity? I've not worked with the product yet so I cannot make an specific comments, yet.
Continue Reading "Foldera Lives!" »

I would normally not blog about this, but I continue to receive emails and blog inquiries, asking about the status of my Tecra M4 repair and my experience with Toshiba Technical support. You may recall that I recently became an unhappy Tablet PC user. The truth is that, up until today, I've done nothing about it, other than to copy my mission critical data to a Thinkpad so I can continue working. For me, the idea of calling overseas support ranks right up there with a root canal. To me, calling for my own computer repair is even worse, because it means unproductive and unbillable time. Most of my blog readers will probably want to skip over this post. For those, who are passionate about Tablet PC's or Toshiba (or both), you can follow my support call ...
Continue Reading "Tecra M4 Repair Adventure Begins - Day One" »

One of the reasons I like building robots is that it combines skills in hardware and software development. I'm not very good at it, but when I have time to tinker, I really enjoy doing both. Today, Microsoft released a preview of Microsoft Robotics Studio, a development system for robots. I'm excited for many reasons, mostly because it will increase recognition in a field I've watched grow and languish and grow for the past 20 years.



Apparently, one of the first hardware platforms that Microsoft plans to  support is the LEGO MindStorms.
Continue Reading "Now, even robots can have Microsoft for brains" »

I'm often asked how I work on the road and what tools I use to stay in sync, both for myself and for my clients. Here's a very brief summary of a recent project; I've made sure to provide links to previous blog posts and to manufacturer's sites so that you can explore these on your own. I hope you find this information helpful. (You may want to follow each link)

Two weeks ago, I helped move David Allen from his old Palm to a Treo 700p. I used mNotes, by Commontime to keep David's 700p in sync with the Lotus Notes applications we use at The David Allen Company. mNotes is a tool that allows for bidirectional synchronization of PIM apps (e-Mail, Calendar, Tasks, Address book and Memos) between Lotus Notes and mobile devices, like the Treo 700p. Over the years, I've worked with and deployed many wireless sync applications, including mNotes and Pylon Pro/iAnywhere. I like both products, and I've blogged favorably about both. Personally, I use mNotes for PIM apps, due to their rich feature set, and I will use the Pylon Application server to extend non-PIM Notes applications (e.g. custom Notes databases) to my Treo.

Continue Reading "Increased mobility with a Treo and mNotes" »

Tom Hagan, President & CEO of Actioneer, recommended that I read Bo Peabody's book, Lucky or Smart. as part of my preparation to launch a new software start-up. I've just finished reading it - it's a quick read - and I found the book informative and challenging. Like Tom, I recommend the book for anyone thinking about entrepreneurial life.

In the conclusion of his book, Bo shares a brief story to highlight the importance understanding and noticing different perspectives. As an entrepreneur, Bo states, must be vigilant to consider alternative perspectives:
Continue Reading "The importance of understanding perspectives" »

James Kendrick is collecting productivity tips and he's announced that the winners will be eligible to win a copy of MindManager or MindManager for the Mac.

Visit JK On the Run for details.

Tanny and I are testing VLOG (Video Blog) posts on my blog, something I started experimenting with 2 years ago. I've posted this video so that we can begin to  test some new code that Tanny's preparing that will allow me to quickly and easily make VLOG (Video Blog) posts.

This video, for the Sampson children, is of a robotics challenge I gave my children, two weeks ago. The goal was to build and program a tracked robot to run a basic course around our robotics playing field.

Continue Reading "LEGO Robotics Challenge & VLOG Test" »

You may be aware that Michael Sampson's been trying to get me to buy a Mac for years. I've got nothing against the Mac, I think they are elegant machines; it's just that many of the core business applications that I use won't run on the Mac. Yet.

This week, I move one step closer. One of my favorite productivity applications, MindManager, has finally released a Mac-Native version.  With the exception of Ink, the MindManager .mmap files type is fully cross-platform between Windows and Mac.

Continue Reading "One step closer to... a Mac? Thanks MindJet!" »

The Sampson family quiver continues to expand. I won't be surprised to receive a robotics challenge from across the pacific for a Sampson vs. Mack.

At this rate of growth, the mini-Sampson population will soon be sufficient to support not one but TWO teams, a company of research analysts, or something grand. All kidding aside, I'm excited for Michael and Katrina. As the parents of four daughter's, we've learned that children are indeed a blessing from the Lord.

"Behold, children are a gift of the LORD; the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them..." (Psalm 127:3-5, NASB)

I've known Michael for close to 9 years and I'm honored to count him among my closest friends.

Congratulations to Michael and Katrina, on this latest addition to the Sampson family.

Photos of Sampson quiver can be found here.

Two years ago, today, I made my predictions about the impact of Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds as a way to bring dynamic content to user's desktops:

Over the next two years, probably sooner, many Web sites will see a decline in regular (repeat) visitors, and a dramatic increase in syndicated viewership. Here's what you need to know ...

I even recorded my first eProductivity video blog, as a way to introduce the topic of RSS to test the impact of a video blog. (aka VLOG.)

Continue Reading "My 2 Year predictions on RSS; how did I do?" »