43 Folders

Back to Work

Merlin’s weekly podcast with Dan Benjamin. We talk about creativity, independence, and making things you love.

Join us via RSS, iTunes, or at 5by5.tv.

”What’s 43 Folders?”
43Folders.com is Merlin Mann’s website about finding the time and attention to do your best creative work.

Zotero anyone?

I've been looking at Zotero as a means of information management recently. It seems to have a much more intuitive and seamless integration with the Web than DevonThink. And it has tag-support built in!

Anyone have any experience with this Firefox plugin? It looks pretty powerful. Easy to gather clippings, citations, and notes -- organize them into smart folders -- mark up and annotate -- etc.

The only think it's missing is DevonThink's AI search tool.

But I tell you what... Yes, I know that Zotero is available on all platforms. But as a matter of principle, this may be the final straw in tipping me over to the Linux, open source world. Last year, I invested in all the fancy Mac apps (OmniOutliner, DevonThink, etc.) only to discover that several open source tools fit my workflow much better. I'm constantly amazed by the sheer volume and variety of free tools out there. (I mean: I had to rig up the most god-awfully awkward solution to get tags in DevonThink.) And while most of these are available to Mac OS X users, it is making me wonder why I would pay $2000+ for a new MacBook when I can get rig up a Linux laptop for well under half the price. (And Firefox for the Mac is still so slow and clunky.) Quicksilver is great and all - but now I do so much from the command line that I rarely use Quicksilver. I have enough other beautiful things in my life - so having an ugly computer isn't the biggest loss.

Anyway, that's my rant of the day. But about Zotero... Anyone?

TOPICS: Mac OS X
msanford's picture

In the academic environment I...

In the academic environment I live in, this tool looks amazing. Thanks for posting it here!

 
EXPLORE 43Folders THE GOOD STUFF

Popular
Today

Popular
Classics

An Oblique Strategy:
Honor thy error as a hidden intention


STAY IN THE LOOP:

Subscribe with Google Reader

Subscribe on Netvibes

Add to Technorati Favorites

Subscribe on Pageflakes

Add RSS feed

The Podcast Feed

Cranking

Merlin used to crank. He’s not cranking any more.

This is an essay about family, priorities, and Shakey’s Pizza, and it’s probably the best thing he’s written. »

Scared Shitless

Merlin’s scared. You’re scared. Everybody is scared.

This is the video of Merlin’s keynote at Webstock 2011. The one where he cried. You should watch it. »