The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

tech

E-tools + Personal Technology That Can Help Organize Your Home and Life!

by

Our lives are increasingly hectic, and it is sometimes a challenge simply keeping track of appointments, errands, school and work events. Jotting down something on paper is simple, tried and true, but often not enough. Fortunately, technology has stepped in and provided assistance in managing our busy lives, and local residents have shared some practices and tips to help keep home life, careers and volunteering commitments running smoothly.

Organizing E-mails and Files

Debbie Rose, who provides “everyday technology” consultation (her company is ‘Life Tech’), recommends sorting, filing, or prioritizing e-mail messages. “I have a filter to file or archive any work emails that specifically have attachments, since I often need to access those messages quickly.

I always “star” any important messages so later, when I sit down to execute, I pull up a view of just my starred messages and get to work.”

Promptly naming files for easy identification later is crucial. For Rose, “the key to digital organization is religiously naming my files as I create them. Find a naming format that works for you and use it consistently, regardless of the file type,” such as by date, event or subject matter.

Organizing expert Alissa Dorfman (of ‘Alissa Dorfman Home Organizing’) utilizes a “touch it once” rule. “If something needs a response, I do it immediately. If I can’t, I keep the email flagged as “new” on my iPhone, and check at a glance.”

Dorfman also suggests deleting e-mails as soon as they are dealt with. “I delete PTA e-mails after I record the new info. I delete invitations after responding because they send you a reminder as the event gets closer. If you can retrieve the info some other way, you don’t need to keep it.” She adds that unsubscribing to one email list daily “is easy to do and it lowers the amount of incoming emails more quickly then you realize.”

School Tools for Everyone

Students and staff at both Chappaqua and Byram Hills schools utilize Google Drive and Google Docs to organize, share and communicate. Coman Hill Elementary school teacher Sue Ornstein loves “how I can access my files anywhere, anytime. I organize files into folders for easy retrieval and I can simply search Google Drive. Google Docs is a great tool for collaborating with colleagues. Each of us can access the document and multiple people can edit a document simultaneously. We avoid the “which version is this?” confusion.”

Sign-up Genius is used for coordinating class parties. “It’s a great way to include everyone and there aren’t gaps or doubles of party supplies,” says Ornstein. “Everyone can see it update in real time, without a zillion emails or phone calls.” It is also used at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Chappaqua to coordinate volunteers for coffee hours, pot-lucks, worship assistance and the annual Strawberry Festival.

A similar program, Meal Train, is helpful for providing for families in need.

Beyond Post-It Notes

While there is still a place for handwritten reminders, the abundant e-tools available can go a long way toward increasing productivity at home and work.

With a couple of clicks on a smartphone, anyone can be more organized!!

Dana Y. Wu is a local author and busy mom of four who could use more digital organization

Some favorite “apps”–most free–used locally, and of course, far and wide, include:

Clear-Tasks, Reminders & To-Do Lists: “A numbered badge reminds me of something I have to do and visible and audible alerts notify me with enough lead time to get to my destination on time. The app is colorful, and it’s fun to swipe something off the list.” – Sue Ornstein

Dropbox (online storage): “It updates my photos automatically from my phone. I save Word docs on it that are accessible from my computer, my iPhone and iPad wherever I am.” – Susan Barocas

Facebook Messenger: “Messenger is how new clients can reach me off of my Facebook page. I also send things to myself from FB like recipes or things to do with the kids.” – Alissa Dorfman

Pocket (for saving internet content for viewing offline): “It stores links of articles I want to read later and allows me to delete or file them when I’m done.”        – Debbie Rose

Doodle Schedule Maker: “I invite participants to select their preferences out of several times and dates. It adds up their “votes” and lets me know most popular dates/time for my workshops or sessions with creative staff.” – Beth Blatt

Evernote: “Great for jotting down information (parent nights, college visits, doctor consults) on my phone. Later, I open up the Evernote app at home to review and follow up. It integrates well with many other applications” and notes can be added in the form of text, photo, audio file or handwritten. – Sue Ornstein

Google Calendar: Automatically adds events from gmail. “I use Google Calendar and paper calendar in my work with church, PTA, kids and full-time real estate work.” – Mary Ann Bayer

Wunderlist To-Do List & Task: “I can sync to my husband’s phone and both our laptops. It allows us to have the same lists when we are out and about – bucket lists, Costco shopping lists, movies to watch, good books.” – Beth Blatt

Armonk Native Jeremy Blum and his Sixth Sense for Electrical Engineering

by

Jeremy Blum working on a product at Shaper, a company that makes hand-held robotic power tools to help people make things.

 

When Jeremy Blum, 26, needs something, he just builds it.

The Armonk native and San Francisco transplant could never remember to bring his umbrella. So, he designed an umbrella stand that lights up when the forecast calls for rain. Not only that, the erudite electrical engineer’s stand is a customized 3D print, which also pings your phone if, despite the illuminated stand, you still forget your umbrella.

“You can teach yourself pretty much anything if you’re willing to spend a few hours on the Internet,” said Blum, head of electrical engineering at Shaper, a young company that makes hand-held robotic power tools.

In January, Forbes Magazine listed the prolific inventor as one of its 30 under 30 in the manufacturing and industry category. Forbes cites his work on Google Glass, his multiple patents and popular YouTube channel–which has many millions of views–dedicated to teaching people about electrical engineering.

“For me, something that’s really important is engineering education and basically making the prospect of building things cheaper and easier, and more accessible to more people,” he said, eager to bring up the subject.

“Because, I think if we have more people who are literate at building things and making things then we’re more likely to have people who are solving problems in a positive way that can impact the world.”

Jeremy Blum was a lead electrical system engineer at Google X, an innovation lab tasked by Google with coming up with solutions to big problems using technology.

At age 23, Blum published a book, “Exploring Arduino,” with the same intent, by walking readers through the “prototyping platform for embedded electronics” called Arduino.

“It’s basically an easy way to get started designing electronic systems,” he said. Blum describes it as a self-help book for self-starters. The book has been translated into several languages and is used at universities across the country, including his alma mater, Cornell University.

“Actually, this book was inspired by my class, and Jeremy did a great job presenting the key concepts of Arduino programming,” said Francois Guimbretière, associate professor at Cornell University and Blum’s professor for the rapid prototyping class where he first learned about Arduino. “It is only fitting for me to adopt it as a textbook.”

“I once asked him, ‘What is his dream life like?’” said Brenda Wilder, Blum’s grandmother, whose career teaching college-level biology sparked his early interest in science. “And he said, ‘Well, I do want to make money. But, only because I want to be able to stop working and get involved in projects like STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). In other words, help students learn science… He’s very altruistic, his heart is very much in the right place and I think one day he’s going to make a very big difference in this world. He actually already has.” The most high-profile of which is Google Glass, which took the world by storm in 2012.

“For a variety of technical, but more so social reasons, I don’t think it was every really destined to be the consumer product that people envisioned it might be,” said Blum, who worked on its system architecture and electrical design.

After Google Glass lost its luster in the public eye, Google refocused the product for enterprise situations, like assembly lines, medicine and health care, which Blum said is a lot of what he worked on.

He left Google X, an innovation lab under the Google umbrella at the time of his employment, for Shaper in October 2015 wanting to work on something new.

At a recent symposium for Byram Hills High School’s Science Research Program, Blum returned home to give a keynote address and show off some of the cool stuff he’s inventing these days. “He’s a real legacy here and we talk about him a lot,” said Stephanie Greenwald, one of the teachers for the Authentic Science Research Program at Byram Hills High School. “And he was so the same, genuine and kind and giving.”

The school’s Science Research Program, one of the first in the country, is a three-year science elective course in which students pick a topic, identify and work with a mentor in a related field and produce an original piece of research.

Combining his passion to help people with his interest in robotics, Blum designed and built a prosthetic control technology that used force sensors to supplement existing technology to build a prosthetic hand. His design was also intended to make the prosthetic more cost effective.

“Jeremy was always tinkering with something. I think his philosophy was something like, ‘Gee, I wonder if I could…’ and then he would,” said David Keith, director of the school’s Authentic Science Research Program.

At Cornell, Blum continued exploring robotics, while studying electrical and computer engineering for both his undergraduate and master’s program.

“Once you’ve built a bunch of stuff you just start to get a sense, kind of like a sixth sense, of what you need to make something happen,” he said.

Now, at Shaper, his focus is making power tools that make it easier for people to make their own things.

“I think it’s every person’s responsibility to leave some sort of positive impact on the world,” he said. “And I think there’s two ways to do that. You either directly impact people’s lives in some way… or, you make the tools that make it easier for a larger group of people to kind of pave their own way.”

Brian Donnelly is a Westchester native. He has been a local reporter in Westchester, national news health editor and public relations and social media specialist.