More on Backpack--This is a where we need to go with zoomshare to some extent.
You've probably heard about Backpack already, and
it's very much worth checking out. I've been
testing it for a few weeks now, and I wound up with
a work pattern for it that seems worth documenting.
Backpack will send you the contents of any page as
email, and will accept email to any page as a way
of adding to it. The format of the email containing
a page's contents is exactly the same as the format
it accepts to add to a page. In other words, email
is a round-trip format for Backpack content:
Backpack -> Email -> Backpack.
Since I use my Treo 650 as a laptop wherever I go,
Backpack has become the equivalent of a source
control system for my writing. Before I leave in
the morning, I send myself the content of my pages.
While I'm on the subway or waiting in a movie line,
I edit the text and give it a new title ("CodeZoo
2.0 rev. 4") and then send it right back to
Backpack. At the end of the day I delete the stale
versions.
This is a fantastic way to work. It doesn't matter
where I am, nor whether I have a network
connection, nor what sort of device is nearby, nor
what application set is installed on that device.
If I can get a Web browser, I can edit; if I can
get my email, I can edit. It's like a Blackberry
for my whole desktop.
I'd love it if I could send an email to Backpack
requesting the content of a named page (that is, a
"checkout"), and I'd love it if I could replace the
contents of a given note or list with contents of
an email (a "checkin"). I'd also prefer that the
email address for a page be mnemonic (currently,
the addresses are Flickr-style random words),
though I recognize that would raise a security
problem. But those are jimmies on the ice cream.
The breakthrough is the ease with which this
pattern has fit itself into my life. Congrats to
37signals on another great app.
http://www.backpackit.com/