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Taking Flashcards Deluxe for a Spin: A Brief Review

May 3, 2014 by Helmut

Recently, a reader recommended Flashcards Deluxe to me, a spaced review software for iOS and Android. He was looking for an app that could also be used on a Kindle Fire and settled on this program. Being myself an avid user of flashcard software, I decided to get the version for Android and take it for a spin. I tested it over a period of three weeks and reviewed it using a specific set of criteria. I decided to use Flashcards Deluxe for two specific purposes:

Studying Chinese characters and vocabulary. I want to add and review characters and vocabulary on the fly, alternating between an Android mobile and a PC or Mac.
Creating summary questions and answers while reading a non-fiction book to remember the important information.

In this post, you will read more about use case 1 since it calls for the creation of more complex flashcards, that is, three-sided flashcards containing English text, Chinese characters, images for some obscure characters and components, and sound. Everything stated should, however, be transferable.

Here are a summary and recommendations based on my experience with Flashcards Deluxe

I have found Flashcards Deluxe (FCD) to be a capable spaced review/repetition program. Reviewing flashcards is fun with this app. The review interface is straight-forward and intuitive: just swipe to the left (I know the card), down (I don’t know the card), or up (I know it well) to communicate with the program. Creating and editing cards is not quite as intuitive, but also works well after some getting used to the user interface. Three- and more-sided flash cards are also supported and worked well for my use cases.
Consider this app a strong contender if you are looking to primarily create and learn with flashcards on Android or/and iOS (e.g., an iPhone or iPad). It also supports downloading decks from the popular sites Cram.com (formerly Flashcard Exchange) and Quizlet.
FCD is not available for Windows/Mac, so review and synchronization with a PC/Mac companion are not possible. Users can, however, establish a workflow to create and edit cards on a PC/Mac via Excel/a text editor and cloud services. Import and export are facilitated via an Internet connection and a cloud service, such as Dropbox or the developer’s website.
I used Flashcards Deluxe and Excel to create flashcards and Dropbox to exchange the information. This setup allowed me to efficiently create and edit cards on both an Android phone and a PC. (See the workflow below.)

Updated Version for Remember Everything You Want and Manage the Rest

April 16, 2014April 16, 2014 by Helmut

I’ve spent quite some time during the past few months updating Remember Everything You Want and Manage the Rest. The new version is 1.1 and available on Amazon. All illustrations, maps, screenshots, and tables have been redone with a higher resolution and color adjustments to allow for better viewing on the new Kindles and tablets. …

Managing Kindle Highlights and Notes in Zotero, Evernote, and OneNote

April 21, 2014February 4, 2014 by Helmut

Amazon’s Kindle allows you to highlight passages in books and take notes. Do you want to export and organize these highlights and notes, so that you can archive, review, search, and share them? Then this post is for you.

Let me put forward some suggestions on how you can save and manage a Kindle book’s annotations together with its bibliographic information in your Zotero library. We are also going to look at saving Kindle annotations in Evernote and OneNote and linking these notes to a Zotero library. The exported annotations will allow us to jump directly to the corresponding locations in the book. For more info on Zotero, please check this post.

In the following, I use Spark!: How exercise will improve the performance of your brain, by John J. Ratey and Eric Hagerman to illustrate the procedure.

Let’s get started by saving the book’s bibliographic information to Zotero

Find the book’s sales page on Amazon.
Open your Zotero library, open the collection (here Brain Improvement) in which you want to save the book’s information and Kindle annotations, and click the book symbol:

This will save the book’s bibliographic entry as an item in your Zotero library.

Next, we are going to retrieve the highlights and notes for the book

Syncing Zotero with Dropbox and Between Several Computers

July 22, 2013July 21, 2013 by Helmut

In this post I want to shed some light on how you can sync your Zotero library between different computers, and between your computer and Dropbox, a popular cloud storage service. Due to the nature of the matter, what follows is somewhat technical, but don’t let that deter you. Once setup, the synchronization works automatically in the background, without any further effort.

In a previous post, I introduced Zotero, a popular free research tool by the Roy Rosenberg Center for History and New Media of George Mason University. As a brief recap: Zotero allows you to organize all your research sources and create a complete digital library with the click of a few buttons. To learn more about this fantastic tool and why every knowledge worker should consider using it, please check this post.

Recommended approach for syncing Zotero between different computers.

Zotero allows you to synchronize everything via its own cloud storage service, Zotero Storage. “Everything” includes:

the Zotero data (i.e., the database with all bibliographic information, tags, and notes)
the Zotero files (i.e. attachments, such as PDF documents, videos, books, and webpage snapshots)

The basic plan (upto 300 MB) is free. 2GB will cost you $1.67 per month ($20 per year), and 6 GB set you back $5 per month ($60 per year). IMO, Zotero Storage should be your first consideration as it is very easy to setup and manage, it is affordable, and your payments support the up-keeping of the infrastructure.

There are, however, some good reasons why you might want to employ a different method to sync your Zotero files:

You have a very large number of attachments or some very large attachments.
You have already subscribed to a service like the popular Dropbox, and would rather avoid paying for an additional cloud storage service.
You have a very slow or expensive internet connection, but have your computers connected via a local area network.
You are looking for a solution to create a local backup for your files (and database).

(The database is usually below the free storage limit and should always be synchronized via Zotero’s cloud service.)

Here then are some alternative solutions you can employ:

A Walk in Tropical Battambang – Applying the Journey Method

June 17, 2013June 17, 2013 by Helmut

Let me take you on a walk along a street in Battambang, a city in tropical Cambodia. But this is no ordinary walk. We are preparing a memory filing system for the Journey Method. The Journey Method is another name for the Method of Loci, a memory technique devised more than 2000 years ago in ancient Greece. Please read my post Memory Palaces and the Method of Loci for background information.

Before we start, here are some bits about this intriguing city: Battambang is located in northwestern Cambodia, about 100 kilometers east of the border with Thailand. The town of 200000 is the capital of Battambang province, the rice bowl of Cambodia. I first came to this fascinating place in 1999 during an extended trip through South East Asia.

The name Battambang literally means “Lost Stick.” As the story goes, a peasant came into the possession of a wooden stick, which turned out to have magic powers. The farmhand could control the cows by just throwing his stick. Bored of tending to the cows, he decided to use his magic stick to overthrow the king. His reign didn’t last for long though: After seven years, he was overthrown by the former king’s son. In the process, the magic stick was lost and Battambang got its name. (Bat = lost, Tambang = stick) The people of Battambang are still looking for the stick. A statue was since built for the stick-wielding farmer, and today people come to pray for good luck to Ta Tambang (Grandfather stick).

Back to the Journey Method: My objective was to design a journey along a familiar route that can be used as a memory filing system.

Uncage your ideas with Brutethink, a Highly Effective Creativity Technique

April 8, 2020June 4, 2013 by Helmut

Why should you read this?

Brutethink can help you to overcome a blank mind and unleash a river of ideas for any challenge or question you may have.

In a previous post, we introduced classical brainstorming as a technique to come up with new ideas. We posed a specific question, problem, or challenge and tried to list as many ideas as possible on how to solve this challenge. Usually this technique leads to more ideas than we can possibly implement.

Sometimes, however, our mind goes blank when faced with a question. At other times, even after having brainstormed on a challenge for quite some time, we are still not happy with our ideas. Somehow, we need some fresh sparks.

Today’s Cappuccino is different – They must have changed the coffee mixture

May 14, 2013May 14, 2013 by Helmut

The waiter in my favorite coffee shop just brought me this nice Cappuccino – with two Chinese characters written on it. She is learning Chinese and – knowing that I know some – she wanted to practice. She certainly did get my attention.

I was immediately pulled out of my train of thought – mentally, I had been mulling over yesterday – and admired my Cappuccino. I erased the characters by stirring them with a spoon and started savoring it. It tasted a lot richer than usual. It certainly tasted a lot better than yesterday’s coffee. For a moment, I wondered whether they had changed the coffee mixture, but then it dawned on me: This coffee wasn’t any different from the one yesterday. It wasn’t any different from the many I had had in this café before. I was different today: This coffee had gotten my full attention.

Reflecting on it for a moment, I couldn’t even recreate the taste of yesterday’s coffee. I could not remember what it tasted like. It must have tasted like most of the “Cappus.” So of course, it couldn’t have been a match for today’s Cappuccino.

Book Launch: Remember Everything You Want and Manage the Rest

May 12, 2016May 1, 2013 by Helmut

Dear Friends,

I am delighted to announce that my book – Remember Everything You Want and Manage the Rest – has been launched on Amazon Kindle.

UPDATE, Thursday, May 12: Remember Everything You Want and Manage the Rest (version 1.1) is available on Amazon. This is the time to read it!

What is this book is all about?

It is a no-nonsense guide for anyone who wishes to improve their memory and learning and acquire powerful techniques and tools to organize information from all kinds of sources.

It merges highly effective learning and memory improvement techniques with information and knowledge management to provide a complete solution for students, professionals, and life-long learners. The techniques are accompanied by easy-to-follow examples.

Brainstorming II: How Do You Decide which Ideas to Implement?

July 6, 2016April 12, 2013 by Helmut

In a previous post, we have shed some light on what brainstorming is and how to do it. The result of brainstorming could be:

A flipchart full of idea cards
A list or an outline with ideas
A Mind map

You will certainly ask, “Now what’s next?”

Suppose we have done a family brainstorming session on “How can we make our family happier?” As result, we have gotten a flip chart full of ideas.

While some ideas, such as being friendly and helpful, might depend on a personal commitment only, the majority will likely require further work and clear priorities.

We will not be able or willing to realize all ideas. After all, our energy is limited, and some ideas might not be worth doing.

This post suggests an easy-to-follow road map, which includes Filtering, Idea Development, Multipoint Voting, and the Decision Matrix.

Remember Everything You Want and Manage the Rest

May 1, 2013March 19, 2013 by Helmut

Dear Friends,

I have written a book titled “Remember Everything You Want and Manage the Rest” which is due to come out in early April 2013. I want you to read it. 🙂

Update 30 April, 2013:

I am delighted to announce that the book has been launched on Amazon Kindle. Thank you all for your great support!

Click here for the book launch post and the latest news.

It is a no-nonsense book for students, professionals, life-long learners, and everyone else who wants to improve their memory and learn powerful techniques to take notes and organize information from all kinds of sources. It merges classical learning and memory improvement techniques and modern computer tools in an effective way.

Memorization is Not Enough

Most traditional memory books focus exclusively on memorizing something.

Here are a summary and recommendations based on my experience with Flashcards Deluxe

Let’s get started by saving the book’s bibliographic information to Zotero

Next, we are going to retrieve the highlights and notes for the book

Recommended approach for syncing Zotero between different computers.

Memorization is Not Enough

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