Idea Recording

Charles Cave gives a good summary of tool-set

Have you ever been doing one of the following activities when you suddenly had a flash of inspiration but had no means of recording your idea? You thought you could remember the idea until a convenient time to write it down, but you found the idea had vanished as quickly as it appeared?

• Taking a shower
• Sitting on the toilet
• Driving to work
• Taking the dog for a walk
• Washing the dishes
• Listening to music
• Sitting in a boring meeting at work

Types of recording materials

• Journals and Notebooks
• Inventors Notebooks
• Index Cards
• Coloured pens, pencils
• Micro-Cassette Recorder
• Computers
• Others
      *  Writing on napkins or drink coasters (in restaurants or pubs)
      * Electronic diary
      * Palmtop Computers such as Palm, Psion, PocketPC
      * Post it Notes
      * White boards - make sure you leave a selection of coloured whiteboard marker pens.
      * Email program. Type the idea into your email program and send it to your home email address.
      * Simple text editor programs on your computer, such as Notepad, SimpleText or WordPad.
      * Perspex sheet and wax crayon – useful for the shower or swimming pool.
      * Stick sheets of butcher’s paper behind the toilet door and hand a pencil on a string. Encourage visitors to your house to add graffiti.
      * Hire a  personal assistant to follow you around and take shorthand.
      * Use your mobile phone to ring home and leave your idea on your home answering machine.