Because of the size limitations of the old ‘PST’ format under Office 2003, those emails are spread across 10 different PST files.  And to help me find those emails (otherwise why file them in the first place), I have a fairly complex set of folders and sub folders.  3,500 of them.

I therefore have all kinds of problems trying to find emails (but that is for another post).  With that many folders I have problems filing messages in the first place.

I’m not sure if you’ve used Outlook’s filing capabilities very much, but they leave a lot to be desired.  Basically you can move a message to a folder or copy it there.  In either case you need to manually navigate to the destination folder.  Even with Outlook 2010′s improvements the process is still very cumbersome.

That is where ‘SimplyFile‘ comes in.  There’s a little company called TechHit based out of San Francisco that I came across a couple of years ago that develops cool add-ins for Outlook.  My favourite is SimplyFile, but TwinBox (which routes your Twitter feed to one or more Outlook folders) is also great.

SimplyFile allows ‘one click’ (literally!) filing of email messages.  It either learns or you train it where you file messages.  As time goes on it gets smarter and smarter to the extent that (in my case) over 90% of the time it knows exactly which one of my 3,500 folders I want to file something in.  In the example to the right it is suggesting a folder called ‘FY10 Investment Plan.  I can accept the suggestion and just push the button, or I can choose from a list of five suggestions (which moves the probability to about 98%), or I can select any file using autosuggest as I type the folder name.

It will also let me file all the messages in the thread with a single click, or create an appointment from the message.  If I need to go to one of the 3,500 folders I can do that too: I start typing the name and it autosuggests the folder.

Version 3.0 has just been released and includes enhanced support for the Ribbon on Outlook 2010.

At $49.95 it isn’t cheap, but it is worth it.  You can download a free 30 day trial here and I’ll guarantee that once you’ve used it for a couple of weeks there’ll be no going back.

For me it utterly fails in UI design. It is totally unintuitive, has few visual cues and behaves inconsistently. Do I swipe up, down, left or right? Is the missing text below or to the right of what I’m reading? Where did the two finger drag come from?

USA Today and Marvel comics have shown what happens when great UI design is applied to a familiar subject. Why can’t I browse PopSci on iPad like I can with the magazine? Popups? Drill downs? Embedded videos? In app browsing?

Sorry PopSci. Don’t even get me started on the pricing, but without a back to basics rethink of the entire concept behind the iPad version I’ll be sticking with good old fashioned paper version.

I’ve also downloaded Dragon Dictation, and if the first few attempts to use it on the iPhone are anything to go by it should make document creation on the iPad a doddle.

First impressions of the iPad generally?  Smaller than I expected, and much heavier. I knew it weighed 1.5 lbs before I picked it up, but the reality of it in your hands is deceiving.  It looks so delicate, but it seems to be built like a tank.

As an iPhone/iPod Touch user of two years, the user interface is utterly familiar and welcoming. Apple has done a great job of scaling the OS interface up to the new resolution, though why they chose the sparse icon layout is beyond me.

Haven’t had much chance to try many of the applications yet, but what I have tried works pretty well. The first minor disappointment is that I’ve yet to track down an iPad version of Facebook and the iPhone version looks lost in the middle of the screen. The ’2x’ feature demo’d by Jobs at the launch is a stopgap at best, and makes iPhone apps look clunky.  The second is wiggy the WordPress app that I’m using to write this. Cutting and pasting doesn’t work, and there is no way to detach pictures that are added to a post.

Despite these teething troubles, overall the experience is better than expected – especially the typing.  The iPad definitely does not feel like a “big iPhone” and the experience is much more akin to a Mac with a different UI. I like it. A lot.

More news in a little while.

Select as many cities as you wish and TimeScroller shows you whether it is a good time to call based on a red, yellow, green scale. You can select any local time and TimeScroller will show you the time in all the other locations.

Finally, TimeScroller can create an email with the times and locations listed. $1.99.

For road warriors it provides cheap access to the many varied hotspots in airports, hotels, etc.

On the downside, despite the very extensive list of supported locations I still run into hotels where iPass doesnt work.

There is also a functionality problem with some T-Mobile hotspots that I described in this post.

My final complaint is that unlike the iPass desktop app which lists available and supported wifi networks, the iPhone version required that you connect to the network before launching the app. This seems somewhat backward to me.

Despite these niggles it is a real money saver.

A must have for frequent travellers. Best of all it is free.