small steps

I've finally updated my website. It took 3 years, a new version of RapidWeaver, and emails to developers who no longer had up-to-date versions of the themes that I'd originally used. But now, everything is back as it was except that it's newer, updated, and importantly, updatable.

Next project (well... next on the list that could be entitled "online presence"): updating this blog a little more frequently.

Letter from Connecticut

I can't bring myself to see when I last posted... but I'm moved to write something in response to the snow here in Connecticut. I'll not hide the fact that I love it. But it comes at a cost. And not just to the town (er.... what town?) that have to clear the roads (which they do with an efficiency that is quite extraordinary), and the folks who get stranded etc. etc. No... I'm talking about losing the 200lb concrete lids off the septic, and the top inch off the gravel driveway, both through over-zealous plowing. Or, as we Brits spell it, ploughing. We've a ton (or more) of gravel to somehow rake back onto all 700ft of driveway... And I'm told that I can't volunteer my graduate students to do it. Really? I can't?

When will it end??

I thought that when I gave up the editorship of Cognition, I'd be done with it... after 8.5 years of managing zillions of manuscripts each year, it was time to return to some semblance of a normal life. But of course, the manuscripts that I had chosen to handle myself were still in the system and I felt I had a responsibility to see those through. Silly me... Turns out there were 130 of those. As of this morning, there are still 20 left. Which means that I've so far, this year, processed 110 unique manuscripts this year, and written 185 action letters! So it's not as much fun as I thought it would be, not being Editor-in-Chief...

The new semester is in full swing. But with 34 degree heat expected tomorrow, I don't think we'll be doing much swinging outside. Won't be long before we're all looking forward to some wintery relief from the heat. But today's Labor Day (the equivalent, I believe, of May Day holidays in Europe). So no work today... just a few action letters...

I love this brain

I had a small part to play in conceiving of the analyses which resulted in the following image (if it were bigger, you'd see lines more clearly between some of the blobs, and those lines show that some blobs are connected: when there's activity in one, there's activity in the other). Thanks to Z. and K. for turning an idea into data!

The perils of a good To Do list...

After 16 flights in just 9 weeks, across 3 continents and 6 countries, it is little surprise that I got way less done than I should have, and that my To Do list has grown to such an extent that if all my items were laid end-to-end they would reach between here and eternity... In fact, it took so long to compile the list that in the time it took me to do that, I could have completed a substantial number of those To Dos and turned them into Now Done's (Dones?). My resolution for the rest of the week is to stop adding To Do's and to start Doing Do's. Oh... oh dear... that just doesn't sound right at all...

My attempts, when not adding to my To Do list, to whip up support for TagNotate continue unabated and shamelessly. Go TagNotate!

And you? Go Review TagNotate!

TagNotate 1.1 released

Yep... yet another version hits the app store today! Lots of improvements, and more still to come. But... we need more reviews! For reasons that escape everyone, a review written on e.g. the US App Store doesn't appear on the UK App Store even though it's the very same software! So this is the blogger's equivalent of begging (!) - please consider downloading the app, giving it a try, and writing a review on the App Store. It's still free for another few weeks as it picks up steam. There's at least one more major release (1.2) before we let it run its course for a while. If Kickstarter can crowdsource funding, surely I can crowdsource reviewing?!

To make it particularly easy for you, you can download it from here. And to write a review, scroll down to the bottom of TagNotate's page on the App Store, and under where it says Customer Reviews, click on Write a Review. Don't forget to select some (high!) number of stars as well! But a written review is what we need to get noticed by web sites and other blogs.

And except for a new version of TagNotate, there's not much else to tell. I'm in London for a surprisingly cold and damp week. Hanging out in Café Nero where the coffee is excellent, the furniture comfortable, and the wifi fast. Turns out, Café Nero was founded by another Gerry... I wonder if he wants to invest in TagNotate?

TagNotate: Day 3

Three days in, and 1100 downloads later, it's time to celebrate. TagNotate is super easy to use: Simply download, use, and review on the Mac App Store. Doesn't get much easier than that. Seriously, though, we need all the reviews we can get. Spread the word: Rooftops, social media, whatever it takes! It's still free.

Am currently in Barcelona en route from Australia to San Sebastian. Not only is it a great place to celebrate, it's also a great place to recuperate after the 30 hours of traveling from the southern hemisphere... (actually, recuperation hardly needed. A gin and tonic did the trick!).

Tagnotate for Mac. Out now!

Yep... we've finally released Version 1.0 of Tagnotate for OS X. It's free on the Mac App Store for the first month - 400+ downloads just yesterday! Ideal for annotating PDFs and, uniquely, tagging those annotations so that you can use tags to collect all your annotations across all your documents in a single place. We've even got a short video introduction:



It's actually easier to use than it is to write a review of it on the Mac App Store. Which is a crying shame because that's what I'd really like everyone to do. Please? Pretty please?

Long time no write...

I can't bear to look at when I last posted to my blog. A year? 8 months? More? Less? It's hard to explain why, when life is so very good here in my new home (Connecticut, USA), the combination of moving house, job, continent, family, office, currency, mortgage, culture, can be so exhausting, time-consuming, and yet at the end of it all, so satisfying. Sacrifices had to be made, and one of them, was my online presence here (wherever "here" is). If I can, I intend to make up for the missing months with a more regular presence. If for no other reason than that I owe it to my past, and to my future, to maintain a record of why coming here is, as the saying goes, better than sliced bread (not that I can eat the stuff, but at least I remember what it was like!).

So... stay tuned. Oh, and download TagNotate on the App Store. Never mind why. Just do it! It's free. And write a review if you can/want. I'd appreciate it. The desktop version is coming out just as soon as we can figure out a workaround to a bug that Apple have yet to fix.

Finally - a rundown of major events in the past year: I'm a year older. Can't get much more major than that... And UConn have agreed to found the Connecticut Institute for Brain and Cognitive Science. Apparently, I'm its Director. But were it not for the vision of my colleagues at UConn, this would not (and could not) have happened. Other news: My apple watch has yet to arrive, my new piano will likely beat it to the front door, and if I don't get consumed by Lyme disease-harboring ticks beforehand, my next academic publication is going to be my best ever! (I continue to believe that the life of an academic cannot get any better if every couple of years or so one can publish something about which one can say that).

Still to come: why I think UK academia has much to learn from (some) US academia, why STOP signs oddly work (uh-oh... it's about time I got a US driving license), and why I love my personal trainer... yes - I do have a personal trainer: She's worth every penny/cent/dollar, and were it not for the fact that my 91 yr-old father got a trainer, I might never have appreciated the merits of this particular form of torture.

Until next time.

Boston Globe sees 85-page Harvard report into Hauser's misconduct

You can read the Boston Globe's report into this here. They got hold of the report under the Freedom of Information Act. One interesting tidbit from the Globe article: "The committee said it carefully considered Hauser’s allegation that people in his laboratory conspired against him, due to academic rivalry and disgruntlement, but did not find evidence to support the idea." So he dumped on his colleagues (presumably junior colleagues as otherwise they would have their own labs and wouldn't be in his). It doesn't get any worse than that.

Guerilla marketing at the Apple Store

All 4 iMacs are pointing at www.tagnotate.com. Sales have actually increased since I started doing this! (Am not convinced these guerrilla tactics are the cause, though!) If only I could change that poster at the back...

And here is an actual representative review:

Most innovative PDF annotation tool on the market, its unprecedented ! ★★★★★
by Jozsef - Version 1.2 - Apr 28, 2014

Having tags for annotations offers a way to organize your annotations and to connect the dots between bits of informations in a way that is not possible to do by any other PDF annotation app. I've been using GoodReader for all my PDF annotations but having tags for annotations in TagNotate convinced me to switch to TagNotate as my main PDF reader and annotation tool, its just so much more powerful way to organize and process information. TagNotate is a must have app for any serious learner / note taker. Enjoy the power of tags!

We're still hoping someone will write a review of TagNotate on one of the big review sites. Please spread the word!

 Tagnotate – Innovation in Annotation ™

Giveaway: Tag your annotations for free!

TagNotate – the ONLY app that allows you to tag annotations across your PDFs, and the ONLY app that I have ever developed – got several (5-star!) reviews across the UK, US, and German app stores, but when you go find the app on the app store, the stars are dimmed out, and you get this:

We have not received enough ratings to display an average for the current version of this application.

Apple require a critical mass of ratings before it displays an average rating. No one seems to know what that critical mass is. So... we need reviews. Honest reviews. Though to be as honest as those reviews, I'd be happy even with dishonest reviews! Actually, we don't even need reviews. Just ratings.

So here are some promo codes that will allow you to download the app for free (it's just like paying for the app - you get updates when they come out, etc. Just paste the code into where it says Redeem on the App Store. You'll save yourself $2.99). We don't get to see which promo codes have been used, just that some number have been used. So I'll post more if it looks like they get used up. Or, if you find that none of the codes work, just email info@tagnotate.com and say you saw this on my blog. There is some legal stuff that I have to post, from Apple, but I'll put it in very tiny print...

Tagnotate – Innovation in Annotation ™

EP4TJYEKYEHF

4TJ3R69KPHLJ

JLKM334KLK3E

XRJEKH3XRF7P

HEX674M9XFT3

Thank you! And do please write a review or click the stars to rate it! Not that I'm begging... but let's face it: Flappy Birds was rubbish as a PDF reader, and you certainly couldn't tag your annotations with it... but if necessary, I will rename the app Flappy Tags...

Codes expire on 22nd April 2014 and is redeemable only on the iTunes Store. Requires an iTunes account, subject to prior acceptance of license and usage terms. To open an account you must be above the age of 13. Compatible software and hardware, and internet access (fees may apply) required. Not for resale. Full terms apply; see www.apple.com/legal/itunes/ww/. For more information, see www.apple.com/support/. This app is provided to you by Tim and Gerry Inc.

TagNotate 1.2 waiting for approval!

It's been a hectic time:

On the domestic front, my father and I are each moving house (the two overlap to the extent that I've been helping sort through the layers of family possessions which, rather like geological structures across time, get put down gradually over an extended period, with each new layer of things covering up the previous layer). While planning my own move, I'm also planning the house into which I shall move - it's being built right this minute... er... well... no... not unless they're working through the night out there in the sub-zero temperatures of Connecticut. I had no idea that choosing appliances for the kitchen is so painful, or that 15% of refrigerators break, or that the phrases "contemporary staircase" and "made in Connecticut" do not co-occur on Google. Or anywhere else.

As exciting as all this is, I find it hard not to extol the virtues of that other big 'thing' in my life just now: TagNotate. Version 1.2 is with Apple waiting for approval before it can go live on the App Store. It's hugely improved. And we have a new marketing tagline:

Among the changes - iOS 7 look-and-feel, and importing of files and folders in zip archives. I used it recently for a grant panel that I had to prepare for, and it took me less than half the usual time it takes me to read, annotate, summarise, and review each grant. It's such a shame that I can't review it myself on the app store! So if anyone's reading this... please download and review it! Better still, tweet about it, or post about it on your own blog! And once you've done that, you could even consider using it...

Other major changes in my life: Cognition has an Editor-in-Chief-Elect who will replace me from Jan 1st 2015. I daren't look at how many manuscripts I've made decisions on during my time on the journal. I think that by the time I leave it could be around 4,500. Which reminds me: I'd best get back to working on #4269...

Subliminal advertisement:

Buy it. Download it. Review it. 

Annotate your PDFs. Tag your annot... nah... just buy it, and review it.

TagNotate: almost a review, on Gizmodo

The excitement continues. People are actually using the app, even though it was released less then a couple of weeks ago. Gizmodo said:

If you read a lot of articles, whether as eBooks or research articles, then this app is essential

TagNotate was selected as one of the best 5 apps for iPad released the week ending January 20th. Over one 4-month period towards the end of last year, 100,000 native iPad apps were released; that's around 4,000 per week. So Top 5 isn't so bad! Hopefully we'll get a few more reviews. Otherwise TagNotate will be in danger of blending into the darkness caused by the collective shadow of 500,000+ other apps on the iPad App Store. Ugh.

So... if YOU would like to evaluate the app with a view to writing a review, let me know (it shouldn't take much effort to find my email address) and I'll send you a promo code that will allow you to download the app and evaluate it for free. But at only £1.99 ($2.99) it won't break the bank.

Tagnotate: Annotate your PDFs and tag your annotations

Four years since inception...two years in development. Today's the day that TagNotate goes live. It's for annotating PDF documents on the iPad and it does something no other app does: it allows the user to assign tags to individual user-added annotations (notes, highlights, sketches, etc.). These user-definable tags can then be used to collect together annotations containing the same (one or more) tags, across single or multiple documents. No other application allows tagging of annotations, or the use of such tags to filter and aggregate notes and highlights across those files (and yes, the patent's pending and the trademarks also). You can even use the tags to filter your files so that only files containing annotations with the selected tags are shown in the file browser. And when you've aggregated the annotations you care about, you can copy them onto the clipboard, or email them directly. It sounds like an obvious thing to do, but surprisingly, no one else has done this before.

Buy it on the App Store...

Phew... that's just too much excitement for one day.

PhD positions (2) at the University of Connecticut

I shall be accepting applications for two PhD positions starting in the Fall of 2014 at UConn. If you'd be interesting in working with me, please send me an email with a brief description of your experience and interests. UConn has much to offer, including a graduate training program in Language Plasticity (broadly construed) and a vibrant inter-departmental cognitive science community. If you want to find out more about what I do, there is a reasonably accessible summary of my work over the past however many years that can be downloaded here - the last few sections describe my more recent work, as do my most recent papers with Yuki Kamide and with Nick Hindy (available from my website, or via google).

I'm back!

Yep... it's been a long time coming. And as I've said before: A lack of posts here is a real cause for concern: If you spot my absence for an extended period of time, you should send, as a matter of urgency, any of the following: money, chocolate, coffee, alcohol. Experience tells me that each of these crucial ingredients is useless on its own, and each works far better in the presence of the other (except for the coffee which should only be consumed with alcohol if in a Galliano Hotshot). A quick run down of what I've been doing in these past few months:

• editing (never ends...)
• despairing (about editing)
• caring (my dad was seriously ill, but is now recovered. I'd forgotten how much time it takes to cook three meals a day for someone!)
• researching
• despairing (about data)
• celebrating (other data)
• vacationing
• conferencing
• grant planning
• future at UConn planning
• entering into a contract to build a house in Connecticut!
• planning that house (with help!)
• admining (not mining for ads, but doing admin)
• despairing (about futility of admin)
• teaching
• despairing (about teaching)
• writing
• despairing (about lack of time in which to write)
• publishing the 2nd paper to come out of an amazing collaboration with the folks in Philadelphia
• patenting an 'invention' which will shortly see the light of day (we release the iOS App in January)
• despairing a bit more (about the difficulties of managing the development of an app while simultaneously trying to hold down what feels at times like three jobs: York, UConn, Cognition)

It sounds like a lot, and were it not for some fantastic support (from family, friends, King Richard (not the one under the carpark), James (not King James, but close), Brian (not the Life Of... but similarly life-changing) and colleagues scattered here and there) I wouldn't be nearly as cheery as I am! So stay tuned for more regular updates.

time has flown, and I'm about to...

The past few months have been a whirlwind of activity that has kept me away from here. Most notable amongst the flurry of excitement (can a flurry last for so many months?) has been the decision to move to the University of Connecticut (starting August 2014). So what with the visits, job talks, interviews, etc. etc. it's been a busy time. I'm also on the home-stretch to releasing an app for the iPad, a venture that has taken three years to reach this point. Stand by for more regular updates, and sneak peaks at the app.

Even more notable... by the time I leave on Sunday for the airport (taking the kids to New York and beyond) I shall have cleared the queues at Cognition. The first time since probably the middle of last year. I intend to celebrate in NY!

So... to that future me who will one day look back on this online diary, you will already know whether the app is as hugely successful as we all predict it will be, and whether my office at UConn will double as a bike store for the other faculty (I did indeed dream that the other night)... but for the current me, these are both still unknown. Please don't spoil it by reaching back into the past and telling me now what the future holds...

Christopher Ward

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to visit the offices of Christopher Ward, a british watch-making company offering a range of high-end watches at distinctively affordable prices. Their reputation is built on word-of-mouth, with multiple glowing reviews on the international watch forums. I'm in the process of putting together a series of short articles, written primarily by others, for their magazine and company blog on the Psychology of Time (I confess to not being amongst those that work on this topic, but I have friends who do). What I saw, and heard, was hugely exciting to a watch nerd.

The best thing about watches is that unlike smart phones, they don't come into quite the same degree of contact with those hazardous bacteria the likes of which can only be cleansed away with disinfectant wipes. And yes, I am the proud possessor of yet another watch. And it looks even better in person —on my person in fact— than it does in print.

On an unrelated note, my misgivings about the UK's obsession with the forthcoming "Research Excellence Framework" are growing to new highs as I hear various accounts of universities' strategies to inflate their ratings. The REF is an exercise in which university departments are rated each 7 years or so according to their research productivity and "impact". If it were not for the long queue of submissions at Cognition that require my attention, I would undoubtedly be ranting on the subject right now. I shall store it all up for next time.

Too busy to write, or wipe

It's a never-ending treadmill: teaching, marking (that's "grading" to our US cousins), supervising undergraduates, analysing data, reviewing grant applications and in my case, editing a journal. And whereas one cannot easily put a number to the quantity of teaching or marking or supervision or data, one can put a number to the number of manuscripts I see through from initial submission to either an accept or reject decision. This week (i.e. the very end of February) saw a milestone: Since taking on Cognition on June 1st 2006, I have seen through to completion just over 2,500 manuscripts. Which, across the 6 years and 9 months I've been doing this, works out at just over one a day, 7 days a week. Of course, that simply counts the final accept or reject decision letter. It doesn't count the letters in between asking for changes (I only wrote one of those each two days), nor does it take account of the time taken to choose reviewers for the 1,500 manuscripts I sent out to review (one each working day), and then, when the reviewers came back, the time I spent reading the reviews and the paper. Roll on Dec 31st 2014 when I shall release my precious into the editorial fires of Mount Doom. And then I shall be free.... free!!

But I love it. I just wish I had more time to devote to the other things I feel passionate about, such as the relationship between bacteria on iPhone screens and the University of York's insistence that paper towels in their kitchens are unhygienic and that a more hygienic experience is to dry your apple, or the hands you just cleaned to prepare your or someone else's food, in the toilet (for our US cousins... that's the room, not the piece of porcelain or, if you live your life on trains and planes as I do, the stainless steel). Yes: The University of York do in fact have an official policy that encourages hand-drying in the toilets and prevents its cleaners from supplying the (now empty) paper towel dispensers in the kitchens with paper towels. As for those iPhones, I can't really explain why so many have all sorts of nasty bacteria on them (first reported in the UK but then replicated a year later in the USA). I'm sure the University of York's policy can't help. But it seems to me that the simple solution, for keeping fecal contamination off your iPhone, is to use those little wipes pre-moistened with screen cleaner. That'll clean up the bacteria nicely. Though it might just sting a little.