This talk was great! But, I'd love to have seen some of the other ones Cliff offered (particularly the GC one). A quick search of google video/youtube turns up only his lock free hash table talk, which is great, but I've seen it already.

Anyone have links to more of this guy?

-c

So, this is just my experience, and I'm sure you won't listen or will have a different experience, but:

I tried taking electronic notes in maybe a half dozen undergrad math classes using a Newton message pad in ink mode. I believe that I did significantly more poorly in those classes than if I would have used pen and paper. It was just too futzy. The Newton worked fine, because it wasn't trying to recognize, but the added layer of technology didn't justify itself in terms of the potential but unrealized benefits of search- or store-ability.

I did homework assignments in LaTeX and got quite fast in it, but not fast enough to take notes with it using a keyboard. (Although I sometimes felt like I got points off because my work was too easy to read!) The classes I did best in I took pen and paper notes and then later transcribed and condensed these into LaTeX study guides.

On the flip side, for less notation-focused classes, like say, literature, it was awesome to be able to search my electronic notes and I think this justified the effort in changing my handwriting so the Newton would read it. I still see the effects of this in my writing today!

Good luck!

-c