A better way for me to capture my creativity
prod : http://cortex.karmanebula.com/
github: https://github.com/normalocity/cortex/issues
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I often get ideas, surges of inspiration, or just plain crazy ideas when it comes to code. It's fun. It drives me. It feels good.
One problem I've always had with this process is that (a) I sometimes jump onto an idea before I'm sure it's actually worth pursuing, or (b) I don't always get a chance to write stuff down. I wanted a super-easy way to capture these ideas - easy like a notebook.
For years I've used pen and paper that I carry around everywhere, because it's just so damn simple. Of course, sometimes you really want it in digital form, and online, but without all the hassles of signing up for some new, craptacular service.
It would also be nice if anyone could collaborate on it: so if I could send out a link, people were literally one click away from adding their own notes to mine.
After thinking it over this week, I came up with "cortex" - http://cortex.karmanebula.com/ - and over the last 10 hours I wrote the code and deployed it to Heroku.
You should try it - it's fun and cool (especially the sample link at the top):
* No signup * No sign-in (no facebook/twitter integration either) * No mailing lists * No plugin to install * No "access" or "sharing" groups to manage - you just start throwing ideas on the wall * Each scratch page or "cortex" just has a randomly generated 8-digit hex code for access: so long as you don't share your cortex URL with people who will vandalize it, then they only have a 1 in 4.2 billion chance of randomly landing on your page. That's probably all the protection you need for something that's intended to be short-lived anyway. * And hey, if you want to share a cortex with everyone on the net (as I have in the sample link at the top) that's super easy too.
I hope you enjoy.