OmniFocus on the iPhone – GTD to Go!

OmniFocus Released

Well, after last weeks announcement from Apple about the release of the Software Development Kit (SDK) for the iPhone (and iPod Touch) I was eager to see which people announced development of Getting Things Done apps for the iPhone.

I have had an iPhone since they came out in the US as I bought one and hacked it to work in the UK. Being a jail-broke phone, I would have loved some way to sync my tasks to the phone but there have to date been no workable solution. So the announcement of the SDK was met with glee.

Well, the OmniGroup, makers of OmniFocus have announced on their blog, and via there forums that they are already working on a iPhone and iPod touch native version of OmniFocus.

Further to the blog post, there was an interesting comment from Ken Case at OmniGroup about the sync functionality of the application.

The Mac and iPhone applications will be able to synchronize changes with each other through any WebDAV server (including Apple’s .Mac), so you won’t have to worry about plugging your iPhone into your Mac to synchronize your latest edits back and forth.

(Multiple Macs will also be able to synchronize with each other through the same WebDAV server, for those of you who might be wondering about that.)

Well, this news is great. I currently love my iPhone and OmniFocus set up but I rely upon the ability to send email from my iPhone to OmniFocus as a task (More coming in the next post about this). The ability to have working copies of my GTD system both on my MacBook Pro as well as my iPhone is fantastic. I can walk around with my entire GTD system in my Pocket and the ability to update this on the fly from anywhere in the world. Could this be the ultimate ubiquitous capture device?

Anyway, you can be sure I will be keeping abreast of further developments and I will also scour for other GTD apps planned for the iPhone.

Have a great day!

OmniFocus 1.0.1 Released

Leave a reply

Just got back from a nice weekend away with the family, turned my laptop on and OmniFocus 1.0.1 has been released.

Here is the list of updates in 1.0.1

Stability

Updated our error handling support to catch more cases where there is a possible problem and promote it to a crash, so that we can then fix it. Since OmniFocus always keeps its data in a saved state, the net effect of this is that any such exception won’t be able to cause data corruption.

Copy a workaround for a bug in Mac OS X 10.5 that can cause a crash when using the keyboard to navigate between cells in the outline.

Fixed exception where committing editing on a row caused that row to be collated into a different group.

Fixed a few glitches in the AppleScript suite that could cause scripting errors.

Fixed exceptions when parsing some European date formats. Updated the date parsing to log details about the date format if there is a problem parsing a date, allowing the user to more easily gather the relevant information in the future.

Fixed an occasional hang when performing a manual check for updates when no updates are available.

Clicking on a link to a recently deleted task will no longer cause an error.

We now ignore and log exceptions raised from Growl.

Fixed bug causing the available/due soon/overdue timer to fire too often in some cases.

iCal syncing will now deal with unnamed calendars.

Interface

The Perspectives menu now always has options to make a new perspective or save a snapshot of the current view settings into the current perspective.

The Clear Perspective command has been folded into the Revert to Default View command, so you don’t have to take two steps to get back to normal.

Actions created in context mode should no longer appear to be missing their project, once it is assigned.

Updated usage of shadows in the interface to match changes made in Mac OS X 10.5.

Empty projects with a start date will now get the normal project icon once its start date passes instead of getting stuck with the ‘pending’ badge.

The flag icon should now show up appropriately in HTML exports.

Miscellaneous

Various small updates to the online help.

Turned off some debug logging in the Clip-o-Tron 3000.

Software Update will now only show you builds on the same track that you are running. So, if you want to see sneakypeek builds, you’ll need to manually download one sneakypeek build main OmniFocus site.

Internationalization

Fixed several issues that would prevent internationalization. No localizations are in place, but those are in progress for a future release.

Already installed it and I am eager to try out some of the new functionality!

Be More Productive, buy a Large Monitor….continued

3 Replies

GTD with a large Monitor I wrote a post on the 1st of May about research that showed Large Monitors increased your productivity.

I am writing this on my 17″ MacBook Pro laptop and using the built in screen. I do have a 22″ Dell Monitor at home but the resolution is the same as on my MacBook Pro. I really want an Apple 30″ Cinema display and I have been waiting for what feels like an age for Apple to give it it’s long needed upgrade. I just know that if I spend the £1000 now and buy one, the day after Apple will upgrade it with a brand new shiny model and I will be as sick as a parrot.

Anyway, I was reading a post on Lifehacker about the very same topic and some of the readers comments were very interesting. The common consensus is that large monitors do help with work. Bottom line is that you can align more than one application up, so you are not currently switching between applications which I seem to spend a considerable amount of time doing.

So, do you have a large monitor? and if so, has it made a difference to your productivity?

Would love to hear from you all…

Also, if you have not done so, be sure to subscribe to this blog with your favorite RSS reader so you can keep up to date with all the posts.

File your Papers the GTD Way

2 Replies

After I posted the three videos from Heather Schlegel (aka heathervescent) I am happy to say that Heather contacted me (through the power of Trackbacks) and thanked me for promoting her site.

She just posted another message today telling me that her next video has just been completed, titled File Your Papers the GTD Way.

So, here is the next video and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

10 Step Course to Simply Get Things Done

Falling off, and getting back on the GTD Bandwagon

4 Replies

I am now back from Vegas and have some great posts to write, and I managed to come home with some cash, which is always a bonus after a trip to Vegas.

Anyway, I am sure there are loads of you have are not carrying out your GTD process as you should. Below are a set of three great Videos from Heather Schlegel (aka heathervescent). I really enjoyed them, and I am sure you will do too..

By the way, the original posts are located here, here, and here.

Nozbe For Getting Things Done – Project Sharing

2 Replies

Hi All, hope you are all having productive days!

Just been watching the fourth Nozbe Video courtesy of YouTube. The fourth video is about Project Sharing and is well worth a watch if you are looking to use Nozbe as your GTD application.

Just a recap about Nozbe.

Nozbe is a simple web-based gtd software, so you don’t need to install anything on your computer – just sign up for a free account and log in to manage your to-dos, tasks, notes and projects.

Forget Outlook’s to-do lists and other task managers. All they do is help generate long to-do lists that never get done and make you feel miserable and overwhelmed with the amount of to-dos and tasks.

Nozbe’s GTD software helps you process your to-do lists and get things done. With Nozbe your to-do lists and projects will shrink very quickly as you will get more done and stay in control!

I am at a convention in Vegas for the next few days so posts may be either non-existent, or rather blurred and non-sensical!

GTD Application OmniFocus Updated

YouTube to your iPhone or iPod – Tooble

1 Reply

I love YouTube, and have done since I first discovered it years ago. Now one of the annoyances with YouTube is that it does not allow you to download your movies locally.

I have, and love my iPhone and I know that I can use the inbuilt YouTube application to watch any YouTube video I want. However, I need to be really connected to a WiFi network in order for this to work as GPRS access is too slow for YouTube.

There are so many great GTD videos, such as the ones on the Online Nozbe GTD App that I would love the ability to download these and put these on my iPhone so that I can watch them at my leisure.

Well, I have now discovered a Mac application called Tooble. Tooble is a one stop shop for YouTube to iPod/iPhone video integration.

Tooble lets you browse, search and download any video from YouTube and put it on your iPod, iPhone or Apple TV. You can also save them to watch on your computer.

Tooble automatically converts YouTube video to MP4 format and then sends them to iTunes so that the next time you plug in your iPod or iPhone they’ll be there for you to watch.

This is currently only available for Mac but the site does state that a Windows application is coming soon.

Boost your Productivity with MindManager – Free Webinar

3 Replies

I am a real advocate of Mind Mapping.

I have just read on the MindJet Blog about an upcoming Free Webinar on the 7th of February that covers Boosting your Productivity with MindManager.

Here is the blurb from the MindJet Website..

Don’t we all want to work smarter, think creatively, and save time? One of the challenges most of us have is getting a handle on all the ideas, plans, and implementation details, as well as organizing them and sharing them with others.

In this session, we will see a demonstration of MindManager from Mindjet and how it can help us improve strategic alignment, bring products to market faster, and shorten project timelines to drive business performance.

You have to register for the Webinar and more information can be found at the MindJet Website.

I will be signing up for the event although I normally watch them after the event due to the time differences in the UK. It is free, and no doubt we will all learn something.