iPhone

DHH on iPhone 2.0's Glitches

Merlin — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:52:28 -0400

iPhone 2.0: The glory wore off in wash - (37signals)

[via DF]

While acknowledging the complexity of Apple's ambitious launch, David Heinemeier Hansson says iPhone 2.0 wasn't ready for prime time on a number of levels.

Combined, it’s a rather big disappointment. I’m surprised just how much impact the small griefs have when they add up to a lack of confidence in the system. It’s a great example of the cumulative effects of problems. They have an exponential damage on the experience. [...]

It feels a little like Apple got swept up in knocking down every single detraction point from 1.0 that they lost sight of what everyone loved about the first version. Yes, it got cheaper (not really), faster (some times), installable apps, and GPS, but it lost a bit of Apple soul in the process.

David also has a laundry list of complaints on stability and performance. I went through his items and ticked off each of the ones I've also noticed (with a 01-10 for how big a problem it's been for me):

[ 0^ ] "Annoying delays all over the place." [MDM: Kinda. I guess that's how I'd describe it.]
[ -- ] "Changing to the SMS view can take more than 10 seconds at times." [MDM: Mmm. I haven't seen this. But then I hate SMS and avoid it like the plague.]
[ -- ] "Transitions between apps are being dropped entirely or cut short (the latter looks like a UI stutter)." [MDM: Nope.]
[ -- ] "It some times requires 3 clicks on the fast-forward button in iTunes to get a response." [MDM: Nope.]
[ 07 ] "The screen will freeze for 4-5 seconds not accepting any input, then replay ALL your feverous tapping when it finally returns." [MDM: Oh yeah. Feels like a page out.]
[ 09 ] "Some times the keyboard will not keep up with your input (and I’m not that fast of a typer)." [MDM: I'm a *really* slow typer and I get this almost nonstop]
[ 07 ] "I’ve had applications crash numerous times." [MDM: Poof. Multiples a day.]
[ 10 ] "The entire phone has crashed twice." [MDM: Closer to a half-dozen times for me.]
[ 02 ] "Restarting the phone kinda helps some of these problems, but not for long and it feels so dirty and Windows-like to do." [MDM: I guess. More opinion than observation.]

I'll also add a few of my own:

Wildly-varying response errors. Similar to the screen freeze I guess, I'm getting substantial lag time -- especially between ending a drag gesture and having the thing I was trying to change register the movement. I'm constantly selecting the "wrong" thing for example. Over and over.
The crazy-long Backup time in iTunes. Wow. Can I request a lot fewer of those?
Apps I've removed from the phone mysteriously reappear after the next sync
Hangs. Huge, old-school, everything freezes, hold all the buttons and wait til restart hangs.

Hm. I hadn't really thought about all these at once, but, yeah. That's a big bunch of broken. Let's hope an update is out soon that addresses some of these.

”DHH on iPhone 2.0's Glitches” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on July 23, 2008. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

Apple's iPhone Battery Advice

Merlin — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:32:55 -0400

Apple - Batteries - iPhone

Apple has 11 tips for increasing battery life on your iPhone.

Turn off 3G

Minimize use of location services

Fetch new data less frequently

Turn off push mail

Auto-check fewer email accounts

Minimize use of third-party applications

Turn off Wi-Fi

Turn off Bluetooth

Use Airplane Mode in low- or no-coverage areas

Adjust brightness

Turn off EQ

In a nutshell? Use it as an iPod. But not too often.

NB: there’s appears to still be an instance of “Push” in there. Was the decision to pull that term just for the non-email stuff?

”Apple's iPhone Battery Advice” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on July 23, 2008. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

Apple Device Security: Big Temptation to Dumb-Down

Merlin — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:42:33 -0400

Chairman Gruber recently discovered (via his sharp-eyed reader, Earl Misquitta), that the aforementioned iPhone Remote application can also be used as a virtual keyboard for entering search text, login information, and what have you on your AppleTV. Seeing the typed characters appear on the TV screen as you type them is simply magical. So, if, like me, you’re in the amazingly tiny sliver of the Venn diagram for people who own both these products, this is hugely convenient, and what a welcome trick it is.

As I’ve alluded to before, the AppleTV’s torturous keyboard entry (via the hardware Apple Remote’s 4-way joystick) is abysmal. In 21 uninterrupted years of using Apple products, it’s probably the most consistently frustrating and poorly-designed interface I’ve encountered. I literally hate using it.

The ability to enter text via the superior (but far from perfect) iPhone keyboard is wonderful but it doesn’t and can’t address a deeper problem with the keyboard-challenged devices Apple are focused on vending right now: assy and annoying text entry encourages the use of crap passwords. This is bad, and here’s why.

Sliding backward

We’ve all heard the lectures about not using your ferret’s name as The Single Password™ for everything you do, and my sense is that, over the years, a lot of us have tried to get better about password hygiene — especially as more of our stuff moves into an online cloud.

But my entirely anecdotal opinion is that the iPhone, the iPod Touch, and the AppleTV each tempts their users to slide back to dumbing-down their passwords in exchange for better ease-of-use. The most annoying device in your chain ends up driving the passwords you use for everything. Right now, it’s such a pain to enter a secure password on a device like the iPhone or the AppleTV, that I’m betting a few of you have already fallen back on your ferret. Or “pencil.” Or your ATM PIN.

This is an unbelievably bad idea, but what are the options if this is a device you need to use a lot?

A real-world problem

I’m a fervent 1Password user and (unpaid) evangelist, so I don’t suffer from this conundrum quite as badly when using Safari on the iPhone. 1Password generates and remembers secure passwords for me, then lets me enter them on my phone in a few seconds via a password-protected bookmarklet. Imperfect, but a big step up over nothing.

Of course, I’m still SOL when the iTunes App Store wants me to (again again again) manually re-enter my password in order to download apps on my iPhone. I’m not made of stone. This sucks. I’ll even be the first to admit — solely on the basis of how vexing the AppleTV (and non-Safari on iPhone) password entry is — that I’ve been sorely tempted to move to a more trivial password. But I’ve held out.

If you’re using MobileMe, or Google’s apps like Gmail, or any of the other myriad cloud functionalities that store a lot of personal information, it’s just not worth assuming the risk in return for a bit of convenience.

”Four digits? What a pain.”

To make this nuttiness even more frustrating, every day I watch friends entering 4 or 5 character passwords over an iPhone that they don’t even bother to auto-lock (“Meh, I use it too much. It’d be a pain.”). Understand: this is a portable device on which all their email, contact information, and logged-in web accounts live. They’re one drunken taxi ride away from a potentially significant privacy crisis.

While leaving a phone unlocked in public does blow my mind, I think I understand how we got here. For 30 years now, banking customers have tolerated four-digit ATM PINs because a) they’re convenient, and b) our bank assumes some of the risk associated with replenishing a generic pile of money whenever anything goes wrong. After all, it’s not your money that gets stolen; it’s the bank’s electronic representation of your money. And that’s easy enough to replenish.

But is four digits (or a trivial password) enough to protect your irreplaceable private data? Are you willing to assume that risk? It’s unbelievable that the question even needs to be asked. But, I’m going to say, no. But, that’s where we are right now. In a place where ease-of-use is trumping the good sense we’ve developed to take this shit seriously.

Help a brother out, Apple

I think it’s time for Apple and its users to start treating a device such as the iPhone like the powerful little computer that it really is. That means having to risk introducing some inconvenience and complexity by looking at things like:

Default automatic iPhone locking - make the default an auto-lock of 15 minutes
Make iPhone unlocking easier - consider adding a complex gesture or other “secret knock”
Integrated password management - 1Password is great (I’d say it’s even essential), but Apple should step up to help with the heavy lifting from the moment a device is activated. They made the Keychain; they can make it easier to use on an iPhone
Look into novel text entry - Is QWERTY keyboard entry the only option people will understand? Are those alphabetical monstrosities on the AppleTV really the best they can come up with? Can the boffins in R&D not scare up some less soul-crushing options?
Empowering power users - Even if Apple’s devices ship with the current features exposed in the current default state, I’d love to see Advanced options that can be flipped on by nuts like me. I have to imagine that UNIX nerds, security gurus, and enterprise paranoiacs would welcome the introduction of tougher security. The best and easiest start would be the ability to allow an entirely user-configurable passcode for unlocking. Quick win.

How to Auto-Lock your iPhone

If you’re out and about right now consider doing this on your iPhone:

Go Home, then hit Settings > General
Hit Password Lock and Enter a memorable 4-digit code (then re-enter)
On the Passcode Lock screen set Require Password to After 5 Minutes (or whatever suits you)
Back in General hit Auto-Lock and set it to 5 Minutes (or, again, whatever you prefer)
You’re done; your phone will now lock itself automatically

At least now your screen door is latched. Go, moblog, and prosper with at least a bit more security in your life.

The Question to You

Has iPhone or AppleTV changed your practices around passwords? Any features you’d like to see to make your Apple device more secure?

”Apple Device Security: Big Temptation to Dumb-Down” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on July 22, 2008. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

iPhone Apps I'd Totally Buy

Merlin — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:30:59 -0400

As I wrote yesterday, I'm loving the new iPhone apps on the iTunes store. Also, as we mentioned on MacBreak Weekly yesterday, it seems likely that we're just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of what people will do with that SDK.

But it got me thinking about the stuff I want -- the itches I want to scratch. So, iPhone developer friends. Please make these three apps.

Prime This

Elevator pitch: Scan barcode to instantly order an item via Amazon

Out and about and see something you want to buy? Maybe a book, CD, or DVD that you want, but don't want to buy/carry/pack right now? No problem.

Take a photo of the item's barcode, hit one button, and the item is instantly ordered through Amazon 1-Click using your default credit card and shipping preferences. Done.

Yeah, I know; I know. You want price comparisons, and wish lists, and an API for tagging and "mashups." Well, suck it up; you're not who this is for. This is for hardcore, mainlining Amazon Prime power users. That's why it has exactly one button: "Prime This."

Suggested price: Free (developer will make a killing on affiliate money)

iParked

Elevator pitch: Location-aware parking reminder

Open the app, hit a button, and your location is noted and added to a map. Optionally add an alarm (for the parking meter or street cleaning), notes and photos ("3rd level; Area G"), and other pertinent data ("Closes at 1am; after hours number is....").

When you're ready to go to your car, the app reminds you where you parked (with a walking map), and off you go.

Suggested price: $5

That Reminds Me

Elevator pitch: Lightweight, location-aware alarm app

Tell TRM the really mushy kinds of things that fall somewhere between a todo and a wish and a curiosity.

buy a lottery ticket on my birthday
pick up a crazy notebook next time I'm in Chinatown
grab a takeout menu next time I'm at Andy's

Using functionality similar to OmniFocus's flexible, location-aware contexts, add new items to your list with optional alarms and start/end dates. Then forget about it.

Next time you're geographically near where you need to be, you get a reminder and a map to get you there.

Suggested price: $5

The Question to You

What’s the iPhone app you crave? What would take great advantage of Location Services, the camera, SDK features, or what have you? What itch do you want to have scratched?

”iPhone Apps I'd Totally Buy” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on July 17, 2008. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

3 iPhone Media Apps (that Feel a Little Like Magic)

Merlin — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:22:09 -0400

There are so many amazing new apps on the iPhone store that I hope to review here (and I'll certainly spend time on a few more over coming weeks), but today I want to point you to three applications that make me feel like I'm a music fan of the very-near-future -- where personalized data flies through the air, phones play rock music based on your personal preferences, and everybody listens to Silkworm on moving sidewalks and in tricked-out rocket cars.

Remote

Free | Download

Apple's own Remote lets you turn your iPhone into a foxy little remote control for accessing shared iTunes libraries plus your AppleTV box. In seconds, the contents of all shared material pops up in a very sexy, browsable interface that's similar (if not identical) to the built-in iPod functionality. Powerful and fun stuff -- double fun if you're streaming music to multiple Airport Expresses ("Airports Express?") in which case you kind of feel like George Jetson.

Tip: This is a handy way to star-rate stuff as you're wandering around the house. Remember why we star-rate? Yep.

Making it better: This can be a real battery hog if you leave it running the whole time (you do also have the option to not leave it running, which is considerate). But if the connection drops, it takes a few seconds to come back up. Which is bad if your mix suddenly pulls up a very loud Iron Maiden song during the baby's nap, and you can't get to the pause button in time. Or, so I hear.

Screengrabs:

Shazam

Free | Download

Hear a cool song on the radio and don't know who or what it is? Hold Shazam up to the speaker for a few seconds, let it upload your audio snippet to the cloud, and in seconds you'll find out the artist and album, as well as the name of the song. There's other stuff you can do (tag it, buy it, whatever 2.0), but the magic is in the identification, which for me has been well over 80% accurate on the first try.

Tip: For best results, turn the music up a little, hold the iPhone's mouthpiece (down there by where your mouth goes, duh) very close to the sound source, and try to minimize extraneous noises.

Making it better: Shazam fails like bad clams if it can't get a steady connection to their server -- and you don't find this out til after you've recorded the snippet (during which time you could have been writing down a string of the lyrics to Google later). Next version ought to fix this if possible. Very frustrating on an otherwise swell application.

Screengrabs:

Pandora Radio

Free | Download

Wow, have I ever been missing the boat by not using Pandora. The popular streaming service, which utilizes the alchemically wizard-like Music Genome Project, finds songs you might enjoy based on songs and artists you already enjoy. And it's really good at it. Thumb-up the ones you like, thumb-down the ones you don't, and skip past up to 6 songs per hour per "radio station." And, man -- how awesome are the explanations?

Tip: Create a lot of radio stations (so you can skip a lot if you get bored). In adding new stations, focus not just on artists -- try also adding 5-10 of your favorite songs as stations. The MGP seems way smarter about the genomic qualities of a given song, as opposed to bands, who can obviously be kind of all over the map, style-wise.

Making it better: The home screen gets crowded really fast. Add a way to a) organize radio stations into categories while also b) letting me quickly bubble up which stations' 1-hour/6-skip windows have recently reset.

Screengrabs:

Personal: A Word about the Silkworm Documentary

Almost totally unrelated. If it wasn't obvious in the screengrabs, I'm a huge fan of the late, lamented band, Silkworm. (A propos of nothing, I was wearing a SKWM shirt when my daughter was born)

If you are or were a fan, too, and want to help see the documentary about every indie rocker's third favorite band make it to a proper completion and release, please consider making a small donation to help make it happen. I did. Thanks.

Here's the trailer for Couldn't You Wait.

Viva, Dahlquist, friends. The man loved to rock.

”3 iPhone Media Apps (that Feel a Little Like Magic)” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on July 16, 2008. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

How Hard is MobileMe Really "Pushing"?

Merlin — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:43:26 -0400

Apple's MobileMe Lacks True Push Syncing - InformationWeek

According to many users, and as reported by numerous news outlets, Apple MobileMe's implied promise of instantaneous sync between between multiple devices (including, it had been implied, your desktop Mac) is not accurate. Since it appears that syncing from the desktop to anywhere else in "the cloud" can actually take as long as 15 minutes, many are questioning Apple's referring to this functionality as "Push" (as opposed to simply sped-up, automated "syncing"). Marin Perez of InformationWeek writes:

The gripe comes because data entered on their Macintosh or PC address books and calendars isn't immediately pushed to MobileMe's servers.

"Selecting Automatic in Mac OS X allows your computer to immediately sync and update when there are any changes on the MobileMe servers," read a support note on Apple's Web site. "Those changes come from your iPhone, iPod Touch, the MobileMe Web site, or another computer. Changes made on your computer will be synced to the MobileMe 'cloud' every 15 minutes."

You may have shared my slack-jawed gape and consequent fistbump when Phil Schiller's WWDC demo of MobileMe [free iTunes link] implied magically fast, truly instantaneous syncing. Because that's really hard to do well -- and implying MobileMe would enable such a thing suggested mighty technological leaps over the previous .Mac service, whose sync skills and reliability were famously uneven at best.

While most of us won't see our lives fall apart if true Push is not happening on MobileMe, it's still disappointing that Apple implied they were solving a complicated and thorny problem vs. simply speeding up the frequency of syncing via an existing method.

FWIW, this weekend I informally tested MobileMe's syncing skillz on two Macs, "the old iPhone," and via apps on the MobileMe site. Mostly this consisted of creating calendar items with unique date and time stamps and seeing how long it took for them to show up on the different devices. Let's just say the two Macs were, far and away, the pokiest syncers for both incoming and outgoing events.

Mostly I guess I'm just bummed that this wasn't the sufficiently advanced technology that it seemed. I'm sure there's room for improvements and enhancements to MobileMe -- and God know what it took to get that thing out the door in the midst of last week's shitstorm -- but I'm disappointed in Apple. I don't mind the RDF -- a lot of times, it's a fun place to hang out for an hour or two -- but playing fast and loose with terms that mean something in the market they're trying to penetrate is not cricket.

Elsewhere on this issue:

holgr.com » Blog Archive » Apple’s MobileMe - Push or in sync?

Looks like Apple has removed all mentions about push mail from their MobileMe site. It has been removed from the MobileMe Mail features list too. Now your mail is “in sync”. But they forgot the mentioning at their enterprise site, where they are talking about Exchange push mail.

MobileMe not so pushy - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

That, to me, doesn't sound like "push," it sounds like "sync." The term "push" still applies, however, to me.com email, as that shows up immediately (in my experience, at least.) Calendars and contacts, though, not so much, apparently.

MobileMe's Push Services Detailed, No Mac to MobileMe 'Push' - Mac Rumors

The point of contention comes when changes are performed on your Mac. These changes do not trigger an automatic sync and instead waits until the next scheduled sync which is every 15 minutes:

Changes to Mac -> Me.com (15 minute sync)

Apple has confirmed that this is expected behavior in a Knowledgebase article which has generated some complaints in our MobileMe forums. Alternatively, users can hit the "Sync" menu option at any time on their Mac to trigger a sync at any time.

The Question to You

Was Apple playing lawyerball with the term “Push?” Is this just a marketing disappointment, or are you missing functionality that you were counting on? Is a 15-minute syncing adequate for your needs? And what had you taken away from the MobileMe demo at WWDC? Was Mr. Schiller’s explanation accurate of the service you received? Jump to starting around 1:07:00 of the WWDC Keynote to decide for yourself.

Update 2008-07-16 09:00:04 PDT

Excerpted from a Me.com customer email sent an hour ago:

Another snag we have run into is our use of the word "push" in describing everything under the MobileMe umbrella. While all email, contact or calendar changes on the iPhone and the web apps are immediately synced to and from the MobileMe "cloud," changes made on a PC or Mac take up to 15 minutes to sync with the cloud and your other devices. So even though things are indeed instantly pushed to and from your iPhone and the web apps today, we are going to stop using the word "push" until it is near-instant on PCs and Macs, too.

Classy, well put, and mostly well-explained. Plus, as Dan Moren mentions in comments, they're tossing in a free month of service, owing to a .Mac -> MobileMe transition that was "rockier than we had hoped."

Thing is, it still doesn't help me understand how some of the most competent engineers (or is it marketers?) in California knowingly chose to call this functionality something that it clearly was not. That still bugs me.

”How Hard is MobileMe Really "Pushing"?” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on July 16, 2008. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

Apple's Bad Day

Merlin — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:44:25 -0400

This is not the Friday Apple had wanted. There's a lot of frustrated people out there right now. A quick survey of the damage so far:

London launch of iPhone 3G marred by software problems

"It just goes dead," said would-be customer Mark Phipps, who left the store frustrated and without an iPhone 3G.

Macworld | iPhone Central | Crowds, activation delays hit iPhone launch

Problems with the iTunes server caused some enthusiasts who had waited in line for hours to walk out of the store unable to use their new iPhones, according to the disgruntled customers.

iPhone launch-o-mess-o-rama | The Macalope: An Apple blog - CNET News.com:

Also, the horny one is seeing reports that the iPhone 2.0 update is now available through iTunes, but it's effectively bricking peoples' iPhone since the Store is down. The update gets installed, but the phone can't reactivate. Probably want to wait on that one, too.

Today @ PC World iTunes Store "Unavailable": This iPod Touch Owner is Stuck in Update Limbo

I'm still locked out of updating my iPod Touch via iTunes. But one thing Apple has managed to do is bill me for Apple App Store software downloaded to my PC earlier this morning. I JUST received an e-mail confirmation my credit card has been billed.

MacNN | MobileMe problems continue, upset customers

Problems began when the company shifted its scheduled downtime for the .Mac/MobileMe transition, moving the end of it to 2AM Thursday. A lack of access continued throughout the day for many customers, however, and as of Friday morning in the US the service is still not fully functional.

And just wardial a few terms on Twitter:

I don't mean to pile on here; I'm just amazed at the perfect storm of issues Apple is fighting today -- and wondering what the hell went wrong. I wonder if it's all related to server scale in one way or another.

It's brutal to watch all this and, at least so far anyway, it feels like a pitiful way to introduce a bunch of enthusiastic new customers to a company that consistently earns its premium from customer experience.

My advice to anyone considering touching any part of this frayed wire today is to stay the hell away. At least until tomorrow or Monday. Wait for things to sort out, back up your .Mac data, and hang out until things start to settle down.

And, if you have a brick, don't play with it. Wait. Don't fiddle. People get weird at times like this and end up doing stupid stuff to make it worse. Just take a walk, have a drink or three, and let things calm down.

And, godspeed my Apple friends who are working on this today. Hang in there, gang. It won't be Friday forever.

”Apple's Bad Day” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on July 11, 2008. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

First Look: Evernote for the iPhone

Merlin — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:31:14 -0400

(Oh, man. I’ve got a crazy busy day today, but it just got a lot busier thanks to an intoxicating morning with the iPhone 2.0 update and the iTunes App Store. I’ll try and sneak in a few little posts today on the amazing new apps as time permits)

Evernote (iTunes App Store Link)

Free
works with Evernote web and desktop apps

I need to do a full post on [Evernote](Evernote](http://www.evernote.com/) here some time soon, because it really is a nifty little application for collecting, storing, and organizing practically any kind of information you can throw at it. The iPhone version is a stripped-down, all-business version of the app that will scratch an itch for Evernote fans who are fatigued by having to email everything to the mothership.

More after the jump, including how to take screengrabs like this on your iPhone 2.0...

The Evernote iPhone app is crazy-simple to use, and rightfully focuses on mobile capture. Photos, voice, and text can be sent directly into your Big Evernote Database -- including the handy inclusion of location data which will show up in Evernote as Lat/Long, all thanks to iPhone's 2.0 location magic (and yes: the location stuff works fine without GPS; I do wonder how that will affect sales of what's starting to look like a costly 3G iPhone I can personally do without).

You can also access your existing stuff in browsable list form, or by searching, And, yes, once the photo you take in Evernote has synced with the EN site, the OCR makes any readable text in the image searchable from the iPhone app. Very nicely done.

Cool New iPhone Feature: Built-in Screen Capture

Nota frickin' bene: How did I get screengrabs on an uncracked 2.0 iPhone? Easy. Click the Home button and the top (Power) button at the same time to capture a PNG of the current screen to the Photo Viewer (grabbable later via iPhoto). Hat tip to Jason Snell for this awesome little bit of magic.

”First Look: Evernote for the iPhone” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on July 10, 2008. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

OmniFocus for iPhone: Location-Aware Contexts and More

Merlin — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 13:54:42 -0400

The Omni Group - OmniFocus for iPhone and iPod touch

[Disclosure: I'm a consultant on the OmniFocus project. You can blame me for having requested any of the features you don't like.]

Oh, man. It's so nice to lift the veil on this one. It's been like I knew you guys were getting the big Lego Millennium Falcon for Christmas, but I couldn't tell you until Santa had gone back up the chimney (in his black mock turtleneck and jeans). Anyway.

Merry Christmas, Mac productivity nerds: iPhone synching for OmniFocus is coming. And it is gorgeous, usable, and location-aware. More here on OmniGroup's blog.

From the OmniGroup site:

Using your location, OmniFocus can create a custom list of actions to complete nearby. Buying groceries? OmniFocus can show you the closest grocery store and create an instant shopping list.

Capture tasks anywhere, anytime with OmniFocus: you can enter text, take a picture, or even make a quick voice recording.

Yum. Screengrabs and more -- including a reminder that you should totally visit me at the WWDC OmniFocus meetup tonight -- after the iJump.

FWIW, I'm going to let OmniFocus answer any questions people have (blog post comments, forum) about details of their apps and plans and what have yous. I just wanted to take the opportunity to fist bump the OmniNerds on their fine hard work. They're pathologically dedicated to taking care of their customers, and you can see that in this app. It's crazy-smart and a lot of fun to use.

So! Yes. Tonight. Come to the OmniFocus meetup at the W and fistbump me:

The Omni Mouth » OmniFocus meetup in S.F. on 6/10/08

What: OmniFocus meetup When: Tuesday, June 10th 2008, 6:30 - 8:00 pm Where: W Hotel (map), San Francisco • 3rd Floor, Workroom 2

Please RSVP. Max capacity for the room is 150, so make sure you arrive on time to snag a good seat.

Also, completely off topic, there's a rumor that there might be a totally informal, last-minute You Look Nice Today meetup in SF tonight featuring @scottsimpson and me (@lonelysandwich is at a Fannypack Convention in Prague). Stay tuned to @ylnt for details as they emerge.

[Again, with the Disclosure: I'm a consultant on the OmniFocus project. You can blame me for having requested any of the features you don't like.]

”OmniFocus for iPhone: Location-Aware Contexts and More” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on June 10, 2008. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

Life Without a Laptop, Two Months Down

wood.tang — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 17:21:24 -0500

It has now been two months since I sold my laptop and started working with just a Mac Mini in my office and an iPhone, and I've more or less survived. I never expected it to be permanent, but unless my life changes drastically and I have to start traveling full-time, I could probably go on like this indefinitely. My real work hasn't suffered, because I was doing all of that on the desktop anyway, and with Google Reader's killer mobile version, I've been able to satisfy any web surfing urges away from the computer.

That's not to say that I haven't chafed a little with this setup. We (self included) make the mistake of assuming that using a laptop during "downtime" or around a spouse/significant other is a bad thing. This isn't always true. At the risk of outing myself as an even more colossal tool, when I did have a laptop, my wife and I would often spend the evening after the boy was in bed, sitting side by side on the couch, watching TV and pecking away at our computers.

On the surface, that might sound like the makings of a horrible marriage, but it was really quite nice. We talked to each other. We showed each other stuff we had found online, asked each other to proofread emails, etc. It was probably more interactive than anything else we could have been doing (okay, maybe not one thing), and it was relaxing. Neither one of us was doing "work," but rather catch up, idle surfing, or shopping.

That's one time when I miss having a laptop. I often saved that evening downtime for personal blogging, checking in at forums, or posting pictures and links: all the random unnecessary web stuff that's fun but not important enough to do during the day when I'm working at the big boy computer. Not a huge loss though; like I've said, we can all pare back our online existence a little, plus it gives me more time to read books. I still often use the iPhone during this time, but it's not the same. I'm getting better at some of those things with it, but until it gets cut and paste or a Bluetooth keyboard, I'll probably just have to go without.

What that's doing in a GTD sense, though, is creating some hard boundaries between my various contexts. I've always struggled with defining contexts, and when you have a laptop you can carry anywhere, the lines between @computer, @office, and @home start to blur because you can theoretically do just about anything, anywhere, save housework and errands. Now those divisions are very clear. I can only do so many things when I just have the phone, and the rest will have to wait until I'm back at my desk. It also makes me pay attention to the non-computer tasks. Instead of defaulting to the fun computer stuff because there's always a computer around, I'm often forced to make those phone calls or proofread those drafts because I can't do anything else.

I haven't tried any significant travel with just the iPhone though. I'll get the first real test of living without a laptop when I go to the South by Southwest Interactive conference next month. Since I'm just going there for kicks, it'll be okay if I can't do all the normal things I could do with a real computer. Yet I'm curious to see how it feels not having the crutch of knowing that my computer is in the next room. Maybe this year I'll meet a few more people because I won't be hiding behind a screen the whole time.

”Life Without a Laptop, Two Months Down” was written by Matt Wood for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on February 13, 2008. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"