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OmniFocus gains TUAW Best of 2011 award for iPad productivity app
"What? I thought you already named a winner for the TUAW Best of 2011 in the iPad productivity app category!" Yes, yes we did. But there were some nomination and voting irregularities, not to mention that a number of TUAW readers let us know that our previously named winner had some serious issues. As a result, we're doing the right thing and giving the crown to its rightful owner -- OmniFocus for iPad (US$39.99). Not only did OmniFocus for iPad capture 26.9 percent of the reader votes fair and square, but the app has garnered a 4.5 out of 5 star rating on the App Store with almost 1,100 ratings over several versions. It's been a favorite of many of our bloggers as well, and received a nice writeup by Erica Sadun when it first arrived on the scene in 2010. Belated congratulations to Omni Group for their win for a stellar product.
TUAW Best of 2011: Vote for your favorite iPad productivity app
The nominations are in, and the poll is ready to go! The TUAW Best of 2011 awards are all about you -- the readers -- and what you think is the cream of the crop of Apple or third-party products and software. To vote, select one entry from the top nominations made by readers. We'll be announcing the winner in just a few days. Vote early and often! TUAW is asking for your votes for the best iPad productivity app of 2011. This category pulled in the largest number of nominations so far in the Best of 2011, with two apps surprising the staff here at TUAW with the number of nominations they grabbed -- "Universal Translator" app Communilator Pro (US$2.99, also available in a free version) and Virtual Office Pro ($0.99). The rest of the nominees are: Pocket Informant HD ($14.99) OmniFocus for iPad ($39.99) GoodReader for iPad ($4.99) You have a couple of days to vote, and the winners will be announced on January 3, 2012. Let the voting begin!
TUAW Best of 2011: Vote for the best iPhone productivity app
The nominations are in, and the poll is ready to go! The TUAW Best of 2011 awards are all about you -- the readers -- and what you think is the cream of the crop of Apple or third-party products and software. To vote, select one entry from the top nominations made by readers. We'll be announcing the winner in just a few days. Vote early and often! TUAW is asking for your votes for the best iPhone productivity app of 2011. Our readers provided a plethora of nominations in this category, but five apps really stood out. Springpad (free) captured the lion's share of the nominations for its easy to use interface, customizable notebooks, and ability to sync across platforms. A dark horse was ISMEStorage (US$4.99) a comprehensive cloud and local file manager that supports cloud services from Amazon S3 to Zimbra Briefcase and just about everything in between. The big guns weren't left out of the voting, though -- both Dropbox (free) and Evernote (free) were popular nominations for iPhone productivity apps. It was good to see OmniFocus for iPhone ($19.99) in the nominations, as it is a consistently popular and highly-rated productivity app. And now, let the voting begin! The results will be announced on Christmas Day, December 25. %Poll-72239%
Best of 2011 Nominations: Mac productivity apps
During December and January, The Unofficial Apple Weblog is soliciting your nominations and votes for the best products for Mac, iPhone/iPod touch, and iPad. We'll start with nominations in a category, and then tally your votes for the top-nominated products a few days later. The winner in each category receives the highly-coveted title of TUAW Best of 2011. Today's category for Best of 2011 nominations is Mac productivity apps. These are the apps that help you get work done on a daily basis, and include such apps as Pages, Evernote, Microsoft Office, and Marked. Maybe you're a devotee of DEVONThink or the incredible OmniFocus and want to single out one of those apps for an award. Just leave a comment below with your nomination for the best Mac productivity app of 2011, and if we get enough interest in a specific app, it'll be included in the voting in a few days. Nominations close at 11:59 PM ET on December 10, 2011.
OmniFocus gets iOS 5 location-based reminders
OmniFocus has updated its popular OmniFocus for iPhone and OmniFocus for iPad apps. The updates bring iOS 5 compatibility and the usual bug fixes, but they also bring a very cool new feature OmniFocus users are sure to love: Location Reminders. Using iOS 5′s geo-fencing APIs, both the iPad and iPhone OmniFocus apps will now alert you to a reminder when you are in the appropriate area. This is the same feature found in Apple's Reminders app, included with iOS 5. However, OmniFocus doesn't just duplicate the features already found in Apple's Reminders app. It's added some more of its own; as noted by MacStories, OmniFocus offers more options than Reminders, including more granular control over your location settings. Though the OmniFocus updates are available now, users will have to wait until they have iOS 5 up and running on their devices to take advantage of them. OmniFocus for iPhone is US$19.99 in the App Store, and OmniFocus for iPad is $39.99.
OmniFocus 1.3 for iPad updates Forecast Mode
Task management app OmniFocus for iPad has been updated to version 1.3, and the new version is gaining some rave reviews for all of its new features over on the official forums. Most notably, the new version updates the app's Forecast Mode, which streamlines all of your calendar events and tasks into an easy-to-read format. The update also allows you to expand notes to fullscreen while editing them, which should give a little more breathing room while doing that. You can also now use the app while screen mirroring from your iPad, and there are a few other bug fixes and updates as well. In other words, it's a pretty major update, and it provides some new ways for you to track and follow up on whatever tasks you're focusing on with OmniFocus. The app itself is US$39.99 on the App Store, though of course, the update to version 1.3 is free for current users.
Sparrow gets AppleScript support, immediately put to use with OmniFocus
Sparrow, the sleek new email client for Mac OS X, was updated yesterday to improve speed, fix some minor bugs and add some limited AppleScript support. While the changes might not be apparent to many Sparrow users, they were apparently an inspiration to Don Southard, who immediately figured out a way to use the AppleScript support with OmniFocus. Southard's quick work allows him to delegate an OmniFocus task by sending an email with details about the task to another person via Sparrow. The script is saved and placed into the ~/Library/Scripts/Applications/OmniFocus folder, and then a script icon named "Send to Sparrow" is placed on the OmniFocus toolbar at a place of your choosing. To delegate a task, you select a task, then click the icon to send it to Sparrow. The task's name, context and note fields are included in the email, with Delegated Task as the subject line. As Southard notes, you can easily rearrange the order of the task fields within the script. It's a simple but effective AppleScript, and demonstrates the power of Apple's venerable scripting language in integration of different apps. As Sparrow evolves from the current 1.0.1 version, it would be nice to see additional AppleScript support built in so that people like Don Southard can do even more fun and useful things with the app. [via MacStories, image from Tech Blog /via Dirt Don]
The best Mac and iOS apps I used in 2010
Following up on my article about the best Mac apps I used in 2010, here are some of the best hybrid "Mac and iOS apps" I used in 2010. This wasn't an attempt to come up with a specific number, just the results of some careful reflection. You may wonder why some apps appear on this list instead of the Mac list. For example, Dropbox has an iOS app, why not add it here? Because my primary use of Dropbox is on the Mac. Yes I use it with iOS, but it's usually through another app that is syncing back to my Mac. On the other hand, using OmniFocus for iPad (our review) led to me using OmniFocus for Mac more, so I put OmniFocus on this list. All that is to say, these are my distinctions, and you are free to disagree with them. 1) myPhoneDesktop (or MPD) is a little-known gem of the iOS world. The US$5 universal iOS app pairs with desktop software on your Mac, Windows or Linux PC, and it allows you to send text, phone numbers and even images to your iOS device. While there are lots of pasteboard sharing apps (like Pastebot) that allow two-way sharing of pasteboard data, I find myself using MPD much more often because it is simpler and easier to use. If I am on my Mac and want to download a new app on my iPad, I select the URL from Safari and press command (⌘) + C + C (just like regular "copy" except you press "C" twice). Instantly, I get a push notification from MPD on my iPad, which opens the link, hands it off to the App Store app, and I purchase and download the app right from my iPad. Since I first reviewed it, MPD has been continually improved and updated, including support for iCab Mobile on iOS devices as well as GoodReader and even GV Connect, which means that you can place a call through Google Voice on your iPhone from a message sent from your computer! Read on for more...
Omni Group commits to Mac App Store development
It should come as no surprise to anyone that the Omni Group has jumped aboard the Mac App Store train. Omni has long been a popular creator of Mac applications and has done pretty well for itself with the iOS apps that it has already released, with more on the way. On the day after the Back to the Mac event, Omni Group CEO Ken Case tweeted that the Mac OS X versions of all five of the company's Mac apps will also be available on the Mac App Store. That group includes the ever popular OmniOutliner, plus OmniFocus, OmniGraffle, OmniGraphSketcher, and OmniPlan. OmniFocus and OmniGraffle are already available for the iPad, with OmniGraphSketcher and the others promised soon. In all likelihood the vast majority of Mac developers will move into the App Store, with the likely exceptions of Adobe and Microsoft. For most developers, having an outlet built into the OS and avoiding the hassles of payment systems just seems like too good a deal to pass up. [via MacObserver]
First look: OmniFocus for iPad
Copyright 2010 The Omni Group. All rights reserved. Used with permission. With OmniFocus for iPad just now hitting the App Store, I haven't yet had as much time as I would like to use the application to its fullest potential. My initial interaction has, however, been positive. Costing a rather steep $39.99, OmniFocus for iPad brings another professionally priced tool for professionals into the App Store iPad arena. OmniFocus offers a way to create to-do lists on steroids. You can brainstorm out ideas, then start organizing and classifying them into separate projects, tasks, and "contexts"; contexts allow you to make tasks relevant to where and when you are working on things. Items related to working at home will not intrude into your "Office" context, for example.
First Look: Taska for iPad and iPhone
I'm by no means a power GTD user, but like a lot of you I am juggling different projects and need to find a way to organize them. When I was younger, I carried around a paper planner, but now I have an iPhone and an iPad in addition to my desktop Mac. The iPad on its own makes an awesome replacement for a paper planner. Paired with the iPhone, it's incredible. Any productivity developer for the iPad needs to have the following in mind. It has to stand on its own as an effective program. It has to work seamlessly with the iPhone, preferably with cloud syncing It has to be affordable. The available productivity apps that span both iPhone and iPad are usually lacking in one of the above areas. For Things, it's price and the lack of cloud sync. You're shelling out $30 for the iPhone and iPad products alone. Tack on the desktop and that's another $49.95. Same goes for OmniFocus, whose iPad app is not available yet. Within the past couple of weeks, some affordable alternatives have emerged on the App Store. These programs are pretty great on their own, but they also come with issues -- especially when it comes to syncing with other devices. First up, we take a look at BitAlpha's Taska for the iPad and iPhone.
Things coming to iPad, updates to 1.3
At the end of his latest blog post, Cultured Code's Jürgen Schweizer revealed that the company is working on a version of Things for the iPad. The announcement isn't that surprising, especially given that The Omni Group announced at the beginning of February that its software suite, including Things' GTD rival OmniFocus, is also heading to the iPad. Things has also updated to version 1.3, which adds support for "mixed" projects (meaning that you're no longer limited to having action steps in your projects). Things Touch [iTunes link] for the iPhone/iPod Touch also updated to 1.3.14 in order to be compatible with the desktop release. We have some big fans of Things among TUAW staffers, and I actually tweeted yesterday -- prior to reading the Cultured Code blog -- that I plan to give up on the seemingly-abandoned The Hit List and pick up Things for myself. The iPad is well-suited for these productivity suites, and I'm eager to see how both Things and OmniFocus turn out on the iPad. Edit: The Hit List creator Andy Kim contacted me on Wednesday night, reassuring me that The Hit List has not been abandoned and that he is working on the iPhone version of the software. Thanks for checking in, Andy! [via Cult of Mac]
Postbox adds Things and OmniFocus support
The first time I heard about Postbox, it was a relatively new email client for the Mac. Based on the details in the first announcement and my trial run, I was very intrigued. I recall telling the rest of TUAW that -- if its stated goals were achieved -- it had the potential to take over my Mail.app setup. See, I love my setup, but everything that I really like about Mail has been added by plugins, and those plugins require a certain performance and stability sacrifice. It would be bittersweet to part with everything I've built there, but it would be a welcome change if it were a step up. With better task management, great search features, tabbed views, a plugin architecture and more, Postbox has always struck me as a serious challenger. Since the last time we mentioned it, Postbox (which is Mozilla-powered) has continued to become more Mac-like, with system-wide Address Book sync, notification integration with iCal, Spotlight indexing, and more drag and drop features. There's even a way to instantly transfer photos to iPhoto, making it easy to save all of those travel pictures your mom decided to send ... one attachment at a time. Most important (to me), the most recent release (1.1.2) has added integration features for task managers Things and OmniFocus.
Omni Group bringing the Omni apps to the iPad
Famed OmniFocus developer The Omni Group has given a brief peak at their development roadmap. The Mac Observer reports that Omni will release OmniFocus, OmniPlan, OmniGraffle, OmniOutliner and OmniGraphSketcher for the iPad. The Omni Group is pretty excited about what all the iPad has to offer saying they feel that, like the original Macintosh, the iPad will be the computer for the rest of us. Omni has already begun porting OmniFocus and OmniGraffle for the iPad and will start working to bring their other products to iPad beginning in the next few months. Omni is being very candid about their plans for the future of their products and it is refreshing to see a well-known software company keep their users informed. Omni admits that the iPad work will delay future release cycles for the Mac versions of their software but is confident that this is the right decision. [via The Mac Observer]
OmniFocus for iPhone finally has reminders, but implementation is awful
[Update] Ken Case comments below, addressing some of the concerns listed here. It looks like a future version of OmniFocus on the Mac will be able to directly update the OmniFocus reminders on the server, removing at least one of my complaints. Ken Case from The Omni Group has been twittering for awhile about the impending inclusion of alarm reminders for OmniFocus. The task management app's iPhone users have been pestering The Omni Group to implement reminders as push notifications, but OmniFocus refuses to do so. They say that reminders that rely on connectivity are not good enough, and they have instead chosen to implement reminders by exporting due dates and times into iCal. Once the time comes for a reminder, it pops up like a normal iCal appointment reminder. Well, OmniFocus 1.5.2 for iPhone was released, and now we get to see how this alternative reminder system works. If I had to choose a word to describe this implementation, that word would be "awful." Here's why: The Omni Group has taken great pains to point out that you do not need to be using the desktop version of OmniFocus to get use out of the iPhone version. But for users that only have the iPhone version and are not synchronizing it to either MobileMe (which has a yearly fee) or a WebDAV server (complicated for non-techies), they can't use this implementation of reminders. That's right; the way it works is that OmniFocus on the iPhone exports your reminders to your synchronization server, then points iCal on the iPhone to the server to import your reminders. That means that if you enter new due dates in OmniFocus for iPhone but don't happen to have connectivity, you won't get reminders. Wait, I thought it was implemented this way in the first place to guard against a lack of connectivity? Your OmniFocus reminders unnecessarily pollute your iPhone calendar with reminders. This is a visual problem when you need to glance at your calendars and see what actual appointments are coming up. On the iPhone you can either look at one specific calendar, or all calendars, so if like me you need to regularly stay on top of more than one calendar, you're forced to look at your OmniFocus reminders as well. Oh, and even when you complete them in OmniFocus and resync, they don't go away in your calendar. [Update] Stephen points out in the comments that this works as expected, and upon further testing I have to agree. Maybe I was being a bit too impatient. Since your OmniFocus reminders are actually just fake appointments, there is no way to audibly differentiate them from appointment reminders. They sound and look exactly the same. Remember the Milk, for example, uses push notifications on its iPhone app, and you can set the notification sound to a number of different options. That way you know that you're being reminded of a task rather than an appointment. Reminders are set based on Due time, rather than Available time, and in terms of flexibility you can set the reminder to be 5 to 60 minutes before the task is due. By the time a task is actually due, isn't it too late to be reminded about it? Finally, if you're a user of OmniFocus for the Mac, your reminders are not created on your iPhone until you think to launch OmniFocus on the iPhone and synchronize it. That means that if you work all day in OmniFocus on your Mac (like I do), then drive home and start doing other stuff and don't happen to open OmniFocus on your iPhone, you won't receive any reminders for tasks that you might have set for that night, or until you actually open and sync OmniFocus on your iPhone. So, what would I rather see? Push notifications, like the many other OmniFocus for iPhone users out there that have been providing their feedback to The Omni Group. As mentioned, Remember the Milk has implemented push notifications, and the ability to change the notification sound isn't the only trick it has up its sleeve. The Remember the Milk icon on my iPhone's screen shows how many due tasks I have that day, and the number changes almost instantly when I make changes on the web version. To see how many currently available and due tasks I have in OmniFocus, I again have to launch the app and wait for it to synchronize. While I love OmniFocus and I think The Omni Group does amazing work, this implementation of reminders for the iPhone version of OmniFocus is just full of an amazing amount of fail. It's a hacky workaround that still doesn't ensure that a lack of connectivity won't adversely affect the user's ability to receive reminder notifications. Omni folks, this is just meant to be tough love -- I wouldn't be saying all of this if I didn't truly care about OmniFocus.
OmniFocus 1.6 checks off bugs and adds new features
The Omni Group just released OmniFocus 1.6, and it's a big, big update. Current users are going to be pleased, even if they don't bother to page through the extensive list of new features and fixes in the release notes. I've never said anything to the contrary, but this is proof that Omni is listening carefully to users and working hard to evolve with user demands while still maintaining their original vision. For the uninitiated, OmniFocus is one of the top contenders for your task manager dollar. Among the commercial options -- along with Things and up-and-comer, The Hit List -- OmniFocus is considered to be the powerhouse, at least as far as features. It's been a bit too much power for a number of people looking for simplicity in both form and function, but for those who need the extra power, it's a solid choice. When I say "extra power", I'm talking about advanced sorting based on just about any criteria, saved filter sets called "Perspectives," AppleScript support, integration with Mail, iCal sync, iPhone sync (with separately purchased iPhone version) and some advanced capabilities to help you determine your "next action" with less input than some of the others. Things and The Hit List are still contending for my ultimate love, but I've used OmniFocus extensively and can honestly say that the only reason I tend to drift away from it is complexity -- both in the UI and in general functionality. As I mentioned, the 1.6 release notes are extensive, and the vast majority of the entries are of very similar importance, making "highlights" hard to do. There are changes and additions to the filtering options, a new "Flagged" collation type for Context view, a prodigious number of bug fixes and enhancements to existing functionality, UI improvements, AppleScript fixes and improvements ... seriously, it's a long list. If you're a current user, you should be notified of the update within the application (check your update settings in Preferences), and new users can download a free demo. OmniFocus will hit your pocketbook for $79.95US ... competitive in the GTD arena and fitting for the punch it packs.
My favorite iPhone apps: Jason's picks
Picking my favorite iPhone apps was pretty straightforward. I went with three apps that save me time. The first one wows me because using it sort of feels like magic, and the other two are great mobile companion applications to wonderful Mac-based programs. Shazam [iTunes link] FreeWhen I say using Shazam feels like magic, I'm not kidding. Shazam can listen to any music that is playing using the iPhone's microphone, and based on an acoustic fingerprint of the music can tell you the name of the song, artist, and album. It takes only seconds to listen, then a few more to look up the song and return results. Conveniently, Shazam maintains a list of songs that you've looked up (tagged, in Shazam's parlance) so that you can easily go back and follow up on the songs later. It also includes links to purchase the songs you've tagged from iTunes, as well as links to music videos for tagged songs if they exist on YouTube. OmniFocus [iTunes link] $19.00 I have a particular preference for software that is available in desktop versions as well as mobile versions, particularly if they contain a solid synchronization function. While it can be somewhat of an acquired taste, OmniFocus on the Mac is arguably one of the most capable to-do list applications, particularly if you subscribe to the GTD methodology. Imagine my delight, then, when OmniGroup announced there would be an iPhone version of OmniFocus that synchronizes to the desktop version. What's even better is that the iPhone version isn't simply a clone of the desktop version, but includes iPhone-specific functionality such as being able to determine what context to display based on your physical location using GPS. As with all software that relies on remote synchronization, it can be a bit slow when starting up, but that's a hit you take to have the convenience of synchronization, it seems.Evernote [iTunes link] Free Evernote has been around for a long time as a capable Windows-based note taking product, but if ever there was an interesting story of a company re-inventing their product, this is it. Evernote in its modern capacity is a note-taking powerhouse, available on Mac, Windows, on the web, and on the mobile web. But even better, it also has an iPhone version. The beauty of Evernote is in its ability to capture various types of information easily, then make it searchable and easy to reference. Everything you store in Evernote is stored in an account for you on Evernote's servers, allowing them to apply advanced optical character recognition to your images and documents to make even non-text documents searchable. Like OmniFocus, Evernote can be a bit slow to start, and it's disappointing that Evernote's content is not stored locally on the iPhone, but is pulled down from their servers every time you access it. But for its ability to allow you to off-load important information to a secondary brain, Evernote is invaluable. Honorable Mention Given my attachment to synchronization apps, how can I not give a nod towards the iPhone version of NetNewsWire, which complements the entire stable of free NewsGator RSS clients, including NetNewsWire on the Mac. NNW would have made this write-up, had Steve not grabbed it first. But who can blame him?
OmniFocus for iPhone will be location-aware
Guy-I-wish-was-my-friend Merlin Mann writes at 43 Folders about OmniFocus for iPhone, a project he's involved with. Perhaps the most exciting new feature is the fact that OmniFocus will be location-aware. OmniGroup says that by "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." Pretty sweet. OmniGroup expects that OmniFocus for iPhone will be available via the App Store around the launch date in early July.
OmniFocus goes 1.0
OmniFocus 1.0 represents a long-awaited addition to the GTD offerings on the Mac. It's a GTD-compatible task manager that has been in beta (or vaportrail, as they call it) for a while now and has gained an active community of users. Today's release puts Omni ahead of several other developers, which may help make up the minds of the more impatient GTDers who have been watching the options grow more varied and the spread of features get more convoluted. Omni nailed a few things in this application, including a very powerful means of managing how tasks are viewed (focuses), recurring tasks and OS X integration that includes Spotlight indexing of tasks. The interface is unfamiliar to new users, but relatively intuitive. And, unlike some of the other up-and-comers, Omni made GTD standards a high priority. Whether that is a selling point depends entirely on the individual user's taste. OmniFocus has updated almost every day since I got my invitation to the beta some months back. If you like applications that have a quick and responsive development team, you'll enjoy the development pace. It's retailing at $79.95 now that the pre-order discount is finished. Visit the website for more information.
OmniFocus public beta released
The Mac platform has an embarrasment of riches with regards to Getting Things Done applications, but the grand-daddy of GTD on the Mac is Ethan Schoonover's Kinkless GTD, a set of AppleScripts built on top of Omni Software's OmniOutliner Pro. Omni finally seemed to realize the significance of this and sought out help from Ethan and other GTD-folk like Merlin Mann in developing their new GTD application OmniFocus. Now, a year later, they've actually hired Ethan. After an extended private beta and lots of teasing glimpses, Omni has finally announced the initial public beta and introductory pricing.You can download the public beta now and if you like what you see you can pre-purchase it for 50% off the release price. So if you buy it before January 8, 2008 it's $39.95, afterwards it's $79.95. Given the many (cheaper) GTD applications out there it will be interesting to see how well received OmniFocus is. But given its pedigree, one would expect it to be a leading contender out of the box. If you want an introduction to OmniFocus they also have a 15 minute quick start video available on their main page.
