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Doin' the Hipster Shuffle
I'm a fan of David Allen's Getting Things Done. As such, I always have my Hipster PDA with me, as well as my iPod. What if I could combine the two..?Andrew at Restless Dreaming has done it with the Hipster Shuffle. Just replace your hPDA's binder clip with an iPod shuffle (now in color!). Rock out while getting things done. I like it. You can see the Hipster Shuffle in action here.[Via 43Folders]
MailTags 2 beta gets major todo and event enhancements, goes 'feature complete'
Scott Morrison has released a 6th beta of MailTags 2, his quintessential tagging and organizing plug-in for Mail.app that we're big fans of. This new beta heralds a 'feature complete' status for the plug-in, meaning that Scott has implemented all the new features and tricks that version 2 will have, and now it's simply time to clean up the code and stomp out the bugs. Also new in this version is an updated UI with a slick new pop-up window for entering todo and event information (pictured). This makes recording events and staying on top of things with MailTags much more functional and enjoyable, causing Scott's plug-in to rise even farther towards the top of my list of apps that help me get more done with my email.MailTags 2 costs $25 and can be had from indev.
Actiontastic 0.9 raises GTD bar with iCal syncing
Sure, our OmniFocus preview included details of the Omni Group's intentions to bake in iCal syncing when their GTD app lands but the latest version of Actiontastic has it now, complete with Apple's Sync Services for that 'done the right way' goodness (don't forget, not long ago it also gained iPod syncing). Hawk Wings has the low-down with some screenshots of what this new iCal syncing is all about, and I award Actiontastic's developer Jon Crosby bonus points for adding a UI into the preferences for removing his app from the Sync Services directory (Yojimbo, Transmit, SOHO Notes - are your devs reading this?).Head over to Jon's site for the latest beta-ware version, but be sure to stay on top of Actiontastic's development news - this version expires Feb. 28th.
OmniFocus Sneak Preview
OmniGroup today hosted a special event at the flagship Apple store in San Francisco to give users a sneak peak into their upcoming GTD productivity software OmniFocus. TUAW was there and brings you this special bulleted report! OmniFocus, unlike its predecessor KinklessGTD will feature an instant data propagation across the app, thus doing away with the need for a "sync button," and ensuring your data is always where you expect it to be. OmniFocus will have a simpler and more streamlined interface than OmniOutliner, on which KGTD was built. Users will be able to view multiple or individual projects and contexts in either a single window or multiple separate windows. OmniFocus will support existing KGTD QuickSilver inbox-entry actions. OmniFocus will also feature a standalone proprietary quick-entry method via keystroke, similar to Yojimbo. Future versions will support user definable smart folders. The first version of OmniFocus will not require 10.5 Leopard, but all following versions will due to the use of Leopard only technologies. Like KGTD, OmniFocus will support syncing with portable devices through iCal. OmniFocus will be fully applescriptable. Future versions will support integration with OmniPlan. Future versions will support universal action creation from other applications (such as turning an email message or iCal to-do into an action). Future versions will support attaching or tying of files to actions and projects. OmniGroup is planning to release OmniFocus within the next few months.
PagePacker puts microbooks in easy reach
Back in June, we told you about a downloadable "My Mac Won't Start!" quickguide in the PocketMod format, a teensy little 8-page book you can create, print and fold yourself. Even though nothing's cooler than info-origami, the Flash-based PocketMod creation tool was a little too clunky for Aaron Hillegass of Big Nerd Ranch.Aaron infused the PocketMod process with some Cocoa mojo and the result is PagePacker, a slick little app that lets you quickly put together your own PocketMods from PDFs, images or pages from the DIYplanner.com template set. Throw a picture of your dog and a handy city map onto the back of your busy schedule and you're all set.Thanks Victor![via digg]
Distraction reduction for your Mac
Ah, the holidays: a time for reflection, relaxation, and finally getting your GTD feng shui into proper order. Who better to give you some leverage over the incredible source of distractions and detours that is your Mac than Merlin Mann? The 43Folders productivity guru gets focused with Leo Laporte on the most recent edition of MacBreak, covering additional ground after an October episode on desktop de-cluttering.My favorite attention-enhancing power tool is currently WriteRoom, which has made it much easier for me to take notes in meetings without getting lured away by the siren call of unread emails and projects in progress. What do you use to help clamp down on the tangents and procrastination?[via Lifehacker/43folders]
Actiontastic GTD app updates with iPod syncing, more
The GTD space has been heating up lately, and Actiontastic seems to be the innovative leader, at least since I've been considering giving these apps a whirl. Jon Crosby, the developer, added a Quicksilver action early last month, and now he's gone and raised the bar with iPod syncing. In a long post that refreshingly summarizes what all this GTD (Getting Things Done) business is about, as well as his approach to the process with Actiontastic, Jon also lists a number of major improvements to this latest release, v0.83. The new iPod syncing feature works with any iPods that support notes, but it isn't the only update in this release. Check out the bottom of Jon's post for the full detains on all the changes and tweaks, but read the whole thing if, like me, you've been trying to understand what all this GTD stuff is about. This is the first time I've really felt like someone explained the concepts well, and the fact that he's illustrating them with his app certainly doesn't hurt.Actiontastic is a Universal Binary, still in beta and at least for the moment: free. I can't tell if Jon plans to charge for it when it goes 1.0 official. Anyone know for sure?[via Hawk Wings]
Midnight Inbox finally hits 1.0
We've blogged about Midnight Inbox a few times before and have been tracking its progress through a rather buggy, but promising, beta phase. Well today Midnight Inbox, the first true GTD (Getting Things Done) app finally became a 1.0 app and it deserves a pat on the back for a job well done. Midnight Inbox helps you: Collect emails, files, calendar and to-do items and notes automatically. Process all of your collected items into to-do items you can actually do when and where you are able. Organize those to-do items into projects you can track easily. Review your lists, projects, and collections to make sure nothing slips through the cracks. Work down your lists with a Zen-like focus.Heck, I've only been using it for a few hours and already I feel more organized, more productive and less stressed. Also, my teeth are whiter and my jeans feel looser! Are you ready to get serious about getting things done? Well go check it out! You can download a 14-day trial, which is fully unlocked, feature-wise, and if you decide you can't live without it, it'll cost you $35 - a fair price to pay for streamlining your life, don't you think?
Beta Beat: Actiontastic 0.8.2, Quicksilver Integration
Actiontastic, one of the contenders to be the go-to application for Mac using GTD-ers, has just been updated to version 0.8.2, and brings with it some spiffy upgrades including interface tweaks, a complete back-end database re-coding, and various bug fixes. But obviously those things alone don't warrant a TUAW post do they? Of course not. The real reason I'm pointing out this update to you, dear reader, is the addition of a feature that I've long come to rely on in my GTD workflow: Quicksilver integration. One of the most basic tenets of GTD is brain dumping; getting all those projects and thoughts out of your head and into a trusted system so you spend less energy worrying about them, and more energy doing things that are actually productive. Having to switch away from the application I'm currently using in order to create a new item in my inbox totally trashes my train of thought, and being able to simple hit a hot-key to brain dump makes it easier to keep up with the GTD methodology. Actiontastic includes Quicksilver functionality as a QS action bundled with the app, which is much more elegant than the unfortunately clumsy Quicksilver Action Kinkless GTD uses to accomplish the same thing.
Midnight Inbox v0.9.5
Since we first heard about it a month ago, Midnight Inbox has been improving by leaps and bounds. One only needs to check Midnight Beep Softwork's development blog to get updated on all the changes and improvements (far too many to thoroughly list here), but put simply: a lot of performance and stability improvements have been made and the UI has received a significant update. Midnight Beep has been keeping a very open ear to user feedback, and they have a lot of cool features coming down the pipeline, such as: iCal syncing, printing of hipster PDA cards, archiving, live filters and search, support for Quicksilver, Automator and AppleScript and of course - language localizations.For beating some heavier hitters to market with what is quite possibly the first true GTD app, Midnight Inbox certainly doesn't look too shabby, and neither does its $35 price tag. Check out Midnight Beep Softwork's site for more details and to take a demo for a spin.
Actiontastic beta
It would seem that lots of people out there are getting things done, judging by the number of Getting Things Done applications that are coming out. Actiontastic, now in beta, is another entry into the GTD market on OS X. The power of Actiontastic, according to its developer, is in the simplicity of the app. I come from a long line of unorganized Irish people, so I am not an able judge of this app. I can tell you that it has the best name of any of the GTD apps I have come across.This is a free beta, but it is a beta so downloader beware.
kGTD author enthusiastic about OmniFocus
Ethan J. A. Schoonover, author of kGTD, has exhaled enthusiastically on his blog about the Omni Group's recently announced teased OmniFocus. Apparently, the Omni ninjas actually brought Schoonover out to their Seattle headquarters (along with Merlin Mann of the ever-productive 43folders) earlier this year for some good ol' fashioned brainstormin' and idea wranglin', and from the sounds of things, he's pretty excited about what's in store. Ethan had nothing but good things to say about his experience and the Omni folk, and explains that this natural and evolutionary collaboration with the Omni Group couldn't have happened at a better time, as his next logical step was to turn kGTD into a full-blown Cocoa app anyway (as opposed to the series of bolt-on, awkwardly installed AppleScripts it is now).Ethan refrained from offering any salvation from the dark, torturous and detail-less dungeon the Omni Group has already enslaved us in, but check out his Hold breath. Exhale. Focus blog post for some more bits and pieces about his experience, and some inspiring (though still incredibly vague) details of what's in store for OmniFocus.
43 Folders rounds up best iCal tips
Merlin Mann of 43 Folders may be "shaking [his] hammy fist in impotent rage at iCal's numerous shortcomings," but he's still a devout user and has rounded up some of the best iCal-related tips to come across 43F to prove it. A couple of the tips, of course, center around that GTD (Getting Things Done) working philosophy that's such a hit in the nerd circles of the internets these days, but a couple others offer simple tricks for naming events and organizing tasks in more useful and creative ways, sans-GTD. If you've been looking for a little extra oompf in your scheduling workflow but aren't quite down for the full-blown systems and apps that are available, these tips might open some productivity doors for you.
Midnight Inbox
People are crazy for this whole 'Getting Things Done' organizational method (sometimes it seems a bit cult like to me, and I'm an Apple blogger!). Many people have mashed and tweaked together various applications to get something resembling a true GTD (that's what those in the know call it) client. Midnight Inbox is the first GTD application, that I am aware of, for OS X that was designed to help you fit your life into that organizational framework.Keep in mind that this app is in Beta, so things will crash, your data might get lost, and your Mac might catch on fire (check those battery serial numbers).[via Daring Fireball]
Hawk Wings lists 10 Mac OS X tools for Getting Things Done
Tim Gaden at Hawk Wings has compiled a list of ten Mac OS X tools that can help you implement the Getting Things Done philosophy in the way you work. The tools are broken down into three categories: email clients, dedicated GTD apps and web-based solutions for that ultimate cross-platform effect. Mail.app, of course, starts off the list. Once combined with a few Smart Folders and the powerful Mail Act-on and MailTags plugins, Mail.app can become a most powerful GTD tool indeed. Other featured tools include kGTD (an OmniOutliner Pro template), a Todo.txt script for the ultimate in plain-text GTD, EasyTask Manaager (a stand-alone app without the GTD learning curve), iCommit (a web-based PHP tool), Backpack, Gmail and even wikis. Check out Hawk Wings' list for more ideas and tools to help you, well, get things done.
Kinkless Getting Things Done 0.83 released
For those who aren't familiar with this "Getting Things Done" term that's being tossed around the 'net more and more often these days: it's a methodology (not necessarily a piece of software) developed by David Allen for better managing your projects, tasks, time and life. Kinkless GTD (Getting Things Done) is a combination of plugins by Ethan Schoonover for both Quicksilver and OmniOutliner Pro that adapts this methodology for the digital lifestyle, allowing you to easily add projects and tasks to a customized OmniOutliner Pro document, as well as syncing them with iCal - reminders and all.To help you wrap your head around this fantastic new way of organizing yourself, as well as these equally impressive tools, Ethan has produced a 10 minute screencast that should help you hit the ground running. Yes, it's 10 minutes out of your non-stop, lightning-fast lifestyle, but trust me: this could quite possibly be the best 10 minutes you've ever spent learning how to organize the other 1430 minutes of your day.It's hard to just jump into this system and figure out what's going on, but in case you're already ahead of the rest of the class, you'll need the latest kGTD release, as well as the latest beta of OmniOutliner Pro and the optional but spectacular Quicksilver.[via Hawk Wings]
iCalFix .1
Have you ever wished that iCal would automatically add a reminder for every event that you place on a calendar? Well, Merlin Mann of 43 Folders did and Robert Blum heard his pleas.Robert created iCalFix, which is a 0.1 release, which sets a reminder for any event placed in iCal. At the moment the reminder is hard coded to be 24 hours before the event, but in future releases I am sure Robert will add more robust preferences.[via 43 Folders]
