The Brooks Review

Month: August 2010

  • Using Your iPad With Your Mac / PC – to Help You Focus

    Aside from email (which I hate) there are two things that really distract me while I work on my Mac during the day: Tweetie and Things / OmniFocus. Before the iPad (Bi) I used to have Tweetie open on one screen and my task management app of choice open on another. Between those two apps I would spend a stupid amount of time organizing tasks and changing due dates, and reading tweets and replies.

    A few weeks ago I thought this was all a waste and that there had to be a better way of dealing with these distractions. Keeping them on their own space was not good enough – I had to remove them from my Mac. The answer was of course the loyal iPad sitting in its lovely stand next to my computer.

    Now I check Twitter during the work day on it with Twitterific and review my tasks on it as well. I keep the task management app open on my Mac, but the window closed, so that I can quickly enter a new task, but I never actually mark off tasks on my Mac. Same goes for Twitter, Tweetie stays open so that I can tweet quickly if I desire, and so that if someone DM’s me I can see it via Growl, but I never read through the stream on my Mac.

    All of this means that I check Twitter once or twice and hour instead of every 15 minutes and that I only look at tasks when I need a new one. The best part is that the iPad screen turns off automatically after a bit so I really can’t be distracted.

    Hello focus, welcome back.

  • OmniFocus for iPad (Quick Thoughts)

    I was reluctant to buy OmniFocus for the iPad when it came out – I had just switched to Things (for the fourth or fifth time) due to the lack of an iPad app for OmniFocus and have been very happy with Things. Ultimately my curiosity won over and I got OmniFocus for the iPad to use. A couple of quick things before I get to my otherwise quick thoughts: I have been a heavy OmniFocus user since before it was available for purchase and have switched between OmniFocus and Things regularly, the only reason that I have been using Things for the past couple of months is due to the lack of an iPad version of OmniFocus.

    Thoughts

    • It is awesome to have over-the-air syncing between devices once again.
    • OmniFocus takes way to long to open.
    • OmniFocus is the best looking Omni app to date.
    • The icon on the iPad is hideous.
    • There is a lot of ‘texture’ being used and I can’t decide if I like it.
    • There is no fake paper look, which is refreshing.
    • The input for a new action is better than the same on Things.
    • I love the forecast view, it is something that task management apps really need.

    I will of course be doing a full write up on OmniFocus versus Things in a couple of weeks so look for that here. I am not just going to be looking at the iPad apps, but at the full suite of apps for each.

  • Clive Thompson on the Death of the Phone Call

    Clive Thompson:

    We’re moving, in other words, toward a fascinating cultural transition: the death of the telephone call. This shift is particularly stark among the young. Some college students I know go days without talking into their smartphones at all. I was recently hanging out with a twentysomething entrepreneur who fumbled around for 30 seconds trying to find the option that actually let him dial someone.

    I bet that if it was not for my current job I would make one phone call every other day – the rest I currently make are all for work.