The Brooks Review

Month: September 2010

  • The Reason Behind All My Email Filters

    It seems that my last post about rolling your own ‘priority inbox’ by using various rules in Apple’s Mail.app has garnered a bit of attention, and has some people questioning the technique.

    It seems to me like people are mis-interpreting what my reasons for creating these rules are. I went back through my post and realized that I really didn’t put the meat of the reason I do all this, so here it is: my iPhone/iPad sanity is the main reason I apply all these rules.

    Currently iOS doesn’t support these rules, so when I get an email it is in the inbox in both my iPad and iPhone – all of my emails are there. That started to be a real pain for me on a day to day basis. I spend chunks of my week away from my Mac and away from WiFi which means that I am on my iPhone or iPad getting things done. When I see my iPhone inbox reach 30-40 emails I get a little annoyed sorting through all the crap to find the few that I really need to read especially in the 5 free minutes I have between meetings. Thus I created rules that would get rid of the stuff I don’t need to see while I am out (and perhaps things that I never need to see).

    The rules I have created have helped me to see only what is really important while I am out and about, and what was once 30-40 emails is a more manageable 5-10 emails. I can breeze through 5-10 emails in the 5 minute breaks that I have throughout the day with little problems.

    I have great respect for the fact that Dave Caolo reads each email, treating them all the same, but that doesn’t and won’t work for me. Nor do I think I would want to do that, when you send me an email that I am copied in on along with 50 other people, without even referencing me in the email, here is what crosses through my mind:

    “This person clearly just wants to show how important they are by wasting 50 peoples time all at once. Bastard.”

    That is honestly what I think, so I just hide away all that email. I filter my email with rules to hide the stuff that I feel wastes my time, and that is irrelevant for the most part. I don’t know what the ‘right way’ to do email is, but what I do know is that far to many people do it wrong. They waste too much time with emails that are sent out of laziness of them not wanting to find the answer or do the meaningless task themselves – all I try to do is eliminate that crap from my inbox.

    [This part of an ongoing series on dealing with email, to see more posts look here.]

  • iPod Touch Made Up 37.7 Percent of All iOS Devices Sold So Far

    Asymco’s estimate of iPod touch’s sold to date:

    If we assume about 8 million iPhones and 4 million iPads were sold during August and July, the total number of iPod touch sold is 45.2 million.

    This is of a course a guess, but it sounds pretty reasonable to me.

  • AP Interview: UN telecoms chief urges data sharing

    Boy RIM really can’t catch a break, everyone seems to want a peek up their skirts.

    Raphael G. Satter:

    Hamadoun Toure, secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union, said officials fighting terrorism had the right to demand access to users’ information from the maker of the BlackBerry – Research in Motion Ltd.

    I thought people outside (and many inside) the U.S. looked down at the Patriot Act, isn’t this essentially doing the same thing?

  • CoRD: Remote Desktop for Mac OS X

    I used to use Microsoft’s Remote Desktop for the Mac to connect to the Windows server we have to use at our office (our Yardi Property Management software only runs on Windows). However the other day Justin Pennington linked to CoRD and after using it for a bit I have found it t be far better than the offering from Microsoft, be sure to check it out if you use RDP.

  • Samsung Unveils iPad Rival in Galaxy Tab

    One of the killer features of the iPad is the 10 hour battery life, ask any iPad owner how often they charge during the day, the answer most likely is 0-times. That being said I have no clue what the battery life will be, but they better test it with Flash turned off if they want to be competitive.

    Roger Cheng shows how stupid Samsung is:

    The company plans to spend less promoting the Galaxy Tab, because it feels the product appeals to more of a niche audience than the more mainstream smartphone, said Samsung mobile marketing executive Younghee Lee.

    You know that same niche audience that will probably buy 22 million iPads next year, but you know, niche.

  • Poor Expectations

    The post Shawn Blanc links to is good, and you should read it, but this comment from Blanc really stood out to me:

    A lot of this has to do with the (sometimes false and sometimes real) expectations that if we do not look and act incredibly frazzled our peers and supervisors will assume we are not working hard. So we are rigid on ourselves, we live with the fear of man, and we tell ourselves to stay there. Because if not, we’re clearly wasting precious time.

    I know this is the way life is for a great many people, I am lucky enough that I run my own company, and my company really is just me. That means I am my own judge, no one else can tell me to work harder, or look busy. However I do share an office with two other companies and I am often told by those employees that ‘it must be nice’ referring to the fact that I never look too busy, or get too stressed out.

    The fact is though, I just get my work done and don’t let it get to me. In fact it is not that I never have any work to do, rather that my end goal is not completing work so much as it is creating free time for me to do other things (like blogging). I hope that makes sense, my end goal each day is to have the free time I need to do what ever I want to do.

  • Living Room Nightmare Seen by Khoi Vinh

    Vinh:

    So imagine how my child’s babysitter feels when she wants to watch TV after putting the baby to sleep: it’s so bad that she’s often actually has to read a book instead.

    and a little later:

    The problem is that every company out there that’s addressing this opportunity, from Sony to Samsung to even Apple, is actually trying to solve the wrong problem. None of them are really asking how they can fix the living room problem. Rather, they’re focusing on establishing their brand in the living room, positing completely unrealistic scenarios in which a consumer buys only, say, Samsung-branded components (e.g., its absurdly useless WiseLink protocol) without acknowledging the reality that the components of most home theaters make for a decidedly heterogeneous world.

    Does he ever hit the nail on the head with this analysis. As much as I would hate to see this happen, and really hate to have to pay for the cost of this, I think to solve the cluster-f*ck that is the living room we need something like an iMac for the living room. Meaning we need someone like Apple to build in all in one TV-Reciever-Speakers-DVD Player-Apple TV solution that requires just one cord (for power) and that is it. 42-inch excellence. That would give the home theater guys the kick in the ass that they need to get going.

    Then again what do I know, I actually know how to use all six remotes that we have.

    [via Shawn Blanc]

  • Presenting the MiFi of Your Dreams

    David Pogue on the Virgin Mobile MiFi:

    Second, Virgin requires no contract. You can sign up for service only when you need it. In other words, it’s totally O.K. with Virgin if you leave the thing in your drawer all year, and activate it only for, say, the two summer months when you’ll be away. That’s a huge, huge deal in this era when every flavor of Internet service, portable or not, requires a two-year commitment.

    I am really jealous, I don’t know much about Sprint’s coverage in the Seattle area but it can’t be that bad. This is a great option for, well for everyone.

  • WSDOT for iPhone [iTunes link]

    Nice to see the Washington State Department of Transportation getting into the app business (free app). Shows the traffic, alerts, and travel times. Very nice start.

  • Twitter for iPad

    The app that I have been waiting for since April is now available: Twitter for iPad. I haven’t had enough time with it to do a review yet, but here is a couple things that I am thinking about:

    • I like the icon, I think.
    • The horizontal scrolling you can do is pretty neat.
    • I love the glowing blue dots on the edge of the screen.
    • Why doesn’t it sync the position with the iPhone client?
    • Best Twitter client on the iPad so far.

    Also it really is beautifully designed.

  • iTunes B&W Now Availible for Download

    If you haven’t already grabbed the latest copy of iTunes, you mine as well now as Apple will require it at some point. Couple things to note: Ping is odd and I don’t get it, the icon is better but not great, the app appears to be in black and white (not really but it is very close to it), and one thing I really like is the volume slider.

  • My Priority Inbox in Apple Mail.app

    With the announcement of Gmail’s new priority inbox I thought I might share how I make my own priority inbox using Mail rules in Apple’s Mail.app. First this is not nearly as impressive as what Google has built, but when you have several email addresses and a filing system you like, using Gmail is just not that practical (at least not for me).

    First let’s take a look at the rules I have:

    Screen shot 2010-09-01 at 4.27.53 PM.png

    News From Apple

    The first rule is the basic rule that Apple gives you, it colors all mail from Apple as blue, I actually like that so I have kept it all these years.

    Junk Mail Deleter

    The next is a junk mail deleter, basically if Mail flags an email as Junk mail it then marks it read and deletes the message. Yes, it deletes the message, I may miss one or two emails a month because of this but I don’t care because the time savings are well worth it. Additionally if the message I missed was really that important someone will call or contact me via other means.

    Backup Rule

    This is for a few blogs that I run that email me a database backup on a regular basis. This rule finds those emails and marks them read and files them away for me. This is essential to keeping my inbox empty.

    Urgent

    This is a very basic rule that scans just my emails, looking for the word ‘urgent’ in the email body, subject line and like. Once it finds this it colors the message Red.

    Verification / Confirmation

    Same setup as above, but looking for verification or confirmation, then marking the message red and coloring it gray. I often shop while on the run, and I hate confirmation emails making me think I have 5 emails in my inbox, when really I only have one that needs attention.

    Database Backup

    Another rule for emailed backups.

    Send to OmniFocus

    This is added by OmniFocus for emailed task entries. It works, kinda.

    CCd Bamboo

    This is one of my favorite rules. Basically it is looking for my work email address to show up in the CC field, and then checking to see if my name appears in the message body. If my name is not in the message body and I have been CCd on the email, the email is then marked read and archived. I figure I will never need to read these emails, and if I do they are easy enough to look up or for someone to tell me later what they said. Saves a ton of time.

    Important People

    This is the group that I pay attention to, I have a group in Address Book.app that is labeled Important. In that group I have added all the contacts that I think are important and that I want to be sure I see their emails (my Wife, good Friends, family). Whenever one of these people email me their message is flagged. I sort by flagged and so these emails are always read and responded to first.

    TBR Backups

    Just another backup rule for this blog (I never get around to consolidating).

    In Practice

    I have been using this setup for a while now, and rarely do I run into problems. I am always making new rules and later deleting them if they don’t work. The CCd rule is the newest, and so far I am really liking it.

    Now these rules are not made to help me on my Mac, but on my iPad and iPhone – for this to help there I must keep my Mac running 24/7 with Mail open so that it can process this stuff. Fortunately I do this with my Macbook Pro and Mac mini that I keep on all the time.

    The real key here is keeping emails out of my sight, I don’t even want to see them if I don’t need to, and that is the basis I have used for creating all these rules.

    [Updated: 9/3/10 at 7:11 AM] Be sure to read my update on my reasons behind this setup here.

    [This part of an ongoing series on dealing with email, to see more posts look here.]

  • One Bucket to Rule Them All

    Chris Bowler on OmniFocus:

    But I don’t believe that’s the target audience in question here. Folks who work on a Mac all day, do just that — work. And since you have to manage tasks and information, OmniFocus is a great option. In my mind, it’s the best option and it’s already here.

  • Flash on Android

    Ryan Lawler reviewing Flash on a Nexus One:

    Shockingly bad.

    I think a lot of people assumed Apple was lying when they said that these devices won’t run Flash.

  • Apple’s iPod Event – In Steve Jobs Quotes

    Ok so there is no way I am going to do a full write up, instead I am going give you a few of my favorite quotes from Steve Jobs, and end with the important things (in my words).

    (all quotes are my transcription of Steve Jobs from the live broadcast Apple provided)

    “And here it is with people in it.”

    “Activate Jiggle Mode”

    “People clearly missed the buttons.”

    “Instantly wearable”

    “Wouldn’t be Apple without some new ads.”

    “Just about to cross the 12 billion song threshold”

    “Since iTunes will probably surpass the CD in sales we thought, maybe it’s time to ditch the CD in the logo.”

    “A social network for music.”

    “I’m a little particular.”

    “Here’s Lady Gaga, who I am following.”

    “We’ve got one more thing, actually one more hobby.”

    “They don’t want amateur hour.”

    “Remember these are commercial free too, which is nice.”

    “This is by far the best implementation of Netflix too…”

    “Even though we are a little more successful now…”

    Some killer stuff there. The iPods are meh, for anyone who is lazy (i.e. doesn’t work out) and owns and iPhone. The iPad update looks awesome, really awesome actually. Ping stands to be a huge profit center or a colossal flop, I think it will flop – I just don’t see people caring that much (I probably am wrong). The Apple TV update is so good I am going to buy one, and at $99 it is finally priced right.

  • How Google’s lack of control affects their value chain

    Asymco:

    Google today is faced with the prospect that not only the devices (which sit on its OS) but also services and apps on top would choose to remain on old versions of Android. There is nothing to stop them from doing just that. Unlike Microsoft, Google does not enforce licensing terms for Android. It is at the mercy of the value chain.

    In other words Google shot themselves in the foot by not writing their licensing in a way that would allow them to force vendors to use the latest and greatest in a timely manner. Oops.

  • Last Minute September 1, 2010 Apple Event Predictions

    This event will be all about FaceTime I think, new iPod touches that match the specs of the iPhone 4 bringing in FaceTime. New Apple TV with support for FaceTime. iOS 4.1 that unifies iPod touches with the iPhone (no update for the iPad).

    I don’t expect there to be any streaming info just yet, but TV subscriptions seem imminent.

  • WikiLeakiLeaks.org

    Well good idea, but its got nothin’. I mean seriously there is no information on the site yet.

  • WebOS 2.0 Features Revealed – What About the Hardware?

    So we now know about the features, but does Palm/HP really expect people to stick with what will be a 3 year old device? Where is the new hardware?

  • Oxford English Dictionary ‘will not be printed again’

    Not that big of a surprise, perhaps more surprising is that there are still people who buy dictionaries.