The Brooks Review

Category: Links

  • Using Your iPad as a Business Productivity Tool

    Dave Caolo has written a book on using your iPad as a business tool. If you don’t buy this I will be sad and Dave will be sad — so in effect buying this book makes the world a touch happier. Here’s what Dave has to say about the book:

    I’ll then wrap the whole thing up with my best tips and tricks.

    That alone is worth it.

  • Mac OS X Lion

    And now, the most important announcement today: Lion. Here are some key highlights of Lion:

    • Mail 5: “Just like Mail on iPad, Mail 5 in Mac OS X Lion features a new layout that takes advantage of the widescreen display on your Mac.” Finally.
    • AirDrop: “With AirDrop in Mac OS X Lion, you can send files to anyone around you — wirelessly.” Sounds an awful lot like DropCopy, but I am happy to see this kind of tech make its way to the Mac.
    • OS X Server is also bundled in and comes with this gem: “Lion Server delivers wireless file sharing for iPad. Enabling WebDAV in Lion Server gives iPad users the ability to access, copy, and share documents on the server from applications such as Keynote, Numbers, and Pages.” That is sweet and makes a killer reason to have a little Mac server around for your company. ((I say little because a Mac mini should be perfectly suited.))

    The best part: Apple usually saves some juicy stuff for launch day, can’t wait.

  • New MacBook Pros

    Thunderbolt is real and should clearly be showing Apple’s hand in regard to USB 3.0 — meaning I bet the stay with Thunderbolt + USB 2.0 for a while. If Thunderbolt takes off they will never have a need for USB 3. The new Pros also feature the new FaceTime HD camera, touting 3 times the resolution and better low-light performance — two areas that really needed improvement.

    Also: everything else is touch faster.

  • FaceTime for Mac

    Apple has released FaceTime for $0.99 in the Mac App Store. It has the additional support of HD video calling, which means FaceTime cameras should be getting a bit better. (Personally I would like to see some software side stabilization on iPhones during FaceTime calls — feels like the Blair Witch Project with all that shakiness.)

  • Leaked Windows Phone 7 ads challenge your phone head-to-head

    Now this is closer to what I was talking about.

  • Gruber on Why In-App Subscriptions Are a Good Thing

    John Gruber:

    Again, if this subscription policy knocks a bunch of good apps out of the store, sure, that’ll be bad for iOS users. But that hasn’t happened, and clearly, Apple thinks it isn’t going to happen.

    That’s what I have been saying.

  • A good demonstration of Light Peak/Thunderbolt

    Now that is cool.

    [via DF]

  • An interview with Rob Janoff, designer of the Apple logo

    Great stuff.

  • “OmniFocus Barriers to Entry”

    J. Eddie Smith, IV on why you should and shouldn’t buy OmniFocus:

    Like any power tool, OmniFocus’s features are best appreciated if you come to OmniFocus with a real need for those features. It will probably fail in utility if you try to fit your workflow to the features. Don’t buy bandaids so you can cut your arm.

    I think he is dead wrong here. One of the greatest assets of OmniFocus is the fact that it is an incredibly flexible piece of software that can — and will — adapt to most user’s workflows. You don’t need to understand action versus project, or even know what a context is, you just need to understand how those parts of the app work together with each other.

    I can guarantee you that I don’t use OmniFocus in the same way that someone like Merlin Mann uses it and that he uses it differently than the next guy — that is precisely why I an unequivocally recommend the app to anyone. I know that OmniFocus will transform into what any user needs it to be in order to get work done.

    Beyond price, the real barrier to entry for OmniFocus is not a lack of GTD understanding — it is a lack of OmniFocus understanding. You absolutely must take time and use the app, once you do that you will begin to see just how you can slot it right into your workflow.

    (I buy bandaids in case of a cut on my arm, because I know that I will need them at some point.)

  • Three Reasons I Don’t Use Twitterrific

    Dave Caolo lists three reasons that he uses Twitterrific on the Mac, which is funny because I think they are three reasons why you shouldn’t use Twitterrific.

  • More on iPad Usage in Meetings

    David Sparks weighs in on how he uses the iPad in meetings:

    Instead, I use it to make me look brilliant. I’m okay with that.

  • Matt Drance on the Subscription Mess

    Matt Drance:

    Are Apple staffers seriously going to check every vendor website for sale prices on a regular basis?

    A great question. The short answer: no way.

  • Quick Response (QR) Codes on Permits

    Mayor (of New York) Mike Bloomberg’s Blog:

    By scanning the QR code on these documents, New Yorkers will learn more information about who is performing this work, including the addresses and telephone numbers of property owners and job applicants, which is typically a licensed architect or engineer or general contractor on the project.

    That’s a clever use.

  • Getting Out of a Speeding Ticket With a Smartphone

    A clever use of GPS tracking data.

  • “It’s a Matter Of Power”

    Randy Murray recalling a conversation with a traveler on a plane who had a dead laptop battery:

    “I had a full charge when I sat down in the terminal.”

    iPad FTW.

  • “I Will Check My Phone At Dinner And You Will Deal With It”

    MG Siegler hits on a point of contention in my life. My wife doesn’t like it when I check my phone at dinner, or while we are out. I try to limit it to just checking in and reading @replies and the like. I don’t find it rude when someone does it — I do find it rude when I do it to my wife (e.g. it is just the two of us out to dinner).

    I think the line is drawn somewhere between enhancing the conversation and tuning it out. Meaning go bonanza with your phone if you are adding information to the conversation, but put it away if you are just trying to escape the conversation. The real problem is that it is hard to tell the two apart.

  • Brett Terpstra’s Filing System

    If you are a fan of tagging your files then I think Mr. Terpstra has the system of all systems. This is impressively nerdy.

  • Marco Arment on Subscriptions and the new In-App Purchase requirement

    Marco Arment makes a compelling argument against the new IAP and subscription policy:

    But one argument that Apple should care about: this policy will prevent many potentially great apps, from many large and small publishers, from being created on iOS at all.

    The above quoted bit is key. Is this new policy the deterrent that will push developers to other platforms? I don’t think so, but many others think it is.

  • Gruber on Readability’s iOS App Rejection

    John Gruber taking a very similar stance to mine:

    What they’re pissed about is that Apple has the stronger hand. Readability needs Apple to publish an app in the App Store. Apple doesn’t need Readability.

    Actually you should read all of his comments.

  • iPhone Notes App Comparison

    A great run down of the feature differences between four fairly popular iOS note apps. Nicely done.