As mentioned in an earlier post on using faux Contacts for collecting, managing, and synching tasks offline on the iPhone, I've been reading Getting things done (GTD) by David Allen. I have to say I found the book a difficult, overly repetitive and non-engaging read, despite my motivation to learn from it. If you could get a lot of things done in the time it takes to read 267 anecdote-heavy pages, here's my somewhat condensed take on the bits worth sharing, along with a few Mac-specific embellishments.
Continue reading 'Personal productivity on Mac and iPhone'
Tag archive for 'productivity'
Despite strong indications of an imminent second generation 3G iPhone, the recent £100 price drop on the 8GB iPhone proved too tempting. I had hesitated because the iPhone failed to meet my minimum requirements for basic PDA functionality. With 1Password mostly overcoming the secure data exchange obstacle, the remaining challenge was to find a network-independent way of managing and synchronising tasks ("to do" items). I've also been wading through David Allen's book Getting Things Done in a search for ways to improve my personal productivity. Could I cherry-pick the key principles of the GTD religion and apply them on the iPhone using only the built-in apps?
Continue reading 'Using faux Contacts for GTD on the iPhone'
In the "make dashboard useful" vein, freeware App Update is like Apple's Software Update for your third-party applications. It can be set to check what's in /Applications against VersionTracker, MacUpdate, or Apple—manually or automatically. Growl support too. Not always 100% accurate, but close.
Ben Long nicely summarises the capabilities of Bridge (included with Photoshop CS3) in the context of dedicated workflow applications like Abobe's Lightroom and Apple's Aperture. The last word? "No piece of software will make you a better photographer... Instead, go out and shoot!". Perhaps too much efficiency could mean missing valuable lessons if not enough time is spent analysing individual images in order to improve capture, composition, and processing technique?
The Universal Packing List: And I thought I was organized with my list... Feed your trip dates, expected temperatures, gender, intended accommodation, dependents, planned activities, transport options, and more into this form to output a customized packing list. A list-followers dream!
An iCal user since the beginning, I never knew you could attach any file to an event and open it by clicking on the url field. Ideal for those larger memos, or for integrating the list-making ability of Word or diagramming tools of OmniGraffle.
