Archive for October, 2009
Apple’s Productivity Shortcomings (And How to Get Around Them)
So by the title, you might think I’m not a fan of Macs. You’d be wrong. I converted from a PC over two years ago and have been glad every day that I did so. Macs do *almost* everything better, and without the headaches of PCs. And the fact that you can go into an Apple retail store and get all kinds of help, most of it free, just seems to make using a Mac a no-brainer. But notice I did say that Macs do almost everything better. The one thing that is harder using Mac-native tools is personal productivity. And being that this is my profession, that’s a bit of a big deal for me.
Your brain was not designed to manage the details of your life. So in order to be effective, you need a tool. And that tool needs to manage at least 5 things well: calendar, contacts, to-do’s (or tasks), email, and notes. I believe that everything in one place is best. If it can’t be one place, the fewer the better, in my experience. On a PC, this is handled quite effectively by Microsoft Outlook, and Outlook has the added advantage of syncing pretty seamlessly with most smartphones.
Mac’s answer to this challenge is 3 different programs, and those programs don’t work particularly well together (even though Apple claims they do): Apple Mail, iCal, and Address Book. It’s not easy enough to create a task from an email, so I had to install an add-on program called MailTags (and BTW, MailTags does lots of other things. I’m a fan). The next problem is that Notes and Tasks don’t sync to iPhone. I am not alone in my shock that Apple would ignore such basic functionality, but there it is. I went outside the Mac native tools for my notes, and chose Evernote, and it enables me to see my notes on my iPhone. My one complaint with Evernote is that my notes are not synced locally on my iPhone, so I need an internet connection to view/edit them. So now instead of one program for my productivity system, I’m up to four.
Until recently there was no good solution to take your tasks from iCal and get them to your iPhone (see comments on OmniFocus, below). There are plenty of simple to-do apps that are web-based, like Remember the Milk, Toodledo, and Jott. But what I wanted was one that would sync with my tasks from iCal, so that I didn’t have to add yet another tool to my productivity system (4 already seems excessive). Finally, Appigo has solved my problem. They offer a free sync tool called Appigo sync, which you download on your Mac, and an iPhone app (although pricey for an app at $9.99) called ToDo. Finally! (UPDATE: There is now another great option: 2Do by Guided Ways Technologies – I suggest you check it out.) This solution allows me to sync my tasks from iCal to my iPhone, and it has lots of functionality for managing views, such as viewing by calendar, priority, due date, etc. If you’re a Mac user and looking for a productivity solution, I suggest you give this formula a try. There is another solution to task management that will also sync with your iPhone, called OmniFocus, but in my opinion, it’s unnecessarily complicated, it may not play as well with Mac OS as OS-native tools, and it’s pricey ($79.95).
If you’re a Mac user with another solution for managing the combination of tasks, calendar, contacts, email, and notes, that is also accessible from your iPhone or smartphone, I’d love to hear about it. Thanks for reading!
More iPhone & Other Technology Conveniences
I was hired to give a keynote presentation in San Antonio this weekend, where I stayed overnight, and on the drive home I was marveling over the technology that made the trip so enjoyable and convenient for me. Since it was a Friday, I suggested my husband take the day off and join me for a short getaway.
On the drive down (about 90 minutes from Austin), we used listening to an audiobook (or several) as fodder for conversation. This was possible through our subscription to Audible, an iPhone (iPod would work too), and an auxiliary outlet in the car. Oh, and we were also navigating to the hotel via Google Maps on the iPhone. What’s even better than the text directions is that the iPhone 3G shows your current location as a dot on the map so you can tell if you’re heading in the right direction, how close the turn is, whether or not you missed it, etc. Priceless for those, like me, who are directionally challenged.
We have not had a lot of down time lately, and we’ve visited San Antonio several times before, so we decided that after the talk, we were going to hole up in our room and indulge our “Lost” addiction. This was possible thanks to free internet access at the hotel, a laptop, and an $8.99/month Netflix subscription, which allows unlimited streaming of shows or movies, directly to your TV or computer. Personalized, on-demand entertainment on the go. I could not have imagined this 10 years ago.
But before the Lost marathon, we decided to head out for lunch. The Yelp app on the iPhone came in handy here, and thanks to that, we found a GREAT place to eat (which I highly recommend if you’re ever in San Antonio) called Texas Farm to Table. Using the app we got some options, read reviews, found out the details, and got directions to the restaurant. Yelp never lets me down when I’m in a new city. It’s like having an “insider” everywhere I go, and thanks to the iPhone app, I don’t need to make lists before I leave: I can check what I need on the fly.
I know that some people find it scary to embrace all of this new technology, but honestly I am amazed almost every day at how much easier and more convenient it makes my life.
If you have a story about how technology has made your life easier or more convenient lately, I’d love to hear it. Thanks for reading!
Confessions of a (Highly Productive) iPhone Addict: UPDATE
Since I wrote this post, I’ve gotten an overwhelming response from people who said they found it helpful. And now that I’ve had my iPhone for even longer, and upgraded to the 3G, I use it even more than I did before. And if you read that post, you know it was a lot then. I thought I’d share some of the new things I’ve learned.
First, let me just mention how handy the camera is, especially combined with email, and now text (AT&T finally supports images & video in text messages). My husband and I have been doing a lot of decorating lately, and it’s come in so handy for shopping. We were looking for some furniture & accessories, but it’s hard to visualize how things will look inside the house. I’ve snapped pictures of furniture in different stores, so not only could I compare pieces, but I could bring them home, hold up the picture in the spot, and visualize how the piece will fit in. I took a picture of the wall color so that I could get curtains & a pillow that would complement it. While shopping at the store I hold up the picture to check the colors together. I snap a shot of something & email it to my husband to make sure he likes it before I buy it. SO handy.
I’ve also discovered several apps that facilitate meditation & deep sleep which are great to help me relax and I use them at various times, like after a difficult phone call, before an afternoon powernap, and often while drifting off to sleep at night.
If you travel at all, you’ll want to check out Tripit and Packing. Each has proven to be invaluable to me both getting ready for trips and to access useful information while I’m on my trip, so now I use my iPhone even more when I travel.
I could go on and on here, so I’ll just briefly mention a few more of my favorites:
Yelp & Around Me help me find great local businesses (& my favorite chain stores) when I’m out of my neighborhood.
Snooth (or Beer Brands) helps me pick a good wine (or beer) at dinner or to bring to a party.
Stanza is my favorite eBook & PDF reader for my iPhone – I find a Kindle unnecessary thanks to Stanza (incidentally, Stanza by Lexcycle is the brainchild of former Austinite Neelan Choksi, and was acquired this year by Amazon).
FaceBook & LinkedIn have iPhone versions that let me quickly check in with my social media connections.
Pandora & Slacker let me listen to commercial free music in my choice of genre at any time.
Pret-a-Yoga allows me to get a yoga workout even when I can’t attend a class. I’m also considering buying my yoga teacher’s DVD and loading that on my iPhone.
Bump helps me easily share contact information & files with other iPhone users.
What’s YOUR favorite, use-it-every-day, can’t-live-without-it iPhone app? I’d love to hear it! Thanks for reading!