Monthly Archive for January, 2008

OmniFocus 1.0 Mail Preferences

Published
by
Brooke Kuhlmann
on January 30, 2008
in Software
. 0 Comments

Introduction

OmniFocus has a Mail rule that can be enabled for those road warriors that have an e-mail enabled portable device (i.e. iPhone). This feature comes in handy for those times you are away from the computer but still want to capture actions that you need to do.

Setup & Usage

You can enable the OmniFocus Mail Preferences by clicking OmniFocus->Preferences->Mail from the main menu as shown here:

OmniFocus Mail Preferences
(click to view)

Notice that I have configured OmniFocus to scan e-mails sent from me for subject lines that begin with “–”. Any text after the “–” will be turned into an action. For example, here are some e-mail subject lines and their corresponding OmniFocus actions:

  • E-mail Subject: –Replace the lightbulb in the downstairs hallway
  • OmniFocus Action: A new action called “Replace the lightbulb in the downstairs hallway” will appear in your OmniFocus Inbox.
  • E-mail Subject: –Replace the lightbulb in the downstairs hallway::Repairs@Home
  • OmniFocus Action: A new action called “Replace the lightbulb in the downstairs hallway” will appear in your “Repairs” project within the “Home” context.

You can also use ‘#’ and ‘$’ notation within the e-mail subject to set start/stop times for an action as well as duration. I won’t show examples as you can read more about it more via the OmniFocus Help documentation.

After you have enabled the OmniFocus Mail Preferences, you’ll want to double check that the Apple Mail application has the new rule set. This can be found via the Apple Mail main menu by clicking on Preferences->Rules as shown here:

Mail Rules
(click to view)

Click the edit button of the “Send to OmniFocus” mail rule to see details as shown here:

OmniFocus Mail Rules
(click to view)

Caveats

There are some caveats to all this, however. One is that Mail rules don’t always fire in a timely fashion. This means that you could have a bunch of actions build up in your Mail Inbox. If that is the case, you can always manually force the rules to run by clicking on Message->Apply Rules from the main menu of the Mail application as shown here:

Mail Apply Rules

Another issue happens while you are using your mobile device. Lets say you haven’t left your desktop on while running the Mail application (this also assumes you have IMAP capabilities between your mobile device and your desktop). Your Inbox on your mobile device can fill up with e-mail messages to yourself. These messages won’t get turned into actions until the Mail rules get applied by turning your desktop computer back on again and launching the Mail application.

OmniFocus 1.0

Published
by
Brooke Kuhlmann
on January 29, 2008
in Software
. 9 Comments

For those who have read David Allen’s book “Getting Things Done” (GTD) and are looking for a software program that will aid you in implementing the GTD system then OmniFocus is a must have.

I have been using OmniFocus for the past month or so and can already see huge improvements versus my previous chewing gum solution (Ta-Da List + Stickies). I won’t deny that getting started with OmniFocus does take time. At least for me, it took a day to capture all tasks, thoughts, and ideas into OmniFocus and then a few more days to sort out all the details into proper projects, contexts, and actions while, at the same time, learning how to use OmniFocus. Despite the learning curve, the payoff is worthwhile as I am able to quickly capture and complete my actions faster than I could before.

The following illustrates how I have configured OmniFocus for my purposes.

My Projects

My OmniFocus Projects

I tend to keep my projects concise and streamlined. I also find having semi-generically named projects to be easier to remember and reuse than specifically named projects. I could, of course, could change my stance on this in the future.

My Contexts

OmniFocus Contexts

As you can see, the same naming conventions are applied to contexts.

My Workspace (Context View)

OmniFocus Workspace (Context View)
(click to view)

As shown above, I like to leave my Inspector dialog open at all times for quick reference. I find that much more useful than maximizing OmniFocus to take up the entire desktop. I also tend to work out of “Context” view focused on my “Next Action” list. Although, I sometimes switch to a “Due Soon” view.

Quick Entry

The quick entry window can be displayed at anytime, in any Leopard Space, via a simple keyboard shortcut when using OmniFocus:

OmniFocus Quick Entry
(click to view)

I use this feature often to capture thoughts without being forced to toggle back to the OmniFocus application.

Next Steps

I recommend watching the OmniFocus Overview Video (15 minutes), reading the GTD book, and even checking out my OmniFocus page to learn more.

BMW Motorcycle Dealerships Near Billings, Montana

Published
by
Brooke Kuhlmann
on January 26, 2008
in Announcements
. 0 Comments

Interestingly, the largest city in the state doesn’t have dealership support (the closest being Salt Lake City while the others are mixed):

BMW Dealerships Near Billings
(click to view)

This is disappointing for one who is on the road a lot and can’t take the garage with him. Guess I’ll have to get creative.

CoLT Tip (HTML Hyperlink List Item)

Published
by
Brooke Kuhlmann
on January 23, 2008
in Software
. 0 Comments

Firefox Extension (CoLT)

Introduction

The CoLT add-on for Firefox is an essential tool for quickly capturing and reposting hyperlinks as plain text or in HTML format. The following demonstrates how to customize CoLT to capture a hyperlink to the clipboard wrapped as a HTML formatted list item. Of course, this tip is primarily useful for those who are like to write in pure HTML instead of using a WSIWIG editor.

Setup

  1. Select Tools->Add-ons from the Firefox main menu.
  2. Select the CoLT add-on (assuming you already have it installed) and click the “Preferences” button.
  3. Click the “Add” button.
  4. Enter “HTML Hyperlink List Item” for the “Menu Label”.
  5. Enter “<li>%T</li>” for the “Format”. You should have something that looks a bit like this:
    CoLT Preferences
    (click to view)
  6. Click the “OK” button to finish.

Usage

  1. Browse to my Firefox page (or use the hyperlinks found in this post).
  2. Find the CoLT hyperlink and right-click on it to bring up the pop-up menu as shown here:
    CoLT Menu Items
    (click to view)
  3. The result (as pasted from the clipboard) will look like this: <li>CoLT</li>.

As you can see, there are many ways to customize CoLT for your tastes, this just happens to be one setting that I use quite often.

Jimi Hendrix “Voodoo Chile” Vintage Footage

Published
by
Brooke Kuhlmann
on January 18, 2008
in Music
. 0 Comments

This is good:

WPvideo 1.10

Source: Open Culture

Apple WebClip Bookmark Icon

Published
by
Brooke Kuhlmann
on January 17, 2008
in Software
. 0 Comments

Aeonscope WebClip Bookmark Icon

Introduction

You can associate an icon with your web page for users of Apple iPhone and iPod touch devices. The icon, once bookmarked, will appear on the home screen of the device. Having an icon is a nice way to represent your site instead of the default behavior which is scaled down screenshot of the front page of your web site.

The following describes how to create an icon that fits within Apple specifications (click the “Create a WebClip Bookmark Icon” link).

Instructions

  1. Design a 57×57 pixel image and save it in PNG format.
  2. Name the file “apple-touch-icon.png” and place it in the root of your web server directory just as you would for web browser bookmark icons OR you can name the file whatever you want and place file wherever you want on your web server by placing the following code within the <head> element of each page on your site (NOTE: replace the code highlighted in yellow with a path applicable for your web site):
    Aeonscope WebClip Code Example
    (click to view)

iPhone Example

The following is the result of bookmarking this web site and placed on the home screen of an iPhone:

iPhone Home Screen
(click to view)

NOTE: This requires iPhone version 1.1.3 or higher to work.

Apple TV 2.0 does not support full HD resolution

Published
by
Brooke Kuhlmann
on January 17, 2008
in Electronics
. 2 Comments

Apple TV
© Apple

If you have been following the MacWorld hype this week, you will have noticed that the Apple TV has been improved and reduced in price. Some improvements include wireless connectivity, updated user interface, ability to rent and watch movies, etc. It is a great device with plenty of bells and whistles in both hardware and software.

However, it still misses the mark. By taking a close look at the Apple TV Tech Specs you will see that maximum resolution is 1280×720 pixels at 24 fps but the specs for HD video is 1920×1080 pixels at 24 fps (although it can go as high as 60 fps). If you care about getting the maximum benefit out of your TV and movie watching experience, then this is not the device for you. Nor is the storage space (160 GB maximum) as you’ll need over a terabyte in storage if you have a decent movie collection, let alone storing TV content, downloadable media, or your own home videos.

Food for thought.

Refresh Denver (Web Business Startups)

Published
by
Brooke Kuhlmann
on January 16, 2008
in Meetings
. 1 Comment

Tonight’s Refresh Denver Meeting was about web businesses. Namely, startups and small businesses in general. It was panel discussion led by SuzAnn Brown and Heather Morgan from Launchpad Interactive and Alex King from Crowd Favorite. I didn’t manage to take very good notes this time around so a lot of this is from memory, my own thoughts, and discussions after the meeting had adjourned. Here are my notes and thoughts:

  • Establish a Business Plan - It is wise to have a sound business plan.
  • Create Your Company Entity - A business license is not a bad idea but, more importantly, establish your business as an Limited Liability Company (LLC). Otherwise, kiss your personal assets away when things go bad.
  • Seek Legal Council - You might be savvy or think you’re savvy, but lets face it, your not. Legal contracts, licensing, etc. is tricky and it would be wise to have someone you know and trust on your side to handle this. Take a page from Tim Ferriss’ 4-Hour Workweek book and outsource this instead.
  • Fixed vs. Time and Material Payments - A fixed payment is where you perform all work for a set price regardless of the time or additional resources needed to make it happen. Tricky and sometimes costly as you might underestimate or have unforeseen issues. Being payed for time and materials allows one to scale and get payed for the work done. In either case, it would be wise to establish a clear and well document list of work items to be performed. Also, it is not a bad idea to underbid and overproduce.
  • Source Code Reuse - As you grow your business you might want to think about building a foundation of core software that you can redistribute amongst your various clients. This not only makes things easier for you but saves the client money too. However, ownership of the intellectual property can get murky and is another reason for having an lawyer on hand to ensure both parties get what they want.
  • Education - Check out the HTML Writers Guild and Lynda to get more web training under you belt.
  • Collaboration and Project Management Services - A couple online services recommended by the panel for project management were: BaseCamp and TasksPro.
  • Seek a Mentor - There are free service out there via other business groups and or educational institutions that will help provide objective feedback of how you are doing. Find one, it’ll keep you honest.
  • Remember the Dream - Keep a threshold on what it is you are doing and remember to take a step back and remember what you initial goal and mission was. As with having a mentor around, this will keep your from meandering off track.

Screen Size and Viewing Distance Chart

Published
by
Brooke Kuhlmann
on January 16, 2008
in Electronics
. 0 Comments

For those home theatre enthusiasts who might want information (or a reminder) on where you should place your seating relative to the size of your display, the following chart will be of some help:

Reference Chart
(click to view)

Additionally, if you once enjoyed The Perfect Vision, check out the chart in Issue 79, Page 31. It doesn’t provide a breakdown of resolutions like the one above but is a handy reference for screen size and viewing distance.

Playback Magazine

Published
by
Brooke Kuhlmann
on January 16, 2008
in Electronics
. 0 Comments

Playback Logo
© Playback.

Playback, if you haven’t heard, is a new magazine that used to be known as The Perfect Vision. While The Perfect Vision was a paid subscription, Playback is free. Unfortunately, you have to subscribe via e-mail to be notified of new issues despite the fact that there is a syndicated feed for the site that would be just as applicable for notification.

You can view past issues via the online reader (which is a bit laggy) or you can download an .exe file for Windows or .dmg file for Mac OS users. Cumbersome, yes, but I suppose one can’t complain when it is free to use.