In an effort to organize my life and increase productivity, I've been trying to adopt some GTD conventions. GTD == "getting things done", and there are many tried and true methods being talked about all over the interwebs. I've long known that I can get pretty disorganized, distracted, etc, and this cuts into my work, how people see me, and what I can accomplish. My first step was to start organizing my notes. Second was to purge my RSS reader of all the feeds I didn't absolutely need. I started wearing a watch. Then, the iPhone app store launched, and with it, OmniFocus.

OmniFocus is touted as "professional grade" personal task-management software (straight from the product page on their website). The Omni Group has developed this software to help people organize their lives, and make doing so as transparent and painless as possible. This seemed like a great tool, and the iPhone version of the app could live on one of the things I always carry with me. Match made in heaven.

So I bought and downloaded the app and started throwing tasks and lists at it. I liked how I could create contexts as well as projects, and just dump my todo thought-stream into the inbox to come back to and organize later. I liked how i was notified of upcoming, and overdue items and projects. I liked how I could sit on the train on the way to work and get all my ducks in their respective rows.

And then, I saw that an update was available in the App Store. Naturally, updates should fix bugs, add features, etc... so I updated.

Launched the app.

And I was confronted with a dialogue saying that OmniFocus did not detect a database, and I could either create a new database, or sync with a computer...

I didn't sync OmniFocus on the iPhone with OmniFocus on the laptop because I don't have the desktop software (why would I pay another ~ $100 on top of the just to have a desktop version, when I only needed the mobile?). So I opted to create a database, completely resetting OmniFocus.

FUCK THAT SHIT.

I suppose it's my own fault in some way... but I think there was no way to update the software and keep my existing data. There was no option to back-up, export, etc before updating the app... There was no warning that the update would reset the database.

And now the productivity app is anti-productivity.

FAIL

[UPDATE]

The folks over at OmniGroup have been great in addressing my concerns, offering advice, and accepting ideas I have to [hopefully] improve or otherwise augment the OmniFocus experience. Much respect.

This issue is in large part a problem with iTunes and the iPhone app environment, and addressing these issues in any depth will require at least an additional post... stay tuned.

I've been working on an RFID project at work and was required to build a bunch of RFID readers. Picked up most of the components from SparkFun, with no hassle. We decided to go with the ID-20 readers - which had to be connected to a break-out board to play nice with our boards. Getting these assembled was kind of a pain, as the male-to-male straight header pins required a bit of space, otherwise the break-outs wouldn't fit to the ID-20s.

To get around this problem, I made a jig out of an old Starbucks card (any plastic card will do) - just a straight notch.

No more headaches.

Today, I read a blog post that made me smile. Timgo of ProgProg wrote up his translation of the recent TechCrunch hate on Twitter (the lack of a hyperlink for TC is totally on purpose) - they've lost all credibility in my eyes. That is all. Carry on.

This year's Where2.0 was a blast. Met a ton of cool people, saw some great demos, and enjoyed inspiring talks.

As you can see, Chad and I really nerded out...

I recently had a great opportunity to work with the brilliant minds behind Help Remedies - who have created some beautifully designed healthcare products. T&E of LittleFury did the branding/identity and packaging.
My little contribution to all this can be found in the bored section of Help's website - where I created a handful of pieces of what can best be described as fun.

Really looking forward to seeing more from Help, and can't wait to find some of their products in my medicine cabinet (or displaying them on my shelf to impress visitors - they're that good looking!).

I'll be going to a few interesting events in the next two months:

April 26 GoRuCo (Gotham Ruby Conference)

from the site: "A technical conference aimed at highly motivated programmers interested in all things Ruby."

April 30 Visualization Day at CUNY

This looks really interesting, with presentations by Ben Schneiderman and other HCI & Visualization notables. The conference is free, which is always a plus.

May 12 - 14 Where2.0 in Burlingame, CA

I've been wanting to go to this conference for a couple years. Always a great line-up of speakers and lots of interesting people and projects. This year's Where2.0 should be excellent - with all the LBS apps and platforms that are launching.

May 17 Smart/Models (AIGA/NY Biz Conf)

AIGA/NY has put together a great looking conf featuring a diverse group of designers and producers discussing... the biz. I'm especially looking forward to Jason Fried's talk on 37signals' approach. There has been a lot of talk about new business models in the creative space, and this looks to be a great round-up of some super intelligent people with highly innovative ideas and methods.

During the past week or so, I've been hacking away on iPhone native app dev. It's been a challenge, as I have very little experience with C, C++, much less obj-c. This entry is more a list of points that have helped me become comfortable than anything else - mostly gleaned from the docs put out by Apple.

basics

- gui interface for UI elements
- benefits of using IB
- graphically add interface elements to your app
- draw connections between ui elems and controllers
- quickly move, add, delete elems
- isolate ui from app code
- creates a .nib file -> contains ::
- objects
- attributes
- relationships

- proxy objects -> "placeholder for an object that is used by the nib file but not stored in the nib file"
- first responder -> target for messages (if not set, message is sent to other objects in the chain)

windows and views

- one window per app
- multiple views

integration

- IB builds the View (in MVC terms)
- IB discovers outlets and actions of Controllers
- IB automatically detects changes in the XCode project classes and delegates connections

basic use

- to add a view, 

1. simply drag the object to your nib file
2. select view/object and open inspector window
3. select identity pane
4. type name of class in the Class field, or select the class from the combo box

- creating connections,

1. select source object and open connections inspector
2. click the circle object to the right of the outlet/action, drag over to target object
3. select action methods (if needed)

- remove a connection by clicking 'break connection' box to the left of the name of the connected object

The sign of a good start to a good year is a complete and total lack of down-time. Simple and mundane things such as keeping up a basic presence have been neglected. I've been tweeting more and blogging less. Drinking/watching/lifting/reading less and hacking more.

Here's the highlight real:

new iMac (love it)
Bench (gotta use those tools)
Tahoe/SF (snow and nice weather, good food and great company)
Sagmeister (inspiring, if a bit banal - in his own words)
FOWA 2008 (coming up... looks good)

In other news, look for a post on the hassles of bleeding-edge on controlled platforms - inspired by the hassle of getting rails2.0 up on a number of servers...

Randoms:
- lately, I've been devouring architecture books
- REST in Rails2.0 is sweet
- LBS in 2008 should be interesting - but a bit over-hyped for the prospective apps launching
- I spend too much time on ffffound

Of course, this will all change next month when the SDK is released.