512 Pixels

Back in April, I wrote:

Living with OmniFocus is like having a garden. If you don’t take care of it, weeds take over and ruin it, choking out anything healthy. But if you tend it carefully, it will provide you with beautiful, bountiful results that are delightful.

I didn’t share then about how I keep OmniFocus tended to, but I have a project in OmniFocus named “GTD” that is setup to help keep my system running well.

It’s pretty simple. Here’s a breakdown of the tasks:

• Perform Weekly Review on iPad — every Friday at 4:00 PM
• Sweep OmniFocus Inbox — daily at 10:30 AM and 4:30 PM

The review functionality built in to the iPad app makes the app worth it. Stepping through each project and folder is a great way to make sure that no corners of OmniFocus get too dusty.

I sweep the OmniFocus Inbox at least twice daily. I add all sorts of things to the app — especially from the iPhone — that initially land in the Inbox. During my sweep, things get a context, project and due date.

I used to just look at the Inbox at 4 PM each day, but I found that things would sit too long without being addressed. A few weeks in to the change, and things are working smoothly.

Here’s the important bit:

[I]f the work is provided for a fee (including as part of any subscription-based product or service) and includes files in the .ibooks format generated using iBooks Author, the work may only be distributed through Apple, and such distribution will be subject to a separate written agreement with Apple (or an Apple affiliate or subsidiary); provided, however, that this restriction will not apply to the content of the work when distributed in a form that does not include files in the .ibooks format generated using iBooks Author. You retain all your rights in the content of your works, and you may distribute such content by any means when it does not include files in the .ibooks format generated by iBooks Author.

In short, Apple has rights to the .ibooks format, but not the content itself.

Horace Dediu, discussing the smartphone market:

Apple reached 75% of profit share, nearly 40% of revenue share and 9% of units share.

Good for you, Tim.

While I disliked Google before it was popular, it’s hard for me to argue that Chrome is a damn good browser on the Mac.

Thankfully, the Safari Omnibar plug-in ¹ brings the best feature of Chrome — the unified address box and search field to Mac OS X’s native browser.

The Omnibar includes Google, Google Image and Wikipedia search by default. Adding DuckDuckGo is simple, however:

1. Right-click in the Omnibar, and select “Edit Omnibar Search Providers…”
2. Add a new item. I assigned the trigger “d” to DuckDuck Go. In the URL field enter: http://duckduckgo.com/?q={searchTerms}
3. Click Done, after deciding what to set as the default.

It’s that easy to get away from Google’s search engine and their browser. Happy non-creepy searching.

Update 1: It appears I’m a little behind the times. As Marco Frissen pointed out on Twitter, not only is the OmniBar available as a regular Safari extension via Apple’s site, but it comes with a normal prefrence pane within Safari. Whoops. I’m still using the SIMBL plugin still, for now.

I don’t think I’ve ever had as much fun on a podcast as I did on this episode of Enough.

I hosted Episode 93 of The Bro Show this week. I was joined by Terry Lucy, Myke Hurley and Shawn Blanc to discuss the Macworld, the place of the iPad in a PC world and more.

Handy.

Holy Facebook, Batman!

Lots of fixes in this one.

My pal Paul Skidmore’s post over at Macgasm is a must-read if you are serious about taking photographs with your iPhone.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had the same four apps in my iPhone’s dock:

• Phone
• Mail
• Safari
• Settings

This week, in a major upheaval in my life, Launch Center replaced Settings in the Dock.

Now, this app isn’t one for everyday users. It’s closest Mac cousin is Automator, really. Here’s how App Cubby describes it on its site:

Launch apps and trigger actions from a quick, easy to use app! Call a friend, start an email, send a text, post to Twitter, turn on a flashlight — get to where you’re going faster than ever before.

In short, it’s Siri for your fingertips. ¹ Instead of dealing with 4 or 5 taps to do something, Launch Center sets up an action to get right to where you want to be. They can even be scheduled, as of the newest version of the app.

To do this, the app uses custom URLs that other developers can include in their applications. Even the built-in Settings app uses them.

If you use your iPhone as a computer, you should check this app out. It’s just 99¢ on the App Store.