Apple Briefs

Via @kcase on twitter Wednesday:

OmniFocus for iPad has been submitted to the App Store! (Latest stats are that 85% of new apps are reviewed within 7 days.)

is it too much pressure to say that I am expecting OmniFocus for iPad to be a game changer in task managers?

Yesterday FileMaker released its iPad and iPhone versions of FileMaker Go ($39.99 and $19.99 respectively).  FileMaker Go allows you to view, search, and edit FileMaker Pro records right from your iPad or iPhone.  And if you won’t have internet access where you’re going, you can also copy the database to your device and run it from there.  You can copy the database back to your desktop computer when you’re done, but it looks like an all-or-nothing proposition.  There doesn’t seem to be syncing.  You can also access a database from your DropBox account.

The release of FileMaker Go certainly muddies the decision between a standard “desktop” database and a website-driven database.  I am still undecided on the technology that will serve as the foundation for our next-generation practice management tool.  FileMaker Go certainly ups the ante on the desktop side of things.

Apparently it hasn’t all been about the iPhone 4 and iOS4 down in Cupertino.  This week Apple announced a preview of updates to the MobileMe calendar.  From the screenshots, it looks like a step in the right direction.  Currently, the MobileMe calendar is a poor knockoff of the (already poor) iCal application.  The updated calendar app looks much more like an iPad application – quite attractive and much more useful.

Apple also updated the MobileMe iDisk app.  It’s a universal app, so it runs on both iPhone and iPad.  I hadn’t been looking for this app because we use DropBox rather than MobileMe for online backup, syncing, and storage.  But is seems like a fairly capable entry into the field, so it’s worth keeping an eye on.

Now if Apple would just release new iMacs already…

Mozilla released the first full beta of Firefox 4 a few days ago.  As with Firefox 3 beta, it comes with some cool art (which, if the pattern repeats, will change to cooler, newer art when we hit beta 2).

The headline features are a more complete HTML 5 implementation, better support for (non-flash) internet video, and better performance for web applications.  No, wait, scratch that.  Actually the real headline features are that tabs have moves slightly and you can now type tab names rather than working up a sweat moving the mouse.  But the good news is that they threw in all that other stuff for free.

I plan to put the Firefox 4 beta through its paces.  I am still running into slowdowns after about a week with Safari (on several computers, so I am pretty sure its not just a single system acting funky).  In fairness, Safari did better than Firefox 3, which could only last about a couple days of my internet usage (if that!).  But I’d like to get out of the habit of restarting Safari every 5 days or so just to keep it usable.

You see, for me, a web browser isn’t just a fancy newspaper.  Something I pick up once a day, read for a bit, and put down.  It’s a workspace.  I keep a couple dozen tabs open at any one time for the various projects I am involved in.  And when I have to shut down Safari and reload all of those tabs, there’s always the chance that something goes wrong.  I want a browser that I can keep using for a month or longer without restarting, just like I do with Mac OS X.

Maybe Firefox 4 will be my savior?  Only time will tell.

The Omni Group recently confirmed that OmniFocus for iPad is probably technically on schedule.  They had previously slated OmniFocus for a June release on the iPad.  I am sure they think that all will be forgiven for missing their deadline just because they threw in a clever Star Wars reference.  But I am having none of that!

You might be curious at the renewed interest in OmniFocus.  After all, aren’t we using Things around here?

Well, yes, we had been using Things.  But it just didn’t seem to be helping us get things done.  It is simple to use and has a nice interface.  But there seemed to be something missing.  Something that I couldn’t put my finder on, keeping us from using it as our main task tracking system.  So we used Things as a supplement to Bento and iCal.

As you can imagine, the results were quite unsatisfying.

We have been using OmniFocus for the better part of a month — for everything apart from scheduling.  I have to say I am quite pleased.

I have found the following features particularly useful:

• Deep folder hierarchies makes organizing tasks by topic and client much easier
• Different views lets me easily see what I have to do from many different angles (home in on one project or see everything due within the next few days)
• Action groups lets me make mini projects for a client engagement (the lack of nested projects was a major limitation of Things)
• Syncing across multiple computers has enabled us to work on the road much more effectively

When I first took a look at OmniFocus, I thought it was too powerful for what I needed.  But I think that was because I really didn’t understand what I needed.  In a busy firm, living the philosophy that “if I don’t record a task, it’s not getting done” really takes a powerful tool.

We have decided that tool is OmniFocus.  And so far it’s working out nicely.