ATPM15.04 / April 2009 Volume 15, Number 4

About This Particular Macintosh: About the personal computing experience.™

ATPM 15.04 1 Cover

Cover ArtCopyright © 2009 Grant Osborne1. We need new cover art each month. Write2 to us!

The ATPM Staff

Publisher/Editor Michael Tsai3Managing Editor Christopher Turner4

Reviews Editor Paul Fatula5

Web Editor Lee Bennett6

Copy Editors Chris Lawson7

Linus Ly8

Ellyn Ritterskamp9

Brooke SmithVacant

Webmaster Michael Tsai10

Beta Testers The Staff11

Contributing Editors Eric Blair12

Mike Chamberlain13

Ed Eubanks Jr.14

Matthew Glidden15

Ted Goranson16

Andrew Kator17

Robert Paul Leitao18

Wes Meltzer19

Sylvester Roque20

Charles Ross21

Mark Tennent22

Evan Trent23

Vacant1http://www.basenotes.net2mailto:cover-art@atpm.com3http://mjtsai.com4http://www.retrophisch.com5mailto:pfatula@atpm.com6http://www.secondinitial.com7http://chrislawson.net8http://qaptainqwerty.blogspot.com/9http://www.ritterskoop.org

10http://mjtsai.com11mailto:editor@atpm.com12http://www.raoli.com13mailto:mchamberlain@atpm.com14http://www.eubanksconsulting.net15mailto:mglidden@atpm.com16http://www.sirius-beta.com17http://andrew.katorlegaz.com18mailto:rleitao@atpm.com19http://www.wesmeltzer.com20mailto:sroque@atpm.com21http://www.chivalrysoftware.com22http://www.tennent.co.uk23http://www.symphonysound.com

ATPM 15.04 2 Cover

Artwork & Design

Layout and Design Michael Tsai24

Web Design Simon Griffee25

Cartoonist Matt Johnson26

Blue Apple Icons Mark RobinsonOther Art RD NovoGraphics Director Vacant

EmeritusRD Novo, Robert Madill, Belinda Wagner, Ja-mal Ghandour, Edward Goss, Tom Iovino, DanielChvatik, Mike Shields, Grant Osborne, GregoryTetrault, Raena Armitage, Johann Campbell, DavidOzab.

ContributorsLee Bennett, Ed Eubanks Jr., Chris Lawson, RobertPaul Leitao, Linus Ly, Mark Tennent, Frank H. Wu,Macintosh users like you.

SubscriptionsSign up for free subscriptions using the Web form27.

Where to Find ATPMOnline and downloadable issues are available at theatpm Web Site28. atpm is a product of atpm, Inc.© 1995–2009. All Rights Reserved. ISSN: 1093-2909.

Production ToolsAcorn, Apache, AppleScript, BBEdit, Docutils,DropDMG, FileMaker Pro, Git, GraphicConverter,LATEX, make, Mailman, MySQL, Name Mangler, op-tipng, Perl, Photoshop Elements, PyMesh, PyObjC,Python, rsync, Snapz Pro X, ssh, TextMate.

ReprintsArticles, original art, and desktop pictures may notbe reproduced without the express permission of the

author or artist, unless otherwise noted. You may,however, print or distribute copies of this issue ofatpm as a whole, provided that it is not modified inany way. Authors may be contacted through atpm’seditorial staff, or at their e-mail addresses, when pro-vided.

Legal StuffAbout This Particular Macintosh may be uploadedto any online area or included on a CD-ROM com-pilation, so long as the file remains intact and unal-tered, but all other rights are reserved. All informa-tion contained in this issue is correct to the best ofour knowledge. The opinions expressed in atpm arenot necessarily those of the entire atpm staff. Prod-uct and company names and logos may be registeredtrademarks of their respective companies. Thank youfor reading this far, and we hope that the rest of themagazine is more interesting than this.

• • •

Thanks for reading atpm.

24http://mjtsai.com25http://hypertexthero.com26http://www.cornstalker.com27http://www.atpm.com/subscribe/28http://www.atpm.com

ATPM 15.04 3 Cover

SponsorsAbout This Particular Macintosh has been free since 1995, and we intend to keep it that way. Our editorsand staff are volunteers with real jobs who believe in the Macintosh way of computing. We don’t make aprofit, nor do we plan to. Our aim is to produce a fiercely independent magazine, with multiple formatsdesigned for easy reading rather than showing ads. The views expressed in these pages have always beenour own, and to help prove it we do not accept direct sponsorships or advertising. We do, however, need topay for our Web site and other expenses, so we rely on minimal advertising, sold indirectly via Google andYahoo, as well as the support of atpm readers who shop using our links1.

1http://www.atpm.com/about/support.shtml

ATPM 15.04 4 Sponsors

Welcomeby Robert Paul Leitao, rleitao@atpm.com

Welcome to the April issue of About This ParticularMacintosh! Our editors have worked hard over thepast month to bring you a topical and relevant seriesof columns and reviews. We will present this month’sissue in a correspondingly non-typical and irreverentway.

We welcome you to the “On the Rocks” issue ofatpm. For those who wonder how we developed thetheme for our April issue, we mixed in a shot of eco-nomic discontent, added two jiggers of sour financialnews, stirred in some sweet talk and an ounce of Ap-ple optimism, and poured the concoction into a tum-bler full of digital ice.

China: the iPhone’s Rocky RoadIt’s ironic the place where iPhones are made is aplace where the locals don’t have easy access to ac-quire and use them. Negotiations between Apple andits prospective iPhone partner on China’s mainlandcontinue. For now, Hong Kong remains the point ofiPhone entry (and for mainlanders a source of iPhoneenvy) until agreements are signed. Announcements ofa deal should come any day now. Really, announce-ments should come any day now. We think.

Follow the Cobblestone RoadApple has announced the dates of this year’s annualconference for developers. From June 8–12, Apple de-velopers will descend upon San Francisco’s MosconeCenter for a five-day celebration of Mac OS X andthe iPhone OS.

Apple has been cobbling together a multi-deviceoperating system roadmap to satisfy the economic in-terests of developers large and small while the com-pany continues to lead the industry with innovativehardware designs. Will this cobblestone road leadto prosperity for Apple developers and further gainsin market share for the maker of the Mac and theiPhone? We don’t know what kind of wizardry willbe behind the curtain for this year’s event, but wesuspect the return of Steve Jobs may be one of thehappenings that will make headlines at WWDC 2009.

Rock On!In March, Apple released updates to its computers in-cluding the iMac and Mac Pro lines. The new hard-

ware releases are notable for not being particularlynotable. In challenging economic times, the com-pany is taking a determined course of incrementaland evolutionary product updates. The Mac mini isnow hailed as the world’s most energy efficient desk-top computer. In response to environmentalists whohave been critical of the company’s products, the newdesktops are lean and have become continuingly moregreen.

SisyphusIn response to the thousands of e-mails our managingeditor has received asking us to make more referencesto Greek mythology in our work, this month we arehappy to oblige. Please keep the e-mails coming. Likemany of our readers, our editors can’t get enough ofthis ancient stuff.

For our new readers who might not be aware ofour scholarly interest in ancient Greek culture andmythology, Sisyphus is the mythical creature destinedfor eternity to push a boulder up a mountain only tohave it roll back down again as he and the boulderapproached the top. Monumental undertakings areoften referred to as “Sisyphean challenges.”

Those of us desiring Apple’s share price to riseback to its all-time high in this difficult market nomatter the company’s strong balance sheet, amazingproduct line, and recent history of creating billionsof dollars in net cash each year, might see ourselvesreflected in the mythical story.

The Rocky Horror Photo ShowThere’s really no horror involved in viewing thismonth’s desktop photos. The horror belongs tothis writer and photographer of the photo seriesof Vasquez Rocks. During the photo excursion,he found himself hanging off the sides of cliffs anddangling precariously from many a ridge. The photoset is an accompaniment to the forthcoming reviewof Apple’s iWeb component of iLife ’09. The reviewentitled “iWeb: The Good, The Bad, and The Sub-lime” is scheduled for publication in our May issue.You can follow the progress of the review site1.

1http://web.me.com/robertpaul/Posts_From_The_Edge/Life_At_The_Edge.html

ATPM 15.04 5 Welcome

So why is a photo series for a May review ap-pearing in our April issue? After this writer andphotographer submitted the photos for the desktoppicture series, all was good until he submitted photoshis daughter had taken at Yosemite National Park fora future series of desktop photos.

The timing of the publication of this desktop se-ries of rock formations in the April issue has nothingto do with the publisher’s polite and constructive cri-tique that the next time this writer and photographerembarks on a photo excursion he take his daugh-ter along to handle the camera. There’s absolutelynothing to that rumor. Nor is there any credence tothe story that this writer and photographer was con-cerned about being upstaged by his teenage daughtershould both desktop photo sets be published in theMay issue. It has everything to do with this month’stheme. Now that we’ve rationalized the timing ofthis month’s desktop picture set, we’ll depart fromthe theme for just a moment.

If you’d like to submit a series of pictures forconsideration for publication as a desktop photoset, please contact editor@atpm.com. Please note:Vasquez Rocks as a location is already taken. Thiswriter and photographer desires no additional com-petition.

EspionageThis month, Linus Ly looks at a solution for thosewho desire to keep everything private. Not thathe’s apt to hide the dealings of a long-running Ponzischeme, but he may have found a way to hide theremaining assets. Even if the Feds seized his Mac,he’d have encrypted knowledge to barter for a lightersentence. Absent illegal dealings, we may all havestuff we want to keep away from even the mostcreative snoops. Please see his review in this month’sissue.

The Many Faces of FacebookIn this month’s issue, Lee Bennett explores the manydigital faces of Facebook and how the iPhone andits Facebook application keep one connected whetherat work, at home, and at play. In today’s constantconnection digital world, whether you are hangingoff the cliffs at Vasquez Rocks or hiking the trails toHalf Dome, the Facebook iPhone application keepsyou current with friends and family.

Rocks Along the Road of LifeLife can seem like a rather rocky path. New andunforeseen adventures await us almost every day.The editors of atpm have been chronicling whatwe call the “personal computing experience” since1995. We’ve seen tough times come and go andopportunities arrive when we least expected them.Join us each month as we take you along to surpriselocations from San Andreas rock formations to theAfrican savanna. From your iMac or MacBook we’lltake you all over the world. Next month, we visitYosemite National Park in winter.

Our April issue includes:

MacMuser: Getting le Ver de TerreA story from Mark Tennent written an hour beforebefore it should’ve been written.

MacMuser: Very Interesting. . .But StupidMark Tennent muses about the Safari 4 beta.

Next Actions: File and Inbox ManagementHow does automation help GTD on the Mac? Thismonth’s Next Actions takes a look at some ways toautomate file management. Also, an updated MasterList.

Desktop Pictures: Vasquez RocksContributing editor Robert Paul Leitao provides thismonth’s photos from the Vasquez Rocks, north of LosAngeles.

Qaptain QwertyAre Macs immune to Windows viruses?

Review: Elements+ 1.1Elements+ transforms your exiting copy of Adobe’sPhotoshop Elements, “unlocking” features and toolsthat otherwise require the full version of Photoshop.

Review: Espionage 2.0.2Espionage makes it easy to password protect and en-crypt individual folders, not the entire home folder,but does it get in the way?

Review: Facebook for iPhone 2.2It’s not like anyone has any other choice of competingutilities, but is the Facebook application for iPhoneworth using?

ATPM 15.04 6 Welcome

Review: iFlyz Personal Media SolutionStandSolves your personal media problems, provided yourpersonal media are contained on a player with asmooth case.

Review: KavaServices 3.1.1KavaServices is not your father’s Character Con-verter! Lee Bennett looks at this substantial re-tooling of the former HTML Character Converterutility.

Review: OmniFocus, TaskPaper, andThingsFrank H. Wu hands out high marks for three leadingtask management applications and shares the differ-ences between them.

Review: Showcase for iPhone 3GNot too hard, not too soft, not too big, and not toopricey, but not perfect, either.

ATPM 15.04 7 Welcome

E-MailEye-Fi Explore1

Did you notice any effect on battery life?—Andy Lee

My apologies for not mentioning that in the re-view, because this is something that was prettymuch an automatic given.

Yes, the Eye-Fi card will put an additionaldrain on your battery—no question. The de-gree to which it drains was a little hard for meto relate because my Nikon D90 has the add-on battery pack that lets me install two batter-ies simultaneously. In addition, the D90 usesheavy-duty, long-life Li-Ion batteries, which lastmuch longer than the tiny batteries that comein pocket/point-and-shoot cameras.

If you promise not to take the followingas factual data, I’ll attempt a “guesstimation.”The number of photos I shot during the Epcottrip I feel may have normally used somewherebetween 1/3 to 1/2 of the power in one of thetwo batteries. (The D90 doesn’t drain bothbatteries simultaneously—it auto switches overto the other when one is empty.) Best I canrecall, after I let all the photos upload at homewhen I returned from the park, the remainingpower in the battery that was used was certainlyno less than half.

When you’re talking about pro and pro-sumer DSLRs that use the heavy-duty batterieslike the Nikon D90 does, the perceived drain isgoing to be barely noticeable. Whereas a singleD90 battery might have enough charge for meto shoot for a few days, using the Eye-Fi mightshave a day or two off that. But the truth is,if I was in a place that Wi-Fi was readily avail-able for the Eye-Fi to work, it means I’m alsoin a place where I can top off the battery longbefore it runs dry. If I were shooting for daysout somewhere and wouldn’t have power fora while, I’d certainly not use the Eye-Fi sinceit wouldn’t be able to find a signal to upload,anyway.

For the small batteries in point-and-shoots:I’d be grateful if a reader who has used the Eye-Fi with a smaller camera would like to share hisor her experiences with battery life estimates.

—Lee Bennett1http://www.atpm.com/15.03/eye-fi-explore.shtml

ChronoSync 4.0.12

Good review; ChronoSync does an excellent job as abackup utility, and you did a nice job covering thataspect.

Two comments: what ChronoSync lacks (thatTime Machine and even Apple’s Backup offer) issomething of an incremental backup. If you makechanges that are backed up, you can never undothem; that’s one of the things that makes TimeMachine so compelling. For what you’re doing,something akin to SuperDuper! would be sufficient(though admittedly the ChronoSync scheduling fea-tures are more robust, and the ability to back upmore selectively is an important distinction).

Secondly: as is implied by the name, ChronoSyncis more than simply a backup program; it also hassurprisingly robust capabilities for synchronizing be-tween multiple machines. You alluded to this in yourreview, but I would like to have seen more devotedto this idea, as it is an increasingly appealing optionfor those of us who use multiple machines.

—Ed Eubanks, Jr.

• • •

You can use FolderOrgX3, a freeware folder actionto create a Time Machine–like backup. FolderOrg isan AppleScript Folder Action that organizes files andfolders by moving them into dated subfolders. Thisis helpful in keeping files and folders organized by theday they were added, not created or modified.

—Diane Ross

• • •

Very competent review. Thanks for the great in-formation. I am considering purchasing ChronoSyncand am comparing it to Intego Personal Backup X5.Your review will help me make the final decision.

—Michael

• • •

As the name indicates, ChronoSync is first and fore-most a folder synchronization utility and it is the best

2http://www.atpm.com/15.03/chronosync.shtml3http://homepage.mac.com/dougeverly/folderorg.html

ATPM 15.04 8 E-Mail

one I know of. I found it easy to use, fast, and flexi-ble. It offers the option to ignore aliases, the choice tosynchronize deletions, and the choice to treat bundlesas files or as folders. It detects conflicts, offers trialsynchronizations, has many options to exclude filesor folders, allows many different scheduling schemesand (unlike several other synchronization and backuputilities I used or tried) warns when a scheduled syn-chronization failed (e.g., because a disk is full).

Like many file synchronization utilities ChronoSynccan also be used as a backup utility, and as such itdoes a very good job, as Linus explained very well.

I don’t understand Ed’s remark:what ChronoSync lacks (that Time Ma-chine and even Apple’s Backup offer) issomething of an incremental backup. Ifyou make changes that are backed up, youcan never undo them; that’s one of thethings that makes Time Machine so com-pelling.

ChronoSync does not only do incremental back-ups (it only copies files that have been modified sincethe last backup), but (as Linus explains) like TimeMachine and Apple Backup, it can also maintain anarchive of modified and/or deleted files which can eas-ily be moved back to the place they came from withthe restore function. Version 4 adds compression tothis, a feature Time Machine lacks. What is lackingin ChronoSync, though, is the nice snapshot featureof Time Machine, which gives you a picture of entirefolders at a certain time in the past.

—Arno Wouters

Backup Grows Up4

Very nice, Qaptain. We need more Mac-relatedComics!

—The Lone Gunman

• • •

Love the way you’ve got binary going up into Mo-bileMe! Nicely done. . .all of it!

—golobos

Time Travel: Introduction to Time Machine5

Time Machine proved to be priceless when one of theMacBooks in the house lost its drive. After suffer-ing under the demands of a teen’s virtually 24/7 use,after two and one-half years the drive finally gave out.

4http://www.atpm.com/15.03/qaptain-qwerty.shtml5http://www.atpm.com/15.03/howto.shtml

Apple replaced the drive under the AppleCarewarranty and Time Machine restored the contents ofthe old drive without a hiccup.

While it’s true one cannot boot from a Time Ma-chine backup, the step of starting from an OS X in-stall disk and performing the restore from Time Ma-chine was really not a hassle.

—Robert Paul Leitao

• • •

Good review, but you missed the real power of TimeMachine. It doesn’t (just) restore files, it restoresthings. What I mean is that if you enter Time Ma-chine from an application, Time Machine will restorethings (files) that that application uses.

Try this: open Mail (assuming you use Mail). En-ter Time Machine. Now you’ll see your Mail interfacein 3-D Time Machine mode, where you can go back intime and find that brilliant satirical e-mail you sentto some political figure, but have since deleted.

My point is that most people don’t think in termsof files, they think in terms of things that a givenapplication uses.

—Patrick Weigel

Thanks for that tidbit Patrick. In my setup Iam only using Time Machine to back up data(which is stored outside of my user folder) so Iprobably wouldn’t have noticed that.

You may be right about the way peoplethink of files. That might be especially goodmetaphor for filetypes that can be read by mul-tiple applications (PDF, JPEG, text, etc.).

—Sylvester RoqueTime Machine’s special “things” restora-

tion mode only works in a small number ofApple applications (Mail, iPhoto, and AddressBook are the ones I know about), and the fa-cility is not open to third-party developers.

—Michael Tsai

• • •

In addition to the methods you mentioned for chang-ing the backup interval for Time Machine, there isthe freeware program Lingon6. Lingon is useful forcreating and modifying all sorts of daemons launchedby launchd. Specifically, to change the time machinebackup interval.

1. Launch Lingon.6http://sourceforge.net/projects/lingon/

ATPM 15.04 9 E-Mail

2. Click on the arrow beside System Dae-mons.

3. Select com.apple.backup-auto.

4. Dismiss the warning.

5. Change the time interval as desired andsave.

Another useful utility to use with Time Machineis Tri-Edre’s Back-In-Time7. This utility allows youto manipulate the Time Machine backup in a numberof useful ways. Two in particular are noteworthy.

• Back-In-Time allows access to Time Machinedata for machines other than the one you hap-pen to be using. This allows movement of filesfrom machine to machine using the Time Ma-chine data.

• Back-In-Time works well with PathFinder. Inparticular, you can restore files using Back-In-Time and PathFinder without launchingFinder.

—Bill Rowe

Mac About Town: Hurry Up and Slow Down!8I still own a iBook Tangerine 300 that handles myneeds just fine. Don’t really need anything newer.

—Alan Xenos

The Zippy Quest for Jazzy Flash9

Been there, done that, except I go back to 8′′ floppies,magnetic tape, disk packs, paper tape, and punchedcards.

Now I’ve just bought a pair of FireWire/USB/eSATAhotswap docks and four 1 TB SATA drives!

And the scary part is I’ve already filled three ofthem without really trying. Thinking hard about thelatest 2 TB drives next. Just as well: they only costas much as a couple of boxes of 8′′ disks used to.

—Fulvio Gerardi

Apple Keyboard10

I was visiting an Apple store and for the first timein my life—after 20 years in the industry—decidedto see what is an Apple Mac—that people are soattached to. I tapped away on the keyboard and

7http://www.tri-edre.fr/english/backintime.html8http://www.atpm.com/13.07/mac-about-town.shtml9http://www.atpm.com/15.02/segments.shtml

10http://www.atpm.com/14.05/apple-keyboard.shtml

thought—wow—this is a keyboard. Five minuteslater—I had bought the wired version and attachedit to my PC. I must say that this keyboard isamazing—anyone considering a new keyboard needsto look at this. I never thought that a keyboardcould make such a difference.

—Kon Manos

We’d love to hear your thoughts about our publication. Wealways welcome your comments, criticisms, suggestions, andpraise. Or, if you have an opinion or announcement aboutthe Macintosh platform in general, that’s OK too. Send youre-mail to editor@atpm.com. All mail becomes the propertyof atpm and may be edited for publication.

ATPM 15.04 10 E-Mail

MacMuserby Mark Tennent, http://www.tennent.co.uk

Getting le Ver de TerreThis is being written a good hour earlier than it oughtto be. The reason being that we accidentally got upan hour earlier today. Actually, more than an hourearlier because we left our bed at what we thoughtwas a little “early” as it’s Spring. The days are get-ting longer, the weather sunnier, and a blessed black-bird has taken to singing all night long and not justfrom his usual 4 AM.

The real reason for our extra early rising is thefault of our iPods. It is indicative that we ignoredour alarm clocks and watches and believed our Nanosinstead. Both had clocks which leaped forward anhour last weekend for no apparent reason.

We have been assuming their internal clock iscorrected whenever they are plugged into their hostMacs. As they check automatically for software up-dates and sync preferences, contacts, playlists andother data with the Macs, we also assumed they checktime as well. Probably using the Macs’ internal clocks(which are synchronised every day with a time server)or because the Nanos go off to find the time all bythemselves.

Not so, apparently. What should have been aZzzzzz became a Grrrrrr. The trouble is that oncewe learned the real time, we had been out of bed forso long we weren’t tired.

Checking the Nanos, both had jumped from Lon-don’s time zone to Cork’s. Being a better Euro-pean state than England, Cork time moved to sum-mer time last weekend to become an hour ahead ofGMT/ZULU/UTC, even though it is further west ofus in Blighty. This is something we approve of andwish England would follow—not only to embrace ourEuropean friends and neighbours, but also becausethe Australian Grand Prix is on the same weekend asEngland moves to summer time. Instead of gettingup at 6 AM BST to watch the race, it will really be5 AM GMT.

At least getting up an hour early gave extra timeon the elliptical trainer and more importantly, withMark and Anna, my tutor and fellow student in pod-cast Coffee Break French1.

C’est la vie.1http://www.coffeebreakfrench.com

Copyright © 2009 Mark Tennent2.

2http://www.tennent.co.uk

ATPM 15.04 11 MacMuser: Getting le Ver de Terre

MacMuserby Mark Tennent, http://www.tennent.co.uk

Very Interesting. . .But StupidBritish Telecom e-mailed us today with the messagethat our monthly online bill is ready for reading.Coincidentally, 18185.co.uk also e-mailed our call-charges bill. All very good and supposedly savingpaper, just like HSBC, which has been strugglingto get us to accept paperless bank statements—assuming we can get at our account to read the badnews.

Of the three companies, only one, the smallestof the lot, has got a paperless bill that lets us seethe amount we owe and log into our account withease. That is 18185.co.uk, which sends an e-mail inthe form of a single-page invoice, ready to print ifnecessary. Full call details are on the Web site if wewant them.

This is the firm we pay for the call part of ourtelephone use. We dial 18185 in front of any local,national, or international telephone number. We usu-ally get the conversation for free, plus a tiny connec-tion charge.

The other two companies, BT and HSBC, are sountrustworthy in their online offerings that we willnot move to their “paperless” accounts. (Read: lesspaper for them to buy and more for us to supply forthem.) Both companies send accounts with numerousnear-empty pages, bar their logos and corporate rub-bish. If they stopped using them, they would halvetheir paper costs—especially if they kept to a singleink colour.

BT revamped its Web site recently, and the newone is not recognized in our password loggers, theMac OS Keychain, or 1Password. The site won’taccept our username and password, and clicking onForgotten Password results in an automated e-mailuselessly saying, “This is an example template forforgotten password.” So much for its paperless bills.

HSBC was also locking out Safari 3 following aWeb site revamp last year. It is fixed now, just intime for Safari 4 to be released in beta form.

Look That Up in Your Funk & WagnallsWhat can be said about Safari 41? Apple’s engineershave given it a whole new face, copying Google’s

1http://www.apple.com/safari/

Chrome by putting tabs across the top of the win-dow. Other new tweaks include dropping the blueprogress bar, omitting the reload button, and addingautomatic suggestions for Google searches and URLs.Apparently, Safari 4 is faster than its predecessor,but it still has problems with some sites that Firefoxopens with ease.

The final flourish is a new window of Top Sitesbased on the recent history log. It resembles a Rowanand Martin joke wall. Click on a little Web page inthe wall and expect a wide-eyed, giggly Goldie Hawnto pop her head out.

We’ve used the new-look Safari for a week beforescreaming in frustration and wanting it to look likegood old Safari 3. There are various terminal com-mands that turn off most of the new features. Betterstill, however, is the free haxie Safari-Tweaks2 frompointum.

It gives Safari a new Tweaks menu, in which allthe new toys that Apple’s engineers have devised canbe turned off.

Copyright © 2009 Mark Tennent3.

2http://pointum.com/safari-tweaks.html3http://www.tennent.co.uk

ATPM 15.04 12 MacMuser: Very Interesting. . .But Stupid

Next Actionsby Ed Eubanks Jr.

File and Inbox ManagementI am assuming that you have your inbox(es) desig-nated and understood, and that you have a basic sys-tem for filing/archiving data after it has been “pro-cessed.” (If you haven’t gotten that far yet, jumpback to some of the earliest articles1 in this column.)

One of the assets of digital technology is that it iseasy to automate things like sorting and filing; that’sone of the reasons we use computers. How, then, dowe automate the inflow of our files and documents?

Apple’s SolutionApple’s Automator is one option. Scripting has longbeen an effective way to set up automation and back-ground events, and Apple’s system-wide (or nearlyso) AppleScript has been generally effective at accom-plishing this. Most people who set out to write Ap-pleScripts find that the scripting language is quirkyand, at times, difficult—and, while writing scripts isa good way to dip a toe into coding, it isn’t some-thing that just anyone can sit down and pull off in ahalf-hour.

Enter Automator, an application introduced withMac OS X 10.4 that frees all of us from needing tolearn how to write AppleScripts. Sort of.

Automator gives a drag-and-drop approach toscripting and makes it easy to develop fairly cus-tomized scripts (and Finder plug-ins, droplets, andeven stand-alone applications) without any knowl-edge of code or scripting. Many applications shipwith Automator actions and support, allowing youeasy access to “under the hood” aspects of the appli-cation. With a bit of poking around, you can figureout how to do some fairly amazing things with justa mouse click or two—or even none.

For example, I’ve mentioned in a previous columnthat I use Automator actions2 to easily import filesinto DEVONthink for archiving. It’s possible withAutomator to do much more in terms of automation.In fact, the latest version of Automator can recordactions that you do (like a set of menu executions,for example) and replay these as actions or parts ofactions.

1http://www.atpm.com/Back/next-actions.shtml2http://www.atpm.com/13.08/next-actions.shtml

atpm has covered Automator3 before4. Thesearticles are a good place to start if you wish tobegin toying with Automator. You might also checkout these tutorial articles from OS X Daily5 andPirate Skool6. There are also a number of ready-made Automator actions available; Apple lists some7,and there is also an entire third-party Web site de-voted to Automator called Automator World8, whichhas a large collection of actions.

If you’re looking for automation, Automator canbe a good place to start.

More Apple GoodnessApple offers other ways to get things into differentplaces. In fact, there’s a surprising amount of au-tomation built into Mac OS X, and the accompanyingapplications, that is often overlooked.

One of the keys to automation is scheduling,right? Remember iCal? That’s right—oddly enough,it is designed for scheduling! Of course, many of ususe iCal for scheduling events in our lives, but didyou know that you can use iCal to schedule eventsfor your Mac, too?

Any new event has a number of alarm options; youprobably either have these turned off by default, orset to give you a reminder—say, 15 minutes before—with a message and sound. But any event alarm canbe other things, too: send an e-mail, open a file, orrun a script.

The last one is where the magic happens. Par-ticularly when combined with Automator, you canschedule iCal to fire any number of events at a pre-defined time. Do you want to have the contents ofyour desktop sorted by type and filed into your Doc-uments folder every night at 2 AM? You can auto-mate this with Automator and iCal. Do you wantyour Task Management application, iCal, and your

3http://www.atpm.com/12.07/automator.shtml4http://www.atpm.com/12.08/segments.shtml5http://osxdaily.com/2007/05/31/automator-tutorial-

learning-the-basics/6http://pirateskool.wordpress.com/2009/02/15/learn-

automator-os-x-tutorial-for-the-mac/7http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/automator/8http://automatorworld.com/

ATPM 15.04 13 Next Actions: File and Inbox Management

archiving database opened, and all other applicationsclosed or hidden, at 9:30 AM every weekday when it’stime for your daily review? iCal and Automator canaccomplish this. Things that need “manual” syncingmight be scheduled this way. Files can be renamedand countless other tasks—things that you’ve beendoing manually, because you didn’t know (or remem-ber) that iCal could schedule a script—accomplishedin the background or while you’re away from yourMac.

iCal isn’t the only built-in automation, either.Mail has a lot of automation ability, too—using rules.This is especially useful for GTD, since many of us usee-mail heavily as one of our primary inboxes. (Manyof us also use it as a part of our archiving/referencefiling system, too.)

A lot of folks use Mail rules to automatically sorttheir e-mail for them: messages from certain senders,to particular addresses, etc. are dished out into spe-cific folders rather than just sitting in the “inbox.”(I’m wary of such systems, since they can give a falsesense of having “dealt” with e-mails without actuallyhaving processed them in a real way. Still, I see howthey can be useful to many.) But you can fire scriptsusing Mail rules, just as you can with iCal, with anincoming message of a certain type being the triggerinstead of a scheduled event.

Two companion tools to Mail that I use heavilyare both from InDev: MailTags9 and Mail Act-On10.If you use MailTags, your filing and retrieval are im-proved, since project names, keywords, comments,flags, and other data can be appended to messages.You can even set “tickle” dates for messages, remind-ing you to follow up on them at a later date (whichis great for a Waiting folder of e-mails). Mail Act-Onoffers a sort of “semi-automated” manner for sort-ing and processing mail: using keystrokes, you canmove messages, add tags, or mark as read or unread—anything that you can accomplish with a rule can beinvoked with a keystroke. If you’re trying to do anInbox Zero11 workflow with your e-mail, Mail Act-Onis very helpful.

No, Not the Odd Maid in a Dated TVShow. . .Another option that I use heavily is Noodlesoft’sHazel12. I first encountered Hazel as a good tool forGTD-style file management through Ethan “Kink-

9http://www.indev.ca/MailTags.html10http://www.indev.ca/MailActOn.html11http://www.43folders.com/izero12http://www.noodlesoft.com/hazel.php

less” Schoonover’s screencast13 about how he usesHazel a few years ago. Since then, I’ve become acommitted Hazel fan.

Hazel works like this: it will watch for certainthings to happen, then automatically make otherthings happen. For example, I have Hazel set up towatch my Downloads folder for photos. When oneappears, Hazel imports it into iPhoto and moves theoriginal to the trash. It does the same for audio filesin Downloads, putting them into iTunes. Probablyeveryone could use (and benefit from) something likethis.

I have some other tools set up that are morespecific to my file management but just as important.For example, I regularly use an Olympus DM-10 Recorder14

for recording lectures and classes, which I’ll later putinto podcast. The hitch is, the DM-10 only records ina proprietary format, or in WMA. This adds severalsteps to the process for me—or for Hazel. Here’s myHazel setup for these: Hazel watches my Inbox folderfor any WMA-format files. When one appears, Hazelopens the file in EasyWMA15 for conversion. ThenHazel moves the WMA file to the trash, and the newMP3 file to a folder called “To Be Podcasted.” Superhandy.

But Hazel does much, much more because (bigsurprise here) it can invoke AppleScripts, too. So Iuse it to automate some steps in filing, for example:I keep a lot of my active files on my desktop whilethey are in use (not unlike my physical desktop).When Hazel sees that a file has not been modifiedin, say, a week (which is a time frame that works forme—yours may be different), it automatically firesthe script that imports that file into DEVONthink,then puts the original file in the Trash. When I re-view one of the files in DEVONthink (usually as partof a weekly review), I can add the metadata I wishto and put it where it belongs in the “file cabinet”—but until then, it isn’t cluttering my desktop. I haveHazel do similar things with my Documents folderand even with my Inbox.

I’m not sure that going into details about howmy Hazel rules are set up (maybe posting a copy ofthem for you to try) would really be a productiveway to spend your time. Hazel, and all of these au-tomation techniques, will benefit you very differentlythan they do me. However, I will offer this sugges-

13http://kinkless.com/article/kinkless_desktop/5_cruelty_can_be_kind

14http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/cpg_archived_product_details.asp?fl=2&id=920

15http://www.easywma.com/

ATPM 15.04 14 Next Actions: File and Inbox Management

tion: for several days to a week, pay attention towhat things you do repetitively, particularly with re-gard to file management. Make a list of these as yougo. When you go back to review the list, make noteson each step that it takes to accomplish these repet-itive tasks. What you have effectively done is createa template, of sorts, for how you should set up anAutomator action, rules in Mail or Hazel, or someother form of automation. 90% of the time or more,I would bet that these repeated actions would be ableto be automated by one or more of the tools above.

Automating file management is a great way tokeep things cleaner and more organized. We havethe advantage of digital technology and its ability todo things in fewer steps that would require many,many more steps done manually. Making good useof that ability is one valuable step toward greaterproductivity.

New Additions and Apps to WatchCheck out these additions to the list.

I’ve added Pluto menu bar16 to the GTD localapps section. This is a really great program, with agood bit of maturity; I’m surprised it hasn’t turnedup before. It’s a menu-bar application, but don’t letthat dissuade you from giving it a good look if you’relooking for something fully featured: Pluto has ev-erything that most GTD apps have—plus a numberof features that are less-common—all wrapped upin a tight and efficient menu bar tool. The devel-oper is working on a full desktop application andan iPhone application that will complement. Afree version of Pluto17 is also available. Definitelysomething to watch.

Another novel approach is Qu-s18, which allowsyou to place lists (and other objects, like notes, links,or any content that is dynamic and “temporary”) di-rectly onto your Mac’s desktop—as in, integrated intothe desktop, not just a floating window. This mightbe too flat or sparse for many users, but I see it asanother straightforward way to keep a simple list infront of you.

A couple of iPhone apps were brought to my at-tention. Actions19 is from the makers of GhostAction,and is currently in beta testing. Firetask20, which is

16http://myownapp.com/site/moapp3.0/applications_leo/gtd/plutomenubar/plutomenubar.html

17http://myownapp.com/site/moapp3.0/applications_leo/freestuff/plutofree/plutofree.html

18http://www.qu-s.eu/flash/index.html19http://ghostparksoftware.com/blog/2009/03/03/26/20http://www.firetask.com/

not beta, promises “GTD-style” task management forthe iPhone. (By the way, my hunch from a couple ofmonths ago was confirmed when I did a simple AppStore search for the word “task.” It revealed liter-ally dozens of apps, the vast majority of which aretask-list apps.

More About the ListAs usual, I welcome any feedback on my list or sug-gestions for additions. I won’t always add every sug-gestion, but I’ll look at them and evaluate whetherthey fit with what I’m trying to cover.

Locally Installed GTD Applications

Action Tracker21

Developer: Mac ProductiveCurrent Version: 1.3.1Price: FreeDevelopment Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: None (FileMaker file)Required Applications: FileMaker Pro (free Run-

time version available)Distinguishing Features: Also organizes notes,

contacts, and other information related toprojects.

News: It looks like the developer failed to renew thedomain. I’m not sure what this means for theproduction of Action Tracker, though I can ven-ture a guess.

21http://macproductive.com/actiontracker.html

ATPM 15.04 15 Next Actions: File and Inbox Management

ActionTastic22

Developer: Jon CrosbyCurrent Version: 0.9.3Price: Free, open-sourceDevelopment Status: BetaiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: YesWeb-app Sync: YesPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: UnknownRequired Applications: NoneDistinguishing Features: Processing engine; iPod

sync; Mail and MailTags compatibility.News: There is no way to download the current ver-

sion (or any version!) at the Web site, as-is.Jon hasn’t updated this in quite a while; if itpersists for another month or two, I’ll take itoff the list.

EasyTask Manager23

Developer: Orionbelt.comCurrent Version: 2.1Price: $20Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: YesWeb-app Sync: YesPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: App (free); Web App (free)OS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4Required Applications: None

22http://actiontastic.com/23http://www.orionbelt.com/

Distinguishing Features: Windows version avail-able; automatic advance of uncompleted duetasks to today.

News: Tags are promised as a high priority in thenext upgrade.

Frictionless24

Developer: Twin ForcesCurrent Version: 2.0d18Price: Free, open-sourceDevelopment Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: NoQuickSilver Plug-in: YesWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5Required Applications: NoneDistinguishing Features: Quick-entry box; fuzzy

repeated actions.News: None

Ghost Action25

Developer: Ghost Park SoftwareCurrent Version: 1.1Price: $20Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4 only26

24http://www.twinforces.com/frictionless/25http://ghostparksoftware.com/26http://ghostparksoftware.com/front/support#leopar

d

ATPM 15.04 16 Next Actions: File and Inbox Management

Required Applications: NoneDistinguishing Features: .Mac syncing (without

iCal running); PDA/iPod syncing.News: None

iGTD27

Developer: BartekCurrent Version: 1.4.5.6Price: FreeDevelopment Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: YesWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4Required Applications: NoneDistinguishing Features: Compatible with Ad-

dress Book, Mail, iSync, and MailTags, aswell as Web browser support, Path Finder,Yojimbo, MacJournal, and others; quick-entryfeature; simple yet powerful interface.

News: None.

iCog28

Developer: HensPaceCurrent Version: 1.90Price: FreeDevelopment Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: NoQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: None

27http://igtd.pl/iGTD/28http://www.henspace.co.uk/ikog/index.html

OS Requirements: UnknownRequired Applications: Python 2.4 or laterDistinguishing Features: Compatible with any

OS running Python (including Windows); verysimple text-only utility.

News: A recent jump to version 1.9 includes a datebug fix and a Python maintenance issue. Plus,it adds support for plug-ins, thereby openingthe door to user modifications.

mGTD29

Developer: Jeff FisherCurrent Version: 1.3Price: FreeDevelopment Status: Pre-finaliCal Sync: NoQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: None (Mori template)Required Applications: Mori 1.6.11Distinguishing Features: Expands Mori (digital

notebook) functions to include GTD principles.News: None

Midnight Inbox30

Developer: Midnight Beep SoftworksCurrent Version: 1.3.1Price: $35Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: No

29http://apokalypsesoftware.com/products/node/266430http://www.midnightbeep.com/

ATPM 15.04 17 Next Actions: File and Inbox Management

Web-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: App coming soonOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4Required Applications: NoneDistinguishing Features: Action timer; quick-

note and quick-action hot keys; Mail compati-ble; automatic data collection.

News: Version 1.4 beta is available for download.Version 2.0 is promised for spring 2009, accord-ing to the Web site.

OmniFocus31

Developer: Omni GroupCurrent Version: 1.6Price: $80Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: YesWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: App ($20)OS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4.8Required Applications: NoneDistinguishing Features: Mail- and Spotlight-

compatible; simple interface with powerfulview features.

News: Version 1.6 was recently released, bringinga nice collection of new and upgraded fea-tures and bug fixes. Also, Omni now offers“OmniFidget,” which is an OmniFocus-relatedDashboard widget.

Pluto menubar32

31http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnifocus/32http://myownapp.com/site/moapp3.0/applications_leo

/gtd/plutomenubar/plutomenubar.html

Developer: MOApp Software ManufactoryCurrent Version: 3.3Price: €12.00 (about $16.40)Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: YesWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5Required Applications: NoneDistinguishing Features: This is a menu-bar ap-

plication, but don’t be fooled—it is a very fullyfeatured GTD tool. There is a lot to see here,and you won’t find any of the standard featuresyou’re looking for missing. Note the full-screenediting, searching, tags, contacts, and priori-ties.

News: Pluto Pro (stand-alone app) is promised ascoming soon, as an iPhone application and aWindows version.

Ready, Set, Do!33

Developer: Todd VasquezCurrent Version: 1.3fPrice: $20Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: YesWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: None

33http://homepage.mac.com/toddvasquez/Ready-Set-Do!/Personal93.html

ATPM 15.04 18 Next Actions: File and Inbox Management

OS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4Required Applications: NoneDistinguishing Features: A very different ap-

proach using a set of AppleScript routinesto impose organization and communicationacross a computer’s entire file system; multiplelanguage support.

News: None

TaskPaper34

Developer: Hog Bay SoftwareCurrent Version: 2.0Price: $19Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: NoQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5Required Applications: NoneDistinguishing Features: Simple text-based sys-

tem; no-frills; intentionally designed as analternative to more fully featured systems.

News: New version 2.0 brings a system-wide quick-entry window, AppleScript support, improvedsearch, and a handful of other improvements.

Things35

Developer: Cultured CodeCurrent Version: 1.0.4Price: $50Development Status: Release

34http://www.hogbaysoftware.com/products/taskpaper35http://culturedcode.com/things/

iCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: App ($10)OS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4.11Required Applications: NoneDistinguishing Features: iCal sync; repeating

tasks; Mail compatibility; tags; network andmulti-computer operation; and import/exportoptions.

News: Release at Macworld Expo took Best ofShow.

Thinking Rock36

Developer: Avente Pty LtdCurrent Version: 2.0.1Price: Free, open-sourceDevelopment Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: NoQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4Required Applications: NoneDistinguishing Features: Cross-platform compat-

ibility through Java; interactive collection andprocessing; can be run off of a flash drive.

News: The developers have a new Web site, includ-ing “membership,” which apparently offers, atleast, member-only modules for Thinking Rock.

What To Do37

36http://www.thinkingrock.com.au/37http://www.objectivesatisfaction.com/what_todo/

ATPM 15.04 19 Next Actions: File and Inbox Management

Developer: Objective SatisfactionCurrent Version: 1.3.2Price: $29Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: NoQuickSilver Plug-in: YesWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4.9Required Applications: NoneDistinguishing Features: Drag-and-drop inten-

sive for easy reorganization; .Mac syncing formultiple computers; XML export.

News: None

Locally Installed General Task Managers

Anxiety38

Developer: Tom Stoelwinder, Model ConceptCurrent Version: 1.0Price: Free/DonationwareDevelopment Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: Yes (through iCal)iPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5Distinguishing Features: A menu-bar utility that

gives a HUD-like interface to iCal tasks; sortsby calendar; Mac OS X 10.5 only.

News: None

Chandler39

Developer: The Chandler ProjectCurrent Version: 1.0.2Price: Open SourceDevelopment Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: YesPrint Lists: Yes (through iCal)iPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.3

38http://www.anxietyapp.com/39http://chandlerproject.org/

Distinguishing Features: A good integrated cal-endar makes this one a fairly full-orbed PIM.

News: None

Check Off40

Developer: Second GearCurrent Version: 3.8Price: Free/DonationwareDevelopment Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: NoQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5.2Distinguishing Features: A menu-bar utility that

manages basic task lists; syncs with iPods; a.Mac Backup QuickPick is provided.

News: None

Dejumble41

Developer: Thinking Code Software, Inc.Current Version: 1.2Price: $19Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: Yes (through iCal)iPhone Presence: App ($8)OS Requirements: Unknown (would assume 10.4

or later, due to presence of Spotlight functions)Distinguishing Features: A simple yet powerful

menu bar–style task list manager, with tags,groups, notes, and a handful of other options.

News: Web site is back up, offering version 1.2,which does not include iCal syncing (thoughprevious versions still do). Also, they’ve an-nounced that version 2.0 will be released inAugust 2009.

Docket42

Developer: Surprise Software40http://www.checkoffapp.com/41http://www.dejumble.com/42http://www.surprisesoftware.com/docket/

ATPM 15.04 20 Next Actions: File and Inbox Management

Current Version: 1.3Price: $20Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: NoQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.1Distinguishing Features: A neat basic list man-

agement application. AWindows version is alsoavailable.

News: None

DoIt43

Developer: Jim McGowanCurrent Version: 2.6Price: DonationwareDevelopment Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: YesWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: NoiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4Distinguishing Features: .Mac support and Ap-

pleScriptability. Also supports file attachmentsand categories for lists.

News: None

FlexCal44

Developer: flexgamesCurrent Version: 1.10Price: Free/DonationwareDevelopment Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: Yes (through iCal)iPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5Distinguishing Features: A task and event cre-

ator for iCal—something of a collection bucketfor GTD users.

News: None43http://www.jimmcgowan.net/Site/DoIt.html44http://flexgames.com/flexcal/?p=1

High Priority45

Developer: Aram KudurshianCurrent Version: 1.11 (Mac OS X 10.4 only)Price: $6 (personal); $12 (family); $60 (business)Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: Yes (through iCal)iPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4Distinguishing Features: A system preference

pane, creates a menu in the menu bar that letsyou create and update your iCal tasks.

News: None

Hot Plan46

Developer: IntuiwareCurrent Version: 1.4.1Price: $20Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: NoQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: NoiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4.9Distinguishing Features: Tracks a substantial

amount of information about a given task,including completion status, priority, and timeremaining; supports tagging, color coding, andlocking of tasks. Also allows collection of URLsand files.

News: None

iClock47

Developer: Script SoftwareCurrent Version: 3.0.5Price: $20Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: No

45http://www.kudurshian.net/highpriority/46http://www.intuiware.com/Products/MacOSX/HotPlan/47http://www.scriptsoftware.com/iclock/iclockmac.php

ATPM 15.04 21 Next Actions: File and Inbox Management

Print Lists: NoOS Requirements: UnknownDistinguishing Features: Offers a menu bar–

based method of managing task lists; includes.Mac syncing.

News: Web site is currently down, with noexplanation. . .

Life Balance48

Developer: LlamagraphicsCurrent Version: 5.0.4Price: $65 ($80 bundled with Palm version)Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: Yes (through iCal)OS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4Distinguishing Features: Gives “meta-feedback”

about tasks: how much time are you spendingin different areas of your life (i.e., work, family,hobbies, etc.), and are you keeping it balanced?Palm and Windows versions available.

News: None

NoteBook49

Developer: Circus PoniesCurrent Version: 3.0Price: $50 (academic and family pack pricing avail-

able)Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: YesWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4.11Distinguishing Features: Highly-customizable

system, with project management built-in; alsoworks well for heavy day-to-day GTD use.

News: None

Organized50

Developer: iSlayer48http://www.llamagraphics.com/LB/index.php49http://www.circusponies.com/50http://islayer.com/index.php?op=item&id=64

Current Version: 1.11Price: DonationwareDevelopment Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: NoiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5Distinguishing Features: Dashboard widget with

calendar events, tasks, notes, and world clock.News: None

Qu-s51

Developer: Urban Design LimitedCurrent Version: 1.2Price: $17Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: NoQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: NoiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5Distinguishing Features: Allows lists (and other

things) to be created as an editable part of thedesktop. Good for simple lists.

News: None

Stapler52

Developer: The Blue Technologies GroupCurrent Version: 1.1Price: €7.50 (about $10)Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: NoQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4Distinguishing Features: A combination notepad

and to-do list manager, with creation date,notes, and a check box for completed items.Tasks can be color-coded based on a low-levelpreference set-up.

51http://www.qu-s.eu/flash/index.html52http://www.blue-tec.com/stapler/

ATPM 15.04 22 Next Actions: File and Inbox Management

News: None

TaskMate53

Developer: Ryan ConwayCurrent Version: 1.1.0Price: FreeDevelopment Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: NoQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: NoiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5Distinguishing Features: Ultra-simple task list:

remaining tasks in a simple list; completedtasks in a drawer (which can be hidden). Tasksare just single-line descriptions with a checkbox. Could be right for the super-simplifiedlife.

News: None

ToDo X54

Developer: Omicron Software Systems, Inc.Current Version: 2.2Price: $15Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: Import from iCal onlyQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: NoiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.2Distinguishing Features: Offers categories, prior-

ities, and attached notes.News: None

ZooDo55

Developer: InterfaceThisCurrent Version: 1.0Price: FreeDevelopment Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: No

53http://gettaskmate.com/54http://www.nomicro.com/Products/ToDo/55http://interfacethis.com/zoodo/

Web-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: Yes (through iCal)iPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: UnknownDistinguishing Features: A basic task creator for

iCal, serving as a collection bucket.News: None

Browser and Web-based GTD Applica-tions

30 Boxes56

Price: FreeDescription: Lean and fast, including a calendar,

task list, and limited Gmail interaction. AlsoRSS and iCal feeds, SMS, and sharing. Niceinterface, too.

43 Actions57

Price: Free (donations get extra features)Description: Specifically designed as an iPhone

Web app, it’s light and lean for EDGE networkoptimization. Submit inbox items via e-mail,Twitter (with donation), Jott (with donation),and the usual features.

GTDAgenda58

Price: FreeDescription: Another Web version of a GTD tool,

with the standard features. Plus, addition ofGoals, checklists for recurring tasks, schedulemanagement, and an iCal-compatible calendar.A mobile version is also available.

GTDInbox59

Price: FreeDescription: A Firefox extension for GTD integra-

tion with Gmail. Prepackaged labels, a Re-view process, specialized searches within Gmail,quick-entry for tasks, and printable. Works well

56http://www.30boxes.com/welcome.php57http://43actions.com/58http://www.gtdagenda.com/59http://gtdgmail.com/

ATPM 15.04 23 Next Actions: File and Inbox Management

in conjunction with RememberTheMilk. Cur-rent version, 2.0.8.4, is open source; requiresFirefox.

GTD-PHP60

Price: FreeDescription: A PHP solution designed to be locally

installed. A simple tabbed interface, capture,and process stages; weekly review. Currentlyat version 0.8.

Neptune61

Price: $10/yearDescription: Includes a collection inbox and con-

text or project task viewing panes, as well asinactive projects and tasks. Daily e-mail re-minders of tasks; new tasks can be added bye-mail; data export.

Next Action62

Price: FreeDescription: Uses Google Gears and Firefox; has

a lean, basic interface with multiple-list man-agement capability. Works with or without anetwork connection.

Nexty63

Price: FreeDescription: PHP-based, so it installs locally and

runs in your browser; supports contexts and re-minders.

Nozbe64

Price: FreeDescription: Has markers for which action will be

next and a time estimation for tasks. Contextsare visible and identifiable; easy to collect andprocess quickly; iPhone-ready.

60http://www.gtd-php.com/Main/HomePage61http://www.neptunehq.com/62http://code.google.com/p/trimpath/wiki/NextAction63http://nexty.sourceforge.net/64http://www.nozbe.com/page/index

SimpleGTD65

Price: FreeDescription: Tabs for next actions, contexts,

projects, and done actions; drag-and-droporganization; easy undoing of tasks.

Task Writer66

Price: FreeDescription: Easy keyboard navigation, good use

of calendaring for tasks, and a useful set of at-tributes for tasks, as well as the ability to auto-hide unneeded list views, help Task Writer tostand out a bit.

Toodledo67

Price: FreeDescription: Has a Firefox plug-in and a Google

gadget for easy collection; also supports e-mail,voice mail, and traditional entry for collec-tion. Includes a good overview of GTD inco-operation with its tools, as well. iPhone-optimized.

Tracks68

Price: FreeDescription: A Web server that runs locally or

hosted through tracks.tra.in. Fast, lean, andpretty, it offers calendaring and a multi-usercomponent. Currently at version 1.6.

Vitalist69

Price: $5/month (premium)Description: Is a wide-scale GTD system: collec-

tion, project management, recurring actions,and tickler files. Includes a mobile edition, iCaland RSS feeds, and e-mail and SMS reminders.An iPhone-specific version is available. A

65http://www.simplegtd.com/66http://www.taskwriter.com/67http://www.toodledo.com/info/gtd.php68http://www.rousette.org.uk/projects/69http://www.vitalist.com/

ATPM 15.04 24 Next Actions: File and Inbox Management

premium (paid) version also includes securityencryption, collaboration, file attachments, andcalendaring.

Other Browser/Web-based Task Man-agers

• Backpack70

• Basecamp71

• CoMindWork72

• HiTask73

• Hiveminder74

• Joe’s Goals75

• Mojonote76

• Remember the Milk77

• Scrybe78

• Sproutliner79

• Task Freak!80

• Tasks81

• Tasktoy82

• Todoist83

• Tweeto84

• Zenlists85

• ZenPages86

GTD and Task Management Wikis70http://www.backpackit.com/71http://www.basecamphq.com/72http://www.comindwork.com/73http://hitask.com/74http://hiveminder.com/splash/75http://www.joesgoals.com/76http://mojonote.com/77http://www.rememberthemilk.com/78http://iscrybe.com/main/index.php79http://sproutliner.com/80http://www.taskfreak.com/81http://www.kingdesign.net/tasks/82http://www.tasktoy.com/83http://todoist.com/84http://www.tweeto.com/85http://zenlists.com/86http://www.zenbe.com/welcome

• D387

• GTDTiddlyWiki88

• MonkeyGTD89

• Pimki90

iPhone Applications (not Web Apps)• Chores91,

• Dejumble92

• DoBot ToDos93

• EasyTask Manager94

• Firetask95

• Life Balance96

• Lists by MobilityWare97

• Lists by Tynsoe.org98

• My Lists99

• OmniFocus100

• Outliner by CarbonFin101

• Tanjas Checklist102

• Tasks103

• Things104

• ToDo by Appigo105

87http://www.dcubed.ca/88http://nathanbowers.com/gtdtw/index.html89http://monkeygtd.tiddlyspot.com/#MonkeyGTD90http://pimki.rubyforge.org/91http://www.tapeshow.com/chores/92http://www.dejumble.com/#iphone93http://dobot.us/94http://www.orionbelt.com/productMac.php95http://www.firetask.com/96http://www.llamagraphics.com/LB/iphone/walkthrough

/index.php97http://www.mobilityware.com/iphone/Default.htm98http://projects.tynsoe.org/en/lists/99http://pazeinteractive.com/iphoneapps/mylists

100http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnifocus/iphone/

101http://carbonfin.com/102http://web.me.com/tapp1/tapp/Tanjas_Checklist.html103http://web.mac.com/philipp.brendel/Software/Tasks.

html104http://culturedcode.com/things/iphone/105http://www.appigo.com/todo/

ATPM 15.04 25 Next Actions: File and Inbox Management

• To Do by Erica Sadun106

• ToodleDo107

• Zenbe Lists108

Copyright © 2009 Ed Eubanks Jr.

106http://ericasadun.com/AppStore/ToDo/107http://www.toodledo.com/info/iphone.php108http://lists.zenbe.com/

ATPM 15.04 26 Next Actions: File and Inbox Management

Desktop Picturesby Robert Paul Leitao, http://web.me.com/robertpaul

Vasquez RocksWe need new desktop pictures each month. Write1

to us!

This Month’s Desktop Pictures2

This month’s photos of the Vasquez Rocks, which arepart of the San Andreas Fault just north of Los An-geles, were taken by atpm contributing editor RobertPaul Leitao using a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi.They were processed using Aperture.

View Picturesa

ahttp://www.atpm.com/15.04/vasquez-rocks/

Previous Months’ Desktop PicturesPictures from previous months are listed in the desk-top pictures archives3.

Downloading All the Pictures at OnceSome browsers can download an entire set of desktoppictures at once.

iCab Use the Download command to “Download alllinked files in same folder” and configure thelimits to download only the linked images.

OmniWeb Choose “Save Linked . Images. . .” fromthe File menu.

Safari Use this Automator workflow4.

Contributing Your Own Desktop PicturesIf you have a picture, whether a small series or justone fabulous or funny shot, feel free to send it toeditor@atpm.com and we’ll consider publishing it in

1mailto:editor@atpm.com2http://www.atpm.com/15.04/vasquez-rocks/3http://www.atpm.com/Back/desktop-pictures.shtml4http://automator.us/examples-02.html

next month’s issue. Have a regular print but no scan-ner? Don’t worry. E-mail us, and we tell you whereto send it so we can scan it for you. Note that wecannot return the original print, so send us a copy.

Placing Desktop Pictures

Mac OS X 10.3.x Through 10.5.xChoose “System Preferences. . .” from the Applemenu, click the “Desktop & Screen Saver” button,then choose the Desktop tab. In the left-side menu,select the desktop pictures folder you want to use.

You can also use the pictures with Mac OS X’sbuilt-in screen saver. Select the Screen Saver tabwhich is also in the “Desktop & Screen Saver” Sys-tem Preferences pane. If you put the atpm picturesin your Pictures folder, click on the Pictures Folderin the list of screen savers. Otherwise, click ChooseFolder to tell the screen saver which pictures to use.

Mac OS X 10.1.x and 10.2.xChoose “System Preferences. . .” from the Applemenu and click the Desktop button. With the pop-up menu, select the desktop pictures folder you wantto use.

You can also use the pictures with Mac OS X’sbuilt-in screen saver. Choose “System Preferences. . .”from the Apple menu. Click the Screen Saver (10.1.x)or Screen Effects (10.2.x) button. Then click on Cus-tom Slide Show in the list of screen savers. If youput the atpm pictures in your Pictures folder, you’reall set. Otherwise, click Configure to tell the screensaver which pictures to use.

Mac OS X 10.0.xSwitch to the Finder. Choose “Preferences. . .” fromthe “Finder” menu. Click on the “Select Picture. . .”button on the right. In the Open Panel, select thedesktop picture you want to use. The panel defaultsto your ~/Library/Desktop Pictures folder. Closethe “Finder Preferences” window when you are done.

ATPM 15.04 27 Desktop Pictures: Vasquez Rocks

ATPM 15.04 28 Desktop Pictures: Vasquez Rocks

Qaptain Qwertyby Linus Ly, http://qaptainqwerty.blogspot.com

Are Macs Immune to Windows Viruses?

Copyright © 2009 Linus Ly1.

1http://qaptainqwerty.blogspot.com/

ATPM 15.04 29 Cartoon: Qaptain Qwerty

Software Reviewby Ed Eubanks Jr.

Elements+ 1.1Developer: As Simple As Photoshop1

Price: $12Requirements: Adobe Photoshop El-

ements (versions 1-6). NotUniversal2.

Trial: Feature-limited (9 tools out of 152)

Photoshop Elements is one of those applications thatfilled a much-needed niche when first introduced, andit has only gotten better since then. A lot of pho-tographers find that Photoshop Elements is all theyneed—the full Photoshop is overkill for many of us,and the learning curve is notoriously high (though,admittedly, for those who need it the work is morethan worth it). Even in my work in professional pho-tography, I have found that Photoshop Elements issufficient, if not ideal, for all but the most particularneeds.

Still, there are those particular needs; and thereare a good handful of tools that are, to say the least,less than optimally efficient in accomplishing certaingoals. While Photoshop Elements has gotten betterthrough the many (now six) different versions, it isstill somewhat “crippled” in terms of the features of-fered by the full Photoshop.

What is interesting is that a number of these fea-tures are still latent within the code of Photoshop El-ements. Whether this is a testimony to the commonheritage that Photoshop Elements shares with its bigbrother (likely), or an indication that future versionswill include some or all of these features (given thetrack record of versions one through six, also likely!),this reality presents something of an opportunity, orat least a curiosity: how can we get to those fea-tures? Is the mother of all easter eggs3 awaiting theright combination of mouse-clicks?

Fortunately, we don’t have to wait to find out:Andrei (Andrew) Doubrovski, whose company isAs Simple as Photoshop, has developed Elements+,which is a patch that unlocks many of the featuresthat are hidden in Photoshop Elements. All told,

1http://simplephotoshop.com/elementsplus/2http://www.apple.com/universal/3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_egg_%28virtual

%29#Computer-related_Easter_eggs

Elements+ unlocks up to 152 different features, in-cluding Color and Tone tools such as curves, channelmixing, and soft proofs, layer tools, masks, smart fil-ters, and more. (A full list, broken down by categoryand Photoshop Elements version, is viewable here4.)

How Does It Work?For the most part, Elements+ is a large collectionof XML files that take advantage of Photoshop Ele-ments’s extensible architecture—the same thing thatmakes plugins possible. But they aren’t plugins, andthey aren’t simply pre-defined workflows or macros;they are full implementations of the features named.

Elements+ comes with a simple installer, whichdoes all the work for you. You simply quit PhotoshopElements, install, then re-start Photoshop Elements;you’ll find the tools you seek in the “Effects” panel.

How Well Does It Work?Elements+ does everything promised: it invokedall of the features listed, and they work exactly aspromised. There’s not much more to say.

I’ve taken a couple of screenshots to illustrate. Inthe first one, you’ll see my bare Effects panel in itsnative state. Four icons or “tabs” are present: Fil-ters, Layer Styles, Photo Effects, and All. You’ll alsonotice that the contents of the Photo Effects menu isa bit thin, with only six items.

4http://simplephotoshop.com/elementsplus/

ATPM 15.04 30 Review: Elements+ 1.1

The Photo Effects tab before installation. Note the sparsenumber of items.

Now notice the second shot of the Photo Effectsmenu: eleven new categories have been added. Theseare where you will live for days after you’ve installedElements+, while you play around with the new toolsafforded to you.

The Photo Effects tab after installation. 11 new items!

For example, here I’ve done a basic mask usingthe tools afforded by Elements+. A simple vignettearound this bride might be exactly how I want topresent the cover of an album. The first mask tookonly minutes and was done free-hand; the second wasdone with a bit more work using a shape, but withthe same tool. Both were easy to do, and even justdabbling with this shows how powerful the mask toolsare.

ATPM 15.04 31 Review: Elements+ 1.1

Here’s a basic mask I did in just minutes.

This one took a little bit longer, but was still easy thanks tothe Masks tools. There’s a lot of room to play here, and

much to learn about making good masks.

Likewise, curves are the popular way to imposeadjustments on photos these days. They offer a wayto exercise an enormous amount of control in adjust-ments, and they were conspicuously absent in Pho-toshop Elements. No more—with Elements+, curvesare available, with a few presets present, and a hand-ful of options available (as you can see).

Finally (for many): Curves comes to Photoshop Elements.

Elements+ also has great documentation avail-able on the Web site. Each section is nicely brokendown into easy steps and instructions, and it has thefeel of a tutorial as much as a manual. This is likelydue to the fact that the developer does tutorials asa major part of his work online; but, for whateverreason, the documentation is very helpful.

Any Problems?Elements+ does not have an elegant installation pro-cess: the installer is a simple AppleScript, with no se-curity, progress, or indication of what is being done.You must simply “listen” to progress as various sys-tem sounds are fired! There is a dialog box at the endthat informs you that the installation is complete, butthis is not exactly what most users will be expectingin terms of installation.

My biggest “complaint” is an ironic one: El-ements+ introduces a level of complexity that isotherwise absent in Photoshop Elements. That’s

ATPM 15.04 32 Review: Elements+ 1.1

the goal, right? Yes, but users must keep in mindthat Photoshop Elements is designed to be a fullyconsumer-level application, while Photoshop is theprofessional version; this means that the lines areclearly drawn, even if they exclude some featuresthat are desirable to some. Elements+ blurs theselines and brings forth features that you can’t just“click and try” but that require some fundamentalknowledge of how they work.

This shortcoming is compensated greatly by theexcellent documentation, which can help the mostaverage user overcome any difficulties with the El-ements+ features. Still, your copy of Photoshop Ele-ments will no longer be one that just anyone can sitdown and fully utilize comfortably.

SummaryTo wrap up, Elements+ is a fantastic tool for those ofus seeking just a few more key features out of Photo-shop Elements. For a price of $12, this will be a hugesavings for hundreds of photographers (or more), al-lowing them to continue using Photoshop Elementsand avoid the upgrade costs to the full Photoshopsuite.

Elements+ isn’t for everyone, but for those whoneed it, it is welcome.

Copyright © 2009 Ed Eubanks Jr. Reviewing in atpmis open to anyone. If you’re interested, write to us atreviews@atpm.com.

ATPM 15.04 33 Review: Elements+ 1.1

Software Reviewby Linus Ly, lly@atpm.com

Espionage 2.0.2Developer: Tao Effect1

Price: $25; $5 (upgrade from 1.x)Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5.

Universal2.Trial: Fully-featured (14 days)

“I have nothing to hide.” I wish thatwere true. I don’t run a Ponzi scheme, so I don’thave to worry about hiding the list of places wheremy investors’ money really goes. Still, just by usingAddress Book, I have data like names and e-mail ad-dresses that I prefer to keep away from prying eyes.Having separate accounts on a Mac, with separatepasswords, is no defense against unwanted data ac-cess. Anyone with physical access to a Mac, with amoderate level of technical know-how, can access thedata on the Mac’s hard disk. If you really need tosafeguard the data you have on your hard disk, youneed passwords and encryption, something that TaoEffect’s Espionage offers. Unlike Apple’s FileVault,Espionage can protect individual folders rather thanyour entire home folder, thus resulting in better per-formance.

UsageThe first time you launch Espionage, you will beprompted to set up a master password for use withthe application. The password can be your loginpassword or a different, new password. To protect afolder, you drag and drop the folder onto Espionage’swindow and set a password. The next time you tryto access the folder, you will be prompted to supplythe password.

1http://www.taoeffect.com/espionage/2http://www.apple.com/universal/

The Espionage interface.

You need a password to see the folder’s content.

You can choose to only password protect thefolder or to also encrypt the folder’s content. Espi-onage stores folders using Mac OS X disk images inone of two formats: .sparesbundle (more efficientfor Time Machine) or .sparseimage (can save spacefor smaller folders). Encryption options are AES-128or AES-256, which are government approved for TopSecret documents.

ATPM 15.04 34 Review: Espionage 2.0.2

New with version 2.0 is Application Association.All users know where their movies, music, and pic-tures are, but many probably don’t know where to lo-cate files related to Mail, iChat, etc. Espionage comeswith an application template whereby you choose theapplication and Espionage looks up the path to thedata associated with the application. In my example,I told Espionage to protect the data associated withthe multi-protocol chat client Adium. If your appli-cation is not in the template, you do have to some-how identify its data location and drag the folder intoEspionage. Once set up, when launched, the appli-cation will ask for the password. When you exit theapplication, its data is locked again.

Espionage knows where Adium’s data is.

Even if someone boots my computer up from asystem DVD and uses the password reset tool tomake up a new admin password, my protected folderis still off-limits to the intruder. Likewise, if someoneboots the computer in target disk mode and hooksa FireWire cable to it, while he can roam about theentire hard drive unobstructed, he does not really seethe content of the protected folders. Instead, he isgreeted by three “folders” whose names present themessage:

This folder contains encrypted data. It iscontrolled by Espionage. Do not modifyit in this state.

Even in Target Disk Mode, the folder is protected.

Under the HoodEspionage works by replacing a folder that it protectswith a hidden image file. Yes, Espionage actuallydeletes the folder and put in its place a differentversion of the original folder. Working with thekernel extension iSpy, Espionage listens for eventsrequesting folder access and interferes with the re-quest by presenting a password prompt. Espionage’shelp shows you how to exclude certain processesfrom iSpy so that they do not generate passwordprompts. When the password check is passed, Es-pionage mounts the disk image file, also invisibly.If you have something important to protect, use apassword and encryption.

When you first set up Apple’s FileVault, it sternlywarns you that if you ever forget your password, noone in the world can help you. Espionage does nothave such warnings, but I suppose it is the same deal.Be sure to use passwords that you’ve used elsewhereor that you won’t forget; do not choose somethinghard to remember. Before you have Espionage pro-tect your data, it would be a good idea to back it upand to put the backup physically far from the pro-duction data.

Is It Transparent?Tao Effect touts Espionage as intuitive, simple to use,and unobtrusive. While I agree with the first twoclaims, I have to disagree with the third one. So far,we know that once a folder is locked, trying to openit via the Finder and you will be prompted for thepassword. In reality, even when I was nowhere nearthe protected folder, just switching to the Finder trig-gered password prompts—yes, one prompt for everyprotected folder. I ended up unprotecting all the testfolders. It seems any interaction between applicationsand the Finder makes Espionage think the protectedfolders are to be accessed. It is possible to add theFinder to Espionage’s whitelist, but then when youreally want to go into the protected folders, you areno longer prompted for the password but instead areinformed that the folder is protected by Espionage

ATPM 15.04 35 Review: Espionage 2.0.2

and so on. To access the folders, you would have toselect the folders within Espionage and uncheck theLocked box.

Another example of quirky Finder integration isthe Lock contextual menu. While you can select anunlocked folder and re-lock it this way, subsequent at-tempts at going into the re-locked folder would resultwith the error message:

The folder “folder_name” could not beopened because you do not have sufficientaccess privileges.

Instead of being prompted for the password, you are deniedaccess instantly when folder is re-locked via the contextual

menu.

Again, to unlock the re-locked folder, you wouldhave to launch Espionage, select the re-locked folder,and uncheck its Locked checkbox. Tao Effect is awareof this issue and invites users to send in their systemconfigurations.

Recall that folders protected by Espionage, whenin use, are really mounted disk images. That meansthey are on the same level as other mounted volumes,like the hard drive. One of my favorite Finder short-cuts is to go to up a folder level by holding down theCommand key and clicking the folder name. The en-tire folder structure leading up to the current folder ispresented, and I can traverse it quickly. But with Es-pionage’s use of disk images, there is no folder struc-ture to traverse. I still can use the back button, butit does not always correspond to a level up.

Just because Espionage allows having passwordsfor every folder that it protects does not mean youshould use the feature. Eventually, the many pass-words would become unwieldy. You may end up hav-ing to group folders that need to be protected un-der one folder. You now trade the freedom to keepseparate folders in exchange for Espionage’s protec-tion. Perhaps in a future release Espionage will allowunlocking all the folders once one of them is unpro-tected. Likewise, when setting up folders for protec-tion, it would be convenient if there were an option to

use an existing password by clicking some checkbox.All these examples translate to an obtrusive presenceEspionage has on the protected computer.

While the process of protecting folders and un-locking them is intuitive, making use of the built-inbackup feature is not. Introduced in version 2, thebackup feature makes Espionage look worse. You tellEspionage which protected folder to backup via thePreferences panel. In my case, I told Espionage touse my Time Capsule to store the backups. Thebackups of protected folders appear in the backuplocation in the folder called EspionageBackups. Anextra folder level is introduced to keep folders by thesame name separated. The backups are already en-crypted so that instead of the folder content, you seethe now familiar message indicating that the folderare protected.

Backup is set up in Espionage’s Preferences panel, not inTools of the main menu.

I can live with the strange placement of thebackup function, but finding how to restore backedup folders got me totally confused. I looked for abutton or menu option that would spell Restore butnone was to be found. Instead, to restore a folder,you would copy it via Finder, in its protected state,back to where the original folder was, or any otherplace. You would drag the newly copied folder backinto Espionage’s window and apply the same securitysettings. The folder, supposedly already encryptedbefore, would now be encrypted again. Open it withthe correct password, and the folder is back whereit should be. I think the more straightforward wayto restore a folder from backup would be to select amenu option under Tools.

ATPM 15.04 36 Review: Espionage 2.0.2

SummaryIf you have sensitive data on your computer, Espi-onage provides a good solution to protecting the data.Someone with physical access to your computer hasto overcome Espionage’s password protection and en-cryption to get to your data. Protected applicationdata works fine, but the Finder interaction is nottransparent. In my experience, Espionage promptedfor the passwords for each protected folder at timeswhen I was nowhere close to such folders. You canopen up Espionage and lock or unlock folders withinEspionage, but then you lose the transparency. Thenewly added built-in backup feature works fine inbackup mode, but restoring folders involves a ratherquirky process. Espionage gets the job done as far asencrypting and protecting folders, but it is obtrusiveand not totally intuitive in the backup area, so forme it is only a Good product.

Copyright © 2009 Linus Ly. Reviewing in atpm isopen to anyone. If you’re interested, write to us atreviews@atpm.com.

ATPM 15.04 37 Review: Espionage 2.0.2

Software Reviewby Lee Bennett, lbennett@atpm.com

Facebook for iPhone 2.2Developer: Facebook1.Publisher: iTunes App Store2

Price: freeRequirements: iPhone, iPhone 3G, or

iPod TouchMaybe I’m way off base, but I’d justabout make a wager that there are few iPhone own-ers who don’t maintain a Facebook profile. Somehow,to me, it feels logical to assume that one begets theother. Well, fine, maybe more so in only one direc-tion, but my point is made.

When Apple opened up the ability to create cus-tom applications for the iPhone, no one doubted thatFacebook developers would be at the head of the linewith their own submission, and the version 1.0 re-lease was one of the first apps made available for theiPhone. Several months later, a variety of shortcom-ings were addressed in the second major version ofthe iPhone application. Some say the applicationstill feels incomplete, but do those people considerthat may be by design?

Let me get something cleared up: the Facebookapplication for iPhone is not a substitute for the full-blown Web site, and I would argue that it shouldstay that way. The mentality to have is that manyiPhone apps—Facebook included—are extensions ofa service and not a replacement interface. It cameas a small surprise to me to hear someone say theydon’t use the Facebook application on their iPhonebecause they can’t access any of the groups to whichthey’re connected or manage event invitations or usefriend lists they’ve defined. Actually, the latter ofthose caveats isn’t entirely true, but the person wascorrect that it’s not possible to add or remove peopleto friend lists from within the iPhone application.

Tell me I’m crazy, but this sounds no differentfrom choosing to never go on lengthy trips. Staying ina hotel or camping out is only a subset of your home.Sure, you may not have access to your brand new52′′ plasma television or your closet full of your entirewardrobe, but you have, presumably, taken what youneed for the trip.

1http://www.facebook.com2http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/

viewSoftware?id=284882215&mt=8

I choose to think of the Facebook application inthe same manner. When I’m out and about, the Face-book application provides me with the core featuresthat are most frequently updated—be it status up-dates, private messages, and even making or accept-ing friend requests.

Sure, there are some areas that would benefit froma bit of additional polish. I already know the NewsFeed lists a sampling of events that are supposedly acalculation of what I probably want to see most anddoes not display every single item. But, if the NewsFeed is already a subset of notifications, why botherindicating on the iPhone application that so-and-sohas created a new group when I can’t access the groupvia the iPhone app? In fact, for a moment, I was con-fused when I tapped a News Feed listing indicatinga new group. The listing highlighted, but nothinghappened afterward. I thought the application hadfrozen until I tapped a different item.

ATPM 15.04 38 Review: Facebook for iPhone 2.2

The News Feed indicated that someone had created a newgroup. I tapped and it highlighted, but nothing happened

after that. (Also notice that YouTube video links don’t alwayspull the thumbnail preview over, and I’m only left with a big

white area with a play button in the middle.)

Probably the most troublesome behavior of theiPhone application is a frequent tendency to not dis-play a properly refreshed page. Normally, one wouldexpect that when details for a particular updateare accessed, the page would refresh to show thosedetails—such as comments to a status update. Un-fortunately, far too often, accessing such informationonly results in a blank page.

Pages will often fail to refresh properly. In the left screencapture, a friend’s witty status update intrigued me, and Iwanted to see the three comments other friends had made.When I tapped the entry, the blank page on the right is what

appeared. Once this behavior began, all other updatesbehaved this same way.

The workaround I finally discovered is to usewhat I consider a hidden feature of the Facebookapplication—Shake to Refresh. I consider it hiddenbecause the developers followed Apple’s suggestionfor application settings to be located within theSettings application. I’m certain I am not alone indisliking this. I seem to always forget that appli-cation settings might be located there. As such,I didn’t realize the Facebook application had theShake to Refresh feature. For the benefit of anyone,like myself, who didn’t know about shaking thephone to refresh a page, and for those who don’t careto enable the feature, Facebook application pagesneed to have a refresh button or icon.

I have ideas, too. Presently, there’s no interac-tion with Facebook Events in the iPhone application.Suppose a new Event was received and it could becopied to the iPhone’s regular calendar in additionto being added to your Facebook profile?

But I digress. Facebook developers have done apretty remarkable job with creating a subset of theWeb page and packing the most popular tools intothe iPhone application. I’m looking forward to theupcoming iPhone OS 3.0 Push Notification service fi-nally being available, but I hope that the FacebookiPhone application can be customized to only pushcertain desired notifications. My phone would bebeeping at me nonstop if every friend’s status updatecaused a Push Notification event!

ATPM 15.04 39 Review: Facebook for iPhone 2.2

Kudos to Facebook for a splendid iPhone appli-cation and for understanding what the term “subset”means.

Copyright © 2009 Lee Bennett, lbennett@atpm.com. Re-viewing in atpm is open to anyone. If you’re interested,write to us at reviews@atpm.com.

ATPM 15.04 40 Review: Facebook for iPhone 2.2

Accessory Reviewby Chris Lawson, http://chrislawson.net

iFlyz Personal Media Solution StandDeveloper: iFlyz1

Price: $30Trial: None.

Hey, frequent flyers, how many of youwanted to clip your iPhone or iPod tothe tray table in front of you so youcould watch videos on your last flight, or even justso you could get it out of your lap, jacket, or theseatback pocket? Yeah, me, too. The iFlyz is anattempt to solve that problem. Let’s take a look andsee how well it works.

The basic idea of the iFlyz is pretty good. There’san adjustable clip that attaches the device to thetray table, in either the stowed or deployed position.Sprouting from the clip is a six-inch gooseneck shafttopped with a one-inch suction cup.

Yes, that’s right, a suction cup. Therein lies thedevice’s fatal flaw.

I guess iFlyz assumes that you don’t use a silicone“skin” for your iPhone (or any other sort of case thathas texture to it) because the suction cup will onlystick to a fairly smooth surface, like the bare plasticback of an iPhone 3G or the chrome back of an iPod.Based on the popularity of protective cases for theiPhone around the office—a quick straw poll of co-workers shows at least three-quarters of them usingcases—this is probably a flawed assumption.

Granted, there aren’t a whole lot of universalsolutions out there—some variant on Thought Out’sPED3, or maybe one of Gamber-Johnson’s mounts,comes to mind. PDO’s Aluminum V2 iPod case,reviewed in the June 2008 issue2, has a threadedbelt-clip mount on the back. That design wouldtranslate very well to the iFlyz should they be in-terested in making companion cases—or partneringwith a case manufacturer that is.

If you happen to be using a case that’s suctioncup-compatible, or you enjoy carrying your iPhoneor iPod around unprotected, the iFlyz works prettywell. The gooseneck holds its shape well, especiallywith the weight of an iPhone on it, and the suctioncup mount allows for easy rotation of the screen from

1http://www.iflyz.com/About.html2http://www.atpm.com/14.06/aluminum-v2.shtml

portrait to landscape orientation, eminently usefulfor watching video hands-free on a long flight. TheiFlyz’s ability to clip on to a retracted tray table isparticularly nice when the guy in front of you dropshis seatback on your knees, making it nearly impos-sible to deploy your own tray table or forcing it todeploy at a strange angle.

One other benefit to the iFlyz is that it gets youriPod out of the seatback pocket. I don’t have anyhard statistics, but I would estimate that at least onepersonal electronic device gets left behind in a seat-back pocket on about one-third to one-half of all air-line flights. (I’ve even done it myself once, though Irealized it very quickly after leaving the airplane.)It’s a lot more difficult to forget your iPod if it’ssprouting out of the tray table than if it’s buried inthe seatback pocket.

There’s not really a whole lot else to say aboutit. Either a suction cup sticks to your device or itdoesn’t. If it doesn’t, you’re not going to find theiFlyz useful at all. My advice to frequent flyers? Goto the hardware store and try to stick a small suctioncup to your current “personal media solution.” If itdoesn’t stick, keep your $30.

Copyright © 2009 Chris Lawson3. Reviewing in atpmis open to anyone. If you’re interested, write to us atreviews@atpm.com.

3http://chrislawson.net

ATPM 15.04 41 Review: iFlyz Personal Media Solution Stand

Software Reviewby Lee Bennett, lbennett@atpm.com

KavaServices 3.1.1Developer: KavaSoft1

Price: $25; $10 (for owners of HTMLCharacter Converter)

Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4 (Mac OSX 10.5 required to replace text inMail application). Works with anyCocoa application and some Carbon applications.Universal2.

Trial: Fully-featured (7 days).

It was nearly six years ago that I turned in a reviewfor HTML Character Converter 1.03. In that review,I was quite favorable to the inexpensive Servicesmenu utility to convert extended characters suchas accented letters into HTML entity codes andvice versa. Some time ago, KavaSoft discontinuedCharacter Converter and folded its functionality intoKavaServices.

Changing the name of the utility makes sense be-cause KavaServices can perform a wealth of addi-tional conversions and text replacements. The util-ity is no longer a niche application for the last fewpeople who still hand-code HTML. Instead, there arefunctions that can benefit essentially anyone who layshands on a keyboard.

Perhaps one of the most useful features is thattext to be converted does not have to be in an editabletext window. Most any text that can be highlightedcan be processed by KavaServices. This especiallyincludes text on Web pages. Converted text is dis-played inline where the original text was previouslylocated.

When KavaServices is first launched, a GuidedTour window appears, introducing the user to all theavailable commands.

1http://www.kavasoft.com/KavaServices/2http://www.apple.com/universal/3http://www.atpm.com/9.06/html.shtml

The first Guided Tour screen indicates all the new itemsadded to the Services menu.

Configuration of KavaServices’ commands is di-vided into six categories:

EncodingEncoding services are what started it all and, inKavaServices, are taken to a higher level. Their orig-inal functions were converting extended charactersinto entity codes and back. Since HTML may notproperly display characters such as é, ñ, ¢, and –-on a Web page, they must be encoded as &eacute;,&ntilde;, &cent;, and &mdash;. KavaServices canencode or decode these with a single menu selectionor a programmable keystroke. New in KavaServicesare options to use numeric or hexadecimal encod-ing, such as &#233; or &#xE9;. Also, options toskip certain characters such as the < > brackets forHTML tags that were added in a later version ofHTML Character Converter are still available inKavaServices.

An enhancement to the Encoding commands arefunctions to convert URLs with characters that nor-mally should not be part of a URL, such as:

http://foo.com/A%20filename%20with%20spaces.

ATPM 15.04 42 Review: KavaServices 3.1.1

txt

and converting words with extended charactersinto plain ASCII equivalents, such as Résumé intoResume and Français into Francais.

ConvertEven though it’s relatively simple to type somethinglike, “20 British Pounds in American Dollars” intoGoogle for a conversion, if there is data already typedout on a Web page, it may be easier to just highlightit and invoke KavaServices’ Convert command.

Several of the most common conversions are en-abled by default, and dozens of other conversions incategories such as Area, Speed, Time, etc. can beenabled as needed.

TextThe commands in this category allow for quickly con-verting text to all UPPER CASE, lower case, or Ti-tle Case. There is also a very useful command toalphanumerically sort several lines of text and op-tionally remove duplicates. This means I no longerhave to copy text into a spreadsheet for sorting.

TranslateEven though there are plenty of online services forlanguage translation, the ability to highlight andtranslate text in place can be extremely useful.

As far as I know, Robert hasn’t taken up learning the Russianlanguage. Thanks to KavaServices, I can make it look as

though he did.

SearchThe Search commands will enact a search of what-ever text is currently highlighted through the chosenWeb site, such as Amazon, Google, Internet MovieDatabase, etc. Any site with a standard search queryURL can be added to the list.

OtherThe two remaining commands are Calculate and Ex-ecute Command.

Calculate will convert almost all manner of figuresin terms of basic arithmetic, trigonometry, scientificunits, base conversions, and more.

Calculation examples from KavaService’s Guided Tour.

Execute Command turns just about any applica-tion into a mini Terminal window. The next time aWeb page indicates a Terminal command you wishto run, instead of highlighting the command, copy-ing, opening a Terminal window, pasting, and run-ning it, the Execute Command function can be usedto invoke the command just by highlighting it andselecting Execute Command from the Services menu.

Could KavaServices Be Better?

PriceKavaServices brings a lot to the table in terms oftext functions. One comment on a popular softwareversion tracking Web site complained that the $25price tag is too high for just some scripts added to theMac OS X Services menu. I disagree. What makesthe price tag reasonable and appropriate is the sheervolume of commands available in KavaServices andthe ability to perform conversions on blocks of textthat are not otherwise text editable.

True, someone who is only looking for the HTMLentity code conversion may lament the loss of a $5utility for this purpose, but such a person would al-most certainly gain a rapid appreciation of the other

ATPM 15.04 43 Review: KavaServices 3.1.1

tools KavaServices offers. Plus, those who previ-ously purchased HTML Character Converter can buyKavaServices for only $10. In my mind, KavaServicesis a bargain.

ShortcutsKeyboard shortcuts can be assigned to any KavaSer-vices command. It is probably wise that most com-mands do not have a shortcut pre-assigned so as notto conflict with other existing system-wide shortcuts.However, though I may be mistaken, it seems thatthe few pre-assigned shortcuts that are in KavaSer-vices already take a back seat to conflicting com-mands in other applications—or perhaps that’s thenature of the entire Services menu. The only adjust-ment I could see in this area is that a defined short-cut must include the Command key modifier. Unlessthis is a condition of the Services menu, there aresome instances where I wouldn’t mind being able tospecify the Control and/or Option key without theCommand key.

OrganizationAs seen in the first screenshot early in this review,KavaServices adds its commands into several cate-gories in the Services menu. Maybe this is ideal forsome people. For others, myself included, who have alot of items in the Services menu, it may seem betterto have all the commands optionally grouped into asingle KavaServices item in the Services menu. Per-haps a problem here is that I’ve never before seen aServices menu item go beyond a single level of hier-archy. I’m not positive whether the Services menupermits subdivisions beneath a menu item. If not,considering that it’s possible to enable perhaps 100or more KavaServices commands, listing all of themunder one menu may be impractical.

The Mac OS X Services menu can get rather long-winded.

InterfaceThe method of access to KavaServices commands isprobably the only area I feel could possibly use a freshlook. Doing so might go a long way toward addressing

ATPM 15.04 44 Review: KavaServices 3.1.1

both the Services menu placement described aboveand the individual who thinks $25 is too expensivefor some Services menu scripts.

Arguably, there are too many KavaServices com-mands to assign and memorize shortcuts for each one.Perhaps it’s time for the KavaServices setup applica-tion to do a little more. On the minimal side, therecould be an optional menu bar icon to access a hi-erarchical menu of commands instead of hunting forthe category in a lengthy Services menu. On the ex-treme side, a single keystroke might invoke some sortof pop-up interface to select a command. I admit,the latter of these two would probably be massiveoverkill, and maybe the best answer lies somewherein between these possibilities. But I, for one, wouldbe interested in a menu bar or Dock item that wouldmake finding a command a bit faster than huntingthrough a long Services menu.

ConclusionCasual conversion seekers may be well-advised tokeep their $25 and just use Google queries to per-form a lot of the commands KavaServices offers.However, text entry power users who have a firmgrasp of keyboard shortcut management should findKavaServices an indispensable tool.

Copyright © 2009 Lee Bennett, lbennett@atpm.com. Re-viewing in atpm is open to anyone. If you’re interested,write to us at reviews@atpm.com.

ATPM 15.04 45 Review: KavaServices 3.1.1

Software Reviewsby Frank H. Wu, frankhwu@mac.com

OmniFocus, TaskPaper, and ThingsOmniFocus 1.6Developer: The Omni Group1

Price: $80 (Mac version); $20 (iPhoneversion)

Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4.8.Universal2.

Trial: Fully-featured (14 days)

TaskPaper 2.1Developer: Hog Bay Software3

Price: $30Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5.

Universal4.Trial: Fully-featured (15 days)

Things 1.0.4Developer: Cultured Code5

Price: $50 (Mac version); $10 (iPhoneversion)

Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4.11.Universal6.

Trial: Fully-featured (15 days)

This is a review of three leading task managementsoftware programs for the Mac OS X platform: Om-niFocus, TaskPaper, and Things (in alphabetical or-der). I was motivated to write it by my own desireto adopt a program, and my interest in researchingthe possibilities in a thorough manner. So I down-loaded these popular software titles, paid the respec-tive license fees, watched the screencasts, and thenstarted using them all simultaneously, with the in-tention of spending a week trying to run my life inparallel through each. Before I explain the resultsof this experiment, allow me to offer background onwhat I needed to do.

In my last job, I typically had at least a dozenappointments on any given day. That meant about60 in a week, 240 in a month, and so on. Even with99% accuracy in scheduling, that also meant that at

1http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnifocus/2http://www.apple.com/universal/3http://www.hogbaysoftware.com/products/taskpaper/4http://www.apple.com/universal/5http://culturedcode.com/things/6http://www.apple.com/universal/

least a couple of items in a month would be wrong:I’d show up at the wrong place or the wrong time,etc. Beyond appointments, for which I have long usediCal, I usually have at least 100 to-do items I need totrack at any given time, ranging from writing assign-ments to phone calls to family responsibilities. Eachappointment generates at least one more to-do, typ-ically more: that’s another 60 tasks per week, 240per month, and so on. It was and is an astonishingamount of activity to track.

Previously, I had an administrative assistant whomanaged me, so I could manage the business. Now,the pace has slowed, but I do it all with no staff.Perhaps it is my character, not my profession, thathas determined the type of life that I lead.

I offer the background as a means of explainingwhy I need a good task management system. I havea reputation for being a workaholic and for not sleep-ing. In truth, I am lazy, inclined to procrastinate,and happy if I can change into my pajamas in thelate afternoon and stay in the house the remainder ofthe day. I have realized, well into adulthood, that anorganized life is a less stressful life.

That is all the more reason to adopt David Allen’s“Getting Things Done” (GTD) protocol or somethingsimilar. Incidentally, I am assuming the reader hasheard of GTD. It’s popular and worthwhile, and ithappens to be a set of concepts that is suited for digi-tal implementation. A full explanation is beyond thescope of this review, and, indeed, Allen has severalbooks, a Web site, a podcast, and a consultancy em-anating from his innovations in GTD. For more infor-mation, see David Allen’s site7. Ed Eubanks Jr., hasalso done a good bit of work on this subject in atpm8.

Before laptop computers existed, when I was astudent, I used a breast pocket appointment book inwhich every inch of every page, including over theholidays, was covered with scrawled reminders. Forsome time, when I was stuck on the Windows plat-form, I used Ecco Pro software (since discontinued)but printed out my calendar and to-do lists. I used aPalm when it was still called “Palm Pilot,” and I had

7http://www.davidco.com/8http://www.atpm.com/13.02/next-actions.shtml

ATPM 15.04 46 Review: OmniFocus, TaskPaper, and Things

a Phillips Nino and Compaq iPaq as well. I remem-ber when “PIM” for “Personal Information Manager”was the latest acronym; it seems to have fallen outof use. I’ve even tried reverting to pen and paper,with a Moleskine notebook. I have played with justabout every possible configuration with varying levelsof enthusiasm and perseverance.

Most recently, I was using iCal. My practice wasto list my tasks in the calendar section, rather thanas to-do items, because I found it made me morediligent about execution. I also do what I believemany people do, which is use my e-mail client (Ap-ple Mail in this instance) as a crude task manager. Ijust left messages that required follow-up in my in-box to prompt me. I’d also create messages to myselfwith further tasks. The problem is that none of thesemethods promotes strategic thinking, which requiressetting priorities based on a comprehensive overview,and they are not efficient.

While I have been interested in the GTD system,I’ve resisted it for two reasons, one good, one bad.

The good reason for avoiding GTD is that I alwayshad a feeling that it was too easy to be enamoredwith the concept, and to allow the means to becomean end in itself. Any system has to be a tool, and themain impediments to effectiveness tend to be humanrather than technological.

The bad reason is that I did not want to have toimpose order on my mess, and the assignment of tasksto projects and contexts and the setting of deadlinesseemed like too much work in itself. Even the mostambitious individuals can become paralyzed in theface of their own workload, and I fear that risk. Asmy long-suffering wife does not hesitate to observe, itis less important that I write down “Take the garbageout” than that I in fact take the garbage out.

Thus, for me, GTD has always been like masstransit and walking. I live in a city with a great sub-way, and I’m close to many businesses. I envisionmyself riding the Metro and hoofing it from here tothere. Yet in reality it is too tempting to climb intothe car and contribute to traffic jams and environ-mental degradation.

So I’m merely an average consumer, trying outthese options and reporting to other potential users.I have no special skills in task management or withsoftware (I last programmed BASIC on a Commodore25 years ago). My goals are to see what I need to do,have a listing of to-dos handy when I need it, and beable to sort through it systematically.

Here is the most important point. All three ofthese programs are terrific. They are stable—by andlarge free of bugs—and they do what they say theydo. The distinctions among them are about not sub-stance but style. The average user, I would wager,will be attracted to one of them much more than theother two.

OmniFocus and Things are similar, and they aredirect competitors. It’s easier to use them than todescribe them, but here are my summaries:

OmniFocusOmniFocus, from the well-respected Omni Group,had a long development period, being available inbeta, as has been true of several other Omni Groupproducts. It started when Ethan Schoonover penneda set of scripts for the popular OmniOutliner to im-plement the GTD system. Merlin Mann of the 43folders Web site also has played a consulting role. It’sbeen possible to follow the gestation of the programon the Web.

In OmniFocus, the fundamental unit you workwith is the action. Actions make up projects. Foreach action, you can assign a context, such as Home,Office, Phone, Errand, or Spouse, indicating whereand when you expect to accomplish the action. Theactions can be set to default to a parallel or sequen-tial order, which determines what shows up as a nextaction. Actions can have “children,” which are ac-tions themselves. You also can create folders in whichto group multiple projects. Folders can have folderswithin them. Contexts also can have sub-contextsnested within them. Everything can be assigned adue date, and notes can be attached.

When you open OmniFocus, you have a toolbar atthe top, a narrow left sidebar and a big right pane.The toolbar allows you to select among the inbox,which is the place where you are able to make en-tries quickly without having to do more than type thetext of the action, a quick entry pane (easily acces-sible through a keyboard shortcut at any point fromanywhere so long as OmniFocus is running, even if itis not the front window), and the two main means oflooking at your life (projects and contexts). Plus, youcan select a view that shows items due soon or thosethat are flagged. There is an inspector for adjustingthe detailed settings of any action; OmniFocus allowsfonts and colors to be customized, and it’s possibleto match them to different conditions (X font and Ycolor for actions that are due today, but a differentfont and color for actions that are not imminent).

ATPM 15.04 47 Review: OmniFocus, TaskPaper, and Things

So here’s how it works in action. Let’s say I havethe following new projects and actions: writing thisreview for atpm, drafting a memorandum for the Ex-ecutive Committee of a board I am on, overseeing theexternal auditor for another board I am on, planninga party with my wife, and finding a book at the li-brary. So, if I am in a hurry, I can just type in thedescription of each action in the inbox view, as de-scribed above. Then, when I have time, I can decidewhat projects they are associated with and what con-text they fit within.

If I originally created an item as an action, not aproject, that’s no problem: I can drag it to an ap-propriate place in the hierarchy and OmniFocus willconvert it automatically. I have a folder for Writ-ing, because I usually have several projects under-way. I drag “GTD Review” to the left column, in thefolder for Writing, and it appears as a project. ThenI can add actions under that: Download OmniFo-cus, Download TaskPaper, Download Things, TryingOmniFocus, Trying TaskPaper, Trying Things, andso on. I can assign these to a context.

There is a Clean Up command, represented by ahairbrush icon. It takes the various actions in the in-box and moves them into the appropriate projectsand contexts (the preferences setting allow you tomake the command operative on actions with eithera project or a context, or to require that both be set).

It’s easy to understand why you assign actions toprojects. It’s not difficult, either, to understand whyyou assign actions to contexts. I assign contexts suchas Phone so when I am sitting at my desk and havemy phone out, I can see the five different phone callsI need to make, and I can do them all at once; Spouseallows me to list everything I have to discuss with mywife over dinner; Library is a list of books I want tofind the next time I am there; and so on.

In the planning mode, in the sidebar you have allthe folders shown, and you can expand them to showthe projects contained within. A red balloon showsthe number of actions due (it can be turned off). Themain pane shows the actions belonging to the projectyou have selected. The View bar allows you to bemore selective in determining what to look at. Youcan filter the results to show all actions, remainingactions, completed actions, next actions, and so on;you also can filter by the duration of the action andthe flag state. You can sort by name or various othercriteria. I use planning mode when I am planning aproject.

OmniFocus planning mode showing actions to undertakewith Computers in the main window and a list of projects in

the sidebar.

In the context mode, in the sidebar you have allthe contexts shown. The main pane shows the ac-tions belonging to the context you have selected. Youalso can focus on specific projects and create uniqueperspectives. Commands also allow expansion or col-lapsing of all rows. I use context mode when I am ata place that matches the context: when I’m in frontof the phone, I show all the actions that require meto be at the Phone; when I’m out and about, I showall the actions that are Errands; if I am at the library,I look at what I’ve categorized under Library.

OmniFocus context mode showing library books to check outin the main window and a list of different contexts in the

sidebar.

As you complete actions, you check off the box tothe left of the item. A strikethrough line appears. Ifyou have the view set to show all actions, it still re-mains visible. If you have it set to show only remain-ing actions, it vanishes. Eventually, you can send allthe completed actions to a separate archive to preventdatabase bloat. Entire projects can be identified asStalled, Pending, On Hold, or Dropped.

There are flag settings to emphasize a particularaction item; they can be turned on and off with asingle click in the flag column. For actions that do notbelong to projects, you can create a single action list.In columns, you can type and rely on autocomplete,

ATPM 15.04 48 Review: OmniFocus, TaskPaper, and Things

or you can use a pop-up menu: for example, in theplanning mode, you have a contexts column, and youcan assign each new action to a context by typing orrelying on the pop-up menu.

OmniFocus IssuesThe problems with OmniFocus are its bells and whis-tles, the rigidity of its system, and hence the extratime it takes to enter information. As one of the tu-torial notes, “[o]nce you have a significant amount ofinformation in your OmniFocus database, it can startto get overwhelming.” That is an understatement.I read the 62-page manual (there also are advancedscreencasts), and after more than a month of dailyuse, I have not exhausted the features. There is amethod for extracting actions from Mail messages,for example, that I have yet to master.

OmniFocus doesn’t give you as much freedom asits philosophy would suggest. Projects can be markedas dropped, but not actions. Actions have checkboxesto be marked as done, but projects do not. Themenus are long, and the keyboard shortcuts many.To add a note, for example, you have to use eithera menu command or a keyboard shortcut; there isn’ta field readily available. It takes less than a second,of course, to create the note. Yet that second is adisadvantage, especially because increased efficiencyis the whole purpose of the exercise.

ThingsIn Things, you have the same basic features as in Om-niFocus. You have fewer advanced features, though.If you understand how OmniFocus works, you’ll un-derstand Things in an instant, but the reverse is notnecessarily the case; that explains the organization ofthis write-up.

The distinction between the two programs isapparent immediately from the screencasts: Omni-Focus opens with the idea that you will sit down andwrite out all your actions at once, assigning them toprojects and contexts; Things shows you the quickentry panel and how you can enter a task that haspopped into your head—the narrator later showstags, but emphasizes “what tags you add or don’tadd is really up to you.”

Things has already been acclaimed. It is madeby a German company, which does not seem to haveany other offerings. It is lagging behind a bit in de-velopment, but, as with OmniFocus, users have beenable to follow it through various iterations with theirimprovements.

The strength of Things is the interface. It isgraphical and intuitive, though not entirely consis-tent with the Mac OS “look and feel.” You have amain window that shows all tasks, with a button atthe bottom for the addition of new tasks and to edit.When you click on a task, it expands to show thedetails; when it is expanded and you press Return,it closes back to the description and only those tagsyou have set. A filter bar at the top allows you toselect what you want. The sidebar shows an Inbox,Today, Next items, Scheduled items, Someday, andthen a list of projects. Finally, it has a Logbook anda Trash icon.

Things showing a New Event entry box, expanded, and acouple of pending tasks in the main window, and the default

categories and some projects in the sidebar.

Everything in Things works exactly as you wouldexpect it to. You can start without watching thescreencast or reading the instructions. For example,drag and drop allows you to set tasks to Today. Ifyou want to take advantage of everything, it’s all easyenough. The Today and Next items views are espe-cially useful: both Today and the Dock icon have abadge showing a count of the tasks for the day. Youcan schedule items, turn projects inactive, and showall next actions (the topmost item from a projectand tasks without assigned projects). Each day, donetasks are sent to the Logbook.

Things allows easy entry of tags (which includebut are not limited to contexts), including multipletags, notes, and due date. It’s all clean and unclut-tered, especially compared side-by-side with Omni-Focus. Both projects and items also have a checkbox to the left, which allows them to be marked ascompleted. The designers have studied OmniFocus,and they implicitly take a jab at it when they notethat to edit to-dos, you don’t have to “open up anycomplicated inspector windows.”

ATPM 15.04 49 Review: OmniFocus, TaskPaper, and Things

Things has added a concept, area of responsibility.They explain, “With an Area of Responsibility (orsimply “Area”), you don’t ask yourself about the de-sired outcome, but what standards you would like tomaintain. An Area corresponds to an ongoing activ-ity. These could be, for example: job responsibilities,roles you have taken on in your family, or personalresponsibilities like health.

Things IssuesThings does have shortcomings. It does not have thesame powerful sorting features that OmniFocus does,so you have to arrange projects manually. I also dis-covered a bug. I wanted to make sure this was notuser error, so I tried it thrice. I had a pre-existingitem in Things on my Mac, without a due date. Ichanged the due date to Today, using my iPhone. Itshowed up fine under Today on my iPhone. Despitethree syncs, which took care of everything else, it didnot appear under Today in Things on my Mac. It’sthere, but not under Today. I wrote to the developerto report the problem, but I did not receive a reply.

OmniFocus and Things on the iPhoneBoth OmniFocus and Things offer iPhone integra-tion. TaskPaper has no iPhone application. Om-niFocus and Things are similar in several respects,dissimilar in others, in particular in their iPhone de-ployment. The ability to use the GTD system on theiPhone is a major benefit. It allows you to have con-stant access to your to-do list and to add to it. I findmyself looking at it again and again. It’s also greatfor moments when you are just waiting in line or havea second that could be put to good use.

There is an immediate difference in launching theiPhone application. OmniFocus loads the databaseslowly as I watch the progress bar. I should say, how-ever, that our expectations have become ridiculous inthis regard. OmniFocus actually takes mere seconds,but that is long enough to be annoying. Things alsohas a momentary delay before anything pops up. It’snot instantaneous, but it is slightly faster than Om-niFocus.

Another key difference between OmniFocus andThings is syncing. OmniFocus has multiple options.I selected MobileMe. I then need to click sync onmy computer and sync on my iPhone separately. Idon’t mind, and I sync often during the day. TheiPhone client also syncs automatically. Things relieson a wireless connection. When I have Things openon both the computer and the iPhone, the sync is

performed automatically, and it is speedy. If I haveThings open on the computer and launch it on theiPhone, it syncs right away, which does take a mo-ment. OmniFocus syncs fine across multiple Macs;Things has not yet added this feature; its FAQs showa workaround. I did not test iCal syncing.

TaskPaperTaskPaper is notable for its minimalism. If there weresome ratio of how powerful a program is to how elab-orate it is, TaskPaper would rank very high. Thename also is perfect as a description of how it works.

There are only four concepts you need to grasp:projects, tasks, tags, and notes. They are all ac-cessed through easy-to-learn keyboard combinations.Projects are groups of tasks. Tags are the equivalentof contexts in OmniFocus and tags in Things; theyare recurring classifications you would want to assignto multiple projects or tasks. Notes are everythingelse.

TaskPaper presents a blank sheet of paper.Actually, it gives you a set of instructions that ex-plain TaskPaper itself, self-referentially formattedin TaskPaper. Projects end with colons; tasks startwith dashes; and tags are preceded by the “@”symbol, and they can have a value at the end, inparentheses. Notes are unformatted text. That’s it.There is nothing else to learn. You just type whatyou want. TaskPaper does the rest.

TaskPaper showing several projects with multiple to-dos.

Thus, you use TaskPaper as if it were just a to-dolist written in a text editor. The beauty of TaskPaperis that everything operates on the text. Clicking ona dash marks a task as done and adds the “@done”tag. Items can be dragged around. Copy and pasteworks as it would in Microsoft Word. Find and re-place does, too. Simple outline hierarchies are recog-

ATPM 15.04 50 Review: OmniFocus, TaskPaper, and Things

nized, so tasks can be nested. There are significantlimitations. OmniFocus and Things enable you tocreate recurring to-dos; TaskPaper does not.

Perhaps the most attractive aspect of TaskPaper,however, is that because everything is text, you canmove material out of TaskPaper into Word, or viceversa. If you move material into TaskPaper, every-thing works just as if you had created it in TaskPaperas an initial matter.

It is possible to archive done tasks, and deletetasks. It is also possible to focus just by clicking onprojects and tags. The toolbar allows you to selectprojects and tags, and it has a search field that un-derstands Boolean operators. You can open multipletabs, as in a browser. Like OmniFocus and Things,TaskPaper also has a quick entry window that can bepulled up with a keyboard shortcut.

The screencast shows an Inbox and Archive, bothof which users can create by doing nothing more elab-orate than typing “Inbox:” and “Archive:”—mostanything else that appears in OmniFocus and Thingscan be recreated in a similar manner. The prefer-ences allow you to enable smart links, autocompletionof tags, auto-formatting of tasks, and the additionof dates to done tags. There also is an AppleScriptavailable to filter next actions.

The makers of TaskPaper make modest claims,but they surpass their advertising. The user guideexplains how the developer, Jesse Grosjean, also cre-ated Mori, but he personally preferred to use simplytext files for his own to-do lists. He actually advisesusers to try OmniFocus and Things if they wish tohave more features; TaskPaper has a theme that im-itates Things, if you just happen to like the look ofthat interface. Grosjean deserves to be commended.The concept of TaskPaper is cool. It is consistentwith his philosophy. He also created WriteRoom, thehighly regarded text editor that is nothing more thana full-screen text editor.

Sorting Them OutWhen I was a practicing lawyer, I worked with twocolleagues whose examples are relevant to this review.

The first was a fellow who left every night beforeI did, and his desk was always empty. I mean the en-tire surface was devoid of stuff—not a scrap of paper,nothing. I marveled at this phenomenon. To this day,I have not figured out if he was a hard-working genius,a slacker, or both. I mention him, however, becausehe set the unattainable standard for me. Only nowit is not merely a physical desktop but also a virtual

one with which I am concerned. I would like to havethe mythical zero inbox in Apple Mail, to have every-thing in its place, and to feel Zen-like calm. My hope,no doubt futile, is that a GTD system will bring mecloser to this place.

The second was a fellow from Alaska who had twobrothers. Their parents had given them Super 8 filmcameras so they would have something to do. For anumber of years, the parents would have a film fes-tival at which the three children would screen theirshort movies. Each sibling would be awarded a prize;there were different categories, and each individualalways excelled in a specific category. Or so my as-sociate thought. Only as an adult did he realize hisparents ensured each of their progeny would be re-warded somehow, by creating categories that guaran-teed such an outcome. That is my conclusion aboutOmniFocus, TaskPaper, and Things.

These three programs are all excellent. They seemon the surface to be designed for the same purpose.But they are sufficiently distinct that the most usersare likely to have a strong personal preference. Theyhave very different methods of achieving similar goals.

When I began writing this review, the rough draftsaid that I might use OmniFocus. If I were a betterperson, I certainly would turn to it. If I had an as-sistant again, I also would ask her to use it. Likethe hero in a Greek tragedy, its greatest strengthsare its greatest weaknesses: it has so many featuresthat it is too complicated for most purposes. Or touse another classical analogy, it is like the Corinthiancolumn, the order with the fanciest capital (comparedto the less fussy Ionic column of Things and the plainDoric column of TaskPaper).

As I revised this survey, I came to appreciate Om-niFocus more and more. It takes time to learn. Butit is more powerful than its rivals even without usingits full potential. It could be improved: I’d preferto violate GTD protocol and have the ability to as-sign multiple contexts (or tags) to an item, and I’drather have checkboxes for folders and projects, notjust individual action items. Ironically, each furtherrefinement likely would exacerbate the problem withthis program—it would be even more complex. I’dalso like to be able to modify the column display,moving the actual name of the Action to the right of,rather than the left of, the description of project itbelongs to.

Nonetheless, I appreciate OmniFocus. This is themost robust program, from which a professional withsignificant administrative responsibilities could oper-

ATPM 15.04 51 Review: OmniFocus, TaskPaper, and Things

ate. It lives up its billing as “professional grade,” andthen some.

I will continue to use TaskPaper. It is clever,straightforward, and good for notetaking duringmeetings. It is executed well, for its more limitedrole. The lack of iPhone synchronization, though,takes it off the list for me for deployment as an allaround GTD option. But I cannot overstate myenthusiasm for it. If it had an iPhone application,I’d adopt it in a second.

That leaves Things. At the outset of my testing, Imade a decision by trial and error, not through care-ful deliberation. I used Things more than OmniFocusor TaskPaper, and only because of my desire to be agood tester did I turn to those other programs. Otherthan the obsessive compulsive, I’d wager most userswho played with these programs also would be takenby Things. It is possible to be up and running withThings in under five minutes. It does not require anyknowledge of the GTD system, much less a desire tobecome an expert in contexts and Tags.

The key factor is the graphical interface. Like theMac operating system itself, Things is easy to use.That is what matters most: the task managementsystem should vanish into the background. The pointis, after all, to get things done—not to play aroundwith GTD software.

So, for purposes of serving readers, I’ve tried togive an overview of strengths and weaknesses for eachof these programs. These programs are not cheap.Based on the foregoing description, most users shouldbe able to figure out what fits them best. For themost detail and power, chose OmniFocus; for thefastest and easiest introduction to these concepts,Things; for the best notes and the sheer elegance ofit, TaskPaper. If you are disciplined, any of themwill improve your life. If you are not disciplined, theprograms at least will facilitate the development ofgood habits.

Copyright © 2009 Frank H. Wu, frankhwu@mac.com. Re-viewing in atpm is open to anyone. If you’re interested,write to us at reviews@atpm.com.

ATPM 15.04 52 Review: OmniFocus, TaskPaper, and Things

Accessory Reviewby Chris Lawson, http://chrislawson.net

Showcase for iPhone 3GDeveloper: Contour Design1

Price: $35Trial: None.

Hard cases, soft cases, metal cases,plastic cases, clear cases, coloredcases. . .the iPhone case market ex-ploded even faster than the iPod case market did.Everyone and his brother is marketing an iPhone casethese days. Longtime Mac accessory maker ContourDesign jumped into the fray with their Showcase, up-dated for the iPhone 3G. Let’s take a look and seehow it stacks up.

Contour has essentially done nothing more thanupdate their relatively ancient Showcase design fora slightly different shape. Longtime iPod users mayhave even had one of the prior showcase models2,which have been around for at least five years now.The basic formula is still the same: clear plastic withrubber edges for easier grip.

The biggest design beef I have with the Showcaseis the clear back. It doesn’t really serve any use-ful purpose other than to show off the chrome Applelogo and “iPhone” label, and the clear polycarbon-ate scratches easily, making the case look used veryquickly. For that matter, the clear portions of thefront of the Showcase don’t add anything to its func-tionality either—they merely serve to carry on theShowcase design language.

Those of you who prefer function to follow formwill probably think I’m being too picky here, whilereaders who prefer that form follow function (and Ap-ple has arguably done a brilliant job of making things,including the iPhone, attractive and functional in theJonathan Ive era) will be nodding their heads andasking “Why?” It’s not exactly jelly stripper heels,but it’s not a pair of Tiffany cuff links either, and theShowcase certainly doesn’t help the iPhone’s overallappearance.

1http://www.contourcase.com/showcase/showcaseiphone3g/

2http://www.atpm.com/10.01/showcase.shtml

The Showcase presents an attractive enough face, though ascreen protector would be greatly appreciated.

Getting the iPhone into the Showcase is easyenough—just open the clamshell, slide the phone in,and snap the clamshell shut. Getting it out, however,is another story. Why remove it at all? Mostly toclean the screen, since the Showcase doesn’t includeany sort of screen protection. (In theory, it shouldbe compatible with most screen protector prod-ucts.) Opening the clamshell can be a real challengeand occasionally requires the assistance of a smallscrewdriver.

ATPM 15.04 53 Review: Showcase for iPhone 3G

The headphone jack cutout is amply sized for even thelargest headphone plugs.

The rest of the case is very functional and well-designed. The headphone jack cutout is plenty bigenough to allow for even the largest headphone plugs,and the volume/silent button cutout allows for easyaccess to all three side buttons.

The cutout for the volume buttons and silent switch is plentybig enough to allow easy access for any size fingers.

There’s no problem accessing the dock connector,either, although it’s almost a certainty that flush-fitting accessories won’t work with the Showcase—orany other rigid case, for that matter.

The Showcase allows for easy access to the Dock Connectorbut prevents flush-fitting accessories from working while the

iPhone is in the case.

The rubber perimeter of the case isn’t as grippyas many of the silicone “skin” cases, but it’s cer-tainly easier to grab onto than the phone itself. Withthe weather warming up lately here in Michigan, I’vestopped wearing my ubiquitous winter fleece jacket atwork, which means my phone lives in my shirt pocketor my jeans pocket most of the time. Silicone cases

are so grippy that it’s hard to remove the phone froma pocket, especially a pants pocket. The Showcase isjust slippery enough not to have that problem.

Those of you who don’t like carrying a phone inyour pocket—or really enjoy looking like a nerdy,street-clothed Batman—will be happy to know thatthe Showcase comes with a belt holster for OldWest-style iPhone street dueling. You can holsterthe phone in a vertical or horizontal position, withthe screen facing in or out (Contour recommendsfacing the screen inwards for maximal protection).

This is Contour’s recommended configuration for holsteringthe iPhone.

If you get bored with the horizontal configuration, you canalso holster your phone vertically.

ATPM 15.04 54 Review: Showcase for iPhone 3G

Unlike some of the competition, the Showcase’sholster does not have the ability to double as a stand,and the clip feels a little flimsy where it attaches tothe holster. Not being the holster type myself, I can’tattest to the real-world durability of the clip or hol-ster, but consider yourself forewarned.

You can also holster the iPhone with the screen facing out.No matter how you choose to do it, you look like a giant geek.

For $35, the Showcase isn’t a bad deal. There aresimilar cases out there for slightly less money, butthere are a lot of things to like about the Showcase.It gives just the right amount of grip and protects theiPhone very well. With an included screen protectorand a solid back, it would be just about perfect.

Copyright © 2009 Chris Lawson3. Reviewing in atpmis open to anyone. If you’re interested, write to us atreviews@atpm.com.

3http://chrislawson.net

ATPM 15.04 55 Review: Showcase for iPhone 3G

FAQ: Frequently Asked QuestionsWhat Is ATPM?About This Particular Macintosh (atpm) is, amongother things, a monthly Internet magazine or “e-zine.” atpm was created to celebrate the personalcomputing experience. For us this means the mostpersonal of all personal computers—the Apple Mac-intosh. About This Particular Macintosh is intendedto be about your Macintosh, our Macintoshes, andthe creative, personal ideas and experiences of every-one who uses a Mac. We hope that we will continueto be faithful to our mission.

Are You Looking for New Staff Members?atpm is looking to add more regular reviewers to ourstaff. Though all positions with About This Partic-ular Macintosh are volunteer, reviewing is a greatway to share your product knowledge and experiencewith fellow members of the Macintosh community.If you’re interested, contact atpm’s Reviews Editor,Paul Fatula1.

How Can I Subscribe to ATPM?Visit the subscriptions page2.

Which Format Is Best for Me?• TheOnline Webzine edition is for people who

want to view atpm in their Web browser, whileconnected to the Internet. It provides sharptext, lots of navigation options, and live linksto atpm back issues and other Web pages.

• The Offline Webzine is an HTML version ofatpm that is formatted for viewing offline andmade available in a Mac OS X disk image. Thegraphics, content, and navigation elements arethe same as with the Online Webzine, but youcan view it without being connected to the In-ternet. It requires a Web browser.

• The Print PDF edition is saved in Adobe PDFformat. It has a two-column layout with smallertext and higher-resolution graphics that are op-timized for printing. It may be viewed onlinein a browser, or downloaded and viewed in Ap-ple’s Preview or Adobe Reader on Macintosh or

1mailto:reviews@atpm.com2http://www.atpm.com/subscribe

Windows. PDFs may be magnified to any sizeand searched with ease.

• The Screen PDF edition is also saved inAdobe PDF format. It’s a one-column layoutwith larger text that’s optimized for readingon-screen.

How Can I Submit Cover Art?We enjoy the opportunity to display new, originalcover art every month. We’re also very proud of thepeople who have come forward to offer us cover art foreach issue. If you’re a Macintosh artist and interestedin preparing a cover for atpm, please e-mail us. Theway the process works is pretty simple. As soon as wehave a topic or theme for the upcoming issue we letyou know about it. Then, it’s up to you. We do notpay for cover art but we are an international publica-tion with a broad readership and we give appropriatecredit alongside your work. There’s space for an e-mail address and a Web page URL, too. Write toeditor@atpm.com for more information.

How Can I Send a Letter to the Editor?Got a comment about an article that you read inatpm? Is there something you’d like us to writeabout in a future issue? We’d love to hear from you.Send your e-mail to editor@atpm.com. We often pub-lish the e-mail that comes our way.

How Can I Contribute to ATPM?There are several sections of atpm to which readersfrequently contribute:

Segments: Slices from the Macintosh LifeThis is one of our most successful spaces and one ofour favorite places. We think of it as kind of theatpm “guest room.” This is where we will publishthat sentimental Macintosh story that you promisedyourself you would one day write. It’s that specialplace in atpm that’s specifically designated for yourstories. We’d really like to hear from you. SeveralSegments contributors have gone on to become atpmcolumnists. Send your stuff to editor@atpm.com.

Hardware and Software Reviewsatpm publishes hardware and software reviews. How-ever, we do things in a rather unique way. Techno-

ATPM 15.04 56 FAQ

jargon can be useful to engineers but is not always ahelp to most Mac users. We like reviews that informour readers about how a particular piece of hardwareor software will help their Macintosh lives. We wantthem to know what works, how it may help them intheir work, and how strongly we recommend it. Pleasecontact our reviews editor3, before you begin writing,if you have a piece of hardware or software that you’dlike to review.

Which Products Have You Reviewed?Check our reviews index4 for the complete list.

What is Your Rating Scale?atpm uses the following ratings (in order from bestto worst): Excellent, Very Nice, Good, Okay, Rot-ten. Products rated Good or better are ones that werecommend. Okay products get the job done. Werecommend avoiding Rotten products.

Will You Review My Product?If you or your company has a product that you’d liketo see reviewed, send a copy our way. We’re alwayslooking for interesting pieces of software to try out.Contact reviews@atpm.com for shipping information.You can send press releases to news@atpm.com.

Where Can I Find Back Issues of ATPM?Back issues5 of atpm, dating since April 1995, areavailable in DOCMaker stand-alone format and asPDF. In addition, all issues since atpm 2.05 (May1996) are available in HTML format.

What If My Question Isn’t AnsweredAbove?We hope by now that you’ve found what you’relooking for (We can’t imagine there’s something elseabout atpm that you’d like to know.). But justin case you’ve read this far (We appreciate yourtenacity.) and still haven’t found that little pieceof information about atpm that you came here tofind, please feel free to e-mail us at (You guessed it.)editor@atpm.com.

3mailto:reviews@atpm.com4http://www.atpm.com/reviews/5http://www.atpm.com/Back/

ATPM 15.04 57 FAQ