The Productive Organizer

Ever thought of starting a download on your home server pc while you are halfway around the world? There are solutions on how to do that on your iPhone or iPod Touch.

For geeks like us we have been dabbling in such things for some time, the defecto solution is VNC viewer, where you setup a VNC server in your home pc and connect to it via a VNC client. [Guide to control your pc from anywhere using VNC >>]

A comparable Free solution:Mocha VNC Lite

The Free solution on the iPhone and iPod touch is Mocha VNC  Lite[iTunes >>]. It is an OK solution but the thing about VNC is that, its more for geeks as we can tweak alot of the configurations to the way we wanted.

Anyway Mocha VNC Lite is limited in features and if you are looking for an alternative to this then Team Viewer is for you.

What is Team Viewer?

With the TeamViewer App for iPhone and iPod Touch you are now able to access remote computers from everywhere. It allows you to give spontaneous support as well as having permanent access to unattended computers.

This works like Mocha VNC, but it is suppose to be more secure then VNC, that is, if you trust the security protocol used by Team Viewer.

Team Viewer App for iPhone comes in 2 version, the USD 99 one and the FREE one.

You can use the FREE version as long as it is for personal use, so its good enough for most of you.

Here i try to walk you through what it does.

Download Team Server full version

You first hop on to Team Viewer’s site to download a client for your Windows or Mac PC. [Download TeamViwer Portable >>]

You will administer as well as to allow your iPhone and iPod Touch to connect

Run TeamViewer Installer

Unzip the package and Doubleclick on “Teamviewer.exe”.

You will be brought to this screen here. Note that in the middle of it is an ID and Password. These are the credentials that your iPhone will use to connect to this computer.

The password is abit difficult to remember so go to Extras > Options >Security to configure your own password.

With all these done you are all set to go.

Connect to your computer on your iPhone

Fire up your TeamViewer iPhone App and you will be presented with a login page. Key in your ID and Password and then Touch Connect to Partner.

You will be presented with simple instructions how to navigate using your iPhone on your desktop computer.

You will see that you are connected via another node. Start accessing your computer via the iPhone

Here is how it looks like on your iPhone. Navigation is quite ok. Do note that this, like VNC sends you many screen shots of your desktop so it will be abit pixelated sometimes.

Anytime you wanna end connection click the cross.

You will be able to quick access recent sessions on your iPhone Application as well

Conclusion

All in all, a pretty competent solution and at a cheap price. I have yet to test it on my companies websites to see if i can access it or use GPRS to access it. Do give it a try and let me know what you think

Firstly thank you Charles for being kind enough to extend a beta copy of Action Lists for me to do this review.

So far i have the chance to investigate 2 Task Management Software:

1. Appigo ToDo [Review Here >>]
2. eToDo [Review Here >>]

For sure, these are not the only lists around and the fact that the competition is so hot means there is only one winner here, which is you the consumer!

Action Lists is brought to you by Daze End Software, you may have come across another of its software which is ListMaker and this one is working on the same formula as List Maker.In fact you can say that action Lists is building on the same formula as List Maker.

Action Lists, like most task management applications on iPhone enables you to follow the GTD Workflow by David Allen but for me, it can be much more than that.

How much does it cost?

There is a free version for you to try that is FREE. However, it only enables you to create a limited number of tasks and projects.

The paid application cost USD9.99, which is the same cost as Appigo Todo and Things.

When you cost that much, you gotta be as competitive as them. Here we will see if it measures up.

How does it work?

Action Lists does task management according to the GTD workflow, but you have the flexibility to do it in alot of ways.

Typically you start off by doing a sweep to collect any thing that you can think of. Any thoughts that translates to actionable tasks will go into the Inbox.

Task entry is similar to Appigo ToDo in that you can use a Quick Add button to add a task without detail specifications. But most would prefer to use the detail entry screen.

Here you can enter the

1. description of your task
2. start date of the task
3. end date of the task
4. notes for the task
5. context/categories of the task and
6. which project it belongs to
7. set task to repeating

whatever a good todo list have, Action Lists have it for you. You can specify your own contexts and later you can filter by them.

The repeating task is abit special. You can set them to continous repeat, and the tasks will be generated either when the day have been reached, or when the task have been completed.

I find this to necessary in the past to have the task recur on its own when the day comes but i realise that doing this, you can very likely litter your todo list should you fall off the to do list bandwagon and attempt to hop back on.

The preferred method will be to recur when you have complete the task. Either way, once you marked a task completed, a new recur task is added to the Inbox

This is abit different but its Action Lists way to make sure that all new task is handled at Inbox level. some people will like this, some will not.

Nested Projects

When you are organizing your tasks in your inbox, if the task needs more than 1-2 steps to be handled, you will create a Project to group them together.

This is where Action Lists differs from all task list on the market. Action Lists enables you to have unlimited projects within projects and there will alot of folks who appreciate this as you can really group your tasks by:

1. Personal and Work
2. Strategic Goals
3. Area of Responsibilities
4. Project Milestones
5. Small Projects

I used to want this nested feature alot as i think it makes alot of sense. Even the Desktop ToDoList that i have created based on Nested Tree List. People that are in software development would have use Microsoft Project and it enables you to have nested task. If you look at your life as one big project then having nested list will really help.

Not having it is not end of the world. In fact most people will just make do with 2 levels: the first level being your Area of Responsibilities be it Project A, Being a good family man and the second level being your Project milestones to achieve that area of responsibility.

Task Status and Doing the Task via Context

How you perform the “Do It” after “Organzing it” will be based on 2 things: the Status of the task and the Context.

When defining the task you can select the status.

Setting the Task to Waiting will cost the task to pop up at the Waiting Tab (notice the increase in number badge indicating the number of waiting task) for me this is good as it really provides a clear seperation of tasks that are currently waiting. Currently with Appigo ToDo, i have it as one of my Tags and while i have said Appigo toDo main problem is that you need to go into the tags to see how many unfinish task you have. With Action Lists you don’t have this problem.

The Same goes with Someday. Once you decide to do a Someday task, just switch the status to Active or Next Action

As i have said, you hop on over to Action Lists Tab to go through your context to see your next action.

You will note that there aren’t alot of task queued here. Why is that? This is because only task set to Next Action Status will appear here!

Its a novel way of filtering away all the freaking task and only show what you have to do next.

There is abit of a problem here. So lets say you completed a task, what you need to do next is go to the Projects tab and go to that particular project and set the next task status to Next Action from Active.

what happens when your task is so deeply nested inside?

This is where Task Queue comes in. Touch the blue arrow next to each project folder and you will see the option “Queue Next Actions“.

Toggle it on and after you finish one next action, it will immediately set the next earliest due task to Next action from Active. This may not work well if you have tasks that have dependency not based on time of completion. the jury is still out if this performs well enough

Synchronize and backup to ToodleDo

Action Lists enables you to back up your tasks and folders to Toodledo. I have not tested how well this works since my ToodleDo syncs with Appigo ToDo but i have a feeling it will be another case that ToodleDo will act as a backup rather than allow you to use it both online and on your iPhone.

Do tell me your experience with syncing.

Where to improve upon

This App have alot of potential i feel.However here are some things that they need to iron out.

Full Calendar selection – We cannot rely on the roller to select the date! As we are setting dates, we want to see clearly which day of the week or which weekday we set upon. Using a roller selector is not good for this.

More Description details – from the picture below you will see that its very difficult to tell at one glance what you need to do. you will have to go into the task itself. I feel this needs to be expanded

Conclusion

On the whole a very good to do list i feel. Does everything the competition has and a very niche and competitive feature in Nested Projects. Fix the problems that i mention and its well worthed the price.

For one that have program a todo list, i can truely appreciate this product and its difficulties. We hope that the next 1 month users will give ample feedbacks to increase the stability of the software. Appigo Todo have this problem for all versions, due to the complexity of to do lists in general.

so do contribute and highlight the issues to make this a good todo list!

1Password, the password manager for alot of Mac and iPhone lovers, brought out their implementation for the iPad, and if all other software on the iPad is designed this way, i’m telling you its gonna feel good using it.

I’m always a support of great user interface and it is one aspect that i like the iPhone OS platform because there are so much intangible subtle advantage of the transitions, use of colors, fonts and shadows that makes you feel pleasant using it.

Ars Technica provided information that points to how Apple are likely to leverage on their iPhone OS success to bring it to multiple hardwares.

As first discovered by Computerworld, Apple is looking for a full-time engineering manager to oversee “platform bring-up,” with the Core Platform team, part of Apple’s Core OS group. Such a manager would be responsible for low-level architecture, hardware drivers, firmware, and platform security for iPhone OS on “a range of hardware platforms, including iPhone & iPod.” The manager will also coordinate the software team with hardware and custom silicon teams in developing and prototyping new platforms.

Candidates for the position are expected to have experience with kernel, driver, and firmware development for Unix-based systems as well as an understanding of system-on-a-chip design. Experience with ARM-based SoC’s is preferred, of course—that’s the platform currently used in the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, as well as Apple’s Time Capsule base station (among others).

TiPB suggests that Apple should massage iPhone OS to power a future revision of the Apple TV—though it already runs an OS X derivative, so perhaps they are merely suggesting making the UI more iPhone-like and capable of multitouch input. (We still prefer using the Remote iPhone app, however). It would be nice, though, if Apple offered Apple TV apps that let users access other online content like Netflix or Hulu. Computerworld also speculates that Apple may move its custom chips and iPhone OS upward to products like a future MacBook Air, Mac mini, or even a lower-power, ARM-based server.

Regardless of what specific products result from the effort, it only makes sense for Apple to leverage the architecture as widely as possible given the investment the company has made in developing Mac OS X and iPhone OS. When Steve Jobs revealed that Apple was moving to x86 processors after years of using PowerPC, he said that OS X was always intended to be “platform independent.”

[Ars Technica>>]

I am happy with my purchase of iThoughts over Mindjet. Throughout these few months, the developers have proved that they are willing to build upon a good product and come up with improvements

1. Relationships
2. Auto Organize Map
3. iMindMap support
4. Many bug fixes

The update post is here for all who would like to know what iThoughts is able to do [Link Here >>]

No doubt we can expect the developers to build on top of this for the new iPad platform. Can’t wait to see what kind of stuff they can come up with.

Since the days of the Palm, Pocket PC, one of folks’ favorite software have been a password manager. Having a password manager that keeps key information with you can be very helpful:

1. Whenever you are on the go, needs to access a website but can’t remember your login, you can always refer to this.
2. You need to remember your father or your mother’s critical info, you can refer to this.
3. Someone asks you about a certain secure system’s work procedure. It is complex enough for you not to be able to remember off your head. You can store it in this so that people getting access to your iPhone will not be able to knwo this vital piece of information

The list can go on and on but at the end of the day we look for a few things more than other factors when we are evaluating which software to purchase to store our passwords and logons.

This week, i will be evaluating SplashID. Its a software that have its roots from the Palm days and you can be sure the guys behind this know what they are doing since they have been doing this from a long time back.

Password Manager must be secure

You will be likely storing alot of information that

• concerns your own privacy
• your family’s privacy
• monetary and finance information
• secured logins for sensitive sites
• work related confidential keys and info

The easy way out when it comes to security is not store it anywhere! not even on your desktop computer! but there is a fine line here as if we store all these info in our brain and we forgot about them, chances are we will face another set of problem.

My advice to all is that those super crucial information (bank logins, ATM pins and those software/sites you use to aggregate information) remember them by hard and not record them down. Only use these password software for privacy stuff like forum logons, CD-Key for registered software, non sensitive website logons)

This way you control the worse case scenario where if you lose that info and they manage to crack it ( hats off to them if they manage to do that!) you don’t lost all those things that have the greatest impact to you.

The nutshell is that you still have to rely a bit on your brain. Don’t worry, exercising the brain is good for you.

SplashID uses the AES and 256Bit – Blowfish encryption which are the industry standards. As far as i know Blowfish and AES are not easy to crack. .In fact, i believe if the password you use is strong [Creating Strong Passwords >>] then cracking them will prove to be not lucrative deal (my research shows me that no one have cracked them yet)

The data file used is encrypted by Blowfish and i believe the passcode that you use at the login is using AES encryption.

What i like about SplashID here is that they enable you free play on the kind of password for the passcode. Password1 Pro for example lets you enter a 4 numeric password, which is much weaker without other ascii characters. (however it have 2 levels of password, even though getting by the first level enables you to view the password already!)

Browse by Category, Searching

I shall not venture too much into this area of explaining about browsing since a password manager’s job is to enable you to view your info at a glance.

SplashID does a good job here in that you can choose what type of info you are storing, and the category of the info to store it as, whether it is Personal, or Business.

In addition you can filter by searching for a specific phrase. I tend to use this most of the time as it is likely that you will ALWAYS not remember which category what you are searching for is under.

Backup, Restore and Desktop Synchronization

Another important aspect is how do you backup your data. Backup of data is usually done through a proprietary software and in the cash of SplashId it can only be performed via a wireless synchronization with a desktop software.

Once you are synchonized, if you are moving from Palm, Windows or other platforms, you will be able to restore your SplashId database to your desktop client for iPhone and then sync with the iPhone.

Most password managers used this option as this is the most viable method. I used to hope that i have a password manager that can do offline sync with a server database, but probably no company thinks it is viable enough to do something like that for things that are so dear to an individual.

The switching cost

The thing about these password managers is that if you use SplashID or in my case Keepass to keep your secured stuff you will most likely look to the same provider instead of jumping to a better alternative. Import and Export for password managers at best is through a CSV file. That will need the user some time to format the CSV so that it is compatible with SplashID.

SplashID vID
You may import and export SplashID records in SplashID Virtual ID (vID) format, which allows you to export and import records in a secure, encrypted format. vID files may be encrypted by assigning a password when exporting. The recipient of the vID file may import the data into their copy of SplashID Desktop by double-clicking the file, or choosing Import/SplashID vID from the File Menu. If a password was assigned to the file, the recipient must enter the password in order to import the data.

vID files are a convenient way to share records with a coworker or spouse by exporting a vID file, assigning a password (optional), and then emailing the resulting vID file to the recipient. You can even use the vID format as a backup mechanism by periodically exporting a vID file and archiving it on a backup disk.

*New in SplashID 4* — You can also use the Email button on the SplashID desktop to export vID files and attach them to a new email message.

CSV
You may also import and export SplashID records in CSV format. CSV stands for Comma Separated Values, and is a common file format readable by most spreadsheets, databases and word processors. If you wish to import a CSV file, the data must be in the following format:

Type, Custom 1, Custom 2, Custom 3, Custom 4, Custom 5, Custom 6, Custom 7, Custom 8, Custom 9, Date Modified, Notes, Category

It is easy to create the above format in Excel by creating a spreadsheet with 13 columns (as designated above) with one record per row. Then save the file in CSV format.

Note: When importing data, if the type field is blank the record will be placed in Unfiled. If there is a type name and it does not match an existing type a new type will be created.

The cost

Password managers don’t normally come cheap. SplashID for iPhone will set you back USD 9.99.

However, there can be additional cost.

If you are not an existing splashID user and would like to backup your data to a computer or have the option to key in at 2 location, you can download the 30 day trial [Link Here>>] or after you like this concept, purchase this desktop client for USD19.90.

If you are an existing splashID user (that have a splashID desktop. this is different from this one im talking about) and would like to sync your data to your iPhone SplashID, you can get the SplashID desktop for iPhone free. You can request for a registration code and keying in the registration code will convert the 30day trial desktop software to registered.

Conclusion

The combination for this solution is not cheap. if you are a new user you will need to set you back USD 30 bucks. If you are an existing splashid user probably 10 bucks.

By no means are the alternative (Password1 and mSecure (USD23+3)) are cheap.

However, if you are looking for a good password manager solution, you want one that you know is going to be around for a long time, one that should you switch to another platform, be it web, another phone OS or desktop OS you are able to bring your data to that platform.

SplashID have its tentacles across many platforms:

1. Palm OS
2. Windows Mobile
3. Android
4. iPhone
5. Symbian S60
6. Blackberry
7. Windows
8. OS X

To all my friends who thinks that iPhone is overtaking the world, take a look at this worksheet:

Every day in blog world we see so much blogging about new phones coming out and new device, i am struggling to find a site that talks about how mobile OS and hardware can change business process and workflow.

Here is a good example of how a good mobile platform like the iPhone and iPod touch can really change the way different profession do things:

this is a video on a doctor by training talking about how his iPhone and mobile devices help doctors and medical practitioners around the world.

What i find interesting is that iPhone is a really powerful platform and companies are willing to develop applications for a particular industry.

On the App store you can see a category called “Medical” showing how much of a take-up the industry is giving to the iPhone ecosystem.

Watch this video:

Ivor Kovic, an emergency physician from Croatia, has developed a device which turns the iPhone into a physical tool.

The device, which is only in the prototype stage now, allows for an iPhone or iPod touch to be inserted into a plastic cradle that assists an individual in performing Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR (also known as ‘basic life support’ in most of the world). The user would open the PocketCPR app (free) [iTunes link] and place the iPhone into the cradle. The cradle allows for greater leverage during CPR, thus reducing administrator fatigue, while also allowing unobstructed views of the the CPR app which is giving audio and visual commands to the user.

Dr. Kovic says that his device isn’t necessarily intended for non-medical professionals who might only have to perform CPR once in their lives. He sees its primary advantage in hospital settings where doctors perform CPR on a daily basis. Also, the device could be useful in schools and businesses as an inexpensive way to help people perform CPR correctly.

You can find out more about the cradle at Dr. Kovic’s blog.

Death from sudden cardiac arrest is not inevitable. If more people knew CPR, more lives could be saved. To find a class in your area, in the US contact the American Heart Association. In the UK contact Bart’s City Life Savers.

I was a big fan of netbooks when they first came out.  They’re cheap, provide plenty of functionality, and make great traveling companions.  Despite the booming popularity of netbooks, I believe that the iPad will create a new market for tablet-styled devices.  Whether you’re an Apple fan or not, the iPad’s perceived ease of use, design, and portability will assure it has a place.  The question some are now asking is whether they should buy a netbook, the iPad, or a similar unreleased tablet.

The core of this question ultimately relates to the device’s purpose.  What exactly do you need to accomplish?  While it seems that the iPad is primarily a consumption device, there will likely be many available applications that make it a useful tool.  The iPad’s extra accessories such as the keyboard dock highlight that it will offer an extended experience rather than simply being a large iPod Touch.

Netbook

Pro	Con
Low cost	Usually lower performance
Size	Often smaller, cramped keyboard
Battery life	Small screen
Integrated webcam	Lower build quality
Various OS choices	Lacks Apple coolness factor?
Multitasking	Impractical compared to full featured notebook

iPad

Pro	Con
Low cost for entry unit	Apple controlled App Store
Ease of use	No physical keyboard (unless using keyboard dock)
Portability	Lack of inking/pen support
Battery life	Lack of webcam
iPhone OS	iPhone OS
140,000 Apps	Lack of multitasking

[Read the rest of this article at GottaBeMobile >>]

Here’s a good piece talking about why iPad would work. Specifically, how much more easy than a laptop you can use the device in overtaking more parts of your life rather than the laptop. The Key thing not working for it now is the price! and that is where competitors will need to take notice and compete well:

When the low-end iPad’s price drops to $199 (three years?), we think it will be a smash hit.

We think families will buy three or four of them and leave them lying around the house.  They won’t “belong” to any one family member, the way PCs and phones do.  They’ll just take the place of the newspapers and books that now fill kitchens and living rooms, ready for use by any adult, child, or guest.

But that doesn’t stop us from already being annoyed by one feature of the iPad:

The need to hold it.

One joy of using the Internet on a laptop or PC is that you don’t have to hold anything.  You use your hands, yes, but you use them in short bursts and then you let them rest.  With the iPad, at least as demonstrated by Steve Jobs at the Great Unveiling, your hands have to be the actual support system for the device in addition to the interface driver.

It’s the same way with a phone, of course, but a phone is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand.  It’s also very light.  And most people don’t use the phone for extended media-consumption periods, the way they use laptops, PCs, or newspapers.

And, yes, it’s true that you also sometimes have to hold books and newspapers when you read them.  But books, at least, you can hold easily with one hand, and you don’t have to constantly interact with their interfaces the way you will with the iPad.  Newspapers, meanwhile, you can spread out all over the kitchen table.

Consider a few use-cases:

The kitchen table. Here, a laptop is preferable to an iPad, because the screen can be set at the right angle and then left untouched for the duration.  Your hands, meanwhile, are free to grip the cereal bowl and spoon while occasionally reaching out to scroll or click.  An iPad, meanwhile, has to sit flat on the table, at the wrong angle for reading (unless you’re not eating and slouching over it).   The laptop’s screen is also bigger than the iPad’s, which makes reading easier.   (Yes, someone will no doubt build a table stand for the iPad, but that’s another gizmo you’ll need to carry around with you.  And then you’ll also occasionally be touching the screen with greasy, wet hands.)

The couch.  When Steve Jobs demoed the iPad, he did so with his legs crossed.  And they needed to be crossed.  Because otherwise Steve would have been sitting there like a car driver with his arms extended out in front of him, holding the full weight of a 1.5 pound device.  Try holding your arms out for a while holding a 1.5 pound device and see how comfortable that is.  When your feet are on the floor, meanwhile, you can’t rest the iPad on your thighs, because unless you’re sitting up really straight with the iPad in your lap, the screen is again at the wrong angle (and sitting that way obliterates the point of relaxing in a chair).  With a laptop, meanwhile, you have a built-in desk that carries the weight of the device, whether your feet are on the floor or on the coffee table.  And the screen can be set once at the proper angle and forgotten.

The coffee table.  Want to sit on the couch and put your device on the coffee table?  Here, unless you enjoy sitting on the edge of the couch (waste) and slouching massively, the laptop wins easily.  You won’t even be able to read the iPad at the normal couch-to-table angle.  With the laptop, again, you can position it at the proper angle and leave it.

The bed. When you’re leaning against the headboard with your knees up, the iPad works.  The laptop works in that case, too, though.  And we suspect that the iPad will have the annoying habit of sliding down the sheet and falling flat, which will require you to hold it.  When you’re lying mostly flat with just your head propped up, you’ll have to hold the iPad at the right angle.  Most people are used to holding books or magazines in bed, so this probably won’t be seen as that big a deal.  But plenty of folks who have gotten used to using laptops in bed, and watching TV and movies on nice big screens, will probably stick to the laptops.  Especially couples who watch TV and movies together.

Typing emails and texting, regardless of location. In either of these cases, the laptop and phone win hands down.  Typing on the iPad looks extremely awkward, and unless the device is flat on the table in front of you, you’ll have to type with one hand and hold it with the other.  With a laptop, meanwhile, either at the table or on the couch, you can type rapidly with both hands, while having your legs or the table support the device. If the point is mobility, the iPhone wins hands-down.  Who wants to lug a huge 1.5 pound screen around when you can just slip an iPhone into your pocket?

The back seat of the car. Here, finally, the iPad wins.  Kids will put their feet on the back of mom and dad’s seats, tuck their iPads in their laps, and play games and watch movies all the way to their destinations.  Laptops work for that, too, but given the cramped confines of the seats, the iPad is probably better.

Two-person head-to-head games.  Here, the iPad wins hands down.  You can’t play a head-to-head game against someone on a laptop, the way you can with Scrabble, chess, or checkers.  We doubt that will be a huge driver of iPad usage, but the device wins there, too.

We consume a lot of online media and we write a lot of emails, and we don’t spend much time slouched in the back seat of cars playing video games.  So, for us, the need to hold the iPad sounds like a bummer.  Our kids are looking forward to it, though!