TidBITS#928/12-May-08
=====================
Issue link: <http://db.tidbits.com/issue/928>
The Getting Things Done model of organizing one's life is popular,
but software that attempts to encapsulate it has met with mixed
success. Matt Neuburg finds that OmniFocus is the best such
application he's tried so far, despite its quirks. Also this week,
Jeff Porten writes about the ways digital rights management is
causing technology to fail, and what that means for the future.
Glenn notes the odd unavailability of iPhones at the online Apple
Store, new iPhone carrier agreements, and AT&T's Wi-Fi service in
Starbucks stores. Also, Adam looks briefly at CHDK, a utility for
giving some Canon point-and-shoot cameras extra functionality, and
Glenn highlights the recent incident where a woman's stolen laptop
was recovered thanks to Back to My Mac. In this week's TidBITS
Watchlist, we note the releases of Parallels Desktop Build 5600,
MacGourmet 2.3, Comic Life Magiq 1.0, FoxTrot Professional Search
2.0b3, Quay 1.1, Freeway 5.1, Fusion 2.0 Beta 1, CopyPaste Pro 1.0,
Opal 1.2, Caboodle 1.1.4, and DocHaven 2.0.5.
Articles
Back to My Mac Leads to Recovery of Stolen Mac
Extend the Functionality of Canon Point-and-Shoot Cameras
iPhone Roundup: AT&T Wi-Fi, Out of Stock, International Carriers
OmniFocus Willing, But Not Quite Ready, To Help Get Things Done
Digital Rights Misery: When Technology Is Designed to Fail
TidBITS Watchlist: Notable Software Updates for 12-May-08
Hot Topics in TidBITS Talk/12-May-08
------------ This issue of TidBITS sponsored in part by: --------------
* READERS LIKE YOU! Support TidBITS with a contribution today!
<http://www.tidbits.com/about/support/contributors.html>
Special thanks this week to MWP Books, Alan B. Combs,
Tom Fortmann, and Neil Faiman for their generous support!
* Fetch Softworks: Fetch 5.3 has WebView, the easy way
to view files in a browser and copy Web addresses from Fetch.
Also a new look for Leopard, droplet shortcuts, and more.
Download your free trial version! <http://fetchsoftworks.com/>
* WebCrossing Neighbors Creates Private Social Networks
Create a complete social network with your company or group's
own look. Scalable, extensible and extremely customizable.
Take a guided tour today <http://www.webcrossing.com/tour>
* Bare Bones Software's BBEdit 8.7 -- Latest version offers a
major interface overhaul, new prefs, text clippings, improved
JavaScript, new Ruby/SQL/YAML/Markdown support, code folding.
Over 160 new features in all! <http://www.barebones.com/>.
* MARK/SPACE, INC: The Missing Sync provides the very best in
synchronization for Mac users with BlackBerry, Palm OS, or
Windows Mobile devices. Integrates with Address Book, iCal,
Entourage, iPhoto, and iTunes. <http://www.markspace.com/bits>
* VMware Fusion. The most seamless way to run Windows on your Mac.
Backed by nearly a decade of proven virtualization technology.
Try VMware Fusion today for free, or order online for only $79.
Visit: <http://www.tidbits.com/about/support/vmware-fusion.html>
* Make friends and influence people by sponsoring TidBITS!
Put your company and products in front of tens of thousands of
savvy, committed Macintosh users who actually buy stuff.
More information: <http://db.tidbits.com/advertising.html>
---------- Help support TidBITS by supporting our sponsors ------------
Back to My Mac Leads to Recovery of Stolen Mac
----------------------------------------------
by Glenn Fleishman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9608>
A clever Mac user who had her laptop stolen led the police to the
alleged burglars using Back to My Mac. Three roommates in White
Plains, N.Y., had about $5,000 worth of computer and entertainment
equipment stolen 27-Apr-08. Then this last Tuesday, one victim who
works at an Apple Store, Kait Duplaga, received a text message from
a friend, who, spotting her on iChat, thought she'd recovered her
computer.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/10/nyregion/10laptop.html>
She said no, and used Back to My Mac's remote screen sharing feature
to monitor her laptop's built-in iSight camera to grab a photo of
one of the alleged thieves. She then used remote file sharing to
find a picture of the other stored on the laptop. The two men
charged in the burglary were arrested with the equipment in their
apartment, and are reportedly friends of a friend of the roommates
who had their stuff stolen.
Fortunately for Duplaga, the alleged malefactors had a router with
UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) or NAT-PMP (Network Address
Translation-Port Mapping Protocol) turned on, without which Back to
My Mac rarely works. And they left the victim's laptop signed into
.Mac.
I'm finishing up a book on Back to My Mac, and one thing I've
discovered is that the service can both be hard to get up and
running and hard to eliminate from your system. (I address both in
the book.)
While I've heard of people using tools like iAlertU to capture
images of someone in the processing of using your computer without
permission, this is the first remote sleuthing I've heard of with
Back to My Mac.
<http://sourceforge.net/projects/ialertu/>
A commenter on this story at BoingBoing wondered if the Back to My
Mac access goes both ways - and that's a supremely valid and freaky
concern. Back to My Mac assumes that you control the .Mac account in
question and any computers on which you've logged into .Mac. The
alleged thieves could just as easily have monitored Duplaga, had she
logged in to .Mac and enabled Back to My Mac on another Mac, just as
she monitored them.
<http://www.boingboing.net/2008/05/10/laptop-thieves-nabbe.html>
If you want to forestall this problem, use the .Mac preference pane
to log out of your .Mac account, and then run Keychain Access in
Applications > Utilities. Find all the .Mac referenced certificates
and passwords attached to your login identity and delete them.
Extend the Functionality of Canon Point-and-Shoot Cameras
---------------------------------------------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9605>
I'm always a little depressed when someone beats me to writing a
cool article, and this one was on my list. In this case, however,
Adam Pash at Lifehacker has done a fine job of explaining a neat
hack for many consumer-grade Canon point-and-shoot digital cameras.
CHDK, for Canon Hacker's Development Kit, is a non-destructive
firmware enhancement that adds six categories of features:
<http://lifehacker.com/387380/turn-your-point+and+shoot-into-a-super+camera>
<http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK>
1. Enhanced ways of recording, including support for raw format
images, longer video times, and additional video compression
options.
2. Additional data on the camera's LCD, including a histogram,
battery life indicator, depth of focus, and more.
3. More photographic settings, such as longer exposure times, faster
shutter speeds, and automatic bracketing of exposure.
4. Scripts that can automate various camera functions. Scripts are
written in a version of BASIC. With these scripts, you can do things
like take multiple photos with different exposures, or even take a
picture when the camera detects motion.
5. Remote control of the camera (either taking a picture or running
a script) via the camera's USB connection.
6. Various new capabilities for the camera, such as a file browser
for the memory card, games like Reversi, and so on.
CHDK works with a number of Canon models, though not all of them, so
you'll need to check the compatibility list before going any further
(and no, as far I can tell, no other manufacturer's cameras have any
CHDK-like hacks). What's especially nice about CHDK, apart from all
the useful functionality it provides, is that it modifies the
camera's firmware only when you explicitly load it, and everything
is back to normal when you next power up the camera. Have fun
hacking!
<http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ#Q._What_camera_models_are_supported_by_the_CHDK_program.3F>
iPhone Roundup: AT&T Wi-Fi, Out of Stock, International Carriers
----------------------------------------------------------------
by Glenn Fleishman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9609>
We at TidBITS try to avoid obsessing about the iPhone - there are
plenty of other media outlets that already do that. But a number of
recent events are worth summarizing for what they indicate about
both the current utility of the iPhone and its future in the United
States and worldwide.
**Wi-Fi: It's Up, It's Down, It's All Around Confusing** -- AT&T toyed
with its customers' affections these last two weeks by offering a
peek into what it plans to provide in the way of free Wi-Fi to
iPhone subscribers on its aggregated hotspot network. AT&T scored a
deal in February 2008 to take over Starbucks' Wi-Fi network from
T-Mobile (see "Starbucks Deal Brewed with AT&T Has Hints of Apple,"
2008-02-12), and began converting locations starting with AT&T's
headquarters city of San Antonio, Texas, a few weeks ago. They're
expected to be complete across all 7,000 Starbucks company-owned
freestanding outlets in 2008.
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/9458>
But eagle-eyed Wi-Fi users spotted a new network name - "attwifi" -
at Starbucks stores at the same time as on the T-Mobile network -
"tmobile" - a square link appeared in the upper right corner of
their gateway page welcoming AT&T customers. That wasn't unexpected
or odd. However, a MacRumors reader seems to have been the first to
document when on 30-Apr-08 an iPhone-customized gateway login page
appeared that asked for a subscriber's phone number to gain free
access.
<http://www.macrumors.com/2008/04/30/free-atandt-wi-fi-access-for-iphones/>
A few days later, that gateway page went away. On 07-May-08,
MacRumors again was apparently first with the news that AT&T's
iPhone plans page had been updated to note that an iPhone included
free access to 17,000 U.S. hotspots available through AT&T. Two days
later, that text was gone. AT&T told Fortune's Philip Elmer-DeWitt
that it was all human error, but they planned ultimately to provide
free Wi-Fi to iPhone users, as has been expected all along.
<http://www.macrumors.com/2008/05/07/atandt-officially-lists-wi-fi-hotspot-access-with-iphone-plans/>
<http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/05/10/att-and-starbucks-a-lesson-in-news-mismanagement/>
(Seven million AT&T residential customers - anyone with DSL that's
1.5 Mbps downstream or faster or their fiber service - already get
free access to AT&T Wi-Fi Home, a set of 17,000 U.S. hotspots that
includes 9,500 McDonald's locations and 7,000 Starbucks - in
progress - but excludes most hotels and some airports that are found
in AT&T's broader Premier roaming package. Premier service includes
all U.S. hotspots and 53,000 international locations, and costs $10
more per month for those who qualify for free service, and $20 per
month for everyone else.)
<http://www.att.com/gen/general?pid=5949>
AT&T Wi-Fi will clearly ultimately be available and free to iPhone
users, but it's vaguely incomprehensible why AT&T has muffed this
whole Starbucks transition and not simply offered the network
already. It's part of a long-term loyalty play by the company to
retain its subscribers, and would improve your iPhone experience by
giving you faster Wi-Fi based access when you need it at no
additional cost.
**iPhone 2.0, iPhone SDK, 3G iPhone, and No iPhones to Purchase** --
It's 10-May-08 as I write this, and there are no iPhones to be had
via the online Apple Store in the United States nor via O2, Apple's
UK partner. That's plain weird. Apple has said that it plans to
release its revised iPhone 2.0 firmware along with a release version
of the iPhone SDK (software developers kit) in June 2008, most
likely at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) (see "Apple
Announces iPhone 2.0, Releases SDK," 2008-03-06).
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/9489>
This is when everyone anticipates the expected third-generation (3G)
iPhone, one that uses AT&T's faster HSPA (high speed packet access)
network, will be announced or released. The HSPA network has speeds
AT&T reports as an average range of 600 Kbps to 1.4 Mbps downstream
versus the current 2.5G iPhone's 100 to 200 Kbps downstream rate.
So it's quite peculiar that Apple and its partners should happen to
run out of stock now. Would this argue that a 3G iPhone is ready to
go, and we'll see a surprise announcement this next week? Hard to
say. I can't quite believe Apple would give up a full four weeks'
sales just to avoid making more phones in the interim. As usual,
they give no indications, and we'll just have to wait and see.
**Expanded Carrier Relationships in Europe, Latin America,
Asia/Pacific** -- Even as the iPhone seems to be in scant supply in
the United States and the UK, Apple has inked deals with carriers
for broader relationships. Vodafone, which owns a minority
percentage of AT&T competitor Verizon Wireless, will sell the iPhone
starting later this year in territories that encompass several
billion people: Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, India,
Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa, and Turkey. Apple will let both
Vodafone and Telecom Italia offer the iPhone in Italy, and SingTel
(via subsidiaries and affiliates) will distribute the iPhone in
Australia, Singapore, India, and the Philippines. This marks a move
away from Apple's previous single-provider approach, since Italy,
India, and Australia will be served by multiple carriers.
<http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/vodafone-to-sell-iphone-in-10-new-territories-822178.html>
<http://www.forbes.com/markets/economy/2008/05/06/iphone-italy-update-markets-equity-cx_ll_0506markets23.html>
<http://home.singtel.com/news_centre/news_releases/2008_05.12.asp>
To the west, America Movil SAB will sell the iPhone to customers
across Mexico and 15 other Latin American countries as well as
Puerto Rico. The firm has 37 percent of the market in its territory.
<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aJsxrJg.xNpg&refer=news>
Apple seems well on its way to meeting its target of a cumulative 10
million phones from the device's first sales until to the end of
2008. In fact, Apple seems to think its biggest problem is that
there's so much pent-up demand for the iPhone that perhaps as many
as half of the iPhones sold have been purchased unlocked or later
cracked to allow their use in countries that don't yet have a
domestic carrier offering the phone. Apple's chief operating officer
Tim Cook said in April 2008, "We see this phenomenon as an
expression of very strong interest in the iPhone globally, and in
that way it's a good problem to have."
<http://www.macworld.com/article/133172/2008/04/unlocked_iphones.html>
**iPhone Forever** -- Sequels sometimes suck, but iPhone 2.0 and the
3G iPhone - which may arrive together or nearly so - will likely
improve and extend the product. I've owned an iPhone since the night
Apple unleashed them on the world, and while it's by no means
perfect, it has the lowest frustration to enjoyment ratio of nearly
any electronic product I've ever owned, and is at a fair
approximation 100 times better than any cell phone I've owned or
tested. Bring on the next release!
OmniFocus Willing, But Not Quite Ready, To Help Get Things Done
---------------------------------------------------------------
by Matt Neuburg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9594>
After a recent meeting with some members of our neighborhood
association, of which I presently have the misfortune to be
treasurer, I departed with my head spinning. Several complicated
action items for me had arisen; how was I to keep them all straight?
Worse, in two weeks I was leaving for Portland (to speak at a
documentation writers' convention) and Seattle (to visit an old
friend), and each wing of this trip involved many preparatory tasks.
How could I get all of those, plus the neighborhood association
stuff, done in time?
No problem. The instant I got home, I did a massive brain dump into
The Omni Group's OmniFocus. Immediately, my mind was relieved; the
stress was gone. What's more, in those two weeks before my departure
for Portland, I accomplished _all_ the necessary tasks and then some
- productively, without strain, without overwork, and without worry.
<http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnifocus/>
The purpose of OmniFocus is to implement the philosophy and
techniques of Getting Things Done (GTD). My experience testifies
that it accomplishes that purpose. Indeed, OmniFocus is the best GTD
implementation I've ever used. Nonetheless, I do not yet recommend
it for general use, because, in my opinion, problems with the
interface would actually prevent most users from freely accessing
and manipulating their data.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_Things_Done>
**A Little Background** -- Doubtless you know by now what GTD is; if
not, you might want to skim Jeff Porten's discussion of Mac GTD
applications ("Getting Things Done With Your Macintosh",
2006-07-24), and my own review of Thinking Rock ("Get a Piece of the
Thinking Rock", 2006-10-09).
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/8614>
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/8703>
In that review, I mentioned Ethan Schoonover's Kinkless GTD. It was
an attempt, using AppleScript, to "misuse" OmniOutliner Pro as a GTD
application. The idea foundered against some major limitations in
OmniOutliner's interface and functionality - and not for any want of
trying on both sides, since as Ethan was hammering against the doors
of OmniOutliner's limits, Omni, in evident enthusiasm over his
efforts, kept widening those doors, tweaking OmniOutliner to
accommodate him. After years of futility, Omni finally did what they
should have done all along: they opted to develop a full-fledged GTD
application themselves. OmniFocus is the result. (And, incidentally,
they hired Ethan Schoonover as well.)
<http://kinkless.com/>
<http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnioutliner/>
**The GTD Structure** -- The GTD mentality relies upon a
multi-dimensional classification of each task. There are two primary
dimensions. On the one hand, a single atomic task - called, in
OmniFocus, an _action_ - is usually part of a _project_: it is a
step along the way to accomplishment of a larger goal. And, an
action typically has a _context_, the physical reality required for
the action to be accomplished.
For example, to "prepare for the Portland trip" (a project) I had to
"stop the mail temporarily" (an action) and "pack my bags" (another
action). Actually, packing my bags was so large and opaque that I
broke it down further into a list of things I wanted to remember to
pack; an action with sub-actions in OmniFocus is called a _group_.
Stopping the mail could be accomplished only "in the village" (a
context; that's where the post office is); packing an item could be
accomplished only "at home" (another context). The idea is that a
context can be consulted, when appropriate, for the next pending
actions; for example, when I'm going into the village, I can take
that opportunity to accomplish pending "in the village" actions from
any projects.
To express this, the OmniFocus window toggles between two major
complementary modes. In Project mode (as I call it; OmniFocus,
wrongly in my view, terms it "Planning mode"), projects and their
groups and their actions are displayed in a hierarchy, with each
action's context shown secondarily in a column; a sidebar (similar
to iTunes) clumps projects into "folders" for easier classification
and access. In Context mode, contexts and their actions are
displayed in a hierarchy, with each action's project shown
secondarily in a column; the sidebar organizes contexts
hierarchically among themselves.
There are actually three kinds of projects or groups. A _sequential_
project or group's actions must be performed in order; a _parallel_
project or group's actions can be performed in any order. Or, a
project can be a _list of single actions_, meaning that it isn't
really a project at all; it's just a convenient clumping of
unrelated tasks. These differences are germane to the question of
what needs doing: in a sequential project or group, the first
uncompleted action "blocks" the others (they can't be performed at
all).
**Time and Tide** -- OmniFocus also has an inspector window,
consisting of four panes: action, group, project, and context. The
inspector window exists partly to help you access minor settings
that aren't readily visible in the main window interface (such as,
"When a new action is created in this project, what context, if any,
should be automatically assigned to it?"), and partly to help
express the dimension of _time_: an action, group, or project can
have an estimated duration, a start date, a due date, and a
completed date, or might be periodic or repeating.
There are also outline columns for estimated duration, start date,
and due date; unfortunately, there is no outline column for the
completion date, which means that you can't easily learn what
actions you completed on a certain date. Even worse, there is no
indication in the outline that a repeating action is repeating; as a
result, when you check off a repeating action as completed, it
simply reappears unchecked, ready for the next repetition, and
unless you consult the inspector, you don't understand why.
In my opinion, the inspector window's role is problematic here. The
main window should express, somehow, everything important about
every action; the inspector might function as a convenient secondary
interface, but consultation of the inspector should never be
_required_ in order to know or do something. Additional columns, and
perhaps some use of badging for repeated actions, should suffice.
Another problem is that the temporal dimension really demands a
calendar component, including calendrical views and some sort of
reminder alert system. (OmniFocus can sync with iCal, but actions
become iCal to-do items, not events, so they don't appear on iCal's
calendar; syncing is thus fairly pointless. For prior art, Omni
might consult In Control, the long-abandoned but still unequalled
master model of a columned outliner with searching, filtering, and
superb calendar integration.)
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/2443>
**Getting Stuff In** -- Like Thinking Rock, OmniFocus has a
brainstorming mode where you just enter actions as they occur to
you. Such actions go into a special region called the Inbox. You can
enter actions directly in rapid-fire style (type an action, hit
Return, type another action, hit Return), or indirectly from
elsewhere: either you use a "quick entry window" summoned by a
global keyboard shortcut in any application, or you can copy
selected text from any application to the Inbox through a Service.
The idea is that from time to time you will study the Inbox and
dispose of its contents. One approach is to assign each Inbox action
a project and a context; you then choose Clean Up, which whisks the
actions out of the Inbox and into their assigned projects.
Alternatively, you can drag an Inbox action into its "real" location
among a project's actions (easiest if you open a second window).
Alas, some actions ("Try to take over the world") are worthy but not
currently feasible. I'd like a place to put such actions, so they
are off my mind but still, somehow, on my plate. Thinking Rock lets
me move such actions into simple lists of "future items" and
"information items"; OmniFocus doesn't. I tried creating an
"Unfeasible" project; but its actions showed up inappropriately
among do-able actions. My workaround is to mark the "Unfeasible"
project as being "On Hold".
A more serious problem is the Inbox's peculiar status. To me,
actions in the Inbox are actions; but OmniFocus doesn't agree. For
example, I might assign an Inbox action a context, but then leave it
untouched, uncertain what more to do with it. In Context mode, such
an action is not displayed at all. That seems wrong, somehow.
**Getting Stuff Out** -- The reason for using a Getting Things Done
application is to get things done. For that, you need first to know
the status of everything: what actions there are, what's left on
your plate. In short, you need to find out what to do. Then, when
you've done something, you need a way to specify that it's done.
To help you discover what to do, OmniFocus lets you group and filter
your actions in various ways. (Indeed, you are filtering your
actions most of the time, since you rarely want to view completed
actions and projects.) Some of these ways of grouping and filtering
are a little peculiar. For example, when you filter your outline to
see just the "Next Action" within each project or group:
* For a list of single actions, you see all its actions. (Fine.)
* For a sequential project or group, you see just the first action.
(Fine.)
* For a parallel project, you see just the first action. (Why, if the
actions are parallel?) But for a parallel group, you see all its
actions. (Fine, but why this difference from a project?)
I find the behavior for parallel projects counterintuitive. It turns
out, however, that to get the behavior I expect, I can filter
differently, asking to see just "Available" actions. It took me much
deliberate experimentation to discover this, and I worry that most
users will be misled or confused.
I worry still more that users won't even realize they are viewing a
filtered version of the outline. Nothing about the interface warns
you that you aren't seeing all your actions; this can give you a
false impression, and can result in seemingly inexplicable behavior.
I'd like to see the window's title change, perhaps, or a watermark
behind the outline; or OmniFocus could copy Opal, which writes
"Filtered" at the bottom of a filtered outline window.
<http://www.a-sharp.com/opal/>
Each action and group has a checkbox, and a project can have an
Active or Complete status. The intent is that you check off each
action as you complete it. So, then, wouldn't you expect that when
you've checked off all actions in a group, the group would
automatically be checked, and that when you've checked off all
groups and actions in a project, the project would automatically be
marked Complete? Well, neither of those things happens. Evidently
you are expected to discover manually that all actions of this group
or project are checked, and deal with the situation manually (check
the group, or mark the project Complete, yourself). But in that
case, what's the point of having a computer? A pencil and a notebook
would be a more helpful interface. There is no way to find groups or
projects all of whose actions are completed, so how on earth are you
supposed to know?
And another thing. It often happens to me that I switch from Project
mode to Context mode and find my actions are gone! After a moment of
heart-stopping panic, I realize that for some inexplicable reason,
Context mode has appeared with all the context headers _collapsed_ -
the triangle next to each context points right, not down. Just click
each triangle, or choose View > Expand all, and the actions are
back. The same sort of thing often happens when I use "grouping";
for example, to discover what actions have pending due dates, you
can group projects by "Due". But the "Due within the next week"
heading is collapsed, so you think that no projects are due within
the next week - wrongly. Indeed, this entire issue with collapsed
headers makes me wonder whether the hierarchy, in a mission-critical
task list such as OmniFocus, should be collapsible in the first
place. Perhaps a full-fledged outliner is not an appropriate vehicle
for GTD after all.
What we've seen is that instead of warning you that your view of the
outline is filtered, OmniFocus makes you figure it out; instead of
helping you find completed groups or marking them completed,
OmniFocus makes you do it all manually; instead of revealing the
actions you're seeking, OmniFocus hides them by collapsing headers.
In short, when it comes to extracting information, _finding_ your
actions and _learning_ what needs doing, OmniFocus makes things
harder than they should be. In effect, OmniFocus misleads you; and
when you're under the strain of trying to get things done, that's
bad. You constantly have to be alert so as not to be misled by the
interface. It's not so serious if you're experienced and persistent,
and if you've relatively few actions and projects; but for most
users, I think, using OmniFocus effectively would be quite
challenging, especially as the database of actions becomes large.
**Interface Woes** -- Much of OmniFocus's interface is non-standard.
Instead of using standard Cocoa widgets within the window, the Omni
folks, for no reason that I can see, have invented their own - and
they don't work very well. The result, for me, is that the interface
is largely unpredictable, intransigent, or annoying. Rather than
extend this article with a catalog of detail, however, I've moved
the discussion over to a couple of screencasts (which, by
demonstration, make the problems easier to understand) on a separate
Web page. If you want to hear me rant and sputter over OmniFocus's
interface, that's the place to go.
<http://www.apeth.com/omnifocus/omnifocus.html>
The online help is poorly presented, with inadequate navigation, and
without breadcrumbs to show you where you are; the style is
unnecessarily snarky ("click the kinda arrowy-looking button").
**Conclusions** -- With all these gripes, you might think my
assessment of OmniFocus would be largely negative. It isn't. I would
still insist that OmniFocus is the best expression of GTD on the Mac
that I've ever used. Its existence has relieved me of stress and
helped me accomplish more in less time. Gradually, I've become
relatively proficient with it, and have grown fairly accustomed to
its quirks.
If OmniFocus were a public beta, I'd be unhesitating: "Go for it!"
I'd cry. "Join the beta party, submit plenty of feedback, and help
improve this interface!" But OmniFocus isn't a beta, and its price
seems out of proportion to the state of its development. I've raved
in the past about Omni's interfaces; OmniGraffle is brilliant for
drawing diagrams, and OmniPlan is an astounding accomplishment, a
triumph of interface ingenuity and the first project management
application I've come even close to comprehending. I've little
doubt, and much hope, that the same standards of excellence can be
applied to OmniFocus; when OmniFocus has the fluid usability of
Omni's other applications, I'll be eager to recommend it.
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/8420>
<http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omniplan/>
OmniFocus costs $79.95. It requires Mac OS X 10.4.8 or later; a
trial version is available as a 6.7 MB download.
<http://www.omnigroup.com/download/latest/OmniFocus.dmg>
Digital Rights Misery: When Technology Is Designed to Fail
----------------------------------------------------------
by Jeff Porten <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9611>
When I was reporting from CES in Las Vegas last January, one of the
more interesting technology experiences I had was away from the show
floor, back in my hotel room. After a long night and little sleep, I
decided to watch a little television; apparently this is common in
Vegas, as my budget hotel considered a 42-inch plasma TV to be
normal furnishing for a room that omitted a couch and a comfortable
chair.
<http://db.tidbits.com/series/1272>
There were a few dozen local and cable channels on the menu, and if
I found those boring, I had plenty of on-demand movies to choose
from. Most amusing: the $40 daily package for both wireless Internet
and the entire library of, ahem, adult entertainment. That's a
bundle that knows its target (expense-accounting) audience.
But I had other options, in case there was nothing on, or if the
remote control was too far away from the bed. My new Palm Centro had
both SprintTV and MobiTV installed; for a few bucks a month, I could
catch about 100 channels there. Meanwhile, my MacBook was on the
night table, and I had a few movies and a season of The Simpsons on
the hard drive.
<http://www1.sprintpcs.com/explore/ueContent.jsp?scTopic=multimedia100>
<http://www.mobitv.com/>
Then I realized that the cable TV that I _pay_ for is 2,000 miles
away; if only I had had the foresight to buy a Slingbox, I could
have watched my home Comcast lineup on either my MacBook or my Palm.
I love technology, but this is just _whack_.
**Brave New Digital World** -- What made all of this particularly
interesting was a video that the Consumer Electronics Association
was distributing, titled "DTV 101." Don't bother looking for a copy
yourself; it's the most boring video you can imagine. Here's the
summary of what the CEA wants you to know:
* On 17-Feb-09, analog TV broadcasts in the United States will be cut
off and replaced by digital-only transmission.
* That will free up all of the current analog broadcast spectrum that
is now being used for Law and Order episodes and Head-On
commercials. The CEA strongly wants to imply that this spectrum will
go to police and firefighters, as opposed to making billions of
dollars for consumer electronics industries.
* The CEA repeats ad nauseam that you'll continue to get free
broadcast TV, and all you need to do is add a converter box to your
old TV. That will cost around $50, but there will be a $40 coupon
from the federal government. This is starting now, in 2008, in an
apparent bid to drive voters to the Libertarian Party when they
realize Uncle Sam is buying everyone a new gadget.
But if you're a member of a typical American family, your home is
populated with more televisions than people, and each of your older
sets will need its own converter. Charmingly, even then your old TV
is probably the wrong aspect ratio (4:3 versus the increasingly
common 16:9; your widescreen Mac is 16:10, just to make it more
confusing), so 25 percent of your screen will generally be filled
with thrilling black bars.
<http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2006-09-21-homes-tv_x.htm>
Reading between the lines, you won't be forced to buy one or more
new TVs next year, but you're probably going to anyway. Eventually,
your analog sets will go the way of TVs with UHF dials. Note to
younger TidBITS readers: "UHF channels" are where we used to go,
late at night, to watch really bad movies and sitcom reruns. This is
why your parents still think cable TV is niftier than you do, and
why we're amused when you choose to watch TV Land and really bad
movies.
The truth is that you will see a vastly improved experience with the
new technology. In the past we've seen upgrades from black-and-white
to color, and from broadcast channel selection to the far greater
bandwidth of coaxial cable; digital television, likewise, is the
sort of change that will eventually make you wonder how you ever got
by in the old days.
Unfortunately, the upgrade is coming with a cost, and one that's
greater than the mere price of a shiny new TV.
**Complexity by Design** -- For example, take a look at this screen
capture from the CEA video, showing a standard digital-to-analog
converter setup. Look closely at that remote control on the right,
which is just for the converter. The people who stick with their old
TVs are the demographic least likely to be able to navigate yet
another 100-button remote control, but they're going to be stuck
with them. My parents, who lovingly drove me insane with their
technology choices, decided that the universal remote control I
bought for them was too complicated; instead, they Velcroed three
remotes to a triangular Lucite block. For families like mine, it's
time to buy a bigger chunk of Lucite.
<http://www.tidbits.com/resources/2008-05/CEA-video.jpg>
The pernicious issue is that my parents, like most people, saw
400-button remotes as nothing more than an annoying inconvenience.
This is extremely odd considering how central television has been to
our culture: Americans average over four hours a day watching the
tube, and for most people it's their primary source for news,
politics, and what remains of a shared experience in a highly
fractured culture. Most of this is true in all modernized societies.
Yet for some reason we continue to think that discussion of
technologies we use to _control_ television is frivolous.
We have been carefully and methodically trained to believe it's our
fault when important technologies make us feel inadequate and
incapable. We have accepted the creation of a category of digital
have-nots, who either rely on tech-savvy friends and family, or who
do without.
This is not an accident. The seeping loss of control from the
individual naturally places that control in the hands of the
providers of media and the manufacturers of technology.
A perfect example came when I took the screen capture of the
converter that I provided earlier. When I was watching the CEA DVD
through Apple's DVD Player, Mac OS X's Grab application gave the
following error message: "Screen grabs are unavailable during DVD
playback." Due to agreements between the creators of commercial DVDs
and computer manufacturers, including Apple, a standard feature of
the Mac is disabled during this special case to prevent copyright
infringement. In other words, Grab is designed to fail deliberately.
As a geek member of the digital "haves," I knew this issue was
easily resolved by watching the same DVD with Videolan's VLC, which
does not trigger the automatic failure.
<http://www.videolan.org/>
Take a moment to think about what is occurring here. The consumer
electronics industry produces a DVD for the express purpose of
writers like me using it to write articles like this one, but my
consumer electronics are designed to prevent me from using it. Then
I find that I can use it regardless - but only because I am
proficient with the technology.
It can only be seen as ludicrous when CEA policy, as implemented in
the shipping technology, blocks the usage of CEA's own media
outreach. But ludicrous does not mean laughable or unimportant. The
technology is attempting to control how I may use this media; for
most people, and many other journalists, that control would be
successful.
**Control Means Ka-Ching** -- You're probably already familiar with
one way in which the industry uses technological control to create
revenue streams. Let's say, back in that hotel room, I was struck
with a sudden urge to watch Spider-Man 3. I could watch it on Sprint
TV, where it would cost $5.99 for a three-day rental, streamed at
320 by 172 resolution. I could purchase (but not rent, as of a few
weeks ago) the movie from the iTunes Store for $9.99 and watch on my
MacBook. I could rent it on-demand in my hotel room, which would
give me a plasma screen picture, but would cost $11.99 for 24 hours.
Or with my MacBook and MasterCard in hand, I could wander down the
street and rent a DVD with all the extras from a kiosk for $1.99. Of
course, if I already owned the DVD, and had left it at home, that
wouldn't have mattered at all; the cost to rent another copy remains
the same.
Unless, of course, I spent 30 seconds setting up an illegal Internet
download, which would give me a permanent copy, at an arbitrarily
high resolution (up to and including Blu-ray, if I had the
patience), that I could watch anywhere regardless of whether I had
purchased the physical media, or had it with me.
Most of us have in some sense already paid for Spider-Man 3, as well
as hundreds of other movies: they're part of a river of programming
that show up on our cable systems. But unless you've set up some
form of digital recording system, unless you've figured out how to
move those videos from there to your computer, unless you've
mastered converting those videos into other formats, those videos
stay locked in their own walled gardens. Many of us have done all of
the above, but the vast majority have not and cannot. This allows
Columbia Pictures to claim that _mechanism_ is as important as
_content_, which is why the same movie can be $12 in one place, $2
in another, and time-limited everywhere.
This is great for the studios, but it's not how the audience thinks
(or should think) of their product. Paying for some form of content
should directly connect to real received value: a performance of a
movie in a theater. A DVD with additional commentary and deleted
scenes. And yes, convenient on-demand availability, when
appropriate. But too often, the "value" is based upon an indirect
conspiracy to make it difficult or impossible to use the media
you've already paid for, making the end result a tax on the
technological have-nots.
Going forward, this situation is primed to worsen steadily. As I
mentioned earlier, there are Trojan horses in the digital television
picture, as copyright protection mechanisms such as HDCP are
unavoidably bundled with new hardware. Already it is clear that the
technological elite will always be able to circumvent such
mechanisms, and if not, will probably continue to be able to
"borrow" content from the Internet in formats that allow the freedom
that can't be paid for.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-bandwidth_Digital_Content_Protection>
**Free Speech, Not Free Beer** -- I want to be clear which argument I
am _not_ making. We do not and should not have unlimited rights to
any and all media. I'm not arguing for the abolition of copyright;
even authors who serially release their works into the public domain
or Creative Commons would insist upon their right to continue to
choose to do so.
Likewise, it's a diversion from my argument to frame this solely in
terms of economic cost. Cost is an issue, of course, but not the
primary one; there is nothing unethical about Columbia Pictures
attempting to charge me $12 to watch a movie in a hotel room. What
is unethical, in my view, is the crippling of essential technologies
for the sole purpose of allowing that $12 tax on the technologically
unsophisticated to exist. The question we need to ask ourselves is
not how we need to protect the creators of content, but rather, what
societal costs are we paying when technology is _designed to fail_
because we value protecting a movie over all other uses the
technology may have?
There should be a way to create consensus on how we should interact
with media. Restrictive technologies, computers that are designed to
fail, and punitive laws that prop up those technologies do not
advance that discussion or society in general. The more we tolerate
such activities, the more we purchase these products with no
argument, the greater the danger that we allow the 21st century to
develop with corporate control trumping our rights to free speech
amongst ourselves. There's more to come, so stay tuned.
[Special thanks for valuable commentary on drafts of this article go
to Adam Engst, Tarleton Gillespie, Peter Hirtle, and Fred von
Lohmann. Jeff will be presenting a talk on this topic to IEEE
Philadelphia on 20-May-08.]
<http://www.associationsites.com/page.cfm?usr=IEEEPhila&pageid=3976>
PayBITS: Interesting thoughts about our digital future? Why not
send Jeff a few bucks via PayPal to help cover his CES expenses?
<http://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=civitan%40jeffporten.com>
Read more about PayBITS: <http://www.tidbits.com/paybits/>
TidBITS Watchlist: Notable Software Updates for 12-May-08
---------------------------------------------------------
by TidBITS Staff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9600>
* Parallels Desktop Build 5600 from Parallels offers full support for
Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3 (whether running from a Boot
Camp partition or a separate installation), improved MacBook Air
compatibility, and numerous other bug fixes and improvements.
($79.99 new, free upgrade, 99 MB)
<http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop>
* MacGourmet 2.3 from Advenio brings to the recipe management software
a new plug-in framework (so you need to download new versions of any
plug-ins), an optional $9.95 Mealplan plug-in for meal and menu
planning, a new shopping list editor, new display and print themes,
better integration for the Nutrition plug-in, automatic updating via
Sparkle, integration with MarsEdit for posting recipes to blogs, and
more. ($24.95 new, free upgrade, 7.4 MB)
<http://www.macgourmet.com/>
* Comic Life Magiq 1.0 from Plasq is a completely new version of the
photo-comic publishing software for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. The comic
page layout engine supports complex and creatively curved comic
panels, speech balloons, and captions, and new brushes provide a
hand-drawn feel to lines. Comic Life Magiq also includes a
collection of artist-commissioned templates, props, balloon shapes,
and spraycans. ($44.95 new, $29.95 crossgrades from previous
versions of Comic Life, 152 MB)
<http://plasq.com/comic-life-magiq>
* FoxTrot Professional Search 2.0b3 from CTM Development extends the
company's Spotlight-like search tool with powerful features such
multiple search criteria, multiple search sources, multiple indices
with automatic updating, multiple document previewing, searching
within found documents, and more. The program is a free download
during a public beta period. (99/199 euros for single/5-user pack
new, 6.3 MB) CTM Development also released FoxTrot Personal Search
2.0b3, which lets users toggle between search-as-you-type and
on-demand searching, supports Quick Look in Leopard, works with
multiple simultaneous users via Fast User Switching, and can
selectively limit Spotlight background time usage. (29 euros new, 15
euros upgrade, 6.9 MB)
<http://www.ctmdev.com/foxtrot/>
* Quay 1.1 by Rainer Brockerhoff continues to give Apple's
implementation of stacks (folders in the Dock) heavy competition.
Even though Mac OS X 10.5.2 brought back the option for Dock folders
to have hierarchical menus showing their contents instead of those
dreadful "pick-a-card" fan displays when clicked on, Quay's
hierarchical menus can be larger and can provide item sizes and
modification dates, plus CPU and memory usage for applications, and
more. (7 euros new, free update, 1 MB)
<http://www.brockerhoff.net/quay/>
* Freeway 5.1 from Softpress Systems enhances the recently revised Web
page authoring tool with support for publishing RSS feeds, support
for the SVG graphics format, more flexible in-flow block items, and
numerous bug fixes. ($249 Pro/$149 Express new, free update)
<http://www.softpress.com/>
* Fusion 2.0 Beta 1 from VMware adds support for multiple displays (up
to 10) - all accessible within virtual machines running Windows on
your Mac. It also introduces experimental DirectX 9.0 Shader Model 2
3D support, provides an easier way to import a Parallels Desktop
virtual machine or a copy of Windows running under Boot Camp,
improves printing from within Windows, enhances the user interface
in numerous ways, and fixes several bugs. The company has stated
that the upgrade will be free to registered owners of version 1.x
when it ships. ($79.99 new, free while in beta, 299 MB)
<http://www.vmware.com/landing_pages/fusion2_beta.html>
* CopyPaste Pro 1.0 from Script Software is a complete rewrite of the
long-standing multiple clipboard utility, giving it a snazzy new
interface akin to Mac OS X's application switcher for navigating
through previous clipboards and archived clipboards. You can now
edit clipboards with an integrated editor called Bean, and CopyPaste
Pro is now much faster than previous versions, particularly on
Intel-based Macs and in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. ($20 new, 2.3 MB)
<http://www.scriptsoftware.com/copypaste/>
* Opal 1.2 from A Sharp brings some new Leopard-specific features to
the outlining application (the successor to the popular Acta
outliner of yesteryear). Also new in Opal 1.2 is the capability to
limit how much of an outline is copied to the clipboard, importing
of RTF files as outlines, grammar checking, and fixes for a number
of bugs. Opal 1.2 requires Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard; version 1.1.1
remains available for those using Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. ($32 new,
free update, 2.7 MB)
<http://a-sharp.com/opal/>
* Caboodle 1.1.4 from Dejal Systems fixes bugs in the free-form and
field-based snippet keeper. The update resolves problems related to
spell checking, creating child entries, exporting, and more.
Caboodle is unusual among snippet keepers in that it allows
free-form storage of text and graphics (including Web links, various
types of lists, and tables), but also lets you create specific
fields for different types of structured data. Caboodle also
supports attaching arbitrary files, encrypting entries, and more.
($14.95 new, free update, 4.5 MB)
<http://www.dejal.com/caboodle/>
* DocHaven 2.0.5 from Holy Mackerel Software fixes some minor bugs in
the cross-platform document management software that enables
workgroups to check documents in and out of a virtual library that
tracks multiple versions of documents. DocHaven works with Mac OS X
10.3 or later, Windows 98 or later, and Linux, and it relies on
MySQL for its database backend and FTP for document delivery. ($40
per user new, free update, 12.1 MB)
<http://homepage.mac.com/holymackerel/DocHaven/DocHaven.html>
Hot Topics in TidBITS Talk/12-May-08
------------------------------------
by Jeff Carlson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9613>
**ManOpen/OpenMan Usage** -- Could Leopard be the reason that the
ManOpen graphical interface to the Unix man program isn't working
for a reader? (3 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/1982>
**Mixing "n" Express with "b/g" Wireless Network** -- Mixing wireless
networking standards has resulted in a slower network, but where's
the bottleneck? (5 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/1983>
**Back to My Mac Leads to Recovery of Stolen Mac** -- After reading
Glenn's article about Back to My Mac helping to rescue a stolen
laptop, a reader points to Undercover, software designed just for
that purpose. (1 message)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/1984>
$$
This is TidBITS, a free weekly technology newsletter providing timely
news, insightful analysis, and in-depth reviews to the Macintosh and
Internet communities. Feel free to forward to friends; better still,
please ask them to subscribe!
Non-profit, non-commercial publications and Web sites may reprint or
link to articles if full credit is given. Others please contact us. We
do not guarantee accuracy of articles. Caveat lector. Publication,
product, and company names may be registered trademarks of their
companies. TidBITS ISSN 1090-7017.
Copyright 2008 TidBITS: Reuse governed by Creative Commons license.
Contact us at: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
TidBITS Web site: <http://www.tidbits.com/>
License terms: <http://www.tidbits.com/terms/>
Full text search: <http://www.tidbits.com/search/>
Subscriptions: <http://www.tidbits.com/about/list.html>
Account help: <http://www.tidbits.com/about/account-help.html>
--
If you want to unsubscribe or change your address, use this link
http://emperor.tidbits.com/webx?unsub@@.3c557dc4!u=306a67f9
