News to me: (a) Dropbox has been in beta all this time; and (b) I’m still on version 0.7.110 — which is more than a year old.
In case Dropbox on your computer hasn’t been auto-updating, here is the direct link for downloading the latest and greatest version which comes with bug fixes and stability issues and, most notably, options for selective syncing of folders.
Sven Fechner has curated a list with some of the more clever and useful OmniFocus AppleScripts found in the Omni Forums. If I structured my working file folders a differently then the script for launching support material folders would be a dream. And I especially dig the project finding script which can easily be run from LaunchBar.
This new beta email feature is a cool idea, but isn’t working to well for me at the moment. The idea is that if you’re in an iOS app which has email capability but no hooks into OmniFocus then you send an email from that app (filled with the actionable content) to [email protected]. Then you get a reply back with an in-line hotlink to “Send to OmniFocus”. You tap the link and OmniFocus on your iPad/iPhone will launch with a new action item ready to be saved.
Alas, for me, the emails have been coming back with my content surrounded by various bits of unicode gibberish. But that’s not the point. The point is that OmniGroup is putting a lot of energy into their cloud services — especially for OmniFocus — and this is just one more step towards a little dream I’ve had about an ubiquitous, cloud-based bucket.
From the Press Release:
“The App Store revolutionized mobile apps,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We hope to do the same for PC apps with the Mac App Store by making finding and buying PC apps easy and fun. We can’t wait to get started on January 6.”
This is how iOS is influencing OS X. Not by bringing a touch interface to our desktop monitors, but by bringing greater simplification to our operating systems.
Some top-notch software and other design-savvy tools for a smokin’ deal. Worth it if only to read the copyright.
An extension for Safari and Chrome that tidies up the twitter.com UI. I like it. (Via Minimal Mac.)
25 billion Tweets analyzed.
1Password is the premiere secure personal information manager and web form filler. It will easily create unique, strong passwords for any purpose, remember them for you, and fill web forms at the touch of a button. Available for Mac OS X, Windows, iPhone/iPod touch, iPad, and Android OS (beta), 1Password securely and automatically syncs your data between all your devices. Now, your passwords, contact information, credit card and bank data, driver’s license and passport information are always at your fingertips, securely encrypted for your protection and privacy. Download and try 1Password for free, today!
Simple how-to from Ian Hines for those on WordPress and who have their own short URL.
Awesomeness from Adam Watson. Also, Ewoks.
(Via Zeldman.)
Charles Jade’s argument for why MobileMe should be free. In short, he’s saying that since MobileMe is a such a small revenue stream for Apple when compared to hardware sales if they’d stop charging for the service it would lead to even more hardware sales. Charles says:
The point is lock-in. Get people using Apple’s free services with Apple’s highly profitable hardware, and they’ll be less likely to buy hardware from competitors. That’s how the iTunes and App Stores work, and that’s how MobileMe could, too. If only Apple would set it free.
But making MobileMe free isn’t enough in and of itself to boost the Apple halo effect. MobileMe needs to become a must-have service for everyone who owns an Apple product. If MobileMe was a significant contributor to the overall user experience then Apple would want to make it free so people would actually use it. Because it’s the user experience that boosts hardware sales.
Many thanks to Mobelux for sponsoring the RSS Feed this week to promote their iPhone app, Awards. Awards is an age-old idea packaged inside into a very clever app. You use it to reward people and keep track of their good behavior. It’s an especially a great app for parents and teachers, but it’s fun for co-workers and friends too. Just $2 in the App Store.
NetNewsWire is jam packed with clever little things like the Dinosaurs report. But I’ve found that people are far more likely to unsubscribe if you are posting too often, rather than not often enough. Which is why, if you need help picking some feeds to unsubscribe from, a more helpful report may be the Attention Report. It’s right next to Dinosaurs and will show you which feeds you give the most attention to by opening and/or clicking on.
Lev Grossman profiles Shawn Fanning, Justin Frankel, Bram Cohen, and Jon Lech Johansen — the guys who wrote Napster, Winamp, BitTorrent, and a DVD decoding program, respectively — against Steve Jobs and iTunes:
On April 28, 2003, the very day TIME published a grand excursus on the explosive growth of file sharing, Apple unveiled the iTunes Music Store. At the time, it was difficult to see why iTunes would succeed […] It turns out that there is something that can compete with free: easy.
It takes a lot more work to make something easy than it does to make it free.