Actiontastic goes Free!
One of the big GTD stories this week is the news that Actiontastic will be free (as, Jon says, “free beer”) and open source. With all of the competition in the GTD application space (like Ghost Action for one), this places Actiontastic on a different level with an entire open source community behind it.
This announcement was in start contrast to the debate over Spanning Sync’s initial pricing announcement. I’ve been testing the Spanning Sync service and have found it invaluable, and I believe that developers should be compensated. In that light, Jon’s act is unbelievably generous.
As I’ve posted, I love this app and am excited about what the development community will bring to it. A new non-expiring beta is out (0.9.3) which fixes some small bugs.
There’s a new Actiontastic FAQ – although it just might be that I missed it before.
I am hoping that Jon adds a “Donate” button soon – his work should be rewarded somehow.
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37signals – Highrise: A New GTD app?
After reading the last Signal and Noise (37Signals) update on their new Highrise application, I’m really hoping to get a peek at it soon. It sounds like it has significant GTD applications. And I’m a big 37signals fan.
According to the new preview, Highrise will “play nice” with email – by that it means it has a “dropbox” that can be sent, bcc or forwarded emailed to. Those emails can then be attached to the pertinent page (the original sender) and notes attached so that records of all interaction (even phone calls!) can be kept. New pages can even be added on the fly if someone isn’t in your system already.
My favorite piece of this new system is the Email/Task functionality. There’s 5 different identifiers (+Today, +Tomorrow, +ThisWeek, +NextWeek, +Later) which can be appended to the dropbox (like my existing @action, @hold, @respond, etc? mailboxes). Highrise then turns this email in to a task.
37signals has begun issuing “Golden Tickets” – I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I “find” one soon.
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Spanning Sync – v1.o Released!
Spanning Sync, which connects Google Calendars to iCal, has released V1.0 and it’s pricing structure today.
I’ve been a part of the Spanning Sync beta team for the last four months and have really watched this product grow. The team is really responsive and I’m sure that support (as with any V1.0 product) will be focused and quick.
How this has impacted what I do each day: My schedule is basically full with appointments 2 (or even 3) weeks out. My team is unable to schedule project reviews, client meetings, etc., without checking with me and my availability first. This way I’m able to give them access to my Google calendars which update with Spanning Sync every 10 minutes. This has really allowed my team to schedule meetings, etc quickly, be responsive to our clients, all without needing immediate access to me and my computer.
Spanning Sync also has a discussion group and a development blog. Both have been helpful.
37Signals – Highrise Preview
37Signals posted another preview of it’s soon-to-be-released Highrise service. This is their CRM app and it really looks great. Highrise looks like it was completely thought out – from the initial set-up to the day to day collaboration between people. All with a beautifully intuitive (a 37Signals trademark) interface. Sign up for a “Golden Ticket” – Beta Testing? – today.
“You can think of it as a company-wide, web-based, shared address book with a few twists.” – from the Website.
Preview 1, Preview 2, Preview 3, Preview 4, Preview 5, Preview 6 and Preview 7
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Event Maker 0.4 – Quickly adds To Dos/Events to Calendars
Event Maker 0.4 is an application that I use when I have to quickly create a new event, either from a phone call or an event from an email message (one that doesn’t include an invitation). Using a trigger that I created in Quicksilver, I’m able to call up Event Maker and fill in the fields. I know that there are ways of using the Quicksilver text “send to…” functionality, but I still haven’t mastered all that QS has to offer.
Event Maker makes it easy to compose and add to iCal both To Dos and Events in seconds. I have a tendency to use this less in creating Events/To Dos from my email as a recently added feature in MailTags allows me to do these right from my MTs pane. Still – this app is a great to have as part of my GTD process.
Mike Abdullah’s Event Maker is available from MacUpdate.
Below are screenshots of Event Maker in action:
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Pukka – a Del.icio.us app (Mac)
A quick note about one of my (currently) favorite apps – Pukka (Code Sorcery Workshop). This handy application easily post links to your del.icio.us account(s) and more.
Features: (taken from website):
> Fast & lightweight
> Handles multiple del.icio.us accounts
> Remembers bookmarks and warns on duplicates
> Bookmarks available in the dock menu
> Auto-completes tags
> Support for private bookmarking
> Full AppleScript support* (there’s a great script for posting to del.icio.us and Yojimbo)
> Stores passwords in the keychain
> Accesses del.icio.us over SSL
> Bonjour auto-discovery of local Pukka users
> Drag URLs to window or dock
> Fast and efficient keyboard navigation
> Can install a bookmarklet for fast posting from any browser
> Use as an external weblog editor in NetNewsWire and NewsFire
> Growl integration
> Dynamic display of notes length while typing to stay within limit
> Compatible with .webloc and .url files
> Able to post in the background
> System service for sending a URL from other applications
> Self-updating with Sparkle
> Universal application
There now a Pukka screencast, which tells you everything you need to know in about 5 minutes. I’ve used Pukka since January and don’t know what I’d do without it. For those with a Tumblelog via Tumblr, it makes it very easy to post to my del. account which then posts to my Tumblr. I’ve traded emails with the developer on a couple of tips and requests and he has responded both quickly and graciously.
*BTW – I’m looking for a script to send to del.icio.us and DEVONthink Pro. If anyone sees anything – please comment! Thanks.
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37Signals
I’m a big fan of 37Signals. They have killer products, which include Basecamp (a collaborative project management system which I’ve used with my team for 2 years), Backpack (a space where you can create your to-do lists, gather ideas, notes, files… online. Also collaborative.) – I used this as my GTD system for awhile, Campfire (Instant group chat) which is great for remote teams and can integrate with Basecamp. Their next release is a CMS product named Highrise (coming soon!).
37Signals also has a very active blog, Signals vs Noise, which talks about their products and the industry at large. It’s one of my (endless) feeds that I read each day and one that always gives me something to add to my del.icio.us account.
I started using Basecamp at the urging of one of my Art Directors. My team was growing quickly and we needed to implement a more robust project management system. It fit our bill for a number of reasons:
> Functions as an Internal and/or Client Extranet
> Schedules Milestones and ToDos by Team member
> All interaction tracked by project and email
> Tracks time
> File sharing
It really gave order to chaos pretty quickly and as they have pretty flexible pricing plans, our Basecamp was able to grow as we did (during this time frame – 2 years – we grew from 2 people to 12). We’ve tried to implement other agency-wide systems with no success. Great flexibility, great price, great product.
The other product I’ve used from 37Signals for the last year is Backpack. To me is a more personalized productivity tool.
Features:
> Makes ToDo lists
> Adds Photos
> Set reminders
> Keep a calendar
> Send email to Backpack
> Tag Pages
> Keep it private or share!
> Plays well with email
> Send alerts to your cell phone
After I read Patrick Rhone’s great article (listed below) I started implementing GTD on my Backpack system. I made a page called “Inbox” where everything was dumped and then created pages for each of my actions (@calls, @email, @work, @mac, etc.) and then individual project pages. The project pages were shared between team members and I could also send items back to my computer to integrate with Basecamp.
While this has turned out to not be my GTD system of choice, I still like the product and still use it. Again, flexible payment plans, great flexibility, great price, great product.
Links I’ve found useful for Backpack GTD:
> What’s the Next Action
> GTBackpacked
> Backpack: New GTD Implementation Ideas by Patrick Rhone
> Packrat – a Mac Widget
HawkWings.net – Getting Things Done with Mail and iCal
Tim Gaden’s HawkWings, is a blog featuring Apple’s Mail.app and is, besides 43Folders, a leading resource on GTD. He has a great post today on Getting Things Done with Mail and iCal.
What’s great about Tim’s post is that he lists several links for people who are just getting started with GTD and might be confused on where to begin – or maybe for those of us who need a refresher!
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Setting Contexts 
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