#FollowFriday - @appadvice: iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch News and reviews.

This week I'm pulling a recommendation from my @NiftyTechBlog side.  I'm recommending one of my sources for this blog, @appadvice, the twitter face of http://www.appadvice.com, a blog providing news and reviews of the multitude of applications available for the iPhone OS.  While this blog focuses on best of breed products, App Advice takes a different angle.  They have a large staff of associated writers and they are working through the massive list of available apps in an attempt to review them all, a task that earns my heartfelt respect.

In addition to posting review, the App Advice staff monitors developing events and presents news and commentary on events that effect the iPhone OS platform.  They also produce a video podcast that covers these current events in the appworld.

Usually, I recommend a Twitter stream for the conversation and interaction available to a potential follower.  But @appadvice is a blog-driven Twitter feed.  As items are posted to the site, the titles of the articles and links to the articles are posted to the Twitter feed.  Normally, I hate feeds like this, but App Advice has an engaging style and often takes a somewhat humorous turn with some of their headlines.  And generally they have good, well written articles.  If you're at all interested in news of the iPhone OS' future or in finding new apps for your mobile Apple devices, they are a worthwhile addition to your feed.

Next week, we'll have a special article: a first look at Apple's iPad.  I received mine last Monday and I thought I'd share a few insights and some hints and tips.  Come back next Friday for another FollowFriday recommendation, and the following Monday will be another new review.  As always, let us know what you're thinking.  Leave a comment or a voice mail, or just send us an e-mail.  Let me know if you've got something you'd live to see reviewed on the blog, or some kind of tech solution that you're looking for.  We're always looking for the next bit of Nifty Tech.  And keep an eye out for the hashtags #TechTip and #TechSearch.  I'm starting to add tips and hints into my Twitter stream under #TechTip, and I'll be asking questions for recommendations and hints on what you want to see under #TechSearch. Please be sure to include the hashtags in any replies you make so that I'll see them.  I've been having some issues lately with mentions of @NiftyTechBlog not showing up in my streams.

OmniFocus

Whether your projects are small or large, eventually your going to need to get organized.  And the Omni Group has a nifty tool that they are sure will do the trick.  It’s called OmniFocus and it is available for the Mac and the iPhone.  Sorry, PC and Linux folks, that’s just how the Omni Group rolls.  An OmniFocus individual license runs $79.95, and a family license for up to five persons runs $119.95, although educational and group pricing is available as well.  The Mac version is available from http://www.omnigroup.com/products/omnifocus/, and the iPhone version, which runs $19.95, is available through the iTunes store.  You can download and use the Mac version without a license for a 14 day trial.  An upgrade for the iPad is planned for summer of 2010, but isn't currently available.

OmniFocus is built around the Get Things Done model of project management, but is flexible enough to accommodate many different styles of structuring projects.  But the basics are simple.  Start by capturing all the individual tasks that need to be done, in as much, or as little detail as you like.  You can just put down a simple description, or you can add start and end dates, duration, and additional notes.  The important thing is to capture the pieces.

Next, start grouping these individual steps into projects and putting them in order.  OmniFocus lets you group things in folders for convenient access, and allows you to break steps in your projects down into sub-steps just by nesting them with a simple drag and drop.  Your projects can be set up to execute the steps in order, or allow them to be done in any order.  Or you can just create a container to drop individual independent tasks into.

The last bit of setting up is to assign a context to the projects and steps.  Contexts can be people, places, software, or if you use sub-contexts, combinations of the above.  A Write E-mail task could have a context of Work, or Computer, or Work:Computer.  Or even Work: Doug: Computer: Online.  Again, you can make it as detailed as you need it to be.

So after you get your projects set up, the fun begins.  OmniFocus lets you sync your projects to other computers using OmniFocus, via Bonjour, a disk, or Mobile Me (or another WebDAV server in the cloud).  So if you’ve got multiple computers, you can access your projects on all of them.  Or you can sync it to your iPhone, so you can carry your projects with you.  OmniFocus also integrates with Mac OS X, letting you sync tasks to iCal, add and update tasks via Mail, and even search for them using Spotlight.  Once you’ve set up syncing, OmniFocus syncs automatically when you open the program, just before quitting, and one minute after any change has been made.

OmniFocus lets you look at your tasks by project, either an overall look at all projects, or every project in a given folder, or you can focus in on a single project.  Projects can be set to automatically complete when the last step is completed, or you can leave them as ongoing projects and add other steps later.  OmniFocus highlights tasks in orange that are due soon, the default for “soon” being in the next 24 hours, but you can edit that setting to suit your needs.  OmniFocus also highlights overdue items in red so you can see how behind you are and focus on what you need to do to catch up.  Items that have a future start date, or cannot be done until another task is complete are greyed out.  You can even create repeating tasks and projects, or pre-create projects that won’t be started until sometime in the future.  Or you can put an entire project on hold.

In addition, you can view your tasks by context.  So when you’re at work, you can look at just the work tasks, at home, just the home tasks, etc.  A really nifty variation of this is available with the iPhone version of OmniFocus.  In Contexts on the iPhone, you can set a location for a given context, and then sort your tasks by your geographic distance from the locations.  This is very useful for running errands, but it can be a little tough setting all the locations to begin with.

The iPhone version of OmniFocus can act on its own, or you can sync it to the desktop version, or just sync several iPhones together through the cloud.  The iPhone version is fully functional, and lets you mark items as complete, set any of the fields, or even create new tasks on the fly.  And the iPhone version syncs on startup, and automatically after a minute when you make changes, although if you exit the program within that minute, you can prevent the sync.  You can also set it to only sync manually, which is useful if you’re in an area with poor connectivity.

There are a few nagging issues with OmniFocus.  When the application was first launched there was a tendency for cumulative transactions to cause the database to swell.  This led to very long sync times, and could make the mobile version effectively unusable.  The Omni Group has since fixed this issue by better management of a self-compression script in the database.  But some of us old timers still feel better using a manual compression script once a month.  A current problem is a tendency for OmniFocus to fail to close out recurring groups of tasks when the last task is completed.  This can lead to duplicate sets of tasks.  It is easy to remove the duplicates, but it can be somewhat irritating to have to deal with them.

For my family, OmniFocus has been will worth it.  My wife and I can work off the same plan, and even if we’re each running errands in different parts of town, we know almost immediately when the other has completed a step.  It has been very handy for organizing our household chores, shopping lists, Christmas lists, and our private projects.  In the end, the syncing and the ubiquity of OmniFocus really pushes it up to the level of Nifty Tech.

#FollowFriday - @pfischer: podcaster, father, geek, Balticon supporter.

This week's FollowFriday recommendation is @pfischer, Paul Fischer.  Paul is a podcaster, a father, a computer geek, and one of the many people whose efforts are making Balticon 44 possible.  Unless you know Paul, or are a fan of one of the podcasts he has worked on, you've probably not heard of him.  Until now.

Up until a year ago, @pfischer used to publish the ADD Cast, a comedy podcast that constantly re-invented itself.  More recently, he has been working with the Balticon podcast.  So if you're looking for a preview of Paul's style, these are good places to look.

In his Twitter stream, @pfischer is often witty, always friendly, and very personable.  He speaks with candor and humor about the experience of being a new father, but also interacts with others.  And if you want to talk about this year's Balticon, he knows the right folks and the right stuff.  Simply put, Paul is a good chap who provides charming and interesting insights and conversation.  He's worth a look.

So check back here on Monday for a new review.  This time we'll be looking at OmniFocus.  And of course, be back next Friday for another FollowFriday recommendation.  And as always, let us know what you're thinking.  Leave a comment or a voice mail, or just send us an e-mail.  Be sure to let us know if you've got something you'd live to see reviewed on the blog.  We always need your help to identify the next bit of Nifty Tech.

#FollowFriday - @nathanfillion: actor, browncoat, funny guy, scoundrel.

This week we have a celebrity for FollowFriday: @nathanfillion.  This is the real Nathan Fillion, actor and star of Firefly, Serenity, and Castle.  Now, if you're a fan of any of these shows, I expect that you've probably already looked Nathan up for yourself and are already following him.  If so, you know how entertaining his tweets are.

If you haven't been following @nathanfillion thus far, here is what you can expect. This is Nathan's personal twitter stream.  As you'd expect, he talks a reasonable amount about the projects he is currently working, the people that he meets in the course of those projects, and how he feels about them.  He's normally an upbeat guy, so most of this is pretty positive.  He has also TwitPiced some great behind the scenes pictures that I doubt you'll see anywhere else.  Unless they stole them from him.  And he links to other celebrities he meets and works with. So if you're interested in following Hollywood and celebrities, this is a draw.

Nathan also has a wicked sense of humor and will frequently drop in wry comments and puns.  For me, this alone would be a reason to follow him.  Above all, Nathan's tweets are entertaining.  His sense of humor may be a tad dry for some, but I don't think I've ever seen him be caustic or go for humor at someone else's expense.

Now, if you're hoping for a celebrity to follow you, or respond to your tweets, you probably won't be very happy.  He actually does a good job of managing his celebrity.  While he doesn't appear to give many @replies to fans, it is often clear in his responses that he does read what fans have to say.  And he will ReTweet the occasional witty comment from a fan.  But remember there is only one of him, and hundreds of thousands of us.  There is no way he can give everyone personal attention.

Next week I'll be picking someone a little closer to home, and it is quite likely that will end up being a friend with protected tweets, which probably won't be great for those who aren't already following that person.  But maybe if you ask nice, they'll let you in.  Twitter is after all about networking and making new connections.  Until then, have a good one!

Google Voice

As a counter point to the earlier review of the iPhone, this week we’re looking at something you can’t get on the iPhone: Google Voice.

A while ago, there used to be a service called Grand Central.  This was bought out by Google and re-named Google Voice.  And then Google started adding new capabilities to it.  GV is another of Google’s projects that is eternally in beta.  And like many of the others, if you can get in, it is pretty darn useful.  Right now, Google Voice is invitation only, which means that you need to find someone with a Google Voice number and ask them to send you an invite.  If you can’t find anyone, or your friends have all run out of invites, you can also go to https://services.google.com/fb/forms/googlevoiceinvite/ and ask Google if they’d be nice enough to send you an invite.  And if you’re not sure if you want one or not, you can look at the list of features at http://www.google.com/voice.  The price, however, is right: Google Voice is free, unless you use it for international calls. And even then there are considerable savings, depending on where you are calling and for how long.

When you sign up for Google Voice, you tell GV what one of your phone numbers is, and GV will either take over that number, or will assign you a new Google Voice phone number.  Using your existing number is convenient if you don’t want to have to give a new phone number to your contacts, but it can cause some problems.  So it may be easier to manage by just getting a new Google Voice number.  When someone calls your GV number, their call gets forwarded to your phone.  At that level, it seems a little useless.  But these days, most people have more than one phone.  You have your home number, your cell phone, your work number.  Pull all of these numbers into GV, and when someone calls your GV number, ALL of your phones ring.  The call gets routed to the phone you actually pick up on and you conduct your conversation normally.  And you can build rules in GV to control which phones get called, so your home phone won't ring when you're at work, and your work phone won't ring during the weekend. And so no phones will ring between midnight and 8 AM.  Whatever works for you.  Or if you just want to "hold all calls", turn on the Do Not Disturb feature, either for a set period of minutes, hours, or days, or just until you turn it off again.

So what happens to the call if you don't pick up?  Google Voice also gives you voice-mail on your GV number.  You can listen to the voice mail on your web site, or you can give GV an e-mail address and GV will attempt transcribe the audio message into text and e-mail the text to you.  The transcription is completely automated.  It's not perfect, but you can pretty much get the idea.  It even shades the words in the transcript to show you how confident the software is with the transcription.

You can text for free with GV, and you can have incoming text messages forwarded to your cell phone, although normal texting rates on your cell still apply.  This can sometimes be confusing to the people you are texting with.  GV has settings that will allow you to appear to text with your regular cell number, or with your GV number.  So do some thinking about your texting habits before you start using Google Voice to text, or your friends may think you’ve got two different phones that you’re texting them with.

Google voice is free in the US, and provides free long distance in the US, and special rates for overseas calls.  You can sign up for GV without paying a cent, or giving a credit card number. They even give you a ten cent credit when you sign up, even if you never give them any kind of payment information.  But it won’t let you make international calls unless you do arrange for payment.

Coolest of all, you can create groups and build rules based on the groups.  That way your folks can't call you at work, but your business associates can.  Someone bothering you? Block their number altogether.  Send calls from your creditors straight to voice-mail, but let your close friends ring on through.  The tools give you a lot of control. And even if you've built rules for groups, you can override them by putting special rules on an individual.  You can even record multiple voice mail messages so that the outgoing message changes depending on who is calling.

And since you can block anybody, and have voice mail, your GV number is safe to publish on the internet.  Or put a GV widget on your website so someone can click it and have GV call them and you. Just like the one I just added to the Right sidebar. Care to give me feedback on this or any other part of The Nifty Tech Blog? Just click the widget and enter your phone number. GV will call you and connect you to my voice mail.

If you’re tired of giving out all of your numbers to people, or you need to give someone a contact number, but don't really want them to have your real phone number, just give them your GV number. Do you need someone to call you at a specific time, but don't know where you will be? Just give out your Google Voice number and you're done. If someone calls you that isn't in your address book, GV automatically screens the call. You pick up, hear their name, and GV gives you a menu of options that lets you accept the call, or send them to voice-mail, or transfer them to a different number.

Google Voice is still an evolving product, so by the time you read this, some of the features may have changed, or new features added on.  The aim of Google Voice is to give people control over their phone experience.  And they seem to be doing a decent job so far.  There are even a number of official and third-party applications that let you access Google Voice features from your mobile phone.  Unless you’ve got an iPhone that is.

For some reason, Apple doesn’t seem to want the Google Voice experience on the iPhone.  There were a number of iPhone applications in the App store that let users access their GV accounts, but Apple pulled them all, and they’ve been very tight lipped about why the applications were pulled.  When an official reason was finally offered, Apple said that the applications duplicated functionality that already existed on the iPhone.  Yeah.  Right.  iPhone using consumers can only hope that Apple and Google with patch over whatever snit their having and team up to give us better access to their products and our data.  In the meantime, Google has created a mobile web page for Google Voice to put as much of the functionality into a web app as possible.  To access the web app version, just point Mobile Safari to m.google.com/voice.

Google Voice helps simplify your life by giving you a single phone number for everything, that never changes, but still gives you control over who can call you, where and when you’ll get their call, and how phone messages will find you.  It even allows you to take calls on any phone that happens to be around.  Google Voice gives you the power to make your phone number dance to your own tune.  And that definitely fits my definition of Nifty Tech.

And a thanks to IconsPedia.com for the Google Voice icon at the top of this article. - Editor.

A slight delay...

I hate to have to do this, but life events have managed to eat up all of my available time this past week.  While I did manage to get out the first of the Follow Friday series of posts, I did not have time to lay out this week's review.  Normally I get these laid out ahead of time and scheduled to go live at 12:01 Eastern Time on the Mondays the reviews are due.  This week, I just wasn't able to get everything together in time.  The review will be up later today.  Unfortunately, I haven't yet found the tool that will do my layouts and screenshots for me.  Those I'm still pretty much doing by hand.

Hopefully, when you see this week's article on Google Voice, you will agree that it is worth waiting for.

#FollowFriday - @muskrat_john: creator of Dork Tower, deadly punster, comic wit.

I've been thinking about how to improve my Twitter recommendations lately.  Thinking much the same as @TeeMonster has discussed in his post on Follow Friday.  My answer was to do a single, long form recommendation here in my blog, but linked to by my Twitter feeds.  It was somewhat hard for me to figure out whom to spotlight in this, my first FollowFriday post.  When I started looking through the list of folks that I follow, I found that a lot of the people that I interact with on Twitter have protected their posts.  While that is their right, it seemed a little wrong for me to start off with someone that my readers wouldn't be able to see and appreciate in the same way that I do.  So, I had to choose someone with a public Twitter feed.  This time.

So, why should you follow @muskrat_John on Twitter?  This feed belongs to John Kovalik, the cartoonist behind the Dork Tower webcomic and comic books, the illustrator for the game Munchkin, in all it's various and bizzare forms and expansions, and of the Apples to Apples card game.  So, John obviously has some creative ability.  And probably too much time on his hands.

John also has a deadly comic wit and a love of puns that are capable of requiring medical attention.  And he's not afraid to use them.  John manages to balance out his feed with humorous observations, puns, geek commentary, and a dash of self-promotion.  He's good brighten up your day, or confuse you with an obscure geek reference.

So take a peek at what @muskrat_John has to offer and decide for yourself.  I'll be back next week with another Follow Friday recommendation.

How The Nifty Tech Blog Works

Recently, a reader was asking me about the kind of compensation that I receive for doing The Nifty Tech Blog.  He seemed to think that companies were paying me to review their products, or were providing their products to me free of charge in exchange for a review.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  So I thought I'd add this article to the feed to clear up these kinds of misconceptions.

I receive no funds, goods, or services for producing The Nifty Tech Blog.

In fact, I'm losing money on the proposition.

Now, some of you will note that there are ads on the sidebars and on the bottom of the page.  These are an attempt to defray some of the costs of running The Nifty Tech Blog so that I can keep it running longer.  Unfortunately neither Google nor Amazon ads pay off until there have been sufficient click throughs and purchases to hit a minimum amount of activity, and I'm no where near that level of activity yet.

But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself.  Let me go back to the beginning and explain how things work at The Nifty Tech Blog.

Currently, The Nifty Tech Blog has a staff of one.  That's me.  When I'm not working at my day job, and keeping my wife happy, I put what time I can into researching, writing, editing, and producing the Blog.  I have been lucky enough to have some friends step up and volunteer their help from time to time.  Most notably, Odin1Eye who stepped up and did a guest review a few weeks back.  And hopefully in the next month or so I'll be welcoming a new staffer as a PC expert bringing his expertise and insight from the Windows side of the world.  And nobody gets paid anything.

Each of the products reviewed in The Nifty Tech Blog are products that I, or my guest reviewers, have had personal experience with.  These products are either free, or are things that we have paid for with our own money.  And by recommending them, we're saying that we would pay for them again.  If a product isn't good enough to buy all over again, it doesn't make the Blog.  What we're trying to provide is a view into the best products available on the market.

And towards that end, The Nifty Tech Blog is completely community supported.  I rely on you the reader to suggest new products to review, in addition to the research I do on my own.  No one receives any compensation or considerations from the manufacturers.  Now there are some products out there that I want to review, but I just don't have the funds necessary to buy a review model of a product.  And there is no way I can afford to buy review models of every new product out there!  Eventually, I expect that I will have to resort to asking manufacturers to send me review models to examine.  If that happens, I will be sure to state right up front that the review is based on a piece of equipment loaned by the manufacturer.

The domain registry and hosting costs are paid by me.  And all of the layout and web work is done by me.

So, if this is a losing proposition, why do I keep doing it?

Well, for me, The Nifty Tech Blog is a labor of love.  There is so much cool stuff out there, I want to let people know about it.  And I want your help to find it so that I can play with it!  Would I like it if I could make a profit?  Yeah.  But I'll never get rich writing a blog.  If I could break even, that would be enough.  But for now, I'll keep going as long as I can.

If you'd like to help support The Nifty Tech Blog, leave a comment.  Send me e-mail.  Tell a friend about the Blog.  Suggest a new product to review.  If you really want to support the Blog financially, then check out the ads, or buy something from the store.  Or just keep coming back and reading.  That's what it is here for, after all.  For you to read.