Informal Brain

Things. a relatively new player in the GTD (Getting things done) application space has really impressed me with their simple to use desktop client and powerful iPhone application. The combination gives you your task list in your pocket when you need it most, and allows you to do the heavy lifting on your Mac. The synchronization feature between the iPhone and desktop applications works flawlessly over WIFI which is very nice.

A few of my favorite features:

1. Simplicity: The guys at Cultured Code really understand how to build a set of applications which embody simplicity. They choose to use tags rather then columns, and a simple Drag and Drop UI. Very nice.

2. Today: I love that I can just drop a task to the today item and it is ready to be acted on right now.

3. Areas: I can organize my tasks easily to my areas of responsibility.

4. Projects: I can group a set of tasks which will drive out the execution of a project. Works well when you have multiple tasks to complete to wrap up an effort.

5. Sync: I can synchronize the iPhone and Desktop versions of the application quickly over WIFI.

6. Drag and Drop: I can easily drag and drop tasks between the different GTD action types.

One of my favorite iPhone applications called Byline by Phantom Fish has just been updated to version 2.0.

What an impressive update!

Here are some of the highlights:

1. Folders: You can now see each of your Google Reader folders.

2. Clean, fast new interface: The interface has been cleaned up. Gone are the flat blues and now we have a cool wood grained view which is easy on the eyes. And did I mention faster! The entire application is much faster to load new items.

3. Notes: You can now write notes while sharing items just like in the web based google reader application.

4. Built in Web Browser: No more sudden swaps to Safari. Now you can browse inside the application without switching. This is a favorite feature because I would frequently hit a link by mistake and swap to Safari. No more.

Just another sign that IBM really “gets it” when it comes to iPhone security. I happen to work at a Lotus Notes shop and we have been taking a strong look at the iNotes Ultralite application for some time now. You may have seen some of my previous posts about the lack of enterprise level encryption for email on the iPhone. This is a show stopper for our company where we manage complex PHI (Personal Health Information) for our customers. We can’t afford to loose even one device (laptop, smart phone) which is not encrypted.

IBM is always concerned about data security for its customers, and as such they decided to make iNotes Ultralite a web app rather than a native iPhone application. IBM felt it was important to customers to insure that all communications between the iPhone and Lotus Domino server be encrypted, and that no data remain on the device in case it was lost or stolen.

[From iPhone in the Enterprise: Lotus iNotes Ultralite - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)]

I suspect we will see a native Notes application for the iPhone or a plugin for the native Mail application in the future when encryption is available. Until then, IBM is delivering what we need right now.

Finally!  Version 2.0 of Facebook for the iPhone launched today.  Ever since I saw the totally amazing photo tagging demo on YouTube about a month ago I have been following the release date of this new version closely.  Today the wait is over.

Highlights:

1. Photo Tagging — Click, tag and go.  It is fast, and amazingly easy to tag a photo and get it posted.  This is simply the best photo sharing experience for the iPhone now.

2. Inline Commenting — This is a game changer for the level of interactivity within the Facebook newsfeed.  Now you can click on the small link beside pretty much any wall post, newsfeed item or photo and leave a quick inline comment.  Works very well.  Look out Friendfeed!

3. Chat — Works better then ever.  Looks just like iChat.  Nice job.

4. User Interface — Lots of subtle effects like fly-ins when posting make the UI really fun to use.

Improvements!

1. Quick scroll to the top of the page.  Steal this from Twitterific and Mobile Safari guys.  When you are way down a page it takes a bunch of finger swipes to get back to the top.

2. View Friends of Friends.  This is a nice feature which helps you pick the right person out of the crowd when searching.

Otherwise, again this is a GREAT upgrade.  Good job Facebook team.

Start your appstore checks! Facebook 2.0 is released! Review coming shortly.

This morning the screenshot for the Facebook iPhone application changed to a version 2.0 shot. The application is still 1.1 however. Keep refreshing. We should see the new version soon.

Tonchidot: Visual Tagging for the iPhone | The iPhone Blog.

Like something from the future, you have to see this video. If Tonchidot can bring this to market it will revolutionize the way we use our mobile computers to interact with our surroundings. Truly astounding.

Just when you thought you got rid of that incriminating email on your iphone, or removed that suspect web site from your cache you might be surprised to hear that the iPhone captures an image of the application when the “home” button is pressed.

As widely reported, the iPhone takes a screenshot every time the home button is pressed so that the 3D “zoom” effect can be processed when the application zooms in and out, when suspending and resuming applications. These shots are stored, at least temporarily, on the device, presenting potential privacy issues.

[From Keeping Your iPhone From Spying on You - iPhone Atlas]

A forensic analyst can retrieve the images from the phone by mounting the disk and using data recovery tools to reconstruct the images as they are not actually removed from the disk, just the pointers to the files are removed. This continues to demonstrate that the iPhone cannot be treated as a secure device. The iPhone atlas site demonstrates a way to disable the image storage on a jail broken phone. For the average user, be aware that your iPhone is keeping a log of your activity.

I continue to make the argument for encryption. To make that a reality, with good performance, Apple may need to embed a dedicated encryption processor to the device.

So the biggest question in my mind now is:

When will we see SquirrelFish Extreme for the Mobile Safari browser on the iPhone?

Apple is already winning the mobile browser wars, and the latest WebKit advancements will only solidify that lead.

The 1.1 release of the iPhone and touch remote was released by Apple today. It now adds support for Genuis playlist creation and playlist editing. Awesome.