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.

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.

UPDATE: Version 2.0 is now out. Read my review here.

Phantom Fish just released version 1.0.1 of their offline Google Reader iPhone application called Byline.

There is lots to like about this new version. Google Reader does a nice job of feeding you relevant news from your collection of feeds using its automatic ordering algorithms. This continuous river of news works great for the iPhone where you don’t have lots of time to drill into each feed. I hear tag based filtering is coming. Not a big feature for me because I trust googles ordering algorithm seems to keep the fresh, relevant items near the top of the list.

The first big change you see when you scroll to the bottom of the new items like you get a handy “Mark All Items As Read” link. This was probably my biggest complaint about the first release. You can also now, swipe any item to mark it as read. I nice quick action to push it off the list.

Once you tap an item you get an enhanced menu at the top. The first thing you see is a new “share” button. Let’s hope in a future release they will add the ability to tag a small note just like in Google Reader to the item.

All in all, if you are looking for a great RSS reader for the iPhone and you are a Google Reader fan, I can now recommend ByLine as a great purchase.