Writer and programmer Don Southard (Twitter) is someone to watch. He recently released his Watermarker App and I really like his writing at MacStories. Today Don was kind of enough to share his home screen.

What are some of your favorite apps?

When it comes to iOS apps, I am addicted to the Productivity category in the App Store. You won’t find many games on my phone. As of writing this, the only game currently on my phone is Kingdom Rush (an insanely hard Tower Defense game). I am pretty sure I have tried almost every todo app available and a part of me has loved every one of them. However, only the best ones stay on my iOS devices and I have no qualms deleting apps that don’t make the cut. Some of my favorite apps include OmniFocus, Drafts, Pythonista, and Launch Center Pro. I use Pythonista for scripting simple actions like uploading images to a web server and I use Launch Center Pro for quickly launching those scripts. OmniFocus and Drafts have also become reliable staples in my iOS workflows. I have an IT day job in addition to my blogging and software development projects so I almost always have a lot going on, OmniFocus is my trusted system that keeps me on track. Drafts is my go to solution for text notes. At one time I tried to keep every note and sync them back to my Mac with Dropbox. I quickly realized that I didn’t care about these scraps of information long term, so for me, Drafts app was a perfect solution for working with quick one-off notes.

Despite the amount of work I can get done on my phone, my most used app is more of a distraction. It is a wonderful Twitter client called Tweetbot. No matter what I am doing on my phone, it is a guarantee that I will check Tweetbot at least once before setting it back down. I truly love being apart of the Mac community and our connection is primarily through Twitter so having a reliable client that I enjoy using is very important to me. Tweetbot fulfills my every requirement of a great client.

Which app is your guilty pleasure?

My guilty pleasure would have to be Rdio. I enjoy being able to stalk my friends music habits which is both fun and addicting. I have found some really great albums through Rdio’s social integration. Music helps keep me motivated while I’m working, I even have a specific playlist just for when I’m writing code. It is a great service that allows me to keep music locally and in the cloud, yet it stays synched across all of my devices.

What is the app you are still missing?

In a perfect world, the one app I would love to see on iOS is Alfred. I have no idea what that would look like or how it would function but no other app has changed the way I work like Alfred has and I would love to have that experience on a mobile device. I know Apple has strict rules in place that would prevent a powerful app like Alfred from running on iOS but a guy can dream right?

How many times a day do you use your iPhone/iPad?

I wish the iPhone had some way to measure that because I would love to know, The number would likely be astronomical. I am constantly checking my phone, responding to emails or iMessages. Even at home on the couch, my iPhone is never further than my pocket. My iPad on the other hand, rarely gets touched. I am one of the few that have yet to find a good use for the iPad that isn’t better suited for either my MacBook or iPhone.

What is your favorite feature of the iPhone/iPad?

My favorite feature, without a doubt, is the Verizon LTE in the iPhone 5. I was a long time AT&T customer until I jumped ship to Sprint with the promise of unlimited 3G data. I had such a horrible experience with speed and connectivity that I lunged at the opportunity to be on Verizon’s LTE network when upgrading to the iPhone 5. It is really quite amazing to have a device in my pocket with Internet speeds twice that of my home Cox Cable Internet. Also, the Retina display and AirPlay are two very close runners-up.

If you were in charge at Apple, what would you add or change?

I would personally change the “cold shoulder” attitude that Apple has been giving to power users over the past couple of years. I would focus some of Apple’s resources towards revitalizing both the Finder and Terminal. I would extend Applescript, not deprecate it. I would revert Apple’s stance on sandboxing Mac apps but still maintain the Developer ID program. I am a Mac nerd at heart and I would bring that characteristic back to the Mac platform if I had the opportunity to run the company.

Anything else you’d like to share?

I would just like to thank you David for inviting me to share my home screen and for letting me talk about some of the apps I use everyday.

Thanks Don.

As we enter the new year, I’m going to be posting these home screens more consistently. This week I’m featuring Taras Brizitsky (Twitter), one of the smart fellows behind my favorite Mac drive management app, DaisyDisk. So Taras, show us your home screen.

What are some of favorite apps?

There’re many… 1Password (version 4 looks incredible), Deliveries (I rely on it for tracking packages from eBay), Buy Me a Pie (the best grocery list I’ve used), Panamp (music), Light (yes, it’s a flashlight app; I also have a good “hardware” one), Verbs (IM), Partly Cloudy(weather forecast), Fantastical, Chrome, Tweetbot, Reeder, Sparrow…

Which app is your guilty pleasure?

Letterpress (you won’t tell anyone, right?).

What is the app you are still missing?

I’m still looking for good music and video players which are not chained to iTunes.
I just want to listen to the music on the go, not sync, re-sync or move my music collection to iTunes (which doesn’t play well with NAS).

How many times a day do you use your iPhone/iPad?

None to every few minutes, that really depends on what I’m working on.
Sometimes I prefer to leave all my gadgets on a shelf.

What is your favorite feature of the iPhone/iPad?

Pocket-sized Web browser. Seriously, this covers most of my needs.
My iPhone is mostly used as a web browser, news reeder, mail checker. And yes, it can make calls (killer, app, huh…). iPad works as a book and news reader and a portable game console. I tried using these devices for writing short texts or drawing and still prefer paper and good old iMac.

If you were in charge at Apple, what would you add or change?

App switching. Current solution (icons) is even inferior to one of Palm’s webOS.
Notification Center. Either you do have widgets (weather/finance, anyone?) or you don’t.
Camera app. It’s now incredibly cluttered.
Lock screen. Another design abomination…
Siri. She’s unbelievably slow, stupid and useless.
iCloud. There’s a lot of space for improvements.
App integration. Let’s just face a simple fact: files need to be shared between apps.
And, most of all, iBatteryLife. No complains about iPads, but hey, I don’t need a razor-thin iPhone, I need it work longer.

Thanks Taras

Every year at Macworld I enjoy reconnected with my international Mac friends. One of those people is Oliver Breidenbach (Twitter) from Boinx software who makes the trip from Germany every year. Boinx makes some of my favorite software applications including FotoMagico and iStopMotion (Mac and iPad). Moreover, Oliver has some great insight about the relationship between Apple and iOS developers. So Oliver, show us your home screen.

What are some of favorite apps?

I don’ t really have favorite apps. The thing that got my attention about iOS was at an education event the summer after the iPhone was introduced. A teacher brought a couple of students who presented the cool video stuff they were doing. I had an iPod touch and was playing around with it. I downloaded a VNC app and used it to remote control the Mac OS X servers used at the event. The kids saw me doing it and I had never seen demonstrative boredom turn into utter fascination so quickly. I knew then that this was the next big thing.

Which app is your guilty pleasure?

Is Email considered a guilty pleasure? 😉
(From David: Umm. No.)

What is the app you are still missing?

There really is an app for almost everything. The big gripe I have is that Apple does not allow them to collaborate with each other. Adding a soundtrack to my iStopMotion movie is a major pain. Why can’t I create a soundtrack in Garageband on the iPad and simply send it to iStopMotion? If I need to change anything, why can’t I send it back to Garageband? I am sure that people who get paid billions should be able to work that out.

How many times a day do you use your iPhone/iPad?

I am not so much using my iPhone a discreet number of times but rather constantly. I don’t use the iPad nearly as often, some days not at all, mostly because it is missing the collaboration between apps which makes it unusable for my daily work.

What is your favorite feature of the iPhone/iPad?

When I was at the education event I was talking about earlier, I got really excited about these new post-PC devices, more excited than about anything that happened in the 15 years before in IT. The immersiveness of a touch UI is still very fascinating. But that excitement has worn off a little as I am getting disappointed with the lack of progress the platform has made in terms of using that great power to improve our daily tasks. It certainly was a smart move to get people to use it for leisure activity first, but I think it’s about time that we get to use it for serious creative projects as well.

If you were in charge at Apple, what would you add or change?

I would definitely drive the platform towards collaboration. Both apps and people want to collaborate. It is necessary for being creative. Imagine how useful the iPhone would be if you couldn’t dial the phone numbers in your Address Book but would have to note them down on a piece of paper and type them in again in the phone app. Yet this is exactly what you have to do with most other content. The dream was to have small apps that do one thing really well, but with the current environment, every app needs to do everything. For example, instead of focusing on the task of keeping my passwords safe, 1Password also has to be a web browser so that you can actually use the passwords you stored. An HTML code editor also needs to be an image editor, an FTP/SFTP client and a webserver. To be able to make a complete movie, iStopMotion would need a video editor and an audio editor built-in. This seriously hinders innovation as we developers have to spend too much time and resources reinventing the wheel.

Also I think the business environment needs to be improved. Apple likes to point out several times on their iPhone 5 website that apps are what makes the iPhone great, and yet most apps don’t seem to make enough money to even cover the development costs. Apple also likes to point out that “many of the apps are free”, causing consumers, who happily just spend $500 on their new iPad, to expect that they don’t have to pay for the apps. That is a big issue threatening the success of iOS in the long run. Developers need to make a living and eventually will have to look for other opportunities.

But closing on a more positive note: The iPhone and the iPad really are magical devices, making technology much more accessible and usable to a much broader range of people than the PC ever could and I really hope that we see this eventually replacing our desktop/laptop computers with their broken metaphors from the 1970s.

Thanks Oliver.

Today is the first anniversary of the 70 Decibels Network, which hosts some of my favorite podcasts. In honor of this celebration, this week I’m featuring Myke Hurley’s home screen. Myke (Twitter) is the co-founder of 70 Decibels, the host of CMD+Space, and an all around swell guy.

So Myke, show us your home screen.

What are some of favorite apps?

I consider Tweebot to be the best app ever created on iOS. I use it multiple times a day, basically living inside the app when I’m away from home. Even when at home I use Tweetbot on my iPad as my main client. I basically have my iPad set up as a second screen at home. Day One has also become a new favourite of mine, it’s easily one of the most beautfiully designed apps I’ve used and the recent addition of being able to add photos has made the it important enough to replace the phone app in my dock! I’m also a massive fan of Instacast. In my opinion it’s the only way people should listen to Podcasts on iOS. And trust me, I’ve tried every app available.

Which app is your guilty pleasure?

I think Instagram has become a guilty pleasure of mine. It has recently made it’s way to my homescreen as I have been using it more and more every day. I enjoy posting silly pictures of not very important things and I like to see similar updates from my friends.

Other guilty pleasures of mine are games. I have a folder on another screen full of games like Jetpack Joyride, Peggle and Angry Birds (among others). I am always on the lookout for other games to add to this list.

What is the app you are still missing?

I am a Podcaster in my free time, and I’m still on the lookout for an app that will allow me to record, edit, add shownotes and post by FTP to a podcast host—all in one. Garageband can do some of this stuff, but not all of it. Basically, the only person that would be able to create an app like this would be a Podcast producer, as they’ll know exactly all of the steps needed. But it’s such a niche market, that I doubt I’ll ever see it.

How many times a day do you use your iPhone/iPad?

I think I could easily lose count with my iPhone. At my day job I have to use a Windows PC and I have very limited access to what I can install. So my iPhone remains as my connection to the online world. It’s where I’ll check twitter, listen to music or podcasts, read RSS and check email. All day, every day. I dont use my iPad as much as I tend to leave it at home, but it will be in constant use during the evening.

What is your favorite feature of the iPhone/iPad?

The apps available for iOS are what stops me thinking about switching to a competing platform (for any of the reasons there may be). The developers on the iOS platform churn out absolutely top quality apps, that are lovingly designed and often solve problems I didn’t even know I had

If you were in charge at Apple, what would you add or change?

I think I would extend the background capabilities of third-party apps. It would be great if I could have Reeder update itself, or Instacast download all my new shows, without me needing to prompt it. I think it’s about time Apple gave a little more capability to devs and trust that they will implement these features efficiently, practically and transparently.

Anything else you’d like to share?

In case anyone is interested, my background image is from the colour edition of the comic Scott Pilgrim vs the World. The image is of the character Ramona Flowers

Thanks Myke.

Photo by Chris Glass

Today’s home screen post features the Internet’s very own Communicatrix, Colleen Wainwright. Colleen was our guest on the Mac Power Users episode 72. In addition to her amazing Internet accomplishments, Colleen is also my favorite person to eat tacos with. So Colleen, show us your home screens.

What are some of Your Favorite Apps?

First, a word about my outrageously crowded home screen: before I caved and upgraded to the 4S earlier this summer, I had far fewer apps on the home screen, and hardly any folders. With the retina display, suddenly those itty-bitty icons in the folders were legible, and, as with my actual, 3D living space (which is papered with sticky notes and index cards), I found a measure of relief from anxiety in being able to see all my stuff right there. There’s a lot more empty space on the next few screens, which I rarely find myself flipping over to. (The exception being the “social media” folder, which I moved very deliberately to the second screen, and should probably banish to fourth-screen Siberia.) 

Next, I am as susceptible to crushes on apps as I am to crushes on everything else—books, shows, art, people—so whimsy may have taken me elsewhere by the time this wings its way from my Mac to your (wonderful) website.

Finally, if it is not already abundantly evident, I am highly neurotic, so my stock response to this kind of question is usually, “I don’t know—what are yours? Should I get those? Are they better than mine? AM I DOING IT WRONG?!” As the man said, that way madness lies.

So with these disclaimers, my current-favorites:

Evernote had long been my go-to, desktop repository for information I might or might not use at a later date–a kind of cosmic, computer-based junk drawer. But this past year was one of heavy travel, and I came to appreciate what a great system it is on the iPhone for keeping handy copies of documents and information. It’s flexible, it syncs across all my devices, and with a little foresight, you can keep copies that are available offline.

Due is “just” a timer and reminder app, but it does these two things really well, plus it has a PIERCING alarm that’s audible from the deepest reverie, two rooms away. I currently have reminders set up for my weekly Internet sabbatical and estrogen-patch change (sexy!), and I have scads of timers set up. It may seem silly—how long can it take to set up a timer? But if you time a lot of different things, it’s helpful to have them pre-set, especially for Dreaded Tasks. Anything to reduce friction, right?

1-Bit Camera is great, simple fun. I’ve been playing with taking photos since I began working with  a photography association client, so I use all my photo apps a lot more. But when the image is stripped down to masses of black and white, I learn things about composition that take me longer to see with detailed color images. Or at least, I like to think I do.

GroceryIQ kind of sucks. But it’s best shopping app I’ve found to date, and it really helps avoid those repeat trips to the stores. Because of my Crohn’s disease and because I’m a cheapskate, I don’t dine out much, but I do a lot of grocery shopping. So, yeah. Janky-butt GroceryIQ.

I also use the native Mail and Music apps a lot, but I guess I’m kind of jaded about it, as I don’t even think of them as favorites. Poor, neglected, native apps–they never get any love!

Which app is your guilty pleasure?

I’m not much for games or drawing and music apps, but I am addicted to Facebook. This is why I keep it on the second screen, in a folder. In fact, I just took this opportunity to move it to the fourth (and last) screen. Take that, stupid Facebook!

What is the app you are still missing?

I would love something that tracked my car mileage automatically. I believe in some circles, this is called a “chauffeur”, and it also drives your car around for you, which would be awesome here in Los Angeles. But yeah, I’m horrible about writing down my mileage. It seems like such a pain in the moment, and then at tax time, I’m pulling my hair out (which is hard to do these days).

Also, I would love a great shopping list app without all the ads and crufty stuff, that would also act as a price book.

How many times a day do you use your iPhone/iPad?

I use my iPhone dozens of times per day, both at home and out & about. At home, more for phone/messaging, and away, more for podcasts and photos, but that thing gets a workout.

For someone who waited until HD to get her iPad, I’m surprised by how rarely I use it. It is great for practicing guitar. Evernote holds my songs, Guitar Tuner keeps things in tune, and I’m starting to use Virtuoso to learn my scales, and a kind of rudimentary understanding of music theory. 

I also love the hell out of Netflix on the iPad, or just lolling about on the bed and farting around on the web. At heart, I am a truly lazy being.

What is your favorite feature of the iPhone/iPad?

I cannot get over how portable they are. These are miracles we dreamed of back in the 1960s, come to life better than we could have imagined. To tell the truth, I’m still a little in awe of both of them. 

If you were in charge at Apple, what would you add or change?

Nothing. Which is but one of many reasons why I will never be in charge at Apple.

Anything else you’d like to share?

As much as I suspect that show-me-yer-rig features like these feed my predilection for fiddling, I also find them incredibly helpful, both for discovering new apps and uncovering better workflows. So I’m delighted to have been asked to participate, and I hope that some little something I’ve shared has been useful, or entertaining, or both. Thanks, David!

Thanks Colleen.

Fraser Speirs (Website) (Twitter) is one of the foremost authorities
on using Apple technologies in education. Moreover, Fraser is really smart. (Fraser’s Future Shock Post is one of the best things I’ve ever read about technology.) Fraser was nice enough to share his home screen.

What are some of your favourite apps?

Evernote is rapidly becoming the hub of my workflow and information storage system. Early iterations of the iOS clients were quite weak compared to the Mac client but recent updates have dramatically improved it. Evernote is the destination for all my travel documents, my scanned receipts (Canon P-150 scanners rock!).
I’ve also recently started using Pocket as my “read later” service after being an Instapaper user for many years. Pocket can also send pages to Evernote for safekeeping.
I’m a huge fan of Flipboard, which has totally replaced traditional RSS readers for me. I just love its relaxed playfulness. It didn’t click for my workflow, though, until they released the iPhone version.

I’m also a fairly recent convert to Tweetbot; again since they released their iPad version. I was a Twitterrific die-hard for years because of its unified timeline design but Tweetbot won me over firstly by integrating push notifications and, more recently, various powerful options for muting people, clients and keywords.

For my truly ‘core’ apps, I want them on the iPhone and the iPad.

Which app is your guilty pleasure?

Kindle. It’s way too easy to spend money on ebooks! I was an early enthusiast for electronic books – I bought the international version of the Kindle 2 on the first day it was available (and I miss being able to buy ebooks in US Dollars!).

Recently, I have moved entirely to ebooks and will only buy paper if the title is not available electronically. Even then, I find myself dissatisfied with paper books because I can’t get my highlights into Evernote. I guess I could photograph the pages!

What is the app you are still missing?

A phone version of every app I care about that’s iPad-only. Apple has shown the way with their own apps. Think about it: iWork and iLife ON A PHONE! They’re not just toys either – they’re full working versions and I spend more time between Keynote on my iPhone and iPad than I do in Keynote for Mac these days.

I would also really like to see a version of iBooks Author for iOS. Two years ago, I was constantly wishing for a version of Apple Remote Desktop for iOS to administer my school Macs from my iPad. Today, two years into being a 1:1 iPad school, administering the Macs is such a small part of my life that I hardly think about it any more.

How many times a day do you use your iPhone/iPad?

Both are constant companions and my primary computing devices for my teaching and consulting work. I would not be surprised if I unlock my phone a hundred times every day.

What is your favorite feature of the iPhone/iPad?

The touch keyboard is taken for granted today but it is still a fantastic piece of technology. I think my favourite feature of the device itself is GPS. Having things (photos, Evernote notes) geotagged without any effort at all is fantastic

My favourite iPad accessory in school is AppleTV. I’ve been talking about the massive potential of AirPlay in the classroom for 18 months or so and people are starting to really get it. So exciting and important.

If you were in charge at Apple, what would you add or change?

As I remarked recently on Twitter: “If you can’t imagine what Apple might add to iOS 6, you don’t spend enough time on iOS”. Most broadly speaking, I think there’s a serious need for a mechanism to round-trip a piece of data from one app to another and back. For example, if I have a PDF attachment in Evernote and I want to mark it up using PDF Expert I have to: copy it out of Evernote into PDF Expert, mark it up there, get it back into Evernote and then delete the duplicate copy in PDF Expert. I’m a massive fan of the abstracted filesystem in iOS but there needs to be much stronger generalised data interchange between apps. For an example of how this might work, look at the way Tweetbot and Camera+ integrate to capture photos and edit them.

A corollary to that first feature request is that Mobile Safari really needs to be able to download files from the web and, more importantly, upload files to the web. This is a real showstopper in some education settings. Often, I find that the only reason I’m cracking open my laptop is because I need to upload a file to the web.

There is a serious and ongoing problem with passwords on the web. The only thing that keeps me sane is 1Password but, on iOS, it’s not as easy to use as it is on the desktop. The AgileBits team have done a stellar job getting the app as useful as it is on iOS but I’d like to see Apple add limited support for extensions into Mobile Safari – just so I can get 1Password working in there.

iOS needs some kind of generalised “wrist protection” APIs so that all the handwriting and drawing apps can implement this in a consistent fashion that doesn’t interact badly with the multitasking gestures on iPad. I’m not a big fan of a stylus but I see kids in school trying to do a quick sketch of something and getting a bit flummoxed.

Some low-hanging fruit that’s annoyed me recently:

I would add support for video to iCloud Photo Stream
The ability to sync album structures in the Photos app between devices.

Add the ability to set a system-wide quiet time for notifications

FaceTime over cellular – we’re paying for every byte we transmit over these networks now, let me choose how to use them.

Stop the iPad home screen icons reflowing from a 4×5 grid into a 5×4 grid when you rotate.

Add a few high-level system control widgets to the Notification Center: Bluetooth, WiFi, Cellular Data Roaming, Personal Hotspot, AirPlay and A/V controls.

We have deep Twitter integration in the OS and the rumours are that we’re going to get similar for Facebook. I would really like Evernote to be the 3rd service but now I’m just asking for the moon on a stick!

Finally, I would use my leverage to negotiate lower international roaming rates for iPhone users. For heavy smartphone users, people who depend on their offline brain, being connected isn’t just a matter of fun or even productivity. It can be a matter of safety. When you’re abroad, you need fast and easy information in your own language more than ever.

Anything else you’d like to share?

I was a very early advocate of iOS and the iPad. When we decided to deploy it 1:1 in our school, we made a bet that the platform would succeed and grow. I’m writing this on the day that The Omni Group just shipped their final iOS port of their Mac apps – OmniPlan for iPad. It is remarkable and astonishing the extent to which the platform has grown in capability in that short time. I have never been more excited for the future.

Thanks Fraser.

For more home screens clicky here.

I’ve had a few speaking gigs in the last year that gave me the chance to get to know Jeff Carlson (Twitter) (Web), a technology writer with many fantastic books from Peachpit Press and other publishers. Most recently, Jeff wrote The iPad for Photographers and The iPad Pocket Guide, Third Edition. Jeff is also a senior editor at TidBITS, a columnist for The Seattle Times, and a frequent contributor to Macworld and Photoshop Elements Techniques. Okay Jeff, show us your home screen.

How many times a day do you use your iPhone/iPad?

Dozens, at least. Both devices are almost always with me. I use the iPad more for reading than the iPhone, but the iPhone gets plenty of use getting caught up on Twitter and email.

What is your favorite feature of the iPhone/iPad?

For the iPhone, it’s the general capability of having so much access and processing power in such a small device. I can’t imagine buying a phone now that does nothing but phone calls.

What are your most interesting home screen apps?

My iPhone’s home screen is a little deceiving: The order here hides the chaos of the rest of the home screens. Part of that is having lots of apps, but mostly it’s because I can’t convince myself to organize everything on my iPhone. It would take too long — which is funny, because my iPad is neat and tidy.

So here’s a brief rundown of my main home screen:

I’m a little surprised that I still have many of the default apps visible, but they’re tools I use regularly. I’ve tried replacements for Calendar but find I prefer the original; it’s simple and works well.

The Comm folder holds a variety of communication tools, of which Messages is by far the most used. But it’s helpful to have Skype and Messenger to reach certain people.

I’ve flirted with other Camera apps (lord knows I own too many of them), but keep coming back to the built in Camera app because it starts up quickly. I find myself using it most often these days from the lock screen, where you can swipe up to get directly to the camera. (From David, me too.)

The App Store is still here because it’s the gateway to app updates.

I use Remote with my Apple TV often enough to keep it handy on the first screen. The same goes for the Sonos app, which I use to play music on a Sonos Play5 I recently bought for our living room.

PlainText is currently my text editor of choice, which I also have on my iPad. It’s great for storing notes, writing short articles (like this one, actually), and all of its documents get stored on Dropbox, so I can open them using BBEdit on my Mac easily.

Clear is a recent addition, my millionth attempt to bring order to my life. I wish it could sync to other sources, but I respect that it’s trying to be simple. I keep a few to-do lists there, but mostly use it for trying to figure out what to do today, and knock things off the list.

My Dock is standard-issue except for Twitterrific, my Twitter app of choice. I use Twitterrific on the iPad and Mac, too, because it supports the TweetMarker service: no matter which client I view, a marker keeps track of the last tweet I read, making it easy to get caught up.

The Utilities folder is a mishmash of things I like to have close at hand: Boxcar for presenting alerts (whenever I get a direct message in Twitter, an email from apple.com, or email from my editor at the Seattle Times); 1Password, because it’s essential; PCalc Lite, because I’m a stereotypical writer/English major who too often needs help with calculations; and Flashlight to turn on the iPhone’s flash when I head for bed late at night.

Not included on the Home screen are two apps that I use often, which are stored on the second screen. In fact, I’ve grown so accustomed to their placement—leftmost icon in the third and fourth rows—that a recent icon shuffle threw me off until I could reposition them. I use OneBusAway to track bus times in Seattle, and Lose It to count calories while I’m dieting (like now).

Thanks Jeff

For more home screens clicky here.

Not so long ago, I linked the video The Omni Group produced about Tim Stringer (Twitter) and his journey with technology. Since then, I’ve got to know Tim a bit and he’s agreed to share his home screen.

What are your most interesting home screen apps?

The iPad is a marvellous learning tool. I use the DK HumanBody app to learn more about my inner workings and Star Walk to help find my place in the universe.

What is your favorite app?

If I had to pick one I’d choose OmniFocus. Having mobile access to my projects and tasks helps me keep my GTD system current and my mind clear. Honourable mentions go to Tweetbot, one of the most thoughtfully designed apps I’ve ever used, to Due for faithfully reminding me of time-sensitive events (and helping ensure my tea isn’t over-steeped) and to my favourite writing app, Byword, that comes complete with iCloud, TextExpander and Markdown support.

Which app is your guilty pleasure?

I admit to being a bit of a podcast junkie. I recently started using Downcast to listen to audio podcasts on my iPhone and to watch video podcasts on my iPad. I appreciate the flexibility this app provides, most notably the highly customizable Playlists feature. For example, I have a Playlist called “Favourites” that automatically lists unheard episodes from my favourite podcasts, including Mac Power Users.

What is the app you are still missing?

I’m still waiting for the ultimate visual search app. For example, I’d like to be able to point my iPhone’s camera at the leaf of a tree and be provided with details on the tree in question. The possibilities are endless.

How many times a day do you use your iPhone/iPad?

This varies dramatically depending on my current situation. My iPhone and iPad tend to get used more heavily when I’m out and about and serve quite different purposes. My iPhone fits easily in my pocket and gives me quick and convenient access to everything from bus schedules to weather information. My iPad becomes my primary computer when I’m on vacation and takes the place of a physical notebook when I’m travelling on business. Most of my reading is done on the iPad these days and the outstanding battery life it provides allows for an entertaining diversion on even the longest of trips.

What is your favorite feature of the iPhone/iPad?

I’ve always been rather picky when it comes to displays, and I appreciate the gorgeous Retina displays on my iPhone 4 and my new iPad.

If you were in charge at Apple, what would you add or change?

I would add an background update feature to iOS that would allow users to give specific apps permission to update their data in the background. For example, OmniFocus could automatically sync and Instapaper could pull down the latest batch of articles without it being necessary to manually launch each app. To address power consumption concerns, there would be an option to disable background updates when the iOS device isn’t plugged in.

Anything else you’d like to share?

Both the iPhone and iPad have the potential to be a major source of distraction. I make a point of going through the Notifications options in Settings with a fine tooth comb, fine-tuning the settings so that I’m not, for example, pulled away from reading an interesting book each time someone references me in a tweet.

When I received my new iPad last month I decided to start from scratch — installing apps on an as-needed basis and eliminating any past cruft in the process. I put general-purpose apps, such as Camera and Calendar on the Home screen and Dock and all other apps were placed in folders based on their related activity. When I have time set aside for reading I open the “Reading” folder and all the other apps fade into the background. Similarly, when I’m in work mode I open up my “Productivity” folder, bringing the focus to my productivity apps.

Thanks Tim.

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This week’s home screen features Robert Lloyd Lewis (Twitter), producer of Dexter, the most loveable serial killer in the history of television. Robert, among many talents, produces a popular television show, builds apps, and loves his Apple technology. So Robert, show us your home screen.

What are your most interesting home screen apps?

Air Dictate, which let’s me use Siri to dictate to my Mac. Unfortunately Apple yanked it, but I’ve still got it! I also love FaceDialer, which allows me to create one-touch-dial apps with a photo as the icon. I also like YouMail, which emails me my voicemails.

What is your favorite app?

OmniFocus. Yes, it has a learning curve (and thanks David for your invaluable screencasts), but my life would be chaos without it. It also has the most reliable cloud syncing of anything out there, including iCloud. OF’s cloud syncing…just works.

On my iPad:

I love Pear Note, which records audio while I’m taking notes and associates the two. That way I can easily find any part of the audio by clicking on the text I was typing at that moment.

I also can’t live without iAnnotate, which is better than Good Reader. I’ve got all my Dexter scripts with annotated notes, highlights and scribbles on it.

My browser of choice is ‘Grazing Web Browser’. Much better than Safari.

Which app is your guilty pleasure?

My own app, of course! Vowel Movement is a word game in the vein of Scramble and Scrabble. Shameless plug!

What is the app you are still missing?

A reliable way to add todo’s into Omnifocus through voice/transcription. The OF workaround is unreliable. So, my most useful app is not an app at all. It’s on my home screen as ‘Quick Entry’. It’s a trick that opens a text-ready inbox todo in OmniFocus with one touch. Find it here.

I still haven’t found the perfect headset. I’ve tried tons. My current fave is the Jabra Stone 2.

How many times a day do you use your iPhone/iPad?

Whenever I’m not by my Mac, my iPhone/iPad batteries are draining.

What is your favorite feature of the iPhone/iPad?

My iPhone let’s me carry my whole world on my hip. Since it’s always with me, I have every piece of data I ever need at my finger tips. Also, a good idea never slips into the ether since I have a place to store it quickly.

If you were in charge at Apple, what would you add or change?

I would add a drop down with which I could easily toggle on/off bluetooth, location services, airplane mode, and wifi all in one page without drilling down endlessly. (I think Android has this feature). I also wish I could restrict Siri to the iPhone mic. It connects to my car’s built-in bluetooth mic and doesn’t understand a word I say. Frustrating!

Anything else you’d like to share?

Thanks David, for your awesome blog, and keep those screencasts coming!

Thanks Robert.

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Mike Vardy (Website) (Twitter) is humorist that writes and talks about productivity. I met Mike at Macworld this year and can report he is a pretty swell guy. So Mike, show us your home screen.

What are your most interesting home screen apps?

Buddha Machine, without a doubt. When I want some ambient music in the background while I’m either working on my book or doing any other type of writing, it hits just the right spot.

What is your favorite app?

My favorite app is Reeder – both on my iPhone and iPad – because it allows me to read, share, track and enjoy all of my RSS feeds in one fell swoop. It’s just really well-executed and a pleasure to use.

Which app is your guilty pleasure?

I didn’t have one until recently, as I got rid of any games I’d installed. But then Paper by Fifty-Three came along for the iPad and I’ve been having a blast with it. I had no need for a stylus before it, but since I downloaded it (and subsequently bought the in-app writing/drawing instruments), I’ve got Studio Neat’s Cosmonaut headed my way.

What is the app you are still missing?

A proper mobile app for Asana, my task management app of choice. It’s not quite as robust as it needs to be, so I’m anxiously awaiting an update so that I can have a more full-featured Asana experience in my pocket.

How many times a day do you use your iPhone/iPad?

I have both of them at the ready every day, several times a day. I shift gears to my iPad when my MacBook air battery runs low, and my iPhone is my work phone. I read all of my RSS feeds and my Instapaper queue on my iPad or iPhone, and podcasts on Instacast are synced between the two devices as well. And let’s not forget Tweetbot. Both my iPad and iPhone get used numerous times per day, and each of them has use cases they’re better suited for based on form factor.

What is your favorite feature of the iPhone/iPad?

Both the iPhone and iPad give me the power to create and interact with others that are miles away regardless of where I might be. That kind of power and flexibility is something that I enjoy having at my disposal.

If you were in charge at Apple, what would you add or change?

I’d make sure that the inability to delete native apps from iOS devices was no longer an issue. I mean, if iDevices are supposed to be so personal, surely I should be able to remove the apps that aren’t a factor in my life…right?

Anything else you’d like to share?

The best part about both the iPad and iPhone is that they can do so much and take up so little space. They can be used to consume or create. They can play music or they can make music. They can display words or they can allow you to take words and display them almost anywhere. They can play movies and they can make movies. When you think about all they can do, that’s pretty phenomenal.

Thanks Mike.

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