Home Screens – Federico Viticci

For some time now, I’ve been following MacStories.net. Only recently, however, I’ve started corresponding with MacStories’ Federico Viticci (Twitter). Federico is a really bright guy and was kind enough to show off his home screens.

What are your most interesting home screen apps?

I think the “most interesting” apps are the ones that allow me to get work done from an iPhone or iPad without having to rely on my Mac all the time. Notely, for instance, is a great text editor with Dropbox support, Markdown integration and customizable keyboard — I got all my iOS 5 and iCloud coverage done with it on the iPad. Adobe Carousel is a recent addition to my home screen, but I can see it working in the long term for me as I’ve been looking for some sort of Photo Stream alternative with more options and control. Carousel allows me to forget about “library management” through a Mac because my photos are in sync everywhere and the iOS clients have good editing capabilities. Last I’d mention Evernote — perhaps it’s not really “interesting” to many as it’s a rather old app and note-taking may not be as exciting as the latest Instagram clone, but I keep all kinds of data and information inside Evernote, and the iOS app has received some terrific improvements recently.

What is your favorite app?

Instapaper. Specifically, Instapaper for iPad. There are hundreds of great apps for iOS, dozens that I’ve tried over the years and could be my “favorite” ones, but looking back at  the degree of innovation brought to the platform and overall enhancement of my digital habits, I say Instapaper is the app that has most changed the way I approach my iPhone and iPad as “reading devices” in my free time. Instapaper is my favorite app because I didn’t think an app could improve and deeply change the way I read. The latest 4.0 update made it impossible for me not to love it even more.

Which app is your guilty pleasure?

Rdio. Mostly because it’s not available in Italy, but it turns out you can use it with gift cards and a regular US VPN. I’m a Rdio subscriber, which means I can use the service on my Mac, iPhone and iPad. I used to be a die-hard Spotify fan, but since I’ve started listening to music on Rdio I’ve been very impressed with these guys’ music catalogue and iOS apps. The iPad client is fantastic, and something Spotify is still missing.

What is the app you are still missing?

Back to my Mac for iOS. I’ve been using different apps to remotely access my Mac’s screen, files or media over the Internet in the past months, but I’d like to see an integrated solution from Apple that thoroughly takes advantage of iCloud and your Apple ID to make your Mac available anywhere. The iPhone could serve as a mini-client to browse documents and stream media, whereas the iPad would get screen-controlling capabilities. I know Apple’s future is in iCloud (Documents in the iCloud, iTunes Match) and clearly the company would have to figure out a way to emulate a Mac’s screen on a multitouch surface, but third-parties have done this before and I believe there’s still a large percentage of files and documents that can’t be stored in iCloud, but would still be convenient to have remotely available for reading, sharing, etc. 

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

I use my iPhone all the time. When I’m at my Mac, my iPhone is on my desk and I use it for phone calls, iMessages, FaceTime — mostly communication features. When I’m out, my iPhone is my mobile workstation with access to Twitter, RSS, MacStories’ chatroom and all kinds of networks and services I use on a daily basis. When I’m not using my Mac, I use my iPad to catch up on news and Twitter, play games, write articles, read my Instapaper queue or iBooks, watch movies and listen to Rdio. I haven’t measured the amount of time I spend with my iPad, but I’m fairly sure it’s around 4 hours per day. I use it a lot more during the weekends though, when I don’t open my MacBook Air at all.

What is your favorite feature of the iPhone/iPad?

It’s a difficult choice between the 4S’ Retina Display and camera, and the iPad 2’s multitasking gestures. If I really had to pick one for the iPhone I’d say the Retina Display. Ever since its introduction last year, the amount of pixels Apple put into the device has enabled me to read any kind of text with ease — quality is amazing. Gestures are just another “wow factor” of multitouch on portable displays, and with iOS 5 they make it extremely simple and fast to switch between apps and go back to the Home screen.

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

To go back to the topic of Back to my Mac, I’d focus on making devices aware of each other and capable of effortlessly sharing information and data without having to use apps or external tools. This is something I’ve been thinking about for a while and I’m sure it’s already happening elsewhere with a combination of NFC and cloud-based services — imagine being able to share a webpage or photo with a friend by simply “bumping” two iPhones, or control the iPhone’s camera from an iPad. And because the Mac has been demoted to “just a device”, I think there would be room for deeper, native, intuitive integration with all these devices that are already using a single iCloud account. Maybe it’ll be a hardware component or new software technologies, but I’d like to see Apple’s devices gaining the capability of “talking” to each other. 

“Siri, make sure my iPad is loading Apple’s keynote video when I get home”.

Anything else you’d like to share?

It’s an exciting time to watch new technologies unfold and evolve, and I believe we’ve only scratched the surface with cloud services, voice recognition, and touch interfaces. I’m impressed every single day by what we’re able to do with devices today, but I’m always looking forward to whatever’s next.

Thanks Federico.

To read about more home screens, clicky here

Home Screens – Ryan Irelan

I’ve recently come to know Ryan Irelan (Twitter). Ryan is a busy guy working with Happy Cog and publishing his own screencast series at Mijingo. Ryan is also the guy did such a great job filling in for Dan Benjamin when he was on leave from 5by5. So Ryan, show us your home screen.

What is your favorite app?

Right now my favorite app on my home screen is Instacast. I only recently purchased it and after using it for a day I promoted it to my home screen. Even with wireless syncing in iOS 5, using Instacast to subscribe to and listen to podcasts is a much better experience than using iTunes.

As you can see from the screenshot, I’m a little behind on my listening. My podcast subscriptions consist of shows from 5by5, The Moth Podcast, NPR’s Planet Money, To the Best of Our Knowledge and, of course This American Life. I used to also listen to the Bob Edwards Show from Sirius XM but they cancelled the podcast version for reasons that I’m sure were ill informed. I’m not in my car enough to catch it on the radio.

Speaking of being in the car: I use the Rdio app and service as my main music source while on the go. As long as I have at least a 3G connection I can access just about any song or album I want. It has offline syncing so I can listen to my favorite albums while on an airplane or those other extremely rare occasions that I am without an Internet connection. To me, Rdio is how Apple would do streaming music.

What is the app you are still missing?

The one described in the stalled project in my OmniFocus database.

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

For the last five years I’ve worked from home so I don’t use my phone as much during the day as someone who is constantly on the go or isn’t allowed to access their favorite apps and services from work.

I do use my phone a lot while hanging out with my daughter to capture moments as photos and videos. The photos and videos are uploaded to her private Tumblr site or sent via text message to my parents, family, and friends.

What is your favorite feature of the iPhone/iPad?

Using it. Okay, that’s not a feature but the devices are a pleasure to use.

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

This is probably on the punch list for a future version of iOS but I’d like to be able to customize the Notification Center in iOS 5. It is a huge improvement over the old notifications and you can set per app notifications but there are some tweaks I’d like to see.

Anything else you’d like to share?

I mentioned this in my contribution to the 5by5 Steve Jobs tribute but the iPhone and the apps I use have been vitally important in documenting the first year of my daughter’s life.

My parents travel full time and we have immediate family spread up and down the East Coast of the United States and in Germany. Having an insanely simple, near effortless way to share photos and videos right from my phone makes living far away easier. Those moments you saw in the touching FaceTime commercials really happen.

Thanks Ryan

To read about more home screens, clicky here

The No Journal

During the MPU iPad at Work show, I unexpectedly blundered into discussing my “No Journal” (time 63:35). Eddie Smith posted on it last week. I didn’t spend much time explaining the No Journal during the podcast, frankly, because it felt like my own personal neurosis. Nevertheless, I’ve received a lot of email questions about this so here goes.

“No” has always been difficult for me. The trouble is, I really enjoy saying “yes”. After all, I want people to like me and what better way to do this than saying yes to every crazy thing they ask? This was such a problem for me that I was always over-comitted and routinely shipping crap in most aspects of my life. I am certain I’ve missed out on some great opportunities over the years because I put myself in this morass. Moreover, I have no doubt that some of the projects I was truly passionate about ended up substantially less awesome because of my inability to say no to other things. Put simply, saying yes too often means that you will, necessarily, be mailing it in on everything. Merlin and Dan talk about this often on Back to Work.

A few years ago I vowed to change this. I became mindful about the words “yes” and “no”. Because I’m a little crazy, I eventually started keeping a list. I call it the No Journal. There isn’t any magic to this. I do it in a text file (stored in Simplenote). My No Journal is a running list of the things I say yes and no to. Here are a few of my entries (with slight modification):

Yes List

  • Reading to my daughter

  • Being awesome for my clients

  • Improving the podcast

  • Learn to play the hell out of Monk’s “Ruby, My Dear”

  • Macworld article

  • Stay on top of [friend]’s illness

No List

  • ACME Board Seat

  • Article for Windows Zealot magazine

  • Steering committee seat

  • Taking girls to movies

  • NFL

  • New Star Wars MMORPG

This list really helps me in my quest to break my yes addiction. I keep the yes list short. In fact, if the yes list gets too long, it’s a sure sign I’m falling off the wagon, again. The point of the yes list is that when I’m confronted with a new opportunity, I look at my yes list and ask if the new opportunity is sufficiently mind-blowing to unseat something else already on the yes list.

If it isn’t, I politely say no and add it to the no list. The act of writing these things down is therapeutic. It helps me cope with my overwhelming desire to always say yes and the guilt resulting from saying no to many worthy opportunities. Looking back over the list gives me an idea of how I’m doing.

Another benefit of saying no is that it reminds me how special those things are that make the cut. Whether it is writing an article, giving a killer presentation, or just taking a walk with my wife, those are items that I’ve chosen to do because they are so special. It makes mindfulness easy.

Sometimes I find myself looking at these lists and realizing things are out of kilter. When I’m more passionate about things on the no list than the yes list, I start making changes. I’d like to say I’ve mastered this, but I haven’t. I still often suck at saying no and am still overcommited. I think I could be even better at the things I love if I’d get the yes list even shorter. Nevertheless, I’m much better at this with my nerdy list. It’s a journey.

The No Journal is not to be confused with a task list. (It isn’t a someday-maybe list either. In most cases, no means no, forever.) This isn’t a list I read to figure out what to do next. Instead, the No Journal is how I keep myself honest. It wouldn’t have been possible for me to write two books and keep a full time day job in the last few years without first getting better at saying no. My only regret is not getting serious about this earlier.

Using Simplenote, I can access this No Journal anywhere but you could do it on a pad of paper, a notecard, or even a napkin. I’ve thought about building an iOS app around my No Journal. Sadly, however, that idea is still on the no list.

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