ATPM15.12 / December 2009 Volume 15, Number 12

About This Particular Macintosh: About the personal computing experience.™

ATPM 15.12 1 Cover

Cover ArtCopyright © 2009 Catherine von Dennefeld1. Click2 to enlarge. We need new cover art each month. Write3

to us!

The ATPM Staff

Publisher/Editor Michael Tsai4Managing Editor Christopher Turner5

Reviews Editor Paul Fatula6

Web Editor Lee Bennett7

Copy Editors Chris Lawson8

Linus Ly9

Ellyn Ritterskamp10

Brooke Smith11

VacantWebmaster Michael Tsai12

Beta Testers The Staff13

Contributing Editors Eric Blair14

Mike Chamberlain15

Ed Eubanks Jr.16

Matthew Glidden17

Ted Goranson18

Andrew Kator19

Robert Paul Leitao20

Wes Meltzer21

Sylvester Roque22

Charles Ross23

Mark Tennent24

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10http://www.ritterskoop.org11http://twitter.com/oharabrooks12http://mjtsai.com13mailto:editor@atpm.com14http://www.raoli.com15mailto:mchamberlain@atpm.com16http://www.eubanksconsulting.net17mailto:mglidden@atpm.com18http://www.sirius-beta.com19http://andrew.katorlegaz.com20https://twitter.com/NuevoSobriquet21http://www.wesmeltzer.com22mailto:sroque@atpm.com23http://www.chivalrysoftware.com24http://www.tennent.co.uk

ATPM 15.12 2 Cover

Evan Trent25

Vacant

Artwork & Design

Layout and Design Michael Tsai26

Web Design Simon Griffee27

Cartoonists Matt Johnson28, Linus Ly29

Blue Apple Icons Mark RobinsonOther Art RD NovoGraphics Director Vacant

EmeritusRD Novo, Robert Madill, Belinda Wagner, Ja-mal Ghandour, Edward Goss, Tom Iovino, DanielChvatik, Mike Shields, Grant Osborne, GregoryTetrault, Raena Armitage, Johann Campbell, DavidOzab.

ContributorsSeth Dillingham, Ed Eubanks Jr., Matt Johnson,Chris Lawson, Robert Paul Leitao, Linus Ly, MarkTennent, Macintosh users like you.

SubscriptionsSign up for free subscriptions using the Web form30.

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Legal StuffAbout This Particular Macintosh may be uploadedto any online area or included on a CD-ROM com-pilation, so long as the file remains intact and unal-tered, but all other rights are reserved. All informa-tion contained in this issue is correct to the best ofour knowledge. The opinions expressed in atpm arenot necessarily those of the entire atpm staff. Prod-uct and company names and logos may be registeredtrademarks of their respective companies. Thank youfor reading this far, and we hope that the rest of themagazine is more interesting than this.

• • •

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ATPM 15.12 3 Cover

ATPM 15.12 4 Cover

SponsorsAbout This Particular Macintosh has been free since 1995, and we intend to keep it that way. Our editorsand staff are volunteers with real jobs who believe in the Macintosh way of computing. We don’t make aprofit, nor do we plan to. Our aim is to produce a fiercely independent magazine, with multiple formatsdesigned for easy reading rather than showing ads. The views expressed in these pages have always beenour own, and to help prove it we do not accept direct sponsorships or advertising. We do, however, need topay for our Web site and other expenses, so we rely on minimal advertising, sold indirectly via Google andYahoo, as well as the support of atpm readers who shop using our links1.

1http://www.atpm.com/about/support.shtml

ATPM 15.12 5 Sponsors

Welcomeby Robert Paul Leitao, rleitao@atpm.com

Welcome to the December issue of About This Par-ticular Macintosh! The editors of atpm wish you ahappy holiday season, and we look forward to pro-viding you with our unique mix of news, views, andreviews throughout the coming year.

PC Market Share? Who Cares?In a recent report by market research group NPD, itwas estimated Macintosh computer sales now repre-sent close to 50% of domestic revenue for PCs soldat retail. The report is based on October sales activ-ity and suggests that Apple’s revenue take in the PCindustry continues to rise.

Netbook unit sales have shrouded problems in theWindows PC market. While netbooks are popularwith consumers, they sell at comparatively lowerprices and foreshadow a continuing consumer migra-tion to lower-cost personal digital devices. ThoughApple has been reducing the prices of its consumerPCs, Macs have been increasing the percentageof revenue Apple realizes in the domestic marketrelative to Windows PCs.

All market share is not created equal, and Ap-ple’s disproportionate take of PC retail revenue indi-cates that the company’s economic influence on thePC market is greater than market stats alone willindicate.

Developers, Developers, DevelopersThe now infamous chant of Microsoft CEO SteveBallmer while addressing a gathering of Windowsdevelopers has been memorialized on video, parodiedin skits, and replayed on the Web countless times.While his innate sense of rhythm may be called intoquestion, his passion for the company he heads andappreciation for those who support the Windowsecosystem through software development is beyondquestion.

Microsoft achieved a global monopoly in desktopoperating systems largely through the support of de-velopers who expanded the uses of the OS into virtu-ally all areas of commerce and personal productivity.

An argument can be made that the PC markethas reached maturity, with slowing rates of growth inaggregate as consumers embrace smaller, hand-held

device that offer specific-use functionality in a moveaway from the PC-centric product paradigm.

Emerging as a clear winner in the consumermigration to handheld devices is Apple throughits iPhone OS product line. Encompassing boththe iPhone and iPod touch, iPhone OS offers over100,000 applications via the iTunes App Store andhas been intriguing developers with its easy salesprocess and in-application sales opportunities.

There’s no disputing the fact that commercialcontent (software, games, music, movies, etc.) makeshardware devices more attractive to consumers. Inall of the discussions about the success of the iPhoneand the iPod touch, one cannot overstate the im-portance of developers in creating a profitable OSplatform. Just ask Steve Ballmer about the impor-tance of developers to a platform’s success, or justwatch as iPhone and iPod touch sales continue togrow as more and more commercial content becomesavailable for iPhone OS devices.

Verizon’s iPhone EnvyFor those of us who do watch TV these days, thesparring ads between Verizon and AT&T cannot beavoided. AT&T’s success with the iPhone also cannotbe disputed. AT&T has invested heavily in iPhonesubsidies and has been racing to add infrastructureto meet the unprecedented demand of iPhone users.Much of the iPhone’s market growth has come at Ver-izon’s expense.

Verizon, seizing on discontent with AT&T’s re-ported service issues, is playing to its strength in ex-ploiting the public’s perception of its superior cellservice in efforts to battle migration from Verizon toAT&T and the iPhone. Verizon now offers a Motorolasmartphone branded as the “Droid” and running theAndroid 2.0 OS as an alternative to the iPhone forits customers.

Despite Verizon’s efforts and its expensive adver-tising campaigns touting the Droid and exploitingAT&T’s high-profile iPhone traffic service issues, thecompany has no real answer to the iPhone’s success.Android 2.0 phones will be released by multiple hand-set makers and will be offered on multiple cellularservice networks. There’s no replacing the iPhone inthe contest for wireless customers.

ATPM 15.12 6 Welcome

Verizon desperately needs an Apple wireless de-vice to combat defections from its service. Whetherthat device or devices (the iPhone and/or the much-rumored Apple tablet) come to the Verizon networkwill be determined in time.

Verizon Wireless is a co-venture between Verizonand Europe’s Vodafone Group. While Vodafone isamong the authorized iPhone service providers in var-ious European territories, the iPhone’s conspicuousabsence from the Verizon Wireless portfolio of hand-sets is a competitive disadvantage for the nation’snumber one provider of cellular services.

AT&T’s exclusive agreement for the iPhone is ex-pected to end in 2010. Watch for Verizon to pushhard for versions of the iPhone—and Apple’s futurewireless devices such as the much-rumored tablet—towork on the Verizon Wireless network. Until then,there’s no solution for Verizon’s iPhone envy, andAT&T’s wireless growth has a hefty cost to Verizonas both companies compete heavily for customers.

Holiday Season SalesBy most accounts Apple is expected to have an im-pressive holiday season for product sales. The re-cently refreshed iMac line will bolster Apple’s Macsales in the December quarter, and the iPod willonce again serve as a holiday season favorite amongshoppers. Apple continues to open new retail storesaround the globe. These stores serve as sales andservice centers, as well as effective marketing tools tointroduce Apple-branded products and accessories toshoppers worldwide.

Apple will most likely report record revenue andearnings for the three-month period ending in Decem-ber, and many expect record sales of the iPhone andits non-phone companion, the iPod touch.

Apple’s continuing growth and the attractivenessof the company’s consumer products makes Apple notonly a success story for investors, but it also createsa highly functional set of products that complementeach other in enhancing the user’s digital lifestyle.Increasingly, consumers are buying multiple Appleproducts and taking advantage of the sum function-ality they provide. Each Apple product purchase setsthe stage for the purchase of complementary Appleproducts.

Watch for new Apple product announcements af-ter the holiday season as the company prepares for asecond decade of success in the second decade of thismillennium.

Our December Issueatpm continues its monthly chronicle of what we callthe “personal computing experience” as new productscome to market and as our readers demand the mostfrom their personal computing devices. We wish allof our readers a happy holiday season, and we lookforward to a new year of new opportunities and areturn to normalcy in the world’s economies.

Our December issue includes:

MacMuser: Regional Rip-offs1

“The same companies who sell the contracts to usetheir cellphone network in the UK will charge youan arm and a leg to use their network 50 miles awayacross the English Channel.”

MacMuser: Relevant Eloquent Pleading2

In case you were ever unclear that Mark Tennentlikes the Mac platform, this plea to his IT depart-ment should set the record straight.

Next Actions: Getting Back on the GTD Wagon3

Ed Eubanks Jr. updates his GTD Master List andtalks about how to get back on track if you, as mostpeople inevitably do, get a little behind.

How To: Five Ways to Make Any Photo Better4

You don’t have to be a Photoshop expert to improvea photo. Ed Eubanks Jr. has five simple ways thatshould improve virtually any photo.

Segments: My First Mac5

By 2009 standards it does not do much, but it wasLinus Ly’s first lovely possession in the Mac universe.

Desktop Pictures: Apple Picking6

Seth Dillingham shared this month’s photos from anorchard in Connecticut.

Out at Five7

Matt Johnson’s new series, Out at Five looks at theworkplace and its boundaries from all angles, revolv-ing around many of the same characters from his for-mer series, Cortland.

1http://www.atpm.com/15.12/macmuser-regional.shtml2http://www.atpm.com/15.12/macmuser-pleading.shtml3http://www.atpm.com/15.12/next-actions.shtml4http://www.atpm.com/15.12/make-any-photo-better.me

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ATPM 15.12 7 Welcome

Qaptain Qwerty8

When I was your age. . .

Review: PDFClerk Pro 3.9.39

PDFClerk Pro is a good replacement for Preview andcan do great impositions.

Review: U-Suit Premium10

A classic black suit for your iPhone to go along withthe classic black suit you already own.

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ATPM 15.12 8 Welcome

E-MailShareTool 1.3.11

I agree it is a great tool, especially for someone trav-eling constantly.

One caveat or shortcoming you didn’t mention isthat the host computer has to be running, not sleep-ing, all the time. I hate to leave mine on when outof town for a week and I may only need to connect acouple times.

They have implemented a new feature to put thehost computer to sleep, but only for up to four hoursbefore it wakes again and would require you to con-nect again to put it back to sleep. Obviously, this isnot practical when away for several days. . .so it endsup running the entire time anyway.

—Bob JohnsonI realize I didn’t mention that the host com-puter has to be running. I suppose I assumedthat was kind of a given. I think it’s fair to as-sume that, even on a local network, a host com-puter has to be running before you can do filesharing, screen sharing, or other forms of Bon-jour connections. All ShareTool does is extendthat capability beyond your LAN. Your mileagemay vary, but I leave my Mac Pro running 24/7because it holds a Gallery-powered photo albumWeb site as well. It also hosts my iTunes libraryfor access, not only on a remote computer viaShareTool, but also to my Apple TV. I knowthere are those who would question whether Iwant to suck up that much electricity. I cangive two answers to that:

1. The cost of the extra electricityeach month is less than what I’dhave to pay to keep the photoson most standard hosting servicesconsidering it’s approaching 30 GB.

2. Earlier this year, I moved the serveroff an old 450 MHz G4 to this year’sNehalem Mac Pro, which uses farless power than that G4 did!

—Lee Bennett

Voyager Q2

I bought one after getting a cheaper USB-only“toaster” and finding it to be far too slow.

I use it with FireWire to connect to my MacBookPro. The coolest thing to do is to boot from it. I can

1http://www.atpm.com/15.11/sharetool.shtml2http://www.atpm.com/15.11/voyager-q.shtml

have any size drive running my MacBook Pro whenI’m at home.

Very easy to use. Trouble free for a couple ofmonths.

—George Entenman

• • •

I have a similar need (too many hard drives!)but really liked the much more sturdy WiebeTechRTX100H-Q3 solution.

(not an advertisement—just a very satisfied cus-tomer)

I prefer to have the internal fan cooling thedrives. . .sometimes they get quite warm as they justsit on the “toaster” style connectors.

Hope this is useful.—Jeff

iPhoniness4

Did I detect a bit of British Sarcasm in this missive?I always enjoy Mr. Tennent's forays as the Mac-

Muser. Thanks for the morning laugh.—David Thompson

• • •

Thanks for the smile—my work life mirrors yours,and I can truly identify! I have a first-generationiPhone (thanks to a grandbaby and her slobber),and I can only suggest that you will be most happywith your decision. You might even wonder why youwaited until it became a necessity. :-)

—Lori Smith

Blender 2.31a5

For years I wanted to get into 3D work. My two sonsand daughter are in college and still live at home. Wehave started working on a project together, and mywife wants in on it too. We are making an educationalgame that works like an MMO.

We have narrowed what we will use down to afew things. Blender, Multiverse, and 3Dvia becausethey are all free. For video, audio, sound, and music

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ATPM 15.12 9 E-Mail

score we went with Sony Video Platinum Pro Packbecause for just over $100 we get a full set bundledfor production.

I used to work for a production company as aprogrammer, and while I was there I learned image,video, and audio digital editing and some illustrationdesign. My programing was limited to Web designand Director 8 Lingo, but with God’s help I can learnPython and Java for the game development.

I really like the new Blender because it affords usthe ability to use the same content for the game tomake animated videos to play in-game. The Blendercommunity is extremely generous with tutorials androyalty-free 3D content. I have done a lot of researchon Blender and can not understand why there is notan AS Degree in community colleges based on theBlender application.

—Dannyjax

Chasing the Dragons6

It is pretty scandalous. I have a friend who lives justoutside Sevenoaks—hardly the middle of nowhere.Quoted broadband speeds vary from 0.5 megabits persecond to “not more than 0 megabits per second.”

We can only compete internationally if we havegood infrastructure, and that includes high-speedbroadband.

—Peter Danckwerts

• • •

At least 98% of Britain has broadband access (or soI’ve heard). Where I live in the US, the town 16 milesaway is looking forward to FiOS, while there is no ca-ble, a weak cell signal, nor can the phone companybe bothered to upgrade the phone office in my neigh-borhood with a “mere” population of 10,000. I paythree times what my neighbors pay just to get 1.5mbps download speeds with satellite. A good dealof America is languishing with not quite broadbandspeed in a world where access to high-speed broad-band is becoming as necessary as access to electricityand gasoline.

—Anonymous

• • •

I will join with Anonymous and note that Amer-ica is in a sad state also. I live in Austin, Texas—supposedly one of the most connected cities in this

6http://www.atpm.com/15.11/macmuser-chasing.shtml

country—and I can tell stories of friends who havepurchased homes in well-established areas of townthat were floored when they discovered that broad-band was not available to them. This is a problemthat is not limited to the rural areas here.

—Lori Smith

• • •

Gee, it’s almost as if the USA is one of the largestnations on earth, with one of the lowest populationdensities, and very evenly balanced quality of life be-tween urban and rural areas. Why, as a matter offact, it seems like many of these “dragon nations”are in fact tiny little third-world countries with allof their infrastructural development (including anyelectrical utilities) concentrated solely around theirlargest high-density cities. Funny, that.

—Eric Van Hoose

We’d love to hear your thoughts about our publication. Wealways welcome your comments, criticisms, suggestions, andpraise. Or, if you have an opinion or announcement aboutthe Macintosh platform in general, that’s OK too. Send youre-mail to editor@atpm.com. All mail becomes the propertyof atpm and may be edited for publication.

ATPM 15.12 10 E-Mail

MacMuserby Mark Tennent, http://www.tennent.co.uk

Regional Rip-offsIt was a dark and stormy afternoon in the Langue-doc’s Black Mountain last week, as we made our wayfurther up the narrow and twisting road. At eachhairpin bend, the drop on my side of the car grewmore precipitous, with only a few of the local mar-ble off-cuts to stop us going over the edge. As wedrove higher, it got darker, and rain clouds swirledaround the Peugeot. We had no choice but to followthe signs to the peak because there was nowhere toturn around.

The Michelin map indicated two side roads, butthey must have been the size of goat tracks becausewe couldn’t find them. My Garmin was back in Eng-land, and our driver hadn’t put her TomTom in thecar. In any case, the top-of-the-range TomTom kepttelling us we were still in a Parisian suburb ratherthan up a mountain north of Carcassonne. If onlymy iPhone had one of the new sat-nav packages in-stalled, or I could have used Google Maps to navigatea route back down.

Even in the wilds of southwest rural France, youget a better signal than we receive at home in Eng-land’s south coast conurbation. Data roaming inFrance is incredibly expensive, although the reasonwhy is completely beyond any rational explanation.Current iPhone contracts in the UK are only avail-able from France Telecom’s Orange and O2, ownedby Spain’s Telefonica.

We could see the Pyrenees and Spain in the dis-tance, and France Telecom has a base in Carcassonne,less than 25 miles away and 4,000 feet below. Bothcharge 35 pounds a month for more telephone callsand texts than I’ll use in a lifetime, plus free datadownloads in the UK. If I stand next to their trans-mitters in France or Spain and want to check mye-mail or a Web page, I’ll have to sell my soul topay off the charges. It is so expensive they warn cus-tomers in large and very unfriendly lettering in casethey accidentally leave data roaming switched on.

This seems completely ridiculous in a united Eu-rope. The same companies who sell the contracts touse their cellphone network in the UK will charge youan arm and a leg to use their network 50 miles awayacross the English Channel.

Or am I missing the point? No, I don’t think so.Even if we became a Euro economy as many thinkwe ought to have done years ago, we will still be con-trolled by pan-European companies charging regionalrip-offs. Unless the European rip-off minister decidesto do something about it.

Copyright © 2009 Mark Tennent1.

1http://www.tennent.co.uk

ATPM 15.12 11 MacMuser: Regional Rip-offs

MacMuserby Mark Tennent, http://www.tennent.co.uk

Relevant Eloquent PleadingA few weeks ago, I took over the control of an ancientDell running Windows XP. For a Mac user from thedays when PCs were still using the command line,this was a severe shock. Learning that 63%1 of theworld’s computers are running XP made me almostcry in despair.

Nevertheless, after a month the Dell is more tomy liking, or more correctly, less to my disliking.Just updating the operating system and software tookdays because everything was stuck in 2004. The uglyuser interface has been tweaked until its appearancedoesn’t offend as much, dark blue has been banished,along with Times New Roman, a particularly unap-pealing typeface. It is all far less in-your-face exceptfor adjusting the point size of lettering in folder namesand such like. It is either too small or enormously toolarge.

I’ve reversed the mouse buttons so that right-clicking means left-clicking, but how can I swap theControl key with the third one along (whatever it’scalled)? My right hand’s fingers can stretch to typeCommand-P to set things printing on a Mac, but aPC’s Control-P needs the reach of an orangutang. Sothat’s where Steve Ballmer got his famous monkeydance from.

Even though it is only a tiny 15-inch monitor,the essential programs now open in windows smallenough to fit a couple on screen but large enoughto be usable. Control panels have been scoured forways to make things more user-friendly, more effi-cient. Dare I say it, more Mac-like, or does that de-scribe Windows 7?

But the final and most painful thing is be recog-nised as the office computer nerd even though I knownothing about computers running Windows. Aren’tBritish kids taught elementary computer skills atschool? Yet they still ask me how to create a folder,how to drag and drop, how to automatically check fornew mail every ten minutes, how to get the printerto duplex.

Don’t get me started on some of the end re-sults. When I am asked whether the latest Microsoft

1http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_os.asp

Publisher–produced newsletter is any good, what amI expected to say?

I see you used 15 typefaces, and it lookslike the Times Extra Bold centred head-lines have been stretched (to gross distor-tion). How original to see subheads run assemicircles in outlined fonts with a dropshadow. And pink clip-art fairies are sucha good idea.

Meanwhile, I send pleading e-mails to the IT de-partment asking for a Mac. I’ll support it myself,supply all the software I need, and never ask themfor anything, ever again.

I’ll even pay for it.

Copyright © 2009 Mark Tennent2.

2http://www.tennent.co.uk

ATPM 15.12 12 MacMuser: Relevant Eloquent Pleading

Next Actionsby Ed Eubanks Jr.

Getting Back on the GTD WagonEven the most faithful GTD devotees sometimes letthings slide for a few days. (David Allen himself ad-mits that he gets behind on occasion.) This is nothingout of the ordinary.

But what about when it all effectively collapses?What about when the slipping of maintenance of yourGTD system isn’t measured in hours or days, but inweeks or months? Has this happened to you?

It’s happened to me—a number of times. Last fallwhen our twins were born. Two years ago when ev-erything was in boxes—even my computer—for morethan a week, during an interstate move. And lastsummer, when I had a three-week season of upside-down schedules: traveling for work for a week, enjoy-ing vacation for a week, then speaking at a week-longevent.

Maybe you’ve been through such a season. Threeor four weeks go by, and you haven’t done a review.Your inbox is full, and your tickler file still has thefolders from six weeks ago. The weeks add up, andsuddenly it’s been month, then two, then three.

Why It’s a ProblemThe reason such slippage is a problem goes beyondthe fact that your efficiency drops off. Yes, that’s aproblem. So is the setback of some things not gettingdone. But these aren’t the big reasons that falling offthe wagon creates great difficulty for you.

One big reason why it’s a problem is that you’veworked hard to build a trusted system. One of themost basic fundamentals of GTD is the concept of the“trusted system,” where everything can be safely putout of mind, allowing singular focus without distrac-tion. Now, that system is no longer trustworthy: youknow, instinctively, that you might not actually getback to that thought when it needs to be addressed.After all, you’ve fallen off the wagon. So one bigproblem is that you must not only restart your GTDsystem, but you must also learn to trust it again.

Another big reason—the other side of the coin,if you will—is that things are piling up. Not justthe occasional task slipping through, but projects,goals, big-picture things. Your planning is stalled.You don’t know whether you have time to commit to

things you’re being asked to undertake. In short, youare disorganized about what you can and cannot do,and how you will get done what you must.

Why It’s Not a ProblemOn the other hand, there are some senses in whichfalling off the wagon is not really such a big problem.

For one thing, things are still getting done. Maybenot as efficiently, and maybe you don’t have “mindlike water”—but it isn’t as if all has utterly ceased.You’re probably still fairly productive, even if you areworking at less-than-peak efficiency.

For another, you may not have needed GTD for aseason. Let’s face it: if you’re in the midst of an eventor even a season when GTD is stalled, you might notneed the kind of structure that GTD offers. When Iwas speaking at that week-long event last summer, forexample, my tasks were clear and singular. I didn’tneed a tickler file or task-list management applica-tion to remind me that I was going to speak thatday. These times are not when “falling off the wagon”matters; it’s after these times that you need to restartyour system fervently.

And the last reason that it’s not a big problemis that you can restart your system. And we’ll talkabout that in a minute.

Understanding the ObstaclesThere are several reasons why you may be where youare. Each of these has different degrees of severity;some of you (us?) may be outright pathological aboutthem. Know this, too: there are entire books de-voted to these, and many people go through counsel-ing about them. Obviously, I won’t be able to addressthem adequately in a few bullet points—but I can atleast point them out. You must do the hard workof figuring out how to deal with them, if they arepresent in your life.

Procrastination: you struggle, or have begun tostruggle, with not being willing to approach sometasks until the last minute.

Perfectionism: you find that you cannot be satis-fied with less-than-perfect results. (Note: ironically,this often leads to procrastination.)

ATPM 15.12 13 Next Actions: Getting Back on the GTD Wagon

Black-and-White Thinking: you see everything inall-or-nothing terms and miss the nuances of degree.

Catastrophizing: minor problems and obstacleseasily become catastrophes for you; you tend to makemountains out of molehills.

You might not struggle with any of these. But ifyou do, facing them will be a huge step toward gettingback on track with GTD. More importantly, it willmean freedom in all areas of your life, not simply inhow you manage tasks and projects.

But if you do wrestle with one or more of thesepathologies, know this: GTD will not be the answerto overcoming them. It can help, and it may even-tually be a part of the process, but it won’t be thesatisfaction for these that you need. Get help if youneed it—through a book, a counselor, or even a med-ical doctor.

Getting Back OnOne way to get started again is simply to restart,just as if you were starting from the beginning forthe first time. Set aside as much time as you need—a day, or even two—and do it all over again. Re-gather everything into your inbox (which might needto be your whole desk for the day) and then beginto process everything, starting with what is on topof the pile, working until you have cleared your in-box to zero. Then return to the old familiar pat-tern: a few minutes each day for daily review and acommitment to process your inbox(es) daily; weeklyreviews, monthly reviews, annual reviews; buildingthe “trusted system” that allows you to empty yourmind of everything but the task at hand; always hav-ing some ubiquitous capture tool on hand as a partof that system; etc.

But that might not be possible for all of us.Maybe you simply can’t afford to take an entireday to devote to restarting GTD, no matter howproductive it will eventually make you. Perhapsyou’d simply rather deal with it incrementally.

It’s possible to do so. I would offer this caveat ifthis is the route you choose to go: you won’t beginto regain your trust in the system until after all ofit has been done. But it’s far better to start back instages than not at all.

Begin With ReviewsThis might seem counter-intuitive; what do you haveto review, anyway? But if you restart your reviewsnow, three things will happen.

First, you will find it productive even without anupdated tickler file. Like I said above, you are stilldoing things. Deciding which of those things needs tobe done today is necessary. Thinking ahead for thenext week will suggest ideas that need to be addedto one of your inboxes. It helps.

Second, as you begin to process your work, thereviews will help you maintain it. Don’t worry (toomuch) about the fact that you don’t have everythingprocessed; what you do have will go more smoothlydue to daily and weekly reviews.

Finally, beginning reviews right away will expe-dite the trust factor in rebuilding your system. Itwill still take awhile—but the sooner you resume re-views, the closer the day comes to “mind like water.”As David Allen says, if you’re not doing daily andweekly reviews, you’re not doing GTD.

ResetTake all of the tools for your system and reset them.

Get your tickler file back in order. This meansshuffling the folders so that they are up to date andready to receive processed data. But it also meanschecking through the folders you shuffle to make surenothing is left in them. Whatever is in there shouldgo back into the inbox.

Do a similar reset with your productivity applica-tion(s). For me, that meant doing a Select All com-mand and setting everything as due “today” until Ihad processed every task that was entered. (Since Idecided to start with my task apps, this wasn’t verylong.)

I also took advantage of the reset and changedthe way I handled many of my recurring projects. Ihad shifted some of them from my straight-up tasklist application to Sciral Consistency1, which handles“fuzzy” deadlines much better. However, I had a lotof recurring projects that I was moving over to Con-sistency as they recurred. I went ahead and movedthe rest (most of which had popped up during mystall, anyway), which cleaned up both systems andfurther freed my mind not to worry about those tasksuntil need be.

You may have more or fewer tools than I do. Ifyou have lists on a mobile device, make sure it isbrought in. If you use a Moleskine or other papernotebook, start carrying it again. Whatever yourtools are, reset them.

1http://sciral.com/consistency/

ATPM 15.12 14 Next Actions: Getting Back on the GTD Wagon

Divide It UpStarting back incrementally means you have to beginwith dividing up everything. Chances are good thatwhere you’re stalled is in having a bunch of “buckets”that are full and in desperate need of processing. Howmany buckets are there? Do they contain multipletypes of processing actions?

In my system, for example, my most recent stallmeant that I had a full e-mail inbox; a backlog ofRSS feeds and open tabs in my feed reader; lots offiles in the global inbox of DEVONthink; a full paperinbox; and a full inbox of things that needed to bescanned via document scanner. Mine also meant thatmy task-management applications were woefully outof date in just about every way.

But yours might well include other things: photosthat need to be imported from memory cards, tagged,and sorted into albums or collections; blog posts thatneed to be composed, edited, and/or posted; expensereports (or other reports) that must be completedand submitted; article ideas to develop, write, edit,and/or sell; Twitter tweets to read and/or post. Whoknows? The list could be endless.

The point is, begin by dividing up your “buckets”into digestible chunks. Then determine which oneshave the highest priority. This might be a bit morecomplicated than it seems, because when it comes totasks then every priority seems high. (OK, maybenot the Twitter tweets.) But when prioritizing, keepthis in mind: start with the ones that you will mosteasily be able to keep maintained and managed evenwhile working through the rest.

One Bite at a TimeHow do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time, theold saw says. So it is with getting back to the GTDhabits.

Get to the processing of those buckets based onyour priorities. I suggest that if you can’t get themprocessed all at once, then you probably need tospread them out in such a way that focusing on themoccasionally won’t derail your other work. In otherwords, if you truly have too many deadlines andactive projects to spend a day jump-starting GTD,then spending several hours each day for the nextweek probably won’t fit your schedule either. Berealistic.

As I began to get back on the wagon, I foundthat two buckets a week was an approachable pace—though one week, I only got to one. It took me basi-cally a month to get things really going again—and

only then did my trust in the system really begin tore-establish itself.

About the ListNote that there are a fair number of updates thistime, in part because I haven’t updated the list sinceJune! Also, if you’re looking for a task-managementapplication for iPhone, there is no shortage. I’veadded three more this month: Matalot, To-Do List,and To-Do Lists (yes, the latter two are different, de-spite their similarly clever names).

As usual, I welcome any feedback on my list orsuggestions for additions. I won’t always add everysuggestion, but I’ll look at them and evaluate whetherthey fit with what I’m trying to cover.

Locally Installed GTD Applications

EasyTask Manager2

Developer: Orionbelt.comCurrent Version: 2.1Price: $20Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: YesWeb-app Sync: YesPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: App (free); Web App (free)OS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4Required Applications: NoneDistinguishing Features: Windows version avail-

able; automatic advance of uncompleted duetasks to today.

News: None2http://www.orionbelt.com/

ATPM 15.12 15 Next Actions: Getting Back on the GTD Wagon

Frictionless3

Developer: Twin ForcesCurrent Version: 2.0d18Price: Free, open-sourceDevelopment Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: NoQuickSilver Plug-in: YesWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5Required Applications: NoneDistinguishing Features: Quick-entry box; fuzzy

repeated actions.News: None

Ghost Action4

Developer: Ghost Park SoftwareCurrent Version: 1.3.1Price: $20Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: Sort of—a non-syncing applica-

tion ($10)OS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4 only5

Required Applications: NoneDistinguishing Features: .Mac syncing (without

iCal running); PDA/iPod syncing; two-wayiCal syncing.

3http://www.twinforces.com/frictionless/4http://ghostparksoftware.com/5http://ghostparksoftware.com/front/support#leopar

d

News: Version 1.3.1 introduced Snow Leopard com-patibility.

iGTD6

Developer: BartekCurrent Version: DISCONTINUEDPrice: N/ADevelopment Status: N/AiCal Sync: N/AQuickSilver Plug-in: N/AWeb-app Sync: N/APrint Lists: N/AiPhone Presence: N/AOS Requirements: N/ARequired Applications: N/ADistinguishing Features: N/ANews: The best-possible end scenario has come

to pass for the iGTD faithful: Bartek, thedeveloper, has joined the Things7 team, andCultured Code (the developer of Things) hasoffered a free license8 for Things to all iGTDusers who donated to Bartek’s work. Bartekhas also developed a data importer9 for trans-ferring from iGTD to Things. (Users who, forwhatever reason, wish to continue to use thelegacy iGTD release may download it fromhere10.) Therefore, starting in the next list,iGTD will officially be removed.

iCog11

6http://igtd.pl/iGTD/7http://culturedcode.com8http://culturedcode.com/things/blog/2009/08/welcom

e-bartek-welcome-igtd-users.html9http://culturedcode.com/things/wiki/index.php/Impo

rting_Data_from_iGTD10http://www.igtd.pl/iGTD/download/11http://www.henspace.co.uk/ikog/index.html

ATPM 15.12 16 Next Actions: Getting Back on the GTD Wagon

Developer: HensPaceCurrent Version: 1.90Price: FreeDevelopment Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: NoQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: UnknownRequired Applications: Python 2.4 or laterDistinguishing Features: Compatible with any

OS running Python (including Windows); verysimple text-only utility.

News: None

mGTD12

Developer: Jeff FisherCurrent Version: 1.3Price: FreeDevelopment Status: Pre-finaliCal Sync: NoQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: None (Mori template)Required Applications: Mori 1.6.11Distinguishing Features: Expands Mori (digital

notebook) functions to include GTD principles.News: None

Midnight Inbox13

12http://apokalypsesoftware.com/products/node/266413http://www.midnightbeep.com/

Developer: Midnight Beep SoftworksCurrent Version: 1.4.3Price: $35Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: App coming soonOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4Required Applications: NoneDistinguishing Features: Action timer; quick-

note and quick-action hot keys; Mail compati-ble; automatic data collection.

News: Version 1.4 is well out of beta and now up torelease version 1.4.3—which brings copious bugfixes, some interface refreshing and improve-ments, and some core improvements: trackingof processed items, better automated collect-ing, iCal syncing re-implementation, and someother tricks. The developers are now promot-ing version 2.0 for release in Winter 2009 (whichI guess means sometime between December 21and 31?) and Inbox Touch for release nextspring for iPhone.

OmniFocus14

Developer: Omni GroupCurrent Version: 1.7.5Price: $80Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: YesWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: App ($20)OS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4.8Required Applications: NoneDistinguishing Features: Mail compatible and

Spotlight compatible; simple interface withpowerful view features.

14http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnifocus/

ATPM 15.12 17 Next Actions: Getting Back on the GTD Wagon

News: This workhorse continues to improve, withlots of under-the-hood updates and fixes, aswell as an overhaul of the Perspectives op-tions, improved use of attachments, interfaceimprovements, better and faster syncing, anda small host of other fixes and upgrades.

Pluto menubar15

Developer: MOApp Software ManufactoryCurrent Version: 5.1.1Price: €12.00 (about $16.40)Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: YesWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5Required Applications: NoneDistinguishing Features: This is a menu-bar ap-

plication, but don’t be fooled—it is a very fullyfeatured GTD tool. There is a lot to see here,and you won’t find any of the standard featuresyou’re looking for missing. Note the full-screenediting, searching, tags, contacts, and priori-ties.

News: Snow Leopard compatibility, iDisk and Drop-box syncing, and some interface upgrades andfixes are part of version 5.1.1.

15http://createlivelove.com/applications/pluto/pluto.html

Ready, Set, Do!16

Developer: Todd VasquezCurrent Version: 1.4.4Price: $20Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: YesWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4Required Applications: NoneDistinguishing Features: A very different ap-

proach using a set of AppleScript routinesto impose organization and communicationacross a computer’s entire file system; multiplelanguage support.

News: More continued (if minor) improvements toversion 1.4, including Snow Leopard compati-bility and a few others.

TaskPaper17

Developer: Hog Bay SoftwareCurrent Version: 2.1

16http://homepage.mac.com/toddvasquez/Ready-Set-Do!/Personal93.html

17http://www.hogbaysoftware.com/products/taskpaper

ATPM 15.12 18 Next Actions: Getting Back on the GTD Wagon

Price: $19Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: NoQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5Required Applications: NoneDistinguishing Features: Simple text-based sys-

tem; no-frills; intentionally designed as analternative to more fully featured systems.

News: Lots of updates in version 2.1, including abunch of fixes and a couple of new AppleScript-ing features. See the list here18.

Things19

Developer: Cultured CodeCurrent Version: 1.2.5Price: $50Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: App ($10)OS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4.11Required Applications: NoneDistinguishing Features: iCal sync; repeating

tasks; Mail compatibility; tags; network andmulti-computer operation; and import/exportoptions.

News: A bunch of fixes, performance improvements,Snow Leopard compatibility, plus a lot of newkeyboard shortcuts, autofill in quick entry,some drag-and-drop options, and other newfeatures.

18http://blog.hogbaysoftware.com/post/65211633/taskpaper-2-1

19http://culturedcode.com/things/

Thinking Rock20

Developer: Avente Pty LtdCurrent Version: 2.2.1Price: Free, open-sourceDevelopment Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: NoQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4Required Applications: NoneDistinguishing Features: Cross-platform compat-

ibility through Java; interactive collection andprocessing; can be run off of a flash drive.

News: Beta version 3.0.1 is now available for “mem-bers.”

What To Do21

Developer: Objective SatisfactionCurrent Version: 1.3.2Price: $29Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: NoQuickSilver Plug-in: YesWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4.9Required Applications: NoneDistinguishing Features: Drag-and-drop inten-

sive for easy reorganization; .Mac syncing formultiple computers; XML export.

News: None20http://www.thinkingrock.com.au/21http://www.objectivesatisfaction.com/what_todo/

ATPM 15.12 19 Next Actions: Getting Back on the GTD Wagon

Locally Installed General Task Managers

Anxiety22

Developer: Tom Stoelwinder, Model ConceptCurrent Version: 1.0Price: Free/DonationwareDevelopment Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: Yes (through iCal)iPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5Distinguishing Features: A menu-bar utility that

gives a HUD-like interface to iCal tasks; sortsby calendar; Mac OS X 10.5 only.

News: None

Chandler23

Developer: The Chandler ProjectCurrent Version: 1.0.3Price: Open SourceDevelopment Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: YesPrint Lists: Yes (through iCal)iPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.3Distinguishing Features: A good integrated cal-

endar makes this one a fairly full-orbed PIM.News: None

Check Off24

Developer: Second GearCurrent Version: 4.0.3Price: Free/DonationwareDevelopment Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: NoQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: None

22http://www.anxietyapp.com/23http://chandlerproject.org/24http://www.checkoffapp.com/

OS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5.2Distinguishing Features: A menu-bar utility that

manages basic task lists; syncs with iPods; a.Mac Backup QuickPick is provided.

News: Improved interface, Snow Leopard compati-bility, 64-bit compatibility, and many fixes arein version 4.0.3.

Dejumble25

Developer: Thinking Code Software, Inc.Current Version: 1.3Price: $19Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: Yes (through iCal)iPhone Presence: App ($8)OS Requirements: Unknown (would assume 10.4

or later, due to presence of Spotlight functions)Distinguishing Features: A simple yet powerful

menu bar–style task list manager, with tags,groups, notes, and a handful of other options.

News: A redesigned interface, improved sync, andperformance issues are all addressed in version1.3.

Docket26

Developer: Surprise SoftwareCurrent Version: 1.3Price: $20Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: NoQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.1Distinguishing Features: A neat basic list-

management application. A Windows versionis also available.

News: None

DoIt27

25http://www.dejumble.com/26http://www.surprisesoftware.com/docket/27http://www.jimmcgowan.net/Site/DoIt.html

ATPM 15.12 20 Next Actions: Getting Back on the GTD Wagon

Developer: Jim McGowanCurrent Version: 2.6Price: DonationwareDevelopment Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: YesWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: NoiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4Distinguishing Features: .Mac support and Ap-

pleScriptability. Also supports file attachmentsand categories for lists. Skins are available forcustomization.

News: None

FlexCal28

Developer: flexgamesCurrent Version: 1.13Price: Free/DonationwareDevelopment Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: Yes (through iCal)iPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5Distinguishing Features: A task and event cre-

ator for iCal—something of a collection bucketfor GTD users.

News: Some minor fixes and improvements, includ-ing a feature to change the default time of newevents (requires a Terminal command).

High Priority29

Developer: Aram KudurshianCurrent Version: 1.11 (Mac OS X 10.4 only)Price: $6 (personal); $12 (family); $60 (business)Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: Yes (through iCal)iPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4 only

28http://flexgames.com/flexcal/?p=129http://www.kudurshian.net/highpriority/

Distinguishing Features: A system preferencepane, creates a menu in the menu bar that letsyou create and update your iCal tasks.

News: Web site has vanished; has this software goneaway, too?

Hot Plan30

Developer: IntuiwareCurrent Version: 1.4.2Price: $20Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: NoQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: NoiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4.9Distinguishing Features: Tracks a substantial

amount of information about a given task,including completion status, priority, and timeremaining; supports tagging, color coding, andlocking of tasks. Also allows collection of URLsand files.

News: None

iClock Pro31

Developer: Script SoftwareCurrent Version: 1.0rc4Price: $20Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: NoOS Requirements: UnknownDistinguishing Features: Offers a menu bar–

based method of managing task lists; includes.Mac syncing.

News: Script Software has stopped offering theolder version of iClock (version 3.0.5—thoughyou can still find it here32), but now offers onlyiClock Pro, which is in beta for version 1.x.

30http://www.intuiware.com/Products/MacOSX/HotPlan/31http://www.scriptsoftware.com/iclock/32http://www.scriptsoftware.com/iclock/old/iclockmac

.php

ATPM 15.12 21 Next Actions: Getting Back on the GTD Wagon

Life Balance33

Developer: LlamagraphicsCurrent Version: 5.1.1Price: $65 ($80 bundled with Palm version)Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: Yes (through iCal)OS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4Distinguishing Features: Gives “meta-feedback”

about tasks: how much time are you spendingin different areas of your life (i.e., work, family,hobbies, etc.), and are you keeping it balanced?Palm and Windows versions available.

News: None

NoteBook34

Developer: Circus PoniesCurrent Version: 3.0Price: $50 (academic and family pack pricing avail-

able)Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: YesWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4.11Distinguishing Features: Highly customizable

system with project management built-in; alsoworks well for heavy day-to-day GTD use.

News: Snow Leopard-compatible update (still ver-sion 3.0) is available from the Web site.

Organized35

Developer: iSlayerCurrent Version: 1.11Price: DonationwareDevelopment Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: No

33http://www.llamagraphics.com/LB/index.php34http://www.circusponies.com/35http://islayer.com/index.php?op=item&id=64

iPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5Distinguishing Features: Dashboard widget with

calendar events, tasks, notes, and world clock.News: None

Qu-s36

Developer: Urban Design LimitedCurrent Version: 1.5Price: $17Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: NoQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: NoiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5Distinguishing Features: Allows lists (and other

things) to be created as an editable part of thedesktop. Good for simple lists.

News: Version 1.5 is Snow Leopard–compatible and64-bit compatible; it also offers more flexibilitywith notes.

Stapler37

Developer: The Blue Technologies GroupCurrent Version: 1.1Price: €7.50 (about $10)Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: NoQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: YesiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4Distinguishing Features: A combination notepad

and to-do list manager, with creation date,notes, and a check box for completed items.Tasks can be color-coded based on a low-levelpreference set-up.

News: None

TaskMate38

36http://www.qu-s.eu/flash/index.html37http://www.blue-tec.com/stapler/38http://gettaskmate.com/

ATPM 15.12 22 Next Actions: Getting Back on the GTD Wagon

Developer: Ryan ConwayCurrent Version: 1.2.1Price: FreeDevelopment Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: NoQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: NoiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5Distinguishing Features: Ultra-simple task list:

remaining tasks in a simple list; completedtasks in a drawer (which can be hidden). Tasksare just single-line descriptions with a checkbox. Could be right for the super-simplifiedlife.

News: A new version is up (a 0.1 increase), but Icannot discern what the changes are. TaskMateremains über-simple.

ToDo X39

Developer: Omicron Software Systems, Inc.Current Version: 2.3Price: $15Development Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: Import from iCal onlyQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: NoiPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: Mac OS X 10.2Distinguishing Features: Offers categories, prior-

ities, and attached notes.News: New version has Snow Leopard compatibility,

a better interface, and some bug fixes.

ZooDo40

Developer: InterfaceThisCurrent Version: 1.0Price: FreeDevelopment Status: ReleaseiCal Sync: YesQuickSilver Plug-in: NoWeb-app Sync: NoPrint Lists: Yes (through iCal)

39http://www.nomicro.com/Products/ToDo/40http://interfacethis.com/zoodo/

iPhone Presence: NoneOS Requirements: UnknownDistinguishing Features: A basic task creator for

iCal, serving as a collection bucket.News: None

Browser and Web-based GTD Applica-tions

30 Boxes41

Price: FreeDescription: Lean and fast, including a calendar,

task list, and limited Gmail interaction. AlsoRSS and iCal feeds, SMS, and sharing. Niceinterface, too.

43 Actions42

Price: Free (donations get extra features)Description: Specifically designed as an iPhone

Web app, it’s light and lean for EDGE networkoptimization. Submit inbox items via e-mail,Twitter (with donation), Jott (with donation),and the usual features.

GTDAgenda43

Price: FreeDescription: Another Web version of a GTD tool,

with the standard features. Plus, addition ofGoals, checklists for recurring tasks, schedulemanagement, and an iCal-compatible calendar.A mobile version is also available.

GTDInbox44

Price: FreeDescription: A Firefox extension for GTD integra-

tion with Gmail. Prepackaged labels, a Re-view process, specialized searches within Gmail,quick-entry for tasks, and printable. Works wellin conjunction with RememberTheMilk. Cur-rent version, 2.0.8.4, is open source; requiresFirefox.

41http://www.30boxes.com/welcome.php42http://43actions.com/43http://www.gtdagenda.com/44http://gtdgmail.com/

ATPM 15.12 23 Next Actions: Getting Back on the GTD Wagon

GTD-PHP45

Price: FreeDescription: A PHP solution designed to be locally

installed. A simple tabbed interface for the cap-ture and process stages; weekly review. Cur-rently at version 0.8.

Neptune46

Price: $10/yearDescription: Includes a collection inbox and con-

text or project task viewing panes, as well asinactive projects and tasks. Daily e-mail re-minders of tasks; new tasks can be added bye-mail; data export.

Next Action47

Price: FreeDescription: Uses Google Gears and Firefox; has

a lean, basic interface with multiple-list man-agement capability. Works with or without anetwork connection.

Nexty48

Price: FreeDescription: PHP-based, so it installs locally and

runs in your browser; supports contexts and re-minders.

Nozbe49

Price: FreeDescription: Has markers for which action will be

next and a time estimation for tasks. Contextsare visible and identifiable; easy to collect andprocess quickly; iPhone-ready.

SimpleGTD50

45http://www.gtd-php.com/Main/HomePage46http://www.neptunehq.com/47http://code.google.com/p/trimpath/wiki/NextAction48http://nexty.sourceforge.net/49http://www.nozbe.com/page/index50http://www.simplegtd.com/

Price: FreeDescription: Tabs for next actions, contexts,

projects, and done actions; drag-and-droporganization; easy undoing of tasks.

Task Writer51

Price: FreeDescription: Easy keyboard navigation, good use

of calendaring for tasks, and a useful set of at-tributes for tasks, as well as the ability to auto-hide unneeded list views, help Task Writer tostand out a bit.

Toodledo52

Price: FreeDescription: Has a Firefox plug-in and a Google

gadget for easy collection; also supports e-mail,voice mail, and traditional entry for collec-tion. Includes a good overview of GTD inco-operation with its tools, as well. iPhone-optimized.

Tracks53

Price: FreeDescription: A Web server that runs locally or

hosted through tracks.tra.in. Fast, lean, andpretty, it offers calendaring and a multi-usercomponent. Currently at version 1.6.

Vitalist54

Price: $5/month (premium)Description: Is a wide-scale GTD system: collec-

tion, project management, recurring actions,and tickler files. Includes a mobile edition, iCaland RSS feeds, and e-mail and SMS reminders.An iPhone-specific version is available. Apremium (paid) version also includes securityencryption, collaboration, file attachments, andcalendaring.

51http://www.taskwriter.com/52http://www.toodledo.com/info/gtd.php53http://www.rousette.org.uk/projects/54http://www.vitalist.com/

ATPM 15.12 24 Next Actions: Getting Back on the GTD Wagon

Other Browser/Web-based Task Man-agers

• Backpack55

• Basecamp56

• CoMindWork57

• HiTask58

• Hiveminder59

• Joe’s Goals60

• Mojonote61

• Remember the Milk62

• Scrybe63

• Sproutliner64

• Task Freak!65

• Tasks66

• Tasktoy67

• Todoist68

• Tweeto69

• Zenlists70

• ZenPages71

GTD and Task Management Wikis• D372

• GTDTiddlyWiki73

55http://www.backpackit.com/56http://www.basecamphq.com/57http://www.comindwork.com/58http://hitask.com/59http://hiveminder.com/splash/60http://www.joesgoals.com/61http://mojonote.com/62http://www.rememberthemilk.com/63http://iscrybe.com/main/index.php64http://sproutliner.com/65http://www.taskfreak.com/66http://crowdfavorite.com/tasks/67http://www.tasktoy.com/68http://todoist.com/69http://www.tweeto.com/70http://zenlists.com/71http://www.zenbe.com/welcome72http://www.dcubed.ca/73http://nathanbowers.com/gtdtw/index.html

• MonkeyGTD74

• Pimki75

iPhone Applications (not Web Apps)• Actions76

• Chores77

• Dejumble78

• DoBot ToDos79

• EasyTask Manager80

• Firetask81

• Life Balance82

• Lists by MobilityWare83

• Lists by Tynsoe.org84

• Matalot by dPompa85

• My Lists86

• OmniFocus87

• Outliner by CarbonFin88

• Tanjas Checklist89

• Tasks90

• Things91

• ToDo by Appigo92

74http://monkeygtd.tiddlyspot.com/#MonkeyGTD75http://pimki.rubyforge.org/76http://ghostparksoftware.com/77http://www.tapeshow.com/chores/78http://www.dejumble.com/#iphone79http://dobot.us/80http://www.orionbelt.com/productMac.php81http://www.firetask.com/82http://www.llamagraphics.com/LB/iphone/walkthrough

/index.php83http://www.mobilityware.com/iphone/Default.htm84http://projects.tynsoe.org/en/lists/85http://dpompa.com/86http://pazeinteractive.com/iphoneapps/mylists87http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnifocus/ip

hone/88http://carbonfin.com/89http://web.me.com/tapp1/tapp/Tanjas_Checklist.html90http://web.mac.com/philipp.brendel/Software/Tasks.

html91http://culturedcode.com/things/iphone/92http://www.appigo.com/todo/

ATPM 15.12 25 Next Actions: Getting Back on the GTD Wagon

• To Do by Erica Sadun93

• To-Do List by Concrete Software94

• To-Do Lists by Tapku95

• ToodleDo96

• Zenbe Lists97

Copyright © 2009 Ed Eubanks Jr.

93http://ericasadun.com/AppStore/ToDo/94http://www.concretesoftware.com/iphone/tdl.shtml95http://tapku.com/to-do_lists.html96http://www.toodledo.com/info/iphone.php97http://lists.zenbe.com/

ATPM 15.12 26 Next Actions: Getting Back on the GTD Wagon

How Toby Ed Eubanks Jr.

Five Ways to Make Any Photo BetterThanks to the rapid (and continuing) improvementsin digital photography over the past 15 years, plus thealmost omnipresent availability of digital cameras,the average computer user has hundreds or thou-sands of digital photos on the computer’s hard drive.Whether taken with a digital SLR, a compact digitalpoint-and-shoot, or with the simple camera includedon a mobile phone, these photos all represent memo-ries and archives of the lives of those who shoot them.

What you do with those photos is up to you; youmight have a phenomenal system for sorting, tagging,and organizing your photos—or they might simply bedumped into a folder (or even multiple folders!) andforgotten. Apple provides a solution for managingphoto collections with iPhoto, and there are othersthat also assist with this task. Chances are good thatyou’ve given some thought and attention to how youorganize your photos.

But while many (most?) of us have attended toorganization, many also neglect to do anything withthem once they are in our computers. I would as-sume that you have intentions of actually looking atyour photos, and that means that how they look willmatter. Whether you plan to print them in conven-tional prints (like 4×6, 5×7, or 8×10 sizes), includethem in a custom-made scrapbook or photo book,add them to a newsletter, insert them in a slideshowor presentation, or post them to a Web site, how yourphotos look will matter to those who view them—andit should matter to you, too.

What can you do about how your photos look? Alot of people I know simply drop all of their photosinto iPhoto, add keywords, and consider them ready.Some will bother to remove the red-eye, and otherswill even occasionally hit the Enhance button in theEdit mode of iPhoto, but a lot of people are simplyafraid to do much beyond that.

I want to offer you five things you can do to im-prove any photo. These are easy, quick, and effective.They don’t require special knowledge (though they allrepresent areas where someone who wants to learncan gain a lot of ground). And they are availablein just about every editor around, including iPhoto,

Photoshop Elements, and even Preview and withinapplications like the iWork suite (Pages, Keynote).

These are simple adjustments. They will be veryfamiliar to some readers, though they will be newground to others. If you already know these, con-gratulations! But I hope to open up some new im-provements for those who are usually daunted by thissort of thing.

Here’s my original. My sister’s boyfriend took this shot ofmy daughter Abbey and me in my living room with his Nikondigital SLR—so you can see that even the big, expensive

cameras still leave plenty of room for tweaks.

CropLet’s start with the most basic: cropping. While ba-sic, cropping is nevertheless a commonly-overlookedoption that can improve a photo substantially. I’llmention three ways that cropping will improve justabout every photo:

1. Remove visual noise. Even in the bestphotos, there’s often something in it thatshouldn’t be: the elbow of someone stand-ing just too close, a light fixture that ishanging low enough to draw attention, asoiled spot on the knee of the pants you’rewearing. Cropping allows you to cut theseoffenses out of the frame.

2. Re-frame the image. Perhaps the im-age is just right, except it feels out of

ATPM 15.12 27 How To: Five Ways to Make Any Photo Better

balance. Maybe there’s too much roomabout the head of the subject, or toomuch leg. It might be that the doorframethe person was standing in got cut off onone side, and the rest seems incomplete.When your picture feels out of balance,cropping can allow you to adjust how itis framed. It might be worth consider-ing the rule of thirds1, which is a basicprinciple of visual design that achieves aproportional sense of balance by dividingthe image into a grid of thirds (thus, ninequadrants) and placing the portion of theimage that you wish to emphasize at oneof the intersections. This is best donewhen framing the shot before shooting,but cropping can allow for errors in thisway.

3. Change the size. Once upon a time,nearly every photo was printed to a con-ventional size; for example, you mightget a set of prints from your negatives(remember those?) in 3.5×5, 4×6, orsometimes 5×7 prints, and you mighthave them enlarged to 8×10 or even11×14. These days, most photos are notprinted in conventional ways, and there-fore don’t need to fit those constraints.This gives you room to play around withyour pictures. You may notice that animage “feels” right in a square, ratherthan a rectangle. You may even prefer itin a shape such as a circle or even a star.If you do need to constrain to a certainsize or shape for printing, both iPhotoand Photoshop Elements make it easy tocrop quickly while constraining.

Use the cropping tools available in your photoediting software to improve any image by tweakingits size, removing extraneous elements, or adjustingthe framing.

1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thirds

I like the photo, but I don’t like my big foot in it! So Icropped it down, and used the rule of thirds to put my big

body in balance, while centering Abbey exactly.

StraightenJust as cropping is basic but essential, so too theidea of straightening is a great way to make subtleimprovements on many photos.

It’s possible, of course, to use a tripod with alevel to ensure that your camera is perfectly straight.Likewise, some cameras allow you to superimpose agrid in the viewfinder to better align the photo beforeshooting. Even then, however, it’s possible for yourshots to be skewed. I’ve noticed, for example, thatwhen I’m shooting a heavier camera, like an SLR,with a flash mounted on it, my hand tends to pullthe camera ever-so-slightly to the right, resulting ina barely-tilted shot nearly every time. Particularlywith shots taken hastily, or with the tiny cameras inmobile phones, I’ve noticed that many an otherwise-good photo is rendered simply average by the skewof a tilted camera.

The good news is that image editing softwareincludes tools for straightening/de-skewing images.Here’s a tip for straightening photos: find a piece ofthe image that should be vertically or horizontallystraight and use that to make the adjustment. Itmight be a horizon-line, the row of buttons down ashirt or jacket, or the side of a door or other shape.Be careful, though: sometimes a slight perspective-

ATPM 15.12 28 How To: Five Ways to Make Any Photo Better

shift can give the lines a skew within an otherwisestraight scene.

The original was pretty straight, but I straightened it just alittle further. I used the little strip of the carpet threshold(just above my thigh) as a reference. Note this, though: I

might just as well have left it UNstraightened, to achieve theaffect of making me look less slumped. It’s totally up to you.

Here’s another tip: depending on how much de-skewing is required, straightening can affect the waya photo is cropped—so either double-check the crop-ping after straightening, or simply do the straighten-ing first.

Adjust ExposureWhen most people took photos using print film, theyhad an advantage that most didn’t realize they had:what is known in the photography world as “lati-tude.” That means that, if the available light for thephoto was too dark or too bright, there was still agood chance of the photo being captured and printedwith reasonable quality. Print film was very forgivingof different lighting conditions.

Anyone who switched from print film to slide filmwould quickly learn that slide film isn’t as forgiving;it had much less latitude. And digital photographyis much more like slide film than print film in termsof latitude.

As a result of this and a small handful of otherreasons, many digital photos are too dark. But thereis a way to adjust this, too: the exposure adjustment.

In iPhoto, Preview, and the iWork applications, thisadjustment is found in an inspector window; iPhoto’sis called “Adjust,” Preview’s is in Tools . AdjustColor. . ., and in iWork it’s in View . Show AdjustImage. . .. In Photoshop Elements you will find asimilar adjustment under Enhance . Adjust Lighting. Brightness/Contrast. . .; use the Brightness adjust-ment in the same way I describe for exposure.

The exposure adjustment is a simple slider con-trol; moving it to the right makes the whole exposurelighter, while moving it left makes the image darker.Try it out, a little bit at a time; don’t make dras-tic changes, because the latitude of the digital imagenormally cannot take it without serious degrading.

I’ve found that many photos improve substan-tially with a simple bump in exposure. This can bea great fix for a dark photo that you might otherwiseoverlook, but the exposure adjustment looks just in-timidating enough to keep many from trying it. I’mgiving you permission: go ahead and take a chance.

The exposure was already pretty good; I bumped it upslightly, just to see how I liked it, and decided to keep it there.

Reduce SaturationExcept in digital cameras closer to the higher-endin quality (and price!), most digital cameras tend toexaggerate color drastically. Maybe you’ve noticedthis, too: a photo you’ve taken looks great, exceptthe more vivid colors (especially the primary and sec-

ATPM 15.12 29 How To: Five Ways to Make Any Photo Better

ondary colors) are so over-bright as to seem cartoon-ish.

While this can sometimes be a nice effect, mostof the time a little less color is welcome. You accom-plish this with the saturation adjustment. Saturationis found in the same inspector window as the expo-sure adjustment in iPhoto, Preview, and the iWorkapplications; in Photoshop Elements, you’ll find it inEnhance . Adjust Color . Hue/Saturation. . ..

Just as with the exposure adjustment, saturationis a simple slider. Only this time, you want to moveto the left—reducing the saturation. Here again, alittle goes a long way, and you should move in smallincrements until you get the results you want. Beaware, too, that removing all saturation results in ablack-and-white photo, which can be a nice effect—but there are better ways to accomplish this thansimply through the saturation adjustment.

Camera companies love to advertise that theircameras capture “vivid color,” but this normallytranslates into over-saturated color. Pulling someof that saturation back out can give your photos amore realistic and natural look.

Even those high-end Nikon SLRs over-saturate, especially inlighting like this one (incandescent). Pulling down the

saturation helped a lot, I think—even if it does make my leglook a little pasty.

Change Color TemperatureBack in the day, even the most novice amateurphotographer probably had a separate flash unitto attach to his camera. Before the advent of thepoint-and-shoot compact camera (I remember whenthe first ones were coming out; we had a CanonSureShot), there was no such thing as a built-inflash. Thus, any photo taken in lower-light situationswould require the flash, and control of lighting con-ditions remained, at least to a degree, in the handsof the photographer.

These days, it is exceptional to see a separate flashunit in use except for by professionals and seriousamateurs. One of the results of depending heavily onthe built-in flash that most digital cameras have isthat we end up with a lot less control of the lightingconditions, and we rely much more on the availablenatural light.

But not all light is the same. Mid-day sunlightcasts a very clean, white light, while early morningand late afternoon sunlight is a lot warmer, with amore yellow-orange color cast to it. Similarly, flu-orescent light bulbs (including many CFLs) have acool, slightly bluish or even greenish color cast, whileincandescent bulbs (the old style with filaments in-side) give off a warmer color, again slightly yellowishin shade.

These variations are technically called a color’s“temperature” because they can be measured on ascale, much like the air temperature is graded intoFahrenheit or Celsius. (Color temperature is mea-sured in degrees of Kelvin; thus, natural sunlight isabout 5500◦K or Kelvin.) You’ll find that the colortemperature adjustment can help you give your pho-tos a more natural and realistic appearance.

Once again, you’ll find the color temperature ad-justment in the inspector window. In iPhoto, Pre-view, and the iWork applications, it’s the same asabove; in Photoshop Elements, there isn’t a singlesimple color temperature adjustment—instead, youwill find a handful of tools that will allow you tomake similar adjustments. And, once again, it is asimple slider.

In this case, however, there isn’t a normal fix (asin, move the slider left or move it right). Instead,you’ll see that there is a pinkish/reddish “sun” iconon the right, and a greenish “sun” icon on the left.If the image was shot under fluorescent lights—andtherefore has a cooler cast to it—then move the sliderslowly toward the reddish sun. If the image is warmerbecause of incandescent lighting, or because it was

ATPM 15.12 30 How To: Five Ways to Make Any Photo Better

shot early or late in the day, then move it slightly tothe right, toward the greenish sun.

You might also see that there is a Hue adjust-ment immediately below the Color Temperature ad-justment. While you’re noticing this, note that thecolors at the two spectrum ends of the Hue adjust-ment are different from the Color Temperature ad-justment (they are reversed, with pink on the leftand green on the right). Hue is different from ColorTemperature, and adjusting one is not the same asadjusting the other. Rather, once your Color Tem-perature is fixed, you might use the Hue control tofurther tweak the accuracy of the colors in the photo.

Our eyes naturally adjust to changes in color tem-perature, and most of the time we never notice thesesubtleties in a “live” circumstance. But in photos,color temperature can make a big difference. Makingthis adjustment will give your photo life-like colorthat is absent when color temperature is off.

Reducing the saturation helped the strong orange castcoming from the light over my shoulder—but adjusting the

color temperature helped it even more. The side of my face isstill more orange than normal, but I’m also using other thingsin the photo as a reference: the brown of the chair is moreaccurate, the tile and wall in the background still look right,and Abbey is still a sweet pink. Adjust color temperature toomuch here, and poor Abbey turns a disturbing shade of grey!

Copyright © 2009 Ed Eubanks Jr.

ATPM 15.12 31 How To: Five Ways to Make Any Photo Better

Segments: Slices from the Macintosh Lifeby Linus Ly, lly@atpm.com

My First MacA few months ago I became a proud owner of aMacBook Pro running Snow Leopard. Before that Iwas getting by with a PowerBook G4 running Tiger,bought some four years ago. Being frugal and notalways chasing the latest and greatest saves moneyand the frustration of owning machines that becomeoutdated quickly. On the down side, my computinglife got less pleasant as the hardware started tobreak down. Certain keys on the keyboard becameunresponsive, the AC adapter was frayed, and thebattery no longer charged to 100%. On the softwareside, certain software was released for the Leopardfamily only, and Web videos crawled painfully, like aslideshow.

After a short time with the new MacBook Pro,I wondered how I ever got anything done with thePowerBook G4. On its own, my mind wandered backto my first Mac, a PowerBook G3 “Wall Street.”Heavy, with a small hard drive, fueled by Mac OS9, and lacking many of today’s amenities, how did Iever get anything done back then?

It has been so long that I cannot even remem-ber the year I finally owned a Mac. It was sometime after June 1997 and before October 1999. Iwas working as the sole tech support person for asmall department at a Big Five accounting firm. Eventhough some of my client base were programmers—i.e., computer-literate people who required less hand-holding—having to deal with Windows 95 was stilla daunting challenge. At home I had a Packard BellPC, and it was no walk in the park using it either. SoI would troubleshoot computers eight hours a day atwork, then on my own time spend more time battlingregistry corruptions and overwritten DLL files.

I had already experienced the Mac platform fromtwo previous jobs and especially enjoyed using File-Maker Pro. I was using the DOS-based dBASE andthen graduated to Microsoft Access in Windows 95,but FileMaker Pro blew them both away. I did notcare about Access’ ability to connect to larger SQLdatabases or its SQL querying prowess. I was readyto switch to the Mac platform.

Back then, in the late 1990s, laptops were still abig deal. At the accounting firm, for example, there

were only a few laptops floating about. People had tosign up to use them briefly. Everyone worked on desk-top computers. I was living in a cramped place, sonaturally I also leaned toward laptops. The teardropiMac of the day took less space than the traditionaldesktop with CRT monitor, but the keyboard andpuck mouse would require some additional space. Alaptop was the natural choice.

My first love in the Mac universe.

Twelve years ago, I had no problem recalling thespecs on the PowerBook G3. These days, I only re-member that it is a Wall Street model. It still works,so I now know that it runs at 266 MHz. It has 320MB of RAM, but I know that is not the original. Ido remember dropping it off at Tekserv to have thememory upgraded. When the hard drive died, I gota 12 GB replacement drive from Other World Com-puting and did the change myself. I love how thekeyboard comes off easily to grant access to the harddrive.

Hot-swapping was, and still is, a great feature onthe PowerBook G3. The default hot-swappable itemsare the battery on the left and the CD-ROM drive onthe right. The Removable Media War at the time in-

ATPM 15.12 32 Segments: My First Mac

volved everyone trying to unseat Iomega’s Zip drive. Isided with “everyone” and bought the hot-swappable120 MB SuperDisk from Imation. (On the drive it-self, the maker is identified as VST Technologies.)One major selling point for the SuperDisk was thatit could do double duty as a floppy disk drive. It wasa slooow drive, but it got the job done. Eventually, Iended up with a Zip 250 external USB drive.

Back in the late 1990s, ADB and SCSI ports were still thenorm.

Like a first child, the PowerBook G3 was showered withexpansions like USB and FireWire.

Like having a first child, I bought lots of extrahardware for the PowerBook G3. In no particularorder, they included: a PC Card USB adapter; a PCCard FireWire adapter; a FireWire CD-RW burnerthat was half the size of the PowerBook G3 itself;a $99 special cable to connect the PowerBook G3’sADB printer port to the parallel port on an HP LJ4L; a $50 SCSI cable, bought from DataVision (FifthAve. and 39th Street) so I could use the 1 GB Jazdrive I originally bought for use with the 486 PackardBell PC. The battery had to be replaced, and theneven the second battery died.

Compared to the trackpads found on 2009 MacBooks, thePowerBook G3’s trackpad is tiny.

On the software front, I upgraded the OS once to9.2.2 and ended at OS X 10.1.5. Eudora Light wasmy e-mail client, Roxio burnt backup CDs or CD-RWs for me, and I tried out many browsers, includingNetscape Navigator and Camino1.

Mac OS X 10.1.5 was the highest I got the PowerBook G3upgraded to.

1http://caminobrowser.org

ATPM 15.12 33 Segments: My First Mac

Sometime in 2001, possibly with great influenceby Mac OS X’s ever-greater demands, I got a domediMac G4, and the PowerBook G3 finally got retired.Four years of life is a long duration in computer time.

Copyright © 2009 Linus Ly, lly@atpm.com. The Segmentssection is open to anyone. If you have something interestingto say about life with your Mac, write us. Photos appearcourtesy of Apple.

ATPM 15.12 34 Segments: My First Mac

Desktop Picturesby Seth Dillingham, http://www.truerwords.net

Apple PickingWe need new desktop pictures each month. Write1

to us!

This Month’s Desktop Pictures2

These shots were taken at an apple and currant or-chard, Maple Lane Farms, in Preston, Connecticut.A couple days before we went picking, a very windystorm blew most of the apples off of the trees, so mostof our picking was really just “picking up.”

View Picturesa

ahttp://www.atpm.com/15.12/apple-picking/

Previous Months’ Desktop PicturesPictures from previous months are listed in the desk-top pictures archives3.

Downloading All the Pictures at OnceSome browsers can download an entire set of desktoppictures at once.

Safari Use this Automator workflow4.

iCab Use the Download command to “Download alllinked files in same folder” and configure thelimits to download only the linked images.

OmniWeb Choose “Save Linked . Images. . .” fromthe File menu.

Contributing Your Own Desktop PicturesIf you have a picture, whether a small series or justone fabulous or funny shot, feel free to send it toeditor@atpm.com and we’ll consider publishing it in

1mailto:editor@atpm.com2http://www.atpm.com/15.12/apple-picking/3http://www.atpm.com/Back/desktop-pictures.shtml4http://automator.us/examples-02.html

next month’s issue. Have a regular print but no scan-ner? Don’t worry. E-mail us, and we tell you whereto send it so we can scan it for you. Note that wecannot return the original print, so send us a copy.

Placing Desktop Pictures

Mac OS X 10.3.x Through 10.6.xChoose “System Preferences. . .” from the Applemenu, click the “Desktop & Screen Saver” button,then choose the Desktop tab. In the left-side menu,select the desktop pictures folder you want to use.

You can also use the pictures with Mac OS X’sbuilt-in screen saver. Select the Screen Saver tabwhich is also in the “Desktop & Screen Saver” Sys-tem Preferences pane. If you put the atpm picturesin your Pictures folder, click on the Pictures Folderin the list of screen savers. Otherwise, click ChooseFolder to tell the screen saver which pictures to use.

Mac OS X 10.1.x and 10.2.xChoose “System Preferences. . .” from the Applemenu and click the Desktop button. With the pop-up menu, select the desktop pictures folder you wantto use.

You can also use the pictures with Mac OS X’sbuilt-in screen saver. Choose “System Preferences. . .”from the Apple menu. Click the Screen Saver (10.1.x)or Screen Effects (10.2.x) button. Then click on Cus-tom Slide Show in the list of screen savers. If youput the atpm pictures in your Pictures folder, you’reall set. Otherwise, click Configure to tell the screensaver which pictures to use.

Mac OS X 10.0.xSwitch to the Finder. Choose “Preferences. . .” fromthe “Finder” menu. Click on the “Select Picture. . .”button on the right. In the Open Panel, select thedesktop picture you want to use. The panel defaultsto your ~/Library/Desktop Pictures folder. Closethe “Finder Preferences” window when you are done.

ATPM 15.12 35 Desktop Pictures: Apple Picking

ATPM 15.12 36 Desktop Pictures: Apple Picking

Out at Fiveby Matt Johnson, mjohnson@atpm.com

By the Skin of Your Mole

Budget Cuts

ATPM 15.12 37 Cartoon: Out at Five

Logo Design

The Secretary’s Computer

A Productive Meeting

ATPM 15.12 38 Cartoon: Out at Five

Todd Gets Fired

Friday Seltzer

Showing Appreciation

ATPM 15.12 39 Cartoon: Out at Five

Elimination Process

Copyright © 2009 Matt Johnson.

ATPM 15.12 40 Cartoon: Out at Five

Qaptain Qwertyby Linus Ly, http://qaptainqwerty.blogspot.com

When I Was Your Age

Copyright © 2009 Linus Ly1.

1http://qaptainqwerty.blogspot.com/

ATPM 15.12 41 Cartoon: Qaptain Qwerty

Software Reviewby Linus Ly, lly@atpm.com

PDFClerk Pro 3.9.3Developer: SintraWorks1

Price: €35 (about $532)Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5.

Universal3. Older version forMac OS 10.4 available.

Trial: Feature-limited (watermarks).One good thing about Mac OS X is its ability to makePDF files right out of the box. PDF files are portablein the sense that to read them you just need the freeAcrobat Reader. To make things even easier, MacOS X includes the Preview application, which doesdouble duty as a very basic image processor and aPDF reader. Preview can even overlay annotationssuch as ovals, text, and arrows onto whatever it canread. As usual, included tools like Preview may notdo enough, and other companies step in with alter-native offerings. One such application is PDFClerkfrom SintraWorks.

InstallationInstalling PDFClerk Pro involves dragging the down-loaded program into the Applications folder. Unreg-istered, it is fully functional, although anything savedis watermarked. When you register, you receive alicense file that you either just double-click in theFinder or drag onto the PDFClerk icon.

UsageThe name PDFClerk may make you think the pro-gram only handles PDF files. In reality, it can openmany kinds of files, including images, text, and ofcourse PDFs. You can even start from scratch andimport text and graphics much as you would with adesktop publishing program. However, you cannotsave the files back to their original formats as PDF-Clerk maintains its own format. Instead of saving,you would need to export them.

After you open a file that PDFClerk understands,you can overlay it with annotations. PDFClerk canadd basic annotation types like those found in Pre-view, such as ovals, Web links, text, and lines. On

1http://sintraworks.com/index.php/sintraworks/pdfclerk_home/

2http://www.google.com/search?q=35+euros+in+USD3http://www.apple.com/universal/

top of those, PDFClerk can also add freehand lines,polygons, and interactive annotations. You can addcheckboxes, radio buttons, drop-down boxes, andmore. Documents with interactive annotations canbe exported to PDF, then used in Preview. In otherwords, Preview can open such PDF files and let youcheck the boxes or enter data into form fields. Whilemost form-filling these days is done via a Web inter-face, if you still use pen-and-paper forms PDFClerk’sform feature can be useful. However, you will stillneed to print the completed form from Preview asPreview usually cannot save all the changes.

A page from the October 2009 issue of atpm with simpleannotations on top and interactive ones at the bottom.

ATPM 15.12 42 Review: PDFClerk Pro 3.9.3

Beyond AnnotationsOne prominent feature that PDFClerk has whichseems to be lacking in Preview is imposition. Whilethe word “imposition” sounds imposing, it is reallyjust the act of re-arranging the pages of a documentprior to printing it. Within PDFClerk, for example,you can arrange a four-page document to print on onesheet. You basically create smaller versions of whatyou normally print out. While the ability is availablein Preview and other Mac apps via the Print dialog,PDFClerk lets you see exactly what will be printedeven before you issue the Print command. There aremany built-in imposition templates, but you can alsobuild your own or make copies of existing ones andtweak them to suit your needs.

I often think of spreading the word about atpmby printing out the magazine and handing copies topeople I know, or even Mac-using strangers, but thework associated with it is intimidating. I would haveto print out on average 30 or so pages, and bindingthe pages would not be easy because I don’t havean industrial stapler. Using PDFClerk impositions,combined with a duplex printer and a paper trimmer,I was able to reproduce a booklet of the October 2009issue. The text is surprisingly readable, at least tomy middle-aged eyes. All I need now is to overcomemy fear of talking to strangers, even if they are Macusers.

Four pages to a sheet, the October 2009 issue of atpm canbe cut down in size after printing and cutting.

The Import of ExportWhether you add annotations or squeeze pages ontosheets, as long as you save the document in PDFClerkformat, you can return to it and make further adjust-ments. However, not everyone uses PDFClerk as aPDF reader, so when you need to share your handi-work with others, use the Export option. While youare limited to exporting to PDF, RTF, and bitmapformats (TIFF, PNG, BMP, JPEG, etc.), you do havemany options in exporting to those formats.

You can export the PDFClerk document as a sin-gle PDF file, put odd pages in one file while puttingeven ones in another, convert the pages into bitmapimages, an RTF file, or even as an AIFF audio file(using the OS’s text-to-speech feature). RTF exportpreserves some of the settings but does well only forsingle-column text. Still, it is a better alternativethan Preview’s routine of highlight, copy, and paste.

Exported to RTF, single-column PDFs fare better thanothers, with pages 2 and 3 of atpm as examples.

EpiloguePDFClerk is a good replacement for Preview. Theextra annotations it offers are beyond my needs, butI am sure bigger production houses can make use ofthem. If you have the need to generate smaller ver-sions of your documents, PDFClerk’s imposition fea-ture is useful. Export options include the usual imageformats and RTF, but you can also slice and dice thePDFs in many ways. PDFClerk is a Very Nice toolto have in dealing with PDF files.

Copyright © 2009 Linus Ly4. Reviewing in atpm isopen to anyone. If you’re interested, write to us atreviews@atpm.com.

4mailto:lly@atpm.com

ATPM 15.12 43 Review: PDFClerk Pro 3.9.3

ATPM 15.12 44 Review: PDFClerk Pro 3.9.3

Accessory Reviewby Chris Lawson, http://chrislawson.net

U-Suit PremiumDeveloper: Uniea1

Price: $35Requirements: iPhone 3G or 3GSTrial: NoneThere are hundreds, maybe thou-sands, of different cases out there foryour iPhone. I’ve personally used at least a dozen,and yet I still haven’t found one I’m totally happywith. Can Uniea’s U-Suit Premium leather hard casechange that?

As you can see, the U-Suit Premium adds very little bulk tothe phone and is almost unnoticeable from the front. Notealso the obvious gaps in protection at the top and bottom.

1http://www.uniea.com/product/iphone-3g-3gs-u-suit-premium-signature-leather-hard-case.html

The U-Suit Premium has a fairly simple design.A thin but stiff molded plastic shell fits the iPhone.This shell, in turn, is encased in smooth leather. Theplastic is just flexible enough to allow the iPhone tosnap in and out of the case, but there’s no danger ofthe phone popping out of the case when it’s dropped.

Uniea follows the Henry Ford school of thinking:you can get a U-Suit Premium in any color you wantso long as it’s black2. That’s not a bad thing; blackleather is timeless, goes great with a black iPhone,and wouldn’t look out of place with a white one.Overall fit and finish are excellent. Mold lines in theplastic are barely noticeable along the inside edges ofthe case, and you have to be looking for them to pickthem out. The leather appears to be of high qualityand uniform texture, although I could do without theUniea logo stamped on the back.

These are the only mold lines you’ll find on the U-Suitwithout looking very closely. Uniea took great care to ensure

an excellent fit and finish.2http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_Ford

ATPM 15.12 45 Review: U-Suit Premium

The leather looks great, but why did I just pay $35 to showoff this big Uniea logo?

Protection for the sides and back of the iPhone isgood, with a reasonably sized cutout for the volumeand silent buttons on the left. The top and bottomof the phone are mostly exposed, but all four cornersare protected well. The leather itself is just grippyenough not to fall out of a shirt pocket easily, butsmooth enough that it doesn’t turn the pocket insideout as you’re extracting the phone from your jeans.(Both of these extremes have been a problem withother cases.)

Inserting an iPhone into the U-Suit is simple: just angle thebutton side of the phone into the case, then squeeze the

other side down with your thumb.

Screen protection is provided via an includedstick-on screen protector, which Uniea calls a U-Shield. It looks just like the protector included withthe Zoe Case3, right down to the instructional decals,and provides a reasonable level of scratch protectionwith minimal fuss. Applying these sorts of screenprotectors so that the cutouts for the speaker andHome button are centered can be a bit tricky, butthey’re durable enough that you won’t have to doit often. Unlike ZoFunk, Uniea doesn’t sell thescreen protectors separately, so you’ll have to buyreplacements somewhere else.

Stick-on screen protectors are tricky to align perfectly. Thisone is slightly offset, as you can see at the button.

Thus we come to the value equation. The afore-mentioned Zoe Case, while admittedly poorer in fitand finish, is comparable in design and materials (mi-nus the leather), provides superior protection, andcosts just $21. Adding leather to anything ups the

3http://www.atpm.com/15.06/zofunk-cases.shtml

ATPM 15.12 46 Review: U-Suit Premium

price, but I’m not sure $14 more—a 67% increase—isjustified.

If you’re looking for an unobtrusive case thatdoesn’t feel cheap and provides a modest level ofprotection against drops and scuffs, the U-Suit Pre-mium is tough to beat. Its understated, elegant looksare a perfect match for the iPhone.

Copyright © 2009 Chris Lawson4. Reviewing in atpmis open to anyone. If you’re interested, write to us atreviews@atpm.com.

4http://chrislawson.net

ATPM 15.12 47 Review: U-Suit Premium

FAQ: Frequently Asked QuestionsWhat Is ATPM?About This Particular Macintosh (atpm) is, amongother things, a monthly Internet magazine or “e-zine.” atpm was created to celebrate the personalcomputing experience. For us this means the mostpersonal of all personal computers—the Apple Mac-intosh. About This Particular Macintosh is intendedto be about your Macintosh, our Macintoshes, andthe creative, personal ideas and experiences of every-one who uses a Mac. We hope that we will continueto be faithful to our mission.

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ATPM 15.12 48 FAQ

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