Category Archives: Productivity

Using Extreme Agenda 5.0 features to create EA 5.0

So I’m in the rather cool position of working on Extreme Agenda 5.0 and also using the evolving product to plan the work to be done.

So let this be a little preview of what is coming in Extreme Agenda 5.0 as well as the power it will provide. We have decided to double down on power features, and have some that only a handful of other apps may have, but you won’t find them all in one place like this. Our direction is now defining EA to be the premium app for organization with power and flexibility. It always has, but we want to make that a more solid position in the premium space.

So a lot of this feature planning falls into our already powerful Reminder List, using a Getting Things Done(GTD) like system on the iPhone. Check out our older blog post on GTD in Extreme Agenda for more help.

 

The first big thing is that we have made this list have 3 levels of sorting(effectively 4 as name is used as the last one if not used before). So our setup is to sort by Status( Actions like “Next Action“, “Planning”, and “Active“), then Completed, and then Priority. So as we move features we are adding in to groups like the Next Action group, we can have a few in the group and then use the tap-n-hold popup toolbar to change the priority to move them up and down the list. And with this setup the completed reminders drop down to the bottom of the current group.

The second, and arguably one of the biggest new game changing features of EA 5.0, is that you can add lists to reminders and events. So now each feature reminder can have a sub-list built right in that I can access and check off as I complete the smaller pieces that make up the feature. We can’t begin to explain how handy this feature is. Wait until you see it’s implementation and uses. And best of all they are embedded into your notes, so they appear anywhere you look at the event or reminder.

We also have added color to the flat icon set, and are using that to our advantage. Another way of grouping our new features is that we added several categories to the system based on size of the feature(approximately how many hours or how much effort). We set all of these categories to the same flat ruler icon(denotes size) but gave them all different colors. Now at a glance when looking at the reminder list I can tell by color whether this feature is Large, Medium, or Small. I can also re-sort based on category, status, completed, and see what is left for big chunks of time.

And finally we are taking advantage of updates to the template system, so we can tap n hold the + button, select the template choice and then select a template from the list for say a “Small, Next Action, High Priority” reminder and fill in the name only, and we have a filled in reminder.

So with Extreme Agenda 5.0, get ready to be even more organized. This is just the start of what new features are going in to version 5.0 to make it the best planner on iOS.

 

 

The Dog Ate It – The iPhone Student Planner

Just in time for back to school….

We are pleased to announce the release of our new Student Planner for iPhone, The Dog Ate It. Having had a version of this app dating back to 2002 on Windows Mobile and later on Windows desktop, we always had it in our mind that we would bring a really cool new version of this to iOS at some point.

We have watched this market since the start of the AppStore and while we liked what the one leader in this field was doing, we just felt it was always an app that was not quite organized correctly and had pieces ‘strapped’ to it in confusing ways in order to say they were there. There aren’t any other really good alternatives that do about everything you want(grading is essential for students, otherwise why not just use a good organizer), or aren’t dependent on online accounts.

So this app has been in development for a long time. It was actually mostly done before last school year, but with our situation, we ended up taking a full extra year to polish it. We went in thinking we needed to strip the idea of the planner down and build it back up. We know students are going to be using it, for the most part, in the few minutes at the end of class or in between classes, so we wanted things to be right there, really clear, and really really easy to add and update quickly.

We think students will love the design. Colors and icons play a prominent part in allowing you to quickly identify classes and see what you have going. Shortcuts are built in to allow you to quickly add, reschedule, or finish assignments. There are only a few main screens involved so you don’t sit and wonder which way the app was meant to be used. Jump to the schedule tab to see your week or month, or just look at your classes individually.

And with our design we do have it ready to expand in several ways. Under the hood it uses Core Data, and actually has all the code in there to sync to iCloud. We just ran into some problems in testing and wanted to put out the most solid app possible at launch so pulled that temporarily, but allow you to email a backup of all your data. And we have plans that if enough students love it, we can quickly move to the iPad as well… And then sync will be more important…. And what about a notification widget and the watch and….

We do believe in features. Lots of them. And flexibility. So we think we have ways to accommodate some of the more advanced things that you might need for your school. Flexible class time scheduling(Lecture/Labs, period naming, etc…) and custom grading scales including weighted grading. And we put in features that are the only basis for other apps. Want to know what you need on a test to keep a certain class grade? We have a screen for that….

And we love the idea of free trials. We want you to see what the app can do to know if you like it. Unfortunately we are not yet allowed to do that the traditional way of having a time trial on the AppStore. So we had to set some limits. Please take a FREE look at the app and remember what we intended, that if you like it, you buy the full product at a more than fair price. Sorry, we were forced to do this in a less than stellar way…

Thanks and as always if you have ways to improve the app in any way, drop us an email…

Download from the AppStore

Birdsoft

 

iPhone Billable Hours Tracking

As a contractor doing iOS consulting I was looking for an app that could track my billable hours on projects and easily invoice the customer. And while there are some out there, a lot of them have long since been abandoned and have poor interfaces dating them back to early iOS, are too complicated, or require you to sign up for a service and pay a subscription. No thanks.

So I set out to write a simple iPhone app that strips away some of the unneeded extra bloat, flowed perfectly with iOS7 and was built to expand if customers interact with us and want it to be more. And what I came up with is ‘Billing Hours’.

 

Create a client, create a project, and then start creating time or billable item entries. View those entries by week, month, or custom pay period. Send filtered professional reports in both csv and pdf formats. Create and email or print an invoice that can use both items and timed entries and even combine your time. Password lock the app to keep out prying eyes. It is all streamlined and easy to follow…

And some of the expandability has already quickly happened as we’ve iterated. People asked to be able to import contact information as a client, and that is done. One reviewer, instead of emailing us, complained about not having next actions when filling out clients. Done.

The app has room to grow and can be even more, as it is built  to go to iPad and to quickly switch to using iCloud if we get enough support. So give it a try and let us know what you think with an email or help us out with a good review.

We want to help your track your billing hours quickly and easily on the go.

Billing Hours on the AppStore

 

Thanks

 

 

Midnight Grid vs. Fantastical 2 (Revisited)

So we thought we’d follow up on our comparison with the Midnight version of our minimal calendar App “The Grid” as compared to Fantastical. Fantastical 2 has come out with a few new features so we’ll try to update our table to show new features that have come along since we wrote this… (And we won’t even think about showing a table like this against Extreme Agenda, needless to say it has all of the Midnight Grid features and SO MANY MORE).

Midnight

 

So here is a breakdown of what we see as benefits of each:

The Grid Midnight Fantastical
Month View X X
Week Strip View X X
Search X X
Copy/Move Events X X
Week Numbers X X
Day Badge X X
Attendees X X
Natural Language Entry X (in v.1.5) X
Time Zone Support X (in v.1.5) X
Drag-n-Drop X
Templates X
Text on Calendar X
One Touch Filtering X
Multiple Event Alarms X
Advanced Repeating Events X  F2
Email and Share Events X  F2(only email)
Multiple Themes X  Two in F2
Dated Reminders X  F2
Universal X
Weather X

Thanks for considering ‘The Grid’, and if you aren’t convinced try out the FREE version and give it a try before upgrading or buying Midnight. Or go all out and explore Extreme Agenda for new levels of productivity.

Midnight “The Grid” on AppStore

Using Extreme Agenda for Getting Things Done(GTD) on iOS

With version 4.1 of Extreme Agenda we have not only done a lot of work cosmetically to make it beautiful for iOS7, but we have went over some areas with a fine toothed comb to add features that would be helpful to you. One of the areas that got a lot of attention was reminders. We hope to offer a solution for those people that want to use the Getting Things Done or GTD methodology on iOS, to use our app and reminders to achieve optimum productivity.

So let us explain a little about how we approached this.

In GTD you take all of your things(items) you need to do, and you sort them based on projects. In Extreme Agenda we suggest you use the reminder calendars for these, so in 4.1 we added a few things to make this more powerful. One, you can now go into the calendar list in settings and add and filter by these reminder calendars just like you could with event calendars. We now also allow the showing of a calendar tab bar across the top on the reminder list that will quickly filter the list down to only one ‘project’. And in the main settings app, which we use, is  the ability to set a default reminder calendar, so you can consider creating a reminder calendar called ‘Inbox’ and set it as the default(in main settings app under ‘Reminders > Default List’).

Next in GTD there are contexts. This is the ‘where’ or the ‘what is needed’… That sort of thing. How about using categories for this. They are basically tags that you can then filter by across the entire app. From the reminder list you can just hit the sidebar or menu and choose filter to turn it on and quickly toggle the categories shown.

And finally in GTD you sort your things by actions. Well this is easy, as another part of our reminder extensions we offer a ‘status’ or action field. And you can sort by this status in the ‘sort’ of the reminder list. We know that in order to move your things around you want to be able to quickly set this status. In 4.1 we added the ability to hold down on a task, and a tool will pop up allowing you to select a new action, and hit set to make quick work of this.

And if that wasn’t enough you can now hold down on the ‘+’ button on the reminder list top bar, and a toolbar will appear with the option to add a reminder template.  So you can use our system to create quick templates that are assigned to your projects(calendar), contexts(categories), and status actions. Note: We plan to change templates so you do not have to have a subject to make this easier.

Set up your system to hide completed reminders, and as you go you will see and feel your todo items shrink into oblivion.

We also added the ability to show only the active(and overdue) tasks in your list. Dates can be an important part of your GTD setup, so filtering the Reminder List yet again to only show reminders with active dates further helps in your organization and goals.

Extending that thought further throughout the whole app you can be assigning events to the same categories, and create similar calendars for events and reminders, and then filter the whole system using this. You can now use this to only one manage one project, or only the contexts available. And it is an option that with one button press you can quickly convert a reminder to an event, and back again.

We know that not everyone flows this way, but all of these features should help in the way you choose to organize and attack your todo reminders. Knowing this we allow you to change things like the action popup toolbar to allow you to change the priority instead. Sort by highest priority and attack and re-sort. We hope that makes it easy.

So we hope that we have made great strides in using a system like GTD along with our app. But we know there is more to do, and we don’t claim to be GTD experts. In fact we just picked it up, and tried to use it to plan the creation of version 4.1.

So if you have ideas or questions please feel free to let us know.

Thanks and continue to ‘get organized.’

Replacing the iOS7 Calendar

One of the biggest changes Apple made in creating the new iOS7 is to completely revamp what was already working with more minimal and sometimes less recognizable versions of their core apps, like calendar. Clean and white is great, but at some point what you are stripping out or re-formatting might not be making something more helpful to all people.

That’s where third party calendars come in. We spent some time to clean up and make our own calendar apps more clean and fit in with iOS7, but we aren’t making many changes just for the sake of change. We think you can look clean, and yet still show a lot more useful information…

             

Which is more useful for you? And ultimately looks more like what you expect a calendar to look like?

And these alternative iOS7 calendars offer almost all of the same features as the built-in calendar like search and a week view, use the same data and syncing, and add great features that Apple hasn’t added. Drag-n-drop, templates, customization … and way way more… In fact these apps are sometimes the inspiration for the new things Apple does do.

So if you are not satisfied with the iOS7 calendar remember that that’s what the AppStore is for. There are tons of great third party calendar apps out there that show you more information, give you more features, and can still have a clean style. The Grid and Extreme Agenda are too great examples, and The Grid is even free to try.

Enjoy the good things that iOS7 has to offer and the flexibility to change what you need to.