Hawk Wings » backpack

Backpack with TextMate to Get Things Done

Tim Gaden — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 11:42:13 +0000

Brett Terpstra has written a bundle for the cutting-edge text editor TextMate which enables the creation, editing and deleting of Backpack items within the editor.

TextMate won the Apple Design Award for Best Developer Tool at WWDC this year. It shares some interesting design features with Mail.

Like Mail, it is built on a “lean but extendible” philosophy. An array of bundles allow users to extend the app in ways that suit them, rather than loading it up by default with the bloat of every possible feature. For example, this blog is written with TextMate’s blogging bundle , crucial to me, but not important to every TextMate user.

Unlike Mail, TextMate developer Allan Ogaard encourages bundle developers by opening up the guts of the editor so that third-party developers can easily create new bundles. With Mail’s undocumented API, third-party Mail.app bundle developers can only beat their heads against their monitors until the code works. (Although some helpful notes on Mail’s plugin API exist.)

Brett’s Backpack plugin allows access to pages, reminders and lists. (The updated version released yesterday adds list support.)

All the commands are linked to the âŒƒâŒ˜R keyboard shortcut.

This pops up a list of all the options, which can be selected by pressing the required number or with the up and down arrows.

New items are created through a pop-up window:

Editing is done via a list of all the available items on your Backpack pages. Again, items can be quickly selected by number.

Of course, there are other ways to integrate Backpack into your workflow: a Dashboard widget (pictured), a Firefox extension , the stand-alone Packrat app, a plugin for Quicksilver and more.

If you spend a lot of time in TextMate, this bundle is a nifty way to get stuff into Backpack quickly and to edit existing items without switching around.

In other TextMate news, the app has been ported (sort of) to Windows.not apple mail, backpack, textmate, bundle, productivity, reminders, lists, pagesSimilar Posts:

Add notes your Backpack pages by phone

Tim Gaden — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 14:19:55 +0000

voiceNote is a clever service that allows you to add audio clips as notes to your Backpack pages.

It requires you to register your name, email address, the URL of your Backpack page and its email address on the voiceNote web site .

Then a quick call from your mobile/cell, work or home phone adds an audio note to your page:

This allows you to capture your killer thought on the move or in the car. By registering and sharing your voiceNote number, you can even use it as a voicemail service for friends or for work.

Currently the service is in beta and works for the cost of a local phone call in the following major US cities: Denver, CO, Washington, DC, Chicago, IL, New York, NY, Pittsburgh, PA, Houston, TX and Seattle, WA.

I thought San Francisco was the beating heart of all things Web 2.0. Surprising not to see it on the list.

The service is free.backpack, voice mail, cell, mobile, notes, audio, productivity Similar Posts:

Ten Mac tools for Getting Things Done

Tim Gaden — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 11:59:16 +0000

Tools to help Mac users with Getting Things Done (or “GTD”), David Allen’s work-smart philosophy, fall into three camps:

Email clients, where most of the stuff that needs to get done arrives in the first place, tweaked to do the job.

Dedicated GTD apps like kGTD or Easy Task Manager provide more focussed collection and processing buckets.

Web-based solutions offer platform-independent tools for getting things done, especially good if you use a Mac at home and a PC at work.

After the jump, you will find some of the best options in each category.

Mail.app

Smart folders and excellent plugins like Mail Act-on and MailTags quickly turn Mail.app into a powerful productivity tool.

For starters see my Getting Things Done with Apple Mail and Got some things done with Apple Mail, Parts One and Two. Patrick Rhone also has an excellent plan of attack .

The app’s large and clever user base has produced additional tools like the Tickler file applescript and the MailTags Tickler.

Unsurprisingly, it’s my weapon of choice for Getting Things Done.

Thunderbird

Thunderbird users have also put its built-in labels and saved searches to work creating a GTD system.

Entropic Principal has a great post on how to do this (see his updated Thunderbird GTD post too). Katy Whitton’s post is another excellent resource, incorporating the Lightning calendar and other Thunderbird extensions.

Entourage

With its integrated calendar, contacts and other bits and pieces, Entourage is well placed to offer the grunt for GTD app.

Jorge Arango has posted his Entourage-GTD system, based in part of the GTD Projects with Entourage article at Slacker Manager. You can find an AppleScript to create GTD projects within Entourage on the 43 Folders Discussion Board.

David Allen sells an ebook of tips for implementing GTD with Entourage for USD 10.

kGTD – Kinkless GTD

Ethan Schoonover’s OmniOutliner Pro template and collection of AppleScripts is an outstanding GTD solution. If I didn’t use Mail.app to manage my workflow, this is what I would use.

All the processing and management features are there and the two-way syncing with iCal is very slick. An Applescript that transfers messages from Mail.app into kGTD’s Inbox brings added integration.

Amazingly, it is freeware, although it requires OminOutliner Pro (USD 69.95). Extra productivity-fu is provided by Ethan’s Quicksilver Action .

But don’t take my word for it; Merlin Mann is a hard-core fan .

Todo.txt

Gina Trapani of Lifehacker fame has created a clever script to manage a plain text todo file from the command line. It’s not as forbidding as it sounds (watch the movie ).

Recently updated (changelog ), it offers support for projects, prioritisation, GTD contexts and more.

You can pipe it through GeekTool so that it sits right in your face on the Desktop:

EasyTask Manager

This stand alone app (see a previous Hawk Wings review) offers a simple GTD framework without the learning curve (or the grunt) of kGTD.

Recent versions of the app have solved some of the initial teething problems, making it a good alternative in the dedicated apps department.

The interface is simple and efficient:

EasyTask Manager is shareware (USD 19.99) and available from the developer’s web site .

iCommit

iCommit is a web-based, PHP-scripted management tool for Getting Things Done. Think of it as a wiki without the pain.

It provides the standard contexts, project and next action tools, but also allows for attachments, printable views and other neat touches described in a review on 43 Folders .

The developer hosts the app on his server on a “first come, first served” basis. Great for people who need to use both Macs and some other OS.

Backpack

Jon Hicks loves Basecamp for getting his things done, but Backpack, the slimmed-down personal version of Basecamp, has almost all the things you need to run a GTD system.

Frank Meeuwsen has posted at length about implementing GTD in Backpack and maintains a de.licio.us links list of other people’s hacks.

Patrick Rhone recently posted a great description of how Backpack works for him.

Make it all even easier with Quicksilver, the Backpack widget and a Desktop Backpack app like Packrat (“Backpack Unplugged”).

Gmail

Bryan Murdaugh has written a white paper on using Gmail for GTD.

Liming Zhu thinks that system can be improved.

Jonathan Powers prefers “Slacker GTD” , a kind of anti-getting-things-done system using Gmail and Gcal, which is not entirely a joke.

wikis

I will mention this at the end of this piece, because if I don’t Ted Palvic will scold me.

GTDTiddyWiki is very clever, very cool, very open source, very flexible and innovative and a very attractive cross-platform solution to GTD that I have never used. Some people like it a lot.

Still not satisfied?

43 Folder’s wiki
A list of blogs that talk about Getting Things Done
GTD resources list at 52 Reviews
Joel Spolsky: How to get things done when you are not in charge
PigPog: GTD on a PDA GTD, getting things done, mac, apple, productivity, apple mail, mail.app, gmail, thunderbird, entourage, terminal, Web 2.0, backpack, wikiSimilar Posts:

Mail.app and Getting Things Done

Tim Gaden — Sat, 13 May 2006 12:59:05 +0000

There’s no greater challenge or spur to your own producivity practices than reading concrete details about how other people have organized themselves.

Patrick Rhone has written an excellent account of his own system for Getting Things Done.

He documents the entire process from capturing things in his Moleskin to processing it with Backpack, OmniOutliner Pro and a note-taking database called Notional Velocity to maintaining the larger vision in the midst of it all.

Using a series of mailfolders in his IMAP account, he is able to employ Mail.app as an efficient tool for processing his tasks.

It’s hard to come away from reading it without thinking, “Yeah, I should be doing this or that”.GTD, getting things done, mail.app, apple mail, productivity, backpack, tips, emailSimilar Posts:

A faster Backpack: Quicksilver, widget

Tim Gaden — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 14:05:16 +0000

While doing some research for something else, I came across two ways to speed up shoe-horning information into your Backpack pages.

Backpack is an online PIM (Personal Information Manager) from the 37signals stable. (“A cool organizational tool. How very cool”, David Pogue says).

Of course, you can email stuff to your pages using the unique email address that belongs to each page. But sometimes even that is not the most efficient way.

The Backpack widget offers you a quick way to view your reminders, lists and pages. You can also add new items or edit existing ones from the Dashboard:

The widget is freeware and is available from the developer’s web site .

Quicksilver also offers a slick short-cut through its Backpack plugin.

Among other things the plugin allows you to quickly add to-dos, lists and files to your pages whatever app you happen to be in at the time:

Alan Joyce has a public Backpack page containing full instructions on how to set this up in Quicksilver.

Backpack is a good thing. These little add-ons make it even better.

And now that the Basecamp API has been made public, I expect that similar helpers will soon be available for that too.backpack, basecamp, widget, quicksilver, productivity, web 2.0Similar Posts: