I’ll be honest, I hate most mind-mapping apps. A good mapping app does more than just put text on lines. It should make it easy to capture, organize, and then use ideas. MindNode is one of a handful of apps that I can recommend.
The new MindNode is just as beautiful as the old MindNode but many of the most innovative features have been refined and made more accessible. The new tool palettes make the app easy to use on iPad and iPhone but also highlight a unique perspective on task and list management.
Not to be outdone this week, iThoughts received a few new iOS 11 features:
Siri integration Drag and Drop Both are nicely demonstrated in the app-maker’s video below:
To use the Siri integration configure your quick capture map.
This makes adding new items to an iThoughts inbox very easy. Trigger Siri and “create a new note in iThoughts.” Siri then asks what you want to call the note.
I feel uncomfortable relying on one technology that has no alternative. This discomfort might come from the fact that I don’t have a lot of time to solve the same problems again. But, maybe there’s more to it. I simply don’t enjoy reinventing the wheel just because the wheel didn’t have a stable revenue model. I felt even more passionate about this when TextTool was withdrawn from the App Store recently.
The best TaskPaper app for iOS was updated several times this summer and continues to improve and squash bugs. For the unfamiliar, Taskmator came out shortly after the death of the official TaskPaper iOS app. It steadily fixed long-standing bugs in the original app but then expanded with features like saved queries. The big update (3.5) in July brought tag coloring, link detection, and a large variety of formatting options. Update 3.
This blog post is a hand crafted artisanal production. well, its hand crafted at least. That’s because I wrote it by hand, long-form in the iPad app MyScript Nebo,
Nebo works with the Apple Pencil to convert hand writing into text. It’s one of the best digital handwriting experiences I’ve had anywhere. The ink performance on the new iPad Pro feels like real ink. It tracks the pencil perfectly. This is inno small part, to Apple, but N’ebo is taking advantage of the technology in ways no other app does.
This is a very impressive (and extensively referenced) blog post. I’ve repeatedly struggled to use Trello for project management. It has never clicked for me. This is a great tutorial for the basic capabilities in Trello but it’s also a thoughtful breakdown of an information capture system. I think the conclusion section is also a very honest assessment of the system.
I’ve long used nvALT and Dropbox to maintain my collection of notes on my Mac. The benefit of this system is that so many iOS applications sync with Dropbox. I can search and edit my large collection of notes almost anywhere that I’m sitting. But 2016 brought some new innovations and concerns. The tremendous improvements with DEVONthink on iOS and the secure end to end encryption with their Mac application have made it a compelling capture and reference manager.
Today DEVONthink 2 Go 2.1 is available it adds a major new feature: Document Provider service on iOS. There are not many apps on iOS that do this, but DEVONthink is a perfect fit. From within a compatible app, like Textastic or Ulysses, open a provider and browse to a file you want to use. There’s no need to manually shuttle a document back and forth.
Turning on the document provider isn’t always obvious, and each provider needs to be activatecd one by one.
I have a few of the Amazon Dash buttons in my house. If you’re not familiar with the concept, Amazon will provide a physical button that, when clicked, immediately orders a pre-set item for Prime delivery. As a customer I can choose a general category for a button like Tide laundry detergent and then configure the specific type and size of Tide to order. It’s convenient.
What I didn’t realize is that Amazon now provides virtual buttons in their iOS app and on their web page.
The Sources and Methods podcast is a good interview show with a wide variety of guests. I was lucky enough to be invited on this week’s episode. Alex and I talked about using DEVONthink, social media, and the value proposition for privacy. I think it was a fun conversation and I stand behind my recommendations at the end. Miyazaki is just the best. Check out the copious show notes too.
