As a disciple of GTD (Getting Things Done™), I need to have a “system” for organizing my action items, projects, areas of focus, goals, reference materials, among other things.  In the years that I have implemented GTD methodologies, I have changed my “systems” frequently (which is a problem, and worthy of another blog post).  I have tried Outlook hacks, paper-based implementations, Toodledo, Things, Google Tasks, and other short-lived solutions.

Another application that many of my co-workers use is called OmniFocus by the OmniGroup.  I also used this application a while ago.  This is probably the best GTD application on the market.  Unfortunately, it is only available on Mac OS, and there is no web presence or service to access the data.  These factors have held me back from using the application despite its superiority in features.

Since I own both the iPhone and iPad, I have experimented with OmniFocus once again.  Recently, OmniFocus was updated to take advantage of iOS 4.0, and I have been happy with things so far.  I also own a MacBook Pro, but spend most of my time in BootCamp running Windows 7 (which rocks on a Mac by the way).  So while I am in Windows, I keep track of my projects and action items on my iPad (or iPhone if I am out and about).

I am still disappointed with the OmniGroup for not making my data available through a web UI (so I can manage from PC).  I am also frustrated that there has been no release specifically targeting the iPad.  I would even be happy if OmniGroup provided the data through a web service or OData.

So I have returned to OmniFocus because it is the best GTD so far.  Having said that, I believe in this saturated market there is still an opportunity for a better application to emerge.

Stay tuned…

Thanks to all who attended my session(s) at Desert Code Camp this year!  Despite technical difficulties, I was happy to hear how many benefited from my Zero to Hero: Getting Started with jQuery session.  The website that contains the best tutorials I have seen for getting started is http://www.w3schools.com. 

With regard to my session on ASP.NET Web Forms MVP, please check out http://www.webformsmvp.com for more information.

Thanks Devry for letting us use their campus and  to Joseph Guadagno for his great leadership - and all the volunteers who made
Desert Code Camp 2010 a great success!

Within a week of installing Microsoft Security Essentials, it is hard at work catching evil threats to my operating system.  The software was easy to install and obviously does a good job.  It was worth every penny I spent on it…

I highly recommend Bing for you iPhone users out there.  Here are the things that work great:

• Search – as you would suspect, the search engine is the main attraction.  I find the results are fast and relevant.
• Voice Search – the voice recognition is pleasantly accurate.  I have become very trustworthy of its translation.
• Directions – it is easy to find locations and quickly get directions from where you are (or another predetermined location).
• Settings – this may seem silly, but I enjoy using an application that does not drown the user with endless options.  The settings fit on one page and are easy to understand.

I have only one complaint.  Bing team – why did you not give me the ability to easily copy/save items from my search results?  For example, if I find a link to something I want to review later, the application does not have a provision for this.  If anyone from the Bing team reads this, please add this feature.

Compared to other search engines for the iPhone (Google, SearchIt, default Safari), Bing is clearly my favorite!