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Five Productivity Apps to Kick-Start the New Year
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I'm surprised you still recommend Things 3 that hasn't been updated since the middle age. It lacks many features all the others have like collaborative tasks, setting reminders to subtasks, different tasks views... and I'm not talking about the price. I have Things 3, on my Mac, my iPad and my iPhone but I switched to Todoist one year ago, which I find way more intelligent and efficient.
With your timeframes, I question the rest you say actually 🤭
Good for you that you are happy trading out an app you bought with a subscription app.
I am happy with Things though, and with the minor updates and corrections they do occasionally.
I still find new ways in using it all the time. No regrets whatsoever here.
I like Noto better. It has a one time fee.
Noto - Elegant Note
Features: - Powerful text editing tools - Bold / Italic / Underline / Strikethrough / Highlight - Number list / Bullet list / Check list - Unlimited attachments (Pro): - Image / Video / Scan / Drawing / File - Table / Block quote / Code / Math Equation...
apps.apple.com
Ask GPT how many days of the week end in ‘y’. Or how many months have an ‘r’ in them. I tried a year ago and it still gets both wrong. Reliable shmiable.
I got used to Calendars 5 by Readdle - just love its UI and funcionality.
For shopping lists and no time-related tasks I use Things 3. Again - got used to it and I like the UI.
And I cannot go through the day without Due - there is no other app (at least I cannot find it) that offers repeating, constantly nagging reminders which could be adjusted the million ways. I just wish for some UI update, it's been the same for years and it feels outdated.
For shopping lists and no time-related tasks I use Things 3. Again - got used to it and I like the UI.
And I cannot go through the day without Due - there is no other app (at least I cannot find it) that offers repeating, constantly nagging reminders which could be adjusted the million ways. I just wish for some UI update, it's been the same for years and it feels outdated.
notes is pretty good these days but Bear provides (for me) a better writing experience, generally:
Full keyboard-based markdown editing
more complete link backs/wiki style note management, to notes and also locations within notes
proper tagging/smart folders
And the ability to export my notes - Apple Notes is HORRID for that, perhaps the only app I've used that's worse is Onenote (which I have tried so many times and cannot get on board with)
I was on Craft for a while which I liked, but it's becoming more of a collaborative doc editor and I don't need yet another one of those, esp as I basically have to run my business on O365/Sharepoint.
Yes you can - to a date in a calendar, or to another list. Obviously not that easy on a phone, but on iPad and Mac works exactly as you describe.
Another vote for GoodTask, it's excellent and adds great functionality on top of Reminders.
A very good calendar app is CalenGoo. Very powerful, extremely customizable, has Reminders support, has a way to manually display selected tasks on today without changing their due dates, can read tags and start dates from GoodTask... and it's inexpensive. A very responsive developer. I've used Calengoo for over a decade now, starting with my first Android phone.
iThoughts is a mind mapper for iOS, MacOS and Windows that has some cool productivity functionality (you can export items to Calendar or Reminders, among other things). Great for info gathering and project planning.
A very good calendar app is CalenGoo. Very powerful, extremely customizable, has Reminders support, has a way to manually display selected tasks on today without changing their due dates, can read tags and start dates from GoodTask... and it's inexpensive. A very responsive developer. I've used Calengoo for over a decade now, starting with my first Android phone.
iThoughts is a mind mapper for iOS, MacOS and Windows that has some cool productivity functionality (you can export items to Calendar or Reminders, among other things). Great for info gathering and project planning.
I use Apple Cal, it's good.
Reminders though... I'd use them if I could read them on Mac. Still no way to change the font size without having to change the system screen resolution.
Hey @tomsch, thanks for recommending Solid apps. I got hold of Solid Calendar and Solid Notes and am enjoying them both on my Mac as well as my iPhone. Much appreciated.
It’s funny how people’s impressions of Mac are shaped by the timeframe of their changing from Windows.
As a late adopter (got my first Mac last year), I find that it doesn’t “just work”, at least not anymore. It kind of, sort of, mostly, works, until it doesn’t. I’d say that Windows 10/11 is actually quite a bit more stable.
My issues with Mac are random slowdowns that require a reboot to fix, the horrible default text sizes that still can’t be increased in many dialogs without lowering system resolution (Reminders, Activity Monitor and file info are prime examples), the lack of proper tiling window management (Rectangle helps), the lack of a built in clipboard manager (solved via 3rd party utils), the very finicky connectivity of AirPod Pros that often just refuse to connect. Basically, it’s not a highly polished OS that I expected. But the hardware is fantastic and there are many really nice apps. Most importantly, it’s deeply integrated with iPhone / iPad.
As a late adopter (got my first Mac last year), I find that it doesn’t “just work”, at least not anymore. It kind of, sort of, mostly, works, until it doesn’t. I’d say that Windows 10/11 is actually quite a bit more stable.
My issues with Mac are random slowdowns that require a reboot to fix, the horrible default text sizes that still can’t be increased in many dialogs without lowering system resolution (Reminders, Activity Monitor and file info are prime examples), the lack of proper tiling window management (Rectangle helps), the lack of a built in clipboard manager (solved via 3rd party utils), the very finicky connectivity of AirPod Pros that often just refuse to connect. Basically, it’s not a highly polished OS that I expected. But the hardware is fantastic and there are many really nice apps. Most importantly, it’s deeply integrated with iPhone / iPad.
As a late adopter I think you missed out on the golden years (or maybe im just a grouchy 40 year old
but there was something special about that aqua interface in the early and mid 2000s having come from windows. it was the indescribable finishing touch a builder puts on something that they didnt have to. for example, the slight pulsing [breathing?] of the blue "ok" buttons on dialog boxes. Or the intro videos when setting up a new Mac or a new OS upgrade. I'm sure I am not remembering the times of frustration when software wouldnt work, but back in those days it really did "just work." You should go see the 512 pixels website by Stephen Hackett and look at his Mac OS X gallery that has tons of screenshots from each OS. don’t know about you, but for me it makes me with apple would come out with a macOS Retro edition that is all the stuff of the modern OS but with all the looks of an Aqua OS. Id gladly go back to the days of paying $129 for an OS upgrade if they did that. It was so beautiful and at the time so futuristic looking but in such an elegant way.
As a late adopter I think you missed out on the golden years (or maybe im just a grouchy 40 year old
Oh, early/mid 2000 would definitely make any alternative OS look like a work of pure art. Windows ME was absolutely the worst POS ever inflicted on humanity, and XP was only marginally better. MS didn’t really get their act together until Windows 7. However, they did improve a lot in the last two decades. W10 has been very stable and W11 is just as good. As far as stability (I.e. the lack of systemwide slowdowns, a single misbehaving app not taking down everything else) I’d give Windows a slight edge over Mac OS, at least in my experience.
The interface is also a mixed bag. Mac definitely has better visual design - Windows is more plain and business like. But their system font rendering is superior. I don’t have the best vision, and it’s much easier for me to read the dialogs on W11, even if the text is small. The letters are just thick enough and contrasty enough to be very legible. Mac small fonts are just … fuzzier, for the lack of better word. I may do a comparison screenshot.
As far as OS, there’s really nothing wrong with Windows today. The biggest issues are hardware - where’s simply no phone and tablet integration that you get with Apple devices. Also finding a laptop with great performance *and* great battery life *and* great hardware reliability is challenging - too many choices, too many conflicting claims. I wanted the synergy of using my devices as a complete ecosystem.
Luckily I’ve never used Vista, went from XP Pro to 7.
I’d say 7 is when MS’ efforts to right their ship seem to have started paying off. It was largely a solid, stable platform. Not a fan of visual design, though…
Yeah, I used Windows 7 at work for a few years... as much as one can "love" Windows, I loved it... shortly thereafter, they gave us the option to use either Macs or PCs for work, and I jumped at the chance...