is a post from: The Simple Llama - where you can learn to live a simple life today.

So far today I’ve used Siri to set several reminders. In some cases I asked her to remind me at a certain time in other cases I asked her to remind me when I get to or leave a certain place. It’s worked pretty much flawlessly so far. The geofenced reminders seem so futuristic that I’m still surprised when they work. They do work, every time, I should add.

Nitpicking

The only oddity I’ve seen is when someone’s name is the same as an object. For example, there’s a gentleman by the name of Leif in my address book. The reminder I created involved a leaf, but Siri pulled the name Leif from my address book instead. Not a big deal in most cases, and certainly not likely to happen very often.

Siri Dictation

Siri dictation is good for getting down some quick thoughts. Your dictations will need some serious editing before they’re ready for anyone else to read.1 Speaking a bit slower than usual makes all the difference in the world. Veterans of dictation software already know this, I’m sure. I’m a complete novice in the area.

Siri Stigma

How long until the Siri stigma goes away? When the iPhone first came out and you used it in public, people were like “Oh my gosh is that an iPhone?” Nowadays, iPhones are normal. They’re everywhere. People use them all the time. It’s even normal to read on the phone, or text while walking. No one looks twice at someone who does this.

It does feel odd to use Siri while walking out and about public. Of course this is when she’s most useful, but it still feel strange. Something about walking down the street while talking to the robot personal assistant inside my phone seems ultra nerdy. I wonder how long it will be until enough people use Siri in public so that it doesn’t feel strange anymore.

Siri and the car

I have Bluetooth integration in my car, and i use it to talk on my iPhone while driving. I was interested to see how Siri would integrate with this. Quick ansewr? It’s a mixed bag. I can’t figure out a way to active Siri from the steering wheel controls.

The phone buttons on the steering wheel initiates a phone call, but will not activate Siri even if held down. However, if I activate Siri manually on my phone, she speaks through the car speakers. I can then reply as if I were having a conversation with another person. I don’t need to talk into the handset. In other words, it’s smart enough to use the Bluetooth microphone in my car.

The killer (and lacking) feature would be the ability to activate Siri via a steering wheel button. You could send texts, read your texts, dictate notes, make appointments, set reminders, etc – all while keeping your hands on the steering wheel. 2

Perhaps this is something that some cars already do. Maybe it’s something a software update can fix – I have no idea. But it would be fantastic.

Siri is changing the way I use my phone. Simple tasks are easier than ever, and we’re barely scratching the surface of potential here. This future stuff? Pretty great.

A girl named Siri is a post from: The Simple Llama - where you can learn to live a simple life today.

I will spend those hours with my family and whoever else happens to be physically in my house (maybe I’ll even let myself get bored). I’m doing this for a few reasons. First, I was becoming resentful of the people and things that were preventing me from working during that time. Those “people” happened to be my children and that “thing” was parenting. I ended up stressed about what I wasn’t doing.

So obvious. So important. So something I’m not good at putting into practice.

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A new rule: sacred time | 52 Tiger is a post from: The Simple Llama - where you can learn to live a simple life today.

Nerds and tinkering go together like pizza and coke. In fact, it’s almost as though one cannot exist without the other. In the case of pizza and coke there’s no problem, but nerds and tinkering? Hoo boy.

Writings nerds are among the worst when it comes to tinkering. Whether it’s a new app to make opening their favorite app a third of a second faster, or a “distraction-free writing environment,” there’s always something new and shiny for a writing nerd to play with.

You spend hours, days, weeks trying app after app to find The Perfect Writing App. Finally you stumble across it – and it is beautiful. Black words on a sea of white. Or white words on a sea of black, if that’s more your style.

Only, you notice something strange. There are no words on your screen. Your screen is a sea of nothingness, devoid of any words. You sir, are an idiot staring at a blank screen. Instead of you know, writing, as a writer should do, you’ve spent your time searching for the ultimate writing tool.

Buying and trying apps can be useful, even fun. But you know what it isn’t? It isn’t writing. Writing is writing. Sit down at your keyboard, open up whatever writing app you happen to have on your computer, and type. This smart cat once said that words are found in a keyboard, and you just have to bang on it to make the words come out.

I think that is close to the truth, but not quite. The words, you see, are actually in your fingers. Not everyone’s fingers have good words on them, and even if your fingers do have good words, they won’t always be good. That’s OK, just so long as you start writing. Your fingers have a story to tell. Let them.

You can use any writing app you like, on any device you like.1 The specifics aren’t important. Writing is.

Don’t be an idiot staring at a blank screen, even if it’s the most beautiful blank screen you can imagine.

An idiot staring at a blank screen Part 2 is a post from: The Simple Llama - where you can learn to live a simple life today.

Inspiration is fleeting. For days on end, I will be inspired to create things. Website designs, new ways to make websites do what I want them to do, words on a screen. Inspiration is a wonderful thing when you have it, because great pieces of work flow from you fingers with ease.

Sometimes, though. Sometimes, inspiration is a real bitch. She’s hiding from you, and you just can’t find her. You look in your text editor, but she isn’t there. You check on the Internet, but she’s not there. Twitter? Nope, she’s not there either. Coda? Nah, she’s not there, though you can hear her laughing in the distance.

Lately, inspiration has been that way to me. I can’t find her. I sit down to write, but my fingers have nothing to say. I start to dream up a new design, but it’s all foggy. I try to tweak some code to make it do something neat, but my fingers don’t know what to do.

Without inspiration, your fingers are just appendages. Sure, they’re still good for basic tasks. But they will not create things on their own. For that, they need inspiration, wherever she may be.

Inspiration is a post from: The Simple Llama - where you can learn to live a simple life today.

Alfred, the incredibly useful productivity utility from Running with Crayons, lets you create “Groups” for launching a bunch of apps and files all at once the Powerpack add-on is required. Add everything you want to a list, give it a keyword, and call it up whenever you want your Mac to do more of your work for you.

Seriously, is there anything Alfred can’t do?

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Alfred – Finer Things in Mac is a post from: The Simple Llama - where you can learn to live a simple life today.

I can see myself happily using Siri and Reminders for more of those one off reminders that always felt frivolous and out of place in my OmniFocus “Single Actions List”. Tasks like specific items I needed from the grocery store were horrible to manage in OmniFocus and I could not easily share them with my wife. Reminders app solves this problem with shared lists and does so with style and finesse, telling Siri to “add item XYZ to my Groceries list”.

Minus the Siri bit1, this is exactly how I see Reminders. Very simple, quick reminders that I only need access to on my iPhone. More specifically, I only use it for the geo-fence reminders. The current OmniFocus implementation of geo-fence reminders is clunky at best. Reminders keeps things very simple, which is great for light tasks.

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iOS 5 Reminders – Don Southard is a post from: The Simple Llama - where you can learn to live a simple life today.

I think the tie means, “I will be so subservient as an employee that I will do even totally senseless things just because you tell me to.” Another reason to avoid wearing a tie for a job interview is to show you’re not interested in employers that want such subservience.

Well, yea. This. Mr. Stallman has an interesting outlook on life. You may not agree with it all.1 This is perhaps the best writing I’ve ever read about ties. Ties are the most evil thing man has ever devised. Ladies, you just wouldn’t understand.

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Ties – Richard Stallman is a post from: The Simple Llama - where you can learn to live a simple life today.

By default, both Windows and Android annoy the shit out of you. That is their default, out of the box state. When you buy a Windows computer, there are many things you must do to make it serviceable. When you buy an Android powered phone, you must go through a similar process.1

This is the wrong way to create happy users.

My first experience of using my shiny new, probably expensive device should not be one of uninstalling crapware. It should not involve discovering task managers so my phone doesn’t freeze or run out of battery in a few hours. Instead I should be able to do what I want.

Apple has more loyal customers because from the very first time you take your new gadget out of the box, it doesn’t annoy the shit out of you. Revolutionary, isn’t it?

Defaults is a post from: The Simple Llama - where you can learn to live a simple life today.

Repeating tasks are a core feature of any GTD type system. There are some tasks that repeat on a regular basis – things like taking out the garbage, paying taxes, backing up your computer. Some of these tasks are done daily, some weekly, some monthly, and some quarterly. Being able to schedule a repeating task to remind you to do these things is absolutely critical to keeping you sane, and making sure everything gets done.

Back when I used Things 1, and now that I use OmniFocus2, repeating tasks are a staple of my system. I don’t want to have to remember anything. I want my system to remind me to do the things that I need to do. That is pretty much the entire point, after all.

Repeating Task Overkill

There comes a point, however, when your entire daily task list is populated by repeating tasks. You wake up in the morning and look at your OmniFocus Due list, and every single task is of the repeating variety. This is a trap!

When all of your tasks are repeating, that means you are just treading water. You aren’t moving forward on any of your projects. During your super busiest3 times, this is probably fine. But normal times? It’s a horrible, horrible trap. You’ll be checking off boxes left and right, thinking that you’re making progress. Instead, you’re going nowhere in a big hurry.

Always make sure you are moving forward

Look at your Due list for today. If it’s entirely, or nearly full of repeating tasks, it’s time for a Super Review. Go through each and every one of your repeating tasks to make sure they are necessary. If you can repeat them at a slower rate, do it. Maybe you don’t need to check your PO box every week, when ever two weeks will do just fine. You get the idea.

The more repeating tasks you can knock off your list permanently, the more work you can actually get done. Due lists should just be your first stop, not your only stop.

Next Actions

Build a Next Actions perspective, if you haven’t already. This is where you should aim to spend more time, as it will actually move you through projects. This is the only way you’re ever going to get anything done. This is how I set up my Next Actions list:

Basically it shows the next available task of every active project I have. I don’t have to look at things that I can’t do, which means less clutter. When you’re checking off tasks from this perspective, you know you’re really making progress.

Repeating Tasks is a post from: The Simple Llama - where you can learn to live a simple life today.