Federico Viticci

10804 posts on MacStories since April 2009

Federico is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of MacStories, where he writes about Apple with a focus on apps, developers, iPad, and iOS productivity. He founded MacStories in April 2009 and has been writing about Apple since. Federico is also the co-host of AppStories, a weekly podcast exploring the world of apps, Unwind, a fun exploration of media and more, and NPC: Next Portable Console, a show about portable gaming and the handheld revolution.
@viticci@macstories.net
@viticci.macstories.net
viticci@macstories.net

OmniFocus for iPad Reinvented My GTD Workflow

To me, GTD apps used to be worse than Twitter clients on the iPhone before Tweetie: ephemeral.

Yes, even worse than financial apps: I didn’t know how to choose one and keep rolling with it. You know - that new kid on the block could be better and has a beautiful UI. You know the drill. I was a GTD user who couldn’t manage to find an actual GTD to get going with. To better understand the situation, it’s important to specify the workflow I used to have, and the one I have now. Before the iPad came out, I organized all my tasks and projects on my Mac (whether in a desktop app or online service) and didn’t really care about achieving a cloud-based workflow. I had an iPhone (a 3GS, to be exact) but I just didn’t see it as a device to carry my GTD database around. I tried Things, iCal to-dos, Basecamp, Backpack - all sorts of productivity apps / project management tools out there. None of them survived.

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Daylite Touch Goes 1.5: Reminders, Retina Display Graphics, New Features

Daylite Touch, the app that allows you to professionally manage your team and business, has been updated to version 1.5 - which introduces a lot of improvements and new features. First, Retina Display and iOS 4 multitasking support: the app now looks great on the iPhone and can sync with the Mac version in the background. Good stuff.

As for the new features, you can now filter your contact list or disable the sync process on the app’s launch. Daylite Touch is available for free here. Check out the full changelog below.

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Flash 10.1 for Mac Updated with Hardware Acceleration

MacRumors is reporting that Flash 10.1 for Mac has finally been updated to include support for hardware-accelerated decoding of video content, which offers a smoother playback and eats less battery. At least Adobe says so.

Adobe project manager Thibault Imbert:

“We just pushed a few minutes ago a new version of the Flash Player 10.1.82.76 containing a nice feature that was in beta until now called “Gala”. Yes, H.264 GPU decoding in Mac OSX is now officially enabled in the Flash Player.

You should notice now a nice difference when playing H.264 content on your Mac in terms of CPU usage. We rarely enable new features in security releases but we really wanted to enable such a cool feature.”

Go download Flash here. Then, go download ClickToFlash here.

Plants vs. Zombies for Mac Available on Steam

Mac gamers, rejoice: one of the most acclaimed games for iPhone and iPad, Plants vs. Zombies, is now available on Mac OS X via Steam. It’s the game you know and love, available on your desktop computer of choice.

This “Game of the Year” edition also includes support for Steamcloud and a new feature called “Zombatar” which allows you to incorporate your own custom zombies into the game.

Check out the full press release below. [Thanks, Jack]

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Times for iPad: Beautiful Visual Newsreader. Review and Giveaway.

Ever since I bought the iPad, I knew it was going to change the way I read news online. Be it the New York Times or MacStories, TechCrunch or The Huffington Post, the iPad and the developers who create new apps for this new device have changed the way we approach news. At least this is what we thought before Flipboard came out. Flipboard pushed the game to the next level, enabling users to create their own digital magazine starting from their Twitter and Facebook streams - something many had tried in the past but never quite nailed as much as McCue and his guys did.

Now we have choices: RSS readers, apps that start from RSS subscriptions to build something visually new, and Flipboard. In fact, we reviewed a lot of these “visual newsreaders” in the past.

Where does Times for iPad fit?

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Keep Track of Where Your Money Is with Tabs

Sometimes you lend those 5 bucks to that good friend of yours and you never get them back. But he’s a good friend, right? “I promise, I’ll give your money back as soon as I get paid!”.

Sure. I’ve been fooled many times. Too many. Now I have an app for that. And yes, I’m looking at you - you supposedly good friend of mine who still has to give me 37 Euros  for the dinner I bought you three weeks ago.

Tabs by Patrick Mandia lets you keep track of where your money is and notify “your buddies”. You create a new tab for each contact who owes you money, you enter date and amount, then you’ll be able to either call him (mob-style), send him a message or an email. Too bad there’s no “here’s where he lives, go get him” option in the Settings. Perhaps in a future update.

Tabs is only $0.99 in the App Store. Go buy it, but don’t gift it to anyone.

This is an offer you can’t offer you can’t refuse.

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