WordPress for iPhone

Thank god, good mobile photo blogging to my favorite blog platform…

Deck time..

Barbequeing!

Good mobile photo blogging?

I’ve been looking for a good way to aggregate/sort out the mess of mobile posting stuff out there. Currently using Ping.fm to post microstatus to fb,pownce,twitted,etc. But I’d like an iPhone native app that will let me post a photo (that I don’t have to pretake!), add a description, and have it automatically add my location…and then post that back to wordpress. I can get away without geo for now, but even a basic but good wordpress photo upload doesn’t seem in place yet…

Maison Fleurie, Yountville

Cute little inn in downtown Yountville…

photo posted from my iPhone

Getting Things Done

I’ve been an fan of the getting things done methodology for awhile. I try and stay on top of my process, though with multiple projects going on in & outside of work, many with significant amounts of reading, I do tend to end up with a lot of to do tasks in whatever bucket they’re in.

I use a combination of 37 Signals services to help manage this flow. I started using Basecamp about 2 years ago (still have the initial setup message) as a way to manage products at Xfire, where I was working at the time. It evolved into my own personal task list and project management solution. I then also set up a Backpack account, as it seemed more geared toward personal rather than professional use. Both have their unique quirks, and neither is perfect.

• Basecamp is definitely targeted at groups, but it’s a powerful way to manage your personal tasks as well. Only gripe is the pricing model (limited to one project in the free system - it’s actually a genius pricing system but I’m cheap) and the fact that there aren’t simple timelines on reminders. I want to be able to defer a task for awhile.
• Backpack is great for personal use, though it lacks some of the robustness of Basecamp. Also, the completed todo lists don’t truncate as you tick things off, which annoys me to no end. Having multiple pages for multiple projects is great, though (as has been mentioned in their forums) it makes it difficult to centralize your todos like you can in Basecamp short of using odd notation.
• Neither really provides what I’d call personal CRM. I want a system that will sync with my contacts list (which is itself synced across Entourage, Apple’s Contacts list, Plaxo & my phone). While we do use Highrise for work at Into, the lack of syncing makes it much less powerful as a personal relationship management tool. I’ve taken to using reminders in Backpack to help me keep track, but it’s not an elegant solution.

Anyone else out there use a combination of the above? Any tips & tricks?

I also feel like, despite the philosophy of keeping things simple, there’s a powerful play for integrating the Basecamp, Backpack, Highrise and Campfire suite. You can sort of integrate things now (embed campfire in Basecamp, for instance), but the major task, scheduling, and contact systems each reside in their own silos. I would argue that suite is actually the threat to Microsoft’s office - being able to create docs & spreadsheets online is great, but the real crux of the problem of any team is keeping people coordinated. And Google has done a terrible job of really helping teams organize around Google docs (each person has to be invited in to share a doc, for instance, rather than making it publicly available for a select group. Yes I know you can hack something together with Page Creator, but it’s awkward and is probably hampering adoption.)

At the same time - I have massive respect for the team for focusing on their core, growing slowly, and building software they love (and getting paid directly for it!)

::Kiskis::

IntoFlight.com

As some of you have probably already seen, www.intoflight.com is live! You can swing by and check it out…we’re still pretty early, but any feedback in the forums or otherwise would be very welcome.

Into Flight is designed to be the best community-driven resource for pilots. You can find information on all sorts of aircraft, both the model itself (ie, Cessna 172) as well as individual planes. You can add photos, reviews, and more of your own plane, or look for a plane to purchase (we aggregate classifieds of aircraft from across the web). We’ve got a slew of new features coming soon as well, as well as some more related sites…but for now, check it out!

::Kiskis::

Coming soon!

We’re ramping up to launch the first (private) beta of a new project at Into Productions. You’ll soon all be able to see it live, and I’ll soon be here more often to share thoughts, comments, and often random links that are particularly relevant. See you soon.

::Kiskis::

Did Life Evolve in Ice?

Very interesting research into the origins of life on earth. A certain group of the scientific community believes that freezing conditions were one of the more likely environments for the origin of organic molecules. An experiment lasting over the last quarter of a century by Stanley Miller seems to support that hypothesis.

http://discovermagazine.com/2008/feb/did-life-evolve-in-ice/article_view?b_start:int=0&-C=

McKinsey Quartely

Just found out about this service from McKinsey. Looks like lots of great articles about management, industry updates, etc. For instance, this great article on not employing jerks: Building the Civilized Workplace.

Registration is free and gets you email updates on areas of interest for you. I’ll be keeping an eye to see what interesting stuff pops up.

::Kiskis::