I hope the new year is finding everyone healthy, happy and prepared for another great year of discussing the software that simultaneously makes us productive and helps us avoid working.

Speaking of which, I am excited by the addition of a MacBook Air 11" to my collection of gadgets. I recently bought the new machine because I was frustrated that I didn't find better use for my iPad Mini. The latter is a great device, but I just can't crank out any writing of substance on it. The onscreen keyboard is just insufficient. I've tried portable external keyboards, and those remain too small. I was also contemplating getting a regular size iPad, but that would leave me with the same problem really. So I got the Air, which isn't really a whole lot bigger than an iPad, has a great keyboard and I can run Tinderbox and Scrivener on it, as well as a few other necessary Mac OS apps.

What has you excited about the new year (CRIMP-wise, that is)?

Steve Z.

Happy NY to you too, Steve.

My best CRMP of 2013 was a MacBook Air, which is the best computer I have owned over the past three decades. Both the best Mac and the best PC, since running Windows 8 on it under Parallels provides almost seamless integration between the two OS's. I've crammed more CRIMPing onto that box than any computer I've owned, and it never slows down or fails.

For 2014 I'm looking forward to possible new releases of Curio, DEVONthink, and Tinderbox -- with perhaps better (or any) integration of those with iPads.

Happy New Year to all!

As for CRIMPing, I'm fairly happy with my collection of software at the moment. Recently I've been mostly focusing on little utilities, scripts, coding snacks (especially from the DonationCoder.com website) to improve communication between various software, and my productivity.

In terms of hardware, I'm looking to replace my ageing iPad 1 with an iPad Air + keyboard case (considering ZAGG Keys Case Folio in particular), in order to emulate a laptop that can be instantly switched on and off. That seems to be the single most important feature. I do have a netbook that I like but I wouldn't boot it up just to take a quick note.

I was hoping to stick with iPad 1 as long as I could, as mostly I just want to be able to take notes, do some writing, check email and browse. However, my favourite note-taking app (Nebulous Notes) is grinding to a halt on it now, Workflowy will stop working on it soon, and all the interesting new Markdown editors require iOS 6 and above.

Happy New Year!

I spent most of my day fussing around, first, with KAMAS (remember that one?) on DOSBox, both on Linux and Windows. Wonderful software - but no, I've moved on.

Then I dug into Notecase Pro again. A few days ago, I sent a script to the Notecase Google group, suggesting that it would be nice to have a command that allowed one to (a) toggle the two pane outliner to the right hand, notes view only, then (b) advance through sibling notes in sequence, showing only the content of the notes. Since Notecase will display links and images, I thought this would make a solid replacement for PowerPoint.

And I got a script back within 24 hours. That got me roped into testing some of the scripts that are available (like the single command to sweep through a note and fix all the spacing and line breaks), and learning how to build a cross platform repository for them. And to Steve Z's point, I put in several hours of "work" but actually accomplished .... nothing.

Fun, though.

Happy New Year everyone :-)

I actually (almost) restrained myself during the past year, trying to set up a simpler consolidated system made of complimentary devices and applications:

- Windows 7 Acer laptop (purchased in 2012) 'docked' with a Fujitsu port extender for use as desktop
- Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro Android phone (purchased in 2010); unfortunately stuck in v2.1 of the OS
- Asus eee PC 901 Linux netbook (purchased in 2009)
- Samsung Galaxy Note 8" tablet (purchase in 2013); nowadays I do most of my scribble notetaking there

Of the above, my essential tools are the Windows laptop and my phone. I avoided upgrading my phone mostly because of its real slide-out keyboard; I simply can't work on virtual keyboards, and even for the tablet I use an external keyboard for long texts. But after seeing many of my favourite Android tools demanding v2.2 as minimum, I realised that I wouldn't be able to use it for long anymore.

So I've just received its replacement, a Samsung Galaxy Chat GT-B5330. It is one of the very very few Android phones with a real keyboard that I managed to find, it runs Android 4.0.4 and it's actually quite cheap compared to many other modern Android phones, presumably because of its rather small (3") screen--which is nevertheless enough for me. I hope to run on it most of my favourite Android applications (at least those that make sense on a small screen and without a pen).

For 2014, I'm hoping with Intel making low-powered processors again (Bay Trail) that small, cheap notebooks become a thing again.

Happy New Year!

I continue to plug away on my little 11.6" Acer Aspire One AO756 notebook running Windows 8. Ecco Pro is still my program for typing in my stream of notes during the day. I toss it in my "man bag" and take it just about everywhere I go. I even make notes with it in my car. I leave it running if the next note is coming up quickly, but if it's going to be a while, I put it to sleep. It wakes up pretty quickly when I need to make a note. This way I don't run out of battery ,and this is only a 3 (or 4?) cell battery.

Funny thing is I got an amazing deal on a Lenovo S230 "Twist" notebook/tablet - something like $330 USD for a refurb, Core i5 cpu, gorgeous 12.5 IPS display, etc. But I still mostly use the little Acer - the size is perfect, i like the little keyboard. The only thing I miss on the Acer is the touchscreen, which brings in a whole new level of ease of use.

I have an HP Touchpad from 2011 ($149 for 32GB tablet during the discontinuation fire sale). But I don't use it much now because I carry the Acer with me now instead of the Touchpad. It's just easier to get my notes into Ecco by typing them directly into Ecco, but I can't do that on an android device. Of course when I switch my note taking software, it could easily cause a change in the hardware I use.

My phone is a Samsung Galaxy Note 2, which is amazing, and I haven't begun to use it anywhere near its full potential.

For my desktop, it is waiting to be built! Some months ago I bought an Asus Z77 motherboard + i5 3570K cpu + 240GB Samsung SSD. Haven't found the time to put it together. Nuts !!

I am impressed by the praise for the MacBook Air but I am a longtime Applephobe and tightwad.

@Alexander, you might have some fun rooting and "romming" your Experia X10 mini pro. It seems you can at least be running Android 4.1 on it. Lots of possibilities here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/xperia-x10-mini/mini-pro-dev
For your Galaxy Chat you can go here - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2087316

May I join in wishing everybody a wonderfully positive 2014!

As far as crimping goes, I find that I've recoiled into fairly conservative mode (for the time being). Currently, my main apps are:
- Wunderlist for task management (because it's so totally ubiquitous);
- OneNote for notes, scans, screenshots etc. (because it's cross-platform and has an amazing OCR function)
- Notebooks for notes, web pages, and literary stuff (because it's cross-platform and reproduces web pages to such a high standard; the new version for iOS is lovely, too)
- CintaNotes (coupled with SimpleNotes) for quick note-taking and transfers from desktop to iPad

However, there are plenty of other apps/applications I toy with occasionally, when I have a little spare time.

I've grown somewhat disillusioned with Android on my Galaxy Note 1.0, especially in view of Samsung's attempts to become a world-dominating power that totally owns all your personal data, but also in view of the many other Android apps that require total access to every corner of your system before they'll run properly. I'm seriously contemplating either a return to an iPhone or a move to Windows Phone (lower-end Nokia smartphones are going for very reasonable prices at the moment). But I'm also thinking of experimenting with the new CyanogenMod version of Android...

In terms of desktops/laptops; yes, I'm tempted to move to Apple: first, because of the ghastly cryptoviruses out there at the moment, which are primarily Windows-targeted, and second, because I've just bought and set up a state-of-the-art 27" iMac for my son, who's a budding film director. Okay, it was expensive, but it's an astonishing machine! He runs Windows on it most of the time, because that's what his expensive film-editing software runs on - and it's still an astonishing machine! (It's an astonishing TV, too, but obviously that's a secondary function, hem!) But first, I have to find a way to convince my FD that it's worth the fairly significant cost of changing platforms... (curses, curses!). Personally, I like iWork, and feel that the software cost would be modest; on the other hand, Accounts run on Windows, so that puts a bit of a spanner in the works.

And I've just finished reading Charles Stross's very entertaining series of Laundry novels (four of them), in which a valiant super-secret service fights to prevent incursions by ghastly, tentacled Lovecraftian horrors from alternative spacetime dimensions - very witty and highly computerate; Stross has one of those planet-sized brains that impress you every time you read his stuff. Thoroughly recommended.

Have a good one, everyone!

Bill,

Quick questions re your 'conservative' approach and considering Apple (in my case it's Linux, but the reasons are not very different):

- Wunderlist: does it cover your requirements outlined here http://www.outlinersoftware.com/messages/viewm/19525 ? And what was the result of your experimentation with ticktick.com and others?

- My main reason for sticking with Windows is the ubiquity of MS Office, used by 95% of my clients and collaborators, and especially Word revision mode. Would you still be using this via Parallels / VMWare / CrossOver ? Or would you replace MS Office with iWork altogether?

A belated HNY to everybody.

I too am looking forward to Tinderbox 6, and I'll also be looking forward (hopefully) to a series of blog posts about it from Steve Z. where he explains its features so that I can better understand them! In addition, I'll be hoping that Scrivener for iOS makes it successfully to launch, and that Devonthink sorts out its syncing issues.

MadaboutDana wrote:

In terms of desktops/laptops; yes, I'm tempted to move to Apple: first,
because of the ghastly cryptoviruses out there at the moment, which are
primarily Windows-targeted, and second, because I've just bought and set

Maybe this will help:
http://krebsonsecurity.com/2013/11/how-to-avoid-cryptolocker-ransomware/

Hi Alexander - sorry, back into "work" mode, it's all a bit stressful, really...

Wunderlist: yes, not ideal, still doesn't match all my needs (colours/tags in particular; the three-part screen it does do, kind of), but it's so solid I've finally gone back to it (only to discover that it sometimes hiccups when syncing)!

I like TickTick, but Wunderlist is more ubiquitous, in constant development (version 3.0 due out soon, apparently), and despite above-mentioned hiccups, very stable. It sends reminders by e-mail, is accessible from more or less anywhere... it's just very well-designed. The thing that's made a big difference to me: the use of starred entries to prioritise tasks. Not all task apps allow you to do that, but Wunderlist does - the feature turns it into something more like Priorities, which I'm very fond of.

It's still a bit too list-like for me; colours would be nice, and I could really do with folding, but I'm using it more efficiently than before.

As for MS Office: I hear what you say about Word, but if we moved over to Mac I would be quite happy to use (a) Pages or (b) LibreOffice. I've been experimenting with the latter for many months, and to be honest, unless you've got a complex Word document to edit, you'd never know you were using something that wasn't Word.

Pages' Word compatibility has also improved. Again, it's not perfect, but it's vastly better than before (despite the various excised features that got people so upset just before Christmas). Our document templates are all Word-based, but I recently edited and delivered an edited Word file to a client from my iPad: there was no appreciable difference in look/quality.

The only thing I could conceivably miss in Word is the grammar function, which does occasionally pick up silly errors (plural vs. singular, verbal disagreements etc.), although it also picks up lots of perfectly legitimate stuff. But there are alternative utilities!

Thanks, Steve - that was very useful indeed, and also gave me the useful link to personal encryption-blocking software 'CryptoPrevent' (http://www.foolishit.com/vb6-projects/cryptoprevent/

jaslar wrote:

Happy New Year!

I spent most of my day fussing around, first, with KAMAS (remember that
one?) on DOSBox, both on Linux and Windows. Wonderful software - but no,
I've moved on.

Kamas, the last time I had a really complete understanding of my PIM software. Hard to remember that far back, but wasn't it a CPM program?

I know. For many years, KAMAS WAS my brain. It made the move to DOS, but never to Windows. But it seems to run reasonably well in DOSBOX, although sometimes there seem to be glitches when you quit.