Tagamac

In what is turning into the Weekend of GTD, iGTD‘s developer, Bartek Bargiel, has published a first look at the upcoming features in iGTD 2, including a number of short screencasts. Along with a much more stream-lined and understandable interface (at last), iGTD 2 promises tabs for quickly switching between specific task views, a Things-like departure from contexts that uses focuses and tags for sorting tasks, and vastly improved hierarchical project relationships.

This is definitely an exciting teaser for the future of what is currently the top GTD contender (in my opinion; your mileage may vary). iGTD is not without flaws, as I have remarked myself, but iGTD 2 looks like it will be a solid competitor for more polished newcomers to the field like OmniFocus and Things.

PackRat, the desktop Backpack client, has been updated to version 1.5.3. This minor update fixes a bug where PackRat would not display images in the same order as Backpack, and brings the help documentation completely up to date. There aren’t really any more details, but if you want to see it in the developer’s own words you can read the 1.5.3 blog announcement.

In other news, InfiniteNIL has announced that they are pondering upgrade fees and Leopard-only compatibility. If you’ve got any strong opinions on the subject (or desired features that you haven’t requested yet), they’d love to hear from you.

This actually has nothing to do with tagging, but since people who like tags and people who like task management often tend to congregate these days, I figured I’d post it. Omni has released a public beta for OmniFocus and is offering it for half the eventual sale price through their online store as a special pre-release sale (introductory price $39.95, regular price will be $79.95; OmniOutliner Pro owners get an additional 25% off).

I can only imagine the conversation at Omni: “Damn it, this project has been sapping our resources with no return for far too long.” “Hey, how about a Christmas bonus? I wanna buy a pony.” “Oh fine, we’ll sell a promise for less than the real thing and you can have your freaking pony.” In any case, while I’m currently hoping that Things will provide my GTD fix, OmniFocus is clearly going to be a standard-setting GTD application and is well worth checking out.

As a major upgrade to KIT (and a worthy upgrade it is), Together 2.0 has increased slightly in price from $24.95 to $39. People who bought a KIT license in the last three months (after Aug. 15, 2007) will get a free upgrade; just go to the Reinvented Store, choose the “upgrade” option for Together, and enter your old serial. Other KIT owners will need to upgrade for $14.95, roughly the difference in price.

The developer has stated that he wants to make the upgrade as smooth as possible, and because KIT and Together have incompatible file libraries Together’s library now lives in a new home (your documents folder) and it will offer to import your KIT library the first time you run the program if it finds it. If you just want to try Together but may still use KIT for a while, then just refuse the import; you can always do it later from the File menu.

Reinvented Software has just released Together 2.0, a Leopard-only update to Keep It Together (KIT) that breathes entirely new life into the program. Although I was never tempted away from my beloved EagleFiler by KIT (and would, if I wanted a database-driven file library, probably have used Yojimbo before KIT as well), Together 2.0 provides a number of features that make it a solid contender in the file library market.

The most obvious new feature is the Together Shelf, a little black tab that hovers over the side of your screen (which side is up to you) and allows you to quickly drag and drop files into Together’s library. Together still provides tags (in a tag cloud), but now also automatically provides “system tags” based on labels, folders, and so forth to help augment tagging for those who are not yet used to it. A portrait layout takes advantage of widescreen monitors, Quick Look and its own powerful previewing are fully supported, and the addition of smart groups and folders add an additional level of hierarchical organization. Together’s library of files has also moved into the documents folder, and although I have yet been able to test this fully (due to problems importing files) it appears that Together stores files in a Finder-friendly format based on the same folder structure that you use within the program. [read more...]

Keyword Manager, one of the quintessential pieces of tagging software for iPhoto users, has been updated to version 1.4. This version brings Leopard compatibility and two crash fixes.

For more information, see the Keyword Manager release notes over at its website (you have to click the “Release Notes” link; no direct link available).

EagleFiler, my favorite tag-enabled file library, has been updated to version 1.2.7. This minor update brings the ability to automatically add any selected to tags to new text files, working color quotes in HTML emails, setting EagleFiler as a hidden login item will result in EagleFiler hiding itself after it opens the library, and numerous bug fixes. Additionally, a Korean localization has been added and the German localization updated.

For all the gritty details, see the EagleFiler 1.2.7 release notes.

Matt Neuburg has posted an excellent article called Spotlight Strikes Back about the primary differences in Spotlight from 10.4 to 10.5, including some tips and tricks on using the new boolean operators and so forth under 10.5. Although I’m not a particular fan of Matt’s NotLight (preferring FileSpot), his observations and advice are right on target.

Definitely a useful article to read if you use Spotlight much (for finding tagged files, for instance), although it doesn’t have anything to do with tagging specifically. (Thanks to Daring Fireball for the link.)

Cha-Ching, the tag-based financial manager, has been updated to version 1.2. This update brings a number of Leopard bug fixes, the ability to sort budget items by tags, the addition of local backups, paying bills from the Master Vault, and a slew of other small tweaks and fixes. If you’re using Leopard, or just want a version of Cha-Ching that works a little better, you should definitely give it a download.

The release notes are available via the in-program auto-update, and are also posted in the Midnight Apps forum. Update: you can also find a (better formatted) version of the release notes in the Midnight Apps blog.

Webjimbo, the online interface to your Yojimbo collection, has been updated to version 2.0. This update brings a large number of new features, including drastically improved network configuration, an iPhone/iPod Touch interface, Leopard compatibility, no Dock icon, access to passwords and encrypted notes, and of course it’s web-browser based so you can access your Yojimbo collection from either Mac or PC.

If you use Yojimbo for your file library needs, then Webjimbo is definitely worth a look. For more information, please see the Webjimbo website.