The iPad, the Cloud and Anywhere To Do Creation
 

I would love to purchase your apps for the Mac, iPhone and iPad but I would like to see a new feature first. First when is iPad version coming out. I like the ability to sync all devices with the Mac but wouldn't it be better if you could do the following (well it would for me anyway):

1) All syncing is to to and from the cloud.

2) Create new inbox to do items by sending email to the cloud (think about what you do with TripIt, you email plans to TripIt and then sync your mobile apps with the cloud. This allows you to create a to do item from effectively anywhere.

One of the central ideas behind GTD is to have a trusted location for your work list. My problem is that to do items come up in the hallway, and all sorts of other inconvenient places. I must be able to create a to do from anywhere. If I'm driving, I can use speech recognition to create an email. If this email could end up in my to do inbox, part of my digital life would be complete.

[QUOTE=therickaustin;77821]I would love to purchase your apps for the Mac, iPhone and iPad but I would like to see a new feature first. First when is iPad version coming out. I like the ability to sync all devices with the Mac but wouldn't it be better if you could do the following (well it would for me anyway):

1) All syncing is to to and from the cloud.
[/quote]
Done. OmniFocus syncs with the WebDAV protocol, and the master database is "in the cloud" although with the Bonjour sync option, one of your machines makes the cloud. Each copy of OmniFocus syncs with the master database, not directly with other copies of OmniFocus. Many people use MobileMe for their WebDAV provider, there's an Omni server in beta test (look on the OmniFocus sync forum for signup details), and various posters have successfully used some of the free providers such as SwissDisk, etc. There is another thread on the OmniFocus sync forum that catalogs various third-party providers and experiences. Personally, I would recommend the Omni or Apple offerings.
[quote]

2) Create new inbox to do items by sending email to the cloud (think about what you do with TripIt, you email plans to TripIt and then sync your mobile apps with the cloud. This allows you to create a to do item from effectively anywhere.
[/quote]
Done. You can send email to OmniFocus to create actions if you use Apple Mail to read mail sent to the mail account you use for this purpose. If you leave it running, the messages are automatically turned into actions and synced into the master database. See the help for "processing mail" in the program.
[quote]
One of the central ideas behind GTD is to have a trusted location for your work list. My problem is that to do items come up in the hallway, and all sorts of other inconvenient places. I must be able to create a to do from anywhere. If I'm driving, I can use speech recognition to create an email. If this email could end up in my to do inbox, part of my digital life would be complete.[/QUOTE]
The OmniFocus app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch works very well for ubiquitous capture, in my experience. Email to OmniFocus must be sent in plain text format, which might be an issue depending on how your speech recognition to email setup works. An email to yourself for later conversion to an action doesn't seem like an impossible hardship to me, but YMMV.

You should take advantage of the 14-day free trial to see if OmniFocus' functionality in these areas meets your needs.

Forgot to mention that you can record voice memos directly in the iPhone OS apps and play them back in any OmniFocus client.

[QUOTE=therickaustin;77821]My problem is that to do items come up in the hallway, and all sorts of other inconvenient places. I must be able to create a to do from anywhere. If I'm driving, I can use speech recognition to create an email. If this email could end up in my to do inbox, part of my digital life would be complete.[/QUOTE]

Have a look at pp32-34 of the manual [URL="http://www.omnigroup.com/ftp/pub/software/MacOSX/Manuals/OmniFocus-1.5-Manual.pdf"]here[/URL]

I use a blackberry, so Omnifocus for iPhone is not for me ;-) I've set up a specific email account to which I can send to-dos formatted as in the manual. I tend to have a draft email 'live' on my bberry, and once I've got several to-dos or new ideas captured, I fire it off, and it ends up in my Omni inbox next time I'm at my Mac.

As to voice messages, my way to achieve this is to ring a VOIP number I have and leave a message. VOIP provider emails me the voicemail as a .wav file attachment. Next time I'm processing email, I can listen to the message and then feed the task / idea into my system. (PS - this forwarding is zero-cost - I only have to pay for outgoing calls.......

To be fair, the TripIt model is far more usable than the send-email-to-yourself-have-it-processed-on-your-machine model.

The former is really "in the cloud". The latter is more "through the cloud to your local machine, eventually".

I have a web hosting account that I use for all sorts of stuff, and one of the features my host includes is WebDav access. I set up OmniFocus to use that for syncing, and it has worked very well. I have two Macs, an iPhone, and an iPad that all sync against that database, and it's great.

[QUOTE=SuperMog2002;78177]I have a web hosting account that I use for all sorts of stuff, and one of the features my host includes is WebDav access. I set up OmniFocus to use that for syncing, and it has worked very well. I have two Macs, an iPhone, and an iPad that all sync against that database, and it's great.[/QUOTE]

Seeing myself in a similar setup, I strongly believe that for professional usage, the cloud is a must for the success of iPhone and/or iPad ..