Top of the Desk

Leo Babauta of Zen Habits recently made a guest post on the blog of Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek. The way Leo described the task management app Anxiety, I just had to give it a try. Check it out if you're interested in a super-simple, clean and lightweight to-do list app for the Mac.

http://www.anxietyapp.com/

In recent weeks, I have been experimenting with using Safari as my primary browser. I've been a devoted Firefox user for years now, starting back when I still used Windows. I still believe that Firefox is the best browser to use on a Windows PC, but on a Mac, it has a very clunky feel to it and just doesn't feel like a normal Mac application should. And at least on my MacBook, Safari's startup time beats that of Firefox by a solid few seconds. I enjoy the interface more, and overall I believe that Safari offers a better user experience on the Mac. So, I'll see how this goes and report back if I choose to return to Firefox. But right now, I see myself sticking with Safari.

...it's usually not from Barack Obama. While his method of alerting supporters to his choice for running mate was innovative, I'm sure that some people were slightly annoyed when they were awoken in the middle of the night.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/chi-obama-text-schmich,0,6606412.story

No, I haven't forgotten about Posterous. Just wanted to let everyone know that since school started last week, my free time has all but disappeared. Top of the Desk is still going strong, but expect postings to be a little less frequent than usual. Thanks for understanding.

Enjoying Kevin Rose's new video segment (as well as his new blog).

I don't much care for many of the fancy online to-do list managers. In my opinion, they are overloaded with features that take away from the basic purpose: to help you actually get stuff done. That's why I like NowDoThis, which takes a super-simple, minimalist approach to to-do list management. Unlike most web apps, there is no need to create an account. Just edit your list of tasks and NowDoThis displays them one-by-one, starting with the first task on your list. When you finish, click "done" and your next task will be displayed. In addition to its simplicity, it also helps to keep you focused by encouraging you to concentrate on one task at a time. Read about updates to the site at the NowDoThis blog.

Over the past few weeks, I have become quite a fan of Timothy Ferriss, the author of bestselling book "The 4-Hour Workweek." This video, along with his talk at last year's South by Southwest festival, are great introductions to the premise of the book. He also maintains a blog. So, if you're interested in reducing the amount of work you do while increasing the quality of your output, check him out.

More details here.

Thanks, Posterous team!

If you use your Mac at night or in low-light conditions, eye strain is probably a concern. While turning down the brightness of your display can help, sometimes you need a more powerful way to reduce the intensity of your screen. Enter Nocturne, from Blacktree. While I don't use their flagship product, Quicksilver, I do find Nocturne to be quite a useful application. It lives in your menu bar and, with a couple of clicks, allows you to set your display to "Night mode." Doing this changes all colors to grayscale and then inverts them, leaving you with a screen mostly comprised of white text on black or grey backgrounds. Coupled with a lower brightness setting, this is a perfect solution for reducing eye strain at the computer.