Time Tracker Tracks Time (Say it five times fast!)

Lately I’ve been trying to keep track of how much time I spend on any one task. It helps me stay focused on that task and also helps me plan when I need to repeat that task. While searching for an app that could assist me, I came across a little utility called “Time Tracker”.

This freeware application simply does what it says- tracks time. It allows you to create new projects and tasks within those projects. You can keep track of the time spent on each task using the built-in timer. It also has a menu icon for starting and stopping the timer.

I like the simplicity of Time Tracker. There are only three buttons: one for the timer, one to create a new project, and one to create a new task. There are no extra frills. Adding new projects and tasks is easy and tracking time spent on any one task is very straight-forward. I know I’ve mentioned OnTheJob before for keeping track of my consulting work, but I don’t really want to use that for personal tasks. OnTheJob does a good deal more and for personal use, I just want a glorified timer.

I also like Time Tracker because open source, licensed under the GPL so I can check out the code. I was hoping to learn a little Objective-C and thought this would be a good place to start.

Time Tracker does lack a few features that would be useful. It would be helpful to be able to export and import projects and tasks. I’m sure all the GTDers out there could see the possibilities if this somehow synced with kGTD, or at least export to some text file. Since I use Alt-Tab so often, I’d also like to see my time spent on the current task in the Alt-Tab menu, instead of having to switch to the Time Tracker application.

But who knows? These features could be included in the next version. Time Tracker is still an active project. You should definitely check it out if you need and easy (and free) way of keeping track of your time.

The Apple ?iPhone

I’ve pretty much gotten tired of the whole coverage of the iPhone. After the RDF dust settled I find myself with only so much energy to really contemplate the paradigm-shifting possibilities of a product we won’t even get to see in production for six months. In the aftermath of the introduction of the Apple iPhone, and the whole blow up over whether or not Cisco really has legal rights over the name “iPhone”, I’m really more interested in seeing The Omni Group’s promising new GTD software, OmniFocus.

However, while casually perusing the Apple webpage, I clicked on the iPhone link and I noticed that something looked different. Now on the page, instead of just having the name “iPhone”, there’s a little Apple logo beside it, giving us “Apple iPhone”. Now, feel free to call me redundant or an idiot if that was already there. I checked the WayBack Machine but to no avail. They don’t have any archived information the middle of last year for Apple.com. And after a brief search on google, I didn’t find anything that might indicate either that the logo was or was not there.

In any case, I bring this up to further propagate the somewhat pointless speculation that the iPhone will at some point become the Apple Phone formerly known as the iPhone. I could be completely wrong, but I suppose I can live with that.

Casual Friday

Today I pay tribute to a popular blogger, productivity guru, and all around techno-smart-guy, Merlin Mann. You may know him from one of his several sites or from the video show MacBreak. If you don’t know of him, check him out. Either way, here is my list of 5ive.

Five things I’ve had the impulse to do:

1. Stick my hand in a fryer- like french fries, only with my hand
2. Dress up like a ninja and hide out in the park
3. Jump off an escalator to my untimely demise
4. Rock the Casbah
5. Find out what the Casbah really is

Happy casual friday!