Open Source for Mac. Week 2

I thought about discontinuing my five week series about Mac free and open source software, but I decided to continue on with the series in spite of the dwindling interest.  I made that simple “business decision” for one reason, I am a man of my word.  Or at least I try to be.

So, here we go.  This week, I am going to keep it simple, and tell you about a couple of software programs that anyone can find a use for.  Both of them are simple, so let’s go:

TaskMate

It’s so simple to figure out that there aren’t even any video training tutorials about it.  Well, none that I or Google can find.  TaskMate will not allow you to do many of things iCal will; though, it’s not meant to.  TaskMate is a to-do list on your desktop, which will help you to remember your daily schedule, whether you write Web content, engage in Social Media Marketing, or do something completely different.

Download Instructions

1. Click on this blue link: TaskMate
2. When your default browser opens the TaskMate home page, Click the big, grey “Download Now” button.
3. It should download to your Applications folder, so go there and open it.

Using TaskMate

1. After TaskMate opens, click on the “+” sign to add task, and the “—“ sign to delete them.
2. After you delete items, if you want to review them at a later time, click on the icon of the square with the arrow in the middle.  A slide out folder will appear, revealing those tasks you completed.  You can clear those or keep them.
3. There are some simple preferences you can set either by clicking on the crankshaft icon in the TaskMate window or by going to preferences in the menu bar.  There aren’t many preferences you can set, but I encourage you to take a look at them.

Lumina

Okay, so this is similar to TaskMate, in that it will help you to stay on task, but there is more to iClockr by Lumina than TaskMate.  So, if you want something more than a virtual to-do list, iClockr might be just the thing you need.

Download

1. Click on this blue link: Lumina
2. When your default browser opens the Kedisoft home page, Click the grey “Download” button in the upper right hand corner.
3. It should download to your Applications folder, so go there and open it.

Using iClockr

I think it’s useful when used in conjunction with TaskMate.  Let’s say you have 25 tasks listed on TaskMate, 20 of those are chores that can wait (i.e. I have to wash my dog, who is starting to give me dirty looks because he stinks).  I just stay down wind of him.

Let’s say you are optimizing five websites.  You need to keep them organized.  You need to dedicate a certain amount of time to each task with those projects.  With TaskMate, you can keep a general list.  With iClockr you can organize those tasks within projects.

Setting Projects, Tasks, and Time

1. Projects refer to your clients, cases, or other; tasks refer to those immediate things within your projects you need to get done to complete the project.
2. To set up a project, click on the Project tab.
3. Set up your project by clicking on the “+” sign at the bottom of the window that appears.
4. If you want to keep profile information about your various clients, such as contact information, you can do so by clicking “Open Customers” above the “+” button.
5. After you’re done setting your various projects, click “Done” in the lower, right corner.  If you set multiple projects, you will see one of them appear in your original window.  Next to that one, you will see an Up and a Down arrow indicating that you can switch between the project you had set up.
6. To set up tasks, click on the “Tasks” tab, set them up with the “+” icon, and click “Done” when your done.  Note: whichever project you selected in the main window is the project those tasks you set up will default to.
7. Click back to your main window, select the project you want to work on, select the task within that project you want to get done.
8. Click “Start Timer” to start the timer and “stop Timer” to stop it.  iClockr will record  and add up your time
9. At the bottom of the main window, you will notice the word Today with an Up and Down arrow.  Click that to change to yesterday, last week, etc.  The time on your chosen task will change to reflect how much you spent on the project you selected above.
10. If you forgot to set the timer, or forgot to turn it off, you can also add or delete time.  All of this will help you to not only stay on task, but to charge your clients the right amount at the end of the month.

Okay, that’s it for this week.  Sorry, no vids.  Just download them and go.  Also, just for clarification, there are no PC versions to these two programs.  At least none that I can find.  There may be similar programs out there, but they’re neither TaskMate nor iClockr.  Oh, and yes there’s a Windows download called “TaskMate,” but it’s a different type of program.

See you next week for the finale.

Erick