Scrivener, the popular Mac writing tool, is now at 2.0. It seems that all who use this program sing its praises, and you can count me in on that. It’s a well-designed tool. It looks like there’s a lot of refinery and plenty of new features to be had in the new point upgrade.

If you're curious about Scrivener or want to see what's new in version 2.0, Don McCallister of ScreenCastsOnline is now serving up a free 35-minute episode just for you.

P.S. If you're on a PC, take heart. Scrivener for Windows is now in Beta.

Oh, for a distraction-free environment. Wouldn't we get so much done?

I was combing through a backlog of unread feed items the other day, when I came across a parody from Merlin Mann in which he pokes fun at the current glut of non-distracting writing tools on the market. He serves up a fictitious new tool called ū—, a writing environment that's so minimalistic that it displays only the top-half of your typed words. Funny stuff, but what's the message here?

We know his intent, thanks to a follow-up in which he elaborates at great length on the original parody. It's an interesting read, albeit a long-winded rant (his self-diagnosis, with which I agree). While I found it a bit hard to get through this post, I was intrigued by the subject matter.

The essential point that Mann makes is that distraction-free tools can be distractions in themselves. They will not make you a prolific, competent, energized person churning out chapters of engaging prose, nor will they make you a productivity guru. If you find yourself seeking out tool after tool with which to make yourself a more productive and focused writer, perhaps the problem is that you're expecting the tool to do the work for you. In contrast, if you're really motivated to write, you'll write on tree bark if necessary. The same principle applies to any other endeavor, digital or analog.

So on one hand, Mann is criticizing the overblown language and suspect promises that sometimes accompany these types of tools. On the other, he serves up disdain for the type of person who collects such tools in a flailing attempt to fix an underlying concentration problem.

What I'm interested in is this: why does the 'distraction-free' tool genre exist in the first place. Perhaps it's a reaction to how we're choosing to live our lives. Most of us feel the drag of information overload, the weight of too much clutter, the barrage of too many activities. Much of this is self-inflicted. When we work on a task, we too often monitor e-mails, Twitter and Facebook accounts, phone calls, and text messages. These distractions hamper our ability to concentrate on single tasks for extended periods of time. We think we can multitask, but we most of us really can't.

Now, we all know that the only way to write in a concentrated manner is to muster the willpower to focus on one task to the exclusion of all others. That's what concentration is all about. It requires no special tools. It does not require a full-screen mode, nor pleasant imagery, nor ambient sound. True enough. But we like this stuff. As a society, we seem to have a tendency to look for tools or plans or guides to help us muster the self-control we seek. While we know that a tool cannot solve our concentration problem, that doesn't stop us from seeking tools that do just that. So here's one view on this current fad: the genre exists because there is a growing demand for environments that simulate concentration. We're seeking a concentration prosthetic.

Another view is that the 'distraction-free' tool genre is a reaction to the bloated, overpowered software that most of us have used for years. What do we need to write, after all? Not very much. What is most like a blank piece of paper? A blank piece of paper. What about a blank piece of paper with subtle background imagery and gentle sound effects? Why not. Distraction-reducing writing tools provide an uncrowded, narrowly-focused experience that just may spur us to concentrate a bit more. There's nothing wrong with that. If this alternate view seems like a slightly different take on the first, that's because it is. As I said, it's all about degrees of expectation.

The point is that distraction-reducing writing tools can only do so much, but that's not to say that they are useless. Why not try a writing tool that is pleasant, simple, and relatively inexpensive? We routinely choose analog tools based on preferences that balance form and functionality. We create our living spaces in much the same way. And so we are now offered a wide range of tools in the digital space for the task of writing.

So I say embrace this trend. Experiment. But try to do so with minimal expectations. And always remember that the 'map is not the territory.' Personally, I enjoy so-called 'distraction-reducing' writing tools. I use a few for specific tasks. I find that WriteRoom, for instance, is a wonderful tool for writing long documents. I like the looks of it. It reminds me of writing on WordPerfect on the first computer I ever used back in the 80s. OmmWriter? It's a bit over-the-top, but I can customize it to suit me. At times I find it to be a very pleasant environment in which to write poetry or short stories. What I enjoy about these tools is less about reducing distractions and more about aesthetics.

I didn't take Mann's parody or his meta-post about the parody as a condemnation of such tools. His broader message has little to do with software. It's about how we work, or should. The best part is at the end:

"Learn your real math, and any slide rule will suffice. Try, make, and do until you quit noticing the tools, and if you still think you need new tools, go try, make, and do more."

I like the 'quit noticing the tools' part the best. That's what we're striving for.

It's been a while. I've been living in a hotel since the last post (yes, since the end of April). During that time, I discovered that hotel life renders me apathetic and extremely unmotivated. What little energy I could muster was spent trying to find a new home and trying to be productive at work. As is surely obvious, I was not at all motivated to maintain this blog. This lack of motivation was bolstered by shoddy hotel bandwidth, which rendered any web-based activities quite painful.

That said, it's now over. We're now in a new home with a decent broadband connection. While I've studiously ignored this blog for months, I have thought about it quite a lot. Do I still enjoy it? Do I want to keep it going? My conclusion: I do want to keep it alive, but I'm going to shift the focus a bit. I'm no longer going to focus my writing on Mac-related tech. The volume of Mac-related content on the web has exploded since I started this project. There's a glut of Apple-focused review-commentary-ramblings out there. So this blog is going to turn into something a little different. There will still be Apple-related posts, surely. But I'm going to shift to a wider range of topics. It'll be an experiment, as it's always been. Expect to see a lot of tech-related posts. But also expect to see other topics that stray into other areas of that interest me. While a general rule of thumb is to keep one's blog focused on a narrow niche to build readership, I'm choosing to ignore that. We'll see what happens.

In other news, I've just migrated from a self-hosted Wordpress site to Squarespace. Why? I'll save the full details on what I like (and don't like) about this new service for a later post. The main reason for the switch, though, is that it will allow me to focus more on content. When I started this blog, web development was something I only did through this venue and through some for-hire work. Now, my current job fully scratches this itch. I'm knee-deep in it most of the day. So my Squarespace migration is a move towards letting others worry about the details. This is not to say that the free Wordpress.org solution isn't a great choice. It is. But it takes more time and vigilance than I care to invest at this point.

The site will remain named 'View from the Dock.' When I started this blog, I chose this name because of the obvious reference to the Apple Dock. But I also liked the name because it could mean a view from a dock. As in a dock in the water, overlooking a lake. That's more of where I'm at now.

Since I’m moving into a hotel for a couple of months at the end of this week, I’ve been shopping around for a Virtual Private Network.

The type of VPN I’m talking about is not the kind that one uses to connect securely to an office network. What I’m talking about is a VPN that provides encryption from a PC to a remote VPN service. This type of VPN protects data while the bits are ‘in the air’ over a public WiFi connection. Once it reaches the VPN company, it’s decrypted and sent along to intended destinations via a wired connection. What you get out of this kind of service is, essentially, a greater level of insurance that your internet activity over public WiFi will remain safe and secure.

When I first started looking into this, I found that there’s a question of whether or not this is really necessary. I found two categories of opinions in my research. Some people feel that it’s generally OK to forego the use of a VPN while engaged in general browsing at a public WiFi hotspot, but it’s best to wait until you get home to do anything sensitive involving passwords. Mail is a particular concern here. This camp notes that it’s generally safe to engage in password-protected activities provided you ensure you’re on a secure connection (i.e. https). However, this is generally not the safest option. Most of the comments I came across suggest that it’s a best practice to use a VPN connection whenever you tap into a public WiFi hotspot (even if you’re on a wired hotel connection), and doubly so if you are going to be on said public network for an extended period of time.

I’m opting for the more secure solution. It’s a low-cost security measure. It’ll give me peace of mind. But which trusted service should I use?

I started out by trying two free options. The first is the popular HotSpot Shield. This service works as advertised, but I found that it notably decreased my connection speed. It also requires the installation of an application that resides in the menu bar. When it’s launched, it fires up an ad-based browser page that is a bit obtrusive, but not too bad. All considered, I concluded that it’s a good option if you’re looking for an occasional-use VPN while, say, at a coffee shop for a few hours. Hotspot Shield also offers a free iPhone VPN option. While the iPhone service was very simple to set up, I could not get it to work on my iPhone after trying for several days.

The second free VPN option I tried is called ItsHidden. The caveat with this free service is that you’re booted off of your connection every 20 minutes. If you don’t want to be disconnected after a set period of time, the service offer a pay option for $12.99 a month. There are two things I liked about ItsHidden. First, it requires no software installation. Second, it was a lot speedier than Hotspot Shield. However, I felt uneasy about entrusting my longterm online activity to the service. Their website offers no clues about who they are, where they’re located, or how long they’ve been in business. And, frankly, it looks like the site was put together in someone’s basement. It doesn’t inspire confidence. I read in one forum that the main reason this service was set up is to accommodate BitTorrent traffic. I’m sure there’s a lot of legit BitTorrent traffic taking advantage of this service, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was, well, kind of shady. So I moved on.

I narrowed down my options to two popular pay options from long-established VPN companies. One is called WiTopia. The other is called HotSpotVPN. Both appear to be great options. The deciding factor in my case was that WiTopia only offered a year subscription, while HotSpotVPN offered month-to-month (and even daily) rates. If you are looking for a long-term relationship, WiTopia is substantially cheaper. They offer one year of 256-bit encrypted SSL service for $60 (in comparison, HotSpotVPN would cost about $138 for a year of 256-bit SSL).

The nice thing about HotSpotVPN—in addition to short-term rates—is that the SSL option offered by the company comes with an additional free PPTP connection, ideal for setting up VPN on an iPhone or iPod Touch. I opted for the cheaper $10.88 month Blowfish 128-bit encryption option after reading in several forums that this amount of encryption, while on the low end of the spectrum of what’s available, is more than adequate.

So there you have it. I signed up yesterday. It works great on my Mac and my iPhone. Significantly, I’ve found no noticeable speed difference while using it. Setup is quite easy: HotSpotVPN e-mailed me a zipped file with my encryption keys and certification files with easy-to-follow instructions about how to install them in my user Library. They also offered up the option to install Tunnelblick, an open source GUI for OpenVPN on the Mac (OpenVPN, I’ve learned, is used by most consumer VPN services).

I can’t comment on Tunnelblick, however, because I didn’t install it. I use an alternative paid VPN client called Shimo for my VPN connections, which I highly recommend. If you’re curious as to why I use Shimo, the main reason is that it seamlessly imports Cisco VPN settings (which is what I use for work). If you’ve ever used the abysmal Cisco VPN client, you’ll understand. Shimo allows me to easily switch between Cisco and, now, my new HotSpotVPN service. I can connect and disconnect from each VPN service in seconds.

One final note: I learned during this process that SSL is generally the best option if you’re looking for the fastest solution that will work anywhere. If you decide to use a VPN service whenever you access a public network, SSL is the way to go.

Over the past few months, a slew of interesting little tools made the rounds in various tech blogs. I thought I’d compile some of the more interesting ones here (and add a few of my personal favorites):

f.lux

This free tool auto-adjusts the color temperature of your display(s) to match the time of day and your lighting source. The night mode is much easier on the eyes. Very pleasant. It can be temporarily disabled for those times when you’re engaged in a design project and need full color.

Alternative: Nocturne (from the developer of QuickSilver) offers ‘night vision mode for your Mac.’ It’s not nearly as subtle and elegant as f.lux, but you can adjust the settings to your liking. It’s especially great if you like it really dark when you’re computing at night…or if you like funky, inverted color schemes.

Cinch

The answer to Windows 7 ‘Snap’ feature, this $7 tool allows you to instantly resize any open window by dragging it to an edge of your screen. It’s particularly great for managing multiple Finder windows on a small laptop screen. I use PathFinder (which offers dual pane and tabbed browsing to the Finder) and don’t really feel that I have a need for this, but it’s a great tool nonetheless.

Readability

This is the only way to read articles on the Web. It removes all the extra formatting, ads, buttons, colors, and other clutter that surrounds a typical Web-based article, leaving only the text you want to read.

I use Readability for articles I want to read now, and Instapaper for articles I want to read later on my iPhone (using the Instapaper Pro iPhone app).

Choosy

If you’re like me and have many installed browsers, this $12 tool is a necessity. It allows you to choose which browser to use when opening an external link or when opening up an HTML file. You can also add other apps to the list. I have Choosy set to prompt me with a pop-up list of all browsers (prioritized with my favorites appearing first in the list), regardless of whether or not the browsers are running. I’ve also added MacRabbit’s Espresso as a ‘browser’ to send HTML files direct to this web development tool.

Alternative: I haven’t tried this one, but you may also want to check out Highbrow.

OmmWriter

A unique tool that’s still in Beta (so it’s free to try), Ommwriter delivers a full-screen, clutter-free writing environment. This app focuses on setting the mood to foster a creative spirit, offering several nice fonts, a choice of ethereal background sounds, and a variety of subtle keyboard clicking noises that I find annoying (the sounds can be turned off).

I still prefer the retro simplicity of WriteRoom from Hog Bay Software when I need to focus on writing. I use it in combination with Hog Bay’s QuickCursor, a wonderful little tool that allows me to edit text from other applications with WriteRoom.

Rapportive

Rapportive replaces the ads you normally see in the right-hand sidebar of Gmail with useful information: a profile of the person you’re emailing. It only works in Firefox and Chrome right now, but I use it via Mailplane (available in the latest preview).

As an aside, if you use Mailplane, you may like the beautifully minimalist Helvetimail style sheet.

SecondBar

This tool places an Apple menu bar on your second monitor. I use it. It works well enough, providing basic menu bar functionality on the extra monitor. It’s quite nice to have the bar on both screens, although it doesn’t work with all apps (that’s because it’s still in early Beta). It’s currently free.

Quix

Quix is an extensible bookmarklet, billed as ‘command line for your browser.’ While it takes some time to learn the commands to use with this tool, it’s worth the effort. I love it.

Skitch

This tool is certainly not new, but it stands apart as the easiest way to capture and mark up screen shots. I use it all the time and will gladly purchase it if and when it ever comes out of Beta.

Feedly

I use Google Reader to manage my feeds, but don’t really like to read feeds with it. Instead, I use Feedly. The more I use this free online service, the more I like it. On my iPhone, I use Byline. Since both tools use the same Google Reader account, my feeds are always synced no matter where I choose to peruse them.

Notational Velocity

In case you haven’t heard, the venerable Notational Velocity is back. This free tool is a simple, minimalist note taking app that is lightning fast. It syncs with Simplenote on the iPhone. It’s still in Beta, but it’s performed flawlessly for me so far.

Before I started using NV again (I had used it many years ago), I was using another great tool called Justnotes (which is currently free and also syncs with Simplenote). It feels a bit heavier and is a touch slower than NV, but it’s still in early Beta. It’s certainly worth checking out. Which one you prefer may come down to your personal design tastes. There is one important difference, though, that may help you make a choice: Justnotes installs in the menu bar, while NV resides in the Dock.