Home Screens - James Floyd Kelly

For some time now, I've been following Wired's Geek Dad blog, authored by James Floyd Kelly (Twitter). In the process, I've been corresponding with James and he is just as awesome as I thought he'd be. He's even agreed to share his home screen.

What are some of your favorite apps? Every app on my primary home screen would make that list, but Clear and Pocket stand out. Clear is the simplest To Do list app I've ever found and just having something listed in that app drives me crazy until I finish and delete it from the list. It's a great motivational app for me. And I find so many great articles, interviews, How-Tos, and editorials on the web that I want to read -- when I don't have time, I throw them to the Pocket app (using a built-in button on my laptop browser's toolbar) for later reading.

Which app is your guilty pleasure? I'm not a big game player on my iPad, but I am quite hooked on both Kingdom Rush (when I want a little strategy) and Temple Run (when I just want a mind-break and something with almost zero rules that won't last too long).

As far as non-game apps, I've been using Lift to help develop positive habits (like not drinking soft drinks or writing at least 1000 words per day). It's got visual feedback that lets you know how you're doing. It's like a game, seeing how many days you can go with certain goals.

What is the app you are still missing? A digital magazine clipper app. With print magazines, I just rip out the article and scan it. But with my digital magazines, I have to keep the entire magazine on my iPad because there's no way to pull out a specific article. Some of these magazines really start to add up in terms of storage space, so it'd be great if someone offered an app that would let me "digitally rip" out articles from e-magazines. So far, I haven't found that app.

How many times a day do you use your iPhone/iPad?

My iPad is always with me. I spent many years at another job sharing a personal assistant with some co-workers. I don't have that now, so I continually try to push my iPad to become that missing personal assistant. Right now, I've got just about every document, appointment, contact and resource available from my iPad. It's rarely out of reach.

What is your favorite feature of the iPhone/iPad?

Right now the feature I use most is my iPad's connection to Dropbox. And if I need something stored locally, I use GoodReader's "Connect to Servers" feature to pull it from Dropbox.

If you were in charge at Apple, what would you add or change?

I'd like to be able to throw my iPad's screen up on my MacBook Air's screen using AirPlay without a 3rd party solution. That should really be native and seamless. And while I don't think Apple will ever budge, a micro-SD card slot to expand the iPad's memory would be outstanding.

Anything else you'd like to share? I spend a lot of time keeping my iPad uncluttered and organized. I only have three folders (Games, Misc, and Original Apps) and they're on my second home screen. Pretty much everything I use daily is on the primary screen. I have a passphrase that's required to access my iPad and, because my Dropbox and Box apps give direct access to my important files, passcodes are enabled on those two apps for added security. A passphrase on your iPad is the absolute minimum security anyone should configure -- it's just not worth the damage or loss of your data should your tablet fall into the wrong person's hands.

Thanks James.