A few hours ago, Apple announced the iPhone SDK! We’re still trying to download it (Apple’s servers are overloaded), but it looks like it has all the features we were hoping for.

We’re eager to get started on our first iPhone app—and, yes, that first app will be… OmniFocus.

(Now to find out just exactly what we’ll be able to do!)

As many of you no doubt know, we’ve all been very busy here at the Omni Group as of late. However, some of us have been busy with something that is not OmniFocus. That’s right, OmniGraffle 5 is now ready for public beta testing.

NOTA BENE: OmniGraffle 5.0 beta 1 requires Mac OS X 10.5 to run.

So, what’s new with OmniGraffle 5? If I were to tell you its story (which is a technique taught to me by Scott Maier long ago), it would something along these lines…

The basic plot encompasses a new layout engine based on the Graphviz code, offering two new layout types in addition to the two already present. Bezier controls on connection lines are now also in place to make hierarchical layouts even better, along with whatever uses you, the kind reader, may find for them. Along with the new layout engine comes Subgraphs, which are special pieces of hierarchy that can be collapsed and expanded as needed.

There’s an exciting subplot involving the Stencil Window where you can view the entire library of stencils, perform searches for them based on their labels, notes, or custom data. You can even search Graffletopia for stencils and download them to your computer easily.

Some elements have gotten a rewrite, such as Master Canvases being replaced by the new Shared Layers, where you can have as many shared layers per canvas as needed, and changes made anywhere to a Shared Layer propagate to all other instances of the Shared Layer. Likewise, the Style: Summary Inspector has been replaced with a new Style Tray where you can easily drag object styles to other objects.

Layers can now display in an accessory view where you can view all of the objects on a layer and more easily move elements between layers and reorder them. The Drawing Tools palette can show all or just some of the tools you want and you can reorder tools as wanted.

For those of you watching on small screens, the ruler accessory view now contains a subset of inspector controls for changing styles, in case you’re not keen on having the regular inspectors up all the time.

Lots and lots of other improvements have been put in place as well, too long to list here however there’s a handy new tutorial in the OmniGraffle Help to get you started.

There’s this one really great part where OmniGraffle 5 supports Quick Look.

And for the spoilerific plot twist at the end of the story: We’ve added a Visio binary file format parser, so you can directly open the default Microsoft Visio file format, VSD.

We haven’t made any decisions about a release date, keep an eye out for an announcement from our marketing team concerning that.

As for pricing, any OmniGraffle 4 purchases made on or after October 31 will receive a free upgrade to OmniGraffle 5 when it ships in early 2008. At release, OmniGraffle 5 Standard will be available for $99.95. Upgrades from OmniGraffle 4 Standard will be available for $39.95. OmniGraffle 5 Professional will be available for $199.95 with upgrades from OmniGraffle 4 Professional costing $99.95.

So, if you’re running Leopard, please stop by the Beta Download Page, peruse the release notes, and enjoy!

From an iChat conversation with Bill this morning, he’s on the left and I’m on the right:

So, what this all means is that we’re finally building nightly alphas of OmniGraffle 5, and it’s going to be a long long time before anything comes remotely close to being public.

But, I thought it would be nice to distract from all the OmniFocus talk for a bit.

(oh, and OmniGraffle 4.2 beta 3 may or may not be out today or tomorrow)

We just got an email from our esteemed pal Wrong Size Glass, who wrote:

Hey Gals & Guys,

I was just wondering what ever happened to the search for a good ‘code name’ for the Omni “GTD appâ€??

Well, WSG, therein lies a tale! Yes indeed, a long and convoluted tale with mighty dragons and heroic journeys and a scrappy little dog and –

You know what, never mind all that. I’ll just cut to the chase and tell you the name we’ve decided on, for now at least, is OmniFocus. I see that commenter Cameron suggested that very same name just two days ago in response to this entry, so I will take that as a Positive Sign that “OmniFocus” is an okay name.

(Especially since no one liked my idea: OmniFu. What? It’s a perfectly cromulent word.)

OmniQuest was a big contender, although some of us felt it was a little too gamey. Not in the sense that it smelled weird, but…oh, you know, the dragons and heroic journeys and so on.

So: OmniFocus. It has a name. It has a team of engineers working on it, a user interface guru mocking up modes and widgets for it, and a product manager whose Herculean job it is to herd this whole mess towards an elusive ship date.

Now for your participation! Many of you have already sent us some really, really useful feedback on what you’re looking for in this type of personal organization application. What we wanted to ask this time is, what are you currently using for this purpose? Index cards? Kinkless and OmniOutliner? Other apps/other analog methods?

If you wouldn’t mind sharing, we’d love to know. Hit us up in the comments section or by email.

Thanks for all your ideas on the App Which Has Not Yet Been Named. My personal favorites, in no particular order:

• OmniNCF (“non-cat finding� app), suggested by WrongSizeGlass, who went on to include the following:

Someone: “Hey, have you heard about Omni’s new application that can’t find cats?�
Someone Else: “Phft. Microsoft’s had one for years.�

• OmniCheesecake, because as Seth pointed out, what’s, like, better than cheesecake?

• Finally, Vicki’s idea: OmniBaffle. That way OmniGraffle could have a friend with whom to commiserate. (”Dude, everyone calls me OmniGiraffe.” “I know, man…I know.”)

We haven’t decided on a name yet – code or otherwise – but now we have a veritable plethora of concepts, both serious and, uh, otherwise (Butterstick??). Stay tuned, I hope to have a useful update on this project’s progress in a few weeks.

:::

My 11-month old son has a book called Big Noisy Trucks and Diggers Demolition, which is a licensed product of, no kidding, Caterpillar Inc. (I suppose the gender-stereotypical equivalent marketed for little girls might be Fluffy Pink Ponies and Their Sparkly Anorexic Math-Hating Princess Friends.) The book details the thrilling adventures of demolition excavators and track loaders and so on, which I can tell you from first-hand experience is even more brain-numbing to read aloud than Sock Monkey Goes To Hollywood.

Anyway, while I don’t guess that his Big Noisy Trucks book will prepare him for a future career in demolitions any more than his other books will help him become a Sock Monkey or a Very Hungry Caterpillar, I got to wondering about when it is that people start developing interests that stick with them throughout their lives.

Now for me, careerwise I was drawn to the fabulous art of Corporate Hyperbole at a young age because my aunt ran her own ad agency. Advertising/marketing seemed like such a glamorous, exciting world, especially after I learned that Campbell’s Soup Company had very nearly accepted the joke soup name idea “Goodness Gracious, Great Balls of Meat!”. As for hobbies, I discovered BBSes when I was 12 or so on our crusty, ancient DOS machine, and finally stepped up to a PowerMac in…maybe 1997? Which I used mainly for playing Lode Runner and surfing, oh the shame, AOL.

And lo, the results of a non-techie’s interest in computers and the secret desire to someday include the words “Great Balls of Meat” in a company-sponsored marketing vehicle: this very blog. (I’m totally playing the theme from Chariots of Fire right now, by the way. Duh dum duh duh DUH duhh….)

Ahem. Moving on. To my POINT, which is…what about you? When did you start becoming interested in software, in Macs? Was it when you were a kid, or older, or? Tell us your story in the comments section!

A while ago I returned from a family vacation to discover that our cat had gone missing. While the cat is at least 87% evil and often spends her time stealth-barfing into my shoes, I was concerned. After a worrying amount of time had elapsed and walking around shouting her name into various bushes had produced no results (well, other than being forever known as the Crazy Neighborhood Cat Lady), I turned to the one piece of software I knew could help.

That’s right: OmniGraffle.

Exactly one day later, our cat made a dramatic reappearance – slightly haggard but no worse for wear.

COINCIDENCE?

I think not.

OmniGraffle: it has the page layout functions to find your lost cat. I’m in marketing, so what I say must be true!

(Note: your lost cat results may vary. Offer void where prohibited, taxed or restricted. Current version of OmniGraffle recommended for all cat-location activities.)

:::

Okay, now for some blog content you might actually care about: an update on the Omni “GTD app” progress.

Well, I don’t have much news yet. Sorry, that’s kind of a sucky update, but it’s the truth. We have lots of feedback from everyone and a plan of sorts (including a UI mockup that is actually very exciting), it’s now a matter of finding engineering resources and re-prioritizing other projects.

We’re still really interested in doing this, and we are going to keep you posted on what we’re doing. Hopefully when the engineers are back from WWDC we’ll be able to start making some real progress.

Finally, it’s been suggested that using the term “GTD” when referring to this project is maybe not such a hot idea, so we need a good code name. Want to give us one? Best suggestion wins a software license of your choice. Extra points given for sophomoric humor, pop culture references, or anything that makes us email your idea around internally with the subject line “OMG OUR USERS ARE CRAZY”. The comments sections awaits!

Project management has been called the ability to create the impossible, with the unwilling, against insurmountable odds, under budget and on time.

That’s actually a pretty good description of our process for creating Brand New Secret Product.

(Well…sort of.)

Introducing OmniPlan. Our brand new project management application.

(Totally not an inkwell!)

Please stay tuned, folks! We’re shooting to release a public beta of OmniPlan next Wednesday, July 26th.

You know, I thought we’d get maybe 20 guesses or so on what Brand New Secret Product is. Not HUNDREDS. Holy, uh, fiddlesticks.

So this is one of those occasions when us marketing weasels have to decide between silence, subterfuge, or straightforwardness. And other terms that begin with the letter “S”, like “snake oil” (as in, Our powerful, extensible solution creates a paradigm shift in infrastructure core competencies).

We’re going with a large serving of straightforwardness, with a hint of silence on the side and a sprinkling of delicious, bacony subterfuge. (There’s a reason we’re called weasels, after all.)

Some of you guessed correctly about what Brand New Secret Product is. Some of you are clearly insane and made us laugh until we sprayed Jamba Juice out our collective nostrils. And some of you – check that, LOTS of you – guessed that we’re building some kind of GTD app.

Brand New Secret Product is not a GTD app. However, we have been talking very seriously about building a GTD app, and collaborating with our friends Ethan and Merlin, and hearing so many of you tell us that you’re interested in that kind of software…well, we would really, really like to come up with something. We have some awesome ideas for how it could work.

In a couple weeks we’re sitting down with some folks here in Seattle and brainstorming what this GTD app might do, and how we might be able to get it out the door in a timely manner. We do have a lot on our plates these days, and we’re not a big company; we just don’t know yet if we have the resources. But! If you would like to send us ideas, feature requests, or just a plea for us to make it happen, please email omnitask-planning@omnigroup.com, in the next week if possible. (OmniTask is our code name. Shhhhhh.)

There: some straightforwardness.

Now for the subterfuge! Well, not exactly, but here’s another annoying image of Brand New Secret Product – not blurred this time, but clipped so only a piece of it shows. Go nuts, CSI-enhancers.

And the silence: we’re not going to tell you what B.N.S.P. is just yet. But very, very soon we will have more info and a public beta. I think some of you (no, we’re not saying how many!) are going to be really happy.

P.S. Yes, those of you who guessed correctly will be hearing from me shortly about the private beta. Booyah!

Well! Apparently our OmniWeb 5.5 beta whooped some butt in a recent browser test.

I’d love to tell you exactly why OmniWeb was so darn fast, but uhhhh….we’re not exactly sure. It might have to do with something called garbage collection, which I would explain in great detail except I have no idea what it means. Also, benchmark tests are maybe not 100% indicative of what your own personal browsing experience will be, so take it all with a large grain of salt, but…go, OmniWeb, go!

OmniWeb 5.5 is still in ‘private’ beta (not exactly PRIVATE when it’s in a benchmark test, I guess), but we’re shooting for a public beta next week. Hang in there, OmniWeb fans!

:::

In other news, Omni has a Brand New Secret Product in the works. Before you ask, we are absolutely still working on our other apps – there are, let’s see…11 engineers here who are assigned to various projects, in addition to product managers and support folk and sales and QA and of course, the espresso machine – and we still plan to provide you with updates for those (yes, like OmniWeb! And OmniGraffle! And…everything else! Except Oni; you Oni people need to CEASE and DESIST).

Anyway! We are getting very close to opening the kimono on Brand New Secret Product, if you’ll forgive me for using a cheesy dotcom-VC-wooing term from 1999. Would you like some hints? SURE YOU WOULD.

Hint the First:

Some of you have asked for this product. Repeatedly.

Hint the Second:

Here is an annoyingly blurred image of the product’s application icon:

Hint the Third:

It is NOT a replacement for Mail. Or a word processor.

(I know, I know. Pre-release hype kills kittens, etc. “Remember the Segway”, etc. I know.)

Now for the fun part: if you guess what Brand New Secret Product is, we’ll get you on a private beta to start looking at it. You’ll have to be sworn to secrecy – on pain of…well, maybe not death, but cake? cake or death? – but you’ll be among the ELITE, the BRAVE, the, um, BUGGY BETA BRUTE SQUAD!

Or…wait, did I not make that sound attractive enough? What I meant to say is, if you guess correctly, you’ll have an early, exclusive sneak peek at our biggest new product of the year. Cooooool.

HIE YE TO THE COMMENTS SECTION, make your guess, and don’t forget to include your email address.

(Update: in order for me to have a snowball’s chance of going through everyone’s guesses, comments are now closed. Thanks for all your interest, folks!)

Well, I told you it was coming soon, and for once I wasn’t proven a snake-oil-shilling-LIAR. Yay! The OmniProduct is now available as a public beta, and we can all stop calling it “OmniProduct” and start calling it “OmniDazzle”.

No, really. That’s the name. Shut up, we like it.

So, OmniDazzle. What is it? Why, you may as well ask what it isn’t. I mean, it isn’t…well, it isn’t a meatball maker, I can tell you THAT much.

Basically, it’s a set of plug-ins designed to highlight certain areas of your screen and your mouse pointer. Clear as mud? When OmniDazzle is open, various plug-ins can be activated to professionally emphasize a section of your screen, or turn your mouse movement into an area of focus that trails visual effects across your desktop.

Visual effects range from pixie dust to spotlights to dog footprints. What can I say, the engineers are completely nuts creative.

I believe OmniDazzle began as a fun project several months ago when all of Omni started using 30″ Cinema Displays. People were occasionally losing their cursors in the giant eyeball-straining expanse of screen, which is truly a bizarre phenomenon and one you can’t really complain about without sounding obnoxious (”Oh dear, my massive diamond ring makes my hand too heavy!”).

OmniDazzle first only offered silly ways to locate your cursor, and then we started adding some effects that are actually really useful for doing demos, or taking screenshots, or calling attention to specific parts of your screen.

Now? It’s, as our own Joel says, “a playfully practical pixel–pointer program offering mesmerizing mouse movements”.

Please take a look! We’re hoping to only have it in beta for a couple weeks. The beta will be unlicensed, but you can grab an expiring license here; the final release will have a demo mode (an hour, I believe, before you have to buy a license or restart the app) and will cost $14.95.

All right. Go forth and enjoy!