Am I right in assuming that Qbserve only tracks active windows? To elaborate: If I have a monitor set to a fullscreen OSX Desktop with either Spotify or VLC while actually coding, the time spent listening/watching won't count unless the application is active, correct?
Show HN: Automatic private time tracking for OS X
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Re: Show HN: Automatic private time tracking for OS X
#72In terms of distribution - Could you create a dmg with the drag & drop to the Applications directory as is standard for OSX?
Re: Show HN: Automatic private time tracking for OS X
#73Did you test it thoroughly for websites tracking? I made a Firefox plugin[1] to track how long I would spend on facebook but it never had really accurate results. Do you track only the current tab? Do you still track it if it's not foreground? Even if Firefox has many windows? How do you track tabs in the browser from the OS by the way? [1]: https://github.com/mimoo/FirefoxTimeTracker
I use OS X accessibility, so Qbserve tracks the focused windows. In case of browsers it's usually the current tab of the top window.
Re: Show HN: Automatic private time tracking for OS X
#74OK tried it, but it's not for me.
I need to be able to track activity per project.
Projects can be determined from the open window path or url.
Timings does this, but it's just one big mess
Re: Show HN: Automatic private time tracking for OS X
#75I bought the app, and I'm really happy with it, thanks! I know it's a long shot, but some sort of shell integration would be awesome. My typical day is > 60% iTerm2. iTerm2 has shell integration: https://iterm2.com/shell_integration.html , and maybe that would be one way is something that Qbserve could be fetching info about what's going on in the terminal.
Yes, I got many requests for iTerm2 tracking and it will be definitely added. I'm looking into the available options, so thank you for the link!
Re: Show HN: Automatic private time tracking for OS X
#76Early impressions are excellent. I can easily see some billable/reporting functionality added as premium features. I'll be adding this to my daily routine and seeing how it works for the trial period - but you likely have a paid user in me already. Thank you!
Re: Show HN: Automatic private time tracking for OS X
#77In terms of distribution - Could you create a dmg with the drag & drop to the Applications directory as is standard for OSX?
Oh, right, thank you for the tip.
Re: Show HN: Automatic private time tracking for OS X
#78Looks beautiful. Any plans to add 'Focus' mode like Rescuetime. Basically just ability to block distracting websites? I'd probably switch over from rescuetime if that's added :)
A +1 for this request. I used to use a program called Concentrate [1] which would block distracting sites & also prevent distracting apps from launching.
A built-in Pomodoro timer could be good too. Some programs (like Focus) have a timer & internet blocker, but having one app with the timer, blocker & statistics would mean less clutter in my Mac menu-bar. (I currently use Vitamin-R [2] for pomodoro timer & focus statistics, but it doesn't have website blocking, and I sometimes forget to start my Vitamin-R timer if I'm tracking time with Harvest instead... I'd love one app that did it all.)
[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20150701133312/http://www.getcon... [2] https://web.archive.org/web/20150701133312/http://www.getcon...
Re: Show HN: Automatic private time tracking for OS X
#79OK tried it, but it's not for me. I need to be able to track activity per project. Projects can be determined from the open window path or url. Timings does this, but it's just one big mess
Timing uses completely different tracking approach, iirc there's AppleScript involved.
Qbserve uses accessibility but I have plans to make improvements for per-project tracking.
Re: Show HN: Automatic private time tracking for OS X
#80Away from the keyboard or watching a movie? Idle time is detected intelligently.
Problem is it heavily depends on the person what is really idling. Ideally you should be able to read the mind to see if there's any work-related activity :] I'm still using manual time tracking mainly because of this (even despite the obvious disadvantage of forgetting to turn it on or off): there's all kinds of solutions like detecting mouse/keyboard idling to fancier ones like detecting if your phone is near your pc and stuff like that, but at least for me none of these are as correct as just manually saying 'now I'm working, now I'm not': they can't detect things like me sitting outside with pen & paper.