Doug Mejia

OmniFocus 4.7 Brings Planned Dates, Mutually Exclusive Tags, Repeat Limits & More - Learn OmniFocus

OmniFocus 4.7 includes new and enhanced features that make it easier and more convenient to manage your tasks than ever before.

As a long time OmniFocus user, I am pretty excited about these new features. I can try to explain them here, but I suggest you check out the Learn OmniFocus link above and have the professionals break it down for you, instead.

Note: This post was originally published on August 29, 2025. Due to technical issues, it was deleted and I am publishing it again today.

Digital Twins are virtual representations of the physical world—whether that’s a human being, a computer network, or an entire factory. Imagine having a digital twin of yourself that serves as a testbed for various scenarios. For example, if you’re suffering from high blood pressure, instead of trying different medications to see which works best, you could test them on your digital twin first. By feeding it your specific parameters, the system could theoretically narrow down the most effective treatment, since it’s essentially a replica of your own body. With AI integration, it could even suggest customized combinations of medications tailored specifically to your needs.

Another example is computer network management. You’d have your real physical network running in production, alongside a digital twin that’s constantly being experimented on and tested. This allows you to identify vulnerabilities and discover more efficient operational methods without risking your live system. AI-powered digital twins could predict potential attacks and recommend better security measures. At least, that’s the premise and promise.

The same concept applies to customer service. By feeding all the data recorded from real customer service interactions into a digital twin, companies could run countless scenarios to improve service quality. The system might discover ways to achieve better results with shorter phone or chat times per customer, ultimately enhancing both efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Although this is not a new concept, by any means, I think this sounds like a fantastic idea, and I only recently learned about it, which made me want to learn more. What really caught my attention was reading about companies like TwinHealth that are securing tens of millions of dollars in funding and investments, pushing their valuations to numbers with lots of zeros. I’m talking billion-dollar territory. There’s clearly something big happening here.

I know this might sound very “science fiction” of me, but it reminds me of Minority Report, where the “precogs” would predict someone committing a crime and authorities would arrest that person before the crime occurred. What if digital twin technology evolves into something similar? It’s a possibility, though perhaps not a high probability. It’s always wise to consider both the best and worst potential outcomes. Hopefully, we’ll land somewhere in the middle.

Not many things come close to celebrating a birthday with family and friends at the “Happiest Place On Earth!”

Home Assistant + Ubiquiti + AI = Home Automation Magic

It seems like every manufacturer of anything electrical that goes in the house wants to be part of the IoT story these days. Further, they all want their own app, which means you have to go to gazillions of bespoke software products to control your things. And they’re all - with very few exceptions - terrible:

Unfortunately, the quote above nails it right on the head. Every manufacturer out there seems to want you to use their app to control things around your house—from your AC unit to the lightbulbs to your water leak sensors. It’s gotten to the point where we may need an entire screen or folder full of these types of apps. All users really want is a central app that can control everything. Luckily, Home Assistant gets you most of the way there.

Of course, you do have to set it up on a Raspberry Pi or an old computer, but once you do, you’re off to the races. If you don’t have the expertise for that sort of DIY project or you just don’t want to take the time to set it all up yourself, you can buy a Home Assistant appliance that’s mostly plug-and-play.

We use HA on a Raspberry Pi at our house to control almost everything in our IoT network, mostly to control our lights with timers or dusk-to-dawn sensors. We haven’t gotten as far as controlling our hose’s water flow, but that seems pretty cool to do. Halloween is coming around soon—I’m just saying.

Warning! This post may not be suitable for all readers. Reader discretion is advised.

What It’s Like Watching Dozens of Bodies Decompose (for Science)

It sounds like a scene out of a horror film, but these places are real. They’re called taphonomic research facilities, or sometimes “body farms”—sites where forensic scientists study how the human body decomposes. (Don’t worry, the bodies are all donated.) By observing how fast cadavers break down in a controlled setting, investigators can learn more about decomposition and better pinpoint exactly what happened to dead bodies that are found in the real world.

A few years ago, I listened to an audiobook titled Stiff, and it was all about what happens to the human body after death. In this book, I learned about places where donated bodies are placed throughout the grounds of research facilities and exposed to various environmental conditions and the elements. The purpose is for scientists to study decomposition in order to train people in fields like forensics. Until that point, I had never heard of such a thing. Now I see that mainstream publications like Wired are shedding light on the topic. Although it’s morbid to think about, I find the science behind it all interesting.

Here is another view of the railroad spike knife I bought at a blacksmith shop in Tennessee.