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Show HN my christmas project: Focus.app, cut off your Internet so you can focus
- benofsky 16y agoPlease be careful, I intentionally made there to be no easy way (it can actually be reversed in one command but not in the interface) to re-enable internet access before the timeout. Hope you like it! Github: https://github.com/benofsky/Focus.app https://github.com/benofsky/Focus.app
- Detrus 16y agoIsn't there an OSX app that does this? I remember people on an extremely distracting forum using it, ultimately it doesn't work. Those same people are still spending a lot of time on that forum, they've stopped turning it on.
- grep 16y agoSelfControl
- benofsky 16y agoHadn't seen that, only a pay for app (and I'm cheap :))! Anyway, Focus is tailored perfectly for me, hope some other people can find use out of it too. Edit: Clarification (I'm sorry I can't reply to your comment, it won't let me), I meant I had only seen a pay for app and not this one. Edit 2: (reply to comment also) also doesn't appear to have exceptions, maybe I'm wrong.
- wtn 16y agoSelf Control does the same thing and it's been open source on Github since March 2009. http://visitsteve.com/made/selfcontrol/ http://visitsteve.com/made/selfcontrol/
- benofsky 16y agoBTW Person I replied to, changed their comment after I replied and I can no longer edit mine. Also, I was wrong about the exceptions: sorry bout that.
- trampsymphony 16y agoYou may be thinking of Concentrate (http://getconcentrating.com http://getconcentrating.com) Also worth noting, RescueTime has a "Get Focused" feature that blocks any sites that you have marked as unproductive (for a specified number of minutes).
- markbao 16y agoI can confirm that this method is a pretty effective method for getting me off Twitter and on TextMate.
- callahad 16y agoThe comment on FocusHelper's allowAllOutgoingExceptions is pretty amusing: https://github.com/benofsky/Focus.app/blob/master/FocusHelper.m#L69 https://github.com/benofsky/Focus.app/blob/master/FocusHelpe...
- shadowpwner 16y agoIf the guy who wrote the comment ever reads this, it's "brightened". :)
- benofsky 16y agoha, it looked wrong at the time, thank you :)
- alextgordon 16y agoI'm going to start doing this [NSError errorWithDomain:@"User Stupid Domain" code:1 userInfo:userInfo]; https://github.com/benofsky/Focus.app/blob/master/FocusController.m#L79 https://github.com/benofsky/Focus.app/blob/master/FocusContr...
- alanh 16y agoI can’t seem to add an exception. Edit: Literally clicking [+] does nothing, so there’s nothing to save. I’m also not convinced 5 is enough: I want dropbox to be connected, github, our bug tracker, our team chat, my email, and basecamp — that’s 6 already.
- benofsky 16y agoYou have to press save or they won't be committed to the plist. Does that work for you?
- ocharles 16y agoDropbox works offline, Git is a DVCS so you don't really need a connection for it (unless you're finding other projects), and if you're working you don't need email. This would work fantastically with the Pomodoro technique
- benofsky 16y agoOk, quite a few people are having this problem. I'll have a fix soon hopefully! EDIT: It's working now download the new version at: http://therealfocusapp.com/focus-alpha-0.1.app.zip http://therealfocusapp.com/focus-alpha-0.1.app.zip — thanks to all who helped fix!
- barredo 16y agoFirst, great app. I use SelfControl.app, because when I need to focus, I need internet access JUST to the sites/domains/IPs I work with. Benofsky, is there a posibility to add a whitelist of IPs/domains to this app?
- ninguem2 16y agoifconfig down; sleep 100000; ifconfig up (add parameters as needed) Does this need an app?
- jason_slack 16y agoClick a button or type all of that or run a shell script, hmm. I would clicking the pretty buttons. This app seems to work.
- mrleinad 16y agoOk, turn the previous command into a shortcut. Done!
- biot 16y agoDoes your solution support: ifconfig down except (site-a.com, site-b.com, site-c.com, site-d.com, site-e.com)
- jeza 16y agoDon't quote me on the exact syntax (I do know the syntax for iptables): ipfw add allow tcp from site-a.com to any http; ipfw add allow tcp from site-b.com to any http; ipfw add allow tcp from site-c.com to any http; ipfw add deny ip from any to any; sleep $HOWEVERLONG; ipfw flush; I guess the other way would be simply to do ifconfig up when you need a site and take it down again. I don't tend to use such methods because if I'm really susceptible to distraction something else will distract me anyway. I think that self-discipline could be better (when the urge comes to load twitter, just don't do it).
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- squasher 16y agoSeems similar to Freedom: http://macfreedom.com/ http://macfreedom.com/
- nestlequ1k 16y agoA really nice paid alternative (I use it every day) is http://getconcentrating.com/ http://getconcentrating.com/
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- bricestacey 16y agoWhen I opened it, I didn't realize it went to my toolbar. If you want this to be used by a broader audience you should have a "run once" to let people know how to use it.
- bricestacey 16y agoFound a small bug: I set the default minutes to 15, yet when I go to start focusing the default appears to be 60. I thought maybe they'd go into effect after restarting the app, but no, it still defaults to 60. It does default to the last value of the Start Focusing form, so long as you keep the app open.
- benofsky 16y agoYe there're some problems with the preferences, I'm working on it. Are you on 10.6.5 by any chance?
- toisanji 16y agothis is already available, SelfControl, its open source and I use it all the time: http://visitsteve.com/made/selfcontrol/ http://visitsteve.com/made/selfcontrol/
- zenspider 16y agoand freedom: http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/27958/freedom http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/27958/freedom
- farhadabas 16y agoDoes anything like this exist for Windows?
- brc 16y agoI actually use my hosts file, and block all the common time wasting sites I like to waste time on. There is no time period - the sites are off limits for the computer, period. I have another computer in another room for time-wasting - with no restrictions. But sitting there is acknowledging that you're wasting time. You can't fool yourself or anyone else that you're being productive, otherwise you'd be at the 'real' computer. I find this to be far more effective than a periodic-blocking application. Because anything you can turn off with the click of a mouse, will get turned off just when you need it the most. Editing a hosts file is a major PITA in comparison.
- benofsky 16y agoThis cannot be turned off with a click of the mouse (see my warning below) :-) — although, one who spent 5 minutes reading the source, could turn it off! But still, not click of the mouse. And yes, a second time wasting computer would be ideal but ye I don't have one :)
- jfeldstein2 16y agoMy computer comes with this built in: http://cl.ly/3sRk http://cl.ly/3sRk
- geekinthecorner 16y agoWhen I saw this title, my brain read what it wanted, which was that you had written an app to prevent other apps from stealing focus (like Adobe popping up to tell me that Acrobat has an updated (who cares)). Wishful thinking?
- Void_ 16y agoI don't think disabling internet connection will help you focus. If you want to focus for some time, then you will. Also, I made something similar just a week or two ago. It doesn't disable anything, it just shows you an icon in status bar. http://zone.codingwithlove.com http://zone.codingwithlove.com
- pygy_ 16y agoIt looks excellent. I like the fact that you can specify an arbitrary time, whereas SelfControl restricts you to 15 minute intervals. It would be nice if it were scriptable (which SelfControl is). http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/AppleScript/Conceptual/AppleScriptX/Concepts/osa.html http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/AppleSc...