Ubiquity is an extension for the Firefox browser. First published in August 2008, it is still in a very early and experimental state. But right from the very beginning, the idea got people all over the web shaking with excitement. With a quick keyboard shortcut, Ubiquity gets initialized. The add-on allows you to manipulate information from different websites by typing quick and easy natural-language-derived commands.

Ubiquity for Firefox from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.

At first, Ubiquity might sound quite geeky, and well, it is. But once you’ve started using the small tool, it will prove indispensable. It saves a whole bunch of time every single day. A perfect match for mite, right?

Follow these simple steps to get you started:

1. Install Ubiquity (download site, direct link)
2. Activate the mite.api for your account. Please click on your user name in the upper right-hand corner first. Then activate the corresponding checkbox and save all changes.
3. Navigate to the root folder of your account. This is something similar to http://yourteam.mite.yo.lk/ (no /times or anything else after the slash).
4. A Firefox notice will show up below the address bar saying: “This page contains Ubiquity commands…” Please click the corresponding “Subscribe” button on the right side.
5. Now you will understand why we call Ubiquity experimental. A red warning will be displayed. Ubiquity is a very powerful tool that can do real harm by infiltrating malicious codes – beware! On the warning page, every single line of command code will be displayed. Study it carefully. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on “I know what I’m doing. Subscribe to it!”
6. Done!

Wherever you may be on the web, you can now access Ubiquity by pressing a simple shortcut. You can choose which shortcut to use. By default, Ubiquity will pop up by pressing “Alt + Space”.

The first “mite” is the command by which you tell Ubiquity you want to track time. Entering your hours is required, all other information is optional. You don’t even have to type your data in a specific order.

Enter your hours in whichever way suits you best: 1 hour 30 minutes can be typed in as “1:30”, “1.5” or “1,5”. Furthermore, you don’t have to type all the long names of projects and services: just message the first three or four characters – if your names aren’t too generic, the interpreter will get it.

mite 2:30 #p "Saving the lady beetles" #s "Research & Analysis" Kick off

Adds a new time entry with 2:30 hours to the project “Saving the lady beetles” with the service “Research & Analysis” and the note “Kick off”.

mite start #p beetles #s Research

Adds a new time entry with a running timer to the project “Saving the lady beetles” with the service “Research & Analysis”.

mite stop

Stops the running timer. You don’t have to add any further arguments – there can only be one single timer running.

mite 1.75 Reminder #p Maintainer #s "Administration & Finances"

Adds a new time entry with 1.75 hours to the project “Maintainer” with the service “Administration & Finances” and the note “Reminder”. Pay attention to the enclosing double quotes please: as soon as your project, service or date contains one or more spaces, you will have to use them. Otherwise, only the first word will be interpreted; the rest will be treated as a note.

mite 8:00 #p Saving #s Research #d Yesterday

Adds a new time entry with yesterday’s date and 8:00 hours to the project “Saving the lady beetles” with the service “Research & Analysis”. Weekdays (e.g. “Tuesday”) will be interpreted as well.

mite 8:00 #p Saving #s Research #d 12/31/2008 Kick off 

Adds a new time entry on New Year’s Eve with 8:00 hours to the project “Saving the lady beetles” with the service “Research & Analysis” and the note “Kick off”.

Happy experimenting!