To users who would much rather not pay $25 a year to access RTM through their iPhone, luckily, there is an alternative to RTM’s own iPhone app. Milpon is the only iPhone todo app in the iTunes store that is both free and functional for managing your RTM tasks.

When you first open the iPhone todo app, it takes you to an overview of the tasks that are due in the next week, as well as tasks that are overdue. Tasks are sorted in order of due date, in alphabetical order. The priorities of the tasks are written under the date. From here, you can complete tasks by touching the square, add tasks by clicking the (+) button in the upper right hand corner, or edit tasks by clicking their entries in the list. Doing either of the latter two will take you to a screen that looks like this:

The first line following the arrow is where you input the name of your task. Unfortunately, unlike the RTM website, you can’t add priorities and other details by using hash tags. To set a due date, click the calendar icon, which brings up a full sized calendar.

This calendar is possibly my favorite feature of Milpon. You can scroll through the months by clicking the left and right arrows by the Month and Year entry, and then pick the exact date you want by clicking the corresponding  box on the calendar. This will bring you back to the main Add page, where you can set the other details like which list you want the task in, etc.

Another great thing about Milpon’s Add page is that, when you are assigning tags to a task, Milpon brings up a list of the tags that you have already created, and adds the tag you tap to the task you’re creating.

When you are done creating a task, it will be filed with all of your other tasks, where it will be viewable in three ways. The screenshot above is of Milpon’s home screen. By clicking Overview, you will see a screen like the very first screenshot above, that details all the tasks due in the next week. If you click “List,” you’ll see all of your lists, followed by the number of tasks in that list. If you click “Tag,” you’ll see a list of your tags, followed by the number of tasks that have that tag.

I find the option to sort your tasks by their tags extremely useful, because you can set contexts (such as the location that your task should be completed at) as your tags, and then sort your tasks so that they are location specific. Then, you can view all of your “@phone” tasks while you’re making calls, and call everyone in one sitting.

Since Milpon is a relatively new app, it is still undergoing active development. For example, the latest update features automatic syncing! Instead of having to manually sync like in the previous releases, Milpon now syncs when you open the app. Unfortunately this means that you’ll still have to sync manually after making changes, but that’s still better than no automated syncing at all.

You can sync manually by clicking the refresh icon in the upper left hand corner of the home screen. Syncing usually takes quite a while, which is a bit of a drawback, but you can still view and edit tasks while syncing, so that shouldn’t be too much of a concern.

I’ve been an avid fan since Milpon first launched, and it’s come a long way since its infant days. I foresee it making great progress as it gains more users, and I hope that it will become the RTM iPhone app of choice for non-Pro users.

Do you use Remember the Milk? Give Milpon a shot, and tell us what you think of it, in comparison to RTM’s own iPhone app.

Milpon

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• Toodledo- Online Task Management App with iPhone Integration (8)
• Todoist – Simple but Powerful Task Management App (8)
• Things – ‘Getting Things Done’ simplified [Mac Only] (11)
• Stay Organized with Rainlendar Calendar (20)
• Schedule & Manage Your Messages With Sendible (1)

The problem is that most home users of moderate means can’t usually afford the Office package that includes Microsoft Project. The majority of home computer users will have the standard office package, such as the 2007 Home and Student edition which has Word, Excel, Powerpoint and OneNote.

However, at home I also have a number of involved and complicated projects that I’m trying to manage, as does my wife and if you have any teenage kids at home – project management software could help them tremendously with managing their time between homework, school projects, sport events and everything else life dishes out upon a vibrant and busy family. I am very pleased to present a shockingly free and very creative online project management tool called Gantter.

Free Creative Project Management Software Just By Typing a URL

Here’s what blew me away. I’m accustomed to testing dozens of free applications every month, and most of the time you need to at least provide an email address or some other way to identify yourself. Surprisingly, when you first visit the Gantter website, you’ll see yourself instantly staring at what looks like Microsoft Project. The website itself is the application, and once you visit it, you can instantly start creating your own project management file.

For me, such a creative way to use a project management application is like a dream come true. You can create a Microsoft Project compatible file for any project that you’ve got going on. This application lets you save those files (or even PDF exports) onto your USB flash drive. Later, when you want to make changes to your project, just go to any computer, pop in your USB drive and visit Gantter, where you can open that file and modify it however you wish.

It doesn’t matter whether the computer you’re using has MS Project or not. And if you already use MS Project at work? Even better – now you can take your work anywhere with you and edit those MS Project files remotely, whether you’re working on a computer at an Internet Cafe, a library or anywhere else.

I decided that I would finally start writing that novel that I’ve always wanted to get started on but couldn’t because these MakeUseOf article deadlines keep getting in the way – so why not work on my novel while I’m working on a MakeUseOf article? 

My first step was to create my task list for the novel project.

Creating the task list is fast and easy, but the real power of this online application is where you set the predecessors (the work you need to get done before you can start on that task). Just like in MS Project, Gantter automatically schedules out all of your work based on what you need to do and when you need to do it. All you need to think about is one task at a time.

For example, here I’ve clicked on setting up the predecessor for writing the second chapter, which I can start doing the moment the first chapter is done (I don’t need to finish revising the first before I get started on the second.)

Also, on this screen you can add additional notes for this task, as well as assign resources that you’ve configured in the “resources” section of the application. Gantter takes all of this information that you feed it and generates a nice, clear schedule (Gantt chart) for you off to the right side of the screen.

Exploring the software a bit, it’s apparent that this isn’t some cheap, fly-by-night web app – this is a well thought out and very well programmed online application that works fast and efficiently throughout my testing on Firefox and Internet Explorer. The features are many, as you can see from my drilling through the menus.

Saving and Accessing Your Projects

So, what do you do when you’re done planning out your project and you want to save the file? Obviously, you can’t store the data in your account, because you don’t have an account. If you pretend that this application is just like any other desktop application you use, then the answer is simple – just click save!

That’s the beauty of Gantter – it’s like you’re using a desktop application even though you’re using your Internet browser. You can either save the file or export it to MS Project. Saving downloads your file as a “project.xml” file, which you can access later from this same website.

Copy the XML file to your USB drive, and later when you come back to the website (no matter where you are in the world), just click File -> Open and you’ll be able to browse to your USB drive and open up your saved XML file.

Simple. Easy. Convenient. Those are the three words I think about when I use this online application. No sign-up required, no download required and no money required. The application was written by Volodymyr Mazepa, a Ukraine-based IT project manager – one IT manager who clearly knows his stuff. I encourage anyone who uses this application to click on Help -> About and send Volodymyr a hearty thank-you for his excellent work and for offering us this high-quality online application at no cost, a very rare act of kindness these days.

Do you have any online project management apps that you prefer? What do you think of Gantter? Share your opinions in the comments section below.

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• Organize Your Life With Yahoo Calendar (12)
• Ubidesk: Fresh & Comprehensive Online Team Collaboration (15)
• Tracks – An Advanced “Getting Things Done” Application (11)
• Toodledo- Online Task Management App with iPhone Integration (8)
• Todoist – Simple but Powerful Task Management App (8)

Toodledo is a surprisingly good to do list manager. It is really awesome and I thought I would show it to you today. If you wear many hats and have lots of tasks to do throughout the day you need some sort of task management system. If you don’t, you will fail – epically.

The web application features include the ability to use folders, subtasks, due-dates, priorities, tags, contexts, goals, notes, and time estimates. Did I mention that it also works seamlessly with the iPhone?

Let’s take a good look at ToodleDo :

You will need to sign up for a free account. You will see the sign in box on the right hand side and right below that will be the box to register. Hit that Green check mark next to the register button to continue.

All you have to give them is an email address and a password. You can also set up an account using your OpenID. There is a hyper link for this right below the sign in button.

Once you are logged in you will see the overview as you can see below.

Your menu bar is on the left but I mainly work out of the To-Do list. You will see two items already there for you to look at and play with. There will also be a tool tip telling you to check out the account settings page to dictate how the tasks are laid out. I did not see much difference in their two options. Clicking the Show Details option shows all the details associated with each task as you can see below:

Now let’s add our own item to the list. Simply hit the Add item button in the upper right hand corner and you will get a screen that looks like this:

Those are the basic fields and you will also see two buttons in the right hand side that say Add multiple tasks and Import tasks. The add multiple tasks window looks like this:

And the import window looks like this:

That is just a tip of the iceberg.  When it comes to importing and exporting, there are 3 more pages of options. But I digress and let’s get back to the actual task management online application.

Running down the menu the first item is Sharing. This enables you to let the world see your to-do list as well as your calendar and other options.

The calendar option shows you a calendar with your tasks on them. You can also choose to use Google Calendar instead. It is a simple check box under the calendar option.

The scheduler is a pay feature so on we move to the Goals section:

There is still Notes and History that are available for free and very handy for tracking completed tasks and adding, importing or exporting notes again with a plethora of options!

Do you have a favorite To Do task management online application? Share it with us in the comments!

Toodledo

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• Milpon – The Only Remember The Milk IPhone App You’ll Need (6)
• Ubidesk: Fresh & Comprehensive Online Team Collaboration (15)
• Printable Checklist : A No-Nonsense Online Checklist Creator (8)
• iCalendar Lite- A Free Transparent Desktop Calendar (Windows) (12)
• Gantter – The Ultimate Free Creative Project Management Tool (15)

My problem is the very reason I constantly look for new calendar applications – my mind is so filled with things to remember that I forget to check the calendar applications that I’ve installed. So it’s on to the next app, in hopes that it does a better job of reminding me to remember things. Alas, I believe I’ve finally found the solution, a very cool and free, transparent desktop calendar called iCalendar Lite.

Why do I love it? There are several reasons. First, it’s highly customizable. Second, it’s transparent (depending on how you configure it) so you can have it always in front of you no matter what you’re currently working on. Third, I really, really like how cool it looks.

Setting Up iCalendar Lite – A Free Transparent Desktop Calendar

iCalendar Lite doesn’t originally install as a very transparent application that’s always “on top” of all of your other open apps. In some ways this is good, because many people don’t appreciate an application that insists on staying in the foreground. However, for our purposes, this is exactly what we want the calendar to do. This is how the calendar first shows up at the upper right corner of your screen after you install it.

As you can see, with the default skin and transparency settings, it isn’t transparent at all. Also, by default the application is set up to remain in the background when you click on any other application. To set it up so that it’s more transparent and on top of your current applications, you’ll need to change the settings. In your system tray, you’ll find the calendar app appears as a calendar icon. Right click on that icon and then click on “Settings“.

Once you do that, the following window appears where you should make sure that the calendar is set up to run when you boot your PC, and also select whether or not you want the Event and To-Do windows to show up underneath the calendar itself.

Next, click on the “Appearance” to get to the screen where you can configure both the transparency and make the app remain on top of all other applications. Personally, I like the glass skin with 40% transparency, which makes the calendar look like a ghost. However, 100% transparency with the “Glass” skin also reveals the application underneath it and looks pretty cool too (see the bottom of this article).

With the new settings, the calendar application shows up like a faint mist on top of the application that you’re currently working with. For me, this is a perfect calendar setup, because it’s always there…but not really. It lingers on the edge of the screen as a constant reminder that you’re on a schedule, and you have deadlines. The next article due date is coming up fast and if you don’t complete it, you better believe that the editor is going to be all up in your face… OK, moving on.

As you can see, the calendar, event and to-do windows are unobtrusive and only slightly display on top of your application window, but not so much that they block the view or distract from what you’re working on.

Making Use Of iCalendar

When you want to add an item to the to-do list or the event alarm list, just right click the window and do so.

The to-do and event scheduling is pretty standard and has most of the features you expect in a decent calendar application, including delay time to an alarm, an alarm popup window, and notification sounds (configured in the general settings described above).

New Software – Needs A Few Bug Fixes

To show how much you can change the transparency, I’ve modified it to 100% with the “glass” skin in the display below.  However, aside from all of the “cool” factor of this app, it is clearly still new and in need of a few fixes.

Throughout the application you’ll find occasional spelling errors – fairly minor. However, a significant bug in my mind is the fact that when you configure the calendar to remain “on top,” only the to-do and event windows actually remain on top of your applications. The calendar itself has a tendency to slip behind until you click on either the event or to-do windows, or enter the settings screen. Another bug I found was that if you enter the settings window, and then right click the icon and enter the settings window a second time, you can produce an assortment of application errors.

For my purposes, these bugs are minor and not a nuisance. For the most part the application is in the forefront as a constant reminder, and you can even sync the calendar with your Google calendar account – a cool feature if you’re like me and you’ve tried dozens of calendar apps, at least you don’t have to re-enter all of those birthdays again!

Have you been in search of a free transparent desktop calendar? Does iCalendar suit your needs? Give it a try and let us know what you think in the comments section below.

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• esyPlanner – Manage Your Day With This Easy Scheduler & Daily Task Manager (7)
• Tracks – An Advanced “Getting Things Done” Application (11)
• Three Free Desktop Calendar Applications For The Mac (8)
• Organize Your Life With Yahoo Calendar (12)
• How To Show iCal Tasks & Events On The Desktop [Mac only] (3)

We all have our favorites. A browse through this website will throw up many a calendar and to-do app. Schedulers and daily task managers occupy one quadrant of GTD apps. Thinking of which, we also have the option of keeping our time planning offline or taking it online.

I won’t take sides here; I am sure there are takers for both. What I will do is introduce you to a freeware which by the colorful looks of it could find its own legion of fans.

esyPlanner is a Windows only (Windows 2K / XP / Vista) utility which is a calendar based planner for keeping track of your events/tasks. More than that it also allows you to post notes, register your day-to-day experiences in a diary and also  manage your passwords.

The esyPlanner (ver.2.0.09) installer is 2.2 MB in size and can be downloaded from its website.

The first thing you will note is the distinctive desktop-like modeling of the webpage, down to a power button. The site and the software support two languages – Italian and English.

So let’s do a walkthrough of the daily task manager software by looking at the different areas of the program.

The software itself has a colorful, responsive interface. The interface has three panels – the main panel on the left, the centered tab area and the narrow toolbar on the right. The toolbar can be undocked and moved. The buttons are large and fairly intuitive. The balloon tips on a mouseover the buttons makes it easy to know what it is about.

A planner works around events or tasks and follows a calendar. Other features merely support the other information needs of day to day planning. So it is with esyPlanner.

Events in esyPlanner can be set up around categories. Each category has a name and a color which labels it. All categories which are set up get listed under the categories section on the left panel.

Multiple calendars can be setup in esyPlanner, each with a description that identifies it. Calendars can be modified and deleted but one calendar is the required minimum. All calendars are listed on the left panel.

Notes are text files for bits of information. They can be grouped in folders within the Notes panel. They can be arranged via drag and drops from one folder to the other. They can also be ordered by date or title.

All notes in esyPlanner have a calendar linked to it. Other information like category, status, due dates, recurrence, attachments and URL links can be also inputed to further enrich a note. An included screenshots tool can be also used to capture images. An event, a popup alert and even an email can be created from any note from a single click using the toolbar.

The Password area serves as a container for storing different user passwords. A master password is required to open the locked database.

The Settings panel has all the customization options for startup, views and color changes. Using the settings panel, the calendar views can be customized according to the starting hour for the day and the first day of the week.

Planner – A container for all events

Planner is where all the action will take place. All events get reflected in the centrally displayed Planner tab.

The Planner has two views – A weekly view with color coded events (according to the category colors) of the current week and the next. The colored rectangles for the events can be dragged and dropped to new locations. Each shift gets updated in both the monthly and weekly views.

A month view which shows the events spanning over the entire month. A mouseover the color boxes details the events in a balloon tip. The events are grouped in rows with each row corresponding to a category.

A small Diary tab can be used to keep a record of events for the day.

The tracking and monitoring systems

What good would a planner be if it doesn’t serve timely reminders about scheduled events? esyPlanner prods through the pop-ups which appear on cue. Pop-ups can be created from events and notes, hidden or deleted. Choosing Daily Popup from the menu opens a popup window with all the warnings and events of the day. This can put on auto each time the applications starts.

Popup warnings can also be set for individual notes from the Notes panel. The warning can be from a certain date, on that date, on each recurrence or can be switched off.

All warnings set can be glanced through on the Warnings tab of the central panel.

Some first impressions

In my opinion, a planner and scheduler application needs to be simple enough to jump in and use but it should also have enough flexible features that make planning (and changing) tasks a one click process. Essentially, the daily task manager application should be designed around our schedules rather than the other way round. On that score esyPlanner does not disappoint.

• Events can be set up for each unit of time and they can be made to recur as we want it to.
• Events can be dragged and dropped from one date to the other.
• Impromptu notes can be converted to events on the fly.
• Multiple calendars lets us separate work and personal events.
• Alerts are simple through popups.
• The attachment inclusion and screen grabbing utility are a definite plus. Though, the password storage is a bit out of place.

All of this is a nice package of customizable colors and fonts. The software is also not perplexing with the easy to understand balloon tipped buttons and a compact help file.

But a task management application is only as good as the way we exploit it for our productivity. So is it good enough for you? Only you can let us know.

Link: esyPlanner

Image Credit: cmcbrown

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New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• iCalendar Lite- A Free Transparent Desktop Calendar (Windows) (12)
• Get Rid of Your Overloaded Anxiety With Anxiety – Mac Only (17)
• Tracks – An Advanced “Getting Things Done” Application (11)
• Three Free Desktop Calendar Applications For The Mac (8)
• Stay Organized with Rainlendar Calendar (20)

• store notes and web pages from my research stage for offline view.
• quickly create a to-do list and alarms out of assignments and tasks, and be able to be synchronized to iCal (then to my mobile) so I’ll always get reminders wherever I am.
• access my email easily.
• track and record my writing assignments and submissions.
• post to blogs and also serve as a word processor – both in WYSIWYG and HTML view.
• show the word count for each of my submissions.

The most important thing is the whole features should come free and in one package (as I’m a bit tired switching back and forth between applications).

Then I remembered about Firefox – the browser that can be transformed into almost anything that we want it to be, and wondered whether I can expand it to be THE writing tool I’m looking for.

The Hunt for the Add-ons

Everybody knows that one of the greatest things about Firefox is the wide range of add-ons available. What I did was search for the right writing addons for Firefox with the right features. I found too many options so I have to be super selective.

And the winners are:

1. Scrapbook –> This is the first writing addon for Firefox on my list. Scrapbook is like a storage house for all of your research materials. You can easily send any web page to be archived inside Scrapbook, either by dragging and dropping it into the Scrapbook sidebar (Option + K)

   

   or by right clicking on the page and choose “Capture Page”.

   

   Add folders, sub-folders, notes, and organize them to your heart’s content by dragging and dropping. I could go on forever as I really love this tool, but there are still a lot to cover so I’ll just link you to our previous coverage on this nifty tool.

2. Scribefire –> Since most of my writing assignments are in the virtual world and need me to be familiar with HTML, I think I’ll just use this powerful blogging add-on to also serve as a WYSIWYG word processor. Scribefire allows its users to easily switch between rich-text and source editing.

   

   To get a clearer picture on what this baby can do, check out the comparison between Scribefire and Deepest Sender.

3. Extended Copy Menu and QuoteURLText –> Sometimes you run into texts that need to be handled with more than just standard “Copy” feature.

   

   These two add-ons provide Firefox users with the ability to go beyond that. Extended Copy Menu enables users to copy the selected text as plain text or HTML, while QuoteURLText will include Page Title, Location and copy date to the copied texts to be used as perfect quotes.

4. Word Count Plus –> Another common thing about writing assignments besides time limits – a.k.a deadly deadlines – is dimension limit or more popularly known as word count. If you have to count your writing word by word, believe me, whatever reward you’ll get won’t be worth the hassle . Imagine J.K Rowling counting the words in her books.  Scribefire is a writing addon for Firefox that has its own word count tool (right click –> View –> Word Count), but for other content – like website text – there’s Word Count Plus.

   

   To use it, just right click on the selected text and choose count words.

5. PageZipper –> How many times have you encountered an article that spans to several pages? Some are so long that it can be turned into a book. Clicking “Next Page” once or twice is still bearable, but if the number goes into more than ten and you have to do it on so many articles, you’d better use PageZipper.

   

   This add-on will combine all the next pages into one and saves you the click. (please note that not all webpages are compatible with this tool) But the usage goes beyond that: if you’ve archived the combined pages using Scrapbook and done a light editing with Scrapbook’s tool – like Highlighter, Annotation and DOM Eraser – you’ll have a tidy document ready to be printed.  See here for T.J’s in-depth look at PageZipper.

6. Toodledo –> This is the add-on version of the online service with the same name. I chose this one among tons of to-do list tools because this one can easily synchronize with iCal and GCal. It means that there’s no way that I can escape from all of my writing assignments.

   

   Another reason is that adding a new task to Toodledo from Firefox is a snap, just hit Command + Option + A (Mac) or Control + Option + A (Windows/Linux) (or use the “Tools –> Toodledo –> Add task” menu). If you are curious, you can read more about Toodledo.

7. Evernote –> If there was no 40 MB limitation on the online storage, this extraordinary service would be my choice of the ultimate writing tool. I filled up Evernote’s limit in less than a week, while my Scrapbook size has already passed 100 MB size and still growing. But that doesn’t mean that I would waste all of the great features. Evernote is a great tool to add, edit and share notes (text, voice, pictures) from any devices that you have from wherever you are.

   

   My sudden muses will never go down the toilet again, I just make quick notes with Evernote, and then manage them all at home – make copies to Scrapbook and delete the originals from Evernote.

All in all, these writing addons for Firefox are the nearest thing to a perfect writing suite for me. But each person has his/her own preferences, so my choices could be different from yours.

Share your favorite writing-related add-ons using the comments below. If you know of another tool that could replace these combinations, you are welcome to share.

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New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• Things – ‘Getting Things Done’ simplified [Mac Only] (11)
• Stick This On Your PC – Sticky Notes For Your Desktop (17)
• SmarterFox Makes You More Productive in FireFox (5)
• Organize Your Life With Springpad (4)
• LifeIO: Check Your Email, Read Feeds, Post to Twitter, Keep Notes & More From One Cool Site (26)

What does LifeIO bring in the already overcrowded space of web applications? Well, the concept itself is not exactly new, but the implementation is the one of the best I’ve seen so far. Integration is good when it’s done right. Think about Apple products – they all fit together from the hardware to software and support.

It’s much more convenient to have everything you need to manage your online social life in one place, especially if it does a great job at interfacing with all that information; allowing you to sift through stuff that you want to see. Having all the tools you need in a sleek one stop shop – how could you say no to that? LifeIo is the free, complete productivity suite for web 2.0.

LifeIO, like the name suggests, aims to be the bus on which information travels to and from you, hence IO(input/output), by aggregating your email, RSS, contacts, social networking accounts, calendar, tasks and even a basic note taking application. Add another couple of new features and applications in the mix, and you might be on your way to the online operating system.

Even more tech-oriented people will recognize that those types of apps represent 90% of the functionality you need day-to-day. A bit of polish here and there, integration with lightweight OS (Google Chrome OS?) via something like Mozilla Prism and you might have just stumbled on the next paradigm shift in computing.

Now that we’ve built up a bit of excitement about LifeOS, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty. The design is simple and straightforward; Mac OS users will notice that someone has been reading up on the Apple User Interface Development Guidelines. A bar at the top contains the list of available applications:

• Now – aggregates information from all the other applications and brings them together into one window. The user can then glance at the RSS feeds, email, upcoming calendar events and tasks without navigating to the respective application.
• Mail – will import email from the major service providers (Yahoo, Gmail, AOL) as well as standard POP mailboxes, so you can check your email online from anywhere. Unfortunately, the wizard will import your Gmail via POP by default, but you can manually set up IMAP if you wish. The interface is rather barebones at the moment, and represents a downgrade for someone used with Gmail’s filters, labels, add-ons and incredibly fast search function. That being said, Yahoo Mail users will be glad to have a responsive, simple interface to check email anywhere. A big plus is the preview function; just hover the mouse over a message and a (small font) text-only version of the message will pop up like a ‘Tool Tip’ or Growl notification.

  

• Calendar – nothing fancy, just straight-up usability. All the important features are covered. If you’re used to iCal or Google Cal, the switch couldn’t be easier.
• To-do – you’ve guessed it, it’s a task management application. While it certainly doesn’t compete with OmniFocus, it has more functionality than Google Tasks. It’s got Due Date fields, importance and categories.
• Notes – a stepchild of WordPad and TextEdit, it hasn’t got the functionality of Google Docs, but works for quick note taking.
• RSS reader – is essentially a clone of Google Reader, complete with the left sidebar and everything else you could expect. One hiccup though, the actual articles will open in a separate window instead of expanding inside the list.
• Social – a bit underpowered for now, the Social application currently will only integrate with Twitter. It lets you see your contact’s tweets and post your own. A few screenshots I saw of upcoming version include Flickr integration, and I’m sure that they will add more services with time.

  

• Shopping – a search + RSS subscribing features will make sure you’ll be always up to date with prices on Amazon, Craigslist, Yahoo, iTunes and Fandango.
• Settings – another striking resemblance with OS X, this app provides quick access to all available settings.

If you‘re like me, you’re getting worried just about now. LifeIO sounds cool, but can I trust it with my login information for Google, Twitter and maybe more? Bruce Specter is not new to the scene; he’s the guy that made Web Cal – Yahoo’s calendar program. Plus, everything is transferred via https.

How about a surprise? The first 50 users to sign up with this link will get into the private beta right now. For more cool web apps reviews, you should definitely check out this page.

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New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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A few months ago, I wrote about one of the organizational tools I use – Yahoo Calendar. Varun also recently wrote about Springpad, a very cool personal organizer.

These tools are all great, but one of the most effective ways that I’ve found to keep myself on task every day is to generate printable to do lists to get organized every morning. As the day goes by, I cross each item off the list and then update the system at night? What system, you ask? For years now, I’ve used a nifty application called iDailyDiary.

How To Use To-Do Lists To Get Organized

It probably isn’t the most “green” method one can use to get organized. I’m sure environmentalists wouldn’t be very happy to know that I print out a to-do list on paper every day. But when it comes to remembering things, there are only so many places you can bring a laptop or a PDA.

iDailyDiary is essentially a rich text editor embedded into a calendar scheduling tool. It defaults to a somewhat cheesy notebook background, but I’ve gotten used to it and never bothered changing it.

The interface looks a lot like Wordpad, but as you can see, there are embedded calendars and scheduling features throughout. Every day that you log in, you’ll find today’s date displayed at the top along with the to-do list that you have created for that specific day.

iDailyDiary Features

The formatting features aren’t rocket science by any stretch, but they do offer a few cool items that allow you to add a little bit of style and flexibility to your lists, such as inserting links to to-do lists for other pages that may be related to the present task. Maybe you’ve done something similar before, or you need to follow-up on a previous task.

Another simple feature that adds some convenience is the ability to add hyperlinks to resources or informational sites that might help with completing that particular task.

The ability to interlink the various date pages as well as outside web pages has saved me a tremendous amount of time in cases where I’m trying to remember how I did something, or whether or not I eventually followed up on a phonecall or email. Other useful editing features include highlighting, font formatting, and embedding images into your list.

With all of these formatting and editing features, you’ll be able to create to-do lists that extend far beyond your standard list. It certainly expanded my horizons when I graduated from cramming my daily lists into Notepad, up to using such a simple, graphical application to manage my daily projects.

The Integrated Calendar System

The aspect of this software that makes it the most useful is the fact that it’s built upon a calendar. For every single day, you can have as many tabs as data as you like. I’m a simple guy, and I like having a single tab that I use. However, some people are far more functional and like to separate tasks into categories like “work” or “home.”

You can add a tab quickly by clicking on the “add tab” icon at the top, and then renaming it by right-clicking and selecting “Rename Page Tab.” Also, at the very bottom of the application window, there’s a cool bar display of the monthly calendar.

Navigating through your schedule from one day’s to-do list to the next is as easy as clicking on the date. Keep in mind that while I certainly use the application as a massive collection of daily to-do lists, the name of the application is iDailyDiary – so if you like, instead of organizing your daily entries in the form of a list, you could always simply use it as a personal electronic diary system where you can keep track of tasks accomplished, phone conversations, important email notes and more.

Exporting and Printing

Such an application that is meant to help you organize your life is only as good as the external “things” you can do with it. In this respect, iDailyDiary holds up because you can export your daily logs to a decent list of external formats.

Save your lists as a rich text file, unicode, HTML or even HTML with CSS.  This means you could export your entries to your website or blog if you so desire. And of course, the feature that I use every single day is the ability to print out your to-do lists. Clicking on the Printer icon allows you to quickly print out your list exactly how you’ve formatted it in the daily window.

It works especially nice if you have a color printer that can display the images and different colors of highlighting. In any case, it certainly beats my old school plain to-do lists of the past. Some day, I might even consider loading my iDailyDiary to-do list HTML files over to my mobile device… and go paperless *gasp*!  Maybe… Some day.

Do you live your life strictly by a daily to-do list? Do you have any cool applications or online tools that you use to keep track of them? Share your own resources with the MakeUseOf community in the comments section below!

Don’t forget to check out other to-do apps we’ve written about before here on MakeUseOf:
Get Rid of Your Overloaded Anxiety With Anxiety – Mac Only
4 Adobe AIR ToDo List Apps For Managing Your Tasks
Five Great Online To-Do Lists You Should Check Out

Image credit: jessica mullen

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1. Sticky Notes

Sticky notes is the default sticky note application for Gnome. It is an applet that you add on the panel and access it via a simple click on the panel icon.

Sticky notes is a simple app and it is easy to use. You can configure the background color, font color and the default width and height. On the sticky note itself, you can also toggle the lock to prevent accidental deletion of the note content. While it is simple and short of features, it still can perform its task well, and one good thing is that it integrates well with the Gnome desktop and can access to the language library of the system. This gives you the capability to select the input method and the unicode characters.

2. KNotes

Knotes is the default sticky note app in Linux KDE desktop. It is highly configurable and comes with plenty of features not found in any other apps.

KNotes is actually part of the KDE PIM suite and an integrated component of Kontact, but it can be used independently as well. Being tightly integrated with the KDE framework, it give you functionality like drag and drop notes into emails, sending/receiving notes over a network and print note.

Features like editing the background color, font color, title font, text font, default width and height and the tab size are also available in KNotes. You can also paste note from the clipboard and perform a search to find that particular to-do list. You can add a title to each note for easy reference in the future. I found this nifty feature very useful and it is apparently missing from all other sticky notes apps.

On thing that I don’t like about it is that it doesn’t allow you to resize the sticky note on the fly.

Gnome users can also install KNotes from the repository, but must be prepared to install a whole bunch of KDE files.

3. Xpad

Xpad is a third party sticky note app (not to be confused with the xPad text editor and xPad sticky note for Mac) that is loved and used by many. It is lightweight, simple, yet extremely useful application.

Xpad is highly customizable. You can add basic styling (bold, italics, underline, etc) to the text, change the background color on the fly, resize the notes and even choose if you want to have scrollbar, window decoration on the notes itself. Each note comes with a toolbar that allows you to control all the note on an individual basis. You can even add or remove extra icons to the toolbar to make it more interactive.

Some of the Linux distros that are not using Gnome or KDE as the default desktop environment actually used Xpad as the default sticky note app in their distribution. If you are looking for a lightweight, yet highly configurable sticky app, this could be a great choice for you.

4. Pin ‘em up

Pin ‘em up is a Java-based sticky note application, which means it can run in whatever platforms that supports Java, including Mac, Windows and Linux.

Anyone who have used Java app on their system will know that it won’t run as fast (and look as nice) as the native app. This is also true for Pin ‘em up. It does feel clumsy when you try to move the sticky note around. However, Pin ‘em up does comes with some useful features that could worth a second look.

First of all, Pin ‘em up allows you to sort your notes into categories. You can define your own categories and categorize your notes into their respective groups.

Secondly, it supports importing/exporting of your notes to your own server to sync them with other computers. This is useful if you are using different computers with different operating systems.

5. Tomboy Notes

Strictly speaking, Tomboy notes is not a sticky app, but it is an excellent and extremely powerful note-taking app that I think it worth a mention here.

Most people who have used Tomboy Notes will swear by it. Its ability to link notes together with a Wiki-like linking system makes it extremely easy to organize your thoughts and ideas. The best thing is, even if you rename/reorganize your notes, the links will still be intact.

Accessing the notes is often a mouse click away. Simply click on the panel applet icon and you will be able to access all your notes instantly. Tomboy integrates well with the Sticky Notes (in Gnome) and you can easily import your sticky notes into Tomboy. It comes preinstalled in Gnome desktop.

Are you aware of any other sticky notes for Linux? If they weren’t mentioned in this article, please introduce them to us in the comments!

Image credit: closedzero

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Tasque

Even though it is a simple ToDo list manager, Tasque is extremely useful and versatile that everyone will love to use it.

When you first use Tasque, you might be surprised to find that there is no menu bar or any other miscellaneous features. In fact, there is almost nothing in the whole application window except for a dropdown box (to access the categories) and an input field for you to enter your tasks. That’s it, nothing more.

One of the best thing about Tasque is its ability to synchronize with Evolution and Remember the Milk. It is also supported by the Avant Window Navigator (AWN) dock so that you can access your ToDo list directly and quickly from the dock.

In Debian-based distro, you can install Tasque via the ‘tasque‘ package in the repositories.

GToDo

GToDo stands for To Do list for Gnome. It is one of the oldest ToDo list apps for Linux, but this does not mean that it is obsolete and useless. It may not come with a beautiful GUI, but it sure has plenty of useful features that makes it one of the most popular ToDo list apps for Linux users.

Some of the features that I like about this app includes the ability to create multiple lists, set alarm notifications when tasks are due, auto-purge completed tasks, export tasks to HTML format, sort tasks according to priority, due date or status and highlight or hide tasks until the due time is reached.

The GToDo package is found in the repository. For Gnome users, you can also install the GToDo panel applet and place the icon on your panel for quick access and easy retrieval.

Makagiga

Makagiga is more of a powerful mini PIM rather than a ToDo list. Other than the task management feature, it also serves as a RSS reader, notepad, image and links collection, bookmarks, a built-in search engine and a terminal console. If that is not enough, you can install plugins to extend its functionality.

For its ToDo list feature, it comes with different color codes for each entry so that you can easily distinguish which tasks are more important. In addition, there is a Complete column where you can assign the percentage of work done for that particular task. This is useful if you are tracking the progress of a project.

Makagiga is java based and requires Java SE 6 to work. It is available for the Linux and Windows platforms. You can find the installer package (deb, rpm and exe) on the download page.

ThinkingRock

ThinkingRock is a very powerful GTD style task manager that could be an overkill for the average users. It’s not just a ToDo list, but rather a full fledged project management application.

The developer probably knew that their complicated modules could be very difficult for the average users to get used to, that’s why they included a flow chart on the Home page. This has been very useful as it gives you a step-by-step guide to organize your thoughts and put it into actions.

There are four main steps to this application: Setup, Collect, Process and Organise/Review.

The Setup mode allows you to setup your account, including creating context, criteria and the topics. The Collect mode is where you record down all your thoughts as you brainstorm.

The Process mode is to give you a clear instruction on how to process your thoughts and filter out those that are not important/workable.

The last step is to organise your tasks and split them into smaller actionable tasks or delegated out for others to do.

ThinkingRock works on all platforms. Ubuntu users can install ThinkingRock by adding the package source (deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/salutis/ubuntu intrepid main) to the repository.

iKog

For those who love the command line more than anything else, you are in luck here. iKog is a powerful command line based ToDo list that is based loosely on the GTD methodology.

There is no installation required to run iKog. It is in fact a small python script that weighs only 20KB. If you have Python 2.4 running in your system, getting iKog to run is simply running the script with the command

python ikog.py

There is a whole lot of functions found in iKog. You can add simple tasks (command: “+ your task name”) or give your task a due date (command: “+ your task name :d2009-04-20“). To view your task list, simply type in the command list. For more information on the usage of iKog, refer to the documentation on its site.

In the event that you wish to print your task list, iKog also allows you to export your list to HTML format so that you can easily print it from your browser.

Most people will dread using the terminal, but somehow, after using it for a while, I have found myself addicted to it for its simple, fast and clean interface.

Which ToDo list application do you use in your Linux computer?

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“Our brain is designed for short-term problem solving.” That’s what my GTD-obsessed friend always says, “To get things done, free your head from clutter and put it into a “reliable” system to be processed.”

Many GTD-ish applications – both in the Windows and Mac world – popped up here and there claiming to be the ultimate life management software. Some managed to stand out among the noise, but most are disappearing quietly and have never been heard from again.

The Basic Requirements

The reason why most applications failed can be explained using only one word : useless. They are either too simple that it seemed ridiculous to use it instead of a simple text editor (or maybe a piece of scrap paper), or too complicated that the learning process scared most users and forced them back into using a simple text editor.

So in order not to be ineffective, there are requirements for these apps to fulfill:

• Simple enough to be understood and used in one go.
• Advanced enough to provide convenience for the users.
• Could be accessed quickly.
• Could accept instant input anytime and anywhere.

The closest thing to GTD perfection – in my humble opinion – is Things. But since the app went out of beta (and turned into paidware), I started to look for an alternative. Tried iGTD for a while but it’s too complicated for a simple guy like me.

I just need something that a little bit better than pen and paper.

How To Get Rid Of The Anxiety

Meet Anxiety – a lightweight to-do management for Mac. It’s not perfect, but I’ll survive.

The feature I like most about Anxiety is the ability to synchronize with iCal and Mail. And since iCal can be synchronized with my mobile phone using iSync, I can easily open and add tasks on the go.

The first thing is to adjust the preferences. Open it by going to Anxiety → Preferences menu (or Command+Comma).

There are several adjustments that can be made via the “General” preferences,

and “Appearance” preferences.

Then I think about several “conditions” – to be translated into calendars on iCal – to classify my tasks into manageable chunks. For example, the task of “Research for Anxiety” could only be done with an internet connection, so I will put this task under “Internet” as the condition.

Now I’m ready to empty my brain. Anytime I remember any tasks to be done, I will just focus on Anxiety, hit “Return”, and:

• Type away at the task
• Choose one of the iCal calendar in the “Add to” options.

• If there’s no calendar that fits the condition of the task, just add a new iCal calendar by clicking the small dark icon next to “Add to”. My friend advised me to add “@” sign in front of the customized calendar. Something like “@internet”.

Whenever I finish a task, I will then put a check in the box and the task will go away. Yay!

Despite a few drawbacks, like the inability to show the due date or the absence of system-wide shortcut keys, I found Anxiety to be very useful to me.

What about you?  What is your favorite GTD application?  Please share using the comments below!

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While everyone has their own favorite system, such as Tina’s list of great free online time management tools, my own favorite is Yahoo Calendar.

The following article outlines all of the cool tips and tricks that will turn Yahoo Calendar into your very own personal and professional assistant.

How to Successfully Organize Your Life

About a year ago, I realized that I was spending so much time trying to finish projects simply in order to make money to pay the bills, that I wasn’t doing anything to achieve any sort of ultimate success.  Without goals, you never elevate your success to higher levels. Instead, you can end up spending your entire life running at full speed in different directions, but never getting anywhere.

Once I realized I needed direction and focus, I turned to Yahoo Calendar, mostly because I already use Yahoo email so I knew about it and it integrates nicely with all of the other Yahoo services.

Create a List of Short-Term Tasks

Yahoo Calendar helps you focus the direction of your daily efforts by providing you with the ability to list your short and long term tasks.  The best way to use this feature is to make a general list of tasks that you want to successfully achieve within the next one to three months.

Obviously, your monthly tasks will include the short term “work” that you need to accomplish, but many of the longer term tasks should be focused on your ultimate dreams and goals.

For example, if you want to become a published author, it’s a good idea to establish a reputation as a writer through blogs, or by submitting your work to writer’s organizations and contests.  Your task list will ultimately organize your goals into bite sized pieces that you can realistically accomplish.

Keep Organized Using Yahoo Calendar Events

The heart of Yahoo Calendar is the “event.”  Whether it’s a project, a birthday or a meeting, events are the small daily tasks that tend to get lost when your list of responsibilities gets too long.

By entering your daily tasks into Yahoo Calendar, you’ll instantly have your own virtual personal assistant that will keep track of what you have to do and when you have to do it.  It will even remind you through email or mobile phone (more on this feature below).

Entering an event is very easy, and it’s a powerful tool with a number of useful features.

The best way to keep organized with this feature is by entering an event the moment you learn about it. This way, you can rest assured that you won’t forget. For someone like me, the less that I have to remember, the better off everyone will be.

Entering an event is very simple – you can simply enter a title, event type (there’s a list of about 27 types), and the date and time. Don’t forget to make it repeat if it’s something that takes place on the same day every month or every year.

Event Reminders – Your Own Virtual Personal Assistant

Or course, my favorite feature included in the “add events” tool is the ability to send invitations to people via email, and the option to enable reminders.

These two features add tremendous functionality to Yahoo Calendar.  No longer must you remember to check your calendar every single day. You can set up this web app to either email you, send you a message in Yahoo Messenger or even send a text message or email to your mobile phone to remind you of your scheduled event.

Are you prone to forgetting dentist or doctor appointments or even birthdays and anniversaries (I am!) – this feature alone will help you keep organized and on time for every single appointment in your hectic schedule.

The other very useful feature is the “invitations” tool. By simply listing email addresses, you can remind family, friends, or co-workers of important events. If you’re working on a project with colleagues and you’ve all agreed to meet somewhere to go over work, you can use this feature to have Yahoo Calendar send everyone in the group an email invitation to the meeting. The Yahoo Mobile feature that’s integrated into the online calendar is very easy to set up.

Just complete the simple “create alerts” wizard to integrate Yahoo Calendar with your mobile phone. This is a feature that I use constantly in order to keep organized and on time – I couldn’t live without it!

Daily, Weekly, Monthly or Yearly Calendar Views

Yahoo Calendar provides four view formats for your calendar. The daily view gives you an hour-by-hour view of your daily schedule. My favorite view is the weekly view, because it provides just enough of an overview so you can plan ahead, while also offering enough specifics so you know exactly what you should be working on this very moment.

Another nice overview is the yearly view, which provides bold dates for those days where events are scheduled.

When you really need to organize your schedule, these four views really offer the perfect solution. You can choose what level of organization you need, and then use just the features that you need to stay organized in your particular situation.

Work Collaboratively in Groups with Yahoo Calendar Sharing

Of course, another powerful feature of Yahoo Calendar is its ability to share events within your calendar, either publicly or just to a select few.

The cool thing about the “sharing” feature is that it’s so easy to customize. If you have a private calendar, but you want family and friends to have the ability to view your schedule, you can create a “friends list” of people you would like to grant access to.  You can even create “special friends” who have rights to modify your calendar.

Organizing Your Life With Online Calendars

There are a number of great online calendars available to help you organize your time and energy. Wendy’s article, “4 Online Calendars To Help You Get Organized” lists four of the most popular online calendars. The smartest approach is to test drive each of them for a week or two to determine which one fits your own style and organizational approach. Once you choose one and use it every day, you’ll notice your productivity and accomplishments skyrocket tremendously.

Do you use an online calendar to keep organized? Share your favorites in the comments section below.

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Well, I’ve had my mind changed somewhat. I’ve been downloading and trying a bunch of different Adobe AIR ToDo list apps, and have found a bunch of them that are actually incredibly useful. One of the things AIR is best for, in my opinion, is managing your to-do items and tasks. We need task-management applications that are lightweight, simple to use, and easy to get started with. Adobe AIR has those in spades.

Here are four (well, actually five) great Adobe Air todo applications for making lists with Adobe AIR, simply and effectively:

Doomi

Doomi is about the simplest way to manage tasks that I can think of. Just fire up the application, type a task, and press Enter. Type another, and press Enter. Then, as you finish tasks, check them off and they go away. There’s nothing more to it. You can set reminders and due dates, should you so desire, but you don’t really need to.

When you’re not using it, Doomi sits in your system tray and waits for you, all the while taking up only a small amount of memory. Doomi is awesome for quickly getting everything out of your head and into a list, and is both one of the best and one of the most popular ways to manage all of your lists and tasks with Adobe AIR.

MiniTask

Minitask is much the same as Doomi, in that it’s an incredibly simple way to manage all your tasks. It’s slightly more fully featured, though – you can drag and drop your tasks to reorder them, the ability to print your task lists, and the ability to sort your tasks into multiple lists (Work, Home, etc.).

You can even copy and paste tasks from MiniTask right into Word, Excel, and your email account. It’s as easy as Doomi to add to and edit, but with a few more bells and whistles. In my experience, it also takes up more memory than Doomi- but that might be just me.

Either way, MiniTask is a great, complete task-manager.

Remember the Milk

Many people, like myself, already use an application to manage our tasks. For me, it’s Remember the Milk. If you’re an RTM user like me, there are two great AIR applications- Remember the Milk Notifier and Remember the Tasks. The Notifier sits in your system tray, and reminds you when you’ve got a task due or overdue. You can set how often you’re reminded, and even add tasks to RTM through the application.

Remember the Task is essentially just a standalone version of the iGoogle gadget for Remember the Milk. It sits in your system tray, and is easy to access in order to manage your tasks.

There are no uniquely incredible features to speak of, but I love having RTM accessible through Alt-Tab, and not only in my browser.

KonoLive

KonoLive is designed for people who work in teams. It’s a task manager that works with Google Docs for your documents, Box.net for your files, and all the people on your team. You can create and share tasks, which can be discussed by anyone.

Your tasks are available offline with the AIR app, and also online thanks to KonoLive. It’s a perfect, lightweight and simple solution for small groups and businesses with common files, documents and tasks.

What’s your favorite Adobe AIR todo list app?

Photo Credit: PSD

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Along with this same technology however, comes many many ways to keep track of what you’re doing and everything else organized as well. Online to-do lists, tasks and several different versions of online calendars has taken the pain off somewhat.

Tracks is not just another version of my aforementioned examples, it adds some very nice functionality and is much more advanced than anything I’ve seen previously. Open source and running on Ruby on Rails, it includes its own web server for use on any Windows, Linux or Mac PC.

Below are some highlights.

You can create several different categories and create your own set of tasks for each. In the screenshot below, you can see that this example includes Office, Email, Errand and Internet. Each with their own set of tasks, which are then displayed in a completed section at the bottom. Re-organization and customization has limitless possibilities as well.

Along with a simple tasks view, you also have project sections that may include their own set of tasks along with them. One ongoing project that almost all of us experience, is maintaining our car, like the example below shows us.

Adding tasks to each category or project can’t be any simpler. On the right hand size of each page, you’ll see a simple Ajax add column, for quick and easy entry. All entries allow you to add the context of each task, project (if applicable), tags and of course due dates. After a task is entered, due dates change color as they come closer and closer to their specified expiration.

Monitor your progress in nice and clean charts. See how well you are keeping yourself consistent and motivated.

Want continuous updates sent to your RSS reader of choice? There are plenty of options for that as well.

Want to keep other members of your family on task? The application is also built for multiple users. Each user will have their own set of projects, contexts and due tasks.

Since Tracks includes a web server, it’s also important to note that you can access your information from any compatible web browser. The proper ports would need to be opened on your firewall, but it is very simple to do, and makes Tracks even more useful.

As I said before, keeping on task these days can be a daunting task. There is way to much to do, to see and to accomplish in our daily lives. In the old days, an appointment book accomplished most of this. Using pen and paper however is becoming a thing of the past and something like Tracks takes care of all that, and much much more.

What are some of your favorite “To Do” or task tracking sites? Do you see any benefit of Tracks over other similar products?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

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Google Tasks on Your Desktop

Available for all platforms capable of running Adobe Air.

The first method we’ll be exploring is putting the tasks list on your desktop (which may or may not be to everyone’s fancy). We’ll be using Snippage to accomplish this.

• Once Snippage has started, either make new snip or expand to browser view with an existing one.
• Login to your Google Account from Internet Explorer – make sure Remember me on this computer is checked.
• In the browser view of Snippage, navigate to the following URL:
  https://mail.google.com/tasks/ig
• Size the snip to a preferred size.

Google Tasks Gadget in Gmail

Granted, Google offers a link to Tasks from inside Gmail, but why not save yourself a click and embed the gadget directly in Gmail (like iGoogle)?

• Make sure the Add any gadget by URL Lab feature is enabled. Head over to the Gadgets tab and add the following gadget: http://www.google.com/ig/modules/tasks.xml
• The iGoogle gadget should now be conveniently located in your Gmail sidebar – no more clicking to open the Tasks list required.

Google Tasks in the Firefox Sidebar

Want to keep track of your tasks while browsing? Users of Firefox can enjoy a feature to load bookmarks in the sidebar – which can be used for Google Tasks.

• Bookmark the following link: https://mail.google.com/tasks/ig
• Head to the Bookmarks menu, right click on the new bookmark, and hit Properties.
• Make sure Load this bookmark in the sidebar is checked, then hit OK.

Shortcut to Google Tasks with Chrome

For users who like to keep their desktop clear of “out of place” widgets, you can still get your Google Tasks as a shortcut on the desktop (anyone for distraction-free task viewing?). Don’t have Chrome? Download it here.

• Head over to the following URL in Chrome: https://mail.google.com/tasks/ig (if prompted to login, do so, and make sure Remember me is checked).
• Hit the Page menu (the one with the picture of a page) and hit Create Application Shortcuts. Select the options you want, and hit OK.

Google Tasks on Your Startpage

Google offers an iGoogle gadget for Tasks, and both Netvibes and Pageflakes offer a method to add a webpage as a widget/flake.

• Add the applicable “Web Page” gadget to the startpage.
• For Netvibes, browse to Essential Widgets and select Web Page.
• For Pageflakes, browse to Tools II and select Web Page.
• Point it to https://mail.google.com/tasks/ig

We’ve just highlighted five ways to access Google Tasks from a variety of methods. If you know of your own method, tell us about it in the comments.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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I have shown you how to set up two Windows Mobile phones to sync task lists. But what do you do when you need to print a quick check list? I mean from any web connected machine that can print? Do you open up Word or Excel and start formatting?

That was exactly what “AskTheAdmin” used to do until I found a little known site called the Printable Checklist and it is so simple I might have a hard time writing a whole article about it… Nah!

Enter, a dead-simple to use and extremely useful online checklist creator.

I made my way over to the site and then without any downloading or logging in I was able to create a checklist, modify a list and of course print a list.

By clicking the “Add item” button you will get another line that says “Click to edit”.

You simply click on the line to get a text box to enter text. Pretty easy and straight forward eh?

So let’s enter a sample list. I click on the green plus sign next to “add item” four times and create my rows. Then I enter my text line by line. I wind up with this little list that I can then tape to my monitor or forehead…

Then of course you can print out your list using your browser’s print command. Then you can use one of those things, I think they call them, pens (?) to check off those boxes!

All kidding aside this is a very handy web application. I for one find it a lot easier to follow a printed list that I can cross out and crumple up than using my phone – especially in the supermarket. Did I mention that I hate the supermarket?

In conclusion – I love Printable Checklist and I hate the Supermarket. And I’m out

How do you keep up with your lists? Any other online checklist tool we don’t know about? Let us know in the comments!

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• Toodledo- Online Task Management App with iPhone Integration (8)
• Milpon – The Only Remember The Milk IPhone App You’ll Need (6)
• iCalendar Lite- A Free Transparent Desktop Calendar (Windows) (12)
• esyPlanner – Manage Your Day With This Easy Scheduler & Daily Task Manager (7)
• Create Printable To Do Lists To Get Organized With iDailyDiary (3)

Luckily for you, many new and feature-rich online to-do lists can make doing the many tasks you need to do a little more manageable.

When looking through these services, all of them had features that included sharing tasks/lists by email and subscribing via RSS to a feed of your tasks.

Now, let’s get started at looking at a few of the most common Web 2.0 oriented online to-do lists, along with who can possibly use them and some ideas on how to use them:

Remember The Milk

Remember The Milk is an easy-to-use, yet feature-rich and Ajax loaded online to-do list which allows for access from multiple devices, including the Apple iPhone/iPod Touch and integration with Google Calendar and Gmail. It allows for features like tagging your tasks, prioritizing your tasks with different colors and you can also create different to-do lists.

Remember The Milk also allows for emailing tasks to your account, twittering tasks to RTM, viewing your tasks in a Gmail Labs addon, iGoogle gadget, iCal feed or Google Calendar gadget and the ability to add several options to each one of your tasks including completion time, date due and more.

It also supports another helpful feature when you’re not online – offline access with Google Gears. For $25 a year, an RTM Pro Account adds Windows Mobile, Blackberry and iPhone/iPod touch support as well as priority email support and access to their beta-testing program.

Remember The Milk is my personal favorite for to-do lists because of its ease of use and flexibility, and I would recommend it for managing any kind of personal tasks.

Also, don’t forget to check out the recent article by fellow MUO Author David Pierce about many other ways you can use RTM.

Voo2do

Another site that has a lot of Ajax loaded into it is Voo2Do, which seems more broader than just managing simple tasks. It has many of the features Remember The Milk does, and also offers some advanced time tracking capabilities to track time left and time spent on projects that other todo list managers might not have.

Voo2Do, just like Remember The Milk, offers a developer API and each one also offers the ability to see projects that you’ve marked completed.

Voo2do defines itself from other online todo lists because of its more advanced time management features, including a built-in timer (shown by the play/pause buttons in the screenshot above) to track time spent on tasks and would make a great todo list for a worker looking to log hours or use professionally.

Todoist

Todoist is another online task manager which prides itself on simplicity. Todoist has a simple, but intricate interface (that confused me slightly at first) that breaks down tasks under projects (categories). Todoist did take a little getting used to, but after learning where all of the settings were underlaid on the main page (below) it was quite helpful.

You can set todo items, sub-items and even sub-sub items to organize even the most complicated tasks and tag/label each one to your liking.  It also has plugins/addons for iGoogle, Netvibes, QuickSilver, Launchy and OS X Dashboard as well as Gmail integration and a Firefox sidebar.

With most of the standard features that other list managers have, Todoist would be a great application for somebody looking for a software that is more flexible than anything, but still offers most standard list features. It also has a $3 a month premium service that offers SSL security, reminders and a more advanced labeling system.

Also check out another article, “Todoist – Simple but Powerful Task Management App” by fellow MUO Author Daniel Pataki for a full review of Todoist.

Ta-Da List

Ta-Da List is a multi-functional to-do list that has a relatively simple user interface compared to Remember The Milk and has browser support for the Apple iPhone.

Ta-da List prides itself on being the web’s easiest to-do list, is more centered around the idea of creating multiple lists for just about everything and also has simple features for sharing your lists. Ta-da Lists are great for a user who is looking for simplicity, and just needs some basic features to manage a couple (or more) tasks.

Bla-bla List

Bla-bla List is another to-do list which operates all off a small Adobe flash window. Bla-bla List also brands themselves as “Lists without any blah blah!” and it sure is – the lists are indeed simple and easy to use like Ta-Da lists and again allow for other common features like sharing lists.

I could see Bla-bla list being used again, like Ta-Da Lists, for somebody who needs simple features, in a simle interface that’s easy to use.

Do you often rely on online to-do lists instead of a piece of paper to keep track of what you need to do? Let us know in the comments what online to-do lists you use and how/what you use them for!

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• Todoist – Simple but Powerful Task Management App (8)
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• Milpon – The Only Remember The Milk IPhone App You’ll Need (6)

Luckily there is a program that can help you improve organization skills and keep track of appointments, tasks, notes, and memos. It’s a Windows-based desktop app called To-Do-Desklist.

This app can help you tackle those everyday to-do tasks by allowing you to store notes, reminders, and thoughts that will pop up on your desktop when you need them to.

The creators of this app modeled it after real life situations. For example if you’re at home and a note happens to pop into your mind, you can quickly enter it in your To-Do-Desklist software and effectively be reminded at a later time.

How it Works

With this task management tool you can quickly and effectively save appointments, events, dates, thoughts and more. The program displays all pending tasks as notification messages that pop-up on your desktop. You’ll be able to easily review them and mark them as completed when necessary by clicking  on a small check mark in the reminder. You can also customize these notifications to match the feel of your desktops wallpaper and theme.

An important feature is the assigning of priority levels; To-Do Desklist carries this feature, and it allows you to edit a to-do’s priority anytime.

You can also set To-Do Desklist’s reminder option to manage the times when you’d like your notifications to pop-up on the lower right hand corner of your desktop.

With this quick and effective desktop app you can set important dates and events in an effective way that will help you become or remain a bit more organized. While To-Do-Desklist does not guarantee anyone’s ability to remain organized, it may help you in your quest to establish better organizational skills. With To-Do Desklist you’re able to take control of your notifications anytime or any day.

If you decide to give this app a shot, let us know what you think about it in the comments. Or if you use another to-do app, let us know which one you use and why you like it. What features make your preferred app the best one?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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Remember the Milk is my task manager of choice, and is one of the most popular task applications on the Web. It’s powerful, it’s simple to use, and does a great job of taking all my tasks, and showing me the ones I need to see.

My favorite feature, though, and the one that helps with the whole “write it down or die” mantra, is the absurdly large number of places from which you can manage your tasks with RTM (Remember the Milk). You can use a number of different applications or methods to manage your tasks, and it’s accessible to you no matter where you are or what you’re doing.

Here are eight of the best ways to manage your RTM tasks:

1. The Web

This one’s the obvious one, but it’s great. With Remember the Milk’s web interface, you can have lists, tags, due dates, time estimates, high-powered search, and a number of other killer features that make RTM worthwhile. Plus, with the addition of Google Gears, you get all the functionality offline.

RTM can serve as a desktop application for those who want one, a web application, or a hybrid of the two- plus, it’s available from anywhere with a browser (including your phone- but we’ll get there).

2. Your Cell Phone

For any cell phone with a browser (all smartphones, plus a huge number of others), you can access RTM through their mobile interface. It’s somewhat stripped down, but gives easy access to all of your tasks, as well as letting you add and edit tasks.

If you’ve got a Windows Mobile phone or a Blackberry, RTM offers an application called MilkSync that will sync your tasks to the native task application on your phone. That way, you can edit your tasks on the phone, offline, and then sync them back to the Web. It’s free, but requires a Pro account, at $25/year, that gives a huge number of other features as well.

3. iProducts

If you’ve got an iPhone or iPod Touch, RTM recently released a native iPhone application that is truly a killer for managing your tasks, offering all the features of the web app, on or offline. It has the same search, editing and adding features that the Web does, and also adds a “Nearby” feature that lets you know what tasks you can do near where you currently are- a great use of the iPhone’s geolocation features.

I use it every day on my iPod Touch, and it’s the primary way I deal with my tasks. They do require a Pro account, after a 15-day trial.

4. Google Desktop

Google Desktop is a desktop and Web search program for your computer, as well as a gadget program similar to Dashboard for Mac OS. RTM doesn’t officially offer a gadget, but there is a Google Desktop Gadget that looks like the mobile interface, and allows you to manage your tasks right from the desktop, with only a mouse click or two Shift clicks to bring it up. It lives in the background until you need it, and then provides all the access you need to your tasks.

5. Twitter

RTM’s Twitter bot is one of the features I use the most. Just follow RTM on Twitter, and activate it through your account. Then, you can add or complete tasks through direct messages with RTM.

To add a task, just type “d rtm yourtask.” To complete one, type “d rtm !complete yourtask.” RTM’s smart, which means you can also add due dates, assign tasks to other people, or even request a list of all the tasks you have due today. You can actually manage all your RTM tasks without ever leaving the Twitter window.

6. Email / Gmail

Every RTM account has its own private email address, which you can use to send tasks. When you email RTM, it reads the subject line of the email as the name of the task. Using keywords, you can set due dates, priorities, or almost any other feature to your tasks right in the email. RTM will put the task in your Inbox, where you can process it later.

For Gmail users, there’s also the Gmail Gadget, which allows you to manage all your tasks from the Gmail sidebar (underneath the chat and labels).

For Firefox users, there’s a popular extension called RTM for Gmail that puts a separate sidebar into Firefox with a full-featured task manager, and one that integrates beautifully with your emails.

7. Your Home Page

RTM has modules for both iGoogle (Google’s popular start page), and NetVibes, another popular start page application. They’ve both got all the requisite features- adding, editing, sorting, completing, postponing. With these, you can see and manage your tasks from the minute you open your browser; no remembering to open the page or check your to-do list, as it’s put right in front of you.

You can also use the gadget links on a number of other start pages by manually adding them, though they’re not officially supported by RTM.

8. Adobe AIR

If you’re looking for a pure desktop application from which to manage your tasks, look no further than the Adobe AIR application called Remember the Task. Remember the Task basically puts the mobile interface, the tall rectangle, into a desktop application that you can use just like any other offline app. It’ll have its own window, be easy to find, and be always available to you.

These are only the tip of the iceberg – there are a ton of ways to interact with your Remember the Milk tasks, and it’s a truly ubiquitous way to have a to-do list. It’s also a saving grace for those of us with a lack of remembering skills.

How do you manage your task list, RTM or otherwise?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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Besides my “productiveless/pseudo-productivity” mission, I have also adopted a DIY attitude with the new year, in the hopes of spending less money. I’ll be concentrating my efforts into researching and learning more about DIY hacks for Mac and my other hobby, photography. Perhaps you’ll read more about it in the following months. I don’t know if my resolutions will last throughout the year but I’m surely trying.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here – on with today’s post.

One of the many reasons I adopted a Mac was productivity. I felt that I could simply perform better at any given task if I were using a Mac. That sort of got me in trouble and made me into a workhorse. Sure, innately the Mac and its operating system are better built towards achieving more because everything comes right out of the box. Exposé, Dashboard and Spotlight, just to name a few, are contributing factors.

Try not to multitask

Mutiltasking has gained too much popularity, in my honest opinion. It has reached a point where if you didn’t multitask, you are considered inept. Personally, I think multitasking is overrated in the sense that it doesn’t really reward us with quality results. Our brain is not made to maintain focus on several tasks at once. As we all may know, we only use a small percent of our brain at any time. Imagine if that brain power was divided by the number of tasks currently being performed.

If you want to produce quality work, focus is key. Quit your messenger/chat application, temporarily shut down your mail and turn off any other applications which may distract you and make you lose focus. I once wrote about Think in a post about productivity (oh, the irony). It is a tool which shades your desktop to only allow the foremost application to be visible. Take a look at it if you haven’t already.

Have a smaller GTD inbox

Things, iGTD, OmniFocus, Midnight Inbox, Kinkless GTD. These are some of the leading and most popular GTD applications for Mac. There are others out there, of course. My point is: what’s the use of having a sophisticated GTD application if you can never fulfill the tasks in the inbox? Won’t it just stress you out that every time you open your GTD inbox, there’s a ton of stuff waiting to be completed?

Use a simpler, smaller GTD application like Organized and limit the work that gets on that list – then complete them according to priority. That way, you’ll always have less to deal with at any given moment. Learn to say “No” and just do less than what you need to. If you have fewer things to do, there will be more spare time on your hands.

More “me” time

I’ve noticed that so much of my time are going into studies or work or gadgetry that I haven’t have any time left for myself. Take time out to focus on your needs and learn to relax and just do nothing. Instead of surfing for more things to read about or new stuff to venture into, use the time to chill out and unwind. If you need help breaking free from Internet addiction, Freedom is a great application which will block your access by disabling the network adapters on your Mac for a specified period of time.

After the time is up, Freedom will re-enable your network adapters and you’re reconnected. The time interval you set in Freedom is not something that you can circumvent by turning it off. If you really need to use the Internet before the time’s up, you’ll have to restart your Mac. This is deliberately written into the application to prevent cheating which in essence, defeats the purpose of the application.

While you’re Internet-free, now is the time to complete your work, do the tasks you’ve set out to do, clean your living room, fix that garage door and clear your GTD inbox. If you’re done in time before Freedom restores your connection, take a bath, listen to some music or just sit down and enjoy a good book.

Limit the Internet, slow down your life

If you’re in too deep and can’t block out the Internet all at once, you can merely slow it down. Entonnoir is a free and simple application that can temporarily throttle your bandwidth. IM applications and mail only require a small portion of bandwidth to operate. By limiting it to 20KB/s, you can still use your chat and email apps but YouTube will take ages to load, hopefully deterring you.

You’ll notice that you can actually survive without being online or always knowing what your friends are up to on Twitter, although it won’t happen overnight. Learn to tune down and slow down. Things around you will be just a blur if life’s moving too quickly, so slow way down until you can see everything again.

Some of the advice on this article was adopted from another great productivity website, Zen Habits, where I’m currently getting my “work-less” inspiration from.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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So have you been able to keep your New Year’s resolutions of the last year? If not, did you make wise resolutions for the New Year?

You likely already have all the knowledge and tools required to keeping resolutions. All it takes is an idea of how to use that and the motivation to start.

If you’re uncertain about where to start and have a bad record of breaking New Year’s resolutions from previous years, let us show you how it can be done. After all, you don’t want to end up doing it like this guy:

Making Good Resolutions and the Right Attitude

If you need some help in making wise resolutions and setting your mind right to sticking to them, I recommend reading the articles How to Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions and 10 Tips for Keeping New Year’s Resolutions on eHow and About.com, respectively. Briefly, they recommend to…

• be realistic and aim low
• keep the number of resolutions down, don’t overload yourself
• plan ahead and outline your plan
• tell everyone you know, so they can remind you
• when in danger of failing, make a pros and cons list for motivation
• keep talking about your resolutions
• track your progress
• reward yourself
• don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good, some failure is OK
• make an effort to stick to your resolutions
• wait until spring for making resolutions
• keep trying and start anew anytime of the year

Reminders

As a regular reader of MakeUseOf you have all the necessary tools at your fingertips. But a ton of tools is roughly a ton too much. So let’s focus on a few good tools to keep you at your heels.

HassleMe (directory)

HassleMe will constantly send eMail reminders at random intervals, so you never know when the reminder will pull you out of your mental nap.

Resnooze (directory)

With Resnooze you can set up daily, weekly or monthly eMail reminders for recurring tasks. Of course it can serve as a reminder service for keeping your New Year’s resolutions. In each eMail you can edit the frequency or delete the reminder.

Remindr (directory)

Remindr can send simultaneous reminders on Twitter, Jabber, GTalk, your eMail and cell phone. Very simple to set up, however it has to be set up again and again.

Track Your Progress

Qwitter (directory)

Qwitter will help you quit smoking. On the website you can track how many cigarettes you are smoking each and every day, keep a journal to record your state of mind, view your progress and share the experience with others.

The great thing about Qwitter is that it’s fully integrated with Twitter. A Twitter account is actually required to sign into Qwitter. So you can easily hook up with your friends and have them motivate you.

Gyminee (article from Anthony)

If your resolution is to eat better and work out, Gyminee is for you. Gyminee provides workout programs, you can track your workouts, monitor your diet, keep a food diary, meet people who are doing the same and track your progress, for example on your iPhone and pass challenges until you reach your goals.

traineo

If you want to eat better and lose weight, you should have a look at this website. During the sign-up process you can select in which units (American, British, Metric) your progress will be measured, also your current weight and height, goal weight and time frame will be recorded. Finally, you can choose motivators by entering the names and eMail addresses of up to 3 friends or family members.

When that is done you can track your activities, the food you had during the day, your weight, keep a log and reframe your goals. Your progress is relentlessly recorded in pretty graphs.

Will you stick to your New Year’s resolutions this year? Let us know whether you already made it last year and how you made it!

Picture Credits: v_hujer, woodsy

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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The problem with this is that most tasks aren’t as simple as that.  They usually take more than one step and might even have several sub-tasks included.

If you only write the final goal down, it might take you days or months to finally cross it off the list.  I know that the best part of making a list is to cross off the tasks when they are done.  Who doesn’t like the thrill of crossing something off your list?  I know it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy, but if you have such high level tasks like “take over the world,” you might want to break that down into parts.  Like, “form a plan”, “gain followers” then “take over the world”.

Task Coach is an advanced desktop task manager for Windows, Mac and Linux that lets you break down your big goals into smaller chunks and file them appropriately.

Let’s Add Some Tasks

To add a task, all you need to do is click on the little piece of paper with the spark on it.  This will open up your New Task window.  This window gives you lots of options, so you can customize the task to your liking.

You just need to add a basic description, the dates of the task, a category, a budget (if needed) and any additional notes or attachments.  You can color code your task to signify its importance or you can give it a priority number.   You can also set up reminders or recurring tasks if you need to.

One of the ways you can start creating a task hierarchy is through categories.  Categories allow you to easily organize your tasks for the different parts of your life.  You are also able to add sub-tasks to each task.  These sub-tasks will help you build your task tree bigger than that redwood you saw on vacation last year.

Managing Your Tasks

Managing your tasks is easy due to color codes and categories.  You can easily separate your category tasks by giving a different color to each category, or you can click the check box next to the category to filter out all of the other tasks.

Tasks and all of the information associated with them can be easily edited with a right click on the task.  This click will open up a menu that gives you lots of different options to choose from.

As you can see, the right click menu may look a little intimidating at first.  You can edit tasks, create new ones and even email the task.  Once I became familiar with this menu, I was extremely happy to have all of those options in an easy access right click menu.  Another thing I like about this menu is that the shortcuts are displayed.  Knowing those shortcuts will eventually make you much faster and efficient within Task Coach.

Conclusion

If you love being extremely organized and have lots of tasks, Task Coach is a great tool.  It allows you to make very complex goals and tasks, so you will always have something to cross off your list.  However, if you love simplicity, Task Coach may be a little overkill.  You can use it for simple tasks, but you can also use your email client or something with a little less horsepower.

What do you use for managing your tasks?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• Tracks – An Advanced “Getting Things Done” Application (11)
• Todoist – Simple but Powerful Task Management App (8)
• Things – ‘Getting Things Done’ simplified [Mac Only] (11)
• Stay Organized with Rainlendar Calendar (20)
• Schedule & Manage Your Messages With Sendible (1)

One thing that has always been available since the last 20 years from the birth of Windows has been the ‘un-noteworthy’ Notepad.  Life with Notepad couldn’t be any simpler. It strips all formatting and keeps data in its plain format. It doesn’t ask for any special Windows resources, comes up in a blink of an eye and doesn’t nag you with any dialog boxes or prompts.

We all use Notepad to store our scraps of data as text files. But with a little bit of tip and tuck it can be made into an effective sticky note.  Here I am going to show you how to make your own sticky notes with just the Notepad and any version of Windows.

(1) The first step – Creating a new file type

• Open any explorer window.
• Click on ‘Tools’.
• Select ‘Folder Options’ in the drop down and select the ‘File Types’ tab.
• Click on the ‘New’ button and create own file extension by typing it in the ‘New Extension Window’. I called mine – stky (for ‘sticky’)
• Click ‘Enter’.

The ‘File Type’ box gives us the power to create our own file types. A different file type for our version of sticky note gives us control over the way we handle it. So…

(2) Create an action and an application

With the new file type highlighted, click the ‘Advanced’ button. The ‘Edit File Type’ box opens. Click its ‘New’ button and you get to enter a new ‘Action’ and ‘Application Used’ dialog box. Type in ‘open’ and ‘notepad.exe’ respectively in the two fields. Close this box and move on to the ‘Edit File Type’ box.

(3) Assign an icon

In the still open ‘Edit File Type’ box, click on ‘Change Icon’ and choose any available icon or any of your own. Give a nice and apt name to the icon. I gave mine an unimaginative ‘Sticky Note’. Close all open boxes.

(4) Create a new registry value

No, this is not as scary as it sounds. Just a simple two step process.

• Go to Start – Run, and type in regedit, which takes you to the registry editor.
• Expand ‘HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT’ on the left pane.
• Scroll down to your file type. (Mine was .stky)
• Right click on the file type. Select New>Key and input ‘ShellNew’.
• With ‘ShellNew’ selected, move over to the right pane, right click on an empty area and select New>String Value and enter ‘NullFile’.
• Exit the registry editor.

(5) Just reboot.

After a reboot, right clicking brings up the context menu with your sticky note file type under ‘New’.

(6) Using it…finally.

After all the hard work, it’s time for the fruits. Want to list down a to-do list? Just right click anywhere on the desktop and choose the ‘Sticky Note’ file type under the right click ‘New’ menu. Type in the task under file name and then open the file to write something more descriptive. Create as many ‘Sticky Notes’ as you want and arrange them on the desktop.

Thanks to the versatility of the Notepad, ten minutes of mouse work just saved you the bother of installing another piece of software.

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Springpads or your notebooks can contain maps, lists, tables, events, alarms etc. Springpads are easy to create, manage and share. You can start with one of the templates which are more of a showcase giving you a peek into all that Springpad can manage. It’s better though if you jump right in and start adding details and information yourself.

Springpad has a nice, clean interface. It does most of the work for you and you just need to enter the details, leaving all the formatting and management to the app.

To understand what I mean, lets say you want to keep track of your spending. Obviously the first thing that comes to mind is having a tabular presentation to enter the details. So you create a new page in your Springpad and then click on ‘budget’ from within the ‘more’ menu (or the toolbar if its already there). This will add what could be called a budget widget to your page, having a table representing all the details that you can add and keep track of your spendings. Now you just need to enter the details, and not bother about creating the table itself.

Similarly you can add and keep track of other kinds of information like notes, lists, files, events, alarms, recipes etc.

You can share individual pages or items with others, or embed them in your webpage for the world to see by choosing ’share’ from the options menu.

Springpad also offers collaboration with other users. You can invite others to collaborate with you by clicking on ‘My Account’ and then on ‘members’. Keep in mind that currently you don’t have control over what you choose to show to the invited members, they will be able to see everything you have in all of your Springpad’s.

Springpad also syncs all your events with Google Calendar and allows you to search and add your Gmail Contacts quickly to Springpad contacts. However you need to authorize this by signing into your Google Account, via the Account Settings Dialog. Support for importing photos from Flickr and tweeting out your shared links and events is also expected to come out in the future.

We are really curious to know what tools you have been using to organize your personal life. Do you think Springpad can replace those tools? There is surely room for some improvements and features. Have your say and let us know in the comments.

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The kids in the mail room were bringing me a few new packs daily. I stuck them everywhere. On monitors, servers, laptops even on interns. (Hey I have problems remembering names more than IP addresses!)

So when I came across this simple <1MB application that brought stickies into my computer world I was in love. If you are a “sticky” person and have a need for a great sticky notes software then this is an application you won’t want to miss – and of course it is free. So go grab this Windows only installer from here.  You can visit their homepage here.

I’m sure you are all saying to yourself….stickies?  Really? This is your innovative software?

Stop your chuckling freeware loving reader because there is more to Stickies… Something your precious 3M pads can’t do. How about syncing your post-it notes across multiple machines? And how about for the low low price of free?

Yup Stickies makes use of Amazon’s web services and lets you bring your sticky notes to whatever machine you want!

Let’s check out Stickies simplistic goodness. You install it and then you get a little icon in your system tray like so:

When you click on the icon you will get this context menu where you can create notes, show all notes, delete them, modify your preferences and the option to Synchronize your notes online.

You can change your stickies colors from the normal yellow to anything your sticky heart desires. As well as the font and transparency of the note.

Under application settings you have the option to start Stickies Automagically when the system comes up and the option to use your own custom icon in the system tray – that is very cool and an option rarely seen in a programs preferences.

This is the screen where you can configure your Amazon S3 account. You simply need to give it your Secret Access Key and your Access Key ID. Click the test button to verify you copied the information off your sticky pad correctly .

You can vary the color, font and transparency for each different sticky as seen below.

So instead of your office looking like this:

Throw those stickies on your puter’! What are you guys using to remind you of stuff your meat computer won’t retain? Let us know in the comments.

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Should you struggle with these tasks, don’t worry, most of us are. Fortunately, you are free to change things and make your life a little easier. Here is what you can do to organize your life and reduce the amount of things you have to remember:

Routine

The first and most difficult task is to adopt a couple of key habits. This is crucial since no tool will ever help you if you don’t communicate with it. Whether you’re using a file-o-fax or an online calendar system, none of these tools were built to read your mind.

1. Write everything down – immediately!
If you’re lucky, you already own a portable device that will synchronize with your computer. If not, get used to carrying pen and paper.

2. Integrate the tools into your daily routine.
Both checking and updating them needs to become a routine task. The good thing is you get to choose when and how often you’ll communicate with your tools! And you don’t have to use them all at once. It all depends what works best for you. Just start – now!

3. Hang in there!
This is a pretty universal habit. In the context at hand it means the following:

• give the tools time to work, invest some time and effort to make them work for you
• resist your inner temptation to slack off
• develop a genuine interest in the tools you are using, learn about them, improve your usage of them or find out about different tools that may work better for you

Tools

If you are able to get into the routine described above, you will soon have a lot of free time to fill. However, I have to warn you: relying on any of the following tools means you will depend on technology like never before.

1. Evernote

With Evernote you can collect, sync, search, archive, and share information. The main interface is a website. The desktop client is available for Mac and Windows, further clients support the iPhone, the iPod Touch, Windows Mobile devices, and there is a bookmarklet for your browser.

One of the coolest features is Evernote’s ability to search for words inside of pictures. This makes it a very valuable tool for efficient archiving. On top of that it offers a free option and it’s independent of Google – so far.

Back in April Shankar wrote a thorough review of Evernote.

2. Stickies
If you are the type of person who works best with visual reminders, I recommend Stickies. It works a little like Post-It® notes, but stickies sit on your PC desktop.

Stickies can be fully customized and they can adopt many functions other than holding notes. For example, they may be attached to a website or document, so they will only show in connection with these; network support allows for transfer of notes between machines, for example between computers within a TCP/IP network; and alarms may be set for each note.

I should mention that 3M, the creator of the original Post-It® notes, offers a similar desktop application, however the free version is very limited!

3. I Want Sandy
Sandy is an assistant that you communicate with by eMail. No software, easy to access and easy to program. Sandy relies on keywords in your eMail to her. When you CC someone in your eMail to Sandy, she will get in touch with them for the specific tasks contained in that eMail. Sandy promises she will synchronize with your calendar. At this point she supports Google Calendar. If you like, you can also chat with Sandy through Twitter.

Earlier this year Mark wrote a review about I Want Sandy. For him she didn’t work with Google Calendar, but it looks like the plugin was updated and it worked fine for me.

4. Google Calendar
I already mentioned it in connection with Sandy. As a calendar it does a great job, but I found that it works much better for me when I can access it from my desktop. If you’re already using Thunderbird, see how you can integrate Google Calendar into Thunderbird.

And with GooSync, which is listed in our directory, you can sync Google Calendar with your mobile phone, the Blackberry or the iPhone.

5. Google Mail
While we’re talking about Google, Google Mail can not be missed. Great tool to archive and search mail or documents. If you are actually using the web interface of GMail you should find out about all the plugins and tools that are available for it. If you’re using Firefox, you can integrate Google Calendar with GMail.

6. Remember The Milk
Remember The Milk is a very efficient task manager. First of all it is compatible with a wide range of applications and devices, including Google Calendar, GMail, Twitter, Blackberry and the iPhone or iPod touch. It can send reminders to your eMail, your mobile phone, and many different instant messengers. While for example I Want Sandy is very basic, Remember The Milk offers some great extra features. Create lists or task clouds; integrate maps to make tasks that require you to leave the house more efficient; publish your tasks and lists, share them with your contacts or send out reminders.

A worthy rival to Remember The Milk may be TODOIST, which was tested and reviewed by Daniel.

It goes without saying that there are only two essential tools you need: a calendar and a reminder tool in case the calendar’s reminders aren’t sufficient. I would also recommend a good archiving system.

My personal combination is Google Calendar with Thunderbird because I do not need to rely on mobile devices and usually have instant access to my laptop.

Which ones do you choose and how are you combining them? Tell us in the comments.

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1. Dobot Todos

If you like simplicity and just want the bare minimum, then Dobot is the one for you. Dobot provides a plain text interface, but with some really useful features. Usage is easy. Simply press the ‘+’ button to add a task. For each task, you can edit the Task name, due date, priority and note. On the front end, you can easily change the task priority by tapping on the blue horizontal bar.

When viewing a list, you can sort by priority, due date, or creation date, and you can opt to view all tasks, just unfinished tasks, or just those tasks due today.

For those who are looking for a simple, decent and free to-do list app, this is the one to go for.

2. Zenbe List

Some users may find Zenbe too simple with only a few functions. However it has two things that other apps don’t have: a backend sync with Zenbe and the ability to share your list with others. You can easily create a list for a collaboration project with your co-workers, sync it with your Zenbe account and email the share link to your partners. When any one of them updates the list, everyone can see the update.

Another use that I can think of is to share your shopping list with your family members so that no one buys any extra items.

For those who wanted to share their lists with others, this is the only app that allows you to do so.

3. iProcrastinate Mobile

Although iProcrastinate Mobile is free, it does have plenty of useful features that are only found in paid apps. You can allocate your tasks under different subjects and assign different colors for each subject. You can also create smart groups to manage tasks that are due today, or to select different subjects altogether. When creating a task, other than the standard priority, due dates and notes fields, you can also add steps required for each task, and if necessary, add team members to the tasks. If you are looking for a to-do list app that has a nice UI and focuses on task organization, then iProcrastinate Mobile is the one for you.

4. Easy Task Manager

As its name implies, Easy Task Manager is easy to use and there are few complicated options around. Simply enter your task and see it display on the screen. Tasks are automatically sorted according to their due dates. Tasks due today will be showed on the top of the screen so you can easily refer to it without much tapping around.

There is also an option for you to perform an online sync with their server. If you are using the EasyTask desktop client on your Mac or Windows, you can also sync your iPhone to-do list with your desktop.

5. reQall

reQall is unique in the way that you can use your voice to add tasks (the voice recording is for the iPhone only, iPod touch users can add tasks by typing). It is similar to Jott, but with more functionality.

Other than task management, Reqall also acts as a shopping list, idea recorder, reminder service, memory aid and also a contact list. In the reQall home screen, there are three sections that you can view: Time, Things and People. Time helps you to group tasks according to their due dates while Things allows you to see the categories where the tasks are located. People allows you to share reminders with your friends and family.

If you are online, reQall will automatically sync your tasks with their online server.

Do you have any other favourite to-do list apps for the iPhone? Share them in the comments!

(By) Damien Oh is an all-out technology geek who loves to tweak and hack various operating systems to make life easier. Check out his blog at Make Tech Easier where he shares all the tips, tricks and tutorials.

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I’m one of the ones that have found Twitter to be extremely useful but if you haven’t found that, here are ten Twitter bots guaranteed to help you change your mind :

MSNBC Breaking

This bot will provide you with the most current news and happenings around the world. There are a few other news bots out there like CNN Breaking News and BreakingNewsOn, but those bots just provide you with the headline and no link. I don’t find a lot of value out of them if I can’t go directly to the story. That is why I think the MSNBC news bot is the best.

ESPN Headlines

The ESPN Headlines bot is much like the breaking news bot above, but it is completely sports driven. As a sports fan, I like to be updated throughout the day. This bot also gives you the courtesy of providing a link to the story. Before this bot was added to my Twitter, I would check ESPN.com repeatedly throughout the day in order to stay current with any sports updates.

Woot

If you are unfamiliar with Woot!, it is time that you discovered this great site. Woot! is an online shopping website that sells mostly electronics, but what makes it different is that they have the Woot of the Day every day. There is always a great deal on something different everyday. If you keep up with it, you can really find some nice things on the cheap.

Weather Forecast

This bot does exactly what you think it does.

Just direct message it with your location, and it will return you the weather forecast you were looking for.

Sandy

Have you ever wanted a personal assistant that would keep you updated with all of your important events? Well, you can have that now with Sandy. But if you wanted a real assistant, you are going to have to wait or shell out the cash. All you have to do is direct message Sandy the reminders you want later, and she will make sure you hear about it at the right time.

Stock Quotes

If you compulsively check your stock quotes like I check my Google Analytics, you are going to need this easy to use stock bot.

Just direct message this bot with the stock symbol to get the latest quote for that company.

Timer

I lose track of time frequently when I’m online or blogging away.

This timer bot lets you set an alarm clock in Twitter to make sure you stay on top your regular and get those other things like paying bills, laundry or cleaning done as well. Pretty cool.

Twitter GCal

Plans can change quickly or come up quickly. Twitter GCal allows you to add events to your Google Calendar by just direct messaging this bot.

Some instructions are needed to fully explain how to use this bot, but they can be found at TwitterCal.

Tipr

Tipr will help out all of the math challenged folks out there (myself included).

It calculates the tip amount for your bill, so you can make sure that you leave the right amount.

Remember The Milk

Remember the Milk is a great online to do list and task manager.

You can update your tasks or to do lists or even get reminders sent straight from this Twitter bot.

MakeUseOf

Finally, make sure to subscribe and follow MakeUseOf updates on Twitter.

This is a great list, but in no way is it a complete list of all the bots on Twitter. Let me know all of the bots everyone else uses in the comments!

(By) Kyle Judkins is a 24 year old marketer and part-time tech blogger. He is the author of LostInTechnology where he talks about some basic technology tips and tricks that everyone can use.

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What you can do with Sendible

With Sendible you can schedule messages to be sent at any time, down to the minute, and I’m not just talking about email here. SMS, Facebook, Myspace, Friendster, Orkut, Hi5 and Twitter are the services available and all work without fail. The services are completely new so you will probably see some development in this area but the list is already impressive.

Sendible comes with a contact management system too. The options here are pretty basic (edit, send email and delete), but sufficient for me at least. When you send an email to a contact you do not have in your list yet, the application asks you if you want to add him/her, you just type the name and it’s added, no fuss, smoothly implemented.

My favorite features however are the news feed and calendar. Both essentially show the same information in a different format. The news feed shows all the upcoming events in feed style, chronologically, with the closest first. The calendar shows all your activity in a calendar style and does it pretty well. But I do see some problems which will deter people from using it regularly, especially after Google Calendar.

When you look at the calendar all you see about an event is the time and type – you see nothing about the message body. If you click the event you will get a pop up box which shows all there is to see. This is an elegant way of showing events but I think that showing at least some of the message body in the preview would have been nice.

You can also do some advertising with Sendible. I have quite ambivalent feelings here, so I’ll just tell you about it and you can share your comments. Sendible is monetized by giving you the option to put ads below your messages. You can create some ads and when you send out any email they will be slapped on and sent to the recipient as well. Each ad costs one credit, so every time you send an email your credits are reduced by one. You start with 5 free credits and can buy more for a few dollars. 100 costs $12 and 500 costs $40 for example. This can be a cool way of advertising, but I am not a huge fan of email ads, so I don’t really know what to think of this. For some people this will be a nice feature, for me it’s something I’ll never use.

How you can use Sendible

At the most basic level you can use the app to send emails to your friends, family, Orkut, Myspace and so on so you don’t forget to send a birthday email for example. If someone asks you to get back to them in 6 weeks you can write the email now, schedule it, and just forget about it. I’ve actually had some of this happen to me recently and Sendible would be a great way to remember these things. You can opt to receive notifications when the email is actually sent, so you will be prepared for an answer. This feature allows you to forget about many things without any negative effects, so in a sense it’s a bit like GTD.

You can use Sendible for much more than that though. Just as you can use Sandy as your personal assistant, you can use Sendible to manage some of your tasks for you. Sending messages to people can be a part of that, but you can also send messages to yourself for reminders, to do lists, daily tasks and so on.

The one feature that can provide the most assistance here is the option to send recurring messages. If you have to take the garbage out every Tuesday or your wife will kill you, just schedule yourself an email for 10:00 every Tuesday and you can put a stop to all the killing. If you write a lot of posts to multiple blogs you can send email reminders to yourself each day about which blog you have to write to on that day. The people at Sendible thought about this in advance, since there are message sending options and reminder options. Messages can be sent to other people (although you can send yourself one too), while reminders are the same thing essentially, but the “to:” field is omitted, it will be sent to you by default.

Since there are contact and contact group options, you can actually quite effectively use Sendible for team management as well. Shoot out tasks on different dates to your employees, remind them of tasks, ask for a report automatically in advance for the next 15 years. There have been some more advanced calendar sharing options requested for example which will add to this and event management is already in the works which is another plus.

Is Sendible worth the time?

What you can see in Mark’s Sandy article holds up here too. Sendible is a fast and effective way to work, but in the end it’s only a bot we’re talking about. However I didn’t get too much of the actual feeling of that here. Sandy is positioned so that you feel like she’s real, when in reality you know she’s not so the positioning utterly fails. Sendible however never intends to substitute your personal assistant, so perhaps your expectations are lower. But for me, Sendible seems much better so far even though the options are more limited right now.

There is definitely work to be done, adding task addition by email, maybe even Launchy for example, task listings, and so on. But I think things are shaping up pretty nicely. For me Sendible is worth the time, and I would guess that many of you who have scheduling problems will feel the same way.

“Daniel changes his signature lines all the time because although he has a blog about organization, Hack Your Day, he can be a bit all over the place at times. He also has a Blog management service called Blogtastique which helps newbie and pro bloggers in anything they need.”

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

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Like most Google products, Google Gears is still in beta, but it definitely gets the job done!

Why would I want Google Gears? I have a hour commute every morning and afternoon. I want to make the best use of my commute time, so I sync my Google Reader and Zoho Writer to Google Gears, so I can read and write offline and when I get back to an internet connection, I can sync again and my read items will be read and my new articles will be updated and uploaded.

I also like to go out and enjoy a little sunshine, since it is finally Spring here in Jersey. Unfortunately, my favorite park does not have Wi-Fi. So, if I sync up my browser before leaving home, I can mosy on over to the park, enjoy some sun and sandwiches, and get to catch up on reading my feeds or updating my to-do list!

Basically, Google Gears is a great tool for those who do not always have access to the internet but would like to be able to use websites while offline.

Sounds interesting, so how do I get it? Visit the Google Gears website with your favorite browser – it currently only works with Internet Explorer or Firefox – and run the installation program. If you already have Google Gears installed, the website will let you know! Once the program is installed, you can now begin using it.

Screenshot of Google Gears Installed Page

Where and how do you use Google Gears? Two of my favorite online applications – Google Reader and Zoho Writer, work with Google Gears. Additional sites that work with Google Gears are Remember the Milk and Google Docs. There is a Greasemonkey Script available if you’d like to make other sites work with Google Gears. This script works for many sites, but be warned – the directions can be a bit overwhelming for less advanced computer users.

When you visit a Google Gears-enabled site after installation, you will first see a popup that asks you if you would like to allow this site to access Google Gears. If you want your computer to ALWAYS access Google Gears on a certain site and you don’t want to see this popup again, be sure to click the “I trust this site. Allow it to use Google Gears” and press “Allow”.

On your first visit to Google Reader after installing and allowing Google Gears to access the page, you will see a green button to the left of “Settings” in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. Click this button to begin synching the current content to your computer.

Google Gears downloads 2000 Google Reader items, but only when you manually ask the program to do so. When you are offline, you will be able to view items, star them, and share them. When you get back online, just sync Google Gears and Google Reader again to update your account.

Note: you cannot access your “Trends” or “Friends’ shared items” or “Share with note” while in offline mode.

Google Docs also works well with Google Gears. Once you set up Google Docs with Google Gears, it will automatically check to see if your browser is offline or not, and start syncing your documents if you are online. Unfortunately, you cannot manually switch to offline mode.

With Google Docs, you have the additional option to add a desktop shortcut that lets you launch Google Docs website and edit Google Docs documents in offline mode.

Excellent online to-do list service Remember the Milk (RTM) also works well with Google Gears. RTM does check to see if you are online or offline, but you can also manually switch to offline mode. It also adds a desktop shortcut, so you can quickly access RTM when you are offline.

Some settings, such as changing your settings or contacts, can’t be done offline. But, for basic list making and updating, RTM with Google Gears works great.

Finally, there is a Zoho Writer – online alternative to Microsoft Word. With Google Gears you can use Zoho Writer to work with your documents offline in a Word-like interface. Just like Google Docs, Zoho Writer only lets you edit Word documents, not spreadsheets or other file formats.

Google Gears could be a lot more useful if it were intergrated into more web applications, but currently, it has 4 strong useful web services for its backbone: Google Reader, Zoho Writer, Remember the Milk and Google Docs.

What sites or services would you like to see integrated into Google Gears?

How does Google Gears work for you?

(By) Ellie, a graduate student and “Jill of all Trades”, who blogs at Ultimate Geek Girl.

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