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Filed under: Productivity, Web services, Beta

App for the Milk is a desktop client for Remember the Milk

App for the MilkApp for the Milk is a cross-platform Adobe Air-based desktop client version of the extremely popular online task management application Remember the Milk. One of the unique aspects of Remember the Milk is that it lends itself well to various user interface interpretations. There are already a number of different UIs for RTM, including the classic web interface, the embedded Gmail interface, the Gmail gadget interface, and the iPhone interface. Each has common elements, but differs in the details.

In other words, each new interface is a new take, and not just a copy of the web interface. This holds true for App for the Milk as well. Instead of a full-screen approach, App for the Milk takes a decidedly pared-down task list approach. Most (but not all) of what the web version can do is still available, though sometimes hidden in unlabeled buttons in the app's toolbar. In fact, there are more than a few aspects of App for the Milk's interface that seem a little rough around the edges. On the upside, it looks like App for the Milk, while not officially designated a beta version, is in active development, and the developer admits that some functionality like smart lists is still to come.

If you like having a list of your outstanding tasks handy, App for the Milk will probably be a welcome addition to your desktop. If you prefer to have the full suite of functionality, including offline availability, Remember the Milk's web interface is still your best bet.

Filed under: Internet, Video, Web

Joost kills internet video desktop client

Joost desktop client
Two months after launching a web-based version of its online video platform, Joost is turning off its desktop client.

Joost, which is the brainchild of some of the folks behind the Skype VoIP software, was originally launched to provide an alternate way for people to interact with internet video. After all, web browsers were built for reading text and looking at pictures, not for finding and enjoying video. So Joost was positioned as a video browser, not a web browser. But as YouTube, Hulu, and countless other sites have demonstrated, there are a lot of people who are perfectly happy to watch videos using a web browser. And as it turns out, there aren't so many who are interested in downloading and installing a separate application just to watch videos they can probably already watch in their web browser.

Effective December 19th, Joost users who have already installed the desktop client will no longer be able ot watch videos using the software. They'll have to go to the Joost web site instead.

It's kind of a shame, because I think the desktop software had a lot of promise. I just think it was aimed at the wrong market. Instead of focusing on providing a user experience for people sitting right in front of their computers, Joost could have focused on creating a quality web video experience for people sitting on their couch and watching through a computer or set top box connected to a TV set. Right now that torch is being carried by the makers of Boxee, XBMC, Zviewer, and other media center applications.

Featured Time Waster

The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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