Do you forget stuff? Do you wonder where the heck you put the keys when they're in your right hand? Do you get in the shower with your socks still on? Do you ever get to the bus stop, and realize you can't recall if you've put on pants? We're the only ones? Really? Damn.
We're willing to bet you can still benefit from Tasque, even if you just need reminders about the things normal people put on their to-do lists.
There are a few other to-do list applications in Linux, but most lack the finesse that Tasque is already bringing to the table. Tasque is a newcomer (it got its start at last year's Hackweek), and seems well on its way to becoming a big player.
Tasque (pronounced "Task") is a unified frontend for a number of backends. Honest to god, we don't mean anything obscene by that. What we mean is, it's a very standard graphical interface that works with a number of to-do and database types to make your to-do list dynamic.
Springnote is a powerful browser based note taking system. You can forget about the standard text only inputs that many online note tools offer, this application has the ability to drop in images, attach files and organize layout at will. Its wiki style note taking system allows pages of content like todo's, monthly calendars and plans to be created with Word like functionality and tools with tags, change history, folder hierarchy and page bookmarks for more important content. Springnote's can also be shared between friends for reading or collaboration.
Perhaps the most important feature of Springnote is the ability to import and export notes. Downloading options include HTML, XHTML and Send to a Blog or use anywhere else. Importing can be done using MS-word docs, .txt, HTML or OpenDocument .odt formats. Springnote has an open API and unlimited storage of text files with 2GB file storage available. There are tons of Springnote mashups that you can utilize to expand the functionality of your account, including IM, Flickr, and Firefox toolbar integration.
It's Friday, and Download Squad wants to make sure that you have completed all your tasks for the week. And what better way to track and ensure they are completed than with an online app. We have covered a bunch of note taking and GTD apps in the past, but Vitalist is another one you might enjoy using.
Vitalist offers a fresh outlook on the space. The interface is quick to grasp, well layed out and offers tasks that can be grouped and filtered by color coordinated projects, making it quick to scan and update as required. Vitalist has also built out special mobile access websites including a dedicated iPhone website for completing tasks while on the go. Support for both Google and Netvibes start page widgets is available as well as reminders that can be sent to emails and via sms. There are a few different Vitalist account options starting at free, and rising up to $10/month. Free accounts of course come with a few limitations. Actions and Tasks are unlimited, but projects and contacts are limited to 10 and there are no task sharing features available.
With so many GTD tools in the marketplace, it's hard to decide which one to choose that will help you along the way. Sometimes your best bet is to actually get a good old fashion moleskin notebook and a pen. Getting things done truly has nothing to do with the application, and more to do with the execution and sticking to whatever you choose to help you along the way.
You wouldn't normally think to take notes using a social application as Twitter, but it is possible.
Twitternotes is an online application that uses the Twitter API to basically, take notes. This tool is a little more complicated than scratching something down in a notebook, using Outlook Notes, or one of the many other online note tools but if you have Twitter open throughout the day, this might come in handy.
Users log into the system using their Twitter account information, and add TwitterNotes as a follower. Notes can be added to your account privately or open for all users to see using special characters and combinations in your Twitter entry. Notes can then be picked up when logged into your TwitterNotes account, which is a bit frustrating because it would be nice to be able to simply check these notes out in Twitter itself under Direct Messages. Nonetheless, it's just another way to try and stay organized and on top of your to-dos.
With some students already in school, and some preparing to enter yet another journey into a new semester, let DLS make your studies that much more organized with a few free desktop and web applications that will make your school life that much more enjoyable.
From free document creation applications, online to-do's and organization applications, users are faced with a decision, go for the costly desktop versions and upgrade every few years, or stay ahead of the curve with free web based applications that are constantly updating with new growing feature sets. The choice has never been easier.
This DLS special feature lists out current tools that are floating around the web as highly competitive alternatives for both students and professionals.
We know, it's the middle of the summer, but it's never too early to start looking at what you might need for the upcoming semester. And if you are looking for another way to get, and stay organized while off at school, Notely might be your lecture note savior.
This online tool allows users to organize data from meetings, appointments, class notes, lectures, accessing it anywhere. There are a number of free features that the Notely application supplies, including:
Calendar
To-Do
Homework Organizer
Course Manager
Notes
Link, Contact and File Organizer
Notebook/Lab book
Notely is a pretty powerful online application that can aid in keeping all class information together, in an easily managed interface. One main thing we wish it had, search. It would be nice to search for a phrase or keyword and have all related notes, calendar items, and course information show up. All of the content that users store in Notely can be exported as PDF, DOC, TXT, Excel and synced with iCal.
There are many task-list applications out there, but not many with the impressive feature set that Toodledo has. Its deceptive simplicity of task entry using inline editing via AJAX makes for lightning fast tasking and better productivity, while providing integration with Google Calendar, Google Personal Homepage, Firefox, and IMified.
One of the best features of Toodledo is the distinction between folders (for projects) and contexts (the many hats you wear). Contexts allows only your current frame of mind for work, and doesn't show you your home tasks. This keeps the honey-do list away from your work list, so you aren't thinking about that darn swing-set you have to put up in the middle of working on Mr. The-man's presentation.
If that isn't enough to make you jump over and check it out, they also have a printable tasklist, email alerts for your top tasks (called a hotlist), but also the ability to import/export tasks to iCal, Palm OS, XML, CSV, and text. Task lists can be published to the web if you want to share your inner-workings with the world, and with a non-free but reasonable price ($14.95/year) you can have others edit and append to your task list among other things. Toodledo offers a free 7-day trial of their pro account for your enjoyment.
Wait, there's even more. There is a developer API, it fully supports GTD, tags, history and stats, a scheduler, some goal-setting functions, RSS support, SMS support, WAP support and more. Tasks can be imported from Outlook, Apple iCal, and Remember The Milk. Seldom is there such a complete feature set in a free application. It is a major time-saver for the quick-and-dirty type task person who doesn't want to spend 8 years filling out a task form. If you don't have a solid task-list manager yet, this is the ticket.
Why Google hasn't built something as fundamental as a todo manager into Google Calendar is beyond us, but now you have one more option for tasks on in gCal. While we've previously seen hidden code lead to speculation that todos were (finally) coming, as well as Remember the Milk integration, a new Greasemonkey script brings its own todo list to Google Calendar with an interesting twist. As you can see, this script from Google Operating System gives you a basic todo list without anything like alarms or filing in different calendars. The advantage here, however, is that the script saves todos as events in your calendar, which means you can get to these todos from any computer on which you install the script.
Check out Google Operating System's post for more details, or simply install the script to hit the ground running.
Getting and staying organized in any school level can be a little difficult, now there is a free online application that could help.
mySchoolog is an online application that students can easily use to track and organize their school lives. Users start off by entering lessons they take and organizing them into categories, and make weekly schedules. Schedules can be made through a drag and drop lesson planner with times associated for each class to keep them organized. Of course it has a to-do area where appointments, homework and anything else can be added, and reminders set to be sent out by email or sms. Lesson notes can be entered online, searched, exported and printed so they can be kept and used when required. 20GB of File storage is available for documents, audio or images, and can be categorized by lesson.
But really, is there any time to organize yourself while in school? Sometimes not, so hopefully this might help a bit.
It would be great if Google had one single location where every service they are offered was centralized, and it appears they're working on one.
After wondering why Google had purchased Jotspot some time ago, GuillaumeB and Google Operating system among others have come to the conclusion that JotSpot could be the start of a home for all of Google's applications and our documents; "The GDrive".
Currently with Jotspot, users can store, share and edit spreadsheets, calendars, files and photos, to-do lists, email lists, and track projects with a project manager. So, in reality it's not that far off from a possible centralized Google GDrive storage area where users could store all of their Google specific spreadsheets, documents, forums, blogs, mail, calendar, and photo galleries in a wiki type format. Could we finally see the GDrive released this year?
Like many others who are trapped in their cubicles all day I've developed an unhealthy fascination with task managers, todo lists, and project trackers. I want that extra edge - that little boost that will help me get more done in less time. Todoist is one little tool created to make managing your pending todos easier.
Todoist is a free web based todo list app (in an alreadyveryverycrowdedmarket) that has some very special charm all its own. Built by Amir Salihefendic in "about a month", Todoist lets you create and sort projects in a very slick Ajax interface. Once you have a project you can create todo items within that project. Where the app really shines is in the customizations area. You can make text bold, underlined, and highlighted. You can also add links and due dates for items. By holding CRTL and using the arrow keys you can even indent a todo item or move it around in the list. One of the easy things you can do is create a item such as "Story Ideas" and quickly add your ideas under it using the * symbol to remove the checkboxes.
Another nice feature of Todoist is that it supports natural date keywords for setting due dates. This way you can type "tomorrow" or "next Friday" and it will understand and assign the correct date. You can then create a schedule for the week using the handy date search box. Unfortunately there is no way to share your projects at this point, but it wouldn't surprise me if that is in the works.
Todoist strives to be a very simple, fun, and easy to use tool that offers a lot of power to the average user. It doesn't offer you all the features you might expect from some of the more established alternatives, but that is by choice and what is there works wonderfully. Give it a look.
I'm somewhat of a productivity zealot and I love any application that helps me stay on task. Reminder Fox is designed to do just that. One of the better Firefox extensions I've found, Reminder Fox sits quietly in the bottom left corner of the browser and lets you manage a to do list and schedule reminders.
There are two tabs on Reminder Fox: Reminders and ToDos. When you schedule a reminder you can give it a description, a date, a time (reminders can also be all day events), and a priority. You can also schedule a reoccurring reminder and have the application alert you daily until you complete a task. It even provides a calendar so adding items is as simple as double clicking the day in question. All within Firefox! This is a very simple and slick way to remind myself to feed the office fish Mondays, meet my wife for lunch Wednesdays, get that report done by Friday, etc.
The ToDo tab is much the same. You can still set a date for a ToDo item if you wish, but there is no reoccurring feature. You can view all your to do items together and move them around as needed. Once you complete an item it is crossed off the list.
Scrolling over the knot in the bottom corner of the browser will pop up a tool tip showing you what you have scheduled for the day. You can even view your entries as HTML which can be useful for exporting, etc.
For the power user ReminderFox has a ton of options to help you customize the application. Almost every default value or behavior of the tool is changeable. You can also add more tabs (so you aren't limited to Reminder and ToDos but you could also have a Home To Do List, for example). You can even save all the data to an FTP Server for backup purposes or to sync your Reminders across computers.
ReminderFox is an excellent replacement for Outlook and online reminder systems and is so light weight you'll hardly notice it is there. Go get it!
Are you ever out and about, and can't recall that little something you had to do? Motask would love to help you. Motask is a to-do list accessible through mobile devices. Through its extremely simple interface, users can add tasks, edit tasks, and easily delete them when the task has been completed all through motask.com from their mobile device. It's a great way to remind you what had to be done while you are out. Simply log on to the website, open an account in two seconds, and start making your task list. The service is free of charge, and unfortunately there is currently no way to export tasks, or upload tasks from other applications like Outlook. Nonetheless, it's a great simple reminder tool for on the go.
Rough Underbelly is a free web-based task-tracker along the same lines as Joe's Goals and with just as much Ajax but with a different, very Web 2.0 interface. Like Joe's Goals, Rough Underbelly is for tracking stuff you want to do every day, like working out, signing new clients, or working on the yard. You can create tasks and assign them point values (10, 5, 2, or 1), and then each day when you complete a task you can click the checkbox next to it, which will move it out of the TODO area. Rough Underbelly generates pretty graphs that shows what you've accomplished, broken up by point value, and it also has a handy timer for keeping track of how much time you've spent on a task. So far I still prefer Joe's Goals due to its "negative" goals feature and the ability to mark a single goal several times, but Rough Underbelly will probably be a better solution for certain users.
I'm going to tell you a secret: With Active Desktop, a feature that has been around since Windows 95, you can turn any personalized home page, nay, any IE-compatible web page at all, into your desktop. Okay, it's not really a secret, but is unknown to many and taken for granted by most. Wallnote, however, is a web app that wants to capitalize on that functionality. It's a note-keeping and to-do-tracking app that can be used in any web browser, but is designed to live happily on your desktop. Wallnote doesn't have a lot of fancy features, but it has a nice clean look and gets the job done. It's free to use and there's a no-registration demo plus step-by-step instructions for getting it running on your Active Desktop on the Wallnote web site.
Do you forget stuff? Do you wonder where the heck you put the keys when they're in your right hand? Do you get in the shower with your socks still on? Do you ever get to the bus stop, and realize you can't recall if you've put on pants? We're the only ones? Really? Damn.
Rough Underbelly
