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Daily Mac App: iProcrastinate
Most of us have a love-hate affair with task management apps. We hate the fact that we have to use them, but love the fact that some of them really help us get stuff done. iProcrastinate, a free task manager for the Mac aims to fall into the love category. iProcrastinate helps you avoid its namesake by making creating and completing tasks super simple. You've got your standard to do-style tasks with colorful check boxes and stars for more important tasks. There's a rating system for how urgent a particular task is, but there's also the ability to mark a task as in progress, which a lot of simpler task managers don't provide. Each task can be sorted into "Subjects" that act as collections, so you can categorise your tasks. The tasks themselves can be divided into steps, which allows you to create an overall task and still detail what needs to be done and check it off as you go -- something really useful for packing a suitcase for instance. Repeating tasks are available if there's a certain job that needs doing once a week, month or year and you want it pop-up automatically. You can also set dates for your tasks, so if you know you have to do a certain task next Monday, you can go ahead and program it in before you forget. iProcrastinate also allows you to sync your tasks via Dropbox or via Bonjour over a local network, while there's a US$0.99 iProcrastinate iPhone app that lets you take your task management on the road. iProcrastinate for the Mac is a nice, simple and easy to use task manager that's got some nice features to boot. If you haven't already got your heart set on something like Producteev or Wunderlist, then give it a try for free -- you might just like it.
TUAW's Daily Mac App: Producteev
Task management is something most loathe but have to do to keep productive. Producteev, a previously web and iPhone app focused task management service has just launched a Mac app. Producteev focuses on creating and managing tasks with the ability to connect those tasks with other people, other services and sync them to the web. You can create tasks in different categories, arrange them by due date, attach notes and files to them, and even comment on them. You can set up alerts for deadlines and get notified through the app itself, Growl, the Menu bar or Dock icons, or even via email and Gcal with a little help from the web app. You can also apply customizable color coded labels to your tasks to help you differentiate them from one another, as well as "Star" them with a rating from one to five. For an individual, Producteev could be a little over complicated for what you need unless you're a serious multi-level task manager. But for a team, Producteev allows you to share tasks, create and assign them to others (individuals and groups of people) and has the potential to make collaborative tasks just that little bit easier. Comments and file attachments allow adjustments and additions to a task, while everyone can monitor progress and pitch in if needed. The Mac app portion of Producteev is free and so is an individual account with up to two users sharing workspaces. If you want more plans start at US$5 per month and reach up to $30 a month for unlimited users and 1.5 GB of file storage (with a two-week free trial).
Video App Demo: Wasabi
Wasabi is another in a crowded market of "to do" apps, aiming to keep your to do lists handy across iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. There are a number of novel twists keeping Wasabi worth a look for your listmaking needs. The most unique feature are text files which become quicklists, a preset selection of list items which you could use to quickly template a project outline. You can also share tasks with others. Although iOS 5 will have location-based notes and reminders, Wasabi has them now, with the ability to "pin" tasks to a location and have reminders trigger when you are at a location. If you can't wait for iOS 5 or find the upcoming Apple solution too limited, Wasabi is worth a look. Check it out in the video below. if(typeof AOLVP_cfg==='undefined')AOLVP_cfg=[];AOLVP_cfg.push({id:'AOLVP_1042610123001','codever':0.1, 'autoload':false, 'autoplay':false, 'playerid':'61371448001', 'videoid':'1042610123001', 'width':480, 'height':270, 'stillurl':'http://pdl.stream.aol.com/pdlext/aol/brightcove/studionow/p/5bdc8c0735f09/r/eeba48c0881a3/al/193846/poster-10.jpg', 'playertype':'inline','videotitle':'TUAW - App Demo - Wasabi','videodesc':'undefined','videolink':'#'});
Breakfast Topic: This is the game that never ends ...
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW.com. Once I finally reached 80, I felt so accomplished and at the same time so behind. I still had not finished all the Northrend quests and needed to get going on heroic dungeons, maxing my tradeskills and maybe working on some achievements. Now that Cataclysm is coming soon, of course, we all have our bucket lists to be concerned about, as well. Sometimes this becomes frustrating. I love to make myself to-do lists, much like collecting quests in my log -- but even more so, I love crossing things off the list that I have accomplished. With WoW, I always seem to feel like I am just trying to keep up. With more and more things about the game that I discover I want to accomplish, my to-do list grows longer. However, I guess that is inevitable when you play a game "that never ends."
TUAW's Daily App: Diacarta
Diacarta is a to-do app like you've never seen. I saw it on the excellent Well-Placed Pixels blog, and the design of the thing is really interesting. Basically, to add items to the to-do list, you just add icons to the image of the clock. Once items have been added, you can see a visual representation of what your day is like. I'm not so much concerned about keeping a strict calendar as I am about just having a list of my various tasks during the day, so for someone like me, Diacarta is a new and interesting way to look at how my tasks line up. Unfortunately, it's probably a bit more style than substance for serious calendar users; it doesn't sync up with other calendars at all (so you have to put everything into the app yourself), and it won't send notifications or let you know when something you plan is actually happening. That means it's probably not a satisfactory replacement if you already regularly use some kind of calendar. However, as a simple visual representation of a day full of errands or various tasks, Diacarta looks great and works just as well. If that's something you're interested in, consider ponying up the US$1.99 price.
TaskPaper for iPhone, simplified to-do lists go mobile
TaskPaper, from the developer of WriteRoom, has been around for a while, and we've been talking about it since version 1.0. After what seems like a long wait, TaskPaper for iPhone is out. The super-simple to-do list with surprisingly robust capabilities is now mobile, and syncs with the desktop version (through Simpletext.ws) for a complete task management solution. The interesting aspect of TaskPaper is that it uses plain text files with minimal formatting to create and manage to-do lists. The file is easily read by other applications, and things such as tags and due dates are handled in a very human-readable format. The iPhone version offers the functionality of the desktop version, and the two work together quite well. Current users of TaskPaper on the desktop should note the format changes in TaskPaper files. TaskPaper costs $29.99US for the desktop version. At $4.99US, the iPhone version makes a great counterpart and a very useful addition to your productivity toolset.
Breakfast Topic: To-do
I love the to-do list that Siha posted on Banana Shoulders the other day -- I don't know if it's just the kind of people we are or if it says something about our play styles, but I too usually have an ongoing list of things I plan to do in the game, and pretty much everything I end up doing in game (from running reputation grinds to leveling up alts) follows the list.For instance, ever since Burning Crusade came out, the number one item on my to-do list was picking up a Netherwing Drake, and pretty much everything I did after that goal was set (switching over to my Hunter so I could solo the dailies more easily, doing only those quests in game every day, and leveling my professions up just to make the most out of doing them) was targeted at getting that Drake, which made it much sweeter when I finally did. In Northrend, my two main goals going in were to pick up the Kalu'ak fishing pole and to get the Green Proto-drake, and while the Oracles haven't been very giving with the Cracked Eggs so far, I have at least ground out the reps needed for those. My latest goals are to get the mounted Squire (I'm well on my way to the needed Seals) and to finally get a high-level Engineer (so I'm leveling up my Paladin, with the added bonus of having an endgame tank and/or healer whenever I want).And though this gets a little hokey, I'll actually say that aiming at and meeting my goals in game has actually helped me think about goals in real life the same way. We don't have anything so obviously as questgivers in real life, but setting a goal in game and following it through to completion can help you envision a real life goal as well, and follow that out until you finally reach it. There's so much to do in this game that I think it's very helpful to determine exactly what you want to do as you play. So what's on your to-do list?
First Look: CheckOff 4.0 for Mac OS X
I'm one of those people who "Gets Things Done" the old-fashioned way. I've tried just about every To-Do list manager for the Mac and iPhone, and I still end up resorting to writing lists in my Moleskine notebook and then crossing off the completed items. Still, when I saw that an upgrade to CheckOff had been shipped by Second Gear Software, I decided to give it a try. CheckOff 4.0 is not the latest navigator and weapons officer for the USS Enterprise. It is a compact and easily accessible to-do list for Mac OS X, and it runs both on Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and 10.6 Snow Leopard. CheckOff 4.0 is shareware, and requires that you purchase a US$12.95 license to use it for more than ten to-do items. After installing and launching the 4.4 MB application on your Mac, a check mark icon appears in the menu bar. To add or delete items from your to-do list, you click on the check mark to make the CheckOff menu appear (below): What you see is the complete user interface for CheckOff 4.0. Those five icons are used to add a new item, add a new folder, delete an item, change the color or category for an item or folder, and to delete checked (completed) items. There's a place for notes down at the bottom of the the window.
TiVo Central Online adds Now Playing and To Do lists
Series 3 and HD TiVo owners have a little bit of newness waiting for them at the TiVo Central Online website in the form of Now Playing and To Do lists for their bleeping and blooping DVRs. After playing around with the new features, we have to admit that while they come in handy for managing TiVo scheduling, but we're hoping that the improvements don't stop there. For example, we keep clicking on entries in the Now Playing list, expecting to get a placeshifted stream (or at least a "Keep until/Delete now" dialog; but the video remains safely locked away on our TiVo. While we're wishing, who do we talk to about getting a guide view that shows only our favorite channels?
AppleScript: Creating To-Dos in iCal
Recently, a friend asked me to create an AppleScript that would allow him to automate To-Dos with a Mail.app mail rule. I immediately rose to the occasion because this was a cool idea: Mail.app could run the script when you get an ebill, for instance, for your car payment. The script would then create an iCal To-Do for "Pay your car payment, now!" The scriptset theSumm to "Pay My Bill Soon!"set dueDate to (current date) + 10 * daysset theUrl to "http://www.paymybillexample.com"set thepriority to 1tell application "iCal" make todo at end of events of (item 1 of every calendar) with properties {summary:theSumm, due date:dueDate, url:theUrl, priority:thepriority}end tell Customizing the scriptTo customize the To-Do's title, fill in the text you want, within the parenthesis on line 1. To Change the due date, change the "10" in line 2 to the number of days until it is due. If you want to change to weeks or months, use the appropriate wordage instead of "days" at the end of line 2. To change the URL, paste a URL in the parenthesis on line 3. By default, the script will set the newly created To-Do to have a priority of 1, however, you can change this to your priority preference.Continue reading to learn how to integrate the To-Dos with a Mail.app mail rule.
FlexTD - Free, Fast To-Do Entry
Up until today, entering to-do info into iCal was an exercise for my mouse-clicking finger. I'd click iCal in the Dock, click again on that little pushpin icon, and then finally double-click to create an empty to-do task to fill in. One more double-click, and I could actually edit the to-do and put in the information I needed.Enter FlexTD from flexgames. It's another unitasker, but it does one task very well - just hit a pre-defined hotkey and it brings up a transparent edit window. Type in your to-do, press return, and the info is entered into your favorite Mac calendar app. One suggestion for the developers; the hotkeys only go up to F8, and I'd love to be able to assign something to F13 through F19 on my keyboard. How 'bout it? The app is free, appears as a pref pane in System Preferences, and can start up at login. Many thanks to flexgames for a nice productivity booster!Tip 'o the TUAW homburg to Elsa for the news!
