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Wunderlist | To-do List Awesomeness on Every Platform

By Matthew Guay on March 11, 2011 in Featured, iOS Apps, PC Software

There’s so many to-do list apps today for all of the major computing platforms that you can quickly get overwhelmed trying to choose one. Most to-do list apps on Windows are old and clunky, while many iOS to-do list apps are an island to themselves and don’t let you sync or share tasks. It’s enough sometimes to make you just want to go back to just using a pad of paper. But wait: that surely can’t be the best solution. It’s the 21st century; can’t we have our tasks on any platform, synced, and shared with anyone we need? Can it really be that hard?

Enter Wunderlist. Wunderlist is an awesome new to-do list app that’s beautiful, feature filled, and amazingly, free! Actually, it’s is as much of a platform as it is an individual app. With to-do list apps for Windows, OS X, Android, iPad, iPhone, Android, and the web, you can keep up with everything you need to do no matter where you are or what device you’re using. While there are many beautiful and functional to-do list apps on OS X and iOS, Windows typically hasn’t had many modern to-do list apps that are both easy to use and stylish. Wunderlist’s Windows app alone makes it a winner, but add in the apps for other platforms, and it’s even better.

It contains all the features you’ll need to keep up with your tasks. You can add lists to organize to-dos, add a star to prioritize them, add a date to make sure you don’t forget when your task is due, and add notes to remember more about the task. Need to rearrange tasks? Simply drag and drop them to get them in the correct order. Then, find your tasks with the integrated search box, or reorder them based on priority or due date from the bottom buttons. You can even customize the app with a number of high quality background images. Best of all, you can share lists with others so your family, team, or business can stay connected in a simple Wunderlist to-do list. I’ve used this to share ideas with coworkers and editors over the past month, and it’s worked amazingly flawlessly.

Wunderlist works almost the exact same on every platform, but contains the small touches it takes to integrate great with particular platforms as well. On Windows, it uses a standard window and tray icon; on iPad, you’ll see iOS style pop-overs and inertia scrolling. You can enter tasks with keyboard shortcuts in Windows, OS X, and the webapp, while the mobile apps let you swipe to delete tasks and pull down to refresh a page. The same great features are there in each of the apps, though: contact syncing, sharing, organization, and a beautiful, easy to use experience. Best of all, if you’ve signed in with the same account on all of your devices, your tasks will automatically stay in sync. No more manually syncing or copying tasks between apps; you’ll just stay connected to what you need to do.

The iPhone app is especially handy since you can view and add tasks on the go. Wunderlist can even notify you when your tasks are due with standard iOS alerts and icon indicators. If you have an Android device, you can use the new Wunderlist Android app as well. Or, if you want, you can add new tasks by emailing them to me@wunderlist.com from your account email address, and can choose to be alerted via email when tasks are due. This way, even if you don’t have the latest mobile device, you can still keep up with your Wunderlist account on the go.

And, now, Wunderlist is equally at home in your browser! The newly released Wunderlist webapp brings all of Wunderlist’s features to any browser, so now you can use it from your Ubuntu computer or Chrome netbook. Or, if you don’t want to install a new program without knowing if you’ll like it, you could just give it a try in your browser. If you like it, then install it on your Mac, PC, or mobile device. Everything works almost the same as it does in Wunderlist’s Mac and PC apps; you can create new lists, drag and drop tasks to rearrange them, search across all of your tasks, and more. You can even change the background just like you can in any of the other apps. Whether on the web, an iOS device, your PC, or almost any other device, the Wunderlist experience is the same. This is easily one of the best cross-platform apps we’ve seen that merges your mobile device, PC, and browser experience.

But, hey, we could talk all day about getting organized with awesome to-do list apps, but that doesn’t help us get everything we need to do, done. Usually it’s a tough decision whether or not you should spend money on yet another productivity app. You have to decide if you need your tasks on your smartphone, PC, or online, and whether you can live without everything in sync or not. Today, Wunderlist has made these decisions obsolete. Wunderlist gives you synced, shared, and scheduled to-dos on almost any platform, for free. The only problem I’ve had is that the Wunderlist apps are somewhat slower than fully native apps that are built specifically for one platform. That said, recent updates have really improved the performance, and the iOS app now runs just as fast as Things or other similar apps. Plus, it lets me share and sync tasks, something few other apps even offered. There’s no reason not to give it a try on your browser, PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android phone or tablet today. So go download it today, quit saying you’re going to find the perfect to-do list app, and just give it a try.

At least that’s one thing off your to-do list!

Checkout Wunderlist’s Awesome website and download it for your platform

Or, just Get started directly online with the Wunderlist Web App

Download Wunderlist for iPhone or Wunderlist HD for iPad

Comments { 2 }

Type Faster on Your iPad or iPhone with TextExpander

By Matthew Guay on February 17, 2011 in Featured, iOS Apps

After recently teaching in a classroom that had an old manual typewriter with upraised rows of keys, I marveled at how much typing has changed over the past century. We went from typing in QWERTY to keep from jamming keys on original typewriters to pounding out text messages with our thumbs on small slates of metal and glass. How times change! Back then, typing was a purely manual exercise. Today, however, we’re usually typing on smart devices, younger cousins of IBM Watson. Seems like it should be easier and quicker to type today than it was back then, doesn’t it?

Turns out, there is a way to put the computing power of your device to work. TextExpander is a great app that lets your device remember the things you need to type the most so you won’t have to manually type them every time. Instead, you can just enter a short snippet of text, such as aadr, and your full text, such as your address, will be entered automatically. And once you’ve got it installed, you can use this power in many of your favorite apps, including many we’ve reviewed here at Techinch.com. Sound good? Let’s take a closer look at what TextExpander offers.

Getting Started

TextExpander Touch is one of the more interesting apps available in the App Store for several reasons. First, its one of the few ways that you can truly speed up your typing on iOS. Second, it integrates seamlessly with so many other apps, it seems like it should just be an included tool in iOS itself. To get started, just purchase and install the universal app from the App Store. Seconds later, you’ll be ready to create and edit Snippets, use these snippets to create quick notes, and find more apps to work with TextExpander Touch.

The Snippets section is the most important. Here you can create and edit snippets, which include a short abbreviation as well as the long content you want the abbreviation to expand into. There are several popular ones included in the app by default, so you can just edit the content on these to include your own personal signature, address, telephone number, and more. You can also create new ones quickly. Just make sure that your abbreviation isn’t a standard word, or you won’t be able to just enter that word in a TextExpander enabled app without it expanding to include your content. I’ve found it best to make abbreviations start with a period, such as .lorem which I use to expand into a full paragraph of lorem ipsum filler text. The sky’s the limit on what you can use snippets for; from complicated to type words to text you have to enter all the time like your address to long paragraphs you commonly include in emails, you can make tons of typing tasks faster with snippets that work best for you.

One of the best features is the wide arrange of snippets that you can add to TextExpander without typing them all in. Tap the plus button on the Snippet Groups page to add snippets from the TextExpander server. These include common misspelled words for AutoCorrect, standard HTML and CSS code snippets, and accented words that take longer to type correctly. This is an easily overlooked feature that can be a true timesaver once you’re using TextExpander all the time. Also, if you’ve been using TextExpander for Mac, you can also sync your existing snippets from your Mac to your iOS devices.

Putting TextExpander to Work

Now that you’ve got snippets of your most important info and frequently used text saved, it’s time to put it to use. You can use TextExpander as a notebook to create emails and plain text notes using TextExpander snippets. That’s what the Notes feature is for. Here you can type in full text notes like you might in SimpleNote or PlainText; this time though, you’re able to type faster thanks to the TextExpander snippets you’ve added. Just type your snippet, and it will automatically expand to the full text you’ve saved. I can now enter sig1, for example, and my full standard signature will be added to the end of an email. Once you’re finished, you can copy all of the text to your clipboard and paste it into another app, or send the message as an email or tweet immediately.

Integrating TextExpander with Other Apps

While TextExpander is useful on its own, the biggest reason to use it is because it integrates with dozens of apps you likely already use. From Twitter for iOS to the excellent Express for WordPress to PlainText, my favorite app for jotting down plain text notes, you’ll discover more places to use TextExpander than you’d ever imagine. First, though, open the Settings menu in TextExpander and turn on snippet sharing to make all of your snippets available to other apps that integrate with TextExpander.

Now you’re ready to add it to your favorite apps. Check put the link below to see all the apps that integrate with TextExpander, then check your apps settings to make sure your TextExpander support is enabled. Once it is, you can enter your TextExpander snippets and they’ll automatically expand just like they did in the TextExpander app.

If you need more help, you can browse the TextExpander online help file right inside the app. Unfortunately, the help files aren’t available offline, so you’ll have to get buy with the example snippets if you don’t have an internet connection.

The only bad thing is, none of Apple’s apps, including the iPad iWork apps, work with TextExpander. Also, it doesn’t work with WordPress for iOS, so if you want to use TextExpander to make it easier to blog from your iOS device, you’ll need to type your posts up in another app that works with it and then past it into the WordPress app.

Conclusion

Whether you’d like to make less spelling mistakes when texting from your iPhone or want to pound out essays and emails from your iPad quicker than ever, TextExpander is one of the few apps that can really help you do it. Not only does it do a great job at creating and expanding snippets, but it’s already integrated into so many apps that it will make the apps you already love and use even better. Typing on a glass screen isn’t nearly as bad as many would have guessed years ago, but it is still slower than a traditional keyboard. Once you get used to typing with TextExpander, you just might be able to increase your typing speed again. And, since it’s a universal app, you can use it on any iOS device you own.

I personally use my iPad for writing most of the time, and am now trying to integrate TextExpander snippets even further into my typing routine. If you’ve already used it, or if you try it out after this, let us know how you like it in the comments below!

Our Rating: 8/10

Download TextExpander Touch from the App Store | $4.99 – universal

TextExpander’s Official Site

Find apps compatable with TextExpander Touch

Comments { 3 }

Change Your DNS Settings on iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad

By Matthew Guay on February 4, 2011 in Quick Tips

Want to enable OpenDNS or Google DNS on your iOS device? Most default ISP DNS servers are quite slow, so you can both speed up your connection and help make it safer by switching to OpenDNS or Google DNS. Unfortunately, you can’t change DNS settings on cellular internet connections in iOS, but you can change your WiFi DNS settings to help speed up your connection. But whenever you’re on your using WiFi at your college, home, work, library, Starbucks, or anywhere else, here’s how you can switch to using the DNS server you want.

This works the same on all iOS devices, so the screenshots below show it in both iPad and iPod Touch settings screens.

First, enable WiFi on your device and connect to the WiFi network you want to use. Then, tap the blue arrow button on the right side of the network name to tweak its settings.

Now, select the DNS field, select the DNS that’s already listed, then enter the DNS settings you want. Separate different DNS addresses with commas. You’ll need to know the IP addresses of the DNS resolution system you want to use. There are several common ones, including OpenDNS, Google DNS, and a couple lesser known ones such as Norton DNS or Comodo Secure DNS. I’d personally recommend using OpenDNS or Google DNS, but you can give the others a try and choose the one that works best for you

Here’s the addresses you should use for these:

Service:	OpenDNS	Google Public DNS	Norton DNS	Comodo DNS
Primary IP:	208.67.222.222	8.8.8.8	198.153.192.1	156.154.70.22
Secondary IP:	208.67.220.220	8.8.4.4	198.153.194.1	156.154.71.22

Once you’ve added the settings, you’ll be ready to browse the internet using your new DNS service without any extra changes. Enjoy!

Do note that you have to set your DNS settings on each network, so do note that you’ll need to change this the next time you connect to a new network. The good thing is, your device will remember your recently used networks, so you shouldn’t have to change the settings once you’ve got them set for your favorite networks. To make it easier, you could save a note in your favorite note app with the DNS settings you prefer so you can copy and past them to new networks easily.

So, what DNS do you use by default? Google DNS, OpenDNS, or your local ISP’s default DNS? I usually use OpenDNS, but lately have had some problems with OpenDNS and iTunes, so I’ve been using Google DNS. Surprisingly, it’s seemed faster, lately, though that’s highly subjective. Let us know your favorite in the comments.

Comments { 28 }

Firetask | Project Management on Your iPhone

By Matthew Guay on January 12, 2011 in iOS Apps, Reviews

Looking for a way to manage your projects on the go with something more advanced than a standard todo list app? There’s a fine line between having too little or too much info about the things you need to do. Today we’re going to look at Firetask for iPhone, a detailed project management app that lets you keep track of all the details of the tasks in all of your daily projects.

Keep Track of Everything About Your Tasks

Firetask is a task and project manager that lets you keep up with a surprising amount of data about the things you need to do from your iPhone or iPod Touch. One nice thing is that it’s rather easy to get started with. Whenever you open a screen for the first time, you’ll see a hint notification that explains what to do there.

Add a new task from any screen by tapping the plus icon in the top right corner. Just type in your task name and press Save, or scroll down to add a wide variety of extra data to your task. You can set the task’s priority, due date, flag or categorize it, add notes, or assign it to different people in your team. The only problem here is that Firetask is a single-user app without a cloud interface, so it really doesn’t work well for managing tasks for a whole team.

Many of the options open a separate dialog where you can select the category, status, or more for your task. Unlike most todo list apps, your tasks are not limited to simply done or not done. With Firetask, you can track a task from start to completion like a full-blown project management system.

Now, from the Today screen, you can see all of your upcoming tasks and those due soon. Tap Focus to see only the tasks without dates and those scheduled for today or tomorrow. You can also view all of the tasks in categories from the bottom menu. If you took the time to categorize tasks, you’ll easily recognize tasks with their icons on the left even from the Today screen.

Dates and categories aren’t enough sometimes, so Firetask also lets you organize your tasks into projects. I’ve found this very useful, as I can quickly get all of my tasks into a group and see related tasks in 2 taps. When you add a new task in a project, you can still add categories, notes, flags, due dates, and more to each task.

Once a task is in progress, tap the box on the left to mark it as In Progress with a tiny graph icon. Tap again to mark it as complete. Or, press Edit List to reorder or remove tasks from the list. Firetask works great with projects like this, and you’ll still be able to see upcoming tasks from the Today screen and in their respective categories. No matter how much you have to do, Firetask can handle it.

Conclusion

If you’ve wanted to be able to keep up with more about your tasks and projects, organize them efficiently, and more, you may have found most iPhone todo list apps too feature-limited for your needs. Firetask includes tons of ways to organize and sort your tasks and projects, and it feels more like a mini-Basecamp than than a todo list. The only problem is, all these features make Firetask more cluttered than competing task management apps, and it has a somewhat steeper learning curve. If you prefer to just keep up a quick todo list, you may find one of the other todo list apps better for your needs, but if you’re wanting to keep better track of everything you’re doing, the extra steps and learning curve may be worth it. Additionally, if you have a Mac, you can purchase Firetask for Mac and keep your tasks in sync between your computer and iPhone.

Our Rating: 7/10

Download Firetask for iPhone from the App Store | $5.99

Checkout all of the Firetask Apps

Comments { 1 }

Today todo | Simply Focus on What You’re Doing Today

By Matthew Guay on January 12, 2011 in iOS Apps, Reviews

Tired of all the me-too todo list apps on your iPhone or iPod Touch? Sometimes it seems like everyone tries to make their apps look as much like other popular apps as possible, especially for productivity apps. Today Todo is a fresh change that takes your tasks into a new day, literally. Apple recently featured Today Todo in their list of essential College Survival Kit apps, so let’s take a look and see how it will help you manage your time, assignments, and more.

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, and the Future

When you first install and start Today Todo, you’ll be greeted with a bright sun and blue sky, with todo’s floating on top. The default tasks are a tutorial that help you quickly get up-to-speed on how Today Todo works. Once you’ve finished a task, just press the circle on the left to check it off.

On the top of each screen, you’ll notice a small white pull-down shade. This shows your lists of tasks, where you can separate your tasks, say, into school, home, work, or other categories. Tap the category you want to see the tasks it contains, or tap All to see all the tasks you’ve added to every list.

To add a new task, just tilt your device to the left or right and start typing. You can press the plus button to add a task, but just turning the device is much simpler! Type in your task on the top, then select a date for it on the bottom. You can also tap one of the three bars on the top right to select a priority for the task. There’s no tagging, notes, or location … just your task, the priority, and when it needs done. Once you’re done, just flip your iPhone back up to see your filled task list, or just press save and immediately enter another task.

To view your tasks scheduled for the future, swipe the sun icon on the top to the left. Swipe again to see tasks scheduled for Someday without a specific date to be completed. Then, once you’ve completed tasks, you’ll see them show up in the Yesterday screen which you’ll find by swiping the sun to the right from the Today screen. This is a cute way to keep everything organized by the time you need to do it.

Edit and Backup Tasks from your PC

One frustrating thing about many todo list apps is that they leave your todos on your iPhone. Whether or not you enjoy typing on your phone, sometimes it’s easier to type on a full keyboard. Plus, sometimes you can just copy and paste tasks you need to do from a webpage very quickly from a full computer. Today Todo includes a neat web server mode that lets you add and edit tasks from any computer or browser. Just tap the I icon in the bottom right corner of the app, then tap the slider beside Enable web server.

Now, browse to the address listed on your device on your PC or Mac, and you can view and edit all of your todos on your iPhone directly from your PC. Changes are saved to your device directly, so whenever you’re finished just tap Stop Webserver on your iPhone or iPod Touch and you’ll immediately see your updated task lists on it.

Today Todo doesn’t include an iPad version, but you could run it on an iPad in iPhone mode. Or, you could always view and edit your todos in the webserver mode in Safari on your iPad. This way, you can view, edit, and add todos to your iPhone or iPod Touch from a larger keyboard without using a PC at all!

Conclusion

Truth be told, I didn’t expect as much from this app as it offers, and figured it wouldn’t be as serious of a to-do list app with the whimsical background images. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Today Todo is one of the most intuitive todo list apps I’ve tested. I especially liked the way you can just tilt your device to add a task, the tilt it back to see your list without pushing any buttons or closing dialogs. Plus, the backgrounds actually add a nice, carefree attitude to the app. For once, managing tasks is actually fun!

My only complaint would be that Today Todo doesn’t keep a log of the tasks you’ve already completed, so you can only see your tasks from yesterday. That said, if you’re looking for an affordable and simple way to keep up with the things you need to do today and in the future and don’t want to fuss with notes, tags, or anything extra, this is a nice app you should definitely try. It’s scheduled tasks at it’s best!

Additionally, if you’d like a free todo list to just keep up with what needs done today, you can download Today Todo Basic, which lets you only add tasks for today and see what you did yesterday. It’s a great way to try out Today Todo’s interface for free, too.

Our Rating: 9/10

Download Today Todo for iPhone from the App Store | $3.99

Today Todo’s official website

Comments { 6 }

Wunderlist | To-do List Awesomeness on Every Platform

Type Faster on Your iPad or iPhone with TextExpander

Getting Started

Putting TextExpander to Work

Integrating TextExpander with Other Apps

Conclusion

Our Rating: 8/10

Change Your DNS Settings on iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad

Firetask | Project Management on Your iPhone

Keep Track of Everything About Your Tasks

Conclusion

Our Rating: 7/10

Today todo | Simply Focus on What You’re Doing Today

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, and the Future

Edit and Backup Tasks from your PC

Conclusion

Our Rating: 9/10

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