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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

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Sorted for iPad: Task Management, iWork Style

By Matthew Guay on March 9, 2011 in iOS Apps, Reviews

Apple has set a high bar for iOS apps with their own iPad apps. The bundled apps, including Calendar and Contacts, are nicely designed, but their iWork apps really set the bar with full-featured office programs that are easier to use than most desktop apps but offer much of the same power. The new GarageBand and iMovie apps for iPad 2 take this even further and bring features you’d be hard pressed to replicate on a traditional computer.

That said, hundreds of 3rd party developers have taken the iPad as a canvas for their best work, and have created beautiful and useful apps for the most popular tablet computer today. Sorted for iPad is one such app. It brings iWork’s style to task management, and lets you easily create lists of the things you need to do and stay organized from your iPad. Simple to use with an elegant interface, it seems like it might be what Apple would have created if they’d made a todo list app for the iWork suite. Best of all, the latest version is a universal app that you can use from your iPhone or iPod Touch as well!

Get Your Tasks Sorted

Sorted is a simple and elegant to-do list app that makes it easy to keep up with everything you need to do. It uses a document based interface to organize tasks, unlike many apps that keep all of your tasks together. Its interface works like many apps including the iWork apps; your documents are listed on the main screen, and you can open one by tapping it from the home screen.

Sorted includes a default task list to help you get started, or you can go ahead and create a new list to organize your tasks. Just enter your list’s title, then double-tap on any line to enter a new task. This is much quicker than opening a New Task dialog like you have to do in many apps.

Your default tasks are just a plain text to-do, but Sorted lets you add much more info if you want. Just tap the blue arrow on the left of a task to add a due date, reminder, and select a color to prioritize your tasks. Swipe up to add a note to the task as well. Once you’ve added extra info, you’ll see it in a smaller font under your task. If you’re not fond of the default priority colors, you can change them from Sorted’s main settings as well.

Sorted’s interface is very easy to use. You can rearrange tasks just by dragging them by the three line handle on the right; no need to tap edit or change anything else. Once you’ve finished a task, you can swipe it with one finger to check it off as completed. Alternately, swipe with two fingers to delete a task.

You’ll use the main List view by default, but Sorted can also display your tasks organized by priority or date. Alternately, select Completed to see all the tasks you’ve finished. If you accidentally swiped a task but aren’t actually finished with it yet, just swipe it again here and it’ll go back to your main list.

The nicest touch is the stamp on the top corner of the extra pages; it looks just like it was done with a real rubber stamp and ink. The little design touches such as the leather background behind the paper and the torn off paper edge at the top really make Sorted a pleasure to use. Combine that with fast operation and multitouch gestures, and Sorted definitely feels like it was built specifically for iPad much more than most other todo list apps.

Back on the main screen, you can add as many lists as you want to keep up with everything. Best of all, you can duplicate lists you’ve already created to make new lists. I really like this feature, since you can, for example, create a standard todo list for, say, a college class. Then, just duplicate it for each class, and add the info that’s important for that particular class. Once you’ve added a lot of tasks, it might be easy to lose them. Don’t worry, though; just tap the search button at the top to locate anything in your lists. Then, if you want to share your lists with others, you can email a plain text version right from Sorted. The developers plan to add the ability to sync your lists between devices in a future update; this will be especially nice if you have an iPhone and an iPad, since Sorted is already a universal app.

Conclusion

Sorted is a very simple todo list app that makes it quick and easy to keep up with everything you need to do. You can organize your tasks in separate lists, prioritize everything, and mark off the things you’ve done with multitouch gestures. It’s definitely a todo list app that feels like it’s been designed from the ground-up to work great on iPad. To me, it feels like a great addition to the iWork suite of apps! Best of all, it’s only $0.99, which is much cheaper than most iPad todo list apps. If you’ve used Sorted on your iPad, or on your iPhone since it’s now a universal app, let us know how it’s worked out for you!

Our Rating: 9/10

Download Sorted from the App Store | $0.99 – Universal app – iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad

Sorted’s Official Site

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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

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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

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Zenbe Lists | Todo lists on your iPhone and your browser

By Matthew Guay on December 9, 2010 in iOS Apps

Would you like to keep up with all of your tasks in orderly lists? Today we’re going to look at Zenbe Lists, a simple to-do list app that lets you keep up with your tasks without the fuss of more complicated apps, and then keep everything backed up online with the free Zenbe Lists webapp. Let’s dive in and see if this is the ideal to-do list app for you.

Staying Organized With Zenbe Lists

Zenbe Lists sports a clean and easy to use interface. When you first open the app, you’ll be greeted with little popup messages that help you learn your way around the app. This task manager is built around lists with tasks, so you can tap the top to add some lists for things you need to keep up with. You do it all right there on the front screen; no jumping between screens required.

Entering tasks is just as easy. Just tap the list name to see the contents, then press the top to add a new task. One feature I really liked is the ability to add tasks without going to a different screen; everything’s entered and checked off right there on the same screen.

Once you’ve entered tasks, tap them to edit the task, prioritize it, or add a due date. Or, back in the list view, press Edit to rearrange the notes or bulk check them off. While you can rearrange tasks in the same list, the app currently doesn’t let you move tasks to a different list. Thankfully, Zenbe just announced that this feature is coming in a update that should be in the App Store soon. This will make it much easier to manage all of your tasks and get them in the lists you need.

If you have an iPad, Zenbe Lists works just as good on it. Actually, you’ll have even less switching back and forth since everything’s right there on the same page. And if you add online sync as we’ll see below, you’ll be able to keep your tasks synced between all of your iOS devices. Zenbe Lists is a universal app, so you get all of this for the same price!

Syncing and Sharing Tasks Online

One of Zenbe Lists best features is that you can sync your lists and tasks online for free with Zenbe List’s webapp. Press the Sync button from any list to sign in with your Zenbe ID, or tap Signup to create a new account for free. Once you’ve created the account, go back to Zenbe Lists and sign in. Seconds later, your lists and tasks will be synced between the cloud and your device.

Now, you can sign in at lists.zenbe.com and access all of your lists and tasks online. This is a great way to quickly enter a ton of tasks from a full sized keyboard. Actually, if you’d like to use Zenbe Lists but don’t have an iOS device, you can signup for a free account online. You can take advantage of almost all the same features, and can even collaborate with others on list all from your desktop. The webapp even looks much like the iPhone app and’s just as easy to use. Then if you ever get an iPhone, you’ll be ready to move your tasks over in only a couple taps.

Conclusion

Zenbe Lists actually offers much more than you’d think on the surface. It’s a very simple task list app, but that also makes it very easy to use. With support for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad in the same app, as well as a free webapp that runs on any desktop browser, Zenbe Lists is great way to keep up with everything you need to do no matter where you are. If you like keeping all of your tasks in organized lists with just the most essential info, this app is a great one to check out. It includes less features than more advanced task managers like Things, but that also makes it simpler and easier to get used to.

There’s to-do list apps for every style of task management, so stay tuned for the rest of our reviews and a final roundup!

Our Rating: 8/10

Download Zenbe List for iPhone from the App Store | $2.99

Zenbe Lists Online

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Things | Advanced Task Management on Your iPhone

By Matthew Guay on December 2, 2010 in Featured, Reviews

You’ve got tons of things to do today, next week, and on projects that you’re not sure when you’ll get around to them. Sometimes simple to-do lists won’t cut it, and you’ll want a more powerful tool to take on your tasks and organize them into something you can really accomplish. Today we’re going to look at Things, a popular task manager for Macs and iOS devices, and see how the Things for iPhone app can keep you productive, even if you’re a PC user and only use Things on your iPhone or iPod Touch.

Getting Started with Things

When it comes to to-do lists on the iPhone or iPod Touch, there are two main varieties: simple to-do lists that are quick and easy to use, and more advanced task managers that help you manage your full life and work load. Things is firmly in the second camp, but is still almost as simple to use as a basic to-do list app. Things began life as a Mac app in 2009, and has since become one of the most popular task managers on OS X. It’s now available for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, and brings the same award winning simplicity to task management on iOS.

When you first launch Things, you’ll be greeted with several lists that will be familiar to anyone used to GTD apps: Inbox, Today, Next, and more. The Inbox is where all of your to-dos will go by default, and you could actually only use it and still get a lot of use out of Things.

First, though, you need to add some tasks. Press the plus button on the bottom left to add a to-do item. Just enter the item and press Save to save it to your Inbox. Alternately,press Show Details to add tags, notes, and a due date to your task. Tagging notes is a great way to organize them as you need, and you can add as many tags as you need to keep everything organized. If you’ve just got a second, just jot the task down and then you can come back and add more info later if you need.

You’ll quickly start filling up your Inbox this way. Press the arrow on the right to view extra info you’ve added to a note. You’ll see a tag icon on tasks that were tagged, as well as the due date on those you’ve added dates to. If you want to get your tasks in the order you want, press the Edit button and rearrange them as you need. Once you’ve completed a task, press the checkmark to mark it as finished.

As you may have noticed on the first Things screen, you can also organize your notes into Projects. These work like folders that you can move notes to so all of your tasks stay grouped with other tasks that go along with them. Actually, though, the projects themselves are to-do items, so you can check of individual tasks in a project, or check of a whole project when it’s finished. Once you’ve added projects, you can choose to add a new task to the project when you create it.

The only problem is, with tasks in the Inbox, projects, and more, how do you keep up with what you need to do Today? Things includes a great way to get everything you need to do today moved to the Today list. Simply press the star button in any folder or the Inbox, select all of the items you want to do today, and press Done when you’re finished. These items will now show up in the Today list, and you’ll see a badge on the list showing the number of items you need to do in blue and the number of overdue items in red. Even if you’re not using Things, you can still easily see how many tasks are left today by the icon badge on your iPhone home screen.

Once you’ve finished a task, it’ll be automatically moved to the Logbook at the end of the day. You’ll be able to review all the things you’ve done here, so hopefully you’ll be able to see how much more productive you’ve been with Things!

What’s Missing?

The best thing is, Things is not a static product that’s not getting any new features. On the contrary, Cultured Code has several new features in the pipeline for Things on all supported platforms. These include support for repeating tasks on Things for iPhone and support for Cloud sync, both of which are currently in development and planed for updates in the near future. We currently don’t know what the cloud sync will offer; will it include a Things webapp, or just be a syncing option between the versions versions of Things? I personally a Things webapp is in the works, but either which way, these updates will add welcome new features to Things’ already rich feature set. If you’d like to see what else Cultured Code has up their sleeve, check their Status Board which shows upcoming features and products like an arrival board at an airport.

What About PC Users?

Many iPhone and iPod Touch users like myself use our iOS devices along with Windows PCs. For the most part, this works great, but with apps like Things, you miss out on the included support for Mac apps. However, in this case I don’t find this to be a major problem. I’d love to use Things on Windows 7, and will be very excited if it is ever released for Windows, but for now, managing my tasks on iOS only works great. All of your to-do list data is backed up to your PC whenever you sync with iTunes, so your data is still safe. As long as you’re wanting to manage tasks only on iOS, this is still a great tool and you won’t be missing out on too much.

Conclusion

Things is a very powerful and versatile task manager that makes it easy to organize all of your tasks and still stay on schedule with them. It’s amazingly simple to use considering how much power it offers. I have been using Things as my primary to-do list and project manager for the past weeks, and it’s definitely helped me stay on track and kept me from forgetting important assignments. I’m looking forward to seeing what the Cloud Sync solutions turns out like, and will review it when it’s out. Even as it is now, though, Things is a great tool for keeping up with everything you need to do. It’s more expansive than most other to-do list apps, but it’s also much more powerful. If you’re curious but not yet sure, check out the Things website and watch the video of it in action to get a better feel if it’s the task manager you need to stay sane, on track, and organized!

Our Rating: 9/10

Download Things for iPhone from the App Store | $9.99

Things for iPhone and iPod Touch

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TaskForce | All of Your Todos on One Page on Your iPhone

By Matthew Guay on November 23, 2010 in iOS Apps

You’ve got things to do, you need to remember them, and you don’t want to have to fiddle with 3 dozen settings to get them saved on your iOS device. Ever had this situation? Today we’re going to look at TaskForce, a new, simple to-do list app that lets you jot down your tasks, mark them off when done, and get on with your life.

Clean & Quick

TaskForce is a simple and elegant app that lets you focus on your to-dos without worrying about extras. It uses a stylish paper on wood interface and simple controls that make it easy to get things done.

Entering a task is quick and easy. Just press the plus button in the right corner and start typing in your task. If you need to edit an existing task, just tap on the task’s words and start editing. No extra settings, tags, or folders to mess with … just your tasks. As your list fills up, you can drag the paper section to scroll up or down and see all of your tasks.

Tap the circle on a task or swipe to the right over it to mark it off as finished. Alternately, swipe to the left to delete a task. Do note that TaskForce doesn’t automatically remove your completed tasks, so you may prefer to simply swipe the the left and delete finished tasks if you don’t need to be reminded about them.

The Edit button on the top lets you quickly delete several of your tasks or rearrange them to the order you want. And that’s it … TaskForce gives you your tasks and the basic tools you need to use with them in a simple and elegant interface.

Conclusion

I found TaskForce to be a refreshing change from the competition: it’s a to-do list that just does to-dos, perfectly. TaskForce is also much cheaper than many competing apps, and at just $0.99 it’s a great companion app to help you stay on track of your most pressing to-dos. If you’ve been overwhelmed with the features and tools in other to-do list apps, you’ll find TaskForce refreshingly simple. Or, even if you use a more advanced to-do list too, you may find TaskForce helpful as a simple to-do list for quick tasks you don’t need to schedule. After all, if you’re spending all of your time organizing your tasks, you’ll never actually do them!

Our Rating: 9/10

Download TaskForce from the App Store | $0.99

TaskForce.toopia.com

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SpeedTask | A Corkboard for Todos on Your iPhone

By Matthew Guay on November 23, 2010 in iOS Apps

Need a quick and stylish way to keep up with all the things you need to do each day? SpeedTask is a new iPhone app with a free companion webapp that makes it easy to keep up with everything you need to do today. Let’s look at how this app can help you get everything you need to done each day done without complicated calendars and schedules.

Doing Your Tasks – One Day At a Time

When you first open SpeedTask, you’ll notice right off that this app is neither complicated nor bland. You’ll see several to-do items listed to help you quickly learn how to use the app. The main task interface looks like a corkboard with Post-it style notes attached with tape. The small design flourishes such as this make the app a joy to use, and also make it easy to see what’s left to do today. Swipe over a task to delete it, or tap and hold the middle of the task to edit it. When you’re ready to add new tasks, just tap on the wooden box at the top to quickly enter it. Shorter tasks will only show up in the larger bold font, but longer tasks will take up two lines with the rest of the task in a smaller font underneath the top. Interestingly, I noticed that most longer tasks I added actually broke up nicely this way; the main task ended up on the top, with the rest of my sentence that described the task showing up underneath. Turns out, SpeedTask just taught me something about the way I write tasks! Or, tap the arrow on the right of a task to change its priority. You can choose from white with red dashes (highest priority), yellow/crème with red dashes (medium priority), or plain yellow/crème (lowest priority). Alternately, if you need to move a task to tomorrow, just press the red icon which shows tomorrow’s date in the calendar. SpeedTask is built entirely around the tasks you need to do on a certain day. From the bottom, you can scroll between the past 3 previous days and up to a month in the future. This works like a to-do list based calendar; you can add tasks on the day you know you’ll need to do them, but not schedule them to a rigid time. In my usage, I actually added most of my tasks on the current date’s page, and then just pushed them to the next day if I couldn’t finish them. You’ll see any tasks you didn’t finish yet from a previous day easily as that date will show an exclamation mark. But, if you already know a date you need to do a task on, just scroll to that date and write it on the wall just like you would a friend’s Facebook wall! When you’ve finished a task, just press the box on the left to mark it as done. A rubber stamp-style Done mark will be “stamped” on the right corner of the task, and the task will drop to the bottom of your list. Now on to the next task… And if you enjoy extra hidden features, we even uncovered an Easter Egg of sorts in SpeedTask: pull down on your to-do list, and you’ll see Liquefy Studios’ logo on the top of the corkboard. Fancy!

Staying in Sync

One of SpeedTask’s best features is that it includes a free companion webapp so you can keep up with your tasks from your Mac or PC even if your iPhone or iPod Touch is turned off. Press the gear button in the top corner to open the Settings page, where you can create a new sync account and also change the default font in the app. Once you’ve created an account, slide the On/Off button and your tasks will automatically stay synced and backed up whenever you’re online. From the SpeedTask website, you can now view, manage, and add tasks to your schedule. You can also subscribe to a iCal file of your to-dos to add them to your favorite desktop calendar app. The webapp is almost as nice looking, but it doesn’t include the cute paper to-do style. Sure would be a nice addition, though!

Conclusion

SpeedTask offers an innovative way to manage your tasks. It’s the closest mix between a calendar and a to-do list, and makes it easy to focus on what’s next. I would have liked to see a scratch list where you could leave to-dos that you weren’t sure when you’d do them, and additionally would like a way to archive previous tasks. Right now, older tasks will be deleted 4 days after they’ve been done, when that date no longer is accessible from the app. Still, though, overall SpeedTask is a nice app, and the free companion webapp makes it even better. If this to-do list app doesn’t look like the right one for you, stay tuned for the rest of our to-do list app reviews that will be coming up soon! Otherwise, let us know how SpeedTask is helping you stay organized on the go and online.

Our Rating: 7/10

Download SpeedTask from the App Store | $4.99

SpeedTaskApp.com

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Getting Things Done on Your iPhone or iPod Touch

By Matthew Guay on November 22, 2010 in Featured, Techinch

Over 17 years after launching the Newton platform and jumpstarting the PDA market, Apple today is a leader in the smartphone category that has taken over both PDAs and phones. These devices were originally designed to help you keep your life organized digitally. Although many of us enjoy playing games and goofing off online from our modern iDevices, there are many apps that can help you keep your life organized and productive on the go.

This week on Techinch.com, we’re going to be featuring a number of to-do list apps that can help you stay on schedule and get everything you need to get done, done. Many of us have trouble fitting everything into a schedule; there’s no specific time of the day you need to change the oil or buy that new domain name, for instance. I much prefer flexible project-orientated to-do lists with all of the tasks I need to do. There’s tons of great options for this on iOS, so we’re going to look at a number of different to-do list apps, including some well-known apps and some newer ones:

Things
2Do
SpeedTask
Zenbe Lists
Firetask
Today Todo
TaskForce
Plus, we’ve already covered Satchel and Summit, both of which can be used to make Backpack and Basecamp, respectively, into great to-do list tools.

While we all know there’s always more than one way to do anything, it’s impressive how each of these apps has managed to be unique and offer different ways of managing your tasks. Whether you prefer to keep all of you to-dos managed by date or project, sorted with tags, simple or filled with notes and locations, or just a plain list with no extra bells and whistles, there’s an app for everyone that will help you manage tasks just like you want. Stay tuned for our reviews, and then we’ll follow up with a thorough overview to help you choose the app that’s best for you. Or, if you have a favorite to-do list app that you’d like to see featured, leave a comment and let us know why this app is your favorite!

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Keep Your Tasks Organized With GeeTeeDee

By Matthew Guay on October 12, 2010 in PC Software

Need a lightweight, easy to use tool to keep up with all the things you need to do each day? Although dozens of apps we use daily can be great for storing tasks we need to do, sometimes a dedicated app that just shows what you need to do is best. One app that does this really well is GeeTeeDee, a new to-do list app for Windows. Let’s take a look at how you can use GeeTeeDee to stay on top of what you need to do.

Getting Started

First, you’ll need to setup GeeTeeDee on your computer. You can download it either as an installable app or a portable app. If you want to only use it on one computer, simply select the Desktop Installer and install as normal. Otherwise, if you’d like to keep up with your tasks on multiple Windows computers, download GeeTeeDee Portable. Then, extract the files and save them to your flash drive or in your Dropbox so your tasks will automatically sync between your computer. I actually have an Apps folder in Dropbox just to save portable applications so they can sync between my desktop and netbook.

When you first start GeeTeeDee, you’ll be presented with a blank Inbox to store your tasks. You can click the link on the front page to add some default tasks, or just click New at the bottom to start adding a new task.

You can add a name, notes, and a due date to tasks. Once you’re done adding a task, click elsewhere and it will be condensed to just the title. Double-click a task to view or edit the due date or notes, or double-click in any blank area to add a new task.

If you’d like an even more streamlined interface, click the Compact button on the bottom. This will give you just a list of your tasks without the sidebar on the left. As you finish tasks, just check them off to show their completed. You can then click Cleanup to remove finished tasks from the list.

Organizing Tasks

Whether you’re trying to follow a plan such as Getting Things Done or you’re simply wanting to keep up with your tasks in an orderly manner, you’ll want to organize your tasks into groups. GeeTeeDee starts with a default Inbox, but you can double-click or right-click and select Add group on the left sidebar to add a new group to organize your tasks.

Select an icon for your group, then enter a name and click Ok to add the new group..

Now you can create new tasks in the group, or move existing tasks from your inbox into your new group. And, of course, you can make as many groups as you need to keep up with everything you need to do.

One complaint I’ve had with many to-do list programs is that you can’t move your task around easily. GeeTeeDee makes it very simple to move your tasks; simply click and drag a task to reorder them. You can drag them to the position you want in your task list, or drag them to a different group. This makes it easy to simply create all your new tasks in the Inbox, then sort them later when you have time. Now you can easily keep track of all your tasks in an orderly, efficient, and elegant manner.

Pros and Cons

Does GeeTeeDee include all the features you need right now? Here’s a quick overview of where it’s great and where it still needs work, though hopefully we’ll see new features added soon in upcoming updates:

[one_half]

Pros:

Elegant and clean interface
Easily manage your tasks
Works similar to Things for Mac OS
Portable
Lightweight – low system resource consumption

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[one_half_last]

Cons:

No keyboard shortcut support
Doesn’t support tags
No webapp or mobile device support (though mobile apps are planned)

[/one_half_last]

Conclusion

Could you just use your favorite note app like Evernote, or the task list built into Outlook or Gmail? Sure you could. But with a dedicated task management tool, you’ll be sure to not miss anything important, while keeping yourself focused on what needs done. GeeTeeDee lets you do this in an elegant and simple way, and we’re excited to see such a solid competitor to Things or OmniFocus on Windows. Sometimes an app comes along, and you wonder how you got along without it before: for me, GeeTeeDee was one of those apps. It’s my favorite new Windows app, and has helped me stay on top of all of my work and college tasks. Hopefully future updates and mobile apps will fill in the current gaps, but until then, it’s still a great simple way to manage the things you need to do from your PCs.

Find Out More and Download GeeTeeDee

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Get Your Tasks Sorted

Conclusion

Our Rating: 9/10

Keep Track of Everything About Your Tasks

Conclusion

Our Rating: 7/10

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, and the Future

Edit and Backup Tasks from your PC

Conclusion

Our Rating: 9/10

Staying Organized With Zenbe Lists

Syncing and Sharing Tasks Online

Conclusion

Our Rating: 8/10

Getting Started with Things

What’s Missing?

What About PC Users?

Conclusion

Our Rating: 9/10

Clean & Quick

Conclusion

Our Rating: 9/10

Doing Your Tasks – One Day At a Time

Staying in Sync

Conclusion

Our Rating: 7/10

Getting Started

Organizing Tasks

Pros and Cons

Pros:

Cons:

Conclusion

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