This will make life better for a lot of people I know.

1:48 pm  •  1 June 2011

Here’s a new project-and-contact management Web tool that feels like a desktop app and lets you manage it all in one place. The folks behind Apollo definitely know how to build a clean, sleek user interface.

Right now it’s in a public beta, so it’s free, while they develop pricing plans. Check it out.

7:45 pm  •  10 January 2011

I’ve been using EasyTask really well for about three weeks, to to the point where I started deftly dropping things into the Inbox with the handy quick-entry window while I worked.

Until today. I tried to clean up some old projects by deleting them on the desktop edition. Then hit the Sync button, and they re-appeared. Apparently from the fact that they were still in my iPhone app, and somehow still in the server.

I tried this again, deleting them on the iPhone version first. But then when I hit the sync button they all reappeared. Maybe they are being stored in the Web version database?

Not good. Not good at all. Got to be able to clean things up without the server recreating them. What if it starts deleting things willy nilly? Got to be able to trust your GTD system if it’s going to work. 

5:17 pm  •  11 August 2010

I’ve been trying out EasyTask for Mac and iPhone the past couple of weeks. It’s also availalable for Windows and iPad. The iPhone app runs on its own and is totally free, but the Mac version runs in demo mode (20 task limit) until you buy a license for $19.99 via Paypal.

The functionality of the apps, however, make this a serious contender to the gold-standard of GTD apps, OmniFocus, which costs far more for each of its Mac, iPhone and iPad versions that work together.

Couple of quick things I like about EasyTask:

1. System-wide task-entry window. This works in almost every app, and floats a little translucent window over whatever you’re doing (like Mail) allowing you to type the task, and even set Project and Context if you like, or dump straight to the Inbox.
2. Price. $20 for something that travels with you, on- and off-line, iPhone and computer, and syncs across the Web (forgot there’s a free Web version you can access from any computer as well)
3. Fast, locally running. While systems like Nozbe and Basecamp and Backpack can work if you are always on a fast internet connection, there’s nothing like being able to do a quick review of your projects without relying on the Web.

I’m still tweaking the workflow, but this is one of the best value GTD apps I’ve seen for multiple platforms in a while.

2:35 pm  •  4 August 2010

Tumblr is still the fastest, easiest way to start and maintain a blog. Wordpress may be open source, and more configurable, but for sheer function and usability, Tumblr is it.

2:47 pm  •  8 May 2010

I don’t know when Evernote is going to add to-do creation to its mobile/iPhone apps. It’s still an amazing app for forwarding your items, reference e-mails, GTD inbox and to-dos, but as of this writing, you still have to create tasks in the desktop app using the key shortcut or the toolbar button.

It kills Evernote for good on-and-offline task management.

5:54 pm  •  13 April 2010  •  1 note

More people I meet are talking about Evernote, the ubiquitous note-picture-sound-Web capture software. They continue to improve the software and expand to more platforms, and that’s fueling the buzz.

After using it for more than a year, I upgraded to the premium version for greater upload capacity ($5/month or $45/year). Unlike other note-taking tools and “freemium” apps, I found myself using it more, not less, as time went on.

These days in meetings and lectures, as many people take notes on laptops as on paper. But I love my notebook, and I believe taking handwritten notes better helps the note-taker, the presenter and others in the room stay attentive and collaborative.

One of the best arguments for typed digital notetaking is the easy searchability of it, and the easy backups. Leave your almost-full Moleskine in the airport, and you can lose months of ideas forever.

So here’s something I’ve started doing. Evernote’s optical character recognition is so good, it might be a great place to capture my writings and mindmaps from my notebook. Because while I can type a lot faster than I write, the quality of content is better when I write by hand. And there’s no good way to circle, connect and loop concepts together in a text editor the way you can with paper and pen.

I write tasks, phone numbers and thoughts in my notebook too. And, there are lots of things in my Moleskine I don’t need to see later or save. But there are lots of things I do want to save.

Paper is a long way from obsolescence. We’re still years from digitally replacing its ease, cheapness, portability, usability and feel. But with instant portable snapshot tools like the Evernote for iPhone, Android and Windows Mobile, why not enjoy using paper and “snap” it into a digital file cabinet as we go?

10:08 pm  •  18 March 2010  •  1 note

I just realized my iPhone notes are syncing into Mail.app on my Mac, but into the mailbox of an old POP address, which I rarely use. I don’t think I set this up anywhere. But it’s cool. I just need to understand why it’s happening.

2:36 pm  •  20 November 2009

For a while now, I’ve been collecting all kinds of info on productivity tools on the Web, GTD, and collaboration tools. Some of these have been for work projects, others have been in a purely personal interest at finding the ultimate balance of usefulness and user experience. This will be the catalog of experiences with those tools. Hopefully, it’s useful information to you.

6:07 pm  •  22 July 2009