I am a huge believer in To Do lists.  I have a lot of tasks, and building out lists is one of the best ways to make sure everything gets done on time.

The direction I have been moving in, especially since getting my Android phone, is moving those lists to my phone.  I have been looking at numerous apps to handle my calendaring and to do list duties.

Among the requirements I have for a to do list are:

• Repeating Tasks… I write on 4 blogs and maintain a couple of dynamic websites that always need fresh content.  So, I need to remember where I need to write posts each day.  My repeating tasks include:
  • Same day each month (gathering statistics in my local MLS)
  • Same day each week (weekly posts like my 53 Cool Concept series each Sunday)
  • Every X number of days (for places I post every four or eight days, etc)
• Ability to tag or note which tasks are for which purpose
• Prioritization (so I don’t get caught up in stuff that doesn’t matter… missing things that are more important)
• Ability to sync between my mobile device and other devices (laptop, cloud, etc.)

The tough one is repeating tasks… so far, the only thing I have found that really rocks repeating tasks is Microsoft Outlook.  And there isn’t a real good way to incorporate it with an Android phone.

Over the next few weeks I am going to test and review as many ToDo List applications as I can find.  I’ll be looking at them through the prism above… how they fit my needs.  I will try to update this post with the links to each of those reviews… but feel free to subscribe to get the posts as fast as I write them.

And don’t be shy about suggestions… I find most of my apps through AppBrain, but also try to keep an eye on the Android Marketplace and even Google searches.

Related articles

• Task List Guru Is Complete Desktop To-Do List Software (addictivetips.com)
• Top 20 Best Android Apps You Need To Get (That Aren’t Games) (makeuseof.com)
• Making It All Work – Getting Control: Organizing (thesimpledollar.com)
• Taskos Is a Voice-Powered Mobile To-Do List for Android [Downloads] (lifehacker.com)
• GTD Blog (eyesofcalvin.wordpress.com)

Image via CrunchBase

A list can be a wonderful tool to help get things done.  It is a wonderful focus point to push our activities in the right direction.  But one problem with task lists is keeping them current across various platforms.

The obvious choices are:

• Outlook
• Google
• Thunderbird w/Lightning (Mozilla)
• Phone based applications

I’m sure that Apple has a suite with an integrated calendar and task list, too… but I’m not a Mac user, so I don’t know about their options.

I recently changed from a BlackBerry Pearl Flip to an Android T-Mobile G2 (affiliate link) phone.  One of the first things I found out was that the G2 had MANY more applications, and that there were a lot of options for synchronizing calendars… especially with Google.

I have been using Mozilla’s Thunderbird Email Client for a long time, but had dismissed Lightning, the calendaring/tasking component, because of a lack of features that worked for me.

Outlook has been my Calendar/Task List Manager of choice because of the nice interface and flexibility of its platform.

I’m getting ready to drop Outlook (I’m using a beta of Office 2010 that expires at the end of October) in favor of Google and Thunderbird/Lightning.  There are a variety of reasons that I am doing this…

• cross-platform synchronization
• cloud-based flexibility
• free!

Image via CrunchBase

Cross-platform sync and cloud-based flexibility are related.  In essence, if I am mobile and complete a task (or think of a task), when I enter it on my mobile device it should go to my home computer.  Similarly, tasks and calendar entires from my home computer would be automatically on my phone… And regardless of which computer I am on, I’d have access to all of my tasks and appointments via my Google calendar.  Another benefit is that I can share my calendar (like with my wife) so that others I choose may see my availability.  I can also integrate shared calendars from others (our Cub Scout Pack and our Tiger Cub Den, for example) so that I can see group activities.  This allows me to have a better idea of what appointments and commitments I have as I schedule new items.  At the same time, others can see when I’m likely to be available.

There is just one problem…  Google Calendar’s Task App doesn’t support sharing yet. This is supposed to be changing… and I will be very excited when it does… but I didn’t have the sharing capability with Outlook, so I can’t complain that I still don’t have it.  I’m also not thrilled with the Task function on Google.  There is no way to enter a recurring task.  Of course, until Google allows an API for the Task function on Google Calendars, it doesn’t matter because the tasks are stuck there and can’t sync with either the phone or the home computer.

Still… at least there are future plans to allow the synchronization between the three platforms (mobile device, home computer, cloud) for tasks… and there is current support for calendar synchronization at all locations.  Outlook will do some of this, and through 3rd party applications (on Outlook 2010) can sync with Google… there is still a matter of cost, and Outlook isn’t doing it better, it just costs more.

Related articles

• Provider for Google Calendar (brighthub.com)
• Aaron Toponce: Synchronize Mozilla Lightning with Google Calendar (pthree.org)
• 5 Extensions To Add Calendar & Task Manager To Thunderbird 3 (makeuseof.com)

Image via Wikipedia

I like free stuff.  Free stuff is good.  Good free stuff is better…

Right now, Microsoft is running BETA tests on MS Office 2010.  And it is a public BETA, so ANYONE can download and install the total MS Office suite.  This includes:

• Word
• Excel
• PowerPoint
• One Note
• Outlook
• Access
• Publisher
• InfoPath
• SharePoint Workspace
• Communicator

Image via Wikipedia

This depends on exactly which version you download.  I didn’t get InfoPath, SharePoint Workspace or Communicator.

And there certainly are some things to keep in mind.  To start with, these are only going to run until October of 2010 (I have been told…).  Also, they are BETA releases, and so there may be bugs.  Microsoft has some specific instruction for trying it out.

Outlook 2010…

Image via Wikipedia

The reason I even ran across this is that I needed a calendar.  I have been sifting through a

PILE of calendar solutions over the last couple of weeks and not found a single one I liked as much as my old Outlook Calendar.  And I like the new one, too.

I haven’t even opened the rest of the software, nor have I set up Outlook to handle my email… I am using Thunderbird 3… but just having the calendar function makes it worthwhile for me.

Image via Wikipedia

In the coming weeks I will likely dive into Publisher, and One Note has long been something I like to use with my Tablet PC.  I will also try to compare the functionality of Word and Excel to their counterparts in Open Office.

In  the mean time, they are free to try.

One last thing to keep in mind, this is a BIG download.  Expect it to take quite a while to download…

Here is the download link…