DROIDICAL

• New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-19 (http://bit.ly/8HUHQa) #
• New post: Free ToDo Apps Round Up (http://bit.ly/6XmEN7) #

One thing that has driven me nuts over the years it that though there is great software for keeping track of my todos from the simple to the complex… the lists eventually stagnate. I think this is because a lot of the todos that I really need help tracking are things that I need to do when I am away from my desk.  Eventually small lists end up going into little notebooks or stickies. Though they often do get done, just seems like a messy primitive process.  I loved syncing tasks onto my old Treo with the desktop apps so now that I have my Droid in hand almost everywhere I go it’s time to clean up my todo management.

What are my requirements for tracking tasks? For many this is a big list. Being a fairly simple todo-er I think my requirements are small. One thing I did want was some way to massage the list at my desk and on my Droid. Just looking for something to keep track of a todo list, may be categories or different lists,  someway to work with it while sitting at my desk without poking around on the Droid, free, and possibly attach some kind of date with it. I saw several (free) apps in the Marketpace that are inspired by ‘GTD’ (Getting Things Done). I grabbed several and played around

Astrid – very simple interface to add tasks, set dates, add to calendar, time worked, importance, reminders, tags, syncs with RTM

GOALS ToDo Free – big message at the beginning with demo expiring, setup seems clunky and interface doesn’t seem to be simple enough for me. May be more suited to someone that needs a lot more features.I am sure I missed some on purpose or accident.

gTask – very simple clean interface, set dates, add to calendar, create separate lists, additional notes for each task, syncs with Google

QuickTodo – super basic, add an item and set a due date, no sync

TagTodo – force close on Droid/Android 2.0.1

ToDo lite – pretty simple, list management as well as task management on main page, date driven, let’s you record an audio note with the task, dorky ‘No You Can Go Surfing’ message when tasks are done, no sync

Conclusion: I decided to go with gTask mainly for the sync with google tasks and google calendar. I am not wanting to create (yet another) account at RememberTheMilk.com to sync and manage there (while on the desktop).  Since I am in Gmail all the time anyway it’s easy to pull up the task list and add things that I think of there. Astrid does have some more features that were pretty cool and tempting.  If you are already a user or fan of RememberTheMilk.com or are not interested in sync it’s definitely a good way to go. I may watch and see if they add Google Task sync in the future. To me that’s the beauty of having keeping stuff in the cloud… it’s easy to change my local client/app to suite my needs.

What’s your favorite ToDo keeper?

Read more…

• New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-12 (http://bit.ly/5KPRZM) #
• Camera working stacks better after update. #
• @androidmy RT @androidmy Analysts Predict App Explosion in 2010 http://is.gd/5eQyr. – Assuming this is true we need SD app storage #
• Grooveshark app looks very cool… but not going to pay 3/mo to be a VIP just to try it out… needs a free version like grooveshark.com #
• Every app should have a clear 'quit' which does in fact stop the app from running further. A simple ask. #android #

• New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-05 (http://bit.ly/4YlWY9) #
• Trying to figure out the best podcast manager/player on android. #
• Really interested in getting updated but no notices yet and can't trigger it from settings #
• Just added the Palm Treo 650 to my had list on @gdgt! http://bit.ly/4uHuY5 #
• Just added the Nintendo Wii console to my have list on @gdgt! http://bit.ly/2voZP5 #
• Just added the Apple iPod nano 1st-gen to my have list on @gdgt! http://bit.ly/3U2VGz #
• Just added the Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch to my have list on @gdgt! http://bit.ly/4nlWZz #
• Motorola's #Droid is Time's 'Gadget of the Year' … http://bit.ly/7urJAs #
• Got my OTA update prompt late last night even while on wifi. Install was pretty quick. Diff unlock,snappier, will test camera today. #

• New post: Calendar Android to Desktop (http://bit.ly/4XRZKZ) #
• Wordpress mobile pack works nicely when viewing in android browser #
• all the chatter about ATT customer satisfaction ranking being last makes me feel better about paying more for vz and getting the droid #att #
• While #pandora is a cleaner #android app, I like the ability to browse stations on #slacker #
• Dear verizon, I think you need some more hardware or better front developers because your customer service site is embarrasingly slow. Keep #
• New post: Droid Going to Get Camera Auto Focus Updated! (http://bit.ly/7izLab) #
• ##Droid #2.0.1 SDK #camera #

http://blogs.zdnet.com/gadgetreviews/?p=9881&tag=nl.e539

I will be even more excited when it actually hits the phone. Things like this will help build faith that your Android phone decisions should really be around the hardware deficiencies and not software. That’s what I thought when I first heard about the camera issues. It sounded like something that could be resolved through an update.

I would venture to say that many people buying a Droid have never  really delved into the online calendar world.  I use a calendar at work heavily but haven’t really done much personal calendaring.  Entering an appointment or event right on into the built in Calendar app is such a cinch I started doing it. Then comes the next question… how to view or sync this with your desktop calendaring software.

As many Androidites already know… by jumping into Android you are drinking the Google CoolAide for better or worse.  Your little calendar app automatically syncs with your Google account calendar.  You can view it simply by going to Google Calendar or by using CalDAV to sync with software able to sync with it Mozilla Sunbird and Apple iCal work well.  You can view and add to your calendar through these desktop apps….though I am finding I use the web based applications for most everything getting the same experience no matter what system I am on.

During Thanksgiving vacation the wifi at our resort was so weak that Verizon’s 3G was looking faster so I started to wonder if I could setup my laptop to use my Verizon’s data connection, often called ‘tethering.’  I had done this in the past with my old Treo and ATT’s network.  I knew that the Android OS has the capability and being fairly geeky I started to check into it.

In November several reports came about Verizon offering tethering in 2010 for the Droid…
http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/06/verizon-confirms-droid-tethering-cost-will-ask-subscribers-to-d/
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/11/tethering-droid/

It’s gonna cost $30/month, ahhh, no thanks. There are solutions reported using your USB cable which looks like something you wouldn’t want to tackle with out some technical saavy.

http://androidforums.com/how-tips/18532-mac-os-x-droid-tethering-usb-wired.html
http://mobiletech.knguyentu.com/2009/11/motorola-droid-how-to-tether-via-usb.html