task

If you like the interface of the Mac OS but are stuck using a Windows machine, this little app from Stardock can help--if only very slightly. The premise behind ObjectDock is very simple: it adds an animated, Mac-inspired dock to your desktop that provides easy access to useful shortcuts and serves to replace your taskbar (if you so choose).

The ObjectDock install is quick and light, and the program is extremely easy to set up. A simple settings menu lets you choose how many items you want on the dock, where it is positioned, and whether you want zoom enabled. … Read more

OS X 10.7 "Lion" is the eighth major release of OS X, and comes with a new philosophical approach to the Mac. Apple has been using OS X for the "Mac OS" as well as the underlying OS for the AppleTV as well as the iOS on iPhones and the iPad, and is now looking to bring some of the innovations in the iOS back to the Mac OS to enhance the Mac experience.

The first is multitouch gestures, a feature that has been progressively implemented into OS X with Apple's multitouch trackpad, Magic mouse, and Magic trackpad input devices. While many might imagine a touch-screen option for notebooks, Apple is not going to go in that direction, indicating user fatigue as the main problem with that approach, but also that it is just cumbersome for most users. Instead, Apple will be concentrating on the horizontal approach to gestures and inputs that we have seen in the multitouch trackpads, and is leaving the onscreen gestures to mobile devices.

The second feature is the implementation of the Mac App Store on OS X. This is available as a standalone application that you can put in your Dock, which will open and show a view into the store similar to the iTunes store. It will allow you to better discover new applications as well as offer easy one-click purchasing and installation of applications. When applications are purchased, they will immediately show in the Dock along with a progress bar indicating the download and installation progress for that application. When the progress bar is done, the application can be launched immediately.

While Apple is advertising the new App Store for Lion, the program will be available for Snow Leopard within 90 days, so stay tuned. Apple has a developer kit to hopefully get other applications into the store besides its iLife and iWork suites, and we expect that like the current App Store for the iOS, it will populate rather quickly.… Read more

Many of us spend the vast majority of our time on our computers, so it makes sense to have a to-do list that lives on the computer as well. Swift To-Do List Lite is a simple but capable utility that can help you stay on top of the things you need to get done.

The program's interface is attractive and very easy to navigate. To add a new task, users simply enter a title, select a priority level and task type (if desired), and choose a due date. The program has plenty of options for reminding users of upcoming … Read more

Things for iPhone is a well-designed, easy-to-use, highly scalable task-management app for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and it's even better when paired with the Mac desktop app of the same name. Like its desktop counterpart (with which it can sync over Wi-Fi), Things for iPhone offers a clean, intuitive interface based around the popular "Getting Things Done" productivity method. Tasks are collected under Projects (sets of smaller subtasks), Areas (areas of responsibility, such as work or family), and an Inbox "waiting area" for unsorted tasks.

Things also has a handy Today list (which also … Read more

The head of the Internet's leading standards body said Thursday that it is "misleading" for AT&T to claim that its push to charge customers for high-priority service is technically justified.

Internet Engineering Task Force chairman Russ Housley told CNET that AT&T's arguments to federal regulators, which cited networking standards to justify "paid prioritization" of network traffic, were invalid.

"AT&T in their letter (to the Federal Communications Commission) says the IETF envisioned this," Housley said. "That's not my view."

This particular debate began earlier … Read more

As with any classic role-playing-style game, EpicWin ($2.99) gives you experience points in a number of categories that help your character gain skills and move through a mystical world. The difference in this game? You have to complete your own real tasks to advance your character.

While task management and to-do lists are nothing new on the iPhone (see OmniFocus or Things), EpicWin puts a new spin on how you treat your responsibilities that may just cause you to get more done. With so many games geared toward farming computer crops, creating made-up mobs, or killing virtual vampires, EpicWin turns your to-do list into a game with real rewards (and some fun fake ones, too).

Setting up your EpicWin world is pretty easy. In fact, it's the first few tasks (renamed "quests" for this game) you must complete on your list the day you install the App. Those tutorial quests set you up to begin your journey toward tackling your tasks and completing them as your new avatar (choose from three free characters or two you can purchase in-App).

Being a tall, lanky dude, I of course chose the skeleton character for my avatar and began creating quests. The cool part about adding tasks to EpicWin (despite the fact that it does not sync with any current task managers or calendar to-do lists you may have) is that you get to determine each quest's level of Epicness. … Read more

Using productivity software can be a great way to increase efficiency, but all too often, software that is designed to save time ends up being too complex to really be efficient. That's not the case with Daily To-Do List, though; this simple program lets users create basic to-do lists without a lot of confusing or unnecessary features.

Daily To-Do List has a simple interface that's easy to navigate. Users simply choose the appropriate day from a calendar and then add their tasks. Each task can be assigned to a specific category and marked with its priority level. Users … Read more

PCs are great productivity tools, and great time-wasters. It's not really fair to blame the machine; it didn't force you to spend all day Net surfing and forwarding gag e-mails. SVT Systems' GoalEnforcer Hyperfocus Edition is designed not only to help you focus on your tasks at hand to increase your daily productivity, but also to help you focus on your long-term goals and make concrete steps toward achieving them. It's based on "recursive visual thinking," a graphical method of saving, organizing, and prioritizing projects, goals, and thoughts.

GoalEnforcer Hyperfocus Edition's executable can be … Read more

Ever tried to set up an event or meeting while trying to balance the schedules of others? That's been made easy with tools like Doodle, TimeBridge and Planypus. But what if you're having a dinner party, or a picnic, or going camping, or any other real-world situation where you're grouping together your resources?

That's where Divvyus comes in handy. It lets you manage some of the chaos of assigning to-dos, or things to bring ahead of time. There's no registration required, you just need to send out the URL of the Divvyus, and whomever you … Read more