Tips & Tricks Tuesday: Make an email alias to easily add your tasks
Tuesday, September 7, 2010 by Andrew Conkling
This week's simple, helpful tip comes from rusharound:
I love the RTM email address that puts items into your list. The trouble is, it's a hard one to remember. I made an email alias with my ISP that forwards all email sent to todo@mydomain.com to my RTM address. It saves a lot of time and grief.
Be sure to check out the replies in that topic for some specific angles on this idea, and read more about our email service on our site.
Thanks for sharing this tip, rusharound! You're our Tips & Tricks Tuesday winner this week.
Do you have a suggestion for our weekly Tips & Tricks post? Got an interesting set-up or idea? Head over to the Tips & Tricks forum, add a new topic, and let us know how you use Remember The Milk. Each week we'll give away a 1 year Pro account to the user whose idea inspires the Tips & Tricks Tuesday blog post for that week.
Posted in: Tips & Tricks
Tips & Tricks Tuesday: The "Ugh!" List
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 by Andrew Conkling
If you find yourself missing or forgetting some tasks, this week's tip, shared by mark.szoke should help you track those tasks that you keep putting off or that slip under your radar:
I have a nasty habit of continually postponing certain tasks, or just "forgetting" to put a due date/priority, thinking, "I'm sure I'll take care of it someday". That day never seems to come around. So, I create a search query/ Smart List with the operators: (postponed:"> 5" OR due:never) and voila! instant terror!
Before getting right to work, I'll make sure to check my tasks to see if the problem wasn't me after all, but with them. Some tasks aren't really "to-do" items at all, but goals (I read a really awesome tips and tricks about using RTM for resolutions and goals), sometimes my tasks should really be broken up into smaller tasks, and some of them have either resolved themselves by now, or I just don't want to do them anymore.
Now after I've fixed my tasks (and improved my list as a whole), I'll just pick a day where I have a LARGE block of free time, (this sunday for me), print out my all my dirty secrets of procrastination (this just seems like a job for pen and paper), roll up my sleeves, and put as big of a dent as I possibly can into that list. Any tasks left uncompleted will be given a due date, which I will stick to like glue. Imagine the enormous satisfaction!
Thanks for sharing this tip, mark.szoke! You're our Tips & Tricks Tuesday winner this week.
Do you have a suggestion for our weekly Tips & Tricks post? Got an interesting set-up or idea? Head over to the Tips & Tricks forum, add a new topic, and let us know how you use Remember The Milk. Each week we'll give away a 1 year Pro account to the user whose idea inspires the Tips & Tricks Tuesday blog post for that week.
Posted in: Tips & Tricks
MilkSync for BlackBerry (minor) update: Improved touch screen and connectivity support
Friday, August 27, 2010 by Emily Boyd
We've just released a small update to MilkSync for BlackBerry. Version 1.0.7 includes:
- Improved support for touch screen devices such as the BlackBerry Torch. This resolves an issue with accessing the login fields that some users encountered in the previous version of the app.
- Improved connectivity support on BlackBerry OS 5.0+.
If you're a MilkSync for BlackBerry user, a notification in the app will let you know when updates are available. To update to the latest version, just go to www.rmilk.com/milksync with the browser on your BlackBerry.
Interested in learning more about the app? Check out the MilkSync for BlackBerry mini-site.
Posted in: New Features & Updates
Freeing Remember The Milk for iPhone
Thursday, August 26, 2010 by Emily Boyd
Until now, our iPhone app has been available as a free download on the App Store only for those of you with a Pro account. We've been thinking, though: what if we could share the Remember The Milk love with even more people and help them be productive too, while still keeping the really cool stuff for those awesome people supporting us with Pro accounts?
We think we've come up with a way to make this happen, and we're excited today to announce a pretty big change to Remember The Milk for iPhone:
The basic app is now free for everyone!
Nope, we're not crazy… okay, maybe just a tiny bit (but shh, don't tell anybody). From today, we're making just about the entire iPhone app available free for everyone to use — yay!
What's the catch? We've introduced a limit to the free app: you'll be able to sync manually once every 24 hours with the Remember The Milk servers, which is great for backing up your tasks and notes online.
The Push Notification service is also unavailable in the free app (we can't give you everything free, now can we? ;). But aside from that, you get all the goodness of our iPhone app… free!
Exclusive to Pro: Unlimited auto-syncing + Push Notification service
Don't fancy having your syncing style cramped? Craving some of those Push Notifications? No problem, that's where Pro accounts come in! Upgrade to Pro, and ye shall receive:
- Unlimited auto-syncing with Remember The Milk online. That's right, just let the app sync for you, or tap that little 'sync' button as often as you please.
- Smart auto-sync that automatically sends task changes to Remember The Milk within seconds. No more wondering if you have changes that need syncing!
- Keep in sync with your tasks on multiple devices. Got an iPod touch as well as an iPhone? Maybe you also use another device? The syncing goodness means you'll have your tasks up-to-date everywhere you use the app.
- Push Notification reminders and badge updates. Not only will we send you lovely Push Notification reminders, but if you add or change tasks via another Remember The Milk interface (like, say, the web app), we'll make sure to update the badge number on your device via Push Notification to reflect these changes.
And don't forget the other Pro benefits, including membership in our Pro Tester Program, priority support via email, and of course that little 
icon next to your name to indicate your awesomeness.
New ways to upgrade to Pro: In App Purchases
Upgrade with the tap of a button! Pro accounts are now available as In App Purchases in the iPhone app. A 1 year Pro account is $24.99, or you can grab 1 month of Pro for $2.99 (the 1 month option is available exclusively for In App Purchase at this time).
Already Pro?
If you upgraded to Pro to use the iPhone app before this announcement, nothing changes: you'll still have access to the exact same powerful sync and Push Notification features. If you think the manual sync option (limited to one sync every 24 hours) is more up your alley and want to disable Push Notifications, we're happy to offer a prorated refund and downgrade you to a free account (please see the refund offer for more details).
Grab the app now!
If you want to learn more, or have any questions about the app, please check out our Remember The Milk for iPhone mini-site. Just want the app right now? Here's the link to the App Store:
P.S. For those of you who've been wondering, yes, Bob T. Monkey is still working like crazy on our iPad app. ;)
Posted in: New Features & Updates
Tips & Tricks Tuesday: Creating tasks quickly with Outlook signatures
Tuesday, August 24, 2010 by Andrew Conkling
If you deal with a lot of email (and a lot of us do!) and would like to turn your messages into tasks, blevinweb's handy tip will be very welcome:
I used to work off my Outlook email inbox AND my RTM list. Then I figured out a very simple yet powerful way to make them play nice.
I created an Outlook Signature like this, called RTM:
Location: Work
List: (w) Daily
Tags: next—
When someone sends me an email that I would like an RTM task for, I do this:
- Click Forward.
- Select (or type) the RTM contact in the To: field.
- My default signature appears at the top of the forwarded message. I click on the Signature button in the Message window and change it to RTM. The RTM signature appears. By having the 3 dashes at the end of my RTM signature the message body will be inserted as a task note!
- Click Send.
The task shows up in my (w) Daily list, tagged as "next" for my Smart List with the task name set to the subject of the email (which I sometimes edit if it is too vague before sending), and the body of the email is neatly placed in the Notes tab.
Using this technique allows me to get to a "Zero Inbox" zen-like state and places all my tasks in one central location. Enjoy!
blevinweb also mentions using a separate signature for different lists or high priority items; read more about Remember The Milk for Email to see all the options.
Also check out this previous tip for a similar method in Gmail.
Thanks for sharing this tip, blevinweb! You're our Tips & Tricks Tuesday winner this week.
Do you have a suggestion for our weekly Tips & Tricks post? Got an interesting set-up or idea? Head over to the Tips & Tricks forum, add a new topic, and let us know how you use Remember The Milk. Each week we'll give away a 1 year Pro account to the user whose idea inspires the Tips & Tricks Tuesday blog post for that week.
Posted in: Tips & Tricks
Introducing our new Community Manager, Japanese blog and Twitter
Wednesday, August 18, 2010 by Emily Boyd
We're excited to introduce Shun Fukuzawa, our new Community Manager (Japanese language). Shun's re-launched our Remember The Milk Japan Blog at blog.rememberthemilk.jp, where he'll be sharing all the latest Remember The Milk news, tips, and happenings.
Remember The Milk is also now on Twitter in Japanese — please follow @rtmjp for updates, and send your feedback to Shun! (Follow @rememberthemilk for English updates.)
Shun lives in Tokyo, and combines community management and technical experience (he was formerly Community Manager for Japan at Wikia, and a programmer for enterprise software). Welcome, Shun! :)
Posted in: Behind the Scenes
Tips & Tricks Tuesday: Keeping track of vegetables
Tuesday, August 17, 2010 by Andrew Conkling
Do you find it hard to remember to eat your vegetables before they go bad? simon.blais shares his way of keeping track of weekly vegetable deliveries:
To avoid wasting vegetables as much as possible, I keep an up to date list of the vegetables I have on hand to plan out the night's meal.
I set the vegetables that will go bad sooner as higher priority and the ones that last longer as lower priority. This way I will use them in the right order. Alternatively you can set a due date to the estimated date that the vegetables will go bad.
Thanks for sharing this tip, simon.blais! You're our Tips & Tricks Tuesday winner this week.
Do you have a suggestion for our weekly Tips & Tricks post? Got an interesting set-up or idea? Head over to the Tips & Tricks forum, add a new topic, and let us know how you use Remember The Milk. Each week we'll give away a 1 year Pro account to the user whose idea inspires the Tips & Tricks Tuesday blog post for that week.
Posted in: Tips & Tricks
Making the iPhone 4 more cow-like
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 by Emily Boyd
We were ridiculously excited to get hold of the iPhone 4 here in Australia, at long last. After the thrill of unboxing, though, we discovered a serious issue with the device.
Nope, not the antenna (that works just fine). It was much, much worse: the iPhone 4 didn't have enough cow. In fact, it had no cow whatsoever. Admittedly, cow wasn't an advertised feature… but surely the good folks at Apple would have realised how much better the iPhone 4 could be with just a little bit of cow?
Fortunately, thanks to the magic of custom GelaSkins, we've been able to fix this issue:
Whew, crisis averted. Moo.
Posted in: Behind the Scenes
Tips & Tricks Tuesday: Use a "Dashboard" to avoid misfiling a task (or missing a deadline!)
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 by Emily Boyd
With Smart Lists, there are an infinite number of different ways that you can view your tasks (see the useful searches post for just a few examples). This tip, shared by zero023z, describes a handy "Dashboard" list:
I have a Smart List in my account called Dashboard, which I use for two purposes:
- To make sure I'm not missing an important or overdue task
- To make sure all my tasks are properly filed
The Dashboard hunts down all the tasks that:
- Are overdue, due today, or due within the next 7 days.
- Are missing a due date
- (OPTIONAL) Are missing a location
- (OPTIONAL) Are not tagged
The "OPTIONAL" bullets are additional search criteria you could add to your own Dashboard if you're the kind of person who ALWAYS tags or adds a location to every task.
Posted in: Tips & Tricks
Android app (minor) update: Dell Streak, localization, and little fixes
Wednesday, August 4, 2010 by Emily Boyd
We just wanted to let you know about a small update to Remember The Milk for Android that Bob approved for release today. Version 1.3.1 includes:
- Dell Streak support, which is very handy if you happen to own a Dell Streak and would like to use our Android app (yay!). A big thanks to Mark, who was nice enough to help us track down an issue and test the fix on his Dell Streak.
- A bunch of localization updates (see the release notes for a full list of languages affected). As always, a huge thanks to the volunteers who help us with translation to make Remember The Milk available in many languages.
- Auto-correction now works in the "Add Task" field. We accidentally broke that when we released 1.3.0, whoops! Thanks to those who let us know. :)
Posted in: New Features & Updates
