Tips & Tricks Tuesday: Making a travel checklist
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 by Emily Boyd
If you have travel plans for the holidays, this tip's for you! RTM user mrgage shared some great ideas to ensure stress-free travel preparation:
Inspired by GTD guru David Allen's Travel Checklist, I set out to make my own with RTM. I tend to travel across country a couple times a year to visit family and it's never fun to stress about what to pack. Then of course, it's even worse to stress about what I forgot to pack. With my travel checklist, I never forget anything!
My first step was to create a new separate list which I called "Packing". I then populated it with all the items I could possibly think of that I would need while away from home. This list must be complete, otherwise, it renders itself useless. I've added items in certain detail that I know will work for me. For instance, just to be safe, I add items such as "white socks, dark socks, dress shirts, t-shirts". However, someone else might prefer to have just one item called "clothes". It all depends what is comfortable for you.
I've created groups to help me separate my items in a logical way. My groups are: "Prepare, Pocket, Carry On, Suitcase, and Last Minute". For each item, I prefix the item name with the group. Here some items from my list:
Posted in: Tips & Tricks
Add Remember The Milk to your Google Calendar sidebar
Thursday, November 19, 2009 by Emily Boyd
It's no secret that we're big gadget fans here. Waaay back in 2006, we launched a feature that enabled you to add a daily gadget to Google Calendar: clicking on a checkmark icon would bring up your tasks for that day.
The problem with that daily gadget is that it requires clicking to see your tasks (and everybody knows that the more work required to get to your tasks, the less likely it is that they'll get done!).
Today we're launching a new gadget for the Google Calendar sidebar that can be added to any Google Calendar account. The gadget displays to the right of your calendar, so no more clicks needed to see your tasks!
As with the gadget for Gmail (upon which this gadget is based :), the gadget allows you to review your upcoming tasks for the week (including any overdue), add new tasks and edit existing ones, easily complete and postpone tasks, and customise the display (show tasks from a particular list or Smart List, and optionally show tasks with no due date).
The gadget also supports Smart Add, so you can add tasks quickly with properties, e.g., "Pick up the milk tomorrow", "Order stationery #work", "Return books in 2 weeks @Library", and more.
Ready to add the gadget?
Just click on the button below to add the new Sidebar Gadget to Google Calendar. For more details, including instructions for adding to a Google Apps account, please check out the Sidebar Gadget page.
Posted in: New Features & Updates
Tips & Tricks Tuesday: Talking to the doctor
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 by Emily Boyd
This helpful tip, shared by RTM user mehardin, is useful not only for an upcoming doctor's appointment, but any kind of meeting where you want to make sure you have everything covered:
I have my semi-annual checkup in a couple of days, and I keep thinking of different things I need to talk to my doctor about while I'm there. Anytime I think of one I just add it to RTM with the tag:Doc.
These don't show up in any of my Smart Lists, because all of my Smart Lists require the tag "na" (next action).
What makes it work particularly well is EACH TASK has a due date of 8am Thursday, the time of my appointment. I have my reminders set up to send me timed tasks 10 minutes before they are due. So each item will be sent to me in it's own SMS message.
I thought about just using Twitter to "d rtm !gettag Doc". But this has two hiccups, rarely, but occasionally, the Twitter functionality is delayed. I don't want to get my list of items as I'm LEAVING the doctor's office. More importantly, by giving each item a due date, each item gets it's on SMS message. If I do a "gettag" request, they are all grouped in one message and sometimes (actually usually) tasks are broken across two SMS messages. This way I can go to SMS #1, talk with the Doc, then move on to SMS #2, and on down the line.
Thanks for sharing this tip, mehardin — 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: Preparing for exams
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 by Emily Boyd
Stressed about exams? RTM user qoqosz shares this tip to help you stay organized and avoid being overwhelmed by your study notes:
Being a student is a hard work ;) Tons of lecture notes, homeworks, classes and so on. But the worst are exams. Time which you have to spend in order to prepare properly and amount of knowledge to master can be overwhelming. Fortunately Remember The Milk comes in handy! That's the way I always use RTM before exams:
- I look through all my notes and gather all the stuff in one place.
- I segregate chronologically all the notes and divide them into sections and subsections (or chapters and subchapters if you want).
- Then I use list or Smart List (whatever is convenient for you) to put all the names of sections and subsections as a tasks (it's helpful to put an id number at the beginning of a task name and use "Sort by Task Name" view).
- Not to be distracted by computer, I print newly created list and start learning – 'task' by 'task'.
With such a system I have a clear view of how much work is needed and also how much time (approximately) will it take to get prepared for an exam.
As a physics student I have Study list and two major Smart Lists connected with this list: @Maths (list:Study and tag:@maths) and @Physics (list:Study and tag:@physics) which are always 'overfilled' before exams ;)
Thanks for sharing this tip, qoqosz — 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
Android app update: Customizable widgets and start screen, Quick Search Box for Android, and HTC Tattoo and Motorola Droid support
Friday, November 6, 2009 by Emily Boyd
While our Android app has undergone a whole bunch of small updates since its launch, we're excited today to announce our first update to include new features: version 1.1.0 (codename: "Bender"). This update brings new stuff based on the incredibly helpful feedback we've received from you guys, our lovely users. :)
Widget customization
Since we launched the app, the most highly requested feature has been "more widget options!". We're pretty happy today to bring you exactly that. :) You can now choose between two different sizes (2×2 and 3×3) and customize what the widget shows:
Choose between displaying tasks due today, all tasks, or tasks from a specific list. That third option is pretty powerful, because the widget can show tasks from a Smart List — you could show your high priority work tasks (priority:1 AND list:Work) or tasks you can do in under 20 minutes (timeEstimate:"< 20 min"). For more Smart List inspiration, check out our useful searches post.
Start screen customization
Another highly requested feature, you can now customize the screen that the app starts up on from the Settings screen. Choose between screens like Today, Tags, and Nearby, or select a specific list (or Smart List) to start on. Want to go directly to your tasks due this week (dueWithin:"1 week of today") on app start up? No problem!
Quick Search Box for Android support
Quick Search Box for Android (available in Android 1.6 and later) is a very handy system-wide search feature that's available from your device's home screen — and now it can search your tasks! You can search for a task name or use the advanced search criteria to locate your tasks:
To enable searching for Remember The Milk on your device, you'll need to go to Settings > Search > Searchable items > and check 'Remember The Milk'.
HTC Tattoo and Motorola Droid support
The app now has support for devices with different screen resolutions and densities. So what's this mean? The app supports the HTC Tattoo and Motorola Droid (also known as the Milestone), which is good to know if you're planning to buy a Droid today :).
We hope you enjoy these updates! Want to learn more about the app in general? Check out the Remember The Milk for Android section of the site.
Posted in: New Features & Updates
Tips & Tricks Tuesday: Keeping a gift list
Tuesday, November 3, 2009 by Emily Boyd
It's never too early to start thinking about the gift-giving season (it is November, after all!). This week's tip comes courtesy of RTM user xaandria, who shares a great tip for keeping track of gifts you're planning to make or buy:
I've made a tab for "Christmas Presents" in my RTM and used it to list everyone I am shopping for this year. If I know what I'm getting them, I add that in the title. If I don't know yet, I just input their name and my spending budget for them. Keeping track of the stores where the gifts can be bought in tags makes it a cinch to bring up your shopping list for whatever store you happen to be doorbusting at the moment. When I'm done shopping for someone, the task gets completed.
I use priorities to sort out the timeline for starting to buy or make things–if something is being bought online and shipped, that gets a higher priority than the tin of cookies I'm bringing in for coworkers but not as high as the scarf I'm knitting for my mom. (As an aside, the notes section is a great place to keep track of what you still need to do to complete a present you are making yourself!)
Thanks for sharing this tip, xaandria!
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
