Tech and life

I’ve been using the web based to-do app Doris for about a year now and quite like it. There’s also a Desktop version now and an iPhone app but regrettably the developers just haven’t kept pace – no Android app as yet.

I was listening to a recent CNET to the rescue podcast and Rafe Needleman mentioned Wunderlist, an awesome to-do app so I thought I’d take a look.

As well as downloadable programs for Windows and Mac, Wunderlist has a web app so you can have your to-do lists synced on Windows, Mac and Linux machines as well as Android phones, iPhone and iPad. You can also share your lists.  Here’s some basics on using Wunderlist. Create a new to-do list using the hotkey L or click Add List at the bottom right of the screen. If you don’t like the default wood panel background or the awesome leafy background I’ve chosen, you can choose from a number of others from a drop-down list and also toggle the side bar.  The other buttons along the bottom are pretty self-explanatory but play around with them to see their actions.  You can drag tasks up and down a list to reorder them and also drag them from list to list. Starring tasks brings them to the top of a list. You can also add notes to tasks to give more info about them and search for tasks in the search box at the top-right.

There are some very nice touches too. You can assign a date to a task which shows up near the right end of the task entry. This is updated to Tomorrow, Today, Yesterday as the task date approaches and passes. Double clicking on this date allows you to reschedule tasks. At the bottom of the screen, tasks due Tomorrow, Today or Overdue can be viewed by clicking the buttons. You can also add new tasks by emailing them to me@wunderlist.com, and can choose to be alerted via email when tasks are due. So even if you don’t have the latest mobile phone, you can keep up with your Wunderlist to-dos on the go.

A nice example of syncing a list to your mobile phone would be a shopping list. Just add items to your list wherever you are and call up the list on your Android or iPhone while shopping. Of course, you can also do this with other apps like Evernote.

As David Pierce points out in a recent post about Wunderlist, a recurring tasks feature would be a nice addition. I currently get around this by putting these in Google Calendar. These recurring tasks are pushed to Rainlendar my desktop calendar and so I can see them on the desktop of my PC.

I have Wunderlist loading in the left-most tab in Chrome so that it’s always displayed first when I open my browser. To do this in Chrome, after you’ve signed up for Wunderlist, drag that tab to the left-most position. Open the other URLs you want at browser start-up. Then click the spanner symbol at the right end of the tool bar, Click Options, and under the On startup section, select Open the following pages. Click the button Use current pages then check that Wunderlist is listed at the top and the other sites you want are listed below it.

So if you’re looking for an awesome  to-do list app or want to upgrade to a more feature filled one or one that syncs to your mobile device, I encourage you to try out Wunderlist and see what you think. It’s free at the moment. Let us know what you think of Wunderlist in the comments or tell us about your favourite task management program.

Apple have been amazing innovators during the last decade – the iPod, iPhone and now the iPad… and the competition have struggled to keep up. Only now do we have excellent alternatives to the iPhone. So how long will it take the tablet manufacturers to catch the iPad? Already, I’ve heard of journalists, politicians and councillors being equipped with this 1st generation game changing device. Have they jumped in too soon? What have the competition got in store?

Well, here’s a quick round-up of the tablet devices which are with us now or should hit the shelves in the coming months. It’s not a comprehensive list as some of the major players haven’t announced details yet. And if you’re reading this post a year or two down the line, have a giggle at our 1st generation devices and marvel at how quickly technology moves on!

10-inch+ screen

Kno: two 14.1 inch touchscreens connected by a hinge (digital textbook); shipping for the holiday season 2010; Price: TBA

Pioneer DreamBook ePad L11: 11.6 inch; Windows and Android OS; 2GB RAM; Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity; 1.3MP camera; 6GB, 32GB and 64GB hard drives; to be released September 2010; $640

MSI WindPad 100: 10-inch; Windows 7 OS; 2GB RAM; 32GB storage; Wi-Fi, 3G and Bluetooth connectivity; webcam; available late 2010; $499

MSI WindPad 110: 10-inch; Android 2.1 OS; 2GB RAM; 32GB storage; Wi-Fi, 3G and Bluetooth connectivity; webcam; available late 2010; $399

Mouse LuvPad AD100: 10-inch; Android 2.2; 512MB RAM; 8GB flash memory; Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi+3G configurations; $470-530

Archos 101: 10.1 inch; Android 2.2; 8GB ($300) and 16GB ($350) versions; expected late-September 2010

Archos 9: 8.9 inch; Windows 7 Starter OS; 1GB RAM; 60GB storage; Wi-Fi and Bluetooth; 1.3MP web camera; $400; available now

Hannspree: 10.1 inch; Android 2.2; 512MB RAM; 16GB; to be released in November 2010; probably around $500

Viewsonic ViewPad 100: 10 inch; Windows 7 and Android 1.6 OS; 1GB memory; 16GB storage; 1.3MP camera; Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity; to be released about October 2010; expected to be about £549

Toshiba Folio 100: 10.1 inch; Android 2.2 OS; 16GB storage; 1.3MP webchat camera; Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity; about £330; to be released in Europe in next couple of months; no plans as yet for a US release

7-inch screen

Samsung Galaxy Tab: 7-inch; Android 2.2 OS; 512MB RAM; 16GB and 32GB versions; full phone capability; dual cameras (3MP and 1.3MP); connectivity: 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth; Available in Europe from mid-September 2010; $500-$1000? Price point may be $200-$300 with US carriers

Archos 70: 7 inch; Android OS; 8GB ($300) and 16GB ($350) versions; expected about mid-October 2010; $275

Elocity A7: 7 inch; Android 2.2 OS; 512MB RAM; 4GB flash memory; 1.3MP camera; Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity; shipping possibly beginning of November 2010; $370

RAmos W9: 7 inch; Android OS; no word on pricing or availability yet

Viewsonic ViewPad 7: 7 inch; Android 2.2 OS; 512MB memory?; Wi-Fi, 3G and Bluetooth connectivity; full phone capability; dual cameras; released about October 2010; expected to be about £350

Huawei S7: 7 inch; Android 2.1; 256MB RAM; Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity; 2MP camera; available now; £299

The much hyped $35 Indian tablet should arrive in January 2011. Dimensions 8.9×7-inch; Android OS; 2GB RAM; Connectivity: USB and Wi-Fi. However it’s recently been revealed that this is just the subsidized Chinese Hivision SpeedPad

5-inch (and less) screen

Dell Streak: 5 inch; Android 1.6 OS; 16GB memory; 5MP camera; Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G connectivity; Price: TBA; but is it a big smart phone rather than a small tablet?

Archos 32: 3.2 inch; Android 2.1; 8GB storage; Wi-Fi, Bluetooth connectivity; camera; now shipping for $150

Why are tablets the new ‘must have’ gadget?

Well for some, there’s the cool factor. But from the functionality point of view, of course the screen is bigger than on a smartphone and this has benefits not least making the device easier to view making it a good e-reader and ideal for content consumption. A tablet is easier to pass round among friends and share stuff, say photos, compared with a netbook. But a 10 inch tablet is not as good as a smartphone on a crowded commute when you don’t have a seat. It’s obviously more portable than a laptop but I suspect that data entry, touch typing, screen size and storage capacity will keep laptops around for some time to come.

As you can see, many of the planned new devices will be running the Android OS. However, a recent post on Techcrunch foresees a major shakedown in the five or more upcoming tablet platforms as they compete for market share. And Google has said recently that Android Froyo isn’t optimized for tablets and that the next versions will be optimized for the form factor. So perhaps we’re better off waiting until next year before we take the plunge.

I predict that the coming wave of tablets will put an end to the netbook market, so we’ll soon be choosing from smartphones, tablets and laptops for our mobile companions. I’ve got a feeling it’ll also hit the iPod Touch market to some extent. I for one was on the verge of buying my first Apple product – the new iPod Touch 4, but now I wonder if I should just wait a while and take a look at the 5-inch or 7-inch tablet offerings. The larger screen size would be nice but of course the larger form factor is not quite so ‘pocket’ friendly. Any thoughts?

This is my first post on tablets. I’ll probably post regularly on this topic when more are released.

Latest tablet news

For the latest in tablet news, have a look at:

Best tablet Review

Touch Tablet PC

Android and Me

Google Docs: Android Tablets – Holiday 2010: Great round-up of the latest Android tablets, constantly updated

Sign up with Lazyfeed and follow the topic ‘tablets’.

Further reading

To iPad or Not to iPad: That is the Tech Question – PC World

A Big Tablet Can Never Beat a Smaller Smartphone

Samsung Galaxy Tab vs Apple iPad: tablet showdown

It’s really hard to predict how PCs and laptops will evolve over the coming years but with the success of the iPad and the forthcoming launch of a number of tablets including a possible PalmPad from HP, it seems certain that tablets and touchscreen enabled devices are going to play an increasingly important role in our digital lives.

For years now, we’ve had touchpads on laptops and netbooks and most of us have become quite adept at using them. I personally still prefer to plug in a mouse as I find it easier to use. One of the problems with the touchpad is that it’s possible to lightly brush over it when typing and inadvertently move the insertion point in your document. There’s a good recent article on Digital Inspiration about disabling the touchpad when you don’t need it.

But when you think about it, touching a metal pad to move a cursor on a screen is perhaps slightly removed from what we really want to do. How much better to be able to touch a screen and say drag files and folders round. Touchscreens have obviously been around for quite some time now, but the impetus from touchscreen smartphones like the iPhone and now the iPad tablet seems to be pushing us increasingly towards touchscreen devices. I still think the mouse will be with us for some time to come on the desktop PC. Ergonomically, it’s not quite so comfortable to touch a monitor screen on a desk at eye level directly in front of you over long periods but certainly for laptops and netbooks where the screen is much lower, a touchscreen plus keyboard or a full tablet device seem to be the obvious evolution of the interface.

So over the coming years, I think we’re going to see more tablet PCs, touchscreen laptops and touchscreen netbooks. Or perhaps I’m just stating the obvious here. How do you think the user interface will evolve? Would you want a touchscreen on your netbook? Or are you going to move completely to a tablet?

Update (9th Sept 2010): Here’s an interesting video on the future of touch screen technology.

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Image credit: Anonymous Collective