Manage Tasks on Android with SimpleDo

Jan 28, 2010 GMT

There are dozens of tasks managers on the Android Market, but SimpleDo rules them all. Why? Because it combines simplicity and versatility. SimpleDo is inspired by the TaskPaper tool which stores task data in a plain text file. Similar to TaskPaper, SimpleDo uses easy-to-remember formatting to recognize and format tasks. Each task in SimpleDo starts with a hyphen and any text entered on a new line is treated as a note. You can tag tasks using the @ character; for example, @work, @home, @writing, etc. When you add the @done tag to the task, SimpleDo marks it as completed. Instead of adding the @done tag manually, you can swipe your finger...

Tracking Time with Rachota

Jan 27, 2010 GMT

Keeping track of time you spend on specific tasks is essential if you are paid by the hour. Moreover, knowing exactly how you spend your working time can help you to optimize your workflow and be more productive. There are quite a few time tracking solutions out there, including the nifty Rachota utility which not only makes it easy to track time spent on different tasks but also helps you to analyze the collected data. Rachota is written in Java, so you need to install the Java Runtime Environment before you can run the application on your system. Using Rachota is pretty straightforward. To add a task, press the Add button, fill out the...

Turn an Android Device into an Eye-Fi Server with Eye-Fi Droid

Jan 27, 2010 GMT

If you happen to use the Eye-Fi card with your digital camera and an Android-based device, you ought to check the Eye-Fi Droid app. It instantly transforms your Android device into a spiffy little Eye-Fi server, and you can then upload photos from the digital camera directly to the Android device and use Eye-Fi Droid's features to geotag and share the uploaded shots.Installing and configuring Eye-Fi Droid is easy; the only requirement is that you already have an Eye-Fi account created when you install and activate your Eye-Fi card on Windows or Mac OS X. Install the latest release of Eye-Fi Droid from the Android Market on your Android device, launch the application and enter the required...

Easy Diagramming with SimpleDiagrams

Jan 26, 2010 GMT

Dia is probably the most popular diagramming tool on Linux, but it produces diagrams that lack style and look somewhat boring. Enter SimpleDiagrams, a slick and easy-to-use diagramming tool that lets you create stylish diagrams with a minimum of fuss. SimpleDiagrams is based on the Adobe AIR platform, so you have to install Adobe AIR runtime before you can install and use the tool. What makes SimpleDiagrams different is its distinctive diagramming style: the canvas is presented as a chalkboard (the application offers two other canvas styles, too) , and the supplied library contains a collection of hand-drawn items. Creating diagrams in...

Tomdroid: A Tomboy Client for Android

Jan 20, 2010 GMT

Tomboy is a handy little note-taking tool that sports a few nifty features, including the ability to upload notes to a remote server and sync them between different machines. And now you can put your Tomboy notes on an Android device courtesy of Tomdroid. This no-frills app acts as a note viewer, so you can't edit notes directly on the Android device. Still, the Tomdroid can be useful if you want to keep your notes handy.Tomdroid is not available via the Android Market, so you have to install the latest .apk package from the project's Web site. The app expects to find all Tomboy notes in the /sdcard/tomdroid directory which you have to create manually. The easiest way to do this is to use...

WordGrinder: Word Processing Terminal Style

Jan 13, 2010 GMT

You may think that word processing is all about WYSIWYG and GUI, but WordGrinder is living proof that a word processor that runs in a terminal does make sense. Thanks to its small and efficient code base containing only 6300 lines of code, WordGrinder will happily run on older machines, and you can even use it on GUI-less setups. Despite being a terminal-based application, WordGrinder provides a menu system activated with the Esc key. Users who prefer to control applications via the keyboard will be pleased to learn that WordGrinder provides keyboard shortcuts for virtually every command and action. Better yet, you can reconfigure the...

Tweet from the Command Line with Twidge

Jan 11, 2010 GMT

When it comes to graphical Twitter clients, you are spoiled for choice. But what if you want to use the popular micro-blogging service from the command line? Then you need Twidge, a command-line utility that supports both Twitter and Identi.ca.Before you can use Twidge, you have to configure it using the twidge setup command. Enter your Twitter user name and password, and you are all set. Using Twidge couldn't be easier. To view the 20 most recent updates from the people you follow, use the twidge lsrecent -su command. The twidge update command allows you to post a tweet, for example: twidge update "Status goes here."If you want to send a direct message to a specific user,...