Comments on: On Digital Organization: Things, Google Cal & iCal Syncing

By: Nicole

Nicole — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:09:38 +0000

You seem to know what you are doing … Please help me if you can!
I use to do ( it’s like things) and subscribed to remember the milk to sync my todo list with google calendar. I’ve never been able to view the tasks on the google calendR application on my phone (is viewable on desktop), but the tasks did show up on my iPhone calendaron the due date. Now they stopped showing up and I cannot for the life of me get them back. They are syncing with my google calendar and google syncs with iPhone …. So what went wrong?!?!?

By: Chris Webstar

Chris Webstar — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 18:23:36 +0000

I have Things sync my things (duh) to iCal, which in turn is synced to my iPod touch’s calendar. What’s the big problem here? I get an alert 2 days before event, and another one the day before. And I keep scanning Things for today’s shedule.

By: 100 Applications and Services I Use Daily - PaulStamatiou.com

100 Applications and Services I Use Daily - PaulStamatiou.com — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 02:33:23 +0000

[...] myself and Calvin, we have adjusted our workflows to include using local to-do list app Things (as discussed here). It’s important to note that since we both continually communicate most days via Campfire, [...]

By: Arthur

Arthur — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 17:35:03 +0000

You should take a look at Anxiety (anxietyapp.com). It uses the system-wide todo database and thus integrates very well with iCal.

By: John Wilker

John Wilker — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:25:12 +0000

@Joel,

I know I ditched Busysync, haven’ looked back.

By: Joel

Joel — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 08:06:50 +0000

hrmmm – so I can ditch busysync now?

Given the issues I’ve had with Gmail contacts + iPhone contacts I’m not so sure I agree that it’ll be the best…

By: Ben Lilley

Ben Lilley — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 23:58:22 +0000

I use iCal + MobileMe for my calendar. This enables me to sync my iphone and laptop wherever I am. I also share the account with my business partner so we can both add events to each others calendars.

As for to-do lists I’ve still not found anything I’m happy with, Things is just too over the top for what I need. Anxiety App is the closest thing I’ve found but the only bummer there is it doesn’t sync with my iphone which is what I need. So I’m still looking for the killer to-do list app.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:58:34 +0000

I use BusySync to sync my iCal and Google which then is synced to my iPhone when I connect it to my Mac. I use Backboard and Backpack to manage some of my todos and a few other notes etc. These aren’t available on my iPhone (at least not easily) so I’ve been looking for a better solution at least in terms of todos.

I’ve tried Zenbe Lists but they block it at my work so it doesn’t do me much good while at work. Sure, I could add it on my iPhone but I want it to be easier. I’m going to try RTM and see if it works for me. I’ve toyed with buying Things for iPhone but I’m cheap and don’t want to buy it before trying it. I REALLY wish the App Store had demos.

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:18:26 +0000

I’ve been using Zenbe Lists for my todos for a while now (as well as GeekTools for more personal, less urgent things). I think Zenbe offers email and other services, but I just use the todo lists. I tried RTM, but found that it wasn’t as light as I wanted, and you had to pay to have the iPhone app sync. Zenbe has a free app to sync with their website. It’s really light while having everything a todo list should (e.g., check box when complete, easy reordering, multiple lists, etc). I definitely recommend it.

I will have to try out the iCal sync. I’ve been using Calgoo Connect, but it isn’t exactly seemless.

By: AtulR

AtulR — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:06:02 +0000

I use and like Remember the Milk. To your points:

* I syncs via a server and is accessible everywhere.
* It has an iPhone app that looks cool and works fine from what I hear
* It’s pretty smart at understanding things like “tomorrow” etc.
* It has an iGoogle extension that makes it very easy to have quick access to
* It’s free (for the version I use)
* Can sync so events appear in GCal

By: reemixx

reemixx — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 05:44:25 +0000

I spent a good while mucking about with different task list apps and ways of syncing them all together, including Remember The Milk, Google Calendar and different methods of syncing with iCal, ActionGear, iCal tasks, etc. I never found a perfect solution, and everything was starting to get messy, complicated, and was actually hindering productivity rather than helping it.

So, recently I settled on Things for iPhone and OS X, and bought a MobileMe account. While this solution isn’t free or cheap, the cost is worth it to me. It couldn’t be any simpler. I have my calendars and contacts available from any computer any time, and my task list is with me on my Mac and my iPhone, always. All I need now is for Things to sync over the web, and for multiple Macs to sync Things tasks with each other (web AND local network, preferably).

I’m really glad Google now has native iCal support though, and if I didn’t currently use MobileMe, I’d probably make use of the new compatibility. I know it’s definitely going to solve a lot of peoples’ problems.

By: mark

mark — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 05:44:00 +0000

-I simply cannot constantly check 3 different programs daily… I WISH someone comes up with a to-do app integrated with iCal- what could be more natural?!-

Integrates with iCal? Things uses the system wide tasks feature in OSX. They ARE integrated. I can check iCal on the we (mobileme), on my iPhone, and on my macbook and get all my tasks. There’s no reason to check 3 programs.

As far as remember the milk, a few features are superior to Things, but things isn’t even out of beta until january. In the end, I don’t see how RTM will be able to compare. Also, once I purchase Things I can use it for the near future. RTM could vanish like iwantsandy.

By: John Wilker

John Wilker — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 04:35:37 +0000

too funny. I just blogged about this exact topic.

iCal, gCal, and iPhone. NuevaSync, and calDav, FTW

By: Brandon Silver

Brandon Silver — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 01:53:20 +0000

I usually use my iPod Touch’s calendar and then sync it with NemusSync to Google Calendar. NemusSync supports multiple calendars, which allows me to categorize stuff (school, birthdays, etc.). At the moment, you have to jailbreak and install it through Cydia (or installer, can’t remember which), but it works quite well.

By: Kabren Levinson

Kabren Levinson — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 23:28:33 +0000

Things and iCal on my Mac.

Gotta check out the new Calaboration app, sounds interesting. I have Things communicate with iCal, so it’s all synced up.

By: Philipp Maan

Philipp Maan — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:57:54 +0000

I’m using Things on my iPhone & Mac, too..

I used to sync the Things to-do items with iCal, but rarely used it, so now I’m back to Things-only.

By: Phil Bowell

Phil Bowell — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:46:06 +0000

@Derek, I was using Dropbox to provide “sync” between my Macs but unfortunately I’m stuck on Tiger at work and Things has issues with mixing Leopard and Tiger. It worked for a while, but the developers recently made changes which meant Things on Tiger crashed when trying to open a Leopard used database. That’s what prompted me to try out RTM.

By: Astorg

Astorg — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:09:18 +0000

Things and Remember the Milk both have iPhone apps. But the trouble with Things is that it currently only supports direct synchronizing with the iPhone over the same wireless network. That effectively ruled out Things for me.

Remember the Milk for iPhone synchronizes to RTM’s web service, making it available from anywhere by default. And it does so faster than any other app I’ve used. Also, the interfaces are incredibly intuitive and powerful (with a little bit of planning you can get get it to do a lot more than Things).

For calendar and contact items I use iCal, Address Book and MobileMe. It syncs flawlessly with my iPhone and if I ever need to access the data over the web, I can do so also.

By: Mike Skalnik

Mike Skalnik — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:26:20 +0000

I’m using iCal and just sync it to my iPod Touch when I’m on the go. Seems good enough for me. I do sync it to the Georgia Tech Zimbra servers just in case my laptop dies however.

By: Julien

Julien — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 16:03:02 +0000

Paper and pel, but i’ll give a try to Things!

Thx,

Julien

By: Derek

Derek — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 16:02:31 +0000

@Phil: There is a workaround for syncing Things between computers with Dropbox – http://bit.ly/wD7S

I imagine you could adapt and rig something up with a similar service.

By: Derek

Derek — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 16:01:33 +0000

@Phil: FYI you can use Dropbox as an option to sync Things between multiple computers – http://bit.ly/wD7S

A bit of a workaround until something is officially supported.

By: Phil Bowell

Phil Bowell — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:38:48 +0000

I use BusySync to sync my iCal with gCal and NeuvaSync to provide OTA sync with my iPod touch. I’m thinking of switching to CalDAV with gCal to eliminate the 3rd party software as much as possible.

I’ve been using Things but the lack of sync between Macs pushed me towards RememberTheMilk. I really don’t like it though so I’m looking for another way to handle my ToDo’s.

@Alan, using CalDAV in iCal and syncing with the iPhone doesn’t allow read/write on the iPhone. It only lets you view the calendar, I wish Apple would implement CalDAV on their handheld devices to provide OTA sync.

By: Derek

Derek — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:18:15 +0000

I am a huge fan of Things. Like you, I look for applications which I can use from both a desktop / laptop and iPhone (syncing). If you ever want to try an iPhone todo list app that packs too many features on a screen [IMO] check out OmniFocus. Both the desktop and iPhone app are so overloaded with features that you spend more time managing a list rather than checking things off. Things is different. You realize how different the two are the moment you open the application. The only downside with the current beta of Things is the option to sync OTA w/o being limited to being on the same network. The best thing to do would be a single database file that can be saved anywhere allowing users to drop and sync via MobileMe or Dropbox.

Concerning iCal + Google Cal syncing… until those 2-way synced calendars show up the next time I do a MobileMe sync, I’m waiting.

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 14:38:33 +0000

I like your setup Paul, looks like one I’d like to adopt.

My problem is I’ve been having a frustrating issue with iCal lately. In the column that indicates the time of day in the Day and Week tabs, it always just says Saturday AM or PM. It’s always Saturday, and never shows specific times. I’ve spent some time trying to fix this to no avail. Anyone else encounter this?