Seth's Blog

Use Google GMail as a To Do List

2006-06-05T00:28:00.000-04:00

Tired of using paper To Do Lists? Want to see your To Do List or Task List from any computer? Just thought of something and want to add it to your To Do List right away?

This hack will let you use Google GMail as a virtual To Do List. You will be able to see your To Do List, and even add new items to your To Do List, from any computer with Internet access, or even from your cell phone.

Steps To Complete (Overview):
1. Create a GMail Account
2. Create a Label Named "To Do"
3. Create a Filter for "...+todo@gmail.com"
4. Create a Phone Book Entry on your Cell Phone (Optional - for adding tasks from your cell phone)
5. View Your To Do List on your Cell Phone (Optional)

Steps To Complete

1. Create a GMail Account

Sign up for an email account with Google GMail. To do this, go to http://www.gmail.com/ and click "Sign up for Gmail using your mobile phone". Follow directions from there.

Hint: If at any time you have questions about using GMail, search their help. Google has a great help site.

2. Create a Label Named "To Do"

Once you've signed up for your GMail account and signed in, go to "Settings" and then "Labels". Create a new label called "To Do".

3. Create A Filter

Create a filter in your GMail account for emails sent to youraddress+todo@gmail.com. To do this, click on "Settings", and then "Filters". Click "Create a new filter". In the "To: " field, type in youraddress+todo@gmail.com, e.g. myname+todo@gmail.com. Click "Next Step >>", check the checkboxes for "Skip the Inbox" and "Apply the label", and select "To Do" as the label. Click "Create Filter".

That's all you need to get started. Try it out by sending an email to your new email address in the form youraddress+todo@gmail.com. When the email arrives at GMail, it will automatically have the "To Do" filter applied to it, and you will see it in the "To Do" label on the left side of your GMail screen.

Hint: You should probably put a brief description in the subject of the email, as this is what you will see when you click on the "To Do" label. You can put the details in the email message body. You'll only see the details when you click on that particular email message.

4. Create a Phone Book Entry on your Cell Phone (Optional - for adding tasks from your cell phone)

Don't have access to a computer at the moment? To add an item to your GMail To Do List from your cell phone, send a text message to youremailaddress+todo@gmail.com. Type in the message. Send the message. That's it.

Hint: To save time, create a phone book entry on your cell phone (if available) for youraddress+todo@gmail.com. You will be able to select this recipient a lot more quickly than typing in youraddress+todo@gmail.com.

Hint: Sending a text message will cause the To Do List item to show up as "No Subject: this is the to do list detail..." in the message list. This is because SMS messenging doesn't use a subject and body. It just uses a text body. To get a subject to appear, you can send an email from your GMail account, and include a subject and body. To send an email using GMail from your cell phone, go to http://m.gmail.com/ on your cell phone.

Hint: To log into your GMail account more quickly on your cell phone, create a shortcut on your cell phone for http://m.gmail.com/. Call your cell phone company for help, or search your cell phone manual for how to do this.

5. View Your To Do List on your Cell Phone (Optional)
Want to view your to do list on your cell phone? Log into your Google GMail account by going to http://m.gmail.com/. Go to the bottom where it says "more views", follow that link, check the "To Do" label on the next screen, scroll to the end and click Save. When you log into your GMail account on your cell phone, you will now be able to scroll down to the bottom and follow the link for the label "To Do". This will show you your To Do List.

Hint: To save time, create a shortcut on your cell phone for your "To Do" label. To do this, log into your GMail account on your cell phone and click on your "To Do" label. This will bring up your To Do List. Now make a shortcut to this page. Ask your cell phone company how to do this, or see your cell phone manual.

I hope this has been useful to you. If you think someone you know will find this useful, email this article to them by clicking on the envelope icon below.

If you have any suggestions, comments or questions, please click on the "Comments" link at the bottom of this article and leave a message.

Thank your for your time.

Seth

New Bartering Web Site - Is the Business Model Sound?

2006-06-03T10:31:00.000-04:00

I just read this article about a new bartering Web site, named swaptree, that will let users trade any kind of media. The author of the article, Michael Arrington, makes some good points about the viability of the business model.

After reading the article, I signed up to be in the private beta. I'm waiting to hear back from the folks at swaptree. In the mean time, here are my thoughts on the new site.

To summarize, Michael says that it doesn't sound viable because:

1. Users don't pay swaptree (directly) - the website makes money by selling advertising space (those annoying pictures on websites that we supposedly ignore anyway - but do we?)

2. I think his second point is that bartering is not a fast and easy process, whereas using money to facilitate trade, e.g. ebay, is a fast and easy process.

In resonse to his first point, we will have to wait and see. This is more of an issue for swaptree than for the user.

In response to his second point, I think that swaptree may be on to something. It is true that ebay is easier for negotiators, who want that fine granularity of price, but some people just don't want to "negotiate". They may just want to go on the web, type in the UPC of a game, DVD or CD for which they've grown bored, and see what they can get for it. It's hip. It's cool. It's easy. And it just may work!

swaptree also says that they will give customers an easy way to print postage from their computers. It looks like that is an added value over ebay, who just lets the seller print out a mailing label. With ebay, obtaining postage is a manual process for the seller.

All in all, it seems like swaptree has an idea that will give some added value to the customer. Once I get access to the private beta and try it out, I'll post my updated comments.

See my comments on his web site, and let me know what you think by leaving me a comment on my website.

Tech Tip Of The Day - The Power of the Keyboard

2006-05-31T08:38:00.000-04:00

Using keyboard shortcuts to do things can speed up lots of tasks. You'd be surprised. Below are two ways to use the keyboard instead of the mouse. Try out these keyboard shortcuts and see if you like them.

If not, keep using that mouse.

If you do like them, use the Google search on my page to search the Web for more keyboard shortcuts. And pass on this article to someone you know!

Scenario 1: You want to work with windows explorer to find a file on your hard drive.

Mouse: Click on the Start menu, click Program Files, Accessories, Windows Explorer. You can also right click on Start menu, left click on Explore.

Keyboard: Hold down the Windows key (usually bottom left of the keyboard) and hit the "e" key on the keyboard.

Comments: This (windows key + e) shortcut is much faster for me (takes about 2 seconds). I like to use my left thumb for the windows key and my left index finger for the e key.

Scenario 2: You want to go to a certain web site by typing in the web address.

Mouse: Using the mouse, click in the Address section of the browser. Then type in the web address. Then use the mouse to click "go".

Keyboard: While browsing, instead of moving your hand to the mouse, clicking the address bar, moving your hand to the keyboard, typing the web address, etc., just hold down the Alt key and hit the "d" key (Alt + d).

Comments: This (Alt + d) shortcut is much faster for me (takes about 2 seconds). I like to use my left thumb for the Alt key and my left index finger for the d key.

2006-05-29T11:46:00.000-04:00

Living Fit

What are the common road blocks on the path to living a healthy life?

Explore this article - it talks about Motivation To Exercise and Common Pitfalls

The Motivation to Move