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Tech Geek

Advice and new 'finds' in the tech world for those doing Youth and Family Ministry. Read about what's the latest and get your questions answered!

Google Tasks

Andy Arnold - Monday, November 30, 2009
As I have freely admitted before, I am a Google fan, and I think they get how the internet should be used in a way that I agree with. I am excited about the Android operating system that they have brought to mobile phones and how open that is. I look forward to having one of those phones myself, but I'm holding out to see if something better than the Droid comes around. It looks great, but there are some rumors I'm waiting on.

I have used, and still do use, Remember the Milk for much of my task management. It's a great product and I only scratch the surface of what it can do. I haven't gotten into using tags, locations, contacts, or many of the other features. I just add things to my list, often using Dial2Do, and then I take them off when they're finished. Or, sometimes I just leave them there forever, like my oldest task of setting up an annual physical which is over a year old, which sort of defeats the annual part! I also use the Remember the Milk for Gmail gadget and Firefox extension, available at http://www.rememberthemilk.com/services/gmail/, so that I can see my tasks from within my Gmail account.

Remember the Milk does also have some integration with Google Calendar, but I found it wasn't for me. I wanted something that would sit alongside my calendar and let me add things easily and have them show up both in the list and on the relevant calendar date. I also wanted to be able to modify the list from my iPod Touch, whether I had internet access or not. I could have paid for a pro membership to Remember the Milk in order to use their iPod Touch application, but I didn't feel I was using the service enough to justify paying for it.

Awhile back, Google came out with Google Tasks, a task manager of their own. It isn't nearly as robust as Remember the Milk, but it does much of what I was looking for. I've found myself using it more and more, even though it doesn't have Dial2Do integration, yet. (I have contacted Dial2Do and asked them to consider adding Google Tasks to their service.) I find that Google Tasks also works well for the check-off lists that we probably all use to keep track of things like who has paid for a retreat! I just create a new list and add the names of everyone who needs to pay. Then, when they pay, I check them off. I don't "clear completed items" until everyone has paid. If I need to make a note, I can leave the name as the "task" and add a note in the Notes field.

To access Google Tasks from Gmail, click on Tasks, which should be right under your Contacts. This pops up a Google Talk style window with your tasks listed in it. You can add notes and due dates by clicking on the > at the right hand of each item. If you click on the pop-out arrow, your task list will float in a new window.

To access it from Google Calendar, click on Tasks, which should be right under Quick Add. This will open a sidebar to the right of your calendar screen and it will have the same tasks in it as you see from any other method of accessing Google Tasks. Once you start using Google Tasks, you'll also notice a new calendar under My Calenders which is, appropriately enough, called Tasks. Selecting or un-selecting this will control whether or not your tasks are displayed on your calendars.

You can also add Google Tasks to your iGoogle page, if you use that, by adding the Tasks gadget. Or you can visit gmail.com/tasks from your mobile phone or iPod Touch and access your list that way.

Finally, I found an iPhone/iPod app called GeeTasks which lets me quickly add tasks to any of my lists whether or not I'm connected to the internet. There is a YouTube video explaining the application at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXy5jY5lSUQ&feature=player_embedded. It's a $2.99 application, but that's close enough to free for me! There is always a chance that Google will change the API enough that the developer won't be able to keep it working, but it has worked well for me for a couple of months and there have been a couple of new versions that have improved the user experience.

Good luck with whatever you end up doing, and get rid of those sticky notes!
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Dial2Do

Andy Arnold - Sunday, November 22, 2009
If you've been following my posts since the beginning, you probably remember me talking about the Jott services. Jott offers a set of voice-to-text services that give you the ability to call a number and have a text message sent to any one of a number of services. Jott Voicemail will also convert incoming voicemails into text messages and send them to you. I used both services and even paid for a one-year subscription to Jott Assistant, but when it came time to renew, I decided I'd try and see what else was out there that might still be free.

When I started searching, I came across Dublin, Ireland based Dial2Do, a similar service to Jott. They don't have an 800 number, but my cell phone has free long distance anyways, so that isn't a consideration for me. I dial the number that they gave me, a 213 (Los Angeles) and say what I want to do. There are an extensive list of services that Dial2Do support, some of which are new to me and some of which I will be looking at in upcoming posts.

Here is the list of services that Dial2Do support today:

I have not explored the capability, but it may be the case that you could use Dial2Do to send text messages to a group of people for free. Tatango used to provide this service, but they are now charging for it as the market for text-message advertising has collapsed. I'm currently using Dial2Do to send expenses to Xpenser and calendar items to Google Calendar and it's working well for both!

Do any of you have a similar free service that you've been using?
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North Carolina Synod Youth and Family Ministry Resources

Andy Arnold - Monday, November 02, 2009
It's just about time to turn the calendar over to a new liturgical year in the Christian church. For many of us, Advent also means mid-week services and yummy potlucks. (Lenten soup suppers are always so reserved by comparison.) Instead of using blank white place-mats, this year, start families into using Family Table Devotions. I'm going to print them out onto 11x17 paper and put a few of them on each table. If you don't have a printer/copier that can do that, print them on letter sized paper and leave a few on each table.

Family Table Devotions are one of the many resources available from the North Carolina Synod, through the work of their most excellent Youth and Family Ministry Coordinator, Tammy Jones West. If the devotions don't work for you, they also have Table Talk sheets available, with a series of questions designed to spur conversation around the table. While you're on the North Carolina Synod Youth & Family Ministry website, be sure and poke around the links in the left hand column. There are a number of great resources available.

I hope to see some of you this weekend at CSLYOPs. There may not be new post next week, since I'll be gathered with many of our young church leaders and the adults who work with them.

Pastor Andy Arnold
ELCA Youth Ministry Network Tech Geek

P.S. - If you're in need of some encouragement about what our church is called to be, check out Tammy's report at her synod assembly - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l1PzU8CA_Y




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