Things Touch 1.3.5 has been released along with Things 1.1 and, among a heap of bug fixes and UI improvements, you'll find a new feature for syncing Areas of Responsibility from your Mac to your iPhone (it's not yet possible to create Areas in Things Touch). The feature requires Things 1.1 on the Mac side, which was officially released today, but has actually been available (sans release notes) for about a week (assumedly waiting for Things Touch to make it through App Store approval).

Another new addition (which is more exciting, to me) is full AppleScript support in Things on the Mac. I haven't had a chance to dive into it yet, but it's a topic I discussed with Cultured Code at the last Macworld Expo and I'm excited to see it come to fruition. People using Things in any kind of group setting will appreciate the reconsidered approach to task delegation, as well.

For those who aren't familiar with Things in general, I'll take a quick step back. Things for the Mac has been a staunch competitor in the Mac task-management colosseum. Battling it out with OmniFocus and newer gladiators like The Hit List, it's been recognized by many for its simplicity and elegance. Things is powerful and flexible, while remaining reliable and simple. Things Touch is its iPhone companion, usable on its own or synced with Things Mac.

You may be asking, what's an "Area of Responsibility?" This is one of the features of Things which was hardest for me to grasp. It's not quite a GTD context, and it's not a folder for projects. Basically, Areas provide a flexible means of handling tasks which aren't part of a "project" and aren't necessarily sequential in nature. In the words of Cultured Code:

With an Area of Responsibility (or simply "Area"), you don't ask yourself about the desired outcome, but what standards you would like to maintain. An Area corresponds to an ongoing activity. These could be, for example, job responsibilities, roles you have taken on in your family, or personal responsibilities like health.

Things is available for download as a free trial, and can be purchased for $49.95US. Things Touch, the iPhone version, is available in the App Store for $9.99US.

What's free, flexible, easy-to-use but powerful and can handle a wide variety of file types? Our good friend, TextEdit, an app that ships with every Mac. TextEdit is, of course, a simple text editing tool like Notepad or WordPad on Windows. But there's a lot more to "simple text editing" that you might imagine, especially when TextEdit connects to services and other apps. I'm going to show you a few cool things you can do with TextEdit: create an inbox, use it as a development tool, or grab snippets of text on the go.

First, you should know that TextEdit defaults to the .rtf format. If you're not familiar with it, RTF is "rich text" and, unlike the .txt files generated by something like NotePad, RTF includes formatting, like bold or italics or bullet lists. "Plain text" .txt files are pretty much just the basic ASCII characters and paragraph breaks. So what? Well, if you want things to look pretty, you'll stick with .rtf, a format which is easy to share across platforms. Side note: did you know TextEdit will open Word documents? It isn't perfect, but it works if you don't have Word on your machine. The older .txt format is better for coding or when you don't need or can't have formatting.

To create an inbox, I suggest the simpler .txt format. What I used to do was set up Quicksilver to easily append to an inbox.txt file, and I used GeekTool to pin that .txt file to my desktop. You could also use LaunchBar to append, and I'm sure there's a way to whip up an AppleScript, but I never bothered. Instead, when I ditched Quicksilver, I started keeping the text file in the Dock, and I just open it up to add items. All this is portable, indexed by Spotlight, and fully cross-platform compatible.

Next up: munging HTML with TextEdit, and grabbing snippets of text from any app and dropping them into a file.

According to my completely unscientific research, about 90% of the TUAW mailbag is comprised of iPhone app announcements. In our continuing effort to not deluge you with iPhone app reviews, I present another "fistful of apps": 6 iPhone app reviews in one post. If you don't have an iPhone, you only have to skip one post. For the rest, this is some serious bang for your blog-reading buck.

I don't play games much, aside from the occasional word challenge, so the apps I've chosen to review are definitely of a more utilitarian ilk. I'd classify them as productivity apps, including a Campfire client, a 3D mind mapping app, a movie cataloger, a task-management solution, a multi-status updater and a nifty tool for developing iPhone interfaces. Read on for the nitty gritty.

The Omni Group just released OmniFocus 1.6, and it's a big, big update. Current users are going to be pleased, even if they don't bother to page through the extensive list of new features and fixes in the release notes. I've never said anything to the contrary, but this is proof that Omni is listening carefully to users and working hard to evolve with user demands while still maintaining their original vision.

For the uninitiated, OmniFocus is one of the top contenders for your task manager dollar. Among the commercial options -- along with Things and up-and-comer, The Hit List -- OmniFocus is considered to be the powerhouse, at least as far as features. It's been a bit too much power for a number of people looking for simplicity in both form and function, but for those who need the extra power, it's a solid choice.

When I say "extra power", I'm talking about advanced sorting based on just about any criteria, saved filter sets called "Perspectives," AppleScript support, integration with Mail, iCal sync, iPhone sync (with separately purchased iPhone version) and some advanced capabilities to help you determine your "next action" with less input than some of the others. Things and The Hit List are still contending for my ultimate love, but I've used OmniFocus extensively and can honestly say that the only reason I tend to drift away from it is complexity -- both in the UI and in general functionality.

As I mentioned, the 1.6 release notes are extensive, and the vast majority of the entries are of very similar importance, making "highlights" hard to do. There are changes and additions to the filtering options, a new "Flagged" collation type for Context view, a prodigious number of bug fixes and enhancements to existing functionality, UI improvements, AppleScript fixes and improvements ... seriously, it's a long list. If you're a current user, you should be notified of the update within the application (check your update settings in Preferences), and new users can download a free demo. OmniFocus will hit your pocketbook for $79.95US ... competitive in the GTD arena and fitting for the punch it packs.

Potion Factory's The Hit List introduces repeating tasks to the GTD-style client, but in a pretty neat way. Instead of the traditional method of indicating how often a task should repeat, users can type directly into the "repeating" field, using natural language to describe when and how many times it should reoccur. For example, if I wanted a reminder to return my library books, I simply would type in "every 3 weeks on Wednesday." Then a short menu appears indicating how often I'd like for that particular task to repeat itself. Once I complete that chore, it'll jump ahead to the next date it's due.

Repeating tasks is something that's been requested since the program debuted, and I really like how you can dig into the specifics of creating them. Potion Factory's Andy Kim acknowledges in his blog entry that the one huge drawback to this feature right now is localization. It's just not there at the moment, but that issue will be resolved once the code itself has been hammered out.

Other features in this update, as seen on the release notes, include:

• AppleScript support.
• Different way to tweak tasks including smart-folder-like capabilities and disabling the auto-completion of parent tasks when sub-tasks are finished.
  
• Duplicate any list, folder, or smart folder by right clicking in the source list.
• When emails are dragged and dropped into a task, it adds the sender's name and email address in addition to the subject.
• Various keyboard shortcut tweaks.
• Many more bug fixes and small features than we have room to list here.

We've covered Things for Mac and the iPhone version before. Things is a slick task management tool with a ton of features, clean layout and powerful organization capabilities. Adding the iPhone version (works on the touch, of course) means you can take your tasks with you -- and sync wirelessly when you have to.

Thanks to Cultured Code we're giving away two "Things Packs" which include Things for Mac and Things for iPhone. The usual rules apply: US and Canada only (sorry!), must be 18, only one entry per person, and it's totally random. Enter by telling us how you currently keep track of your tasks, right there in the comments.

• Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.
• To enter leave a comment telling us how you manage your tasks.
• The comment must be left before February 8, 11:59PM Eastern Time.
• You may enter only once.
• Two winners will be selected in a random drawing.
• Prize: Things Pack, including Things for Mac ($49.95) and Things for iPhone and iPod touch ($9.99).
• Click Here for complete Official Rules.

It was a heck of a coming-out party for Cultured Code's Things, the task organizer and GTD platform for Mac and iPhone. With a passel of awards for the product (including a Macworld Best in Show) and a shipping 1.0 version of the desktop app, the CC gang had plenty to celebrate.

I stopped by the Cultured Code booth for a chat with Michael Simmons and a look at some of the late-breaking features in the desktop release. I don't have the evolved and tweaked GTD workflow that some of my colleagues bring to bear, but I can say that Things is one of the few task managers I've found myself "moving into" naturally and easily, and I'm still using it after a couple of months. Now, if it only synchronized with my favorite cloud-side task manager ... but hopefully that's just around the corner.

Owners of the iPhone version of Things should check the new "gear" icon for a 20% discount off the US$49.95 cost of Things for Mac, good through 1/15/09.

Video in the 2nd half of the post.

Cultured Code has issued the 1.0 release candidate for Things, its popular GTD application, a little more than a week ahead of its official launch on January 6.

Things 1.0rc has a huge list of changes including new icons, the ability to reorder to-dos in the Today list across project and area boundaries, the ability to edit titles and reorder projects in the sidebar (my biggest pet peeve prior to this), fixes to syncing and compatibility issues with the iPhone version of Things, and numerous big fixes. A complete list can be found here via MacUpdate due to site difficulties with Cultured Code. An official mirror detailing the release notes can also be found here.

Things 1.0rc is available at the mirror of the Cultured Code website, since the main site is either being sluggish or not responding at all due to demand. An alternate download location can be found through MacUpdate, along with the complete list of changes. Full price for a Things license is $49USD, but a coupon for 20% off can be used until January 15 - even if you missed out signing up for the newsletter. That code is THINGSPRESALE20.

Things requires OS X 10.4 or later. It is also recommended for those who own the iPhone version to update to version 1.3 once it becomes available through the App Store.

Things, one of the top contenders in the Mac GTD application lineup, has updated to 0.9.6 on their way to a planned 1.0 release at the Macworld Expo. The update includes some interface polish, but the biggest news is the addition of global search.

It's been one of the most requested features, and I've seen plenty of comments here at TUAW bemoaning the absence of this capability. The newly added feature allows searching through all projects while still being able to confine the query to various scopes, including Title, Notes or Tags. This, of course, makes the tagging system in Things even more useful, allowing all tasks with a given tag or tag combination to be listed. Personally, I'd say this is the most important new feature added to (the desktop version of) Things since iCal sync. I'm betting we'll see more of these highly-requested features implemented as the development pace amps up to meet the Macworld deadline.

A blog post at Cultured Code details all of the new features. You can download a free trial at the Cultured Code website, and a license can be had for $39USD ... if you sign up for the newsletter before the January 6th launch (after which the price will be $49USD).

ActionGear has been out for a while, but I think it deserves a mention as a potentially great task-management app, falling somewhere between iCal or a bare bones outliner such as TaskPaper, and the robust end of the scale where Things and OmniFocus are duking it out.

Within ActionGear's simple interface, you'll find a sidebar with your Inbox, (nestable) Groups, and Smart Groups. The main focus of the interface is a task list in which tasks can be nested within their groups (folders). Each task can have flags, notes and attachments, and there's a tagging system which allows Things-like flexibility. You can use it as a basic to-do list, or make the Groups into projects and tags into contexts and go all GTD with it. The Smart Groups can emulate, to some extent, the Perspectives you'd find in OmniFocus.

Overall it seems like a good solution for those who need a little more structure and power in their task management than what can be done with iCal, but don't really need all of the extra features of OmniFocus. If that's you, give ActionGear a shot with the free trial. If you dig it, it's $29USD for a license.

I'll admit it -- I'm a notorious procrastinator.

Give me something to do and no deadline, and I'll put it off until everyone forgets about it. Give me a deadline and I'll wait until the deadline is looming before I'll get things going. This not only happens in my professional life, but my personal life as well. For example, my wife is still patiently waiting for me to complete some painting in our newly renovated laundry room. Hey, it's only been a month since I started the work!

If there's anyone who needs to follow the Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology, it's me. In the past, my To-Do list consisted of Post-It Notes scattered on my desk with lists of things to complete. A couple of months ago I thought it would work better if I organized my notes into one place, so I bought a hard-cover Moleskine and started writing listing things to do in that book. Nice, but I was out of luck when I didn't have the Moleskine with me.

I always have my iPhone with me, so it made sense for me to start using it to help add some semblance of order to my life. That's where Things, the task manager from Cultured Code, helped me out.

Yeah, it seems like YAGTDA (Yet Another Getting Things Done App), but Dejumble actually caught my attention. Thinking Code recently created this Leopard-only application as an unobtrusive way to keep track of your to-do list, and the latest released version does the job very well. Dejumble lives in the Menu bar as an extra, so a quick click of the icon brings up a clean, organized window for entering those things that you must get done.

The 1.1.1 update includes a pile 'o new features, including:

• Ability to view daily events from iCal
• Hotkey access to the application
• Additional filter and sorting options
• Dejumble window themes (three of 'em, including the black theme in the screenshot)
  
• URLs in tasks
  
• Colorize groups
• Redesigned settings window
• Extended free trial period from 5 to 30 days

Thinking Code notes that they are working on iPhone and BlackBerry versions of Dejumble, both of which will sync with the Mac version.

This may be a "keeper" for me. I like the fact that Dejumble is out of the way and easy to get to, simple to add new tasks to, and that it will soon work with my iPhone. Download the 30-day free trial, and then post your comments about your favorite GTD app. If that favorite app is Dejumble, it's available for just $19.

[via prMac]

An application called Today was released recently by the developers of PocketTweets. It's a $15 application that integrates with iCal to display tasks and events, offering a complete interface for entering new tasks and events without opening iCal. It came at a time when I was furiously trying to make a homebrew task management system come to fruition using iCal and Mail, but ultimately left me in a not-much-better place than I started. I appreciate the simplicity of the app, but it doesn't provide much power beyond just using iCal to begin with.

Anxiety, which is free (and features a HUD interface which somehow always earns points in my book), provides similar integration -- at least for tasks -- as do several other great little applications. But none of them allow for the task sorting, flagging, etc. that would make them truly useful to me.

So I tried to make my own way...

If you're in the market for a web-based GTD solution, Nozbe is one worth checking out. It provides a solid project management solution with contexts, projects, tasks, optional due dates and next actions, and it does it without a cluttered interface. So why am I blogging about a GTD website on TUAW? Well, mostly because of iNozbe.

iNozbe provides full access to your tasks on your iPhone. A recent blog post by the developer details how the same interface can make a great dashboard widget. The only drawback I've found to the widget version is that the rare event that requires an alert dialog -- deleting tasks being the only one I've noticed -- doesn't work in Dashboard. But with iNozbe on my Dashboard and as GTD-to-go, it makes a great portable solution that can be accessed from anywhere. iNozbe makes use of a very complete API provided by Nozbe which can also be put to use in scripts and 3rd party apps for things like speedy task entry and getting your next actions in whatever form you want to process them as.

Given the lack of Mail and iCal integration a web-only task manager provides, it's not yet my ultimate solution; I'm still working on that. But, with an API which can update/export your projects and tasks, it can be worked into a system with applications like OmniFocus which provide AppleScript interfaces for task manipulation. Remember The Milk and others also provide such APIs, and the array of choices for both desktop and web tends to have me spending more time working on my "ultimate solution" for task and project management than actually getting anything done.

Nozbe has a free account with 5 projects available. Plans start at $2.45/month and stretch up to business accounts (starting at $24/month) which allow for group projects and task delegation. If you're in need of a new task management solution, have a look.

The GTD app scene has been pretty quiet for a while now. Only OmniFocus seems to be regularly showing signs of development at a pace that offers some real hope for the new generation of task managers. But Things has updated to version 0.9, and offers a couple of new features that fill some major holes. Most notably, the addition of recurring tasks is an answer to a primary criticism of the software.

A lot of people love the simplicity of the Things philosophy. I count myself among those people from a conceptual standpoint, but the "simplicity" approach only goes so far when I find myself in need of some heavy-duty organization. I still find the lack of integration with applications like Mail and the lack of scriptability to be major impediments to incorporating Things into my workflow. In my time testing Things, I was able to create some AppleScripts for adding Mail messages and importing from OmniFocus using some brute-force "System Events" tactics. It's certainly not ideal, though.

I'm hoping the development pace of Things picks back up as it has the potential to be an ideal system, at least for users like myself. In the meantime, you can download the trial and/or get in on the pre-release discount of 20% off the $49 price. For more information on the 0.9 release, check out the release notes.