Remember the Milk for Android, and a s60 rant

Remember the Milk now has an official application for Android devices. I'm not an android user, so I can't comment on the app itself. I am, however, a remember the milk user, and a s60 (nokia) user, and seeing this really breaks my heart.

I might be mistaken, but I believe s60 devices are used by way more people than Android. At least worldwide. Nevertheless, it still seems nobody seems interested in developing applications for this platform. I might be mistaken, but it certainly feels like it.

The more I read about new applications launched for the iPhone or Android, or even WebOS, the sadder I feel about still believing in symbian. Even after the total disappointment that is the N97: a slow and buggy device, specially when comparing it to the best phone I've owned, the e71.

I think it's time to quit Symbian. I tried. I really tried, but I feel abandoned. I know Nokia has its plan for the new version of Symbian, but that will take a while, and that might be too late. I still love nokia, so I just preordered their latest phone, the n900, which runs on Maemo (linux). Maemo is not new, but it's the first time it's used in a phone, so I bet it'll not have as many features as symbian. I know it won't have as many apps as there are apps for iPhone and Android. But I still love it. I love it more because IT IS NOT SYMBIAN.

I know that my next device will either be an Android phone, or a WebOS (Palm) phone, if Palm starts selling GSM unlocked Pres. I'm even thinking about buying an iPhone (it does have a remember the milk app, and 100 other apps to manage my todo list), but I still don't like the fact that it doesn't multitask, and it doesn't have a keyboard.

I hope that Nokia fixes the n97 with the new firmware version that is expected to come out in October or so. I might even buy another symbian phone: the e72. Symbian is a very stable OS; Nokia phones are really nice and durable; but there must be a reason why developers are not interested in that platform, and unfortunately, and I guess we symbian users can't wait forever. Eventually we need to go and use the platform that has the applications we need.

One more todo list app, a very good one

Abstractspoon's TodoList is probably the most complete todo list application for windows. At least it's the most complete I've used.

Best of all, it's completely free (licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic License.

It lets you create tasks (obviously), subtasks, recurring tasks, set categories, estimated time and time spent, priority and a bunch of other things. It is also completely portable (so you can carry it in a usb drive). I think you should give it a try if you're looking for a todo app for windows.

Now, while I have it, I have to confess that I rarely use it. The main reason is that it is "too complete" for me. I never get used to manage my todo lists, so I'm always looking for the most simple solution (the one with fewer options, and fewer features). Don't get me wrong, this application is great, it's just that I'm a disorganized person and an app with so many features as this one doesn't help me at all.

Go check the TodoList's official site to know more about it. Meanwhile I'm going to keep dreaming about the perfect app for me: a mobile app for Remember the Milk for my N97 (will that ever happen?)

Moving to gmail / google apps

One of the emails accounts I used the most recently got moved to google apps by the person in charge of the domain (someone I work with). That means that now I almost don’t have the need for a desktop email client. Even though I love my thunderbird, it’s time to let go, I’ll miss it.

The main advantage of this change is that now I can access all and any of my emails at any moment from any pc connected to the internet. The secondary advantage is that I can do that via the cool Gmail interface. It’s a bit different than working with a desktop app, obviously, but it’s cool nevertheless. I still need to get used to this new way of using email (I have a couple gmail accounts, but I don’t use them as much as I’d like).

I think I’m going to love using gmail as my main email client. Are you still using a desktop client, or have you moved to “the cloud” already?

By the way, just a small tip for symbian / s60 users. I use the official gmail mobile application on my nokia N97, and I like it very much. It’s not integrated with the OS, and it’s a java application, but still, it’s a good application, and it lets you access several gmail accounts (not at the same time). If you want to know more, go read about this app at n97fanatics.

Ok, that’s it for now….back to work…you too!

Password manager

It’s not a problem when you need to remember a couple of passwords, but it’s a pain to manage a lot of passwords, and remember them all. In my case, as a webdeveloper, I have a long list of sites, emails, ftp servers, mysql servers, and all kind of other things which come with users and passwords. It’s damn hard to remember them all.

My previous solution was to store them in my email, and tag them as “password”, but that’s hard to manage, because I almost never delete an email, so those tagged emails got lost and forgotten (even though they were still there)…and it took me at least 5 minutes every time I wanted to retrieve a password.

The other place where I have a lot of stored passwords is Filezilla (I use a bunch of ftp servers). It automatically saves the passwords of all ftp sites I use. Then, if I want to retrieve a password, I know there’s an xml file somewhere I can open and look at the full list of sites, users, and passwords (that’s not too secure, is it?). But again, it took me 5 minutes to find a password I needed.

I’ve been using something different lately. I admit I’m still very disorganized and don’t use it as much as I’d like, but the truth is that the more I use it, the more I like it. As that sounds a bit weird (if you’re a pervert), let me tell you what I'm talking about: KeePass. What is it? They say:

KeePass is a free open source password manager, which helps you to manage your passwords in a secure way. You can put all your passwords in one database, which is locked with one master key or a key file. So you only have to remember one single master password or select the key file to unlock the whole database. The databases are encrypted using the best and most secure encryption algorithms currently known (AES and Twofish)

It’s a small app, but it has all the features I need. I mostly need a way to store users and passwords, and this app does that very well, of course. One of the things I like the most is that there’s a portable version as well, which means you don’t have to install it, as you can run it directly from a thumbdrive.

By the way, I just notice there are several versions of Keepass for pocketPc, java enabled phones, iphone, blackberry, palmOS and android. That’s sweet, isn’t it?

More on painting with the iPhone / iPod Touch

As mentioned in my previous post, I’m planning on getting used to a drawing application for my iPod Touch (the app is called Layers). I just found out there are at least two more great drawing apps:

• Brushes (which in some aspects seems better than Layers)
• Paintbook (which uses vectors and not bitmaps)

I have a tendency to gather as many resources as possible, and then not use any of them, so for now I’m staying with Layers.

On a similar subject, it seems this “drawing on the iPod” has its own nice niche out there, and there are a few really talented artists creating amazing stuff with this apps. Check out Just iPhone Art, for example. I was amazed at the quality of paintings feature there, I couldn’t believe you could do that with a phone (or an mp3 player). FingerPainted.it also features some of this amazing art, and it focuses on resources (tutorials, videos, tips, etc) to help you create art on the iPod, too.

That’s it for now. I should be working.

A simple drawing application for my iPod Touch

I like drawing. In fact, it was my favorite activity long ago (before I had to work so much), and it’s something I want to get into again.

I have a few empty sketchbooks, pencils, drawing ideas and all that, but I never have the time to draw. So I looked for an easy digital alternative: Layers.

Layers is a simple, but complete drawing/painting application for the ipod touch or iphone (ugh!). It’s not the perfect method for drawing, but it’s a perfect little tool to doodle for 5 mins. every day. That’s what I think, yes sir!

So, I spent about 5 dollars, and now I have one application (probably the only one besides remember the milk) that I might be using constantly on my ipod.

If you want a better review of Layers (because this is not a review), check it out at All about iPhone