Web Worker Daily

Last month, in reviewing Taskpaper 2.0, we noted the desire for simplicity in to-do applications, while, personally, I was holding out for a good Google and Apple linkup to bring together Gmail and Apple Mail.

Well, we’re not quite there yet, but Google yesterday announced that Gmail’s recently-launched Tasks feature had been repackaged for mobile browsers for iPhone and Android as well as functioning  independently of Gmail. The feature works well on the iPhone, particularly when added to the Home Screen with it’s own icon, giving it the feel of a native application.

With the simultaneous availability of Tasks for iGoogle, it seems Google is taking baby steps to unbundle Tasks from Gmail; with some APIs and syncing capabilities, it could evolve into a valuable tool for web workers…and indeed, Google’s own advertising business! Now if only they’d unbundle Gmail’s Contacts, too…

The mobile Tasks feature is available at http://gmail.com/tasks, requiring users to sign in with their usual Gmail credentials.

Addendum: If you’re a Google Apps for Domain user, you won’t be able to access it through that URL. You’ll need to head to:

https://mail.google.com/tasks/a/yourdomain.com/

Or:

https://mail.google.com/tasks/iphone/a/yourdomain.com/

https://mail.google.com/tasks/android/a/yourdomain.com/

Hat tip to James for pointing this out.

Project Management and Collaboration applications are one of the staples of the typical web worker. And while we’ve covered our share of alternatives, the ubiquitous Basecamp is the one that I seem to run into most often.

With a healthy userbase and a robust API, it’s no surprise that a number of useful add-ons have been created to make our Basecamp lives just that much easier. One such add-on I’ve been testing lately is Periscope by Ten Seven, Interactive.

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Dressing up your iGoogle just got easier with Google’s launch of a theme directory where you people can submit, rate and select new theme’s for their personalized search portal.

For the first time anyone can create and submit a theme for iGoogle – so long as it “compelling, polished, tested design that conforms to the guidelines given in the program policy.” (Don’t mess with the Google logo).

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