shawnw.orgfaith – technology – culture

1. A solid SMS client – I love the look of the SMS client but sometimes it takes forever to load (and occasionally crashes). The very nature of SMS requires speed (heck, the first S stands for short!) and the Droid SMS client misses the mark.
2. Gmail Tasks integration – Tasks isn’t a Labs feature anymore. It’s enabled by default in Gmail. So why isn’t it built into the Android Gmail client? Big fat zero on this one.
3. Google Apps calendar integration – not there yet. Instead, you have to share your Google Apps calendar with your Gmail account’s calendar to see your Google Apps calendar on the Droid. Weak.
4. A great music player – the built-in player barely has more than shuffle and repeat. It’s also ugly. I’ve seen three year old flip phones with better music players than the Droid.

This list makes it sound like I hate the Droid. Not at all. I’m very happy with it. The Gmail client, for the most part, is amazing, the browser is almost as good as a desktop browser, the actual phone software is responsive and easy to use, and the user interface is clean and easy to understand.

The four features I mention simply should have been better at launch. If you own a Droid, your list is probably different than mine (if so, be sure to share in the comments!). I’m also sure we’ll see fixes for these things with future updates.

Be sure to use the comments to ask questions, and to talk about what you like and what can be better about the Droid!

Describe for me the conditions that put you in your sweet spot. That place where you’re most productive, or creative, or happy. The weather. The room temperature. Everything.

For me it’s at my Starbucks (pictured above) with my laptop and some tunes piping in from lala, knocking down my todo list, capturing ideas in Evernote and sipping on an iced coffee (in the summer) or a grande Pike (in the winter). I dig it when the sun’s out but, for some reason, rain and thunder get my creative juices flowing.

Your turn. Tell me: what is your sweet spot?

One of the questions I’m most often asked is, “Shawn, what tools do you use to do what you do on a computer?” So, here it is. The definitive list of the digital tools I use to Get Things Done.

Google Suite – That’s my name for Gmail, Gmail Tasks, Google Calendar and Google Docs. Gmail Tasks and Google Calendar integrate so when you give a Gmail Task a due date it appears on your Google Calendar. You can also tick a Gmail Task as done from Google Calendar, too. I use Google Docs for 100% of my document writing and spreadsheets and don’t have Microsoft Office installed on my machine at all (I do on my work laptop but only because my office uses Microsoft Exchange calendars to schedule field techs). I also use Google Reader to keep up with my RSS feeds.

Evernote – I’ve been using this for years and consider it vital to my being productive. If you didn’t check out my personal productivity system article I suggest you do so. It gives a clearer picture on how I use Evernote as part of all my day to day activities. Evernote is available for BlackBerry, iPhone and lots of other devices.

Firefox – the web browser of web browsers. Not only is it standards compliant but it’s safer, faster and can be customized in just about any way imaginable. I use the Xmarks add-on to sync my bookmarks between desktop and laptop PC’s plus many other add-ons to shape Firefox into a powerful productivity tool.

Task.fm – this is a newcomer to my digital toolbox. I use Task.fm to send me email and text reminders (when making a Google Calendar event is too weighty). You can add Task.fm reminders via email, their website or Twitter and you can also set recurring reminders.

Syncplicity – This is also another newcomer to my digital toolbox. Syncplicity allows me to sync files automatically between my desktop and laptop PC’s. I simply tell Syncplicity to “watch” a folder and whenever I add, remove or change a file in that folder, the changes sync to the Internet automatically. These changes then sync to my other PC automatically. It’s also a fantastic backup tool.

I hope this article helps you become more productive.

What items are in your digital toolbox?

You may visit more than that, and that’s okay, but I want to know the three sites you visit every day, even on a bad day, a busy day, a crazy out of control day.

Excluding email sites (like Yahoo, Hotmail, MSN, Gmail, etc.).

At least once a day I visit:

• Google Reader – www.google.com/reader – to read all of my feeds
• pMetrics – www.pmetrics.performancing.com – to check my blog stats
• Gmail Tasks – mail.google.com/tasks/ig – my todo list(s)!

Your turn

Tell me three sites you visit every day, no matter what.