I don't know about you, but between my duties at home, with the fshbwl, Genesis, and the eLife, I have a slew of different project areas in my life and I'm constantly trying to keep myself organized and up to date on what needs to be done. Then of course, because I work from home, my office, and my laptop, I need access to my task list from a number of locations. Moreover, I'm not particularly good at mental notes, so, if something is going to make it into my task list, it needs to get there immediately.

So, what's my solution? Remember the Milk. Remember the Milk (RTM) is, at the most basic level, an online task list that allows you to categorize and tag your to-do items, but, the real beauty is the way RTM mashes up with other applications.

For example, when I'm sitting in a meeting and am reminded that there is something I need to do, I can text Twitter with a "d rtm" command and my task will be added to my task list. Or say, when I'm in the car and I recall something that needs to be done. Using my bluetooth I can speed dial Jott, identify it as a message for RTM, and use their voice recognition software to add a task to my list.

Then of course there is the integration with gMail (or a google aps mail account) through a Firefox extension. The result is that my task list sits right next to my inbox and, I can easily add messages that I need to follow up on later to my to do list (which then allows me to tag and archive the message and keep my inbox empty).

As if that wasn't enough, I'm also able to share specific task lists with other RTM users so, Anita and I have some shared items and, if there' something she wants me to get done around the house, she just drops the item in our shared list and I get the hint (sometimes).

Of course, because I'm not always online, RTM also works with Google Gears so, on my laptop, I always have the latest version of my task list and, if I change anything offline, the next time I log on, everything will sync. This will get even better when I get an iPhone and can use the RTM page specifically designed for the iPhone.

RTM is a wonderful tool that I'm sure will only get better over time.

I'll admit it, I love having a long list of things to do and getting to check them off one by one as tasks are completed. Be it making a phone call or finishing a presentation, there's just something rewarding in that little word, "Complete."

Lately I've run across a few tools that have been wonderful on this front. For a while now I've been a fan of Remember the Milk (RTM), a wonderful little online task list that allows me to file tasks based on my various projects (including a task list that I share with Anita). But RTM recently moved to a whole new level in my book when they developed a Firefox extension that brings RTM to the gmail interface. Not only does it mean that I have to keep one less tab open on my browser, but the gmail interface is more user friendly than the main RTM site and it shows up in with both gmail and google aps (assuming you have your aps domain set to receive the latest gmail site updates).

The other awesome little deal that I found is Jott, a free service that I can call on my cell, tell who I want to contact, and then leave a voice message that is transcribed by a computer and sent via email. Now, this isn't all that exciting because you could just call a the person (although the group feature will come in handy when trying to get the same message to a large group quickly), but the killer feature with Jott is that I can add messages to my RTM or my Google calendar from my phone with just a few voice commands. So, for example, when I was listening to the Geeks and God podcast in the car and they announced the dates for the Web 2.0 conference this summer, I paused the iPod, used my bluetooth and cell phone to call Jott, and added the conference to my calendar. The voice recognition isn't perfect, but if you have a tough word, Jott allows you to spell it out.

Okay, time to get back to checking stuff off!

Today Google announced the gPhone ... sort of. Actually, what it announced is an open source platform for mobile phone companies and other technology sectors to use when developing new high tech phones. Here's a preview video:

This kind of open source, collaborative, information sharing is nothing new. This site is built on the open source software known as Drupal and I'm a fan of creative commons licensing which basically allows a content creator to give others permission to use what they've created in another project as long as certain guidelines are kept.

In some ways, I think the church needs to adopt more of an open source mentality. As I've mentioned before, I'm writing Lent devotions right now for Lutheran Hour Ministries. Early on in this process I had a great idea for the devotions but wanted to use my work on another project later on, so I requested a change in the author agreement that would give them "first use" of the content, but would allow me to maintain ownership. They said no so I'm writing something else.

As another Lutheran Hour example, a friend of mine wrote some music that they recorded with a verbal agreement that he'd keep the rights to the music (he wanted to make it available to the masses under a CCLI license), but ended up having to hire a lawyer when they claimed ownership.

This kind of old school, non-collaborative mentality not only hurts ministry in that it restricts content accessibility, but it also limits intellectual and creative power that goes into various projects. This is part of the reason I wonder if LHM's days are numbered.

At the same time, I've noticed a serious increase in attempts at what I'd call an open source theology, where everybody gets to drop in their opinion and all opinions carry the same weight. This is, quite simply, stupid, and akin to me thinking that I could develop one of the new gPhones or should have access to the Drupal kernel. The reality is, as much as I might like to think I'm a geek, I have no where near the knowledge or skill necessary to do these things. The same holds true for theology.

By the way, Lutheran Hour does seem to be open to some shifts in their approach as they're open to being a partner of The Fishbowl ... assuming this post doesn't kill our discussions.

I ran across this interesting post from TechCrunch this morning on Google and their social networking plans. The part that really got my attention was this bit at the end:

The bigger vision is to combine all of Google’s apps and services through Maka-Maka. Google already has so much data on you, depending on how many Google apps you already use. It just needs to bring everything together. Your contacts are in Gmail. Your feeds are in Google Reader. Your IM buddy list is in Gtalk. Your upcoming events are in Google Calendar. Your widgets are in iGoogle. And don’t forget about your search history. Overtime, Google will connect all of these together in different ways, along with data about you from other social services across the Web, and give developers access to the social layer tying all of these apps together underneath. The real killer app for Google is not to turn Orkut into a Facebook clone. It is to turn every Google app into a social application without you even noticing that you’ve joined yet another social network.

As somebody who's a self-proclaimed Google whore (I use search, Gmail, Reader, Calendar, Gtalk, and the yet unmentioned Docs), this is both exciting and scary. Exciting in the sense that I love it when all of my info and apps link together seamlessly (part of why I love Mac), but scary in that it's somebody other than me controlling all of my info and now is looking at how to make it more available to others.

On the faith side this is certainly points out the need to live above reproach and makes our lives that much more transparent, but it also means that in an age where information is power, our information will be that much more accessible to everybody, including those who have evil intentions.

How much do you trust Google with your life?

I helped a couple of friends move the other day and while we were taking a breather one of the guys mentioned how much more attention Michael Vick is receiving compared to OJ Simpson back in the mid-90's. On a quick reflection I agreed with him, but then, this morning, as I ran through my RSS feeds, I rethought my initial reaction.

Back in the 90's I had three main sources of information, the nightly news, the morning paper, and the radio. Given that I listened to music over talk, this meant I'd get a combined 4 OJ hits a day. Today, I no longer watch the evening news and I don't read the newspaper so my traditional media hits have cut in half (the 2 from the radio). However, I do follow three news podcasts which bumps me up to 5 hits a day. Then, when you add in RSS feeds from CNN, ESPN, CBS Sportsline, and the Rocky Mountain News, we're now at 9 hits a day. Add in 2 more on the average day from the news ticker on the Denver Newspaper Agency building and we're up to 11. My point is, there is just that much more information out there that is saturating our lives.

But, it's not just the amount of information that's changed in the past decade, the sources of our information are also changing. I ran across this post today which points out that Google is now indexing blogs at close to real-time speeds. And before anyone goes thinking this is only for blogs that are in the 1,000's of visits a day range, my blog, just like the example, is ranked as a 4 according to Google's PageRank system, which means what I'm posting now will be available via Google search within minutes. When you combine this with services like Technorati and Del.icio.us, it's not just an increase in volume of information but a dramatic increase of easily searchable sources of information meaning that voices that would have never been heard a decade ago are now just as accessible as the voices of the "big boys".

More info, more voices, more views ... how can we possibly process it all in a functional way?