Here’s why:

Keeping it REALLY simple

All Anxiety does is allow you to add, view and check off to-do items. No reminders — that’s what Task.fm is for! — no email, no integration with web apps. Just a clean list.

Living in your menubar

Anxiety doesn’t have to be in the dock to function. It just sits in your menubar, waiting for you to pop open the attractive, compact HUD display. Keeping it out of the dock means it’s not distracting, but putting in the menubar means it’s there when you need it.

Playing nicely with others

Anxiety doesn’t replace your iCal or Google Calendar, but you can choose to have your Anxiety items listed as to-dos in either iCal or Apple Mail. That way, if you need to assign dates and times to them, place them on your calendar, add reminders, etc., you can do it fairly quickly.

Going easy on your system resources

Anxiety only uses 7 or 8MB of memory on my system, compared to 24MB for iCal and 55MB for Mail. It’s as if you don’t even have it open.

For me, Anxiety is basically a list of article ideas and pitches to send out when I have time. You could really use it for any kind of list, though. Certainly, it’s not going to be enough for some people, but it’s worth considering if your organizational style  is fairly loose and lightweight.

What’s your favorite to-do list app? Let us know in the comments.

Jay is a freelance writer based in Seattle, WA. He writes about software for Download Squad and contributes interviews to Geek Monthly magazine, among others. You can also follow him on Twitter and at his blog.

Better Christmas List

This is full featured app for managing the list of gifts you will be giving.    Its got a lot of different features, and if anything it may have too many.    Features include budgeting, groups, gifts, contacts (via the iPhone’s address book) and even the ability to lock the app using a pin to avoid prying eyes.

If you have a lot of gifts and people that you need to keep track of, this is nice handy application.

A Perfect Gift

The 2009 edition of this application features 350 gift recommendation.    Browse gifts by budget, interest or relationship.  It works without an internet connection.

If you have trouble picking out gifts than this might be the perfect app for you.

Card Designer

A more green alternative to traditional Christmas cards is to send an ecard.  And you can now send one right from your iPhone.

Add your own photos, select a nice Christmas theme and then ad some graphics.  The card can either be sent via email or posted to facebook.

What Christmas apps do you use (apart from these ones, mine are mostly games)?

I recently came across a great app to help you be more productive and focus on the task in hand.

Concentrate is a Mac app (sorry windows folks) that helps eliminate distractions.   Here are some of the features:

• Block Websites – While doing work, concentrate will block distracting websites.
• Launch and Quite Applications – Setup applications to automatically launch and others to quit.  For example if im blogging I want Firefox and Photoshop open and everything else closed
• Set Chat Status – Tell your buddies to leave you alone
• Timer – Setup a length of time to concentrate (I recommend 20-30 minutes bursts)
• And more – activity profiles, motivational messages and more.

I really like concentrate – and im now using it all the time.  The downside is the price tag – I think its a little too high (I would have gone for $19) but you do get a 60 minute free trial.

Check it Out

WordWeb

This app is like having an open dictionary at hand all the time.  There are a million dictionary programs out there, but WordWeb does its job simply and easily.  After install, WordWeb sits in the background waiting to be activated by a hot key (I use CTRL + ALT + W).  If you highlight a word and activate WordWeb, it will pop up and give you definitions, synonyms, antonyms, and a list of nearby words.  In many text fields (usually in programs and not on websites), you can simply use the hotkeys after typing a word and WordWeb will automatically look at the last word typed.

One reason I like WordWeb is that it helps out a lot if you can’t remember how to spell a word.  Just like when you Google something and lets you know you spelled it wrong, selecting a questionable word with WordWeb usually nets you the correct spelling.

Texter

My second app today is a little bit more experimental (it was developed by Lifehacker), but I think you may find it fairly useful.  If you ever type the same text over and over (signatures at the ends of emails, your mailing address, little bits of HTML), Texter helps you lighten your load.  By running in the background, Texter can observe your keystrokes.  If you type a specific “hotstring” and follow up with pre-set trigger, Texter will spring into action, replacing the hotstring with your desired text.

For example, I use “thanks” as a hotstring with the Tab key as the trigger (this is the default).  When I activate the hotstring, the word “thanks” is replaced with the following:

Thanks,
Jimmy

This is how I like to end my emails that are personal.  If I want to add on my “business signature,” I can say “sig1″ and activate it to get:

—–
Jimmy Rogers
Graduate Student
UMD – Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics

Similarly, whenever I write a post for this blog, I go into the HTML side of WordPress and type in “taskfm,” which yeilds:

<hr /><strong>Jimmy Rogers</strong> is a freelance blogger and, in his spare time, a graduate microbiology student. He enjoys tech, science, and the occasional bit of magic.

<strong>Visit Jimmy at </strong><a href=”http://scienceismagic.com”><strong>his blog</strong></a><strong> or </strong><a href=”http://twitter.com/loyaleagle”><strong>follow him on Twitter</strong></a><strong>/strong>

There is a great deal more to this program, but I suggest you check out the site above for more details on the more complex workings.  I will warn you that sometimes the interface doesn’t behave very well and I have met up with a few small conflicts with other programs, but generally the function of the program has been unimpaired.

I hope you find these apps as useful as I have.  Please let us know in the comments if you know of any others that might be good to feature on the blog!

Su.pr has the potential to change the way you share and promote your content and hints at the promise of delivering a whole new stream of traffic.  Does it live up to the hype? Check it out:

Shortens and Posts to Twitter + Facebook

Obviously su.pr will shorten urls and yes they end up being nice and short thanks to the tiny (su.pr) domain name.  It will also post your URL to Twitter and Facebook.  Nothing new here….but read on.

Scheduled Posts

Want to spread out when links are posted to Twitter or Facebook?  Su.pr includes an option to schedule links in the future.  Great for promoting future blog posts, events and launches.   There are tools that do this on Twitter already, but integrating with a url shortener is a ncie and smart touch.

Stats

Su.pr comes with powerful and feature-rich stats tracking.   See exactly who is retweeting your content, traffic sources as well as details on who’s “liking” your content on StumbleUpon.  All of this is put into a nice graph and is available for download.  Sure others have stats, but lets move onto a killer feature…

Suggested Posting Time

This feature has the potential to make you look like a social media pro as it figures out the best time for you to post your links on Twitter and Facebook.    Su.pr automatically calculates this based on performance of past links.  This really is a killer feature and could mean the difference between your post being picked up and going viral or bombing.

Short URLs on Your Domain

So su.pr is sounding pretty good right now.  But wouldn’t it be cool if you could host short URL’s on your own domain like “task.fm/asf” !  Good news.  Su.pr does that too.  I have heard of hosted solutions that charge big $$ to do the same thing!

Down and Dirty Details

So does su.pr live up to the hype?  Does it deliver more “traffic” compared to if you used another URL shortener?  Absolutely yes.

See, Su.pr automatically promotes your other content to the user.  For an example just follow this link: http://su.pr/6ED6cu – see how it frames your post, links to your other articles and allows for easy sharing.

I was sceptical but the stats don’t lie.  The combination between Stumbleupon, Suggested posting times and facebook posting does the trick.  Su.pr is onto something. Something that others like Digg are trying to do as well.    But Su.pr works.

The smartphone is rapidly becoming one of the most ubiquitous geek toys.  Why not?  Almost everyone has a cell phone nowadays and carrying other separate devices can be a hassle.  But I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir.  In any event, one of the most overlooked items on a smartphone is the camera.  Sure, you might use your camera to take pictures of your friends or of a massive crowd at a concert, but new technologies have given that camera a much more important role.

Let’s say you discover a specific food or beverage that you really enjoyed and hope to buy again in the future.  If you stare really hard at it, you might remember it later, but it would be a shame if you didn’t.

Instead, take a picture of the label.  I like to do this with wine labels for two reasons.  First, wines often have names that are difficult to remember or spell.  Second, buying a bottle of wine you’ve never tasted is a gamble and not always a good one.  If you’re at a party and like the wine, ask the host or hostess to let you snap a shot of the bottle for future reference.  They might think you’re a bit silly, but it might also make them proud you thought so highly of their wine.

Above is an image of a wine my parents bought a while ago and I really enjoyed it.  It’s a good example for this article.  Notice how fuzzy the picture is?  One of the things to remember is that most camera phones still don’t have a very high resolution camera or a macro setting for close-up objects.  This may not matter if you just keep your pictures in a folder, but if you want to use image-recognition software like that offered by Evernote, you’ll need around 3MP for a sharp image.

Once you’ve taken an image, don’t forget tags.  Labeling your images in Flickr or another image host will let you take more images and be able to recall the ones you want faster.

Can you think of any other uses for photo-tagging images?  Let us know in the comments!

[Camera Phone image from Digital Photography School]

I spent the last 2 weeks trying out 3 different apps on the iphone that are meant to make the process of going to sleep easier.  However,  I’ve since discovered I’m probably the worst person in the world to review such apps as I have no problem going to sleep.  In fact I can pretty much sleep anywhere, at any time by just telling myself to do so.

But, these apps intrigued me.  Could it be possible for certain sounds be used to trigger a brain state?  Could the iphone be an insomniacs cure? I tested 3 applications and here are the results.

Whitenoise

This looks to be the least scientific of the bunch.  The premise is simple – use white noise such as a fan, sprinkler or even a purring cat etc to lull you to sleep.  The noise blocks out any other sounds which could jolt you out of falling asleep.  The monotonous sounds are hard to focus on, which again, should stop you jolting into a conscious state.

But does it work? Yes.   See, many people have been using this technique for decades.  Its all about blocking out anything that could jolt you awake.  The only problem is the quality of the looping sounds as I could pinpoint when they repeated, which was annoying.

SleepStream

This one is supposedly “scientific” as it uses  binaural beats to induce a relaxed state.   The app combines the “binaural” beats with various looping sounds.  I won’t go into explaining what binaural beats are just head on over to Wikipedia

However I found sleepstream to be annoying.  Not good when your trying to sleep.  The loops were too short and contained enough of a melody to be recognisable and it just became repetitive.

Magic Sleep

MagicSleep was pitched towards toddlers and infants, but if it works on 3 year olds its was surely going to work on me.

This app is weird in the sense that it “recreates the sounds inside the womb” (as per the apps description).  hmm just a tad freaky.  I’m aware of where I came from but I sure as hell don’t want to go back.

But upon trying the application I was pleasantly surprised.  MagicSleep produces calm ambient music with what appears to be a heartbeat and the occasional, odd, but very pleasant sound effect.

The result is sleep inducing heaven.  Forget binaural beats.  This things actually works.

The “Free” Option

Although you can get “lite” versions of these apps – I have found that just using the iphone’s built in countdown timer to sleep the device is a solid option.  If you have no problem falling asleep to music than there is nothing better.

In Conclusion

So can the iPhone put you to sleep? Absolutely.

I’m still not convinced by “binaural beats” and how “scientific” these apps claim to be.  But I now use my iphone while falling asleep on a daily basis.

Sleep is such a personal thing that you’re probably going to have to try all of these apps to get a good idea of what works best for you.  For me MagicSleep is the app of choice.  It really does make me sleepy, its soothing and was the only one I fell asleep to.

So if you’re a powernapper, insomniac or just intregied like  I was, do a search for “sleep” in the app store.

The Twitter Specific  – Tweetburner

TweetBurner is a url shortening service built just for Twitter.   The sites popularity has dwindled since others have played catchup and have added Twitter integration.    Tweetburner turns urls into a “twurl.nl” link.

The Stataholic – Cli.gs

If you want to see how people are sharing and interacting with your links, then cli.gs is for you.  Not only does cli.gs track clickthroughs, but will also show you which Twitter accounts, Friendfeeds and Blogs your link appears on.  Geo location stats are also shown.

The Fastest – Digg

Shortening URL’s using the uber popular social news site Digg.com, doesn’t require you to visit their site, use a bookmarklet or install any software.  All that’s required is putting “digg.com/” in front of any URL in your address bar.  Top marks go to Digg for innovating in this crowded space.

I now submit all my stories to Digg using this method.

The unsafe for work option – NSFW.in

If you want to warn people about possibly unsafe for work content, before its too late, NSFW.in will do just that.  Not only does the url give users a big clue as to the type of content, but a warning message will be displayed before the user clicks through to the actual link.

The Shortest – u.nu

If you’re obsessed with all things tiny, then u.nu will be the url shortener for you.  Although other sites have popped up which now offer just as short url’s, u.nu was the first to take the “shortest” crown.   Plus is kinda catchy.

The DIY option – awe.sm

So you’ve tried all the others, but nothing suits.  Why not start your own! You could purchase a script and host it on your own servers (a solid option) but you can also now purchase a hosted solution.  Awe.sm is a hosted url shortener which not only shortens url’s on a domain of your choosing, but also gives you some pretty decent tracking stats.

What are your favorite url shorteners?

7:00 am – Gmail

I have 3 inboxes all provided by Google.  One on Gmail and two on Google Apps.  Apart from the smart way gmail groups conversations, the search is just killer.  Plus im also using gchat more and more.

8:00am – Clicky

after spending an hour (probably more) going through emails, I head on over to Clicky to check up on the latest stats.  Clicky is real-time, which is invaluable for me.  If im ever feeling bored, I just watch the “spy” stream to see visitors move around the app.

9:00am – FriendFeed

This used to be Twitter. But now I just use FriendFeed as my Twitter client.  I have saved searches for keywords like task.fm and I have also built a special room which tracks pretty much every mention of our product.  From here I go out and comment on the blog posts, Twitter mentions etc.

10:00am – Task.fm

Obvious I know. I mainly use Task.fm through email to create new reminders but I also keep my to-do list on Task.fm open throughout the day.  Plus I get to play with the latest release

11:30am – TheSixtyOne

TheSixtyOne is a music site for hardcore music files.  You find Coldplay on their but all the hottest indie bands and some of the best music being released on the internet finds its way there.  I use TheSixtyOne instead of Pandora (which is blocked for us Aussies).

1:00pm – WordPress

I have tried other options, but for me nothing beats WordPress for full on (as opposed to micro or tumble) blogging.  I write my daily post for iDezy.com and then head on over to this blog to draft up some ideas.  I usually take a few days to write a post like this.

2:00pm – ZenDesk

ZenDesk is a hosted help desk.  I use it for Task.fm support. Its clean and easy to use which I like.

3:00pm – MailChimp

I try and send out a weekly newsletter for Task.fm (only if we have launched a cool new feature) and Mailchimp does an excellent job at managing this.  Its not the cheapest option available, but it does have more features and is targeted towards startups with features like A/B testing.

4:00pm - Twitter

I usually head on over to Twitter to catch any @feint or @taskfm replies that I might have missed on Friendfeed.

5:00pm -  Google Reader

I don’t use Google Reader as much as I used to as FriendFeed catches many of the rss feeds I subscribe to anyway.  I do use reader to keep track of some video podcasts and of blogs that I don’t want to miss a post.

6:00pm – Present.ly

Present.ly is your own Twitter.  The WordPress folks (another virtual team) use P2 which is their own version of a private twitter client.  I use it to get updates from some of the Task.fm team members.  Not all of them use it yet….but they will eventually come around to the idea.

7:00pm – Google Talk

gChat has replaced messenger for me as most people don’t use it anymore.  I find my friends use Facebook and the developers use gChat.  Most of the developers for Task.fm will wakeup when im supposed to be going to bed – so gChat will be open well into the night.

8:00pm – Google Docs

I use Google docs for various documents related to Task.fm.  Being able to quickly share docs is vital when working with a virtual team and the built in chat is a killer feature.

9:00pm – Tumblr

Tumblr is a super simple way to blog.  I use it for the Task Tips blog to quickly push out a lot of content.  Its not good for long articles but great for short snippets.

10:00pm – iPlotz

iPlotz is a wire framing tool which I use to to create the rouch sketches and wireframes of all Task.fm features.  These are then shared with developers.   If you build a web app you need to do wireframes!  Funiily enough I also do all my wireframes late at night when im feeling creative.

Props to this great post for the inspiration behind this article.