class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/1328011_35408138i.jpg?54167" alt="" />I have fiddled with many class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/gtd/">organization systems, trying to find one that I could stick with. I’ve used class="vt-p" href="http://www.rememberthemilk.com/">Remember the Milk (a class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/8-easy-ways-to-manage-tasks-with-remember-the-milk/">sophisticated system whose iPhone app just didn’t cut it for me), class="vt-p" href="http://www.springpadit.com/">Springpad (with its class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/organize-your-life-with-springpad/">refreshing features that I thought could still mature a bit more), class="vt-p" href="http://www.toodledo.com/signin.php">Toodledo (which, despite being a class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-customise-toodledo-to-productively-get-things-done-in-your-day/">great place for valuable notes and tasks, it proved a bit too advanced), class="vt-p" href="http://www.reqall.com/">Reqall (with its class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-10-free-productivity-ipod-touch-apps-offline-capabilities/">great iPhone app whose development seems to have paused), and now, I’m trying to go with the simpler class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/organized-semester-google-calendar/">Google Calendar and class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-ways-to-access-your-google-tasks/">Google Tasks.

After trying so many different ones, I noticed that I yearned for specific features in a not-too-complicated system, like for example, integration between a calendar app and the task app in question. When it comes to calendar integration, the experience just isn’t completely optimized in Google Calendar and Google Tasks yet (e.g. you can’t view tasks in mobile calendar apps, even though Tasks shows up as a Google Calendar), which is a shame because calendar and task apps should work closely together. I consider this to be pretty much a difficulty brought by Google Calendar’s import/sync issues. GCal usually syncs once a day or less (except for native calendar clients like on the iPhone). If you’ve tried to import a calendar by URL to GCal from, say, Springpad, you will know GCal doesn’t act instantaneously when changes are made.

Thus, in my search for alternative calendar/task list applications, I’ve found two, class="vt-p" href="http://www.coolendar.com/">Coolendar and class="vt-p" href="https://1calendar.com/">1Calendar, that seem to focus a bit more on this integration. Hit the jump to find out more about these two applications.

class="vt-p" href="http://www.coolendar.com/">Coolendar

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/2011-07-04_202837.png?54167" border="0" alt="" width="580" height="284" />

Besides looking very coolly designed, class="vt-p" href="http://www.coolendar.com/">Coolendar accepts class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/coolendar-simple-online-calendar/">calendar/task entries in plain English, as long as you type the due date or time first, and then the event or task. All undated entries can be sorted in a specific order of your preference, and the ones that have due dates will be listed chronologically in the main list and in the appropriate tabs of either today, tomorrow or this week. Notice that there’s no matrix-like grid for month view. If ordering undated entries according to your own order isn’t enough, you can prioritize tasks by clicking on the red circle to the left of the entry.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/2011-07-04_202148.png?54167" border="0" alt="" width="433" height="445" />

That’s where Coolendar distinguishes itself from Google Tasks. The latter displays tasks in either your order or by due date. On the other hand, Coolendar lets you have both, but also lets you view tasks that are due today, tomorrow or this week, which means that if you’re on the iPhone or iPod Touch, you don’t need two separate GCal and GTasks apps. One ( class="vt-p" href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/coolendar/id434828509?mt=8">the official Coolendar iPhone app) will do.

Since Coolendar has a different philosophy on task or event duration and recurrence, it doesn’t have options to specify these two details. Coolendar believes that you can decide when you get reminded via SMS or Twitter about whether or not you need to reschedule the event for next time. In regards to event duration, Coolendar considers this a poison concept that simply doesn’t work. In these two aspects, Coolendar does work like Google Tasks.

If you want a simple, all-in-one solution to bring together your calendar and your task list, check out Coolendar. All you need to try the service is to sign in with your Google Account as there’s no registration procedure. If you’ve decided that Coolendar totally suits your needs, be sure to download the class="vt-p" href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/coolendar/id434828509?mt=8">free iPhone/iPod Touch app. Coolendar developers class="vt-p" href="http://coolendar.uservoice.com/forums/59797-general/suggestions/1190733-app-for-android">promise that the Android app is nearing completion, but if you’re still impatient, check out the mobile Coolendar web interface at class="vt-p" href="http://m.coolendar.com/">http://m.coolendar.com/.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/2011-07-04_202724.png?54167" border="0" alt="" width="580" height="415" />

class="vt-p" href="https://1calendar.com/">1Calendar

class="vt-p" href="https://1calendar.com/">1Calendar will look similar to the GCal desktop interface as the former contains a matrix-like grid for a weekly view of events in the center of the application, while to its left lies a sidebar of calendars in different colors.

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On the right of the application, you’ll be able to create new tasks, as well as see previously added tasks in all their color-coded glory.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/2011-07-04_223839.png?54167" border="0" alt="" width="580" height="410" />

1Calendar differs from GCal in that it can sync Facebook events, as well import timetables from high schools and universities, though there are, of course, plenty of schools that need to get added.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/2011-07-04_224107.png?54167" border="0" alt="" width="394" height="375" />

1Calendar’s development seems to still be in its infancy, but its class="vt-p" href="http://itunes.apple.com/dk/app/1calendar/id385133297?mt=8">iPhone app (and the class="vt-p" href="https://market.android.com/details?id=onecalendar.calendar.ui">Android app probably, too) at least offers an event list view, which I wish most free GTD or task list apps could have.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/2011-07-04_234521.png?54167" border="0" alt="2011-07-04_234521" width="580" height="418" />

Though the iPhone app looks simple, this setup is much cleaner and does not involve poking around two different, separate apps, namely the native Calendar app and either Notes or third-party to-do list app.

Overall, these two apps, though still young, are refreshing alternatives to sometimes frustrating to-do list apps that lack integration with calendars.

Do you prefer to have separate apps to view your calendar and tasks, or do you wish to see more integration between your favorite calendar/task list apps? Let us know in the comments also if you know of other similar apps.

Image credit: class="vt-p" href="http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1328011">rdragan79 />
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href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/check-2-smart-calendar-apps-task-integration/">Check Out These 2 Smart Calendar Apps With Task Integration is a post from: href="http://www.makeuseof.com">MakeUseOf

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/flipboard-1.jpg?54167" alt="" />RSS feed apps for the iPad are almost a dime a dozen, but only a class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-free-rss-readers-ipad/">few top ranking ones have the magazine style quality and features of  class="vt-p" href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/flipboard/id358801284?mt=8">Flipboard, the first in its category. Last week Flipboard rolled out a slew of upgrade features, a few not found in the RSS apps of its three top competitors -  class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/pulse-free-visual-display-rss-news-reader-ipad/">Pulse, class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/feedly-mobile-news-google-reader-feeds-stylish-app-ios-android/">Feedly, and class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/zite-ipad-rss-feed-contender/">Zite.

Flipboard CEO, Mike McCue said on TechCrunchTV that the upgraded Flipboard has been downloaded by over 2.5 million users.

New Features

The 1.5 version of Flipboard includes faster red ribbon access to all your social networks, favorite sections, and a wide range of pre-selected feeds to choose among, from news and business to sports and science. You can actually now view the content of feeds without adding them to your own list.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/IMG_0509.jpg?54167" border="0" alt="IMG 0509" width="435" height="580" />

You can do a search for people, publications, websites, or topics such as National Geographic, Design or Ashton Kutcher. You can add MakeUseOf simply by tapping on the red ribbon in the upper-right side of the screen and typing, “makeuseof.com” in the search field.  Select the MUO feed and if you like, add it to your Flipboard.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/IMG_0510.jpg?54167" border="0" alt="IMG 0510" width="580" height="208" />

A few long awaited features of the new Flipboard include the ability to favor open articles, as well the ability to save articles to your Instapaper account.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/IMG_0514.png?54167" border="0" alt="IMG 0514" width="501" height="365" />

Since the debut of Flipboard last year, the 1.5 update is faster and more streamlined, but with the same magazine style feel of flipping pages and reading content. Plus now you can use Flipboard to connect with your contacts on Twitter and Facebook, including LinkendIn integration for additional social sharing and updating.

Mike McCue told TechCrunch that the iPhone version of Flipboard is also in the works and will be coming out soon.

Source: class="vt-p" rel="nofollow" href="http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/30/flipboard-1-5-integrates-linkedin-adds-a-content-guide-for-curated-social-browsing/">TechCrunch />
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href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/flipboard-15-rolls-linkedin-integration-features-news/">Flipboard 1.5 Rolls Out LinkedIn Integration & Other Features [News] is a post from: href="http://www.makeuseof.com">MakeUseOf

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If you’ve ever used WordPress and you are a Twitter user, you probably already knew that there are WordPress plugins that allow for automatic tweeting of new blog posts. They’re really handy because they offer a hands-off ability to enable you to not worry about publicizing your articles.

That’s all fine and good, but what if there was a plugin that did more? Take a look at WordTwit and you’ll see how the integration of many different options and tools can make your blog’s connection to Twitter that much more productive.

With WordTwit installed whenever you publish new content from WordPress, Twitter will automatically be updated with a brief description of your new content along with a link back to it, bringing additional traffic and visitors to your website.

Installing the plugin is as easy as any other plugin in the WordPress dashboard. Just search for WordTwit and make sure it is the one created by BraveNewCode. Setting it up is easy also. Under the Settings section look for WordTwit.

Choose A URL Shortening Service

One cool feature of WordTwit is the ability to choose what URL shortening service you wish to use.  This allows you the blogger to choose the same service you have been using.  As for me, I love using HootSuite and the Ow.Ly shortening service so I am glad WordTwit offers this.

Sign In & Authorize The Use Of Your Twitter Account

This is a common occurrence with programs that interact with Twitter.  All you have to do is click the “Sign in with Twitter” button and authorize it.  I noticed that upon doing this, the URL shortening service box went back to the default so make sure, once again, you choose the service that you want.

Edit The Text Of The Tweet To Be Tweeted

Another cool feature that WordTwit offers is the ability to change the text of the tweet to be sent out.  You can put whatever you want and use [title] where you want the title to appear and [link] where you want the link to appear.

Modify The Options For Tags & Categories

With WordTwit you can actually choose which categories and tags you want to include or exclude.  Enter the categories and tags separated by commas and decide whether you want to include them or exclude them.  Of course you can also choose to leave this option blank to have all posts tweeted about.

There Are Also Advanced Options

There are a few advanced options that you may or may not choose to make use of.  First, there is the option to include tags for UTM (look it up) for the purposes of statistics tracking.  Also, there is an option for enabling the Tweet Queue for failed tweets (still experimental).

Overall, WordTwit is a simple to use yet flexible plugin allowing the blogger to use Twitter effortlessly with his blog.

Remember that as a member of the Twitter community, if all you do is post links to your blog posts that you probably won’t build much of a following.  There are more sources out there that can help you learn how to use Twitter properly.  You wouldn’t want to be annoying, would you?

There are two really good sources that may help.  The first is MakeUseOf’s Twitter Guide which is an awesome introduction to Twitter.  Then there is a blog called Twitip (a review) run by Darren Rowse that offers all kinds of advice about using Twitter to the fullest.

What tools or plugins do you recommend for integrating a blog with Twitter?

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Exchange integration with Mac – Apple WWDC 2009 Keynote Address