Webware

Google has enhanced the task feature that's integrated into Gmail and other Google products to let users share their lists with others. Gmail users can now choose to share an entire task list in a new e-mail message. Doing so transfers all of your tasks including information like due dates, and any tasks that have been completed which show up as being crossed out.

One thing to note is that this only works in Gmail, and not in other places where tasks can be found, including Google Calendar, the mobile version of Gmail, and on iGoogle. Although knowing Google, the e-mailing feature will make its way to each of these places soon enough.

Gmail tasks is the one and only feature to "graduate" from Gmail labs, which is Google's test bed for new and experimental features. The feature was launched in early December of last year, and graduated from labs last month. The rest of the labs-only features, including the 13 that were launched alongside the release of the labs program, continue to require user action to be enabled.

Gmail users can now e-mail a task list to someone else right through the tasks UI.

(Credit: CNET)

Philadelphia-based collaboration tool WizeHive is getting a handful of useful updates today.

The service, which is aimed at helping both groups and individuals manage projects and juggle tasks, is evolving into something designed to replace desktop productivity software with features like an integrated word processor, file previewer, and storage with versioning controls that let users roll back to an older version of any file.

Starting today, WizeHive users can create and collaborate on Zoho documents from within WizeHive, and without having to open a Zoho account. Whatever they save is also stored along with the rest of their files and projects back on WizeHive.

Users can now upload up to 50 files at a time, up to 100 MB a pop.

(Credit: CNET)

Along with the editor, WizeHive users can also store and share larger files on the service, and more of them at a time. The new cap per file is 100 MB, up from 10. The new uploader also lets users upload up to 50 files at a time, up from single file uploads.

Coming next month will be a way to view previews of certain types of files from within WizeHive. Currently you have to download a file, then open it up in a local application--something that really doesn't work if you're on a computer without the proper software installed. This can also be problematic if you're on a limited connection such as cellular data. Storage services like Box.net have been doing this for a while, and it can be a big time saver.

WizeHive continues to be a free service through its "beta" period. After that, users will have to pay $39 a month, along with an extra few dollars for additional storage and users in a group. See also Seattle-based Liquid Planner, which offers fuzzy due dates on tasks.

This is how exciting my organizational life is right now.

(Credit: CNET)

In a move sure to please organizational fanatics, Google has graduated Tasks from Gmail Labs. In and of itself, it's not big news, since anyone's been able to enable the feature inside their own accounts since late 2008. It is, however, the first thing to graduate from Gmail Labs, which is a proving ground for features Google does not think to be ready for prime time.

In a blog post about the promotion, Google made it clear that less popular Labs features may eventually get the axe, however the company has not made a public listing of how the various features rank. To its credit, Tasks was not relegated to Gmail alone, which could be one of the big factors in its success. Google spun it out to Google Calendar, as well as making it a standalone widget that could be accessed off site.

Tasks is also one of the most vanilla, yet marketable of all of the Labs add-ons. It shares company with things like mail goggles--a tool that makes you do math problems when attempting to send late night e-mails, an instant message translator that can convert messages written in other languages, along with an add-on that lets users navigate their in-boxes with mouse gestures. While neat, these fully-functioning features are less marketable to enterprise customers looking to consolidate their organizational tools.

Google Calendar gets labs section

Along with the graduation of Tasks, Google has brought a labs section over to its calendar service. There are now six experimental features that can be used to enable additional features such as changing the look and feel of your calendar with a background image, or seeing when your next meeting is going to occur down to the number of hours and minutes.

Google has also created a public API that will let application developers create widgets that exist alongside the calendar. This will likely speed up the development of things users can add-on to their calendars, the same way it did when Google opened up development for its mapping applications. Google has still not done this with Gmail, and instead, has chosen to have developers come to it when wanting to create new add-ons such as the content plug-ins for sites like Yelp and Flickr.

The new Labs add-ons in Google Calendar let users tweak various parts of the service.

(Credit: CNET)

Web storage provider and collaboration tool Box.net has launched three new features aimed at giving its business users more customization, and simpler ways to set up collaborative workflow.

The first is tasks, which are action items you can assign to specific files. To start with, the service gives you three actions (approve, update, and review) that can be applied to yourself or someone else. Say, for example, I have an article I'm writing and saving in Box. When I'm done with it, I can assign my boss to either review or approve it. The same goes for updating something like a list of phone numbers or e-mails; I can send that out to multiple collaborators, telling them to add the information in the context of an action that can be kept track of.

You can choose from one of three premade tasks, or make your own.

When anyone finishes a task, the service gives them the option to add a customized response. That message gets sent to the person or group who assigned it, while crossing out the original task request that lets you track who did what during or after a project. What isn't saved, however, are any custom tasks you've created in case you want to reuse them on other projects at a later date.

Along with the addition of tasks, business users now have the option to brand Box's workspace with a company logo and color scheme. Any other users in your team will see this when they use the service, as will anyone you've given file-reading privileges to.

Secondary to this, Box is now letting business users create what it's calling "global" folders, which get their own URL that the creator can choose. Similar to what Dropio provides, this is a permanent place where anyone can get at whatever files are there, as long as they have the URL. They can also subscribe to the folder and get e-mail notifications as soon as new files are added. Unlike Dropio, however this cannot be done via RSS--you have to sign up for it using your Box.net credentials.

These new features continue to round out Box, which is smartly trying to break out of being perceived as a place for users to dump their files. With tasks, branding, and the recently released Web document editor, it's getting much closer to being a do-everything-in-the-cloud service.

If you're sharing a folder with its own vanity URL you can change the way it looks to others as well.

(Credit: CNET)

(Credit: CNET Networks)

If you want to manage and keep track of your Gmail task list outside of Gmail, or Google's special iPhone front end, there's a new tool to help you do it. Called gTask Sidebar, this Firefox plug-in will put Gmail's task list in your browser sidebar. It's basically an IFrame that emulates what you get in Gmail, although without any skinning or the capability to pop it out as its own window.

You can create, complete, and edit lists and tasks the exact same way you do it in Gmail. And instead of having an instance of Gmail open, or your task list in a pop out window that must be managed outside your main browser window, you simply pull it up or dismiss it using a small button that hangs out in the bottom corner of your browser.

There are a few things that bug me about it though. For one it doesn't let you re-size the list, which in Gmail is nearly twice the width. It also doesn't let you have two different task lists up at the same time, which is a shame considering it has an extra frame below it that remains unused no matter how large your list gets. Also, it uses the same log-in cookie as any other Google service you have running, which means logging into another account logs you out of the task list. Regardless, having this installed is a much simpler way to keep your to-do list close at hand.

Note: The screenshot to the left has been edited to fit the size of this blog post. In reality it's noticeably taller. You can see it in its full size here.

Trying to get work done is tough if you have an Internet connection. The constant urge to take a peek at a video on YouTube or check your personal e-mail is a siren song that for many simply cannot be ignored. Luckily, there are several sites and browser add-ons that can help keep us in line, be it with basic productivity or making sure we do not stumble in moments of weakness.

Gmail "e-mail goggles" and "take a break" labs add-ons

Don't drink and e-mail.

Want to send that e-mail at 4 a.m.? Unless you're up early, and getting a jump start on the work day, Google's Gmail thinks you're drunk and will wisely make you do the math problems to prove you're not. Of course, if you really want to outsmart the machine you can simply turn this Gmail labs add-on off from the settings menu, which requires no math whatsoever.

Likewise, the "take a break" labs add-on can make you stop whatever work you're doing to go enjoy the finer things in life. It keeps tabs on how long you've been working in Gmail and will give you a pop-up that requires doing something else for 15 minutes before coming back to your in-box. This is recommended if you don't want to install one of those ergonomic nag programs on your machine.

E-mail discipline

E-mail discipline bars you from using certain sites until you get work done.

(Credit: Mozilla)

Want to hop on Facebook or check your personal e-mail for a little while while drudging away at work? You'll need to earn it with E-mail discipline. This Firefox add-on keeps you from visiting nearly 20 different sites including MySpace, YouTube, and Twitter without doing a little bit of work between sessions. As long as you ignore these places for two hours at a time it lets you browse for a short while, before putting up a nag screen that tells you to get back to it. Users are able to override the nag screens at any time by clicking the "cheat" button.

Procrastato

Like E-mail discipline, Firefox add-on Procrastato works off a blacklist of sites you probably shouldn't be visiting. Once you're on one of these sites (which you add in manually) it starts a timer in the background. If you're there past your allotted amount it gives you a pop-up message telling you to get back to work.

MeeTimer

If pop-up nags aren't your thing, and you don't feel like being scolded for bad online behavior, worth checking out is MeeTimer. Once installed it simply keeps tabs on how long you're spending on each site and breaks it up into percentages--including how much of that was done during "work" time. Consider it the browser equivalent of parental guilt trip. It's not mad at you, just disappointed that you spend 29 percent of your working day on Facebook.

See how your daily browsing is broken down with MeeTimer. You might be shocked.

(Credit: Mozilla)

HassleMe

If you want the nagging features of Google or Yahoo calendar with some level of anonymity there's always HassleMe. The site will send you a friendly reminder e-mail to do something, be it to take out the trash, reply to a certain e-mail, or finish a project. You get to pick how often it sends these messages, and it promises to change up the times ever so slightly so you cannot anticipate when it will arrive.

ReminderFox

If clogging up your e-mail in-box with reminders sounds less than desirable, check out ReminderFox. This Firefox add-on puts a to-do list on the side of your browser. You can set deadlines for each task, along with reminders that will pop up, and can be acknowledged, ignored, or delayed, just like in Microsoft Outlook.

LeechBlock

Along the lines of MeeTimer and Email Discipline, LeechBlock lets you organize sites you probably shouldn't be going to in sets. You can prioritize each set, and block yourself out of using them down to certain times of day, or how much time you've already spent using them. Consider this something similar to the parental settings on a TV, keeping you from accessing content you shouldn't be looking at when you're supposed to be working.

Any we missed? Leave them in the comments.

Google's new Tasks feature lets Gmail users create to-do lists.

(Credit: Google)

Google has added a to-do list to Gmail to help users be more productive.

When the new Tasks feature is enabled, a box shows up on top of the Gmail window. In it, users can add, reorder, and delete tasks. It's also possible to assign a due date to each action and even convert e-mails into tasks.

The feature--announced Monday on a company blog--will also run outside of the e-mail program. Adding items is as simple as clicking on a vacant part of the box and typing.

This may sound like a rehash of the many Post-It Note-like programs popular in the mid-'90s, but because most of us have morphed into e-mail junkies, this list is constantly in our face, reminding of things we wanted to get done.

Since e-mail is where and how many of us get things done, both in our personal and professional life, why not add a list of things that we may not be able to get done via e-mail, such as a reminder to make dinner reservations?

To enable Tasks, go to Settings in the upper right of the Gmail window and click the Labs tab. Click Enable next to the Tasks selection, click Save Changes. After refreshing Gmail, a Tasks link will appear under the Contacts link. Just click that Tasks link and you are ready to be productive.

Two Microsoft research groups, Microsoft Research Asia and Microsoft Office Labs, have launched Task Market, an online marketplace for jobs that can be done on Office applications.

Like Elance, oDesk, and other piecework job sites, Task Market is a marketplace for people with skills and time--and those that need them.

Task Market is focused on very specific, and nontechnical jobs. At the moment, the only job categories allowed on the site are writing, editing, translation, and basic design. Why not programming or scripting or multimedia editing? Because, as the FAQ says, "By focusing on tasks accomplished using applications such as Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access, Task Market makes it quicker and easier for small businesses to get their job done."

Of course, Webware recommends Web-based productivity suites (like Google Docs) for team editing and collaboration, but there's as yet no marketplace service for Google like Task Market. Anybody want to build one?

Each job in Task Market has its own discussion thread, in which bidders for the job can communicate with the person who wants it done. There doesn't appear to be a way to contact individuals privately, though, which is odd. Users (both contractors and customers) get ratings--just like on eBay--once a task is complete.

Task Market is a simple and clear service for finding document-based tasks for hire.

Task Market lets employers specify the fee they're willing to pay for a job, and all payments go through eBay's PayPal.

Task Market's big benefit right now is that it is very simple to get into. It's easy to post a job, and it's easy to scan the available tasks. More mature services, such as oDesk, provide better job-tracking services, as well as more options for users to promote themselves and set up teams.

The site, still in "tech preview," and has few jobs on it.

HiTask is a(really simple collaborative task management tool for small groups. Members can create tasks, meetings, reminders, notes, and birthdays to add to their own schedule or assign to others. The entire interface is drag-and-drop, and any actions by team members will instantly be reflected on your tasks page. It's a mix of a scheduling app and to-do list tool that's dead simple to use. In testing, we were making and managing several projects in less than five minutes without reading any documentation, which bodes well if you're collaborating with non-tech-savvy people.

Adding tasks to HiTask's daily schedule via drag-and-drop. Color coding per item will also show up.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Assigning tasks to other users is really simple. Once you've created a task, you can just drag it over to the group member's name. You'll get a note on the task letting you know who you've assigned it to, and as soon as they're done with it you'll be notified in real time. Likewise, when a group member assigns something to you, it will show up on your schedule, along with a note of who it's from. The one thing missing from HiTask is the option to view other members' schedules, which would be helpful--especially for gauging how much is on someone's plate.

If you do need to talk, there's a built-in chat module, which is limited to one-on-one. There's no way to group chat, or share files like you get with some more advanced group collaboration tools like BaseCamp, and activeCollab, but HiTask is pretty early in development.

HiTask has both a free and premium service. The free service reaches its limit at 10 tasks, making it little more than a demo. The $15 a year service provides unlimited tasks, group members, and projects. See the screenshots after the jump.

Related: Under the Radar Office 2.0 coverage of group collaboration tools.

[via SolutionWatch]

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