We are happy to announce that Things for iPhone and iPod touch is available now! If you own one of those devices you may want to watch for this icon in the iTunes App Store:

Developing Things touch has been an incredible experience. The capabilities of the device and the software development kit are amazing. With just over one month development time, meeting the deadline for the App Store's launch seemed difficult, if not impossible. But we did it and we couldn't be happier.

The code for Things touch comes in at a quarter of the size of the desktop version. And we couldn't reuse a single line from the desktop version. Everything is new and shiny, almost as polished as the box depicted in the app icon :) By now we are so exhausted, it is doubtful we will be even able to finish this post... :).

There were a few trade-offs involved: for one, we have at least two completely different approaches to the tags interface, and there wasn't enough time for real world testing to rule out either of them, or to find the perfect synthesis. So rather than delivering the next best approach, we decided to disable tags in 1.0.

Second, syncing with the desktop version of Things is not yet possible in 1.0. Based on your feedback we decided that seamless over the air sync with the desktop version is a must. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time to ready this feature in time for the App Store launch. Releasing a critical feature like this under time pressure without extensive testing is a big no no. Plus, iTunes automatically backups your to-dos every time you connect your iPhone, so data loss is not an issue. Of course, we could have delayed Things touch in order to implement full syncing. But considering the more than 100 amazing responses to our previous iPhone article, it was completely obvious that releasing Things touch even a single day later than absolutely necessary was not an option.

By now you can probably tell that version 1.0 of Things touch will not be around for very long. We will quickly add substantial features in a whole series of free updates. There are already two improvements that are not present in the desktop version. An extensive description of Things for the iPhone complete with screenshots will be available soon. We would be happy if you give us your support for our continued work and buy Things for the iPhone and iPod touch. As a courtesy to our avid Things users we decided to start at an introductory price of $9.99. Take advantage of it now, it won't last for long. And don't forget to rate and comment on our App Store page if you like to.

On the weekend we will be partying and relaxing, sharing some time with our families. But first thing Monday morning, work on the first update will begin. And then in a few days a badge on the App Store icon may tell you that a free Things update has arrived, one from many, that will make your task management even more enjoyable and effective.

Sort of ;)

Things 0.9.3 brings dock badges, more compact Next and Today lists, 8 bug fixes, and a new "Cancelled" status for To Do items. While the latter is obviously a new feature, the deeper reason behind it, was to remedy a limitation in previous versions.

Previously, when a project that still contained incomplete items was checked off and eventually got moved to the Logbook, the incomplete items still remained in the Next or Today lists. While this is not entirely wrong, it is probably not what the user wanted. Either the user forgot to check off those items, in which case there should be a warning, or there was a deliberate decision to leave those items incomplete.

Of course, obsolete to-dos can always be deleted. But sometimes it is interesting to keep a record of tasks that were once considered interesting (by a client or co-worker for example), but got axed nonetheless. It is now possible to state that a task got cancelled by using the corresponding new menu command from the "Items" menu.

Also, if a user attempts to check off a project that contains incomplete items, there is warning dialog that lets the user choose whether the remaining items should be marked as completed or as cancelled.

We also introduced an option to show a dock badge. In Preferences you will find a new menu which allows you to select which count will be attached to Things' dock icon.

Please consult the Release Notes for a full list of bug fixes.

We have all seen how the iPhone enabled applications that weren't possible before on any mobile device. Wouldn't it be cool if you could carry all your to-dos in your pocket? Wouldn't it be cool if you had a powerful responsive task manager wherever you go?

A resounding "Yes" was the answer we gave to ourselves some time ago when we began developing what will become Things touch. Honestly, will any mobile device that you carry around ever be complete without a personal task manager? We didn't think so either :)

The iPhone and iPod touch are a huge opportunity for developers and an equally huge challenge too.

The opportunity

iPhone and iPod touch constitute a whole new platform with a new distribution model as well - the iTunes app store. These devices are used by many people that have never owned a Mac before and some of them may never will. For a developer there is the potential of reaching a whole new group of customers. Customers that may not know Things already, or are not able to use it because they are on Windows, or may not even bother to use the desktop version at all because Things touch is already more than they bargained for.

Challenges abound

• The iPhone user interface is completely different from what we have become accustomed to from the desktop. Naturally, we had to recreate the code for the Things touch user interface from scratch. No way to reuse a single line from the desktop version.
• Due to the unique limitations of the iPhone OS we couldn't even port the data model code. Yes you assume correctly, a complete rewrite was necessary too.
• Fraser Speirs has an insightful article on how the market's ability to establish a fair price for iPhone applications will eventually determine whether there is a sustainable business model for creating them. I bet that we are not the only developer having a hard time determining a price point for our iPhone application. A price point that will enable us to aggressively evolve and support Things touch for a long time to come.

While developing Things touch does draw significant amounts of resources from the desktop version, it is in fact rather beneficial for it too. Recreating Things for the iPhone made simplicity even more predominant. We learned a couple of things from the process that will help us to make the desktop version even better. The same goes for the data model code. Having had the opportunity to incorporate all the lessons we've learned from the desktop version resulted in a fresh new code base that will find its way back into Things, providing an even better foundation for its future development.

In the weeks to come, we plan to write more about how Things touch will look like. But if you'd like to get a glimpse of where we are headed, you may want to peek at Chris' desk :)

As the title suggests Things 0.9.2 not only brings iCal sync but more generally support for Leopards system-wide to-dos. What is the difference?

With Mac OS X 10.5, the database that stores the user's calendar data was integrated into the system. Developers got a whole new API that is simple and fun to work with. More importantly though, changes that are made through this new API propagate practically instantly through the system. To-dos will show up in iCal, Mail or any other participating application the very moment you press the enter key in Things.

On previous systems, syncing to-dos between applications was a complicated process that sometimes even had to be triggered manually. Since we wanted to provide the best experience for our users, and most of them are on Leopard anyway, it was clear that we wanted to use Leopards to-do service instead of the older slow sync. Unfortunately the new and older APIs cannot be used at the same time. Providing backwards compatibility with Tiger is a whole new development effort, which we might attempt later along with .Mac sync.

Getting Started

You turn on iCal sync from Things' preferences:

In addition to what you might recall from our previous post, we have now included an Options button. It opens a sheet (see below) where you can customize whether tasks show their associated project and tags in other applications.

These options are turned on by default. You can also add tags and projects from iCal or other applications. For example, adding "@Home" to the title of a to-do in iCal instructs Things to add the tag "Home" to it. There is no need to worry that this feature is triggered by accident, since only existing tags are used. You can safely enter email addresses for example. These won't be recognized as tags and don't trigger the creation of new tags in Things. The same goes for projects. Only existing projects are recognized and no action is taken if multiple projects with the same title exist in Things. Things is also smart enough to ignore projects that are already logged or in the trash.

We have carefully taken precautions to prevent you from shooting yourself in the foot :). It is not possible to delete to-dos from Things by deleting them in other applications. Since we have no control over applications that integrate with system-wide to-dos, we cannot prevent situations where a large number of to-dos might be accidentally deleted by badly written third party apps.

It is also not possible to delete tags, or projects from other applications. It is just too easy to accidentally type over a title deleting all meta data that might be there. And to-dos removed from their project or missing their tags might be very difficult to find. The iCal sync feature has been designed with the assumption that Things is the primary to-do manager and that other applications, like Mail or iCal, are mostly used to conveniently retrieve stuff or enter new items.

Complete Control

If you want complete control over the syncing process, choose "Custom" from the Sync menu. The dialog transforms into advanced mode allowing you to associate different lists (foci), tags, projects, and areas of responsibility with each calendar.

You do not need to worry whether the list of to-dos you sync with each calendar overlap. If they do, Things will simply sync with the first calendar in the list that matches. Of course, you can reorder the list of calendars in Things.

The criteria you associate with each calendar work both ways when it makes sense. For example, if you specify the "Errand" tag for a certain calendar, then only items having the "Errand" tag are synced with this calendar. If on the other hand you enter a new item in iCal, this item will automatically get the "Errand" tag in Things. The latter, however, only works with a single tag. If you specified multiple tags, there is no way to find out which one you would like to be added in Things. The same is true for projects and areas of responsibility.

Usage Scenarios

Here are some usage scenarios that might not be completely obvious:

• When you create a to-do in Mail using a selection of an email message, the URL for this message is added to the notes section of the corresponding item in Things. Clicking on it will open the associated email message in Mail. Please note that due to a bug in Apple Mail, it will only honor the deletion of to-dos when running. Superfluous to-dos need to be manually removed from Mail.
• You can also use iCal subscriptions. Let's assume you subscribed to the calendar of your significant other. Just activate this calendar in Things for the Next list for example. (You also need to make sure, that syncing to-dos is activated for the subscribed calendar both in your as well as your spouses calendar.) Your spouse can now send you to-dos, by simply adding them to the corresponding calendar. Note however that subscriptions are read only. There is no way for you to change such a to-do in iCal. Not even by checking it off. No matter what you do in Things that would normally cause the item to change calendars, or be entirely removed from iCal, will have no effect.
• You can use applications like Anxiety to create a HUD style Today list that is always visible.

Chris did a great job in testing the new iCal sync feature. But with a feature like this, that can be used in so many different ways, it is quite likely that it is not yet void of bugs. Hope for the best, but expect the worst :).