Here we go again with more classic rock references! Do you know the song that contains the lyric: “Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’ into the future”? If you guessed, “Fly Like an Eagle” by Steve Miller Band, give yourself a hand! If you’ve been following the Finish Line Blog for a while, you’ll know that most of the classic rock songs I speak of I don’t actually like. Unfortunately for Steve Miller, I probably like him even less than The Who. I’m sure he’ll get over it. Despite my dislike for these songs, I’m finding out that there are many parallels between classic rock and technology (and life in general for that matter). I don’t know about you, but time sure has been flying by for me lately. I can’t believe it’s already Leap Day! If you’re having a similar experience, and have trouble keeping track of day-to-day items and tasks both at work and at home, help is on the way thanks to services like Remember the Milk, Chrometa, and Evernote.
If you live in my house, remembering to buy milk is of utmost importance. Because of that, I’ll never forget the name of our first app! Remember the Milk is an app meant to organize your life by syncing tasks and reminders across multiple devices. You can enter tasks, create lists, organize tasks by incorporating tags, and sort them by priority, for starters. These lists can also be shared with others if need be. Perhaps the most unique part of Remember the Milk is that you can add it to almost any device, and any tasks you add on one device, will be added to every device linked to your free account. To get started, simply head to https://www.rememberthemilk.com and click the orange button in the center of the screen that says, “Sign Up Free”. Enter your name, e-mail address, and create a username and password, and click “Sign Up” to join the service. Apps are available for Apple computers, iPhones, Android, Blackberry (anyone still use one?), iPad, Android tablet, Kindle Fire, Microsoft Outlook, and coming soon to Apple Watch and Android Wear. As if that weren’t enough, Remember the Milk works with Gmail, Google Calendar, Twitter, and Evernote (which will be discussed later). Tasks can be added by sending an e-mail, a Tweet, or by telling Siri on your iOS device, and reminders can come in the form of e-mails, texts, instant messages, Tweets, and notifications from mobile devices.
Remember the Milk handles all the reminders we could ever need, but what if you need to keep track of your time? Enter Chrometa for that. If your line of work involves billable hours, Chrometa is a must. It is a paid service offering three pricing options. The “Startup” plan costs $12 per month and includes support for one device. The “Basic” plan is $19 per month and supports up to two devices along with integration with Clio and QuickBooks. The “Plus” plan is the most expensive at $29 per month, but features support for up to three devices. This may seem a bit pricey, but it’s possible you could be losing more than $30 per month by letting work that should be billed fall through the cracks. Chrometa works by installing the software on a Windows or Mac computer. The software runs in the background, and tracks how long you’re working on a particular program in real time. It records the filename, and switches from program to program when you do to give an accurate timesheet of your work day. Time spent on e-mails and websites is tracked as well, as plugins are available for Microsoft Outlook, Gmail, and Mac Mail. Mobile apps can be downloaded for free for iOS and Android platforms, allowing phone calls to be added into billable time entries automatically. There is also a stopwatch that can be activated manually taking any guesswork out of how long a certain task had taken and what the charge should be. I know that would be helpful for me when I’m on the road! Click here to learn more about Chrometa.
Last, but not least, is Evernote. Evernote is a service that allows you to take notes, organize those notes, as well as archive them. Notes can be text, a full webpage, a photograph, voice memo, or an actual handwritten note. Evernote is a free service to an extent. You’re given 60 megabytes (MB) of storage space per month for free, along with a limited number of features. If that’s not enough storage space for you, you can opt for their “Plus” plan at $24.99 per year and get 1 gigabyte (GB) of space, or go for the top plan, “Premium”, for $49.99 per year and 10 GB of storage space per month. Like the others, apps are available across many platforms, including Windows, Mac, Chrome, iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows Phone, and Blackberry, and your notes can be synced across all of them. Remember Remember the Milk from earlier? Well, notes from Evernote can find their way into Remember the Milk as tasks for you to be reminded about. If you’re interested in learning more about Evernote, click here.
Every day it seems like we’re getting busier and busier. Because of this, it’s becoming exponentially easier than ever before for things to fall through the cracks and be forgotten. As “Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’ into the future” it’s more important than ever to not get buried under a mountain of work and responsibility. Fortunately, services like these listed above have also made it easier to keep up. Technology can be used for good and not just evil!