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Comment by ntkachov | Hacker News Reader

Out of all the todo apps I've tried. Every time I go back to writing shit on a white board.

I've timed myself. IT takes me about 6 seconds to write something on a whiteboard. And about 10 to take a picture of it with my phone.

Compare that to the 20+ it takes for me to pull out my phone, open an app, get into the list I want, and then type it out on a shitty little keyboard.

Until you make a note taking app that takes less time to use than a white board, I'm gonna use the whiteboard.

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I always end up falling back to a combination of Google Tasks (because it's on iGoogle, which is my homepage) and just writing stuff on a legal pad. If I'm out and about, I'll just text it to Google Calendar.

I use these small 5x8 yellow legal pads. Doesn't take up much space on my desk, and you get 17 lines or so, which is generally plenty. If I need multiple lists, I use multiple pages. Dead simple and fast. And it even allows for multiple levels of completion, like I can mark an X next to an item for when it's coded, then cross out the line when I test.

My fave todo app is still todo.txt. Simple. Effective. Writable and readable anywhere.

Same here, and for some stuff, using iOS reminders works well. I've tried all of them - Things, Wunderlist, Asana, iOS Reminders (still use a bit), and can't get any of them to stick.

Can you check out an app I helped make called Reminders with Friends? http://www.slyceapps.com/reminders

I would love to hear your opinions after you've tried all those other apps.

I think the point he was trying to make is that the space is freaking crowded. Reminders with Friends is probably not helping.

Yea, I agree that it is crowded. It is less of a simple to-do app and more focused on setting up location triggered reminders for your friends and family.

But it is a hard space because it is such a polluted space. we are thinking of possibly pivoting it and using what we learned building it into a new service that focuses on needs of businesses in regards to setting of geofences.

I'd say stay away from trying to sell geo-fencing to businesses.

Location triggering reminders is actually a pretty damn useful thing. I can't remember how many times I can't remember to do something until its too late.

Unfortunately, this is something better built into a mobile device from the get-go, and not an add-on. If it was easy to set up, and did push or text notifications that would be nice. Getting the forgetful type to download and configure it will be the biggest challenge.

Yea I agree with pretty much most of what you said. Location triggered reminders are very useful and we are one of the only (if not the only) apps that allows you to create location triggered reminders and share them with friends and family. We think that this is what can set us apart.

We are researching the geo-fencing for businesses because we have been approached by one for setting up a service for their business, so we are looking into whether there is need for other businesses or whether this will just be a consulting job.

I think the bottom line is that all of these apps suck because of what the grand-grand-...-commenter said: it's much faster to pick up pen and paper, whereas apps take forever to launch and type things into by comparison. There's also the syncing problem and possibility of not having access to your to-dos on the desktop.

Is that a real need? Lucrative?

We are exploring the market right now, we think that there could be need, we have already been approached by a couple of people.

"Until you make a note taking app that takes less time to use than a white board, I'm gonna use the whiteboard."

You should check out Threadnote (www.threadnote.com) -- we made it exactly for that reason.

It takes me around 4 seconds to type in a task with MyLifeOrgainzed. (Can be 2-3 seconds for short tasks.) No need to open the app, it's always open, just press a shortcut key to bring up a dialog for adding a task.

Wow... that's one really ugly UI.

http://www.mylifeorganized.net/i/sshots/myLife-ssh012.gif

If you say "retro 90s UI" it sounds better.

Holy hell did they ever boil the ocean on that one.

Looks more like a project management suite mislabeled as a to-do list.

Same experience. I'm dying for a great to-do application, but I always seem to revert back to my staples: whiteboard, a moleskine and Evernote.

Agree 100%. I use Evernote for longer notes, but a Moleskine for quickies.

"Siri make me a reminder to delete all my to-do apps."

"Ok, making your reminder."

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