I don’t have a real solid task management system in place right now, but I’m still a big fan of Remember the Milk (RTM) and still use it pretty frequently. The RTM iPhone/Touch app [iTunes Link] recently got an update that added push notifications, so now you can have task reminders sent directly to your mobile device. For me, this is killer. You could have RTM remind you of things through e-mail before, but with push notifications your todo reminders can live in their own space without invading your e-mail inbox. Notice that I can now select my iPhone as my notification destination in the RTM Reminders settings.
Thanks for the heads up from zzztimbo on Twitter, who linked to this story at TechCrunch. The first useful application of push notifications in an iPhone app hit the store today, as AIM with push is now live. I haven’t messed with it much, but I think a lot of people have been waiting for this. Hit the update link in the App Store to grab it, or click here to install it for the first time [iTunes link].
I’m especially happy to see that the notification sound can be disabled. I hate that patented AIM Sound™.
I’ve done my best to stay on top of news about Amazon’s Kindle ebook reading device. I own the first generation Kindle, and love using it along with the Kindle app on my iPhone. However, this detail about the DRM scheme that controls the books slipped past me. I’m not sure if it’s common knowledge, or if it’s just stayed under the radar for this long.
Dan Cohen over at GearDiary.com posted a story [Kindle's DRM Rears Its Ugly Head... And It IS Ugly] about him activating a few new devices on his Kindle account, and then being unable to load his purchased books onto the new devices. When he called up Amazon tech support to ask why his books weren’t loading, he was told that different books only let you download a copy from the server a certain number of times. The number of downloads allowed differs from book to book and publisher to publisher, and there is no way to know what the download limit is until you reach it. In order to load a maxed-out book onto more devices you have to purchase the book again. To quote Dan from his post:
In the meantime, Amazon wants us to upgrade our Kindles every year or two. Apple wants us to upgrade our iPhone or iPod touch every year or two. This means that although the books remain in your Kindle library online you may not be able to download them once you upgrade your hardware. And there is no way to know — at least according to what the customer service rep told me.
This is extremely disconcerting. I hope this gets some public attention if it hasn’t already. Amazon needs to either change this policy to something much more consumer-friendly (like how iTunes lets you have a certain number of devices activated, but does not restrict transfer of content between those devices) or it needs to make the policies EXTREMELY clear on the product purchase pages. Then the market can decide which publishers get the most purchases, those that allow 2 downloads or 200.
Via: Kindle’s DRM Rears Its Ugly Head… And It IS Ugly
