Gmail, don't give me any task!

As you might have read (or discovered for yourself) from the numerous sites giving Gmail wide coverage on their online real estate, Google has apparently decided to make the Labs Tasks feature that was a spin off from some remember the milk thingy a permanent fixture on the left Gmail panel. Yucks! When the Labs feature for Tasks first came out, I tried it but I didn't like it. To start with, it looks ugly. To me, it is not utilitarian - it's just ugly. And I don't find it useful personally. Yet right now, I am forced to endure this Tasks sitting there permanently, it being a real eyesore. To check what tasks you have, you have to deliberately go and click on that link to bring up the Tasks pane. The chance is high that if you have just those few tasks, you will likely remember them at the same time you bring up the Tasks Pane - so fat load of crap Tasks is useful for. On the flip side, if you have simply too many tasks, I strongly urge that you polish your task management skills. If you are talking about tasks with long time frames, you need e.g a calendar (such as Google Calendar), and not that weeny Tasks pane. That is really useful for the original remember the milk kinda tasks... you know, (1) Buy ABC brand milk on the way back (2) Wash my hands after using the toilet (oh plzzz....) (3) Pay credit card bills... the point is, you can try to exercise your memory by remembering such small things. You don't need Tasks unless you keep having small things to remember - and in that case, those are probably repeated tasks that are harder to forget than remember. Yes yes don't yell at me just yet. I know there are MANY people who swear by using Tasks or related tools. To each his own, I guess! :P I came across this fabulous post by MAMBOLERO here. He really sings the beats of my heart. I will post his words below verbatim for your "enjoyment". On a final note, I hope Google will allow us to disable this Tasks feature. This toggling on-off can perhaps be included under Settings >> Labels. If it's already done, perhaps the feature has not been rolled out to me yet. --- I wish I knew! Please, Google, will you STOP already with shoving more immovable "options" into the left-hand side of my Gmail page? Don't misunderstand, I like the Labs -- I like them a lot -- and I've enabled all but 4 or 5 of them. However, I also like the ability to choose WHERE/WHEN/& WHAT goes in that left-hand column. After all, wasn't that the whole point of making the chatbox, etc., movable? At the rate you're "helping" me, Google, last week by splaying all 30 of my labels at the top of the left column, now by tucking Tasks under Contacts, my Chatbox will end up buried in a flutter of clutter "below the fold". Now, just stop that! Yes, I finally figured out how to knock the labels down to my five most essential; I prefer the neat and tidy drop-down labels list, thank you very much. "Tasks?" Hard as this may be to take in, my Google-y hosts, NOT all of us want to put our grocery list alongside our inbox or our To-do list anywhere but on Post-It Notes, the kitchen calendar, or maybe, just maybe, in our heads. Thousands and thousands of us DON'T work that way; we're mobile, we travel light, we organize to the beat of a different drummer. Options? We love 'em. Orders? No, thanks! Put an Off/On switch to "Tasks".

Do You Care? dNeero-ites Care!

Looks like dNeero-ites care ... celebrity deaths, international politics and problems, recession, flu, Harry Potter ... my o my ... here are some of the questions we all asked. For your User Question this time, suggest you concentrate on technology (gadgets, phones, TV, PC, whatever).

Lousy McDelivery Service

First time ever I want to try McDonald's delivery service and this happened. Great job Macs! I am starving but I think I will look elsewhere. Thanks, I mean, no thanks.

Health Care Affordability

Strong majorities of Americans across the political spectrum would support diverse approaches to expanding health insurance coverage, including letting uninsured adults participate in Medicare or state public insurance programs, such as Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program, offering tax credits for people to purchase coverage on their own or requiring employers to offer and contribute to the cost of their employees' health insurance coverage.

How to cut down on your electrical bills?

I find this document I received (see below) pretty insightful. If this phantom load thing is true (see e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standby_power for more details), many people may already have wasted quite a bit of electricity. So it's your call... do you want to cut your pockets some slack and save Mother Earth as well? Cheers! :D Cut Electrical Bills 2009

Do You Care?

Why not? Why? There are so many things that happen, and so many facts ... but really, how much of all this affects you or that you can affect? dNeero is going to add "Do You Care?" conversations to it's already successful "SpitzTunes" series. We'll look at the news from many sources ... if you have a favorite online source, please let us know. We'll always end with the question "What do you care about most right now?"

Awesome packaging from Pringles

I think Pringles did it alright this time. The last time I went to the supermarket, I bought 2 bottles of Pringles when I spotted them along snacks aisle. And why is that? I was attracted to their packaging. The bottles now are tall and slim. Yes, read that again - tall and slim. When you see a tall and slim bottle, you cannot properly associate it with its supposedly unhealthiness. :P So I bought them. And when you eat them, you just keep on eating them till you have to stop yourself so that you won't guiltily finish the entire bottle in one sitting. And because the chips are not oily, you still won't remember you are eating unhealthy junk stuff lolz. So packaging is important (yea, don't we all know that?) and Pringles' new product designer needs a raise. :D

Endurance Athletes - A Panel

Thanks for the great response to "Endurance Athletes". We have chosen you for our Endurance Athletes Panel. This panel is made up of those that either currently are or have been endurance athletes. You will be receiving invitations to join conversations that revolve around the lifestyle of an endurance athlete ... that means we'll address training and competition, but also music, movies, vacations, politics etc. ... endurance athletes are people too! If you wish to be removed from this panel, please let us know in the last question or send us a message from your account http://www.dneero.com/account/inbox.jsp Let's start the stream of conversations with questions asked by your fellow dNeero-ites.