

Taskbox - Turn your inbox into a task list - ljoshua
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/taskbox/taskbox

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andymitchell
This space of "handle tasks in email" is starting to explode since pg called
it as a giant opportunity. Indeed, I believe Mail Pilot are launching their
public beta soon - the timing makes me think these guys were (savvily, tbf)
trying to jump in alongside it.

It's not just another "todo list", it's really dealing with the pain of
remembering the promises you make in email, and the fact email is used to
discuss all the work we do, but is completely disconnected from our other
management tools.

It's also obviously a positive thing that lots of innovative new products are
getting involved: a single pioneer does not a movement make.

Disclaimer: I've been working on ActiveInbox for Gmail[1], first as a hobby
project and later as a bootstrapped business, since 2006. In fact I think we
were the earliest, certainly for Gmail.

Oddly enough the transition from hobby to business came about in a very
Kickstarter way, but long before it existed -- early users simply wanted to
give money to keep us going, we refused at first because it was a "hassle to
deal with tax" (this is also long before Lean Startup: customer validation was
clearly not something we were tuned too), and eventually set up a PayPal
donate button.

And I'm really proud of our community - we've been discussing ways to improve
email very openly since we started. They drive ideas, and we implement them to
create a very experimental product.

I'd really like to write up our experience for HN, including the experience of
getting an invite to YC, but not a place. There are a lot of stories of how
regular people - our customers - pulled a business out of a geek hobby, and
lots of mistakes and missteps I've made that could have been avoided.

[1]: <http://www.activeinboxhq.com>

~~~
jrajav
Email has been very closely integrated with task management in Outlook for a
while now.

On the same note, I've been hoping that Google would flesh out Google Tasks
for a while now -- technically Tasks ties in with Gmail and Google Calendar
already, but that integration is fairly primitive, and Tasks is still missing
extremely basic things like search, labels, and a usable (non-widget) UI in
Gmail. Of all the projects Google is letting stagnate, this one hurts me the
most. I could make great use of it if it were more complete.

~~~
andymitchell
I got the impression from a single conversation I had with Google back in
January (please take this as the single data point it is), that they really
did re-route the entire organization to focus on Google+, and were prepared to
scale back efforts on Google Apps for at least a few months. For reference,
the conversation was about them seeking 3rd party vendors to fill in the gaps
in their offerings.

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timdorr
I'm curious why this is using a Kickstarter project. Maybe I'm jaded as a
developer, but with only a $4k ask I would say build it, sell it, and ship it.
I'm not going to trust that you can build a good mobile app until I can use it
myself.

~~~
taskboxandrew
To clarify, our target is 30k not 4k. However our goal with Kickstarter is
primarily to build a community of positive, supportive users that are
interested in helping us shape the product.

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benwerd
Another comment has already mentioned Taskforce; Mail Pilot
(<http://www.mailpilot.co/>), which was another Kickstarter project, _also_
does something similar.

I really want something that does this, but as a native desktop app _and_ a
mobile app, _and_ syncs to a web app so I can access it from elsewhere. And a
pony.

~~~
andzt
MailPilot is also about to open up a beta today in about 4 hours, so not sure
it's worth investing in another kickstarter to make a similar project. I want
to play around with MailPilot to see if I like the metaphor of my inbox as a
task list.

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taskboxandrew
Andrew here from Taskbox. Thank you all for your interest. Hacker News is
currently driving 27% of the traffic we are receiving on Kickstarter and we've
already started to see some pledges. This is great.

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norswap
Because another todo app is just what the world needs.

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navs
I have a system whereby I email tasks to myself and setup a filter to
automatically dump those tasks into a special folder. I do the same as a "Read
It Later". I know its not the same level of complexity as this product but I
always liked email for its simplicity and my approach is simple and works for
me. I'd be interested in hearing what other techniques people employ using
email.

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plusbryan
I like the idea of merging tasks with emails - but if I can make one
suggestion: I don't think I'd ever hit an auto-reply button that said "I'll
get it done. It's now in my _Taskbox_." Unless replies are customizable, this
sort of self-serving superfluous information would turn me off to the product.

~~~
lloydarmbrust
I currently have the app, and this was the first thing I changed :)

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artursapek
This has been tried over and over.

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palderson
I'm a big fan of creating task lists, however, I don't think anyone's going to
solve this problem by making the user do the work, no matter how nice the
design.

There was once an Australian company called Liaise, which went a long way
toward automating the task creation process by automatically identifying
action requests within email. To me, this is what I imagine the future of this
activity will look like. Here's an old Liaise demo video, which may help
illustrate the point: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyrWD7hTnFc>

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gregcohn
It's a good idea to play with. I've been using Streak, which merges CRM with
gmail inbox. Google's own task integration (as with Apple's, Yahoo, et al)
have been poor.

But I agree with previous commenters that a speculative mobile app is
unsuitable for kickstarter. I wouldn't be surprised if the new rules issued to
prevent speculative hardware projects were eventually expanded to include
things like mobile apps, but in any case it's a marketplace -- others with the
capability to fund are free to disagree, and if enough do it will get funded.
What's to complain about?

~~~
ljoshua
Just a quick note: I'm not affiliated with the app or its creators in any way,
but I have been a beta tester for it, and it's working pretty well (the app is
bootstrapped so far). The Kickstarter is to add integration with other email
providers (Exchange, etc.) and to create a web app that integrates with it.

~~~
taskboxandrew
That is correct. The iOS app will go live in October and folks are welcome to
wait for that if they'd like. We're hoping to raise funds for expansion of
engineering into web and android platforms via Kickstarter.

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pepsi_can
Andrew and his team worked out of our office space for a few weeks while they
built their product.

Andrew's is a stand-up guy and he's recruited a solid team of software
developers to take on this project.

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jacalata
_In fact, 80% of users move email messages out of their inbox and into folders
while at their desk_

I'd like to know where they got that number: it's nothing like the numbers
that I've heard elsewhere, although it might be closer if they're including
any action that moves email out of the inbox (like gmail 'archive').

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smalter
YC company Taskforce (<http://www.taskforceapp.com/>) does something very
similar, although not having used it, I can't speak to whether they're focused
on mobile as Taskbox appears to be.

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sunsu
Solid team behind this app. I've also met the CEO and he really knows his
stuff and is a great guy. Even though the app isn't available quite yet, trust
me, it will be great.

