Yeah, I've had some problems with this. So far the calendar bucket is the one I use least in RTM, although that could mainly be due to simply using the tickler for most date-related things. I'm still a bit fuzzy on how to distinguish ticklers from calendar entries, other than that ticklers are reminders to do things that you don't want to think about until X date/time, whereas calendar is for more "hardscaped" stuff like appointments. But appointments to me aren't "tasks" and so don't belong in a task manager, but in a true calendar. Because RTM doesn't have true calendar views, it's not nearly as versatile as Google Calendar. Plus with GCal I can get an instant view of a week/month of not just my own schedule but that of my wife's as well. Compare that to a long list of events and I'll take GCal.

I just wonder if there is some API that would let RTM display stuff within a calendar view in the same way that the Google Maps API lets you display data with gmaps. I suppose this already works via the calendar feeds that RTM provides, but it's pretty basic - I don't think notes get transferred, or location, just the title of the event...

I have brought yet another product into the fray with my tickler file: http://iwantsandy.com/

The idea is simple and based on email - emailing "remind me about x on y date" will do just that. Each morning sandy emails me about things I have told her and I throw them into RTM.

It may not work for many people but as most "tickles" I have are 2-3 a day it works and often one or two can be completed before they are imported to RTM.

Mark, what's the advantage to using IWS to RTM for more minor tasks?

Iwallach, I use it as a reminder tool, a tickler file. Example I've heard is I get a flyer to say an opera is occurring in three months time. I don't know if i want to go but I'd like to be reminded closer to that date.

For me, rather then having "pay rent" on my RTM list (I want it to be as empty as possible!) I will have sandy email me a few days before its due to remind me.

While technically I could have it on my calendar things were just getting messy.

A final example would be I signed up for a financial plan with certain features - I was unsure if i required all these features so I sent myself a reminder in 6 weeks to see if I was using the advanced features and to consider opting out in a new contract.

Yeah, but you can do the same thing with RTM. My "Tickler File" is simply a smartlist that finds tasks that have a "tickler" tag and who's "due date" is before:now. In this sense, I use the due date as really a "start date" or "show me date." This way I don't see any items in my tickler file that I don't want to be reminded of yet...

Very clever. I hadn't thought of that.

@lwallach - You can display any list or smart list of RTM tasks (i.e. ticklers) in Gcal easily because Gcal supports iCal events, and RTM lets you subscribe to any list or smart list in iCal format. I sync my Gcal account with iCal anyway, so it definitely gets the job done.

I wonder how I could set up a two-way sync between iCal and RTM. That would be ideal, because my ticklers would appear as all-day events on Gcal and iCal, and as tasks in RTM. Does anyone think it's possible to configure a two-way sync between RTM and Gcal so it's possible to edit ticklers in both apps?

I'm syncing RTM with Todo.app on my iPhone, so the idea to just tag tasks with tickler (which I've done in the past) won't work for me because Todo doesn't support tagging yet.

I may just keep ticklers in RTM and subscribe to the iCal for those ticklers in Gcal. I'm also trying to adapt the Gcal Tickler for Gmail to work with Google Apps, so that's another possibility.

@lwallach - Nevermind about my idea for just subscribing to the iCal. I misread your post. I'd think that it would be possible to actually display all of the task info for the ticklers in Gcal, though. It wouldn't be the easiest thing ever, though.

I have built a web app for myself that syncs my RTM and GCal events. I've been running it every 10 minutes for the past three months, to iron out the bugs.

Essentially, it's a two-way sync between GCal and RTM. If you create a task in RTM, it shows up in GCal ten minutes later, and vice-versa. If the RTM task has a time associated with it, the web app will create TWO GCal events, one "all-day" and one "timed" event. If the GCal event has a time associated with it, the RTM task will also have a time.

Completing or deleting an RTM task will delete the GCal event. Deleting the GCal event will delete the RTM task.

Edits made to the RTM task are reflected in the GCal event, and vice versa.

I've put a lot of time and work into this tool. I'm considering publishing it on a production server and opening up a beta-testing phase. Is anyone interested in this type of service? If so, please reply here.

I'd be interested in such a beta

@nickcaggiono I would be interested in participating in that beta -- this is a perennial issue for me that I had resolved using I Want Sandy. Unfortunately, that service went down suddenly when Twitter bought it up, so I'm back to square one.

Did you get anywhere with your webapp, Nick?

Nick, i would be greatly interested.
But why the "two Gcal events for one RTM task" functionality?

I would be interested too! I'm sure many people will but i know how hard it is to publicize these things. Evermilk was stopped because of lack of testers :(

Have a look at: http://corriehaffly.wordpress.com/2007/06/16/using-remember-the-milk-for-getting-things-done/