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tasks, to-dos and dates; blackberry <--> mac

hi everyone.

i have been wracking my brain trying to figure out a way to have myself organized relatively seamlessly across my blackberry and my macbook pro. i use a limited GTD type system, with a text document of lists by project, and iCal with contexts (work, teaching, etc.) for my dates and appointments.

what i am trying to do is:

-find a way to have what is essentially a calendar and to-do/task list synched to my mac and my blackberry (pearl, soon to be a curve as i want the bigger keyboard).

-ideally i want to do this "over the air", in other words, i do not want to have to plug my blackberry into my mac and do a manual sync (nor use bluetooth, which does not work with OS X anyway) as i will forget to do it every day and its just another step; i want to be able to update something and have it be globally updated. obviously i am assuming some kind of web app is what i am looking for? (google, backpack, etc..?)

- i want to have an offline version so i can see and edit if/when i am sans a net connection; once a net connection does appear, i can manually/automatically update changes either from the BB or the mac. additionally a backup would be nice too.

so i have done a lot of looking around and i cannot seem to find anything/anythings that will do what i want - i assume i am just missing something that is obvious, hence my post. some things that i have noted:

-backpack would be OK for to-dos/tasks; i can also get Packrat as a way to view it offline/backup on my mac, but there is no client i am aware of that runs on the BB to view/update offline on. i do like the backpack style of notes and such. there is also no way to view backpack calendar on the BB.

-google calendar does not allow for offline viewing on the BB, and while i could subscribe to it in iCal for offline viewing on my mac, i cannot edit it in iCal, just view.

so, any ideas? at this point i will concede that i may be forced to do manual syncs with my mac (cable connection, or bluetooth one day in the future) but i would love to find a way to do it over the air. it sounds a lot like if there was a version of Packrat that worked on BB and on mac, and also allowed for the backpack calendar to be viewed and edited that would start to be ideal for what i am trying to do. if it helps anyone's suggestions or ideas i do own webserver space so if there is something else i can run on a server maybe thats the way to go?

thanks everyone!

spalmer47's picture

I share your pain

I've wrestled with the same issue. One setup that had a lot of promise was:
- gCal for event entry online, with iCal subscribed to those calendars
- iCal calendar just for synching with BB-entered events, gCal subscribed to that calendar
- iCal tasks for lists
- PocketMac for synching BB to iCal, via a cable

The problem, as you identified, was attaching the cable and remembering to sync.

I am now using:
- Backpack for project lists and context lists
- BB mail sent to the proper Backpack page as a task or note. This works online and offline, because the email is automatically sent when I next have access. :)
- gCal for schedule, accessible online and when the BB is online
- iCal subscribed to the gCal calendars for offline viewing on the mac
- one iCal calendar published remotely, and gCal is subscribed to that for iCal offline event entry from the Mac
- A single notecard kept in my pocket which has my schedule for the next day or two on one side, the other side is used for capture when I don't have anything else with me. This notecard is emptied into Backpack and gCal every morning.

It's working well, and despite the long explanation, there aren't many moving parts once it's setup. Most importantly, there's no syncing that I have to initiate. If someone asks me to schedule a meeting for next week and I don't have access, I tell them I'll get back to them or ask them to send me an email with their available times. Most people are fine with that. YMMV, good luck!

 
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