As we noted in our review of the latest version of Producteev last month, the service takes on a number of established task management services like Basecamp, Remember the Milk and popular mobile apps like Todo and Things. To use Producteev, users can use the company's online interface, iPhone app or simply send a tagged email message to Producteev. The service is available in a free version for individuals and in various paid versions for teams.

You can find our in-depth review of Producteev here.

Screencast Producteev Two from Producteev.com on Vimeo.

As the company's founder and CEO Ilan Abehassera told us yesterday, the major issue with most of today's task management services is that they don't plug into the the ecosystem of tools you already use. Producteev Two, on the other hand, allows users to create tasks by email and IM. In addition, the company will launch a free iPhone app with push notifications in the next few days and plans to release a desktop client for the Mac later this month. After this, Producteev will also launch iPad and Android apps, as well as an Outlook plugin.

As Abehassera told us, most of today's task management apps are still largely either completely web-based or only available on the desktop or mobile phone. Most of us, however, use a mix of web apps, desktop tools and mobile apps. In order for a task management system to be effective, it has to be available on all of these platforms and the different apps have to stay synchronized at all times. Thanks to Producteev's real-time backend, the company is able to keep your to-do lists synchronized no matter what platform you use to access the service. The service also syncs with Google Calendar.

Adding Tasks from Virtually Anywhere

Adding tasks to Producteev is really where the service shines. While you can use the web interface to manually enter tasks, you can also simply forward an email to Producteev and use the subject line to tag it with a due date for the task. Instead of using Gmail's stars or sending yourself reminders and to-do lists, you can simply forward your email to Producteev and forget about it until it becomes relevant again.

If you prefer, you can also send Producteev an IM (Gtalk, AIM, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo and ICQ) or a Twitter DM with the task, name of the project and due date. Gmail and iGoogle users will also be able to install a small widget in these services that connects them to their Producteev workspaces.. Once the company's desktop and mobile apps launch, adding and managing tasks will become even easier.

Working in Teams

The service was clearly designed with small and medium teams in mind. Just like in most current productivity apps for groups, you can assign tasks to team members and track the progress of a project.

Producteev is free for individuals and teams with fewer than four users. Larger teams pay between $9 and and $89 per month and get access to more workspaces, filters and disk space for attachments than users with free accounts.

Producteev Academy: Task Management Meets Game Mechanics

In addition to its task management tools, Producteev Two also features a built-in social game that rewards productivity with Foursquare-like badges. This is obviously meant to incentivize productivity and some teams on the Producteev Two beta have already put this feature to good use. If you prefer, though, you can also turn these game mechanics off.

Verdict

Overall, it's hard not be impressed by Producteev Two. The team managed to combine the best aspects of today's task management systems into one and once the company releases its desktop and mobile apps, Producteev will be able to offer one of the easiest to use and most complete task management solutions on the market.

The company is entering a very crowded field with a large number of competitors, ranging from online tools like Basecamp to desktop productivity apps like OmniFocus. If Producteev can fulfill its promise to launch a desktop tool, as well as more mobile apps, then it could easily replace many of these tools in the market place. Unlike most of its competitors on the desktop, Producteev's tools will be available for free for small groups. A single-user license for OmniFocus cost almost $50 and most high-end productivity apps for the iPhone retail for between $10 and $20. This gives Producteev the advantage when it comes to price, but as we noted above, in terms of functionality, the Producteev team also manages to best most of its direct competitors.

Screencast Producteev Two from Producteev.com on Vimeo.

Recently, we've seen a handful of companies attempting to develop technologies that could build an "internet of things." One example is Tikitag, a company that presented at the DEMO 08 conference.  With a Tikitag starter kit and some client software, you can program your own RFID tags so that they can do anything you want them to do. They can launch an application, deliver you to a URL, and so much more.

What's great about Tikitag's tags is that you don't need a specialized RFID reader in order to scan them - they're compatible with third party readers like NFC (Near Field Communication) enabled mobile phones. There are already over 40 million of these phones available and analysts expect over 250 millions to be sold in 2012.

You can get the Tikitag starter kit with one reader and 10 tags for 34.95 Euro + VAT/$49.95 U.S. Additional Tikitag RFID tags are sold for 19.95 EURO or $29.95 U.S.

Mir:ror

Mir:ror is a device from a company called Violet that detects the objects you show it and gives them powers. As you wave a device over the USB-attached mirror, you can trigger applications and multimedia content automatically. The "magic" mirror isn't actually sensing the object itself, but is reacting to an RFID tag placed on the object which then tells your computer what to do.

Those tags are embedded in the company's Ztamps, colorful RFID stamps that you stick on the objects you want to connect. They also work with the company's other more well-known internet-connected object: the Nabaztag, an adorable rabbit that can deliver anything from ambient information through lights and sounds to verbal information - like when he reads your email or RSS feeds to you.

Pachube

Pachube is a service that lets you "tag and share real time sensor data from objects, devices, buildings and environments around the world. The key aim is to facilitate interaction between remote environments, both physical and virtual." On their web site, you can either input a feed or use one of the feeds available. The feeds come from devices, buildings, or interactive installations that are already connected to the internet or that send out SMS messages. Also supported are Second Life installations.

By registering a feed on the site, you can share your real-time data with other objects, keep historical records of your data, or create online graphs to use in a web page.

Arduino

Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform made up of open source hardware and software. It's intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments - that is, "the internet of things."

For an example of the type of internet-connected objects you can build with Arduino, look at this presentation where the author configured a kid's toy ray gun to react when anyone posted on Twitter about the #barcampliverpool hash tag.

ZeroG Wireless

ZeroG Wireless is a semiconductor company that's focused on building low-power wireless chips. Their low-power Wi-Fi chips can be embedded into any system including consumer electronics, smart energy devices, home and building controls, portable medical sensors, and sensor networks. The company was founded "based on the belief that a new paradigm of wireless connectivity is upon us. According to their web site, they envision a "4th Age of Wireless™ -- the Internet of Things."