With 2009 quickly approaching, I was thinking about how to stay productive.  I am the lucky owner of an iPod Touch, and have been using it a lot for my work-related needs. Needless to say, I’ve become a frequent customer in the iTunes app store, and just picked up two VERY handy little tools I think you may enjoy:

Ultimate ToDos ($4.99 in the itunes app store) is a fantastic app with great menus and interface.  I’ve been trying out every ToDo List app and this is definitely THE best.  You can organize tasks by tags or contexts, allowing you to mark items as personal or business, project name, level of commitment or whatever methodology you wish to use.  It also displays tasks via a number of tracking methods, whether it be time-related, priority related, randomly flagged, etc.  The complete customization of how you use the program is what really appeals to me as everyone has their own way of doing things.  It also syncs with various online and desktop “to do” applications.

The developers have a great website where you can learn more about the app, see menu screens and really get a feel for how it works.

Ambiance ($0.99 in the itunes app store) is an app that provides great background noises.  Too often I’ve found myself unable to focus, and in dire need of some neutral, hypnotic background sounds.  This app provides a wealth of great sounds, from waterfalls and beaches to clocks, vynal and city streets.  I tend to use this more than listening to music as it really helps get you in that “groove” to focus and let your brain do its job.

So if you’ve got an iphone or ipod touch – give these babies a go!  For just $6.00 total, you could be doing more in ’09.