AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
Finally in Tech, an app with attitude, it's called Carrot To-Do and its goal is to help you get things done.
DAN AMIRA: Carrot is basically a to-do list but it has kind of its own personality. And the personality is that of, like, kind of a friendly but also condescending dictator.
CORNISH: That's Dan Amira, a senior editor at New York Magazine. We asked him to download the Carrot To-Do app and add reviewing it to his to-do list.
AMIRA: The way it works is that you just -you put down your items one at a time. And when you're done with them, you swipe it off. And every four or so items that you remove from your list you get some kind of reward. One time my reward our a message popped up and it said: We're throwing you a party. Click your app to see where the party is. And it brought me to Antarctica.
So it was obviously not a party I was going to attend. But, you know, it did make me - I'm not really a to-do list kind of guy in general. But it was fun using this because I liked the humor. And you never really know what's going to happen next, after you complete the next level. So I just found myself wanting to find out, and I would put things on the list that kind of had no business being on a to-do list; like, you know, eat today or go to work.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Stand clear of the closing doors, please.
AMIRA: You know, don't murder anybody today. You know, just so I could like swipe it off the list and be like: I accomplished this. Usually when you complete a task it'll be like: Great job. But when it's mad and you complete a task it'll say something like: You're the worst and just like berate you.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Well, you slime eating dog. You scum sucking pig. You sons of a motherless goat.
AMIRA: To sum it all up, the Carrot To-Do list is a pretty funny app. It's probably not going to change your life if you're not motivated already. But if you want to be slightly more motivated, if you're slightly curious about what's going to happen next, then it's a good way to get some stuff done.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS)
BACHMAN-TURNER OVERDRIVE: (Singing) And we've been taking care of business every day, taking care of business...
CORNISH: That's Dan Amira, a senior editor at New York Magazine, reviewing the app Carrot To-Do.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS)
OVERDRIVE: (Singing) ...taking care of business every day, it's all right, taking care of business... Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.