Today's best apps and services for search, email, music streaming and to-do management weren't always number one. Some of the apps we loved a long time ago are still out there, updating, adding features and keeping their fans happy even if they don't have what it takes to thrill tech bloggers or stay in the limelight. Here are a few of those old dogs you may remember, and some of the new tricks that make them worth a fresh look.

iPhone: Siri, the iPhone's new voice-controlled assistant, not only lets you send messages and look stuff up on your phone, now you can also ask Siri to remind you of tasks via Remember the Milk.

Android: GTD-style to-do manager Remember The Milk announced a major update to its Android app today, including an overhauled interface with new features and a free version of the app with basic features for all users.

iOS: After more than a year of development and several false starts, the team behind Remember The Milk has finally unveiled an iPad app. The app was built from the ground up for the iPad, and while it includes core features that current users enjoy, there are a few surprises as well.

Mac OS X only: iCal's tasks might do the trick for some Apple-centric users, but they're not easy to export to other apps and systems. Use taskSync to hook up web-based task manager Remember the Milk and iCal instead.

Windows only: Remember the Milk is a powerful task manager, but most office work puts Outlook in front of you. Now you can bridge your Outlook and RTM tasks with MilkSync, a free download for RTM Pro customers (and 15-day trial for everyone else).

Popular to-do list application Remember The Milk is releasing their iPhone app for free to all users. And yes, there is a catch.

It's great that your to-do list manager can set tags, due dates and locations to your important tasks. Make it even better by having it show you the tasks that have slipped by or gone without due dates or labels.

If you're a big fan of Remember the Milk for basic to-do lists and location-aware reminders, you'll be pleased to see how easily you can tweak it to contain your entire GTD workflow.

Gmail's canned responses are a true timesaver, but they can also fill out a task list in Remember the Milk (RTM) like nobody's business. An RTM forum member details how he uses auto-filled emails for meal and grocery planning.

Google Chrome extension A Bit Better RTM is one of our favourite ways to tweak the popular Remember the Milk online to-do list web app, and now it's been ported as a native Google Chrome extension.

Google Chrome: Web-based task manager Remember the Milk has evened its browser compatibility by releasing a Chrome Extension that can turn starred, labelled or selected Gmail messages into tasks, and let you manage your to-do list from a right-hand panel.

Google's own Tasks to-dos are a bit too under-powered for many goal-oriented types. If Remember the Milk's more your speed, they've released an integrated Google Calendar gadget that puts your tasks, along with a command line–like Smart Add bar, just to the right of your calendar or agenda view. And Google Apps users, you have, for once, been highly looked after, as explained at RTM's gadget page.

Smart Add, the command-line-like task adding tool for users of to-do manager Remember the Milk, just got added to RTM's iPhone client via an App Store update. Grab it if you prefer little text tricks to lengthy menu searches.

A fan of Remember the Milk's task manager wrote a script that writes a custom list of upcoming to-dos directly on a Mac desktop with GeekTool. He's sharing his script bundle for anyone who'd like to do likewise.

Windows/Mac/Linux (Adobe Air): Desktop to-do application App For The Milk puts your Remember the Milk tasks into a stand-alone Adobe AIR window, with both offline and online support.

Android: Not wanting to leave its users with a platform they can't reach their to-dos on, Remember the Milk released an Android app for Pro account holders that surpasses the iPhone app in one key way.

Remember the Milk's task management webapp is streamlining its methods for giving tasks due dates, priorities, locations, tags, and other features with a new Smart Add system, and made a few pretty smart tweaks to its web interface as well.

Web-based task manager Remember the Milk stands out for its ubiquity, and a few of its users have suggested novel ways to use its tags, priorities and separate lists as a multi-person household grocery and meal planner.