Google Calendar

Using Google Calendar (http://www.google.com/calendar/), not only can you add new appointments to your diary, but also retrieve your next appointment via SMS.

You can send the following commands and interact with your personal Google Calendar.

The Google Calendar Short Code is: GVENT or 48368

•    Send the keyword "next" to get a notification regarding your next scheduled event.
•    Send the keyword "day" to get a notification containing all of your scheduled events for the present day.
•    Send the keyword "nday" to get a notification containing all of your events for the following day.

You can also add an event by simply sending the message “Lunch at Hugh's 2PM Saturday” to GVENT.

Twitter

Twitter (http://twitter.com/) offers much more than mini-blogging platform. Using Twitters’ SMS notifications along with your new friend ‘timer’ allows you to request instant SMS notifications.

You’ll get the mobile number you need to text your commands to once you have activated your phone within your Twitter profile.

A great example use of this free service is ‘Parking Reminders’.

Simple send Twitter a Text Message in the following format:
•    d timer 45 parking reminder

This lets your new friend ‘timer’ schedule a notification for you to be sent in 45 minuets with the message “parking reminder”.

You can also use the Twitter website or Instant Message Client to schedule these alerts as well if you are near a PC. The advantage though is the ability to simply use your mobile phone wherever you are.

If you didn’t want to activate your Google account for mobile alerts and you have your mobile details with Twitter already, why not use Twitter to interface with your Google Calendar?

You can add events and appointments to your Google Calendar via Twitter using the following command:
•    d gcal meeting with Mr A Person tomorrow at 7pm
•    d gcal meeting with Mrs A N Other on Monday, 25th of june at 9am

Remember The Milk

Using the To-Do List website Remember The Milk (http://www.rememberthemilk.com) with Twitter you can add actions to your To-Do list.

The following commands allow your To-Do list can continue to grow with your outstanding actions.

•    d rtm pick up the milk
•    d rtm call Mom at 5pm tomorrow
•    d rtm return library books in 2 weeks.

You can also retrieve your To-Do’s as well. To get today's To-Do list use the following command:

•    d rtm !today

You can also retrieve all tasks for a specific context, with the command:

•    d rtm !getlist shopping.

All of these services are free to use and receive the SMS messages; the only cost you have to pay is the SMS to set the command.