I struggled briefly with whether or not to write a post about PMS Buddy, due to the fact that it could possibly offend some people. But I'm not here to tell you you should support or use it, or that you shouldn't - I'm just saying, "hey, look at this."

PMS Buddy is a website with a cute slogan and a simple goal. The slogan, "saving relationships, one month at a time!" refers to PMS Buddy's only function: to remind you when significant women in your life might be experiencing PMS. Used appropriately, i.e. to remind you to be extra understanding (not condescending) of any abnormal behavior exhibited by the women in your life. They also suggest that the site could be a useful resource for women wishing to help the men in their life understand why they seem to get unreasonably intense for seemingly no reason at all, without having to have an uncomfortable discussion with them every month.

While I can't say that I use it, I can certainly see how some people might want to. Or not. I mean, if it offends you, I think it's terrible too. And if you like the idea, yeah, it's pretty cool. Just tell me what you want to hear, okay?

But the one thing I can't understand is how or why you might want to install a PMSBuddy Facebook App (they have one). "Hey friends and family, I track someone's PMS!" Uh, no thanks.

[via Darren Barefoot]

New web service Time Machiner enables you to send emails to any recipient on any future date.

You can use the service to remind yourself of upcoming events or appointments, or you can set up happy birthday emails to friends, family members, and co-workers, in one glorious chunk of time.

And, if you time it right, you can even send emails from beyond the grave. Cue Vincent Price's ghoulish laughter.

While we think this service has its uses, some more beneficial than others, it seems to be more of a novelty at this point. Some basic features are missing: e.g., you can't email a group of people, formatting of any kind (except for line breaks) is disallowed, you can't add attachments, etc...

Besides, for events such as birthdays, wouldn't it be easier to set reminders in a calendar application? If you're averse to calendar apps, they even have calendars that are made out of real paper and hang on walls.

The most beneficial use of Time Machiner is the ability to send present advice to your future self. Maybe you've had an epiphany, and would like to make sure you don't forget it. That's where Time Machiner can really shine.

So what would your epiphany be, dear reader?

Here's ours:

Trust us on the sunscreen.

[via Freeware Genius]

YourLi.st is a simple web service that sends you an e-mail reminder on the day and time you specify (with an option to have a pre-reminder). The site does not require registering with them, so you can have a reminder set up in seconds.

Events can have a title and summary, and the reminder can be set to repeat. A bookmarklet is available to set up reminders even more quickly. When you create a reminder, you'll receive an initial e-mail telling you that your reminder is configured (and you can delete the alert if you want). YouLi.st claims that after the actual reminder e-mail (and the pre-reminder e-mail if you choose that option), they will remove all traces of your e-mail address from their system.

We hope they decide to add selectable time zones since they only support GMT now, which can be confusing when setting up your reminder. For more overall functionality, try Remember the Milk (although that site requires registration).

Sure, your inbox is already filled with annoying emails asking if you'd like certain parts of your anatomy to be larger. But if you're like most Download Squad readers (and writers, for that matter), you probably spend a fair bit of your day sitting in front of your computer with your email application of choice open in one window.

And so sometimes a quick email can be more effective on the short attention span set than a post-it note or even an Outlook reminder. That's where HassleMe comes in.

All you have to do is enter a note to self, your email address, and how often you'd like to be hassled. HassleMe will then send you a reminder at regular intervals.

And when we say intervals, we mean days. The website has a no-frills layout, and the service is pretty no-frills as well. Right now, you can't sign up for hourly or twice a day reminders -- although that feature is coming, along with hassles via instant messenger. But if you need to remember to wash the car, take out the trash, or pick up the kids from school on a regular basis, HassleMe might help jog your memory.

Our favorite feature is the list of popular hassles on the main page, including "Call your mother roughly every 7 days," and "go for a walk in the park roughly every 10 days," you know, just to see if they're both still there.

[via AppScout]

HiTask is an online based task management tool that collects tasks, groups them and applies colored tags so users can easily review them. The HiTask interface is built with an easy to use drag and drop calendar to schedule items and reshuffle or prioritize them as needed. Tasks can also be rearranged in groups or projects for added organization.

The scheduling of meetings, reminders or notes can be setup by dragging and dropping their instance onto a calendar and dragging instances down based on how much time is required. Colors can be assigned to tasks to highlight important tasks or categorize them. HiTask can also be used in a team environment by inviting members and easily assigning those tasks by dragging them onto the individual's name.

The interface is very clean, and it's simple to use, there is no learning curve here that's for sure, and the drag and drop feature makes it easy to organize. Now, is it fun? I wouldn't call it fun, but it is pleasant to use. If the free plan isnt enough for you, there is also a Premium account available for $12 U.S. per year that allows for unlimited everything.


[via mashable]

37signals' online PIM service Backpack is known far and wide in part for its extreme simplicity. It offers everything you need with nothing you don't - but that doesn't mean it's lacking in the power user department. While it hasn't been updated in a while, 37signals maintains a Power Users archive page at the Backpack blog with a whole slew of tips and tricks that will likely serve as a great review for old schoolers, or a killer resource for those new to the handy service. Some of our favorites include prefixing reminders with a plus sign and a number to quickly set an alarm for a few minutes or hours, as well as being able to email pictures and even lists of items to pages.

Since that blog hasn't been updated in a while though, what other tricks have you users discovered for the service? Let's see if 37signals' Backpack blogger(s) have been laying down on the job.

I'm somewhat of a productivity zealot and I love any application that helps me stay on task. Reminder Fox is designed to do just that. One of the better Firefox extensions I've found, Reminder Fox sits quietly in the bottom left corner of the browser and lets you manage a to do list and schedule reminders.

There are two tabs on Reminder Fox: Reminders and ToDos. When you schedule a reminder you can give it a description, a date, a time (reminders can also be all day events), and a priority. You can also schedule a reoccurring reminder and have the application alert you daily until you complete a task. It even provides a calendar so adding items is as simple as double clicking the day in question. All within Firefox! This is a very simple and slick way to remind myself to feed the office fish Mondays, meet my wife for lunch Wednesdays, get that report done by Friday, etc.

The ToDo tab is much the same. You can still set a date for a ToDo item if you wish, but there is no reoccurring feature. You can view all your to do items together and move them around as needed. Once you complete an item it is crossed off the list.

Scrolling over the knot in the bottom corner of the browser will pop up a tool tip showing you what you have scheduled for the day. You can even view your entries as HTML which can be useful for exporting, etc.

For the power user ReminderFox has a ton of options to help you customize the application. Almost every default value or behavior of the tool is changeable. You can also add more tabs (so you aren't limited to Reminder and ToDos but you could also have a Home To Do List, for example). You can even save all the data to an FTP Server for backup purposes or to sync your Reminders across computers.

ReminderFox is an excellent replacement for Outlook and online reminder systems and is so light weight you'll hardly notice it is there. Go get it!

Chronically forgetful? Always making lists - and then forgetting to look at them? FutureMe might be just what the doctor ordered. FutureMe.org is a simple, no-frills web site with one purpose: helping you stay on top of your various obligations. Its usage is self-explanatory, but I'll break it down for you anyway: use the form to write a reminder to yourself, enter your email address, and select a date to have the reminder emailed to you. This is way better than simply sending yourself an email, because in that case you get the email immediately - which doesn't do you much good if the event you need to be reminded of is two weeks away. You can set reminders to be delivered up to 30 years from now (assuming the zombies haven't taken over by then and obliterated all technology).

Also, you can set your reminders to be private (sent just to you) or public (viewable on the FutureMe web site). Browsing through the public messages makes for some good laughs.

Are you ever out and about, and can't recall that little something you had to do? Motask would love to help you. Motask is a to-do list accessible through mobile devices. Through its extremely simple interface, users can add tasks, edit tasks, and easily delete them when the task has been completed all through motask.com from their mobile device. It's a great way to remind you what had to be done while you are out. Simply log on to the website, open an account in two seconds, and start making your task list. The service is free of charge, and unfortunately there is currently no way to export tasks, or upload tasks from other applications like Outlook. Nonetheless, it's a great simple reminder tool for on the go.

Rejoice, fellow Backpack users, for 37Signals today added a much-requested new feature for paid users: a calendar. As you may come to expect from the traditional KISS approach of 37Signals, the calendar is incredibly easy to use and enter appointments into. It's also 'smart', as it can figure out what events like "January 7 Catherine's birthday" and "6:30pm Dinner" mean, and it will place them where they need to go. Users can also create multiple calendars and assign unique colors to each, and events are pleasantly drag-and-drop-able between days. Unlike Google Calendar, this Backpack Calendar can remind you of events no matter which calendar they are entered into, however the reminders (at least for now) are set at a static 30 minutes before the event. Calendars are also shareable and subscribe-able via the iCal format, and just as with Backpack pages, calendar addresses are able to be reset, should you find a need to stop sharing one down the road. The one thing I haven't tested yet is whether this calendar has any kind of accessibility via Backpack mobile. If you try this out, sound off.

As a paid Backpack user (just the Basic $5 plan), I have to say: I am pleased. I retreated from using Google Calendar a little while ago, in part because of the silly limit of only being able to receive reminders for events in the Personal calendar, and no others. Plus, this is another great reason to start using my Backpack account even more, especially since I've found a killer offline Backpack client by the name of Packrat, which I've blogged on TUAW. One downer that I can see from this new calendar being a paid-only feature, however, is that (as far as I know) free account users don't have any way of testing it out. I guess freeloaders (just kidding) could spend the $5 to 'temporarily' upgrade and test it out, then simply downgrade if they aren't happy. Ultimately, I think this calendar feature is almost worth the $5 alone for any Backpack user looking for a little more organization in their lives.