Alarms are either created under the Single Task tab if they are only needed once, or under Task List if you want them to be recurring. A single task can be configured to be executed after a specified time frame or at a specific time of the day.

The program supports test and audio reminders which are then executed at the time specified. The text can have a maximum length of 250 characters and the audio file can be one of the available default samples or a custom audio file in mp3 format.

Tasks can be configured to be executed at a later time if they cannot be executed at the user’s specified time. This can for instance happen if Concenturio is not running, or if the system is rebooted during the time the program would run the alarm and reminder.

There is unfortunately no option to run external programs for instance, something that some users might find handy.

The configuration screen looks different under Task List.

Here it is also possible to configure a task to be executed at a single time. The difference to the single task configuration is that it is possible to run multiple alarms and reminders at once, and to keep the tasks in the list to execute them again at a later time.

It is furthermore possible to configure a recurring task, one that displays a reminder and sounds an alarm at a specific time regularly. This task can be executed daily, at a specific day of the week, on multiple days of the week (from Monday to Friday for instance), monthly or yearly.

You could configure tasks for all important birthdays, anniversaries and the like for instance, or a task for your afternoon tee. The second configuration screen looks more or less identical to the alarm and reminder settings of the single task screen. It is again possible to select an audio file for the alarm and a reminder text that will be displayed on the desktop at the selected time.

All tasks created this way are displayed in the tasklist, where they can be edited and deleted easily.

Concenturio will start with the Windows operating system unless configured not to do so. This setting is available under Settings in the program interface.

Users who are looking for an easy to configure program that can execute alarms and reminders may want to take a closer look at Concenturio. The program is compatible with all recent versions of the Windows operating system.

GBirthday is very easy to use and allows you to set up a blinking reminder that allows you to decide how many days +/- to continue reminding you that a birthday is either pending or missed. In this article I am going to show you how to set up and use this wonderful little tool that will keep you from having friends and family upset that you missed their special day.

Features

• Easily integrates into many tools.
• Blinking notification area reminder.
• Released under GPL v. 2.
• Written in python and pygtk.
• Tiny footprint.

Installation

The installation is simple. As GBirthday should be found in your standard distribution repositories, you can install GBirthday with the following steps:

1. Open up your Add/Remove Software tool.
2. Search for “birthday” (no quotes).
3. Mark gbirthday for installation.
4. Click Apply to install.

Or, if you’re more fond of command line installation, you could follow these steps:

For Ubuntu:

1. Open up a terminal window.
2. Issue the command sudo apt-get install gbirthday.
3. Enter your sudo password.
4. When finished close the terminal.

For Fedora:

1. Open up a terminal window.
2. Su to the root user.
3. Issue the command yum install gbirthday.
4. When complete close the terminal window.

Figure 1

After installation, you can start GBirthday by clicking Applications > Office > gbirthday. When the application starts you will see no splash screen or any window open. All you will get is a small icon now resting in your Noticiation Area (see Figure 1). The icon will show a small calendar page with a small orange birthday cake and candle below it (looks more like a pumpkin to me).  If, of course, there are any pending birthdays, that icon will immediately start blinking.

Usage

Let’s take a look at how this simple tool is used. I will illustrate GBirthday’s usage with the Evolution groupware suite. When you create a contact in Evolution there is a Personal Information tab. In that tab you will notice (under Miscellaneous) a section for Birthday information. Fill out the birthday in the form MM/DD/YYYY (or click the down arrow and select the birthday from the calendar that pops up). Once you have filled out all the information click OK.

Figure 2

Now, when there is a pending birthday that GBirthday icon will blink. If you click on that icon a popup window will appear giving you information on the days (or past or upcoming) birthday (see Figure 2).

As I mentioned you can configure GBirthday to remind you +/- any number of days. This means you can get a user-configured amount of days heads up before a birthday is coming or is past. To do this right click on the icon and select Preferences. In the Preferences window you can set 2 options:

Past birthdays: This is a negative number and represents how many days past will GBirthday remind you.

Next birthdays: This is a positive number and represents how many days in the future GBirthday will remind you.

Final thoughts

If your memory isn’t what it once was, or you have tons of birthdays to remember, a tool like GBirthday might be just the thing you need. It’s unobtrusive enough to not get in your way but persistent enough to make sure you remember those birthdays.

A right-click on the icon of the reminder software opens a menu that can be used to set a reminder for a specific time in the future. About a dozen different options like setting one or five minute reminders are offered as presets. Another option is the ability to create a custom reminder by entering a value in minutes.

The only other option that is provided by Remind Me In is the ability to pick a sound file that will be played when the time is reached. Remind Me In is therefor more of an alarm clock software than a reminder software. It still can have its uses for some users, for example to remind the user to take the pizza out of the oven.

The software uses only about three Megabytes of computer memory while running. It would be excellent if the developer would add an option to add a note to the reminder. Remind Me In can be downloaded directly from the developer’s website.

It has been created by the same developer who created Tweet My PC, a software program that would accept commands from a Twitter account to manage the computer system automatically.

Remind Me About is different as it comes as a service offered by the software developer and also as a version that can be installed on a server to run it more privately. It basically works the following way: The user sends a message to a Twitter account that has been created to handle the reminders. These reminders will be stored in a database on the web server running the scripts. Another php script will be checking the database frequently for reminders that are ready to be send out. If those reminders are found they are send out using the same Twitter account.

The php scripts have not been published yet officially by the developer but are going to be released soon. They do require a web server that supports php, MySQL databases and Cron jobs. Running the script on a web server can make sense for several reasons including Twitter Api limitations but also privacy or security related concerns.

The script will be published by the developer soon. As of now only the reminder service setup by the developer is available. No Twitter information (other than following and being followed by the Twitter user the service is running on) are required to use it though.

Reminder Feed is one of the few services that does not ask the user to register an account before allowing them to use the service. Everything can be done without account registration. The main page of the reminder service displays the form that can be used to create a new reminder.

The only mandatory fields are the title, the start date and the description. Optional fields are the end date, a link and a password. Reminders will be send out daily until the end date is reached if it was specified.

The reminders can be edited at anytime by anyone if no password was specified or by the creator if a password was specified. This could be used to change the message and title to something else.

The service has not been updated in three years but it is still working as intended.

New Tasks can contain a description and subject, dates which have been mentioned before, a budget, attachments, categories and a set behavior (auto completion of task when all children are complete). Tasks can be sorted in various ways, filters can be applied and they can be exported in html, xml and calendar format.

It is open source and versions for windows, linux and mac exist.

source: winaddons