Call Your Mother!

Recipe for keeping the kid's grandmothers-to-be happy:

• Take one Mac running OS X and the current versions of iSync and iCal.


• Create an iCal "Birthdays" calendar, with alarms, listing all those occasions the forgetting of which will have you paying in blood for years to come.


• Fold in one Bluetooth enabled phone (make sure it's one with calendar support).


• Sync lightly for 1-2 minutes.

And Voilà! You have a phone that reminds you to call your mother on her birthday (and reminds you to shop, if you set the alarm far enough in advance and/or add a "to do" item).

Caveat: my own mother was appalled at the suggestion I might actually require such a reminder. May my careless indiscretion help you avoid such pitfalls. (Hopefully, the business utility of such a system isn't lost on you either...)