FollowUpThen is one of those web apps that is simple and just works. 
I have tried a good number of the digital "to-do" lists out there to try and get on track and get the stuff done I always seem to let slide by. For me, most of them are overly complicated for what I need or they miss the one piece I need to get the hint to do a specific task NOW. I don't need a complicated taxonomy of categories or a multi-level prioritization system - just basically a simple reminder to call Joe next Tuesday, follow up wih a client on Monday, pick up the dry cleaning on the way home from work next Friday. I really don't want to clutter up a calendar with this stuff and a to-do list won't give me a head slap when I need it to go do it.
Enter FollowUpThen. This is a simple web app that will send you an e-mail reminder when you tell it to. This is perfect for me because whether its my computer or my phone, I am always hooked into my e-mail. And it is so simple to use.
Just fire off an e-mail to followupthen.com where you specify a time interval in the user-name portion of the e-mail address. For example, if you need a reminder to take the garbage out tomorrow, send off an e-mail to "tomorrow7am@followupthen.com" with an appropriate subject and detailed instructions in the message if you need 'em and you'll get an e-mail tomorrow morning at 7 am with the text you sent them. The system is really pretty smart in figuring out the time interval - you can specify a day, a date, time, or a combination of day and time. Or something general like "next Wednesday". Or a general time interval (i.e. 2weeks). If you need recurring reminders, you can send a message to "EveryTuesday@FollowUpThen.com" and you'll get a weekly memory jog. The site does a really good job parsing what you type in for the time interval. I've tried a number of different things and so far, they all have worked.
If you want to see what all you have sent off to followupthen, just send a blank e-mail to "pending@followupthen.com" and you'll get a list back. You can even cancel pending reminders from the returned list.
Aside from remembering to take the garbage out, I have found this app to be really useful to follow up on correspondence that is usually sent out via e-mail anyway. I put the followupthen address into the bcc: field of the e-mail and have automatically given myself a to-do entry to touch base with the other person. One thing I would like to see added is to include attachments in the reminder e-mail. That way the reminder I get back would have the documents I need to discuss in the follow up. The guys at followupon.com have indicated this might be something they could include in a future version.
Oh, one more thing - all this goodness is free. Give it a try.
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