I live by the To Do list, and I love Remember The Milk. I never really cared for its mobile implementation though. Mobile phone data is expensive, and the browser in my Razr leaves much to be desired. In short, there was never a way to quickly add to, and receive, my To Do list on the go.

I always thought of text messages as the ultimate I/O for mobile applications, and Twitter has that model down solid. What I just discovered is that RTM has a Twitter service. This means you can direct message RTM, from your phone, through Twitter. For example, “d rtm !today” will return all of my tasks due today. “d rtm wash the car saturday” will add “wash the car” on my list for Saturday.

This is a great example of the power of open APIs. Leveraging the strengths of one system in order to augment the strengths of another. In this case: you text Twitter, Twitter contacts RTM, RTM responds back to Twitter, and finally Twitter texts you back. It seems a bit over complicated, but it works. In the end, both parties have a stronger product. And now, I finally have a use for my Twitter account.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 26th, 2008 at 8:21 pm and is filed under Tech Tip. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.