Google Calendar Alerts by SMS

I'm a big fan of the entire suite of Google apps, with my favorite being Google Reader. Google Calendar has been a little neglected by me for the longest time. Outside of receiving a "You have no events today" e-mail notification every day at 5:00 am, I really couldn't get into it.



The fact that I also can't easily (or more accurately, find a free solution) do a two-way sync with Google Calendar to iCal or my Windows Mobile Phone adds to my overall apathy to the tool.

Well, I was fiddling with the alert settings the other day, and discovered that Google can send appointment alerts by SMS. What a fantastic little feature - something that I can actually use! I've been playing with the alerts for a week, and they work well.

To enable them:

1. Log into Google Calendar.
   
2. Go to Settings.
   
3. Go to Mobile Setup.
   
4. Fill in the form for your country, cel number and carrier.
   
5. Click on the Send Verification Code button. You'll get a text message with a verification code in it.
   
6. Enter the verification code and click on Finish setup.
   
7. Go to Calendars.
   
8. Click on Notifications.
   
9. You can change your Event reminders to be sent to you by SMS.
   

Very cool indeed.