How Do I Use MacBook Air to Organize My Life? - MacBook Air Portable Genius - page 80

However, our days are littered with tasks that could be called subevents. These are things that need to be done at
a certain point during your day but don't rise to the level of full-fledged events: returning a call, taking the laun-
dry out of the dryer, turning off the sprinkler. If you need to be reminded to perform such a subevent, it seems
like overkill to crank out an event using the Calendar app.
Fortunately, OS X Mountain Lion offers a better solution: the Reminders app. You use this app to create re-
minders, which are simple nudges that tell you to do something, to be somewhere, or whatever. These nudges
come in the form of Notification Center banners that appear on your screen at a time you specify or when your
MacBook Air reaches a particular location. If you have an iCloud account, you can sync your reminders
between your iPad, your iPod touch, your iPhone, and any other supported device.
Setting a reminder for a specific time
Here are the steps to follow to set up a reminder that alerts you at a specific time:
1. In the Dock, click Reminders. The Reminders app appears.
2. Choose File → New Reminder. You can also click the next available line in the Reminders list, or press
+N.
3. Type the reminder title.
4. Click the Show Info icon (the italic i). The Reminders app displays the reminder details.
5. Select the On a Day check box.
6. Specify the date and time you want to be reminded.
7. Click Done. The Reminders app adds the reminder to the list.
When you complete the reminder, click its check box. The Reminders app removes it from the Reminders list and
adds it to the Completed list.
Setting a reminder for a specific location
Getting an alert at a specific time is the standard way of working with reminders, but the Reminders app sup-
ports a second type of criterion: location. That is, when you specify a particular location for a reminder, the app
sets up a geo-fence — a kind of virtual border — around that location. When your MacBook Air crosses that
geo-fence, the associated reminder appears on your screen. So, for example, if you're on your way to a meeting
with a client, you could create a reminder that includes notes about the meeting or the client, and then specify
the meeting location in the reminder details.
Here's how it works:
1. In the Dock, click Reminders. The Reminders app appears.
2. Choose File → New Reminder. You can also click the next available line in the Reminders list, or press
+N.