May 2, 2008
Send an email from the future
The technology is here, HT Seamus:
TimeMachiner is a new mini-app that lets you email people in the future. Use it to remind yourself to do something that you’ll more than likely forget, keep your future self on the straight and narrow, even wish your friends happy birthday…
Useful for reminding yourself of last year’s resolutions, but beyond that, what economically-interesting applications can y’all suggest?
Update: A loyal reader comments:
I can suggest one interesting experiment. Put up a website which provides this as a service. On the front page, put an easy-to-use form. Make the service free and open. Then have no privacy policy at all, so you can do what you like with all the email addresses you harvest. Then all the helpful bloggers will do your marketing for you. (Step 3: Profit!)
Good point…
I just use Google Calendar for reminders. It seems more useful for e-mailing other people than yourself, for that reason.
e.g., sometimes you want to remind others to do stuff (presumably in your interest).
Posted by: Andy | May 2nd, 2008 at 8:51 am | Report this comment[…] Tim Harford] This new website allows you to send email into the future; well at least as far as 2030. I just […]
Posted by: CoreEcon » Blog Archive » Email into the Future | May 2nd, 2008 at 9:58 am | Report this commentI’ve just posted an excellent use for it at Lay Science. I call it the Prediction TesterTM, and it opens up a whole world of possibilities for holding economists and others to account for their otherwise long-forgotten long-range forecasts…
Posted by: The Lay Scientist >> E-mail the Future | May 2nd, 2008 at 11:46 am | Report this commentA well established alternative, with a privacy policy, is http://www.futureme.org/
You can specify your email as private or public and anonymous - they have published a book of the latter.
Posted by: Jack | May 2nd, 2008 at 2:04 pm | Report this commentRe the FT Saturday crossword. It’s infuriating that I used to be able to do it but then I stopped for some years and now I can only solve a few clues at the first attempt. Why is this? Because the compiler has changed? I suspect there’s more than one reason.
I would like to request that the answers to
Posted by: J.J. | May 2nd, 2008 at 5:04 pm | Report this comment1 Across and 1 Down appear on the Undercover Economist promptly 48 hours after the Sat. X-word.
Oh god, this just reminded me of a similar email time-capsule website that experienced a bit of popularity a couple of years ago that I used to send an electronic love-letter to my now-ex-girfriend and I am going to look like a complete idiot in roughly two years.
Posted by: Scott | May 10th, 2008 at 8:18 pm | Report this comment