I've enjoyed using Kwiry to text myself reminders and then subscribe to the RSS feed of items I sent in my Netvibes dashboard. When the service first launched it sent you an email with search results for the text of reminders you sent yourself by SMS. You could add movies to your Netflix queue using Kwiry and SMS. Other people did all kinds of things with it, like use it to turn off their computers remotely. In the end, it looks like only a few thousand people probably used the service regularly at all.

$1 million isn't that much for a software startup, and perhaps working with SMS made the money go even faster, but poof there they go awfully quick!

It's great that the company is offering .csv downloads of customer data but that's only the case for the next 10 days. We hope anyone who needs it will come and get it within that time frame.

The lesson here could be that you could build a full-featured service, get some money from respected investors and still see your whole endeavor go up in smoke one year later. None of the reminder services online are catching on like the huge breakout hit born from SMS, Twitter, is. Twitter serves a universal need that's more fun than remembering obligations (communicating with people) and it's dead simple - all the bells, whistles and do-dahs are built by 3rd parties and are fully opt-in, not at all confusing.

It's too bad about Kwiry, though. We wish the team there well in their next endeavors.

Kwiry - an SMS-based service designed to simplify mobile tasks - has just announced a feature that plays right into that mindset: allowing you to control your TiVo remotely via SMS.

To date, your best option was sprinting to the nearest laptop with wireless access to use the TiVo Web interface or using your mobile browser to hit the TiVo mobile site - if you had enough connectivity. But browsing the Web from even the best mobile device is relatively data-intensive - and therefore time-consuming - when compared to sending a text message.

With Kwiry, saving that show is as simple as sending a text. Once you're signed up for Kwiry and configured the service, simply text the keyword "tivo" plus the name of the program - like, say, Flight of the Conchords - to 59479. That's it. You're done. Kwiry will add it to your TiVo shows. It's hard to imagine controlling TiVo from afar could be any easier - save for an Internet Brain Implant.

Texting your TiVo is only one of the features of this release. The new version of Kwiry also introduces the ability to access Yelp reviews and send your virtual business card to an email contact, all using simple text messages. The service has also integrated Facebook Connect, enabling users to share Kwiry data with their friends on Facebook - and allowing new users to easily establish accounts using their Facebook credentials.

These new features join a gamut of functionality already available in the service. And they sit quite nicely alongside features like adding movies to your Netflix queue and products to your Amazon Wish List.

As someone who is often on the move and who has come to rely on Evernote as a second brain, I see this type of immediate access to - and control of - services from a mobile handset extremely appealing. Not to mention that, with the ever increasing speed of our lives, having the ability to get small things done when and where you can is often the key to remaining sane. Kwiry appears to be adding a number of features that promise that grasp on sanity will remain strong.

Kwiry is a free service, although your carrier's typical SMS charges apply. To test drive the beta TiVo service or any of the other services offered, visit Kwiry.