Long before the smartphone was the daily planner du jour, the wall calendar, or for some, the portable daily planner was the keeper of all appointments, reminders and dates. Depending on which you preferred, there were two problems. Go with the wall iteration and your life was stuck in that very place. Go with a daily planner and you felt like you were toting around the contents of your life. For those who still prefer to rely on a calendar to get through the day to day, today’s iterations have the magic of technology on their side, which means every important time, date and reminder is simply a swipe away. And no paper is discarded in the process. Here, the latest generation of digital calendars and apps to keep you and everyone in your family on plan.
More: What the Future Holds for Smart Homes in 2021
DAKboard
Courtesy of DAKboard
This digital wall calendar does not require page turning or tossing upon the last day of the year. The poster board-sized device hangs on your wall and displays the goings-on either in day-to-day mode or full monthly calendar style. It syncs with Google Calendar, iCloud Calendar, Facebook and other online calendar services (because that’s how we’ll roll in 2021) and helps you stay informed about such things as the weather, the traffic, to-do lists, newsfeeds and stock quotes. And it links to any photo streaming device so you can display (in slideshow fashion) the story of your life for all to see.
DAKboard is available for $399.
Skylight Calendar
Courtesy of Skylight Calendar
When everyone in your family has their own schedule, keeping track of it all in one master calendar can help you keep life (and everyone in it) moving like clockwork. The Skylight Calendar syncs with Google, Outlook, Apple, Cozi and Yahoo and puts everyone’s comings and goings in one place. And it lets you add events right on the 10-inch touch-screen display so no one misses them. Create chore lists to nudge the kids or your significant other, grocery lists, and even a meal planner.
Skylight Calendar is available for $159.
More: The Best of Smart Home Devices: 2020 Edition
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Echo Show
Courtesy of Amazon
While the Echo Show has many talents—including but not limited to video calling, entertainment viewing and photo displaying—if you need to stay organized, this digital device puts your calendar on display in an interactive way. It syncs to anyGoogle, Microsoft or Apple calendars and shows past and present events in three different modes: list mode, three-day mode and month-by-month mode. It also shows you what you’ve got going on for the day on the home screen. But what really takes this date keeper to epic levels is the Alexa capabilities. All you have to do is ask it to tell you what to-dos you have or “what’s on my calendar today?,” and it will pull up a complete list. And, if you want to create a new entry, just tell it to do so and it will add it.
Echo Show is available for $150.
Cozi Family Organizer
Courtesy of Cozi
While technically not a separate device, the Cozi Family Organizer app turns your phone into the ultimate family planner. Available from the Apple Store or Google Play, this one-app wonder helps coordinate and communicate everyone’s schedules, appointments and activities, track grocery lists, checks off to-do lists, and makes meal planning easier. It color codes each person’s schedule, sends reminders and even lets you create personalized to-do lists that link to items you need to reorder. And, if you don’t want to create your own tasks, there are dozens of pre-made planning checklists from the Cozi list library for everything from birthday parties and vacation packing to emergency supplies and groceries. It’s the digital form of the personal assistant.
