To add to the list, for those who don't know about it, there's spaced repetition software. There are some situations where rote memorization is indeed useful, e.g. learning vocabulary (well _using_ the vocabulary is better, but memorizing is a good first step). I personally use Mnemosyne, but there are lots of such programs (the most well-known being Supermemo), many web apps too.

Here's a database of reviews of flashcard-type software: http://learn.how.to/