CalendarReview

xCal vs iCal: a new Calconnect draft

Rutger — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 07:30:19 +0000

On the CalConnect Roundtable of May 26th the new xCal document was published. The iCalendar data format is a widely deployed interchange format for calendaring and scheduling data. While many applications and services consume and generate calendar data, iCalendar is a specialized format that requires its own parser/generator. In contrast, XML-based formats are widely used for interoperability between applications, and the many tools that generate, parse, and manipulate XML make it easier to work with than iCalendar. xCal is an XML-compliant representation of the iCalendar standard. xCal is not an alternative nor next generation of iCalendar. xCal represents iCalendar components, properties and parameters as defined in iCalendar.

Lightning 1.0 Beta 2 Release Candidate 1 is available

Rutger — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 07:14:30 +0000

Candidate builds for Lightning 1.0 beta2 in 32 languages are available as of now for:

A corresponding build of the Provider for Google Calendar is also available at those locations.

The candidate builds will be available for testing for up to 2 weeks. We want to release the final Lightning 1.0b2 together with Thunderbird 3.1, so we may choose to shorten this period by a few days

Spanning Sync v3.1.1 Now Available

Rutger — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 15:28:43 +0000

Spanning Sync v3.1.1 is now available as an automatic update for all existing users. New users can always download the latest version at spanningsync.com.

(Spanning Sync 3 requires Leopard or Snow Leopard. Tiger users should continue to use v2.1.3.)

What’s New in Spanning Sync v3.1.1:

Fixed a problem where contacts with an invalid URL could cause the sync to abort
The user is now notified of software updates without having to open the pref pane
Delete protection is handled better when calendar filtering of old events is turned on
Now syncs the contact “department” property
Syncing of the calendar “classification” property can be turned off
Fixed an error (“attempt to insert nil”) that could halt the sync
Fixed a problem where the background notifier app wouldn’t relaunch after an upgrade

Cozi wins 2010 Industry Achievement Awards

Rutger — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 14:59:02 +0000

Cozi, the free online calendar for busy families, won the 2010 Consumer Product of the Year in the 15th Annual Washington Technology Industry Achievement Awards.

The awards include eight categories, and Cozi was recognized as the THE WINNER of the 2010 Consumer Product or Service of the Year.

Over 100.000 fans use MarkThisdate World Cup 2010 Schedule

Rutger — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 11:34:18 +0000

MarkThisDate, a free calendar outlet, has served over 100.000 fans with the 2010 World Cup calendar held in South Africa from June 11th till July 11th. With the click of a button the calendar is added to own’s electronic calendar like Outlook, Gcal, iCal, iPhone, etc

Google Calendar has a new look

Rutger — Tue, 18 May 2010 16:03:48 +0000

Google Calendar has an updated look to make it more consistent with other Google Apps. Everything works the same as before, with one exception: Google removed the Tasks link: to turn tasks on just click the Tasks calendar in your calendar list. I also see a ‘create event’ button. The changes currently not apply to apps calendar. As I said not a big change but a pinch of freshness is always good.

Why doesn’t Android support webcal or .ics?

Rutger — Thu, 06 May 2010 13:14:44 +0000

I was very surprised to learn that my recently bought Nexus One didn’t support webcal urls and or .ics files. (“This content is not supported on this phone”). Apparently this is a known issue. Since the online version of Gcal is so much into webcal and subscribing to calendars one might expect the Android version would support the same functionality especially since the two are so linked on Android. I dug into this some more and learned that Android phones can’t handle normal meeting invites which are normally sent by .ics file. Digging further into the issue I found out that Android phone also not support the .vcf format which is normally used to transfer contact information. Needless to say that the iPhone works brilliantly when sending somebody ics or vcf files. Is this an area that Google just forgot or is there more to it?

Plaxo Gcal sync is giving trouble

Rutger — Thu, 06 May 2010 12:57:33 +0000

To sync my Outlook, Nexus One and Gcal I use Plaxo. For some weeks now the Plaxo Gcal sync doesn’t seem to work. Plaxo answerred me they encounter this with more users. They don’t have the solution yet. When you are (as I am) reliant on these service to sync perfectly and actually pay for it it is pretty annoying if they can’t seem to get it to work, tell me to wait and blaim the other party. So much for Premium Support. Anybody encountering the same problems?

Hipcal Down, No Communication to Users, Reliability Issues

jamiejchase — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 19:08:51 +0000

Today Hipcal, operated by Plaxo, went down. The service is a great means for small businesses and groups of individuals to manage schedules without a network.

My business uses it to schedule conference calls across six time zones. When the service went down. They also took the whole site down. There is no way to contact anyone at the organization. My business was brought to a screeching halt without a means of seeing our scheduled calls for the day.

I’m questioning our continuing use of the service. A calender service is only as useful as it is reliable.

Convenient Calendar.com A New Free Online Shared Calendar for Families, Friends, and Groups

set2001 — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 21:43:59 +0000

In the age of internet it seems that most people do everything online; pay their bills, read the newspaper, and keep in contact with family and friends near and far. One of the many things people have the option of using on the internet is calendars. Online calendars, just like a wall or desk calendar, keep track of events, birthdays, schedules, and so much more. What makes online calendars unique, and more convenient, is that friends, families, and social groups can all use the same calendar. A great option for an online calendar can be found at Convenient Calendar.

Convenient Calendar is a free online calendar organizational website that has been created to help people easily keep in touch with family and friends or is perfect for keeping church, academic, professional or extra-curricular groups organized and informed. Convenient Calendar includes a shared calendar and, unlike any other online calendar option, has an automatically updating address book and photo album for each group.

The shared calendar feature of Convenient Calendar can keep track of birthdays, important events, family appointments, and so much more making what can seem like an almost impossible task at times possible, and best of all easy. In addition the calendar is shared so anyone can add events to the calendar, not just the person whom created it, enabling family members or groups of friends near and far too easily keep in touch with one another. Best of all if a person doesn’t want their family group’s events to be combined with their friends multiple calendars can be set up to separate schedules and events of multiple groups of people.

Convenient Calendar includes two great features that cannot be found on any other online calendar site, an address book and photo uploading option. The address book is compiled from the information each member in a group provides in their profile. Security is state of the art so it is not something to worry about on this site. Convenient Calendar always strives to maintain the strictest controls in regards to personal information. Information entered will only be shared with group members based on each individual’s privacy settings. The best thing about the address book is that it automatically updates as group members update their profile information. This means, if someone moves, changes their phone number, or email address and updates their profile to reflect the change, the address book of all members of all groups they are a part of updates with the new information, making updating friends, family, and social groups of the new information easier than ever.

Let’s not forget about the pictures. Each event on any calendar is sure to have fun photos that have captured the funniest, happiest, and most interesting moments of the day. On Convenient Calendar each group has the ability to upload photos to a group album for all members to view.

Convenient Calendar can be found at www.convenientcalendar.com. It is a free site, perfect for people of all ages to use. Complete with a shared address book and the ability to upload photos, Convenient Calendar is certain to be a must use site for all social groups, families and groups of friends.