calendar

Google Calendar issues enter fourth day

Google Calendar entered its fourth day of disruptions today with no word from Google on the cause of the problems.

Google's Apps Status Dashboard currently shows Google Calendar with the annoying yellow wrench, which isn't quite as bad as the dreaded red "x" but little comfort to those affected by the issues. Early Thursday morning Google said a Google Calendar issue "affecting less than 0.1 (percent) of the Google Calendar user base" was ongoing.

Just before 10 a.m. PDT, Google updated the dashboard to say that a resolution was pending for an … Read more

Google's iOS search app gets push notifications

It's not quite the solution iPhone users might have been expecting, but Google has brought yet another way to get push e-mail on the iPhone. Kind of.

Users with the company's Google Mobile search app installed will now find an option to receive push notifications for new e-mails or calendar events within the app's settings menu, along with a very neat option to enable them only for certain parts of the day. This is a particularly useful feature if you want to keep your phone from buzzing or beeping during the times when you're usually asleep. … Read more

T-Mobile teases the G2 smartphone

Links from Wednesday's episode of Loaded: T-Mobile announces G2 with Google Microsoft Flight Simulator returns Microsoft's Arch Touch mouse Google Sync for Outlook 2010 Yahoo! Mail gets iPad app

Journal for home or work

CallitADay is an easy, inviting app that helps you create an electronic diary, with text, images, and even audio and video recording.

CallitADay's streamlined interface suits its straightforward purpose: the main, three-part window has a calendar (to start an entry, you select the date you want), a sidebar of previous entries (which you can organize by topic and browse as thumbnails, in a grid or Cover Flow-style), and a large editing pane, with controls for zooming, changing fonts and color, and browsing back through previous entries. This main window also has buttons for quickly creating audio and video recordings (… Read more

Quick reminders

Pester is a freeware alarm clock utility that provides a simple way to set timed reminders, along with a few cool extras.

Of course, you can use iCal and other scheduling software to alert you to upcoming events, but sometimes these apps are overkill--like, for example, when you're just putting something in the oven, or you're trying to remember to catch a bus. Pester occupies a middle ground between iCal and more bare-bones timers (such as egg-timer widgets), letting you quickly set an event, name it, choose a countdown or a specific time for the alert, and then (… Read more

SereneScreen Marine Aquarium

SereneScreen Marine Aquarium is a realistic, high-definition screensaver that converts your computer screen into a vibrant, colorful saltwater aquarium. You can choose from 27 different exotic fish species--from the Addis Butterflyfish to the Yellow Tang--and SereneScreen can display up to 30 fish at a time, with an easy interface for creating and customizing your own sets of fish (including an option for random species). You also have settings for autopanning, framerate, iTunes playlists, and a bubble column (from a virtual aerator, with optional bubble sound).

SereneScreen has an optional "crystal" paperweight in the tank, too, which you can … Read more

Hungry for more

An effective reservation system can be the difference between happy, pampered diners and grouchy, hungry ones. Cozy Restaurant Reservation is a basic program that allows users to take dining reservations. Although the program functions as designed, its lack of restaurant-specific features makes it hard to recommend.

The program's interface is attractive, reminding us of more recent versions of Microsoft Office applications. We got the sense that the program was originally meant for another purpose--just a generic scheduler, perhaps--and that it was tweaked slightly so that it could be passed off as a reservation system. Tables--which are referred to as &… Read more

Appointment keeper

Business Appointment Manager (BAM) from Business Management Systems is a multiuser, network-capable business software and database suite that bundles scheduling, billing, customer contact, and a variety of reporting tools. The program can help coordinate appointments and other important events and actions, everything from ordering supplies and reserving conference rooms to sales, client meetings, and purchasing, helping to reduce wasteful duplication and conflicts like double-booking. It also integrates billing, customer relations, and business-planning tools, all in one comprehensive, shared interface.

When you install BAM, you have the option of installing the full program, which includes SQL Server components, or just the … Read more

iCal displaying 'Access not permitted' error

One problem you may run into when using iCal is the program constantly popping up with an error stating "Access to account 'account name' is not permitted." This may happen after syncing from another system, or after migrating to a new account or computer, but upon dismissing the error it may pop up again immediately or whenever the calendars are refreshed.

This happens because iCal has become set up with extra CalDAV accounts, either for another calendar server or for one that is already existing. This may have happened because of a problem with the migration from another … Read more