Google Calendar
(Credit: Google)Google Calendar is probably one of the most successful Web-based calendar tools to hit the Web 2.0 scene. It has a very clean, easy-to-use interface, Gmail integration, the capability to share calendars with others, SMS notification reminders, and--like other Web-based calendars--immediate accessibility regardless of what computer you're using (as long as you have net access). But perhaps the most useful aspect of Google Calendar is that you can carry it with you on your mobile device, as long as you know how.
Google Calendar Sync lets you sync your Google Calendar with your Microsoft Outlook calendar.
(Credit: Google)There are basically two ways to access or sync Google Calendar with your phone. The first is to sync your Google Calendar with the calendar software on your computer, and then sync the calendar information to your phone, using the computer as an intermediary. If you use Outlook to sync up calendar information, Google has conveniently offered a Google Calendar Sync tool for use with Outlook that allows two-way syncing. Aside from Google's syncing tool, there are other third-party Google Calendar syncing applications such as OggSync, Jotlet, and Calgoo, though many of them aren't free. From there, you can sync Outlook with your phone, and you're ready to go. For the Mac, I have had great luck with Spanning Sync, a third-party application that will sync up Google Calendar with iCal. Similarly, you'll then have to sync the calendar information to your phone via the computer.
Then there's the second method of accessing Google Calendar with your phone, and that's over-the-air. The most obvious way to do this is to just head to http://mobile.google.com/calendar using the phone's built-in Web browser. From there, you can add and remove events just as you normally would, but with a scaled down user interface. If you have an iPhone, you'll be treated to a specially formatted mobile Google Calendar page with a user interface optimized for the iPhone's touch-screen display. However, this doesn't always work if you don't have a reliable Internet connection, plus it can be painfully slow. Thankfully, the way around this is to sync Google Calendar with the built-in calendar on your phone.
Google Sync for BlackBerry
(Credit: Google)If you have a BlackBerry, Google has developed an application called Google Sync for BlackBerry, which will sync Google Calendar with the BlackBerry's built-in calendar. If you have a Windows Mobile phone, third-party applications such as OggSync for Windows Mobile/Pocket PC will work. However, if you're one of many thousands of people with just a regular phone, GooSync is probably your best bet when it comes to over-the-air synchronization of your Google Calendar and your phone's built-in calendar. GooSync has a free service as well as a premium service (The premium service is $39.50 a year and offers multicalendar support, a contacts manager, and more), and it supports a variety of phones. You should check out their Supported Devices page to see if your phone is on the list.
As with any of these applications, your mileage may vary as to how well they work, depending on the kind of phone you have, your net connection, and so forth.
If you have any more ideas on how to sync Google Calendar with your mobile device, let us know in the comments.
Thirty-two start-ups and 11 established companies pitched their Web-based business products at the Under the Radar: Why Office 2.0 Matters event last Friday. That's a lot of productivity right there. Webware bloggers Josh Lowensohn and Erica Ogg covered all the start-up pitches--click the "UTR" tag beneath this blog to read about them.
From the 31 start-ups, we picked five favorites (see video). They are:
- Calgoo has a neat solution for working with schedules from your work and home lives. It's a problem we all have. See previous Webware coverage.
- Sandy is the new e-mail assistant from the team that makes Stikkit. You cc: "Sandy," the e-mail bot, on your correspondence, and the agent will decipher what you're saying, like "let's have lunch tomorrow," and put the right information in your calendar. It will be very cool, if it works. (See also: Wrike.)
- Xcellery adds real-time collaboration to Excel spreadsheets. We like the idea of making the spreadsheet tool, which we all know how to use, into a Web 2.0 application. See previous Webware coverage.
- ConceptShare is a beautiful application for sharing creative work, like photos and layouts. It's targeted at a niche of users (designers and their clients), but it could bring Web-enabled collaboration to a large number of people. See previous Webware coverage.
- WuFoo is my favorite Web application. It's a simple, cheap, and reliable database service masquerading as a forms designer. We use it (and pay for it) at Webware.com. See previous Webware coverage.
Calgoo, the Java-based app that syncs up your online and offline calendars (previous coverage here), launches its second version today, and has graduated from a closed beta to a public download. With the update comes support for iCal, Microsoft Outlook, and both tiers of Google Apps (free and premiere). It's also undergone a face-lift that makes it similar to Apple's iCal with a touch of Outlook.
(Credit:
CNET Networks)
Calgoo does require a small download, but what's nice is that you can create appointments and schedule your Google Calendar without going online. The next time you're able to connect, Calgoo will sync up your changes.
The one thing that seems to be missing from Calgoo is an e-mail client that ties in with Gmail. If you're used to Outlook for scheduling and e-mail it seems right to have both services in one place, and with Calgoo it's oddly absent. Since Google isn't providing an offline app for Gmail (besides POP3 support), it would be great to have it in the same place as your Google Calendar. In the meantime, Calgoo provides a great solution for pushing your Outlook calendar to Google Calendar without uploading giant CSV files.
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