If you're anything like me your calendar runs most of what you do, so it's important that it's in the right place and up to date. Sadly this isn't always the case for me and that's because of my hardware/software combinations not playing nicely together.
You can pretty much bet that whichever calendar I look at, I have a different set of priorities on any given day. Lotus Notes will import Google calendars, but for syncing you can only do it with a 3rd party application. iCal and MobileMe almost play nicely together, but they use Apple's Sync Services, which aren't exactly a standard and so cause problems with Google calendar. On top of this calendar subscriptions don't work well for updates across all of these platforms.... until now... ish.... There is hope in sight.
Apple are moving away from Sync Services for iCal and MobileMe. In fact the MobileMe calendar has just appeared in Beta looking very similar to the iPad version of iCal. The new sync method of choice is CalDAV, which is also supported by Google, so a clean solution without the need for 3rd party applications may be just around the corner.
So can I get them all to play nicely together now ?? Well the short answer is yes you can with all of them except for MobileMe it seems.... so close and yet so far. Apple are perfectly happy for you to create your own calendars and share them with other people, as long as those other people are also using MobileMe. I'm afraid I can't see this working for them for veryt long though. The sync options of MobileMe and the iPhone and my iMac are what make MobileMe so appealing, but if I can't plug my Googlemail Calendar into it as well, the gloss just peels away at the corners. So come on Apple. Sort it out and then I won't feel so pained by the annual subscription to a service that covers 90% of my needs.
By the way, if you're looking for a 3rd party tool to sync your Lotus Notes calendars with Google (and I mean properly sync both ways) then I found AweSync to be the best in it's class in the past, although I should also point out that I'm no longer syncing my work calendar anywhere but work. Nicely partitioned to promote my Work/Life balance.
Now onto some interesting-ish movie news... Edgar Wright, the director behind both the fantastic Simon Pegg movies, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz has got his latest offering landing at cinemas this week. "Scott Pilgrim vs the World" is almost a video game, and almost a comic book, but is really a movie. All very strange stuff, but the basic premise is that our hero (Scott) has to "defeat" his new love's (Rhamona) 7 evil ex's... and yes I did say "defeat". It's very funny stuff. Here's the trailer:
...and on a related note. Mr Pegg (a local bloke, having lived within sight of the cheese chasing place) has released some information about his next project at last week's Comic-con festival in california. You might already have heard a whisper or two about this.... it's called..... wait for it..... "Paul". What is Paul?? Well, you can find out here: http://www.whatispaul.com/ but you can't watch it until next March.
Personal |  | Google |
|---|---|---|
Desktop |  | iCal |
Mobile |  | iCal iPhone |
Web |  | MobileMe |
Work |  | Lotus Notes |
You can pretty much bet that whichever calendar I look at, I have a different set of priorities on any given day. Lotus Notes will import Google calendars, but for syncing you can only do it with a 3rd party application. iCal and MobileMe almost play nicely together, but they use Apple's Sync Services, which aren't exactly a standard and so cause problems with Google calendar. On top of this calendar subscriptions don't work well for updates across all of these platforms.... until now... ish.... There is hope in sight.
Apple are moving away from Sync Services for iCal and MobileMe. In fact the MobileMe calendar has just appeared in Beta looking very similar to the iPad version of iCal. The new sync method of choice is CalDAV, which is also supported by Google, so a clean solution without the need for 3rd party applications may be just around the corner.
So can I get them all to play nicely together now ?? Well the short answer is yes you can with all of them except for MobileMe it seems.... so close and yet so far. Apple are perfectly happy for you to create your own calendars and share them with other people, as long as those other people are also using MobileMe. I'm afraid I can't see this working for them for veryt long though. The sync options of MobileMe and the iPhone and my iMac are what make MobileMe so appealing, but if I can't plug my Googlemail Calendar into it as well, the gloss just peels away at the corners. So come on Apple. Sort it out and then I won't feel so pained by the annual subscription to a service that covers 90% of my needs.
By the way, if you're looking for a 3rd party tool to sync your Lotus Notes calendars with Google (and I mean properly sync both ways) then I found AweSync to be the best in it's class in the past, although I should also point out that I'm no longer syncing my work calendar anywhere but work. Nicely partitioned to promote my Work/Life balance.
Now onto some interesting-ish movie news... Edgar Wright, the director behind both the fantastic Simon Pegg movies, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz has got his latest offering landing at cinemas this week. "Scott Pilgrim vs the World" is almost a video game, and almost a comic book, but is really a movie. All very strange stuff, but the basic premise is that our hero (Scott) has to "defeat" his new love's (Rhamona) 7 evil ex's... and yes I did say "defeat". It's very funny stuff. Here's the trailer:
...and on a related note. Mr Pegg (a local bloke, having lived within sight of the cheese chasing place) has released some information about his next project at last week's Comic-con festival in california. You might already have heard a whisper or two about this.... it's called..... wait for it..... "Paul". What is Paul?? Well, you can find out here: http://www.whatispaul.com/ but you can't watch it until next March.
The Gorse Fox seems to have solved his personal Calendar problems. He used Google Calendar for his private stuff, and Lotus Notes Calendar for work. He uses AWESYNC to sync his work calendar to Google Calendar (he has chosen a 1-hour sync frequency, but that is customizable). His android phone is completely integrated with Google so the calendar on his phone mirrors the online Google calendar. Voila full integration and consistency.
ReplyDelete