Posted 07/16/09 at 05:09:41 PM by Andy Salisbury

This week Google implemented a Labs program for their popular calendar web app, hoping to make it more useful to more people.

“When you sign in to Calendar, you'll see a new page in Settings called Labs where, just like in Gmail, we'll list new highly experimental features for you to try,” writes David Marmaros, a Software Engineer for Google on their official blog. “Today there are six new Labs features in the list and more on the way. Try out Next Meeting, which shows you how much time you have to procrastinate. Free or Busy allows you to see which of your friends or coworkers are currently in meetings. And World Clock lets you keep track of different timezones when you schedule meetings. And as with Gmail Labs, there's a feedback link for you to discuss these features and to suggest new ones.”

They’ve also released an experimental API, in the interest of letting users create their own features.

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Posted 06/10/09 at 05:00:16 PM by Andy Salisbury

Earlier this week Google announced their Google App Sync for Microsoft Outlook, which they hope will give them the edge in the business email world.

“Many business users prefer Gmail's interface and features to products they've used in the past. But sometimes there are people who just love Outlook. For them, we've developed Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook,” writes Eric Orth, a Software Engineer on the Google Apps team. “It enables Outlook users to connect to Google Apps for business email, contacts and calendar. And they can always use Gmail's web interface to access their information when they're not on their work computer.”

Best of all, Google makes this that much easier by providing a tool that takes care of all the heavy lifting. Microsoft Outlook servers, you’re officially on notice.

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Posted 02/05/09 at 04:54:26 PM by Andy Salisbury

If you’re a Google Apps customer and you’re in need of your calendar offline, you’re in luck! Just today Google began releasing offline calendar support, a move that will make their tools more attractive to business users.

The calendar has a lot of attractive features, such as support for Gears and the ability to check your appointments despite your current connection. Though, know that you’ll only be able to check up on your daily agenda using the offline version, not create new entries.

If you’re a non-Google Apps customer and you’re looking to check out this feature before you buy it, Lifehacker has had some hands-on time with the synchronization software and given some impressions.

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Posted 12/31/08 at 04:04:39 PM by Andy Salisbury

So you thought you were safe inside your precious little calendar, eh? Well think again!

It looks like hackers have found a way to break into your Gmail account, all by preying on your Google Calendar. The attack comes in the form of a simple calendar email notification telling you that your account will be deleted unless you submit your Google username, password and date of birth. Generally, the emails come from a “customerserviceXXXX@gmal.com” (where the X’s represent a random number) address, so be sure and keep your eyes out.

Luckily, the fix for this is entirely on your end. Just be sure and watch whom you’re getting your email from. Major companies generally won’t ask you for your information and anyone that does so, has deplorable intentions.

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Posted 10/08/08 at 06:20:43 PM by Andy Salisbury

Yahoo has single-handedly disproved Moore’s law, by finally updating their online calendar after 10 long, tech rich years. Tonight they will be rolling out a new drag-and-drop Ajax based calendar in a closed beta to Yahoo Mail users in the U.S., UK, India, Taiwan and Brazil (sign ups can be found here).

The upgraded calendar doesn’t do much that Google’s isn’t already capable of, but it does play nice with iCal and CalDAV and has a slew of new features, including; layering (viewing multiple calendars in different colors or subscribing to someone else’s calendar), zooming in when adding an appointment, integration with Flickr, setting email  or SMS reminders, and a to-do list.

With this addition to their juggernaut of offerings, Yahoo should increase their market share in online calendars, despite already being the leader. Of their 285 million Yahoo Mail users, 8.1 million use the calendar compared to the 5 million that use Google’s.

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Posted 07/17/08 at 02:24:51 PM by Paul Lilly

Yikes! Google, the online monolith of all things, well, online, has made it incredibly easy for spammers to find out your real name. That means instead of seeing "Dear Sir" at the beginning of male organ enlargement solicitations, pill peddlers and every other unsavory seller can more easiy address you by name. Of course, if you're in the market for male miracle growth, then perhaps that's not such a bad thing.

In any event, a SecuriTeam blog outlines all the gritty details on how the exploit works, and to rub even more egg on Google's face, the blog chose to uncover the identity of admin at gmail dot com for its short tutorial. The bug works by entering a gmail address under the 'share this calendar' tab, adding them, and then saving. While the true identity isn't revealed at first, navigating back to the page is all it takes to see the person's real name. We haven't seen an exploit this stupidly simple since John Halderman discovered how to circumvent music CD copy protection just by holding down the shift key.

Oh, and feel to drop Drew a line. Not only did he give permission to post his Gmail info, but he did it with the full expectation that he'll find true love from a reader of these news posts.

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Posted 04/01/08 at 05:28:02 PM by David Murphy

For years, we’ve had the ability to synchronize email across offline and online platforms. That’s a no-brainer. But only recently have we stumbled across a rock-solid method for synchronizing that other big part of the typical email program: the calendar.

Click Read More for more. 

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