NuevaSync logo courtesy of NuevaSync
As some of you may know from my previous posts, I have been an outspoken complainer about the lack of wireless over-the-air (OTA) calendar synchronization options for the iPhone. Simply put, unless you have access to a Microsoft Exchange server (medium to large corporations do) or pay for MobileMe (with which you can’t share calendars with friends and family), there is no easy, intuitive, or otherwise streamlined method to synchronize a web-based calendar such as Google Calendar with the iPhone. Luckily for us iPhone users, this has finally changed thanks to one company: NuevaSync. Hit the Read More link to find, well, more!
Read more »
Posted in
Calendaring,
Cloud Computing,
MobileMe,
Software,
Solution,
Synchronization,
iPhone
Computer-based calendaring: the background
Today’s calendaring applications help us coordinate our work (and play) time. For some time, calendaring was something we did on a desktop-computer basis. These “high-tech” solutions, as some would describe them, offered many benefits over traditional paper-and-pen calendaring and planning solutions. The most significant of these benefits was (and still is) the act of making changes to a schedule: no longer does the user have to erase/white-out/cross-out a changed event and re-write it somewhere else. By using computer-based calendars, all the user needs to do is drag the re-scheduled event to its new location in the calendar. Yet these early solutions offered little (if anything) in terms of sharing your schedule with co-workers, family, or friends. Read on to find out how digital calendaring can help us and what changes need to happen in order for it to improve. Read more »
Posted in
Apple,
Calendaring,
Cloud Computing,
Featured,
Google,
Microsoft,
MobileMe,
Synchronization,
iPhone
The Apple iPhone is the best mobile phone out there. Period. From the sleek and simple industrial design to the “light-years-ahead-of-any-other-phone-out-there” software and user-interface, there is no arguing that it’s the device of the 21st century. After recently upgrading my unlocked 8GB iPhone from early firmware version 1.0.2 to 1.1.4 using ZiPhone (great job, by the way to the developer), I’ve become even happier with the device. A review of 1.1.4 is coming later in the week. However, there is just one issue that needs to be addressed by Apple on the iPhone even in the latest software update: calendar reminders. Let’s get down to it.
When the iPhone’s calendar is set to produce a reminder, it does so by displaying a message overlaying everything else you’re doing, like so – as seen below when the iPhone is “locked” or when hold is on:
This overlay is accompanied by a vibrate or a sound – depending on the user’s settings. This is great so far, but what happens when the user wants to push back this reminder? Well, currently there is no such option. If I’m in a meeting or in a class or watching a movie and get a reminder, there is no way for me to easily push it back by a certain amount of time. The only way I can do this is by going into the Calendar app on the iPhone and selecting the reminder time there. However, if the time for the event is 6:00pm and the reminder was set for “5 minutes before” (at 5:55pm), there is no option in the reminder panel to pick “in 30 minutes from now”, as seen below:
Having this ability is important for many reasons, but the most important one is when, during a busy day, I am occupied with a client and a reminder pops up on the iPhone, there is no way for me to have the iPhone bring up the reminder again, only later. In other words, there is no way to “push back” a reminder. This can result in forgetting appointments and things to do (especially the latter since the iPhone currently doesn’t have a to-do list that synchs well with the Mac/PC on the desktop – but that’s a different topic).
On the Mac in iCal the ability to push back a reminder exists. I can have the reminder present itself again in the amount of time I choose, as seen here:
Maybe with the recently-announced iPhone firmware version 2.0 , Apple will give me the ability to push back reminders. Until then, I’ll just have to use my head a little more than I should be with my state-of-the-art smart phone.
Posted in
Calendaring,
iPhone
