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April 15, 2006
More on Google Calendar
The more I play with Google Calendar the more I like it, but I do have a few complaints, one of which is a near show-stopper:1) The Gmail integration has now rolled out to my account, and it's not as smart as I expected. I'm not sure what keywords it is using to detect something calendar-appropriate in an email message, but it's too narrow. When people mail me notes containing clear references to upcoming talks and conferences, that is not detected, but include the word "meeting" and ping, GCal sets up a link to insert it into my calendar.[Update] From Microsoft-Watch: Microsoft's multi-pronged calendar assault. You know, somehow this does not seem as daunting as it once might have.
I want Calendar to either be smarter about detecting events, or to give me a bookmarklet for easily grabbing stuff myself -- or both. Whatever the route, there is real work to be done making Gmail integration be more than cursory.
2) Outlook synchronization is sorely missed. Every time I catch myself thinking of inserting an event in GCal I get uneasy, reminding myself that I do not want to have to hand-synch two (or more) calendars.
3) It is baffling that GCal SMS integration does not include Verizon. Last I checked Verizon was the largest provider in the U.S., so its absence can't have been simple oversight. There is something strange going on between Verizon and Google, and it needs to stop.
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"GCal SMS integration does not include Verizon."
Or Bell Canada, or BT or Telstra or Deutsche Telecom or Vodafone or ...
Google. Global?
Regarding your first problem, I think somebody needs to write a server-side greasemonkey-like service for information extraction.
Another 'gotcha' is how they determine where to place events when using the quick add feature. They always default to the first AM time if no specifier is given even if it is after that time on the specific day.
Before I am going to be able to switch to any online calendar they are going to have to create a client on my desktop running in a browser that transperantly syncs with the online version so I can work on and offline in a seemless interface, it's the only way any of them (Google included) are going to be able to compete with Microsoft Live / Outlook.
Christopher
There is an open source plugin for outlook called 'remote calendars' that enables outlook to subscribe to web-based iCalendars. I have used it in the past to sync with a Basecamp calendar and it worked well.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/remotecalendars/
Of course, ideally there would be full-on two way sync, like Trumba has with their outlook plugin.
Try using T-Mobile as the carrier. The verification was sent to my phone a couple of seconds later.
A few of us are putting together a siple sync with outlook for google calendar in our spare time. You can check for updates on my blog. Should be out in the next week or so..
Hi,
with the most new version of RemoteCalendars (with some very strong limitation) it's possible also to publish from Outlook to Google Calendar...
Not a long way since a real 2-way sync :))
I agree on all your points. I have Verizon as well, and thought something was strange about this..
Outlook sync is a major thing for me, if I am going to use google's calendar, i need it to synch with outlook for the sole reason of outlook syncing with my treo, otherwise google calendar is quite useless to me.