Windows Mobile patch for Daylight Savings Time change

Network World has a story this week about the newly-early arrival of Daylight Savings Time on March 11. Over on the microsoft.public.pocketpc news group, they're talking about Microsoft's fix for Windows Mobile smartphones and PDAs. According to Bill Dougherty, the Microsoft registry fix was intended to be pushed out by carriers: "Most of the carriers, in their infinite wisdom, have neglected to do so. If you rely on your Windows smartphone, you need this fix. Microsoft published the registry fix here. This fix requires you to build a CAB file and then install it. To save you the trouble, I have bundled the CAB file for you." If, like me, you have a Windows Mobile PDA not provided by a carrier, this fix may be your only bet.

Sign the Calendar Swamp Frappr map

I've created a Frappr Map for Calendar Swamp. Sign in and give us a shout-out. Be sure to pick from the appropriate map pin, so we can see what you use for your primary calendar.

Microsoft.com is being hammered

I tried to get more information tonight about Windows Vista Calendar, but Microsoft.com is being hammered, so instead of reaching the Vista Productivity page, the Web site told me: "We’re sorry, but we were unable to service your request."

Hey Vista Calendar users! Are you able to sync with Windows Mobile?

There's enough Windows Vista out there now for me to ask if Vista Calendar syncs with Windows Mobile calendars. Tonight I published an anonymous comment from a Vista user who couldn't figure out how to do it.

Calendar Swamp in Dreaming in Code

Scott Rosenberg's new book, Dreaming in Code, gives Calendar Swamp a mention on 335. Since I started this blog in June 2005, interest in calendar interoperability has been on a steady growth path. Thanks to all you who are commenting, emailing suggestions, and passing the word about Calendar Swamp. I couldn't do it without you. Meanwhile, check out my new Opening Move conversation with Scott Rosenberg, and buy his book via the Amazon link there, which helps support my podcast.

SyncMyCal works better than GooSync

This morning I have a new favorite: SyncMyCal. Thanks to whoever commented here and clued me in.

SyncMyCal does everything GooSync does and more. It lets me not sync private events. Instead they show up as "busy" on my Google Calendar. This is a good step forward. SyncMyCal is awarded +2 SwampDrain points of their own.

The only reason you'd want to still use GooSync is if you don't like to sync Outlook to Google Calendar; GooSync (and OggSync) sync directly from Windows Mobile to Google. A Windows Mobile version of SyncMyCal is in development.

Will the iPhone kill Internet sync, or will lack of Internet sync kill the iPhone?

Ed Bott: "The biggest missing piece in the iPhone is its ability to sync calendars and e-mail effortlessly."

I also liked Bott's additional comment in the voluminous comments to his post: "That cool phone is not so cool when you miss an urgent notification of a change in a meeting because you weren't able to sync up your calendar or get an e-mail message pushed to your phone. That's how business works in 2007."

Let the drumbeats of discontent grow. You can bet calendar sync over Cingular's network was something Cingular would love to have provided, because it would have consumed so many uber-profitable data minutes. Certainly Cingular has other phones it would like to sell you if you need that essential feature. Maybe it's just a way to get more customers in the store?

(Note: Apple's "push" email through Yahoo! indicates the email situation may not be as bad as the calendaring. Thus Apple's guilty of the general crime of not treating calendaring as seriously as email, which is why so many of us still arrange our calendars via grossly inefficient email.)

Jewish calendar home automation

Time It Right, home automation for the Jewish home:

Never set another Shabbos clock! Time It Right™- the ultimate in home automation for the Shomer Shabbos family. Time It Right™ is the only home automation system with a built in Jewish calendar. Time It Right™ is custom scheduled around YOUR Zemanim and lifestyle, controlling your home according to your specific needs . Unlike other home automation systems, Time It Right™ adjusts your schedule for Shabbos and Yom Tov week by week, with no action from you, making it the ideal system for the Jewish home, Shul, or institution.

I don't see any way to exchange info with other calendars however.

Want to sync your Apple iPhone? Looks like you'll need to own Outlook or a Mac as well

Gizmodo reports that "there won't be any WiFi or cellular data syncing, only sync-via-docking" for the iPhone. That will put the Apple iPhone behind the surge of Windows Mobile sync-with-Google Calendar solutions out there that cut Outlook out of the picture entirely. Yep, that's right, to sync to other calendars, you'll either need to own Outlook or a Mac running iCal.

Gizmodo's Brian Lam holds out hope that there will be iPhone syncing outside of iTunes, but now that I understand how iTunes is the software that syncs calendars to the iPod today, I hold out 0% hope that there will be another way to do it with the Apple iPhone.

I'll give the Apple iPhone a SwampDrain score of -1 for that boneheaded move.

iPhone calendar-sharing questions

My original wish on this blog was for a handheld, updatable calendar that could sync with my wife's iCal calendar. The Apple iPhone will deliver on that wish, provided I'm willing to shell out the $ for an iPhone.

But there are still questions. I don't own a Mac, and am not planning to buy one. Will iPhone users be able to plug directly into .Mac? Then I could publish my iPhone calendars to .Mac. Even then, I'm not sure I want to pay for a .Mac account. Does it really make sense to pay for .Mac if you're using so little of that service? How about an a-la-carte .Mac calendar sharing service for less money?

Another option for existing iCal users to share calendar info is to set up a private WebDAV server to share. I've previously checked with my ISP, who says he doesn't provide private WebDAV servers. Maybe I could set up one on my own home network, but it sounds like a lot of work, and could I update that WebDAV server from the road, and most importantly, from the iPhone instead of a Mac running iCal?

Questions and more questions.

OggSync works, too

OggSync also gets a SwampDrain score of +2 for doing what GooSync can do, plus apparently it can also sync one Google Calendar to another. I haven't tried this particular feature, but it's not something I'm likely to use. However, just today "jonboy" was looking for this particular feature, so there you go.

GooSync works

I'm pleased to report my first successful PocketPC-to-Google Calendar sync experience. I'm giving GooSync a SwampDrain score of +2. I'm also finding that when my wife generates an iCal invite I read via Gmail, Gmail provide a simple way to RSVP back to my wife's iCal. I simply click "yes" within the Gmail, and the confirmation somehow finds its way into both my Google Calendar and my desktop Outlook (and then into Pocket Outlook via regular sync), and sends my wife an email she can click on to tell her Mac iCal calendar that I've confirmed. (My Gmail, though, doesn't seem to keep a record of the email message it's sending to her. Is there a way to configure Gmail to show that record?)

Now I'm looking for a service that will sync only a few categories of events from Pocket Outlook to Google Calendar. Not sure if GooSync or its competitors can do this, or if the limitation is in Pocket Outlook itself.

But it's the most progress here at the Swamp in some time!