tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137225202024-03-13T14:32:45.874-07:00Calendar SwampIf we're ever going to share calendars, we have to insist on interoperability between them all. <br><b>Let's drain the swamp!</b>Scott Macehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01831862884367555570noreply@blogger.comBlogger425125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13722520.post-51466601735645846772024-02-27T20:25:00.000-08:002024-02-27T20:25:53.455-08:00TidyCalThis blog has always been about calendar and schedule sharing, but apparently, Calendly pioneered something called the calendar management and scheduling category. Now there's a Calendly competitor called TidyCal. <a href="https://medium.com/@serprisr/tidycal-review-the-best-calendly-alternative-1eaf837ac250">Here's a review</a>. Free to try, $29 for lifetime access. Advanced stuff requires programming skills, and as always, who knows if the API access included today will always be there. History says it will end someday.Scott Macehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01831862884367555570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13722520.post-22195128191185728932024-02-26T18:52:00.000-08:002024-02-26T18:52:40.379-08:00That calendar-sharing service you use may be harvesting your personal scheduling data for artificial intelligence purposes<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">A
Facebook friend of mine just posted that "Calendly is now data harvesting
for 3rd party IA features. Guess it's time to cancel it."</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Read those privacy policy updates closely folks.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>Scott Macehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01831862884367555570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13722520.post-60030261117358343712024-01-25T15:09:00.000-08:002024-01-25T15:09:44.386-08:00CalDAV remains the standard, but compliance still varies<p>Around the 1:55:00 mark, <a href="https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/865?autostart=false">this week's Windows Weekly podcast</a> hosts discuss CalDAV, but we are reminded that although CalDAV is a standard, complaince various from product to product, and implementation to implemenation, discouraging adoption and use.</p>Scott Macehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01831862884367555570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13722520.post-81227924654939477082024-01-23T17:08:00.000-08:002024-01-23T17:08:49.241-08:00David Mills, R.I.P.I never met David Mills, but like you I've been a beneficiary of his work, which underlies calendar and schedule sharing on the internet, and a whole lot more. Steven J. Vaughn-Nichols <a href="https://thenewstack.io/farewell-to-the-internets-master-timekeeper-david-mills/">just wrote an obituary</a> about David.Scott Macehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01831862884367555570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13722520.post-79670924085852916852024-01-20T18:51:00.000-08:002024-01-20T18:53:07.603-08:00Cupla rates five shared calendar apps for couples - you'll never guess who won<p>I guess it's okay to do this kind of marketing these days. Cupla, which I <a href="https://calendarswamp.blogspot.com/2024/01/a-romantic-shared-calendar-for-ios-and.html">just posted</a> about, <a href="https://cupla.app/blog/the-5-best-shared-calendar-apps-for-couples/">posted a comparison of five different shared calendar apps</a>. Of course, Cupla's own app wins. Your milage might vary. Also, some of these are free AND ad-free. So exactly how do they make money?</p>Scott Macehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01831862884367555570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13722520.post-79778458471232608262024-01-20T18:46:00.000-08:002024-01-20T18:46:08.865-08:00A romantic shared calendar for iOS and Android<p>Romance is in the air - courtesy of a new shared calendar app called <a href="https://www.cupla.app">Cupla</a>, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/tech/personal-tech/technology-for-romance-9b7a81ac">featured in yesterday's Wall Street Journal</a>. It's $2.50 per person per month. I hope their privacy policy keeps it privacy-safe and ad-free. There's a two-week free trial available. No word on a thruple version.</p>Scott Macehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01831862884367555570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13722520.post-2724920732305960532024-01-10T19:01:00.000-08:002024-01-10T19:01:51.484-08:00Long lost and lamented: private, portable calendars<p>Last Sunday's <a href="https://twit.tv/shows/ask-the-tech-guys/episodes/2006">episode of Ask the Tech Guys (#2006)</a> includes an interesting discussion about the fact that most modern mobile calendars have some sort of cloud component. In particular, Windows users have to use cloud-enabled Outlook to sync with the iPhone calendar. The long-gone, long-lamented Palm Pilot arrangement came up. It predates the cloud and the sync between the Palm Desktop and Palm OS never shared your data with data sellers or brokers. The hosts couldn't name a modern equivalent. (Although, if you have a Mac paired with that iPhone, it's cloud-free calendaring, correct? Anyway, check it out starting at the 1:22:51 time stamp.</p>Scott Macehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01831862884367555570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13722520.post-14174405963259832942023-10-15T21:08:00.002-07:002023-10-15T21:08:22.176-07:00A tribute to Dave Thewlis<p>Dave Thewlis retired early this year as executive director of CalConnect, the Calendaring and Scheduling Consortium, on whose board I serve for several years. Back in January, <a href="https://www.calconnect.org/news/2023/01/09/tribute-dave-thewlis">CalConnect wrote a tribute to Dave</a>. I offer my own belated congratulations to Dave for a lifetime of service to the calendaring and scheduling community, which basically includes all of us.</p>Scott Macehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01831862884367555570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13722520.post-55859773246556313222023-10-15T21:04:00.004-07:002023-10-15T21:04:56.633-07:00Tools for time zone managementNo sooner do people start talking about sharing calendars and schedules, then they have to deal with time zones. <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/juggling-time-zones-for-work-these-tools-can-help-4cc2f4c3?st=zazwjr6q4spq8fi&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink">This Wall Street Journal story from February 2023</a> offers some tips.Scott Macehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01831862884367555570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13722520.post-20354654557004122962023-10-14T22:42:00.001-07:002023-10-14T22:42:17.613-07:00Calender privacy 101<p>From February 2023: <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/work-calendar-privacy-49cd3378?st=emz93983sevcx1n&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink">The horror of realizing everyone can see your work celandar entries</a>.</p><p>Yes there are ways to prevent this from happening!</p>Scott Macehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01831862884367555570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13722520.post-66962631651803872632023-09-28T12:25:00.003-07:002023-09-28T12:25:38.219-07:00R,I.P. RiboseCalendar sharing continues to decline outside of Big Tech silos. I just received an email that <a href="https://calendarswamp.blogspot.com/2016/04/q-ronald-tse-founder-of-ribose-co-host.html">Ribose</a> is shutting down on November 1.Scott Macehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01831862884367555570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13722520.post-87601338372788386962023-09-10T16:57:00.004-07:002023-09-10T16:57:55.359-07:00More calendar helper - ad infinitum<p>So email is email and it pretty much works. But calendar and schedule sharing remains something that often requires <a href="https://www.wsj.com/tech/personal-tech/your-schedules-just-got-crazy-again-try-these-tech-tools-6153a3f?st=5jwp6lfc4cq4eri&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink">Buying Something Else</a>.</p>Scott Macehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01831862884367555570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13722520.post-30166698829461849032023-07-11T12:31:00.000-07:002023-07-11T12:31:20.659-07:00Google Calendar - Outlook love<p>I don't use either Google Calendar or Outlook, so I don't care much aboutr this news item from May. But what about you? Is this a breakthrough?<br /><br /><a href="https://9to5google.com/2023/05/15/google-calendar-outlook/">Google Calendar gets improved interoperability with Outlook</a></p>Scott Macehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01831862884367555570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13722520.post-15112856737907546692023-04-24T11:09:00.001-07:002023-04-24T11:09:02.720-07:00iPhone-Android love. But calendaring love?<p>The Wall Street Journal says it's all love between iPhone and Android. But they left out calendaring and scheduling from <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/you-love-iphone-your-partner-loves-android-heres-how-to-make-it-work-11661628006">this August 2022 story</a>. I bet that's still not so lovey-dovey (unless you use Outlook on both, ugh).</p>Scott Macehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01831862884367555570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13722520.post-36652549804138446732023-02-28T21:49:00.000-08:002023-02-28T21:49:12.379-08:00Client-side encryption in Google Calendar<p> Will this impact interoperablity? <a href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/02/google-adds-client-side-encryption-to-gmail-and-calendar-should-you-care/">This story</a> does not say. </p>Scott Macehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01831862884367555570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13722520.post-45459782824104765202023-01-22T17:41:00.001-08:002023-01-22T17:41:47.370-08:00Excuse me!!! Steve Martin suffers with Apple treatment of time zonesWell-known banjo player Steve Martin appeared on Leo Laporte's The Tech Guy radio show on November 19, 2022, where among other things he complained about the way Apple treats time zones in iCalendar. <a href="https://twit.tv/posts/transcripts/tech-guy-episode-1945-transcript">Transcript</a> <a href="https://twit.tv/shows/ask-the-tech-guys/episodes/1945">Podcast</a>Scott Macehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01831862884367555570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13722520.post-33773438289296752742022-12-25T09:19:00.006-08:002022-12-25T09:19:55.290-08:00Calender spam pours into Google Calendar<p><a href="https://www.androidpolice.com/google-calendar-random-events-from-gmail/">Android Police</a> has the story: "Apparently, the crafty integration that lets Google Calendar automatically create events based off of certain hooks in your Gmail messages has gone haywire for a number of users."</p>Scott Macehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01831862884367555570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13722520.post-31541706736635760292022-10-30T11:10:00.002-07:002022-10-30T11:10:34.397-07:00Etiquette of calendar-scheduling services<p>I just came across <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/when-did-picking-a-meeting-time-turn-into-a-power-trip-11644096076?page=1">this February 2022 essay</a> in the Wall Street Journal about the etiquette of calendar scheduling. It's probably true that people care more about how you try to share calendars, rather than just the fact that you can do so.</p>Scott Macehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01831862884367555570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13722520.post-36832687830580951532022-09-08T08:24:00.004-07:002022-09-08T08:24:34.187-07:00Microsoft "solutions" come and go<p>Just another cloudy day in the walled garden.</p><p><a href="https://newssmashers.com/microsoft-may-be-planning-to-discontinue-this-meeting-coordination-service/">Microsoft May Be Planning To Discontinue This Meeting-Coordination Service</a></p><p><br /></p>Scott Macehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01831862884367555570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13722520.post-76962383056262490492022-09-02T09:19:00.004-07:002022-09-02T09:22:14.952-07:00Fixing calendaring for fun and profit -- yet again. We pay the bill.<p>Over on Facebook, Brad Kellmeyer <a href="https://www.facebook.com/brad.kellmayer/posts/pfbid027LwF9kh1XSni1orAtAe1DmzV4wXkPagsJiXDN7j1d4gN1XZdpD8FEfTM9Sx3jrqul?__cft__[0]=AZXFYerWAsyK5s4TkzmXjjdqKztRhy3E88MRn_IebvWAfwOSGG4BJNbC2-MU4qgGdkk6-6yU5VK9JZzHmAI5iSPs16eSS-9EUb3WPEnhRB-DQzJ9zoF8qsfYq--MfDxCqoLOpSNB-7dOlXNDitGUGNhtfzKLsFDlo3uXjLV0AWv6Mw&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R">writes</a>: "Marissa Mayer's venture Smart Contacts is moving into Facebook's first office location. The world’s most advanced, intuitive contact manager. Good vibes? Marissa Mayer built her career at big companies reliant on digital advertising, initially at Google and later as CEO of Yahoo. But in her first startup, Sunshine, Mayer has opted to go in the opposite direction. Sunshine plans to charge consumers for subscriptions to generate revenue for its products, which will start with a contact management app and evolve to include appointment scheduling, event hosting and other apps, she told attendees of The Information’s Future of Startups Conference."</p><p>My comment: We’ve been waiting for scheduling and calendar interoperability for the length of the history of the Internet. Instead, we get this <span class="hsphh064 owmke36a kjdc1dyq ctgv7vl3 m8h3af8h lvuc4oj0 je9skisw tt3ens6q eq5u9d8z" data-testid="emoji" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/t44/1/16/1f4a9.png"); background-size: 16px 16px; cursor: default;"><span class="tbl4rxom k8cr7cgy eusf8shn rl78xhln f7cxi1y6 srn514ro">💩</span></span> again and again.</p><p>Oh and here's <a href="https://www.theinformation.com/articles/marissa-mayers-startup-goes-subscription-route-reflecting-broader-shift-in-tech">the wide-eyed story</a> from the "award-winning journalism" of The Information.</p>Scott Macehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01831862884367555570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13722520.post-44271575256083359412022-04-18T15:53:00.000-07:002022-04-18T15:53:00.045-07:006 Tools to Sync Microsoft Outlook With Google Calendar<p> From November 2021: <a href="https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-sync-microsoft-outlook-with-google-calendar/">6 Tools to Sync Microsoft Outlook With Google Calendar</a>.</p>Scott Macehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01831862884367555570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13722520.post-27854226585780732022021-08-13T08:00:00.003-07:002021-08-13T08:00:23.899-07:00Memo to self: People expect default meeting details are in the siloed calendarA shift happened during the pandemic, and I'm just now realizing it.<div><br /></div><div>Before, if I put my phone number in a Google Calendar invitation, people would expect to call me, or perhaps to have me call them.</div><div><br /></div><div>After, Google Calendar sets up a Google Meet location, and that's where people expect me to be.</div><div><br /></div><div>Between Zoom, MS Teams and Google Meet, my laptop is a mess of siloed meeting spaces.</div><div><br /></div>Scott Macehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01831862884367555570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13722520.post-66785316091684466012021-07-09T10:23:00.001-07:002021-07-09T10:23:20.568-07:00A funny meme that isn't so funny considering the sorry state of calendar and schedule interop<p>I haven't posted here in quite some time, mostly because the sort of calendaring and scheduling interoperability I advocated for in decades past is no closer to happening. The swamp remains full. But this meme hit a nerve for me.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5aBp2EW_ZYksF4Xxjct_HaVOg1JzFaXkfDtg81sXOozFtwb98k_KYE0pVJMwL2S9R1KRsGqKEg03rRLq94oVnDmCs8v6WJzjeN5FjUB_ML2MHB4-2uBqTSM9Or10-OfojkKPF/s540/205926015_10159199507500629_2191352340843740099_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="525" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5aBp2EW_ZYksF4Xxjct_HaVOg1JzFaXkfDtg81sXOozFtwb98k_KYE0pVJMwL2S9R1KRsGqKEg03rRLq94oVnDmCs8v6WJzjeN5FjUB_ML2MHB4-2uBqTSM9Or10-OfojkKPF/s320/205926015_10159199507500629_2191352340843740099_n.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p>If we had accepted and adopted calendaring and scheduling standards that weren't vendor-specific, there's no reason every GPS wouldn't be able to fill in the context at a given destination.<br /><br />When the itch we want to scratch goes on itching for 15 years or more, it descends into memetic farce.</p>Scott Macehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01831862884367555570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13722520.post-73305235398797787062020-10-23T11:05:00.002-07:002020-10-23T11:05:55.910-07:00A Windows 10 calendar interop mystery<p> I've been gradually getting up to speed with Mozilla Thunderbird running on Windows 10, and I've encountered a mystery.</p><p>I received an iCal invite via Thunderbird, and attempted to share it to my Google Calendar by linking my Google account to Windows 10. But when I completed this, the invitation showed up not on my Google Calendar, but instead on the Windows 10 calendar.</p><p>I would have thought that using a Google login would have propagated the meeting to Google's calendars. Am I doing something wrong?</p>Scott Macehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01831862884367555570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13722520.post-36277552283397433852019-03-20T13:53:00.001-07:002019-03-20T13:53:48.557-07:00Microsoft clobbers its own internal calendar interoperabilityAfter a couple of decades, I really can't be surprised by any inaction Microsoft takes on the industry-standard calendar-sharing front, but this latest takes the cake: <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-angers-ex-windows-boss-halting-office-365-sync-on-his-new-iphone-is-crazy/">Not syncing calendar data between Office 365 and a newly-purchased iPhone in a timely fashion</a>, <i>unless </i>the iPhone purchaser first downloads and installs Outlook for iOS.<br />
<br />
Shame on Microsoft. Even Steven Sinovsky, the former president of Windows for Microsoft, is pissed.Scott Macehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01831862884367555570noreply@blogger.com0