------- Clearing Up the Confusion E-Zine ------- Vol 1, Issue 8 I'm heading out today on a business retreat. I'll be up in Traverse City through Friday taking some time to work *on* my business instead of working *in* it. When I get back, I've got meetings set up with several clients and a networking event or two to attend. Oh, and there's a birthday or two coming up and, of course, we can't forget Fathers Day! How do I keep track of it all? Why, with one of my favorite Web applications, Google Calendar. More in this week's article. ---------------------------------------------------------------- In This Issue... ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Article: Sunrise, Sunset -- Keeping Track of it All 2. Blog Posts 3. Shameless Self-Promotion 4. The Fine Print ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Article: Sunrise, Sunset -- Keeping Track of it All ---------------------------------------------------------------- We all have our own particular ways of keeping track of doctor appointments, business meetings, and family birthdays. Some like one of the tried and true day planners. Others opt for the ever-popular paper calendar on the wall (usually with images of cute puppies or kittens). Still others go the electronic route and make use of Microsoft Outlook or one of its siblings. Me? I couldn't live without Google Calendar (http://calendar.google.com/). In it, I've found a versatility which matches my lifestyle. Of course, Google Calendar does all that you would expect of a calendaring system. You can easily create events which last a few hours, a day, or a range of days. Nothing particularly new there. You can maintain multiple calendars, breaking down events to fit different areas of your life. Personally I keep about six or seven different ones -- for work, exercise, travel, personal, etc. One of the aspects that works well for my wife, Lisa, and I is the capability to share calendars. We can see each others travel calendars and we have a mutual one to keep track of birthdays for family and friends. I'm sure you can see how this would be helpful for groups of any kind -- business, social or family. Reminders (email and/or text message) for individual events, a tie-in with Gmail (a more-than-capable Web-based email application), connections with Google Maps, a responsive and clean interface -- it's all very nice, but nothing particularly out of the ordinary. So, what's the new cool stuff? Why should you consider switching to Google over any of those other methods? For me, two things really set this system apart. The first is that Google has created an application programming interface (API). What this means is that you can request the contents of your calendar inside another program. Why is this important? Do you have an organization which has a calendar of upcoming events? Your webmaster can set up a feature on your website to retrieve that information from a Google calendar. Once that is in place, you can maintain your calendar without having to know how to program a web page. I just completed such a system for one of my clients, cellochan. You can see the results at http://cellochan.cyberdatasolns.com/events.php (soon to move to http://cellochan.com/events.php). The other brand new feature which really is a kicker for me is that Google finally got the calendar interface working for hand-held devices. If you have a cell phone or a PDA which can access the Internet, you can probably see your Google calendar anywhere and anytime you can get a connection. You can even add new events to the calendar using the same hand-held interface. It's like the old Palm Pilot calendar without the need to synchronize at the end of the day. So, for me anyway, the efficiency and flexibility of Google Calendar has really made it my platform of choice. So, the next time you see me, let's set up a date for coffee. I've got my schedule right in hand. Do you have yours? Copyright 2007, Greg Peters ---------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Blog Posts ---------------------------------------------------------------- Links to posts on the "Clearing Up the Confusion" Blog from the last year: Tuesday, March 06, 2007 -- Catching Up http://clearing-confusion.blogspot.com/2007/03/catching-up.html Thursday, March 08, 2007 -- Toothpaste! http://clearing-confusion.blogspot.com/2007/03/toothpaste.html ---------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Shameless Self-Promotion ---------------------------------------------------------------- The "Clearing Up the Confusion" E-Zine is a production of Greg Peters, owner, chief cook, and bottlewasher of Cyber Data Solutions. CDS has been helping nonprofit and charitable organizations develop their web presence for more than a decade. Visit us on the Web at www.cyberdatasolns.com to see how we can help your organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 4. The Fine Print ---------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: You can subscribe to the "Clearing Up The Confusion" E-zine at: http://mail.cyberdatasolns.com/mailman/listinfo/clearingconfusion_cyberdatasolns.com Questions: If you have any questions, concerns or comments regarding the Clearing Up the Confusion E-zine, please email Greg Peters at: gpeters@cyberdatasolns.com This content may be forwarded in full, with copyright and contact information intact, without specific permission, when used only in a not for-profit format. If any other use is desired, permission in writing from Greg Peters is required, with notification to the original author. We never send the "Clearing Up the Confusion" E-zine uninvited, and we NEVER share, sell or rent our mailing list to anyone. Your privacy is safe with us.