Over-The-Air Google Calendar to iPhone Sync with NuevaSync
In my not-yet-ending quest for a full GTD implementation that spans all of my contexts (@home, @work and in between), I came across a little post by Matt Grommes that introduced me to a fantastic little service called NuevaSync.
NuevaSync (currently in free beta) offers a real, working two-way sync between Google Calendar and iPhone 2.0 firmware, regardless of your desktop platform!
In a perfect world, MobileMe would offer this capability “out of the box,” but alas, no. There are workarounds for Mac users to sync iCal with Google Calendar and then to MobileMe or directly to iPhone via iTunes, but that is (a) a lot of extra opportunity for breakage and (b) requires a Mac. Windows users are out of luck.
There are other solutions and I invite readers to comment with details below or link to their own solutions. I’ll also update this post as appropriate.
I’m not going to go into a lot of detail about NuevaSync “the company.” I will say that their website is pretty straightforward and to the point. Following the directions will get you up and running pretty quickly. I am really excited about my initial experience and am looking forward to watching this little startup grow and succeed.
A few things to you need to consider before setting this up though:
- Back up your calendar data FIRST. I admit that I was simultaneously configuring NuevaSync and Google Calendar Sync for the first time. The combination nearly proved deadly (to my data) when I made a small (very reasonable) error in judgement. Due to the fact that God really had my back, I came through completely unscathed and with all of my data intact. Chances are slim that you will reproduce my experience. But just in case: Back it up.Of course, you know you should maintain regular backups at all time, but let’s face it: most of us don’t get as meticulous about this as we should. However, with a relatively small, beta product such as this, there are plenty of opportunities for something to go wrong. An error at NuevaSync could theoretically drop all of your calendar events (or just one really important one!) in mid-sync. So treat this beta with a healthy dose of respect.
- Push sync is the default set up, but you don’t really need it! To save battery life, change your “sync” setting to manual. Everytime you open the iPhone’s calendar, just wait a few seconds for the latest changes to sync up. You’ll see the “network traffic” animation beside your network indicator to let you know it is working. (Apple doesn’t make this obvious, but it works on my iPhone (v 2.0.1 at the time of this post)).
- NuevaSync will only sync calendars that grant you “write” permission. I subscribe to several read-only calendar feeds (i.e. Meetup.com, US Holidays, etc), and these will not sync via NuevaSync. According to the NuevaSync blog, this ability is coming soon, but there is no definite date attached.
- NuevaSync is a beta product with a small staff. There is no 24
hour support, and their website explicitly states that if a server goes
down while everyone is asleep, they won’t know about it until they wake
up. (I don’t mind, and I appreciate that they told me this up front!)That said, this is not a service for mission-critical calendaring functions. Period.
In the FAQ, NuevaSync makes it very clear that they aren’t quite sure yet how they are going to monetize this thing (probably paid premium services). I get that, and don’t hold it against them. They need to figure it out quickly because this product is, in my opinion, ripe for a Twitter-style viral explosion.
True, they won’t see the volumes of users that Twitter sees, but iPhone isn’t the only mobile platform that NuevaSync supports. Heck, it wasn’t even the first. Over-the-air syncing is not a simple thing to do, even when dealing with one platform. Scaling for large numbers of users complicates matters, and costs lots of money, too.
I frankly hope that they do get that figured out sooner rather than later, because their initial offering, for me at least, is far more useful than Apple’s $99 per year MobileMe service, and I want to see what the future holds for NuevaSync.
In addition to calendar syncing, NuevaSync offers the ability to sync your Google contacts (I wouldn’t even risk trying this: it looks like it may add all of Google’s suggested contacts to your address book!) or your Plaxo contacts (maybe try this…with a backup) over the air.
What NuevaSync doesn’t do is connect your desktop calendar to Google calendar or anything else. You’ll still need another product, such as CalDAV or Google Calendar Sync for that. I’m using Google Calendar Sync with an Exchange-based calendar. After I’ve had another day of smooth operation, I’ll post some thoughts on that as well.
Credit where credit is due: I found NuevaSync via: Matt O’ Rama » iPhone / Google / Outlook Calendar Sync.
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Mobile Blogging Evolves?
It’s here. The WordPress app for iPhone made it to the app store overnight, and at this moment, I imagine thousands of bloggers (real and wannabe, such as yours truly) are preparing their first posts using the app.
I’m going to go out in a limb here and predict that the majority of those posts will be reviews of this very app.
Of course, it has been possible, and even convenient to blog from the iPhone and other mobile devices since the beginning. But does this new application change the landscape drastically?
My guess is, just a little. I can’t see typing a long post out at 20 wpm on the iPhone. But, the clean, usable interface makes it easy to fire off quick posts while out and about, update blogs with breaking news, or even start a post to finish later.
Of course, it only works on iPhone, so there is that. But between the WordPress and Typepad apps, the iPhone is quickly becoming a powerful mobile publishing tool as well as gaming and productivity platform.
I don’t forsee posting from this platform frequently, but time will tell. It is nice to have the option, and my first impression is that the option is nice.
Technorati Tags: iPhone, WordPress, Reviews, App Store
Apple dropping DRM-free track price?
According to ARS Technica, Apple’s DRM-Free library is expanding and will soon have a major price drop, down to 99¢ per track, just like their DRM-encumbered tracks.
At first, I was a little put off by the DRM “free” premium pricing, but I got over it. All the same, I’ll never complain about a price drop! Thanks Amazon! It just goes to show what a little competition can do to benefit the consumer. (Amazon recently launched a competing MP3 store with all DRM-Free music priced well below Apple’s iTunes.
Already, some losers are crying foul. Apparently people have forgotten that prices drop on technology all the time. Now people are actually complaining that prices are dropping too quickly. (Just read the comments here) Get a life, folks.
Will we get refunds on the DRM free price difference? I doubt it. Do I
care? Nope. I agreed to the price I paid. I could have gone over to
Amazon and bought DRM free music for cheaper, but it wasn’t as
CONVENIENT! I pay a premium to Apple because they give me the music I
want, when I think about it, without having to go through extra steps
to get it onto my device. Now that the price is dropping, I’ll just buy more music. (Funny thing is, I’ll probably spend more money in the long run. It’s just psychologically easier for me to click “buy” for 99¢ than it is to click $1.29)
When the iPhone price dropped by $200, I actually bought one. Now that I have one, I have said on many occasions that if I had known how great it was, I would have spent the extra $200 to get it sooner.
Likewise, I have a friend who bought the iPhone the first week. I asked him if he was mad about the price drop. He said “nope. I got mine before you got yours.”
You buy early, you pay more. If the business model survives, prices will come down. It’s part of the product lifecycle. It’s just moving faster with Apple than with most others.
iTunes Plus DRM-free tracks expanding, dropping to 99 cents
Technorati Tags: iPhone, iTunes, DRM, Apple
First Impressions: GrandCentral from Google
A few weeks ago, Google purchased a “little” startup called GrandCentral. I got my beta invite a few days ago and signed up. First Impressions says, “Oh, Yeah.”
At it’s core GrandCentral acts as a centralized phone number and voicemail system. One phone number rings you at home, work and on your cell, simultaneously. When you pick up, at whatever phone you happen to be near, the caller’s name is announced and you can choose to answer or send the call to voicemail (plus a few other options). If that were all, then the service would be worthy of attention, but here are a few more:
- Add up to 6 numbers to your profile
- An online address book (there is an import/export function, but no automated synchronization tool that I can see)
- Group callers in your address book according to 4 different categories: Family, Friends, Work and Other. Each group can be handled differently, routed to different phone combinations (example:Friends never ring at the office, but always ring cell and home)
- Each group gets it’s own voice mail greeting (Professional “Work” and “Other” greeting, fun or playful for “Friends” and “Family.”
- Individual callers can be blocked, routed or handled specially
- Automatic filtering and blocking of phone-spam and telemarketers
- Easy recording of phone calls
- Visual voicemail!
And, did I mention that it’s FREE?
There are many more features than I’ve listed, and I haven’t tried them all out yet, but this is a First Impressions review.
Here’s the downside, so far:
- GrandCentral is a beta product, so not all features are fully loaded and available yet
- Many of the nicer features will ultimately be part of a paid, premium plan. However, GrandCentral does not make it clear exactly which features will remain free, which will be paid, and how much the premium plans will cost. So, be careful what you get addicted to! (To be fair, they do make it clear that unlimited inbound calls, unlimited voicemail and access to core features will always be free. What “constitutes core features” is vague)
And here’s a big potential issue: My calling plan (AT&T Unity) gives me unlimited “free” calling between AT&T numbers everywhere, even on my cell-to-landline calls, and more importantly my cell-from-landline calls. Similarly, most mobile phone carriers offer free mobile-to-mobile minutes on their own networks. So there is a big risk that routing calls through GrandCentral will essentially bypass this feature. The research I’ve done so far indicates that there is hope on this front. I’m running some specific tests today and I’ll report back on my findings.
In a nutshell, GrandCentral looks great, and works as advertised. The service is highly customizable, and there are many more features than what I’ve listed here. Google’s acquisition of the company means the service should be around for a while.
GrandCentral is only available by invitation during the beta period. But each user gets a half dozen invites or so for now, and I’ve got a couple left. So if you’d like to try it out, drop an email to jumbis at jumbis dot com.
Technorati Tags: Reviews, GrandCentral, Technology