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Google Calendar Coming Soon?

mcpastore writes "Blogs have recently been buzzing over the possibility of seeing a Google Calendar popping up soon. Dave bases his prediction on the fact that one of his sites has been getting a tremendous amount of hits from GoogleBot ever since he added the iCal calendar. It makes perfect sense Google would try to go after the calendar market as it is their last big missing piece of the portal puzzle."

313 comments

  1. Doesn't add up to anything by moofdaddy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A google calendar would be nice but I don't know if this guys predictions amounts to anything more then just hearsay. I run a couple of websites and the stat bump that he is basing a lot of his predictions on is probably just because he got a bump in his overall pagerank or perhapse google did a deeper index. The way they work when they index you is they do a initial surface sweep and then come back a few weeks later and hit you for a lot more.

    --
    Be better in bed. Wikiafterdark!
    1. Re:Doesn't add up to anything by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Yeah, this sounds just about as trustworthy as all those predictions that Google would soon be offering VOIP. Remember that? We're still waiting...

      I prefer to go crazy over the products *after* Google has released them. Mmmmm, google maps... *drools*

    2. Re:Doesn't add up to anything by Elwood+P+Dowd · · Score: 1

      Now if there was only a Gsexlife.com, so we (the Slashdot Googel- and Linux-butt-ugly nerds) could have one of those without paying every time.

      It's called Orkut, and it sucks.

      --

      There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
    3. Re:Doesn't add up to anything by pivo · · Score: 4, Informative

      Could be a coincidence, but I just noiticed today that Googlebot has been hammering the calendar section of a site I run, but not the rest of the site.

    4. Re:Doesn't add up to anything by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      mnb 20 comments in one day, for a total of what, +34 karma?
      Not Bad.

    5. Re:Doesn't add up to anything by croddy · · Score: 2, Funny
      A google calendar would be nice but I don't know if this guys predictions amounts to anything more then just hearsay.

      Well, the writeup does say it was "blogs" referring to this. It's obviously not even worth considering.

    6. Re:Doesn't add up to anything by djupedal · · Score: 2, Informative

      Web calendars suck - it's Thursday the 3rd of March where I live...what day is it for you? Still the 2nd? ummmmmm

      Sync with mine when the computer clocks aren't even on the same day? I don't think so. And don't tell me it's just a matter of checking...
      As an example, Palm tried this and failed. For good reason.

    7. Re:Doesn't add up to anything by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't understand what a "Google Calendar" would have to do with web blogs? Calendars already exist. Do they really have to rely on, say, bloggers to know what day Christmas is on and so forth?

    8. Re:Doesn't add up to anything by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      That's why they invented this funny thing called a "time zone"

      You tell the calendar (and your computer needs to know it too, thats how IT knows what time it is) what time zone you're in, and WOW... it can show a different time for you than it does for me.

      Amazing how those things work, isn't it?

    9. Re:Doesn't add up to anything by MichaelSmith · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Googlebot has been hammering the calendar section of a site I run

      Perhaps because that part of the site changes frequently?

    10. Re:Doesn't add up to anything by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      dummass.

    11. Re:Doesn't add up to anything by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Same thing on my site. Google has been killing only the calendar section for the last few months. I figured it was a bug and removed all entries from it hoping it would go away.

      I don't want my calendar of trips, conferences, and vacations easily accessable except to coworkers, family and friends.

      How do you password protect just a portion of a CGI-based website?

    12. Re:Doesn't add up to anything by Imidazole · · Score: 0, Interesting

      Google, and MSN's bots have been hammering my iCal thats online for a /year/ now. Why? Because it's a crazy spidery mess of links and URLS, that it is trying to index - when really, they are dynamically generated content. Jesus... And these bots just dont give up! Think about it... Its spidering todays content, tomorrow, next day... and so on, until our nice little PHPiCal script says "We dont look that far ahead in time" - but guess what? It keeps going on /forever/ This is no proof Google is going to have a calendar feature. Who came up with this dumb idea?

    13. Re:Doesn't add up to anything by TopShelf · · Score: 1

      It's more amazing how often those things don't work. I'm involved in an ERP implementation that covers sites in Europe and the US, but the software doesn't properly handle time zones, even though the documentation says it does.

      This from a company that markets its software around the world to mid-size enterprises ($100 million+).

      --
      Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
    14. Re:Doesn't add up to anything by DigitalDeviation · · Score: 1

      I agree. I could speculate that Starbucks will be offering suits for sale soon, but that means nothing at all without proof...

    15. Re:Doesn't add up to anything by Idealius · · Score: 1

      Yep, same thing happened to mine. Managed to ban it yesterday, though. =)

  2. It's about time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I hear Google plans to add a day to the weekend, and add two months to the year. It's about time someone with a plan rewrote the calendar.

    1. Re:It's about time by ricochet81 · · Score: 1

      I hope they also make 100 seconds to a minute, 100 minutes to an hour etc, or anything really that is _not_ our system.

      --
      Error: Id10t detected
    2. Re:It's about time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thirteen months of twenty-eight days, with just under one and a quarter left over for whatever you like. That kind of calendar makes sense.

    3. Re:It's about time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      geez you, touch the wood! that extra day most certainly would directly go into "workdays" section of my company's calendar, surely not into weekends section. :)

    4. Re:It's about time by uberdave · · Score: 1

      How about 12 months of 30 days with a five day holiday in the middle of summer? I could get behind that one.

    5. Re:It's about time by Takara · · Score: 1
      You mean ike metric time?

      100 seconds in a minute, 100 minutes in an hour, 20 hours in a day, 36 or 37 days a month, 10 months a year.

  3. Too much Google? by ph34r_Hk · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It seems like Google is trying to control every aspect of the internet/computer... Does anyone think that they are trying to do too much?

    1. Re:Too much Google? by peculiarmethod · · Score: 1

      no.

      but go ahead and tell us how not every problem can be fixed by a govt program or a commercial product.

      --
      ** "It's not my job to stand between the people talking to me, and the ones listening to me." -- Pego the Jerk
    2. Re:Too much Google? by derrith · · Score: 5, Funny

      Too Much Google? When I googled google on the state of the google in google, I found that google is googling googlers about the emergence of google as a new paradigm in google's google of googles. This googles google on the google of google, by google. for google, with googles googling googles googled.

      --
      why does the porridge bird lay his eggs in the air?
    3. Re:Too much Google? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      quiet you fool, they're watching!

    4. Re:Too much Google? by puiahappy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      NO ! I think that google is just starting to grow and still have a long way to walk, just think about Yahoo how many features they have ...

      --
      Think like a hacker, act like a hacker, but never become a hacker !
    5. Re:Too much Google? by hammurderer · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I really dont see this as a bad thing. Google is a good company. I like google and gmail its hot. Sp34k l33t

    6. Re:Too much Google? by idlemachine · · Score: 5, Insightful
      It seems like Google is trying to control every aspect of the internet/computer.

      By providing people with free tools that they can choose not to use if they don't want them?

      That doesn't really fit with any definition of "control" that I'm familiar with.

    7. Re:Too much Google? by Reignking · · Score: 1

      I'm smurfing a smurfy Smurf flashback...

      --
      One man's Funny is another man's Offtopic.
    8. Re:Too much Google? by EMH_Mark3 · · Score: 1

      Woah! Google is the new Smurf! And orange is the new pink!

      --
      Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me
    9. Re:Too much Google? by Spoing · · Score: 2, Funny
      1. Too Much Google? When I googled google on the state of the google in google, I found that google is googling googlers about the emergence of google as a new paradigm in google's google of googles. This googles google on the google of google, by google. for google, with googles googling googles googled.

      Say smurf and I'll smack you.

      --
      A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.
    10. Re:Too much Google? by IUSR · · Score: 1

      Oops, it recalls me the famous "we know we know, we don't know we don't know..."

      --
      "Houston, we have a problem."
    11. Re:Too much Google? by Sheepdot · · Score: 1

      You sound like a Yahoo.

    12. Re:Too much Google? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Malkovich?

    13. Re:Too much Google? by SpookyFish · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Hm, no, not really. They already have gmail, and calendering is already tied into mail all over the place.

      Calendar doesn't surprise me a bit, nor will a follow-up that blends them tightly with an offering for (also common) small-business internal messaging packages.

      Google's whole thing has been to take supposedly "tired" technologies and, oh god, "embrace and extend" them. So long as they keep doing it better (and without Microsoft's evilness), that's ok.

    14. Re:Too much Google? by SpaceLifeForm · · Score: 1
      No, not if your plan is to be bought out by MS and get stinking rich.

      --
      You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
    15. Re:Too much Google? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just like you can choose not to use Microsoft Word - and tell your business clients "Sorry, I chose not to be able to read the critical document you sent me."

    16. Re:Too much Google? by damiam · · Score: 1
      By providing people with free tools that they can choose not to use if they don't want them?

      You mean like MS provides IE?

      /devil's advocate :-)

      --
      It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.
    17. Re:Too much Google? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just buy Adobe Acrobat :-P

    18. Re:Too much Google? by glimmy · · Score: 1

      Yahoo has more features than google, googles are just better

    19. Re:Too much Google? by idlemachine · · Score: 1

      Well, one is opt-in and the other opt-out...and I'm sorry, but I'm always going to be in favour of the former :)

    20. Re:Too much Google? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That line of logic was actually okay - but it could simply have been summed up with "there are some unknowns that we are attempting to prepare for. This might not be adequate".

      Hell, even "there are some unknown factors" would have sufficed.

      I suppose the speechwriter for the day was being paid by the word.

    21. Re:Too much Google? by BlueHands · · Score: 1

      As the other posts suggested "control" has far more subtle aspects then just commandments issue from on high. The best control is when you get people to WANT to do things your way. The velvet glove that covers the iron fist.

      --
      I mod everyone down who says "I'll get modded down for this." I hate to disappoint.
    22. Re:Too much Google? by slashrogue · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I'm still waiting for a google homepage where I can log in and check my gmail, post to my blogspot blog, check my orkut account, etc. all with one login and hopefully a nice UI like we've come to expect from google. All this other stuff is nice but I want it all in one place.

    23. Re:Too much Google? by idlemachine · · Score: 1
      "The best control is when you get people to WANT to do things your way."

      And how does this differ from, say, convincing people that your way is the better option?

    24. Re:Too much Google? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Too Much Google? When I googled google on the state of the google in google, I found that google is googling googlers about the emergence of google as a new paradigm in google's google of googles. This googles google on the google of google, by google. for google, with googles googling googles googled.

      My eyes goggled at that.

    25. Re:Too much Google? by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      Because they don't actually have a choice. If, for whatever reason, your way stops being the better option, they're screwed.

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    26. Re:Too much Google? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's because we fall for free stuff, with the excuse that you can always leave if you want.

      But will you ever, actually, leave? Until then, they own your ass and the 50 asses you invited over. To me, that's control.

    27. Re:Too much Google? by Concerned+Onlooker · · Score: 1
      why does the porridge bird lay his eggs in the air?

      Read me, Dr. Memory?

      --
      http://www.rootstrikers.org/
    28. Re:Too much Google? by Feanturi · · Score: 1

      Yawho?

    29. Re:Too much Google? by WoodieR · · Score: 1

      it won't be long before they know more about you than YOU care to remember, (or want anyone to remember) by providing you with "indispensible" tools ... including your likes/dislikes, favourite foods, allergies, reading materials, associates, organizations, favourite haunts, fetishes/kinks, what you buy and from where, and change the advertisers they LET you see, medicals / dentals, families, criminal or shady background?, pass a security clearance ? day to day activities, driving and accident histories, insurances, hobbies, credit and financials, etc... Stop and think about these things for a moment ... how much of this do they not already have and are surreptitiously using to manipulate what you see and do, how long before it becomes 1984 but with the corporations in control ? Is this brave new world better because you can trust corporations more than the chinese government with your inner most secrets ?

      --
      Question Authority before IT questions You ...
    30. Re:Too much Google? by idlemachine · · Score: 1
      Step one: lay down the crack pipe.
      Step two: stop watching the fucking Matrix.

      Don't want Google knowing about your fetishes? Don't use any of their products which might take notice of such things. They're providing web services, for chrissake, not requiring you to wear the Mark of the Beast to do business...

      There are serious issues that need to be addressed, yes. But they need to be discussed with something other than shrill paranoia.

    31. Re:Too much Google? by CastrTroy · · Score: 1

      But then google would end up looking like Yahoo. Which is what we all fear. I like google the way it is now. Nice and simple. Keep the different tools in different places.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    32. Re:Too much Google? by Tim+C · · Score: 1

      Well, Word is opt-in, except that everyone uses it, and so I have to use it too.

      One day, the same may be true of google's services...

    33. Re:Too much Google? by idlemachine · · Score: 1

      Yes, and one day I might be God Emperor, but do you really think that's something worth worrying about right now?

    34. Re:Too much Google? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      probably he was discussing it for the sheer fun of discussion.

  4. speaking of portals... by aendeuryu · · Score: 1

    When are they actually going to do a portal page?

    I don't know if I'll switch off my.yahoo just yet because of the services that it has built in and the amount of traffic my email gets, but conceivably it makes a lot of sense for them to do this.

    1. Re:speaking of portals... by moofdaddy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The whole idea of google is against portals They are minimalists, they would think that a portal is silly, that google.com is as much of a portal as you need.

      --
      Be better in bed. Wikiafterdark!
    2. Re:speaking of portals... by generic-man · · Score: 2, Insightful

      More and more of Google is benefiting from registration. Google Answers requires that you register to create a question or answer one. Google Groups BETA lets you add groups to My Groups and post. GMail BETA, of course, requires a login to use. Froogle BETA lets you add products to "My Shopping List."

      About the only product Google has that doesn't benefit from registration (but should) is Google News BETA. I would use it a lot more often if I could customize the types of stories I want to see more or less frequently -- like Yahoo News lets me do.

      Portals are not a bad thing. My Yahoo is my home page and it works great for everything I use it for: news, stock quotes, weather, sports, and a few RSS feeds from other sites including Slashdot.

      --
      For more information, click here.
    3. Re:speaking of portals... by tomhudson · · Score: 1
      If you want a portal page, there's no reason you can't write up your own one on your local machine with links to the respective google services you would like to see grouped in one place.

      Heck, you could even integrate google, yahoo, and the evil empire if that floats your boat.

      You could even email it to your gmail account, and have it accessable anywhere you have a net connection.

    4. Re:speaking of portals... by B3ryllium · · Score: 1

      That's no portal -- it's a space station!

    5. Re:speaking of portals... by xobes · · Score: 1

      icky. just plain icky.

      --
      - AZ
    6. Re:speaking of portals... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He probably lacks the time, interest, and skill to do it as effectively as Yahoo or Google.

    7. Re:speaking of portals... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      http://www.google.com/options/index.html

      Looks like a portal to me. All they have to do is slap some ads on the left side.

    8. Re:speaking of portals... by trekstar25 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Google News BETA does benefit from registration - you can create News Alerts that let you know whenever a topic you choose pops up in the news.

    9. Re:speaking of portals... by generic-man · · Score: 1

      That's true, but the page itself cannot be customized at all. For example, I would like to customize Google News BETA's sports section to include only those teams that I'm interested in. Some of our more elitist Slashdot readers may want to exclude sports entirely and add more tech news to their page. Google has effectively sat on its news site for years now, whereas Yahoo!'s news page has been much more customizable for the same period of time.

      Some people claim that Google News is BETA because it can't have any ads. I prefer to think of it as BETA because Google hasn't done jack shit to improve it in years.

      --
      For more information, click here.
    10. Re:speaking of portals... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All of this could come together nicely.

      I add a friends birthday to Google calendar, and I get an e-mail a week before reminding me of the approaching day, so I search Froogle for gift ideas. I find what I want, but I dont have a clue where to buy it. Google local and google maps combine to give me directions to the nearest store to get my gift.

  5. Google! by bryan8m · · Score: 0

    If Google were to create a calander for me, I think I might actually use it! How cool would that be?

    1. Re:Google! by SpaceLifeForm · · Score: 1
      If *you* used it, well, not *that* cool.

      Here's a free calendar program you may want to check out.

      --
      You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
  6. Wouldn't it be great if... by elid · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ...they could integrate it with gmail?

    1. Re:Wouldn't it be great if... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Um...duh?

    2. Re:Wouldn't it be great if... by Jussi+K.+Kojootti · · Score: 1

      Yeah, and it could have a web browser too!

  7. Ads by fembots · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So when your, or someone else's birthday's coming, you might see more gift-related ads?

    1. Re:Ads by pedantic+bore · · Score: 2, Funny
      ... you might see more gift-related ads?

      Sort of... I think you accidently left a "might" in there. And I'm not sure about the "gift-related" part either.

      --
      Am I part of the core demographic for Swedish Fish?
    2. Re:Ads by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Who cares?

      1) Ads finance most of the sites we like.
      2) Ad blockers are very prevalent and generally work well, but occasionally screw up page formatting.

      I'm glad someone's at least trying to make them relevant. I mean, I've actually clicked on a couple google ads on people's blogs, but I've never, ever clicked through any ad from anywhere else. I would love to not have to use any adblocking.
      Now, I'm just not the kind of person you want to advertise to, since I am actually less likely to buy something the more I see it advertised, but if the right thing comes up at the right time, I welcome it. Provided the targeting isn't based on mining a database of all my personal information, of course.

    3. Re:Ads by David+Horn · · Score: 1

      Think about it. The ads would work pretty well in a Calendar.

      "Mum's birthday" - links to flowers etc.
      "Get car fixed" - car ads
      "Email Steve" - 'Have you tried Gmail yet?'

      A calendar would be nice - I'd like to be able to pull up my schedule over the net if need be.

      --
      PocketGamer.org - For the gamer on the go!
    4. Re:Ads by gfreeman · · Score: 1

      So if you want less browser spam, have fewer friends!

      Man, /.ers win again.

      --
      Ceci n'est pas un sig.
  8. Greetings by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Hello, I'm Googlebot.

    I recently discovered your post criticizing Google on Slashdot, and I am here to help you. You are now banned from the internet. Thank you for your past usage, and we hope to welcome you back in the future when you've accepted Google into your life.

  9. Anything's possible... by xAXISx · · Score: 0

    Daily Google Employee Morning Regiment - Wake up - Breakfast - Conquer The Internet Calender Market - Think what to conquer tomorrow - Lunch

  10. I don't buy it by moofdaddy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A calendar seems pretty clearly not to be in google's long term strategy. Everything they do they do because they can using their searching technology to make the way things are done even better. Be it email with searches, almost all the projects in google labs, etc. Search functions don't really fit all that well into a calendar, at least nothing that is goign to be improved by their algorithms.

    Second the whole calendar thing has been kind of done to death already. Outlook does a pretty decent job on the PC and iCal does an amazing job on the mac. When Google moved into email they did so because the current web based emails sucked, there was major room for imporvement. There really ins't much else you can do with the calendar.

    In the end it really just doesn't make sense.

    --
    Be better in bed. Wikiafterdark!
    1. Re:I don't buy it by rekenner · · Score: 1

      Not to mention Mozilla Sunbird for the OSS and Linux crowd.
      http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/sunbird.h tml

    2. Re:I don't buy it by Statecraftsman · · Score: 5, Insightful
      I disagree with the idea that there's not much more to be done with calendars. If they could just port over that scrolling effect of maps to multiple calendar day views I'd use it...they can even keep it beta forever, I don't mind.

      One of the main benefits of their apps is that they are accessible from anywhere...only a modest improvement is needed to make people switch and they are clearly trying to innovate.

    3. Re:I don't buy it by galaga79 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Second the whole calendar thing has been kind of done to death already. Outlook does a pretty decent job on the PC and iCal does an amazing job on the mac.

      If Google did produce a web based calendar service, it would augment the capabilites of iCal on the Mac not replace it. As far as I am aware iCal lets you upload your calendars to the web, and view them online but I don't think you can change them online. If Google Calendar existed then you could update your calendar using just a web browser, and then keep it up to date on your desktop using an iCal remote subscription.

      The whole iCal file format is very cool, and no where used to its full potential. Sunbird uses it too.

    4. Re:I don't buy it by supmylO · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I don't know if I buy the whole "there really isn't much else you can do with the calendar" thing. Looking back on what google has done for searching and web based e-mail it seems so OBVIOUS there was major room to improve, but no one had done it. These guys see things in a different way and make improvements that no one else saw before them. Sure, nothing you can imagine can be added to a calendar, but I'm not so sure that they can't think something up.

    5. Re:I don't buy it by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      neither outlook or ical are really web based, though? it would make sense if they made it to be a web enabled calendar.

      however.. i think this guys reasoning is bogus, just because he gets more hits from googlebot doesn't mean zilch. but a calendar add-on to gmail would fit in very well.

      seriously though, google has no long term strategy. if you look at them as whole you'd see it. they're just another company now looking for a buck, do evil or not.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    6. Re:I don't buy it by larkost · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I think there is some real room for Google to offer a new service, or rather to provide a high-profile better-interfaced offering just like they did with gmail. Namely I could see them offering WebDAV-based iCal (the format) hosting with a web interface. That way people using Apple's iCal and Mozilla's calendaring applications would have a place to publish their calendars to...

      Apple does this with .Mac, so there is precedent, but there is a lot of room for improvements. And google can be a lot higher profile than .Mac. And with iCal rumored to have bi-directional syncing in 10.4 and Sunbird's ability to do some of that, the time is just about ripe for this type of service.

      There is the little problem of how to make it pay for itself, but google seems to be very creative about how to use this sort of information for marketing purposes, and if they allowed people to link in commercial calendars (for example your favorite TV programs new shows, or the local rock climbing club, etc...) I could see this being a very viable advertising targeting tool.

    7. Re:I don't buy it by Elwood+P+Dowd · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Are you kidding? Outlook does a poor job on the PC, and iCal does a passing job on the Mac, but neither of them sync with each other and neither of them are web based. Hell, you should be able to syndicate a calendar with RSS feeds.

      If their calendar works as well as iCal, but brings it to the rest of the planet, that would be a complete coup.

      I hope you're trolling. Sure, I don't see that it's the most groundbreaking thing Google will ever do, but you're crazy if you don't think they have a team or three working on calendar solutions. They have a lot of people.

      --

      There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
    8. Re:I don't buy it by SirGeek · · Score: 2, Informative
      neither outlook or ical are really web based, though? it would make sense if they made it to be a web enabled calendar.

      There IS a web based version of Outlook. It requres your site to run IIS on their mail server. It uses the same username/password as the mail server uses for outlook.

    9. Re:I don't buy it by netik · · Score: 3, Informative

      You should.

      The real killer app here is one that fixes all of the synchronization issues between these disparate formats (say, with SyncML) and then uses some sort of social networking system (like tribe or myspace) to tie it all together.

      Companies had a first shot at this (WHEN.COM for example) but blew it because they went after profits instead of real innovation (or in when's case, got bought out by AOL.)

    10. Re:I don't buy it by Shadow99_1 · · Score: 1

      I've already run into a situation with Sunbird where I wish it was easy to 'upload' a calander and share it with others... Namely I'm part of a convention project and keeping us all in sync can be a giant pain in the ass... Subird does support remote calanders, but I can't seem to quite get it to work the way we'd like... Namely the group lead isn't the technical one and so if I set it up she can't seem to add important events...

      I'd love to se a google solution to this...

      --
      we are all invisible unless we choose otherwise
    11. Re:I don't buy it by Alien+Being · · Score: 1

      "A calendar seems pretty clearly not to be in google's long term strategy."

      Inasumuch as it can cover the "when" part of any information, it fits right in. Think about being able to type in a few search terms and construct a timeline of relevant events.

      How about combining it with their new mapping software and being able to scroll through the time dimension to see when and where things are happening?

    12. Re:I don't buy it by obsol33t · · Score: 1

      BTW: I do not recommend Google maps for driving directions yet. Earlier today I needed directions to a store so I used Google maps somehow forgetting that it is in its infancy. About halfway through the directions I realized that I was being instructed to continue on a road that had ended. I cursed a bunch, turned around, and got perfect directions from Yahoo! maps. I'm not bashing Google maps, it was my fault, but frustrating nonetheless.

    13. Re:I don't buy it by ozmanjusri · · Score: 2, Interesting

      There really ins't much else you can do with the calendar.

      There may not be much more that you can do with a calendar, but there are plenty of us out here who'd like a lot more. A calendar which indexed all events in an area and made them available for searches like

      "On Wednesday night I want a Korean barbecue meal at starting at 7:30, followed by [name of movie], then live funk music until 1am, then tapas bar for an hour or two, then karaoke till dawn and catch a train home when everyone else is going to work"

      ...and which would then find the events I wanted, put them into my schedule and give me an optimized map showing how to get to each location, would suit my lifestyle right down to the ground.

      --
      "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
    14. Re:I don't buy it by kurosawdust · · Score: 1
      Absolutely
      • integration with gmail
      • publishable to world or certain contacts (a la google groups)
      • calendars accessible from anywhere
      • plenty of reliable storage space (not too much chance your google calendar is going to get wiped out)
      • toolbar integration (button to add a new item to your to-do list whose text is the URL of the current page, perhaps?)
      • specially-targeted google textads based on the items in your calendar/to-do list (gotta pay the bills)
      • integration with blogger
      So yeah - there are a few things they could do with the web calendar idea :). Please note that I personally have no idea whether or not google is actually going to attempt this - I'm just saying that if they did, there'd certainly be things they could improve upon (and it'd be interesting to see how they handle the primary disadvantage that web calendars have compared to end-user calendar programs, the alarm feature, since an alarm is infinitely more useful as a "push" transaction ["GET OFF YOUR LAZY ASS AND SELL SOME WICKER!"], but the web can only allow you to "pull", which requires you to remember to check your calendar on a regular basis throughout the day, which sort of defeats the purpose for people with Nintento-induced ADD like many of us). What was I saying? Ah yes. CHECK OUT THAT HOT CHICK WITH THE BOOBS!
    15. Re:I don't buy it by anderiv · · Score: 3, Informative

      Are you kidding? Outlook does a poor job on the PC

      Are you kidding? Sure, it seems like Outlook-bashing is a fun thing to do, but lets be honest here. Perhaps the *only* reason outlook/exchange is entrenched in corporate IT is because of their superior calendaring.

      ...and neither of them are web based.

      Have you heard of Outlook Web Access? Sure, you need IE to get the most out of it, but barring that requirement, it's the single best web calendar I've seen to date.

    16. Re:I don't buy it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      1) Exchange (as someone else pointed out) IS web based, or at least OWA is.

      2) GroupCal, from Snerdware, will synchronize iCal with Exchange, both ways.

    17. Re:I don't buy it by AaronBrethorst · · Score: 1

      IE may be necessary to make the most of it, but I just checked my work email and calendar for tomorrow through OWA before opening Slashdot... all in Safari. In any case, I'd be totally screwed without Outlook; there's no way I'd be able to manage my calendar or my life without it anymore.

      --
      No, but I used to work for Microsoft.
    18. Re:I don't buy it by 16K+Ram+Pack · · Score: 1
      I give you one thing, Google's mission statement:-

      Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.

      An excellent web-based calendar fits in perfectly with that. I can get my calendar from anywhere at anytime? Great. Maybe I could share my calendar with a buddy regardless of what PC he uses. Maybe the calendar could optionally SMS my cellphone just before an appointment. Perhaps it could integrate with Gmail, so that if a vCard arrives, it gets added.

      I think Google are exceptionally smart. They realise that the future is managed information. Not having to be your own sysadmin for your PC, but letting someone else do the job.

      There's another side-effect. One common complaint I hear about not switching to OpenOffice.org is that people still need Outlook. Let's say there's a web based replacement. Bang! people start switching. That means less Microsoft revenue, which means less Microsoft investment.

    19. Re:I don't buy it by WoodieR · · Score: 1

      isn't there an open source calendar in the works - primitive but functioning? and if this continues to improve would this not be a viable alternative ? why do we need google or anycorp to do this for us?

      --
      Question Authority before IT questions You ...
    20. Re:I don't buy it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're confusing Outlook with Exchange. Outlook is the client. It's Exchange that is web enabled.

      Anyway GroupWise blew Exchange away for years. Every option that Exchange's calendar system had, GroupWise had first. It's always funny when MS "innovates" and the drooling masses lap it up as new.

    21. Re:I don't buy it by truespin · · Score: 0

      You *do* know you can upload/subscribe to iCal calendars on the web don't you..? Not to mention web access for Outlook...

    22. Re:I don't buy it by Vacindak · · Score: 1

      Funny you should mention that, because I'm working on writing my own social networking app right now that's focussed on a web of trust and pulling in external information and acting as the glue between all of the interesting services and standards on the net (Flickr, iCal, FOAF, vCard, RSS/Atom, Audioscrobbler/Last.fm, etc.) It's getting written with Ruby on Rails at the moment, though I might be reluctantly forced to move to something else for performance reasons.

      While it's far from ready to actually show off, it's coming along at a fairly rapid pace (mostly because of Rails). Anyhow.

      The only thing is that I'm not trying to deal with the sync problem, I'm just reading in the file and displaying it as appropriate. I'm trying very hard to have my system rely entirely on external resources, partly for storage reasons, partly to avoid lock-in. Only exceptions are obviously the cache and the database itself.

      Theoretically though, if someone actually does solve the sync issue elegantly, they also solve the sync problem for me, since I'll just choose to pull the exported file from them by default.

    23. Re:I don't buy it by NardofDoom · · Score: 1

      iCal syncs just fine, if you have a .Mac subscription. Of course, you can also share calendars using WebDAV, which isn't hard to set up on OS X. iSync keeps everything synchronized between my Mac, iPod and cell phone.

      --
      You have two hands and one brain, so always code twice as much as you think!
    24. Re:I don't buy it by Elwood+P+Dowd · · Score: 1

      Perhaps the *only* reason outlook/exchange is entrenched in corporate IT is because of their superior calendaring.

      And with all their "groupware" features, you can't have a shared calendar that's overlaid on other people's calendars. Calendars have to be viewed separately. Calendars can't be published. I certainly agree that it's the best calendar system I've seen on the PC, but I still think it's bad.

      Have you heard of Outlook Web Access?

      OWA is Exchange, not Outlook, and it requires your own IT department to set it up. There is no OWA site where you can sign up and get free calendaring. Non corporate users have no access to OWA.

      --

      There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
  11. Google on the brain by Icarus1919 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I love Google as much as the next person; I use it almost exclusively to search for pages. However, it seems to me some fanboys won't be happy until we're eating Google brand noodles out of Googlebrand dishware wearing Google brand clothing and then we buy Google brand detergent to get the Googdles stain off of my new Google shirt.

    1. Re:Google on the brain by technos · · Score: 3, Funny

      some fanboys won't be happy until we're eating Google brand noodles

      With the general education level of the folks that work at Google, I'm guessing they have like 8000 man years experience in Ramen. Google Brand Instant Ramen(R) would own the market once they get it to that $0.10/package price point most college students base their food budget on.

      --
      .sig: Now legally binding!
    2. Re:Google on the brain by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have a Google t-shirt already!

      it says "I'm feeling lucky" on the back.

      This is bad, because my cat's name just happens to be Lucky :S

    3. Re:Google on the brain by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      -1 Mixing Google and Virgin.

    4. Re:Google on the brain by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Goodles!

    5. Re:Google on the brain by jsdkl · · Score: 1

      Gnoodles!

    6. Re:Google on the brain by Cracell · · Score: 1

      btw we are holding a revolution in America next week to make google our new government. Care to join?

      --
      Signatures are so 90s
    7. Re:Google on the brain by StikyPad · · Score: 3, Funny

      If they were smart, they'd make Google beer at $.10 a can so college students can afford food.

    8. Re:Google on the brain by Cedric+C.+Girouard · · Score: 4, Funny
      I love Google as much as the next person; I use it almost exclusively to search for pages. However, it seems to me some fanboys won't be happy until we're eating Google brand noodles out of Googlebrand dishware wearing Google brand clothing and then we buy Google brand detergent to get the Googdles stain off of my new Google shirt.


      I would just _love_ to be able to purchase Google shirts...

      Shirt with a "Search" button printed in front, and a pair of pants with the "I feel lucky" one.

      Marketing opportunity here...

      --

      Marriage is considered capital punishment for the theft of a goat in some third world countries...

    9. Re:Google on the brain by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not funny, nigger.

    10. Re:Google on the brain by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      www.googlestore.com

    11. Re:Google on the brain by boingyzain · · Score: 1, Funny

      and then we buy Google brand detergent to get the Googdles stain off of my new Google shirt.

      Oh god, you got stains on your Google shirt? I'm so sorry :(

    12. Re:Google on the brain by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      GNU/dles?

    13. Re:Google on the brain by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not google per se, but how completely they seem to nail the whole web application space: I really do want to access my information anywhere, who'd have thunk it ? So I'm impressed with google and would really love a gCal integrated with gMail. The side effect of setting the OS argument to NULL is a bonus.

    14. Re:Google on the brain by Talez · · Score: 1

      Personally I wouldn't mind because I know the Google noddles wouldn't taste like shit, the googlebrand dishware wouldn't let dirt and grease cake into it, the google brand clothing wouldn't rip or tear, the detergent would get perfect results every time with no streaking using only the tiniest drop.

    15. Re:Google on the brain by Cracell · · Score: 1

      I don't think they have quite what you're looking for, but some nice things here http://www.googlestore.com/category.asp?catid=5

      --
      Signatures are so 90s
    16. Re:Google on the brain by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you were smart you'ld reliese that this would just result in more beer being drunk, not food being bought.

      (I'm not smart enough to know how to spel to gode, too much beer perchance?)

    17. Re:Google on the brain by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      No, no, no! They won't be Google until until we're Googling Google brand Googles out of Google brand Google Googling Google brand Googles and then we Google Google brand Google to get the Googles Google of my new Google Google.

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    18. Re:Google on the brain by LazloTheDog · · Score: 1
      mmmm, Google Beer.

      JM

      --
      Oink, Oink!!
    19. Re:Google on the brain by vidarlo · · Score: 2, Informative
      I would just _love_ to be able to purchase Google shirts... Shirt with a "Search" button printed in front, and a pair of pants with the "I feel lucky" one. Marketing opportunity here...

      Seems like they already caught the opportunity...

    20. Re:Google on the brain by WoodieR · · Score: 1

      I use metacrawler - search the search engines - including, but better than google ...

      --
      Question Authority before IT questions You ...
    21. Re:Google on the brain by Lockz · · Score: 1

      Only if I get to vote for the Google party!

      --
      Life is the sport of champions. Those who lose, die.
  12. My number one design consideration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Will the calendar have good pictures for each month?

  13. A Reflection by thesupermikey · · Score: 2, Interesting

    When Yahoo and Excite tried to do this years ago everyone made fun of them. Now it seems that if google does it - its cool - Google can do no wrong. I love Gmail and good...dont get me wrong.

    The good thing is that as good as added tons of new stuff over years the front page has not been jammed full of adds and paid links.

    --
    Mikey
    I've always been the kinda guy to fall for the girl dressed like an eskimo.
    1. Re:A Reflection by MattJakel · · Score: 1

      The good thing is that as good as added tons of new stuff over years the front page has not been jammed full of adds and paid links.

      Well when they've got an ad network as large as they do, they make enough money that they don't have to worry about cluttering their own pages with too many ads. Besides, Google's simple interface is probably the main appeal for the majority of their users.

  14. Why so little publicity? by MattJakel · · Score: 1

    Google is providing all of these services, but only nerds know about them. When is Google going to start marketing for the average computer user in an effort to make all of their services as popular as their search engine? Are they waiting until they can offer a full portal with everything you could possibly want in your own Google homepage?

    1. Re:Why so little publicity? by elid · · Score: 1

      At DigitalLife in NYC this past year, Google had a large colorful booth where they tried to familiarize visitors with all of their different services. They gave out cards that you could get stamped if you tried out a service at the booth, and if you got enough stamps, you get a hat/t-shirt/whatever.

    2. Re:Why so little publicity? by MattJakel · · Score: 1

      But, based on assumptions about those who probably attended DigitalLife, that's still only marketing to nerds. Which brings to mind another interesting question: How can Google market their services to the average consumer? I suppose they could advertise for them on their homepage, but they probably wouldn't want to clutter that up since its simplicity is probably one of the reasons that Google became so popular with average computer users.

    3. Re:Why so little publicity? by tardigrades · · Score: 1

      Alot of what they have is beta. geeks understand when something beta doesnt work right. Also if they were to publicize themselves i think people would turn away from them (like yahoo etc). Theyre worth billions all off of word-of-mouth. I really dontthink they need to advertise.

      --
      really bored? My blog
    4. Re:Why so little publicity? by fricker · · Score: 1

      It looks to me like Google is creating isolated portlets and portlet APIs (search, mail, calendar, etc.) leaving the portal integration and UI issues for the greater developer community to resolve. Google appears to be currently helping out Mozilla with Firefox and client side infrastructure. I would be interested to see Google do likewise on the server side and invest some money and resources into a standard open source portal solution like the Apache Portals Project; Pluto, JetSpeed-2, and WSRP-J.

  15. I must admit... by ObsessiveMathsFreak · · Score: 0

    ...Google is beginning to scare me.

    I mean at first I'm like, yeah great search guys. Then they got groups, that's fine... then maps... gmail... froogle... and now calenders.
    What's next a Desktop search tool?

    Oh wait....

    --
    May the Maths Be with you!
    1. Re:I must admit... by Sandman1971 · · Score: 1

      You might laugh, but the Google Desktop search is a godsend. With my job, I have gigs upon gigs upon gigs of emails and documents. The Google Desktop Search has simplified searching for pertinent info a million times better.

      --
      It's better to burn out than to fade away
    2. Re:I must admit... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      well let's think about it. they know who we talk to and what we talk about through gmail. they know what we're interested in through web searches. they know what's on our computers through google desktop. they know where we're planning on going through google map and now they are going to know where and when we are at all possible times. scarey is right!

    3. Re:I must admit... by man_ls · · Score: 1

      Have they isolated it per-user yet?

      I'd install it, but I have another user of my machine, who I don't want to have the ability to index *my* documents.

  16. Google Tracks People's Searches by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now I don't mean this in any sort of sinister or evil way. They just track searches. It makes one realize, though, given the incredible number of searches people use google for, google know what people want and then it copies or absorbs those ideas into new products by google.

    Just think of the power google has to know what people want and then give it to them, I just hope smaller independant groups and businesses can compete successfully without all that user tracking ability.

  17. Cool by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I hope it comes out by the 4th of Guly.

  18. Interesting, but... why? by mblase · · Score: 2, Funny

    Assuming Google is developing a kind of search tool to index and organize all the public internet calendars in the world, who would want to use it?

    I mean, say I load it up and search for "March 3, 2005". I'll probably get a couple of obscure religious and national holidays, then a few zillion pages of entries like "Math class @ 10:00 AM" and "Meeting with union 3-4PM" and "Don't forget the recycling bin!"

    Well, that was useful. Nice to know how many people with calendaring software have math classes this morning; I'd never have found it if it weren't for you, Google!

    1. Re:Interesting, but... why? by illuin · · Score: 3, Interesting

      You make a good point, but don't forget that Google has Orkut, too. If there was a way to leverage your social network to determine which calendars are actually relevant to you -- well, that could be pretty sweet!

  19. Could be useful by teslatug · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It'd be nice if they really integrated it into gmail. Yahoo already has such a feature, and it's not horrible, but I'm sure gCal could be much better.

    1. Re:Could be useful by someguy456 · · Score: 1
      but I'm sure gCal could be much better.

      gCal? hold on, that name is so formulaic is might already exist...

      BINGO!: "Gcal is a program for calculating and printing calendar" from none other than GNU!

      I was hoping it would be a GNOME/GTK Calendar, but whatever...

    2. Re:Could be useful by tcopeland · · Score: 1

      > I was hoping it would be a GNOME/GTK Calendar

      Evolution has a nice calendar interface, and the API is pretty good, too.

      I'm working on a Ruby binding for it and it's straightforward as long as you're familiar with the Gnome coding conventions.

    3. Re:Could be useful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why Ruby not Python?

    4. Re:Could be useful by Singletoned · · Score: 1
      "I'm sure gCal could be much better"

      gCal? I was kind of hoping they'd call it gooCal.

    5. Re:Could be useful by sootman · · Score: 1

      Yahoo also lets you click on a TV show in its listings (tv.yahoo.com) and add it to your calendar. (and their TV listings kick ass, too, with searches and whatnot.) I used it heavily for about six months--right up until I got a TiVo.

      --
      Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
  20. I'm still waiting for the by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    official Google - blue screen of death. I mean, they have a bunch of talented engineers, and everything google does is state of the art, so I wager the bsod will be quite outstanding. Or is it gSod or GSOOD? Someone needs to challenge Microsoft's tyranical monopoly on the blue screen of death market - I'm glad it might be Google.

  21. Same thing happened to me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    For a while, I was thinking google was interested in the web app I was developing, but after I sobered up I realized they probably wouldn't be using localhost and it was just me.

  22. Uhhhhhhh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    What about having access to your calendar anywhere you are, not just on your home PC?

    Oh yeah, and I use linux. So that's two major reasons why I really, really, really want this. And I mean, really.

  23. Re:Calendar integration with search... by imbert · · Score: 1

    huh, it would be nice if music reggae (or eny event that I look for) in my calendar automaticaly... I think we have room for improving calendar a lot.

  24. I'd pay for this by Azureflare · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I use gmail via the webclient all the time now, and I really want a calendar to be integrated with it so I can access all my important times/dates/todos in one place anywhere I am, not just at home. My Corp has outlook webmail but I HATE HATE HATE the user interface. Gmail has probably the best interface I've ever used, and if they added a calendar to that...

    I'd be willing to pay money for that.

    1. Re:I'd pay for this by Yankel · · Score: 2, Informative

      And I'm sure many corporations would as well -- as long as there's some form of security behind it.

      Adding a calendar (and maybe tasks) to Gmail would put it over the top as a replacement service alternative to in-house exchange servers. However, the service would also need to:
      - sync with a PDA
      - export groups of messages to a common format for archiving (I could fill a gigabyte of mail in three months at work)
      - allow some sort of calendar sharing based on personal and group-set permissions -- so I would know whether my boss would be available for that 8:00 a.m. meeting.

      Of course, if we had RTFA before posting, wewouldn't have needed to make this point.

      --
      --- Dan
    2. Re:I'd pay for this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You already do pay for this service. By viewing ads, you're indirectly paying for this service.

  25. mnb Re:Doesn't add up to anything by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Damn man, you are on a posting ROLL today!
    Take a little to much Adderall 'tis morning? :)

    1. Re:mnb Re:Doesn't add up to anything by Digital11 · · Score: 1

      When I do that I usually end up with really long posts rather than numerous posts... :P

      --
      I am a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar.
  26. But will it allow me to move Yahoo Calendar data? by cshay · · Score: 1

    Hopefully it will or I won't be able to switch.

  27. Hopeful, but pessimistic... by cvdwl · · Score: 2, Interesting
    WHOIS doesn't show gcal.com or gcalendar.com registered to Google, yet. And at least one is owned by a fairly legitimate business. The other is oddly FUBARed.

    And yeah, I'd love it if all meshed seamlessly into SunBird, Gmail, and iCal.

    --
    ... grumble, grumble, grumble, mutter, mutter, Millenium... Hand... Shrimp, I tol' 'em, I tol' 'em.
    1. Re:Hopeful, but pessimistic... by Tobias.Davis · · Score: 1
      Note: I am not a http expert, just a layman

      Try this:

      http://cal.google.com/ and note that the page does try to load.

      Note that http://calendar.google.com/ and http://calendars.google.com/ will instantly decline transport.

      Does this mean anything?

    2. Re:Hopeful, but pessimistic... by NorthDude · · Score: 1

      Well, you can always try http://xxx.google.com/ also ;-P

      --


      I'd rather be sailing...
    3. Re:Hopeful, but pessimistic... by SpaceLifeForm · · Score: 1
      Hmmm. Your apparent symptoms do not match mine. In all three cases for me (Mozilla on GNU/Linux), they are DNS not found. So, maybe they changed it already or your browser gave the appearance that it was trying to load something.

      What browser and platform did you use? (I'm betting IE on Windows)

      --
      You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
    4. Re:Hopeful, but pessimistic... by Tobias.Davis · · Score: 1
      That would be correct. And I did try to tracert and ping the same address - Nothing found.

      Like I said just a random observation

  28. Probably not a calendar by ballwall · · Score: 5, Insightful

    My guess is they want to search events. It would be cool to google "concerts in denver" at calendar.google.com and get something meaningful back. It's all about searching, and storing your events in google doesn't really accomplish anything.

    Makes much more sense for them to add the time element to searches, not a calendar function similar to Outlook or Lotus Notes.

    1. Re:Probably not a calendar by themoodykid · · Score: 1

      Mod this up! This type of thing coupled with Google Local would be great for local communities.

    2. Re:Probably not a calendar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      I think you're right. I've noticed calendars and such being very up to date in google. Some of my sites that don't have such time-sensitive info don't get updated in google for weeks or months.

    3. Re:Probably not a calendar by goosemagoo · · Score: 1

      Bingo!

      google calendar + google local = $$$$

      If you don't live in a large metropolitan area, easily finding out what's going on is impossible. Plus, the "What's Going On Guide" publishers can't see the benefit of including non-advertisers. I want to know all of my options. The success of the sales rep shouldn't determine the quality of the calendar.

      Not to mention the expansion of their advertising programs to local merchants. It would be a great way for mom and pop retail stores to target a local market.

  29. I buy it. by Chuck+Chunder · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm sure search can be applied to calendar entries.

    "Going to Movies" - Pimp some movies.
    "Tax due" - Pimp some tax services.
    "Pay off credit card" - Pimp a credit card
    "Johns Birthday" - Pimp some gift ideas

    Just like gmail and adsense, calendar advertising could be used to help supply adverts targeted to something that someone is specifically interested in. Calendars might even be better than email as they will probably be more focused and less noisy than email conversations.

    --
    Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
    1. Re:I buy it. by Chuck+Chunder · · Score: 0, Offtopic
      "Johns Birthday" - Pimp some gift ideas
      Or a book on grammar....
      --
      Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
    2. Re:I buy it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are a lot of things that could be incorperated into the 'adsense' scheme of things. But the thing I would like to see most of all is a notepad (similar to what yahoo has). Then I'd have somewhere to jot down notes for myself, to view elsewhere - which would make more sense then emailing myself like I do now. I wouldn't think it would take much more effort on the part of google either.

    3. Re:I buy it. by moonbender · · Score: 1

      Doesn't GMail have something like email drafts? No need to send, just jot down, save as a draft and you're done.

      --
      Switch back to Slashdot's D1 system.
    4. Re:I buy it. by anishm · · Score: 1

      I'm sure search can be applied to calendar entries. While I agree, I find it remarkable that the parent says "search" but goes on to talk about how advertising can be applied to calendars. But even -search- in the traditional sense, can be applied to calendars. If a lot of people on the web were publishing calendars, you could search for the next upcoming Eagles show in ur town. Bad example, but the idea is that instead of subscribing to individual calendar feeds, you could have long lived google calendar alerts, like the google news alerts. And google may not have to limit themselves to searching calendar feeds per se. Maybe some algorithm can figure out when some thing on the web refers to a calendar entry, even though it is not expressed in a standard format.

      --
      Race for Development http://princeton.aidindia.org/marathon/anish.html
    5. Re:I buy it. by Chuck+Chunder · · Score: 1
      While I agree, I find it remarkable that the parent says "search" but goes on to talk about how advertising can be applied to calendars.
      I guess I read the original post a different way. When considering Google's "long term strategy" I was considering their ability to monetise such a product. For Google that means applying their search technology for 'implicit' searches to retrieve adverts.
      --
      Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
  30. Google productivity/organization package? by Thai-Pan · · Score: 1

    It really seems like Google is rounding out the bases for all sorts of organization and general-handiness tools. But it seems awfully odd to me that they haven't branched more into desktop software just yet.

    An online calendar system would be a great idea (I don't know about you folks, but it would be handy for me to have a unified calendar whether I'm checking it at home, work, school, etc.) and a possible gateway for Google to get more seriously into the desktop market. I definitely prefer to use localized applications wherever possible. I have a GMail account which I never use, because I far prefer being able to use Mozilla Thunderbird. But imagine just for a moment if Google made an online calendar/contacts list/organization application that interfaced well with a Thunderbird plugin or even a Google-branded e-mail client. You could get the full functionality you want out of such a package when at home or on a personal computer, but have everything accessible when out of the house, office, town, etc. via a web interface.

    That's not even the beginning of it. What if they wrote their own sync software for PDAs and phones to synchronize with this system? Think about if you were at a public terminal, and rather than accessing your hotmail account to see what e-mail you have, you check your Google account, plug in your PDA to a front-accessible USB port, and synchronize with your online contact list. You could be writing e-mails on your PDA while on the bus, and fire them off at an internet kiosk at the mall.

    I posted some time ago about the future of online/offline blended applications (using XUL plugins, though) and it seems to me that if anyone can create and take such a market by storm, it's Google.

    1. Re:Google productivity/organization package? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Y'know, I use gmail in Mozilla Thunderbird. Just look through your gmail options for POP, then setup Mozilla.

    2. Re:Google productivity/organization package? by teeker · · Score: 1

      You sound like you want them to install MS Exchange! *ducks*

      Actually I hate to admit it, but it really does do a lot of those things you mentioned if you use Outlook with it...it would actually be nice if there was a little more quality competition out there for this kind of thing...

      --
      teeker
    3. Re:Google productivity/organization package? by NorthDude · · Score: 1

      Imagine simething like this but including gmail, gcalendar, ..., g^n !!

      I'm sure a lot of companies would kill for one of those. Add to those services a proper api so you could integrate the rest of your applications with it and I think they would sell like hot cakes.

      --


      I'd rather be sailing...
  31. Er, no, not really by Scott+Laird · · Score: 5, Informative

    While Google may or may not be working on a calendar, his "evidence" is lacking. Basically, he's saying that Google is walking his calendar a lot, and using that as evidence that Google is building itself a calendar. There's a much simpler explanation: Google goes nuts when it runs into PHP iCalendar. It sees every link as a new page to look at, and after a few runs by googlebot, it's trying to index the daily calendar page for every day within a decade of today. I've been dealing with this today, adding robots.txt entries to keep it away from PHP iCalendar, because Googlebot is generating thousands of hits per day on my little site.

    So, just because Googlebot and PHP iCalendar don't get along, that doesn't mean that Google is busy building up a monster searchable calendar.

    Having said that, I'd love to see a gmail calendar component that you could access via WebDAV. I don't see how they'd make money on it, though.

    1. Re:Er, no, not really by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Here's how Google can make money by offering a calendar. They can add events to your calendar during your free time with links to sponsors. Obviously these events would be transparent and no reminders will be sent out for them. Check this out.

    2. Re:Er, no, not really by JumperCable · · Score: 1

      I've had issues with that this past week myself. It filled up over a gig of smartycache data in an hour. I had to cut down my smartycache retention down to 15 minutes as a quick fix.

      Does anyone have a better recommendation on how to handle googlebot for PHP iCalendar?

      And if anybody from Google is reading this, please make your search bot a little smarter & a little nicer.

    3. Re:Er, no, not really by supertsaar · · Score: 1

      Ah, just a good old .htacces file does the job for me...I don't want the whole world reading my calendar without _some_ efffort anyway :)

      --
      The Bigger The Headache The Bigger the Pill
    4. Re:Er, no, not really by sootman · · Score: 1

      Google goes nuts when it runs into PHP iCalendar. It sees every link as a new page to look at, and after a few runs by googlebot, it's trying to index the daily calendar page for every day within a decade of today.

      Yeah, I've seen similar problems before. At least you still have your data. :-)

      --
      Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
  32. fucking blogs... by RaZ0r · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Come on, just because one guy noticed some GoogleBot activity on his site doesn't tell us squat about Google's future plans.

    This is getting almost as bad as Mac Rumors!

    Why is it that we never hear about rumors that prove to be false?

    (back to my hole I call a server-room)

    --


    - Think for yourself, question authority.-
    1. Re:fucking blogs... by Morris+Thorpe · · Score: 1

      just because one guy noticed some GoogleBot activity

      no...no...NO!
      Didn't you read?
      Blogs have been buzzing. Buzzing, I tell ya.

    2. Re:fucking blogs... by chachob · · Score: 1
      Why is it that we never hear about rumors that prove to be false?
      Because it wouldn't be news...
    3. Re:fucking blogs... by lachlan76 · · Score: 1

      Yeah...my guess would be that some site that has links to all these calendars got bumped up in pagerank.

    4. Re:fucking blogs... by RaZ0r · · Score: 1
      Why, do you have a blog?

      Why is it that bloggers feel that the world gives a rats ass about their daily achievements and opinions?

      Granted, every once in a while there is a little morsel of content that one could appreciate, the vast majority is utter crap.

      Guess I forgot to take my anti-anti-happy pills....I'll stop ranting now.

      word

      --


      - Think for yourself, question authority.-
  33. Google community - Mac Community by kevin_conaway · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Anyone notice how people follow Google now like die-hard mac heads follow Apple?

    If there is even the slightest whiff of a new feature, the Internet explodes with every forum discussing the possibilities of "what could be."

    I don't have a point, I just found it interesting :)

    1. Re:Google community - Mac Community by Cedric+C.+Girouard · · Score: 3, Interesting
      If there is even the slightest whiff of a new feature, the Internet explodes with every forum discussing the possibilities of "what could be."

      I'm pretty sure there's a couple of guys over at Google that also routinely read the forums and then come up with "Hey... They're on to something here, how can we implement this...".

      What if most new Google features are not innovation but a reaction to those "rumors" ?

      --

      Marriage is considered capital punishment for the theft of a goat in some third world countries...

    2. Re:Google community - Mac Community by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What if most new Google features are not innovation but a reaction to those "rumors" ?

      I wonder if Google staff reads slashdot and posts on slashdot :-)

  34. You hit the nail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I see that they moded you funny, but I got the same creepy feeling. And if you add to this that it's an American company that will have to comply with whatever Department of Homeland Security asks for... then I'm really spooked.

  35. Based on a shaky premise by Blowfishie · · Score: 5, Informative
    Calendar web pages are a tricky problem for search engines because they usually have links in them to navigate forward/back a month or to view a particular day in more detail. Navigating in this way can look like a lot of different pages if the parameters are passed in a URL because the pages are dynamically generated ad-infinitum. The poor search engine will recursively rip through each month of the year until some subroutine in the search engine decides that the page has had enough and then it will do it all over again the next time it indexes the site.

    I wrote a PHP calendar page three years ago and it had so many hits from recursive links that I had to put an entry in the 'robots.txt' file to stop it. Looking at my logs, it had scanned every month for about 20 years in the past and 20 years in the future.

    1. Re:Based on a shaky premise by LuxFX · · Score: 1

      If Google did do a calendar, then I'm betting they would use an XMLHttpRequest object to go forward/backward through the months and days. Which means their search algorithm probably would work off of a flat version -- either through a robots.txt type guide or maybe a custom backend search.

      Just speculation, of course....

      --
      Punctanym: alternate spelling of words using punctuation or numerals in place of some or all of its letters; see 'leet'
    2. Re:Based on a shaky premise by Zepalesque · · Score: 1

      Since google owns their own searching technology (and is the most widely used internet search technology around right now) I'm pretty sure they can arrange calendar links in such a way that their own search engine can crawl that data just fine.

      Then stick robots.txt on their server to block all other search engines :)

  36. Weak rumors aren't news, but... by SnprBoB86 · · Score: 1

    ...a "timeline" or "calender" search might be interesting. Rather than a planner calender, a calender search could be very interesting.

    Say I search for "sumpreme court cases" on this theoretical "Google Calender", it could return a time line of all supreme court cases with the more notible cases in larger fonts. Entries could have references and the like. It would fit with the Google mission statement...

    --
    http://brandonbloom.name
    1. Re:Weak rumors aren't news, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Say I search for "sumpreme court cases"

      Did you mean: supreme court cases

  37. Robots.txt and Google by GundyRage · · Score: 5, Informative

    We run a college LUG web site ( here ) and noticed that both Google and MSN had bots that appeared to be "stuck" in the calender (iCal) section of our site. We added entries to our robots.txt to keep them out of there. That cut down on server traffic almost instantly and what appeared to be regular crawling resumed.

    If both Google and MSN did it, it makes me wonder if this guy is a little trigger happy with his predictions. We didn't really even have any content in the calender area so I can't figure out why they would keep crawling all these empty pages.

    Who Knows? - G

    1. Re:Robots.txt and Google by farquharsoncraig · · Score: 1

      Hey, um, G, never thought I'd bump into you in this crowd. (-: Interesting you got that link to bypass /.'s auto insert-the-site-after-the-link. Justin

    2. Re:Robots.txt and Google by ashot · · Score: 1

      because they will be adding time sensitivity to their searches so they are trying to isolate portions of the web which pertain to specific and upcoming dates and keep this section of their index fresh.

      --
      -ashot
    3. Re:Robots.txt and Google by IncarnadineConor · · Score: 1

      I bet google loves all this idle speculation.

      "Calandar? Hey thats a great idea, someone start working on that"

  38. Calendar is the last slot in an enterprise package by zipwow · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I've been saying this for weeks now. Actually, ever since the first time I said, "Wow, I love g-mail, I wish I could use it for work."

    If Google has calendaring and mail, with interfaces that are both simple and intuitive (obviously a strength of Google) then they can bundle that with their Enterprise search functionality and have a heck of a package.

    They can sell it service-based like Microsoft dreams about, or they can ship it out on the little yellow boxes. Users are freed from installation hassles, and in the subscription package, IT departments from management hassles.

    It seems like the next logical step to me.

    -Zipwow

    --
    I don't know which is more depressing, that 2/3 didn't care enough to vote, or that 1/2 of those that did are crazy.
  39. Calendar must sync to swim by gregorious · · Score: 3, Insightful

    GoogleCal, Sunbird or any other calendar must syncronize with PDAs, cellphones, iPods, ... to be more than yet another groupware programming exercise. Would not going below the desktop be new ambitiously new territory for Google? The time to enter that wild territory is ripe.

    1. Re:Calendar must sync to swim by Rollsbot · · Score: 1

      Actually, if it resides on the web, it doesn't have to syncronize with anything. You just use your cellphone, pda, computer, or whatever to access that page.

      Not that I think Google is making a calender app. I anything, I think it would be a calendar search. It also seems likely that the nature of dynamic calendar sites set search engines into near endless loops on them

      Maybe it's a bug and all this attention will have google fix it. Then, they'll see all the need for a calendar app/search and build it.

  40. Two things... by Sheepdot · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It makes perfect sense Google would try to go after the calendar market as it is their last big missing piece of the portal puzzle.

    This is simply not true. There are an unlimited number of things they could implement. IMHO, perhaps the biggest "missing piece" is an IRC search, of which they were rumored to be creating, but then the buzz died off. However with the success of sites like isoHunt and Packetnews (even with all its friggen ads) Google is missing out on probably a quarter of the searches I do while online.

    Second, it's a wellknown fact that the more often your website is updated, the more often that Google checks it. If he recently added a CMS, blog, or iCal, then it is likely Google is just coming back because he's updating a whole lot more.

  41. The Natural Language Link by zipwow · · Score: 2, Informative

    As a followup, the integration can be very smooth between the different parts. In addition to formal "meeting requests", I believe Google can use their prodigious NL parsing tech to interpret "Tomorrow at 3" or "every wednesday" and give the user the option of updating their calendar.

    I know I already want it.

    -Zipwow

    --
    I don't know which is more depressing, that 2/3 didn't care enough to vote, or that 1/2 of those that did are crazy.
  42. Google Clothing? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  43. Site calendar = spider trap? by lux55 · · Score: 1

    Could the increase in traffic as a result of the addition of a calendar feature to his site simply be that the calendar he added is a search engine spider trap that the spider takes some time to dig its way out of? Calendars are potentially infinite sources of links, since their next/previous day/week/month links could go on forever.

    Or am I incorrect in my understanding of what a spider trap is?

  44. I suggested this by SteelV · · Score: 1

    Not saying they got the idea from me, but about 1-2 months ago I put in a suggestion that they should add this functionality to GMail accounts, as it would almost complete the picture (E-mail, Contacts and then Calendar). I'm really excited!

  45. But... by frantzdb · · Score: 1
  46. Another calendar...grrr... by Spoing · · Score: 2, Insightful
    I'd like to see the vendors PICK ONE PROTOCOL/FORMAT and USE IT. So far, iCal has the best coverage, though it's not universal and can have problems between implementations.

    (Current problem: Syncing calendars in Lotus Notes and Niku Clarity or Openworkbench. An iCal extention is available for Notes ($900 for 75 licences), but AFAICT none for Clarity or Openworkbench.)

    --
    A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.
  47. Coming soon... by Snommis · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...the Google CLOCK! WAY better than a standard clock. Skinnable hands and face, choose analog or digital interface, tells the time anywhere in the world (even where you are). Integrates smoothly into your Google calendar and toolbar.

    --
    Face it, do something enough times, and it can cause problems.
  48. WTF by adeydas · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "Dave bases his prediction on the fact that one of his sites has been getting a tremendous amount of hits from GoogleBot ever since he added the iCal calendar."

    Why is that? Can't Google just install its own iCal and test it out?! Besides, even if it wants to see how many people are using Calendars on their websites, isn't indexing them once is enough?!

    1. Re:WTF by mbaciarello · · Score: 1

      Insightful?

      I guess the idea behind the (adventurous) prediction is that Google has its code ready, and that it's started to index publicly available calendars either as an internal "beta test" (better to harvest thousands of calendars than to write them yourself) or as a base index for a search engine.

      As for one-time indexing, well that wouldn't be very useful, as it wouldn't be up-to-date. Plus, other people have very insightfully suggested it might be a bug in Google's spider, causing it to recursively follow links within calendars.

  49. Lotus Notes or Outlook by pablonhd · · Score: 2, Insightful

    They need to target Loutus Notes and Outlook by offering the ablity to share calender events and send calendar details via gmail. This would blow yahoo and hotmail out of the water. Right now the hotmail and yahoo calendars are only useful to the one user.

    1. Re:Lotus Notes or Outlook by foote · · Score: 1

      Yahoo calendar does let you send calendar events, but only to other users of Yahoo calendar. It doesn't work across systems, but it's something. Also, if you share your Yahoo calendar, you can search for blocks of common free times with other Yahoo calendar users.

      I used Yahoo to manage my life in grad school, and it worked beautifully. I still use it.

      The calendar lets you specify two different alert times, and you can have the alert sent to two different addresses. Regular alerts went to my Yahoo mail account. Important ones also went to my cell phone. (Like girlfriend's birthday reminders.) I didn't need anything more elaborate than that.

      I used Yahoo mail to get my university email. Since I moved between work, school, apartment, and girlfriend's apartment, having mail and calendar remotely hosted was perfect.

      The Yahoo address book fits my needs fine.

      After school I paid the $19 a year to upgrade. You get 2 gigs of storage, more filters, and no ads in the mail system or calendar. I like Gmail, but I prefer the Yahoo mail interface (especially the ad-free version.) And even the free version with the ads lets you choose your colors.

      Security: Yahoo updates their virus profiles more often than I update mine. And I do it at least once a week; usually more often. But the Yahoo security experts are just better than I am, as I'm no security expert at all. So Yahoo mail and a non-IE browser, and you've already closed off a lot of holes, even when you're forced to use a Windows machine.

      I like Gmail, but to run my life I need an integrated calendar. I'd like to see a Google calendar. Who knows what features Google would come up with? Just because I can't think of something brilliant to add to a calendar doesn't mean they won't.

      Oh, and My Yahoo offers you a lot in the way of news aggregation. Their RSS system is a bit less than perfect, but I do use it. What Yahoo does is a solid job of integrating good, but not fantastic, components, and the integration is what makes it extra useful.

      Having said all that, their system for storing bookmarks sucks (for now). I use Furl for that. Excellent system.

  50. Wiki-type Calendar?? by legomad · · Score: 1

    Is there a wiki-type calendar out there, where people can post events happening on each day?

    1. Re:Wiki-type Calendar?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      http://www.upcoming.org

  51. Exciting but be carefull by michelcultivo · · Score: 1

    It's great to use google to search for events like movie, theaters and the day and time of games events. But if I put a phrase like this: "Time to kill Bush" like a entry on my calendar will cause another World War or it will entered in the results page? Everyone should see this with one foot back and analyze the benefits and the problems that this feature could bring us.

    1. Re:Exciting but be carefull by MasterOfUniverse · · Score: 1

      umm..do you hear a knock on your door?

      --
      "There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people."--Howard Zinn
  52. Oh, the possibilities! by SilentJ_PDX · · Score: 4, Funny

    Imagine the targeted links they'll put on calendar entries for your mother's birthday, your quarterly performance review and a blind date...

    I can't wait.

  53. Lamity by Woodblock · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Since when is a handful of bloggers saying "Wouldn't it be cool if..." news?

    Wouldn't it be cool if blogging crashed like the dot-com boom? Just think:
    • we'd be free of such english language monstrosities as "blogosphere"
    • 15 year old nerds would be far more productive
    • we wouldn't have to read the same tired, uninformed navel gazing presented as valuable contributions to human knowledge
    1. Re:Lamity by psiph · · Score: 1
      I have examined all the data and come up with the following:

      Underground, unproductive, utopian "15 year old nerds" have usurped all the uncool blogs in the universe to form one massive "uniformed," yet unambiguous blog that underreports '"Wouldn't it be cool"' news' 24/7 like a new breed of mutant "die-hard mac heads" that gain sustanence only through "eating Google brand noodles" and killing harmless websites...

      and I'm right with you........except for the 15 year old part.

    2. Re:Lamity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      loser

  54. what's next? by potpie · · Score: 1

    I predict that Google will soon come out with a TV show or a novel or something crazy like that.

    And you know what the saddest thing is? I would use it! happily! Gotta have respect for a company that sets a goal at e-billion dollars: http://battellemedia.com/archives/000630.php/

    --
    Esoteric reference.
  55. Anyday.com was the best by fishdan · · Score: 1

    Ever since the demise of Anyday, my first start-up, I've been pretty happy with Yahoo's calendar -- but I've also come to realize that there's not much money in online calendaring.

    --
    Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm
  56. Web based by Nik13 · · Score: 1

    I think it's a good idea for them to come up with more web based apps. My mail following me around anywhere I have internet access is something I like (no need to lug around laptop with outlook or whatever).

    In fact, I already have my own little webmail page on my little server (and tons more features), but I'd really like it if there was some easy (open source?) calendaring web app like that to complement the setup (not that I really searched hard, and making a basic one would be pretty trivial...)

    --
    ///<sig />
  57. Google noodles? Why was I not informed? by Mantus · · Score: 1

    I would probably eat them. Are we talking Google pasta or Google ramen?
    Mmmmm Google and cheese.

  58. So we would be able to by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    search for what movie we want to see (movie: operator), find the closest theater (google local), get directions to it (google maps), and email friends to go (gmail). A little strech, I know, but still.

  59. GoogleOS by djfray · · Score: 1

    I'm still waiting for GoogleOS. I predict 2007

    --
    This sig is o Unfunny o Funny
  60. E-mail by vmwpoc · · Score: 0, Troll

    Personally, a Google calender means shit to me. Google is trying out, debating whether to have a mail service. They have currently gave a select few around a gb or two worth of mail. I currently have yahoo, and is kind of pissing me off because they deleted my favorite account for no reason. You can buy calenders anywhere, and I mean practically anywhere. Google with e-mail would rock my socks.

    --
    http://vmwpoc.deviantart.com/
  61. Calendar integration is time based searching by xixax · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Everything they do they do because they can using their searching technology to make the way things are done even better.

    There's heaps that Google could do with calendars.

    For some time now I have been thinking how cool it would be to integrate text, spatial and temporal searching. For example, "tell me when any of my favourite musicians will be performing within a 2 hour drive of my current location" or "I will be visiting these cities on these dates, tell me about these sorts of events occuring while I am there". Google is rapidly building up enough data to let people add time and space dimensions to their searches.

    Xix.
    --
    "Everything is adjustable, provided you have the right tools"
  62. gbrowser, gcalender, gthunderbird.... by Aeron65432 · · Score: 1

    Well we all heard about the GBrowser news a while ago, possibly mimicking Firefox.

    Now they are making a calender, when Mozilla came out with a calender like 2 months ago. It's obvious Google is mimicking Mozilla and creating unnecessary work in the process, why don't they just buy/acquire them/their products?

    1. Re:gbrowser, gcalender, gthunderbird.... by nagora · · Score: 1
      why don't they just buy/acquire them/their products?

      You ARE being funny, right?

      --
      "Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
  63. Uh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Not a good idea. The web brower is shit for editing things like a calendar. iCal on OS X can whip any web implementation's ass. What needs to be done is CAP, which would allow you to home the calendar on the server, and not the client. That way, you can subscribe on many machines (or web) *and* make changes.

  64. A great combination by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hey, if the gmail service can do POP3, then maybe Google will let their calendar service do that Groupdav protocol that /. covered last week. That would be a quick way for Google to take it to the next level!!

  65. What about the weather? by V4Victory · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I would love to see Google go after the weather market. Weather Channel's site is terrible and hasn't changed 5 years.
    It won't even automatically bring up the weather for your area in less than 1 click. Google seems to be well positioned to corner this market as well.

    1. Re:What about the weather? by Kozz · · Score: 2, Informative

      Then try this. Assuming you're in the US, it's got good data. Sure, not as feature-rich as weather channel's site, but has the info you need.

      --
      I only post comments when someone on the internet is wrong.
    2. Re:What about the weather? by trentfoley · · Score: 4, Funny

      Google doing weather the Google way? I can see it now...

      It is a cold, dreary, Midwest morning. I'm driving to a client site through refrozen snow slush. I realize that my thermostat is set way too low and numbly turn it up to 80F. Suddenly, my car navigation system starts giving me strange directions, which of course, I obey. Ten hours later I realize I'm in Florida. ...I could live with that.

    3. Re:What about the weather? by slashrogue · · Score: 1

      Yea but as long as you know your zipcode you can hop right to it: http://www.weather.com/weather/local/63303 And it has changed in the past 5 years, just to bring more ads and popups tho. Nowadays I just check the weather reports on one of my local tv station's websites. http://www.ksdk.com/

    4. Re:What about the weather? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      this is exactly why i like yahoo. it has all the stuff built in. yahoo locals rules and so do other services they provide. yahoo search is also very good, i think it easily compares to yahoo. i seriously don't see much difference between yahoo and google search.
      half of the time yahoo search returns better results than google and i'm happy with it.

    5. Re:What about the weather? by dumpsterdiver · · Score: 2, Informative

      If you're in the US, try: wunderground.com intellicast.com

    6. Re:What about the weather? by notthe9 · · Score: 1

      I use Yahoo weather, which really helps with speed of loading for me.

      Google could potentially kick some ass, though, I would think.

    7. Re:What about the weather? by mrchaotica · · Score: 3, Informative

      To me, weather info is the kind of thing I like to have around all the time, so I use the WeatherFox Firefox extension.

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    8. Re:What about the weather? by adolf · · Score: 4, Informative

      Not to sound like spam, but:

      The Weather Channel has never had a useful web site. It has always been an epitome of anything which can be annoying, insipid, and featureless, consisting of little but regurgitated and labotomized government weather data and the occasional and blatant attempt to extort money from users. (At one time, they wanted paid for the singular effort of delivering storm alerts to my pager. By e-mail. Absurd.)

      Back In The Day, before the rest of the world had heard much about this whole InterWeb thing, the University of Michigan started giving away weather information online. It seemed to grew in the altruistic sort of way that many things seemed to back then, steadily aquiring new features and formats for no apparant reason except that it was possible to do so.

      That started 15 years ago.

      Today, following the general trend, the efforts are commercialized (read: the staff needed to eat and pay rent), but quite clearly live on at The Weather Underground.

      Sure, there's ads. But there's a wealth of good information, a feeling of completeness, and a general lack of bullshit and dumbness which is so sorely lacking with things like weather.com. A subscription to toss the ads and enable a couple of different features is a miniscule $5/year, which I've been happily paying for the last several years.

      The information there is continuously improving. For example, they've been putting a lot of effort into their detailed radar presentations over the past year, which has really made a difference in seeing what's about to go on outside.

      I like Google and the effort they put into user interfaces, simplicity, and completeness (except for when they most recently fucked up groups.google.com), but given the efforts of wunderground, I really don't care if Google ever gets into the weather business.

      [ObDisclaimer: I didn't attend UMich, I don't even think I know anyone who has, and I definately have no interest in boosting wunderground traffic except, perhaps, to help people stay informed.]

    9. Re:What about the weather? by CastrTroy · · Score: 1

      Canadian readers can check out Environment Canada's Weather Office. Much better than the Canadian Weather Channel's web site with no ads, and lots of info.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    10. Re:What about the weather? by wworf · · Score: 1

      If you live in the US, just put your hard-earned tax dollars to work and head to The National Weather Service for your forecasts.

    11. Re:What about the weather? by jrifkin · · Score: 0, Redundant

      I'd like to second this opinion. I also pay the $5/year. It's so cheap how can you resist?

      One of their features I like is their weather photos. Users (I don't recall if you need to be a paying user or not) can upload their weather related photos. Recent photos are displayed in rotation on the site. What I especially like is that you get photos from all over the world. It's almost (well not quite) like travelling for free.

    12. Re:What about the weather? by RickySilk · · Score: 1

      Actually it changed recently..... but for the worse. It's worse now than ever. I use Yahoo weather which gets its data from weather.com. The problem with that is it's delayed a bit.

      --
      Ricky Silk
      kung foo ezine let me waste your time.
    13. Re:What about the weather? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I agree, wunderground rocks. And for five dollars a year (or ads) it's well worth it. I live in Florida, which got pummeled by several hurricanes last year. Between wunderground and the NOAA sites, I had all the info I needed as long as connectivity lasted (which was almost always, in my case).

    14. Re:What about the weather? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      weather.gov

      The National Weather Service now has the most convenient, simple web site of any of the weather sites. It is free. There are xml and rss feeds weather.gov/xml. Just go to weather.gov put in your zip or your city/state in the box on the left (it just says city, state but a zip works just as well).

      Your taxes are already paying for it, you might as well make use of it.

    15. Re:What about the weather? by CptnQuixar · · Score: 0

      Weather Underground was pure awesome during the several hurricanes I had to endure here in Florida. I think it was the best collection of datasets and imagery of all the places I was searching. When the power went out, I'd turn on the laptop, use my backup free dial-up, and check wunderground.com to see how things were going.

    16. Re:What about the weather? by IBeatUpNerds · · Score: 1

      I'm a weather nut and find this site to be an excellent national and international source. It incorporates major weather stations with personal weather stations to get some good unique results. The site is no relation to the 60s extremist group of the same name....

    17. Re:What about the weather? by spiffy_dude · · Score: 1

      I think it's also worth mentioning the ADDS site. It is somewhat aviation-oriented, but is a great site with a lot of good weather-related information. http://adds.aviationweather.gov/

    18. Re:What about the weather? by Vudu+Child · · Score: 1

      Wunderground is simply wunderful.

      I also have been paying the $5 a year for a while.

      My six year old is really into seeing the radar maps and when the next wave of snow is going to hit us in MA.

      I get storm totals for areas around my camp in VT.

      I get numerous local weather readings from Personal Weather Stations.

      The first thing I do when I reboot is open Firefox and open a Wunderground window. It is always there and usually autorefreshes automatically.

      --
      If you had my real name, you'd use an alias too.
    19. Re:What about the weather? by jacoplane · · Score: 1

      I use the Forecastfox plugin for firefox to give me forecasts for my local area. maybe an idea for you.

    20. Re:What about the weather? by AkaXakA · · Score: 1

      Why?

      You're sitting behind a computer. Why would you need weather info "all the time"?

      Can't you just look outside?

    21. Re:What about the weather? by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      Well, my parent's basement doesn't have any windows! (just kidding)

      Actually, yes, I could look outside -- but it's still hard to tell what temperature it is. And I don't really need weather info "all the time;" I just like having it conveniently there. I have a battery monitor and a clock always visible in the menu bar for the same reason.

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    22. Re:What about the weather? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've been using this lately.

  66. Re:Calendar is the last slot in an enterprise pack by Linuxathome · · Score: 1

    Depends on the business. For most non-mission critical types of businesses and small businesses, then sure, google enterprise package would be great. But for the big companies and industries such as health care, then redundant email systems are very important (and critical) -- if part of the internet is down and I can't access sites west of the mississippi, then hopefully there's an accessible server on the east side of the mississippi that I can reach. Can anyone tell me with authority how redundant google's email service is? I mean, just two days ago I had an access error (502 error) from gmail telling me to try again later--at least now it's beta, but in an enterprise setting that won't fly.

  67. I've noticed similar by biftek · · Score: 3, Interesting

    About a week ago I put up a new link to a random timetabling iCal outputting python script.

    I was quite surprised at how quickly googlebot started looking at it - a lot more than other pages, and without many links at all. Whether it's related to a hypothetical gCalendar I don't know - perhaps they just know that calendars might update regularly?

  68. Have you tried anything else? by DCstewieG · · Score: 1

    Did you start using it just because it had the Google name? I did, and after using it for a little while decided to see what else is out there. Turns out I like Copernic Desktop Search better, and so did many of the reviews I read. Google rocks, but don't forget there are others too, and they might even be doing it better! Not likely, but still....

    http://www.copernic.com/en/products/desktop-search /download.html

  69. This is why I'd like a Google calendar by Green+Salad · · Score: 1
    Here's a calendar I'd like: You're going to be in Phoenix, AZ for some meetings the 17th through the 21st and want to know what other events will be happening in Phoenix in the same period, perhaps I'd extend my ticket to stay a day or two longer.

    To do that right now, using the main search engine, I'd have to sift through a ton of non-calendar hits and probably try the search many different ways to get a good idea of events in another town. I'd want the calendar to search the local papers, hobby club calendars online, convention/concert center calendars, etc. and organize it for me.

    Event ads would be targeted to Phoenix, AZ 17th through 21st as well. "Britney Spears, live in concert!" or "Security Expo!" at the convention center! Load up on freebie booth trinkets! I'd like the results in a few seconds, instead of after a few hours of surfing on a secondary tabbed browser, so I could complete my Orbitz trip reservations in the other tab.

  70. Hey Google... by writermike · · Score: 1

    When is Ken wilding this week?

    Answer: March 15, 10am - 11am, Attendees: Mary, Bob, and Marcelin.

    ADVERTISEMENT:
    GOTOMYPC can help you attend WILDING, from any web connection.

    --
    If Nalgene water bottles are outlawed, only outlaws will have Nalgene water bottles.
  71. Mod down - Clueless and congo line by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Wouldn't it be great if ... they could integrate it with gmail?

    Jeeze, have you always been this quick or is this something new? And you're pushing a congo line borderline scam in your sig? You were a "short bus" kid, weren't you.

    Please, oh god please, mod the parent comment down.

  72. Please make Sunbird fly. by caferace · · Score: 1
    If I had a "safe", simple way to set up WebDav for disparate single users or a few dozen I would. Google has the might (not tech... yet) to let calendar clients communicate pretty easily using the general 'Net rather than specialized one-off boxes.

    So. If they'll support Moz, let 'em support Sunbird.

  73. outlook-b-gone by powdered+toast+dude · · Score: 2, Insightful
    As the CTO of a very small tech company, I wear hats from strategist to manager to coder to sysadmin to level 1 tech support. I happily welcome any alternative that obviates MS Outlook. So far I have successfully upheld my corporate ban on that pst-file wielding blister, but it is a continuous challenge to keep at bay those who say "but it works and it's handy and swanky, and clippy is cute."

    If google can provide corporate accounts on calendaring and gmail that makes it feel seamless and functional, while maintaining an agnostic view on platform and browser deployment, many of us would applaud and consider signing up.

    As long as they don't become evil, I guess.

    $0.02,
    ptd

    --
    I'm an animal lover -- they're delicious!
  74. Tough Call by lfrandom · · Score: 0

    Look at what google currently does, - google search - gmail - desktop search - groups - etc. Everything google does is obviously very search oriented, and a calendar software project where you could import events from other people based on searches, well it sounds like it might work. I am personally guessing that this is yet another Google employees personal time project. What we do know is that, even if google does launch some type of calendar service, it will be stuck in beta for the next five years.

  75. Re:Calendar is the last slot in an enterprise pack by Bishop · · Score: 2, Informative

    The idea is that google sells the company a box that runs on the company's lan.

  76. Yay for criminals! by Duncan3 · · Score: 2, Funny

    It's about time someome did this so the whole world can see when I'm out of town and my stuff is just sitting around waiting to be stolen ;)

    Err....

    --
    - Adam L. Beberg - The Cosm Project - http://www.mithral.com/
  77. Mozilla Calendar with WebDAV - HOWTO by Fragmented_Datagram · · Score: 3, Informative

    First, download Mozilla Calendar

    Next, configure Apache 2 to use WebDAV to access the calendar from anywhere. Uncomment these lines in httpd.conf:

    [IfModule mod_dav_fs.c]
    DAVLockDB /var/lib/dav/lockdb
    [/IfModule]

    Make sure /var/lib/dav and /var/lib/dav/lockdb exist and have read/write by the Apache user.

    Add the following lines to httpd.conf:

    [Directory "/www/mydomain/ical/"]
    DAV On
    [/Directory]

    In Calendar, create a new calendar file, and point the Remote Server URL to:

    http://mydomain.com/ical/foo.ics

    Replace mydomain, the path, and the calendar file name with your
    values. Check the "Automatically publish your changes..." checkbox.

    Now you can access your calendar from anywhere.

  78. a new indexed format? by complete+loony · · Score: 1

    Perhaps they just added calendars to their supported formats, like pdf, doc, ppt, etc. So they previously new the files were there, but didn't bother scanning them as they weren't supported, and are now catching up?

    --
    09F91102 no, 455FE104 nope, F190A1E8 uh-uh, 7A5F8A09 that's not it, C87294CE no. Ah! 452F6E403CDF10714E41DFAA257D313F.
  79. ZigZag or RIzla by rs79 · · Score: 1, Funny

    I thought it said "Google Cannibis".

    Woah.

    --
    Need Mercedes parts ?
    1. Re:ZigZag or RIzla by DrSkwid · · Score: 0

      is that like cannabis ?

      --
      There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
  80. if i'm yahoo i'd be very scared by iradik · · Score: 1

    if i'm yahoo i'd be very scared

  81. Integration is currently Google's failing.. by pflodo · · Score: 1

    Integration is currently one of Google's main failings, it is like they give all their clever people all this time to work on their own little products that then become products, but they never talk to each other, even if they get free lunch. With my gmail account I should be able to seamlessly connect to my Orkut contacts, with a click see where they live on Google Maps, see what my current balance is in Adwords.

  82. Your kidding, this is the Microsoft killer..... by pflodo · · Score: 1

    Picture this. You register/transfer your domain to Google. (they are a registrar) Your email is powered by Gmail. Your calendar is Powered by Gcalendar hang on why do I need to buy Exchange and Outlook for my small to medium business? I don't!

  83. Other sources. by Tibe · · Score: 1

    I heard from another reputable source that they are buying an island too! http://www.googland.com/

  84. hmm... by Run4yourlives · · Score: 1

    I wonder it gmail will ever make it past beta...

  85. Just another piece of the puzzle... by bynary · · Score: 1

    "Ooooooohhhh! Google might possibly at some point in the future hint at the potential release of an eventual press statement about the possibility of a new piece of software that might be distributed. I think I just wet myself with excitement!"

    Google's working on a lot more than you think they are. You think they're going after Yahoo? Think bigger. They're aiming to topple Microsoft, and so far they're doing a good job. Think along the lines of client/server computing on a global scale and I think you'd be getting pretty close to what Google's trying to do. Don't say I didn't warn you...

    --
    http://www.bynarystudio.com
  86. portal? confused t by samantha · · Score: 1

    Would someone please explain why "portals" matter and why google should want to have that be part of its business?

    Is the modern way to riches to do one thing very well, so well your name becomes a verb meaning to do that, and then to take your earned wealth and attempt to become all things to all people? Would someone please explain how this is the right thing?

  87. Elisha Cuthbert... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I wonder if Google Calendar will feature Elisha Cuthbert...

  88. Google Messenger by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How about Google Messenger? That's been under speculation for being developed by a company in India.

  89. Missing the point? by dr_d_19 · · Score: 1

    I think some of the comments here are missing the big point.

    Let's say for a moment that this is NOT a case of the spiderbot going crazy over calendar-links.

    What if Google is planning on indexing all items in all the calendars that are online, doing something like http://news.google.com/? For each day, display the most frequent entries to that days calendar.

    Will probably display "get girlfriend" every day if they keep indexing our calendars, but what the heck.

  90. Image search still broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative


    I think Google should fix and maintain their old services before launching new ones. Images search has been broken for ages. Maybe they don't have the talent to fix it after-all.

    http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/07/20 43207&tid=217&tid=153&tid=17

  91. Um, you're forgetting IM... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...THEN they'll be a complete portal.

  92. Control? by TapeCutter · · Score: 1

    "It seems like Google is trying to control every aspect of the internet/computer." - I think you mean it's popular.

    Google controls what it can about Google, people go there because it's free, it works and they prefer it to the multitude of other free search engines. None of which can control your computer if it is not plugged into the net.

    If you are talking about control as in censorship, (eg:China), then it is the censors in that country who are controlling both the population AND Google.

    If you want to complain about control of information then check out peer reviewed Journal articles. Most of these are available on the web but you have to pay hefty subscription fees to the myriad publishers for access. The rub is the taxpayer from the relevant country pays for most of the content. Yet the same taxpayer has to pay through the nose for little more than web distribution. The internet is capable of bringing back teaching in the style of the ancients. You could sign up with a Guru (or a hack) who could guide the student through thier research. EG: I studied under Hawking for 6 years while he was researching the number 42, here is his letter of recomendation, ect. The way it is now makes it hard to have a "lifelong education". People are pigeon holed into worker-student-acedmic when in fact all three roles belong in any well balanced person. It would also give many of the retiring baby boomers something productive to do after they blew thier super on a world cruise and a failing pub.

    The only thing that is controlling any of us (apart from instinctive reactions) is "society" and "society" will change with the moral fashions and practical problems of the day. On a global or even national scale, dramatic changes are not hard to find from one decade to the next. As current examples of change, I'm glad to see the US has decided it is unfashionable to execute people who the rest of the western world considers children and have also stepped down from the abortion soap-box at the UN. I think both of these decisions have handed back some control from society to the individuals who are at the moment controlled by any relevant laws. Others may think the decisions are wrong and instinctively belive they have lost "something". They are therefore likely to belive they are controlled by the change or affraid of anarchy or affraid of God and temptations, whatever. My sometimes aggressive opinion of what is good/bad/right/wrong matters jack shit to society, the ironic part is practically all the people who make up the "society" that controls us are in the same position.

    The human condition is to argue endlessly about any major descision in an attempt to fit the biggest foot into the biggest shoe possible. It's so ingrained even a hermit will debate the opposing voices in thier head. Take away as much real violence and "adult" censorship as you can without creating anarchy and it would be a nicer condition to live under.

    --
    And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
  93. Is it just me ... by WoodieR · · Score: 1

    or am I starting to be very very afraid of these out of control corporations finding innovative ways to take/steal/aggregate information from citizens / about citizens and use it / sell it for their own nefarious purposes ? I am increasingly afraid for modern civilization when our very day to day actions and activities are freely available to MOST corporations and ALL governments to do as they please in secret, particularly profile us and surreptitiously surveil us and our acquaintances. They may even build highly suspicious cases against us using the flimsiest circumstantial items, but they ARE masters at that ... are you smart/rich/strong/connected enough to get yourself out of that? incidentally, my professional background is in high end corporate security, so I KNOW what kinds of info are available and what can be done with it, particularly how it can be abused, as I spent much time thinking of how that could be done, and implementing safeguards to keep ALL non-essential info out of everyone's hands ... but only in my small slice of reality, and now that I am no longer in such a position to prevent abuse ???

    --
    Question Authority before IT questions You ...
  94. I'll pin my hopes on sunbird by NoMercy · · Score: 2, Insightful

    With a lot more development, it could turn into a decent program, having it work out of the box and intergrate with all the commercial systems out there would be a killer feature for it though.

    Google... the only calendar I can see them keeping is a public events calendar, who wants to put in 'Appointment with dentist' and have an advert pop up next to it 'Low cost dental insurance' :/

  95. There is more information here by harryoyster · · Score: 1
    --
    Got a question about UNIX ask it here : Unix/xBSD Forum
  96. ForeCastFox by dave1g · · Score: 1

    Check it out, it uses the weather.com data

    http://forecastfox.mozdev.org/

  97. Here's what Google will do by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I post this anonymously, even though I'm under no NDA with anyone, however I'm close to some sources, and here's what will happen:

    Google will build in an additional level of links, with added intelligence, on top of normal web pages. Say you're browsing a conference web site, an the programme says: "11:00-12:00: Mr X - An analysis of Karma Whoring". The google toolbar will figure out the correct date, time and subject, and allow you to click on this "virtual" link and have it added to your calendar - even (and this is the kicker) if the web site wasn't designed for this - google will figure it out. As far a I understand this idea has been patented and the patent was bought by google.

    Feel free to shoot me down as an anonymous liar karma whore, but we'll see who's right!
    (yes I know ACs don't get karma)..

  98. google weather by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    last piece? what about google weather?

  99. alternative ? by willCode4Beer.com · · Score: 1

    Perhaps they are going to offer a Calendar based search.
    Or, perhaps they are writing woftware to evaluate peoples calendars. The software might be able to build a temporal map of when people (groups, not individuals) are using their computers. Advertising rates could be customized on this. Tues from 7-9pm an unusually large number people will be potentially surfing the net. We'll have to charge more for ads in this time frame.
    Of course, like TFA, this is just plain old conjecture.

    --
    ----- If communism is a system where the government owns business, what do you call a system where business owns govern
  100. noaa.gov by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    noaa.gov is where I get my weather info.

  101. Easy to search for a date in a calender. by TapeCutter · · Score: 1

    A calender that is only searchable by date or simple keywords is not a big deal anymore, but nothing more to do? If your calender had the obvious links to your email then the quality of the search tools determines how useful the calender becomes.

    Example query that any pimp would love to see on thier laptop: "Show me all emails in the last 3 months with similar or better experience than Joe Blogs who I interviewed yesterday".

    Current search technology can not handle that kind of query without some serious structure in the data and only within a very restricted knowlage domain. Finding out how to "search" through any time stamped repository of randomly formatted information using value judgements and implicit refrences, will keep Google busy for a while but GMail + a "calender" project would be an efficient way to collect test data for thier research.

    --
    And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
  102. Re:Doesn't add up to anything - Wait, is google st by circusnews · · Score: 1

    Google has been crawling my

  103. Until you can... by mp3phish · · Score: 1

    Until you can sync a wireless PDA using Palm or pocketPC to a calendaring service using a wifi PDA and not going through your desktop system then this whole "calendaring" services crap is just a buncha hype.

    Much less all those useless calendars in the newer phones which are supposedly compatible with iCal..

    too bad there isn't a single calendaring server available for businesses or organizations to use which could meet this demand.

    --
    Your ignorance is infinitely greater than you realize.
  104. I like Google but... by Jahz · · Score: 1

    Who gives a shit?

    --
    There are 10 types of people in the world. Those who understand binary and those who do not.
  105. Google's been hitting a section of my site too! by Cyn · · Score: 2, Funny

    I've noticed a huge increase in GoogleBot hits to my underage beastial gay midget porn section of my site. This leads me to believe that Google will soon be offering underage beastial gay midget porn. They'll probably call it Goopsyourarrested.com or something.

    [ Disclaimer: No. Just... No. You sicko. Jeez. How2ReadAJoke ]

    --
    cyn, free software and *nix operating systems enthusiast.
  106. Re:Doesn't add up to anything - or does it? by circusnews · · Score: 1

    Oooo! Oooo! I got one! Google has been crawling both of my circus web sites (www.circusnews.com and www.simplycircus.com) every day. They MUST be up to something.

    Thats it! Google is launching their own traveling circus! It's a CIRCUS I tell you, a CIRCUS!

  107. What distro do they use at Google? by Fucko · · Score: 1

    I read on Wikipedia that every Google employ has a Linux Workstation. Does anybody know what distro do they use? Or do you know any Google employ blogs that could answer this question?

    1. Re:What distro do they use at Google? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      http://www.techworld.com/opsys/features/index.cfm? fuseaction=displayfeatures&featureid=467&page=1&pa gepos=0

      "Google's architecture is home-grown. Its PC servers are supplied by two specialist server builders. There is no great case study material here for Sun or IBM or HP, none whatsoever. The only well-known supplier is Red Hat for Linux, and much of its distribution is discarded as not needed." ...i know...i know......i need to register

  108. I use the Weather Channel every day by tomzyk · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ... in my web browser using Forecast Fox.

    And I wouldn't exactly say that weather.com is "useless". I can visit the site and it tells me what the forecast for taday, tonight, and tomorrow is. For me, that is typically enough. (And a weekend or 10-day forecast is one-click away too.)

    Of course, if I am feeling frisky and want to look at nifty Java apps for radar data, I'll visit IntelliCast or some other site.

    Again, for me, seeing the weather for today and tomorrow in my status bar is all the functionality I typically require.

    --
    Karma: NaN
    1. Re:I use the Weather Channel every day by adolf · · Score: 1

      Why, sure. But using Forecast Fox is not even close to using like weather.com as a web page, is it? It's more properly described as scraping weather.com to glean the few non-useless bits of information that it does contain.

      I scrape weather.com on occassion, as well, if I'm sitting on the couch listening to music with XBMC and feel like checking the forecast. I'm in no way annoyed by this, and it does work rather well.

      But you're absolutely kidding yourself if you really think that either of these methods in any way enable you to experience all that is useless about weather.com. For that, you need a web browser, like God intended, and a LINK TO THE PAGE. CLICK HERE NOW! FREE WEATHER INFORMATION. Check out the new 2006 Buick lineup! CONSUME! OBEY!

  109. Vs. MS? by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    Right now, MS has total control and has shown that they are unethical, immoral, and illegal. Now, I do not wish to help another MS come up in power (esp. since I helped push MS against IBM back in the 80s). But the question is, can Google be put in a monopoly position ? And I do not think so. They do not own the OS, nor are they trying to. Right now, they own a search engine and are competing against other web based structures. But they do not control the computers, their OSs, nor their main apps. Nor are they likely to be able to pull that off.

    With Linux up and coming (and BSD, MAC, etc), once they have stopped MS, I do not think that we will have to deal with a company like MS again.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  110. Looks like google is building a portal by cylcyl · · Score: 1

    Looks like google is building a portal from the ground up. Unlike the portals in the past (AOL, Yahoo, MSN, etc) who went in and said: "I want to make a portal", then went about creating half-baked services that would allow it to have a range of services that makes it a portal. Google is doing it the other way around. It is building service sets into best of breed: news, mail, blog, froogle, local, maps. Calendar seems to be the next link in the chain that leads to a full blown portal