The Hacker’s Blog

As we all know, Google has quickly become the king of search engines and is well on its way to full internet takeover. GMail, Google Calendar and Google Docs are just three of the many tools Google has provided for us to make our lives more simple and streamlined. I personally use all three and can vouch for both their simplicity of use and their multitude of features.

In this first part of the three (or more, if I feel up to it) part series is going to cover using Google Calendar. Its a wonderful tool that not only allows you to set up your own personal calendars, but allows you to use the calendars of others (such as holidays, lunar activity) and collaborate a calendar among several people.

Here’s a quick rundown of what I think makes Google Calendar the best calendar software out there.

1.) Multiple Calendars displayed as one

When using Google Calendars (or gCals for short), you’re given the opportunity to create multiple calendars. This allows you to keep some information private while still being able to share other information. All the calendars associated with your account are displayed, each with their events highlighted with a different color. My account has the following calendars: Holidays, Lunar activity, my exercise routine (that I share with a friend), a to-do list (useful for reports, homework, test dates) and a calendar just for my personal activities.

2.) Ability to share calendars with others

My exercise schedule (Gettin’ Prime primed) is shared with a friend of mine. He and I share this calendar so that we can work together even though we live quite some distance apart. Its gives you nearly the same effect as working with a gym partner, you see how much they have done and that makes you want to out-do them. While gCals are useful for this, shared calendars can be used for much more.

Pretend for a minute that you are part of a web design team and you need a site ready to go in one month’s time. You’re team consists of three members: one is the graphics designer, another the PHP coder and you, the third, gets to be the lucky s.o.b. who puts it all together. How are you all going to keep track of how the others are managing their parts? Well, all you’ll need to do is set up a shared calendar and allow the other two members to access it. You can set their deadlines for different parts, as well as have them keep you updated by posting comments on their events. This brings me to the next item in my list.

3.) Adding comments to events

All activities on a gCal are referred to as events. These events can be anything: your sweetie’s upcoming birthday, your uncle Joe’s funeral (he hasn’t kicked it yet, but you’re hoping for somewhere around May or June of next year) or even your oh-so-favorite prostate exam. (As a side note, none of my calendars keep these items for the following reasons: I’m a smart enough guy to realize I need to remember my sweetie’s birthday, I have no uncle Joe and my prostate is perfectly fine without a finger, or anything else for that matter, prodding it, thank you very much

Let’s say that you have an event to remind you of your sweetie’s uncle Joe’s birthday. Now let’s say that your sweetie told you (via IM, no one talks IRL anymore) what to get dear old Joe. If you’re the careful type (or smart even), you’ll open up your gCal and search for uncle Joe’s birthday, edit the event and add a comment containing a note to yourself: “Buy uncle Joe that new Girls Gone Wild DVD that he’s been asking for.” Et voila! No more sweating it out the day before Joe’s big party - you’ll know right where to look to figure out what it was you were supposed to get him - “Oh crap-crap-crap…What was it I was supposed to get him? *whips out iPhone* Oh, yeah, right! I stored it in my gCal! BAM!” See how easily a nasty situation was adverted?

4.) Alerts via SMS and e-mail

Google just loves SMS and for that, I just love Google. Using your cell phone to get today’s or tomorrow’s activities is as easy as texting ‘day’ or ‘nday’ to 48638. You can also use your cell to add events to your calendar and while I’ve never done that, I’m sure its a useful feature if you’re not around a computer.

While you can get all the information you need by using a cell phone, you can also use your email. By setting the option to get the list of the days events, you’ll have an email sitting in your inbox every morning at 5:00AM containing a list of what your loved one has set up for you to do today (because we all know, a good girlfriend or wife in today’s age never uses a honey-do list that sits on the ‘fridge - its all planed out weeks in advance using gCals! Ladies, remember this!)

5.) Checking your gCal from your mobile device

And last, and probably least for me, if you feel the need to check your gCals from your blackberry or PDA while driving down the highway with your kids in the back just a-hootin’ and a-hollerin’ and your wife in the passenger seat going on about how her uncle Joe ended up hooking up with the doc from his annual prostate exam, don’t worry - because you can! If you point your cell phone’s browser to http://www.google.com/calendar/m you’ll be able to view and use your calendar just as if you’re sitting home in your (quiet) study.

Google is, like, taking over the world, man. It is, really. As I wrap up this post, I just want to dedicate this post to dear old uncle Joe whose time has recently come. Though he may never have existed, he’ll always hold a special spot in my virtual heart. If any of you would like to make a donation to my sweetie’s (fictional) uncle Joe’s memorial service, please feel free to send some money to my Paypal: prime[at]thehackersblog.com. Or if you’d rather, just leave a nice comment, whether it be a loving comment in memory of Joe or a reason why you like, or hate,  Google and its calendar.