As of yesterday’s announcement of CalDAV support in Google Calendar, you can now sync your Google Calendar with virtually any popular desktop calendar for free. Not only can you enjoy your favorite desktop calendar software and still get the benefit of the web interface, you can also sync any desktop calendar with any other across platforms using GCal as a go-between. Let’s take a comprehensive look at how to set up bidirectional syncing between Google Calendar and your favorite desktop calendar—from Outlook and iCal to Sunbird and Thunderbird—for free.
Remember, this doesn’t mean that you can sync Google Calendar with just one desktop calendar. It means that no matter what you’re using—Outlook at work and iCal at home, for example—you can always stick to desktop calendars if that’s what you prefer. Google Calendar now works as both a great web application and a dedicated syncing tool. It’s the cloud, and once it’s set up, you don’t ever have to access your calendar through the web again if you don’t feel like it. But when you’re not at a desktop, you can fire up GCal from any web browser, make changes, and still be confident your desktop is completely in sync next time you fire it up. Let’s get started.
You may have last seen gOS, the free, Ubuntu-based Linux distribution, touted here as a way to revive an old PC with a webapp focus. Now there’s three flavors of gOS available, including a ‘Space’ release that was designed with a Mac-like slickness to its interface, and a lot of MySpace functionality thrown in, on top of all the other Google, Facebook, and other link-ups. ‘Space’ ups the hardware demands from the standard gOS (to about the modern Ubuntu requirements); if you’re running older stock or just like the original interface, it’s still offered as ‘gOS Rocket E,’ or the GNOME-based ‘gOS Rocket G’ for Ubuntu fans. Live CDs/DVDs are offered for each flavor, so it’s free to take a look. Photo by thinbegin.
(Via Lifehacker.)
The easy to use video production tool to create anything from a simple holiday video to a live television broadcast. Whatever edition of VidBlaster you choose, the production will be live without any editing required. Use VidBlaster Home to easily create and record videos for sites like YouTube, or holiday videos for personal use, or create video podcasts and publish them with one click to any WordPress site or to Mevio. Use VidBlaster Pro to create television-like recordings using multiple cameras, or stream it live to the internet! Coming soon! Use VidBlaster Studio if you need an entire control room, with multiple monitors and a professional video switcher, all of course in broadcast quality. Whatever edition you use, VidBlaster will put live video production at your fingertips!
Twitter may be experimenting with a new design, but even its new interface still leaves something to be desired. Tweenky, a new mashup that launched in private beta last week, is looking to offer Twitter users an alternative. The site sports an AJAX-heavy design that borrows heavily from Gmail (which isn’t a bad thing), and integrates a number of features that should appeal to Twitter powerusers. To get one of 200 invites, go here and enter the word ‘techcrunch’ as the invite code.
Users send new tweets from a form at the top of the page that includes integration with link-shortening sites snipurl.com and is.gd. The familiar left sidebar is broken into shortcuts, folders, and a list of hot topics taken from search.twitter.com (formerly Summize). Each folder represents a collapsible lists of keywords and Twitter users that you’ve subscribed to. The site also emulates Twitter’s Track function, which lets you keep tabs on a certain keyword over IM or SMS (Twitter used to have this feature, but disabled it earlier this year).
Tweenky isn’t doing anything revolutionary – all of its features are available elsewhere, either from twitter.com or TwitterSpy, which also provides Twitter’s lost tracking feature. But it brings everything together in a cohesive package that is much more intutive than most other attempts we’ve seen. For more information, check out Orli Yakuel’s introduction to the site.
(Via TechCrunch.)
It’s simple, and cool, literally. In theory, this would be a great way to cool yourself but in practice you might look like too nerdy. It doesn’t need any battery, since it’s solar-powered and what better place to get sunlight than a cap visor? It might kill attacking mosquitoes too… Brando is currently selling it for $10.
(Via Ubergizmo.)
The first Apple store in South Carolina is officially scheduled to open this Saturday, July 25th, at 10 am on King Street in Charleston.
Who else is going to be there? And the big question – how early do we need to start lining up?.
(Via Tybee Guy.)
Today Data Robotics launched the second generation of its Drobo ‘storage robot’. Drobo is a drive system that offers redundant data protection, and instant expandability allowing storage capacity to grow over time as need be. New enhancements in the second generation Drobo include an upgraded core processor, two FireWire 800 ports, dramatically increased USB 2.0 performance, and newly optimized firmware. If you held off on buying the first generation Drobo because it was USB only, this new one is for you.
Features include:
The second generation Drobo is priced at USD$499 and also comes in a 2TB version for USD$899, and a 4TB version for USD$1,299. Discount codes are also available if you know where to look.
If you’re unfamiliar with the Drobo, take a video tour with Cali Lewis.
(Via MacMerc.com.)
Google Maps wants to help you get where you’re going on foot with a new option to switch your step-by-step driving directions to walking directions. The main difference between walking and driving directions appears to be time estimates, with Google estimating your walking pace at about 19 minutes per mile. The walking directions appear to deviate from driving directions at times, though from trying it in my neighborhood I can’t pinpoint why it’s changing for the walking route. The other main difference is the ominous warning that I should ‘use caution when walking in unfamiliar areas.’ Thanks for the dose of fear, Google. (I guess the same doesn’t apply to driving?) We’d heard some users were seeing walking directions rolled out a few weeks ago, but it looks like Google has recently unveiled the feature to all users.
(Via Lifehacker.)
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