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Google I/O 2012 app unveiled for Android, keeps attendees and outsiders looped in
Hardly any self-respecting conference can do without a companion app these days and Google has pulled out all the stops with an updated app for I/O 2012. Now available on Google Play, this year's iteration is formatted to work equally well on phones and tablets, and allows users to easily sync events with their calendars and find sessions they're interested in, as well as share them on Google+ or in other apps. The social integration doesn't stop there, as a Google+ stream of the #io2012 hashtag is built right in. The app reaches all the way back to Froyo devices, but there are advanced features like I/O Live session video streams (Honeycomb and above), and automatic synching of schedules / NFC beaming (Android 4.0+). Of course, even if you're just going to observe the event from afar, a few eagle eyed users are already wondering if one of the screenshots (above, left) is giving an early peek at the next version Android, Jelly Bean, due to the oddly styled search box. Whatever the case is, we'll find out for sure June 27th, hit the source link below to grab the app and get ready.
Microsoft details Windows 8 Calendar app design, wants to 'show your life clearly'
As part of its "Building Windows 8" blog series, Redmond has been doling inside info on apps like Mail and People, and now it's Calendar's turn in the spotlight. Steven Sinofsky blogged that one of the primary marks was to serve up a clear view of your life, and the team wanted Calendar to be easy to read and distraction free. To bring that about, it kept the info displayed to a minimum, giving users the option to easily change colors for important events and drop distracting ones from view if necessary. The designers also stressed ease of navigation, a simple interface for adding events, copious notification options and and advanced scheduling tricks -- like a full page of notes for each event. Of course, Microsoft also wanted to ensure the app conforms to Metro design standards and functionality, and it seems to fit that mold in spades. Sinofsky also said that a lot of user feedback was accounted for, so be sure to check the source to see if that "Caturday" idea made the cut.
LinkedIn leaks password hashes, iOS app is scraping your meeting notes [UPDATE x2]
It's not a good day for the social network for professionals. Recently, someone posted about 6.5 million password hashes on a Russian hacker forum; it looks like many or most of those came from LinkedIn. Hashes themselves are not enough to grant a bad guy access to your LinkedIn account, but if your password is found in any dictionary or list of common passwords, it's going to be cracked. Go ahead and change your LinkedIn password now -- then we'll get to the other LinkedIn news. Last April, LinkedIn finally got around to rolling out an iPad app. Truthfully, the iPad app leaves a lot to be desired. It's not nearly as good as LinkedIn's iPhone app. However, both apps share a new feature that lets them sync with iOS calendars, thus allowing users to view upcoming events inside the LinkedIn app itself. The only problem appears to be, as the New York Times reports, that LinkedIn is collecting a user's meeting notes and sending them back to LinkedIn's servers. Uh, oh. Why this is a big deal -- and why every LinkedIn user should be furious about this -- is because it's a major breach of privacy, it's against Apple's privacy guidelines, and nowhere is it stated in the app that enabling calendar sync will send any event notes back to LinkedIn servers. As the New York Times points out, many people include confidential notes in a calendar event. For instance, a CEO might have a calendar event for a meeting in which, in addition to the time and place, he also might have written down the corporate call-in number along with its passcode and the company's confidential financial highlights in the notes. Also, LinkedIn's calendar sync doesn't just upload your business calendars to LinkedIn's serves, it uploads your personal ones as well. So if you have a calendar event for a private medical appointment and make a note on the event saying, "Ask doctor about the lump I found," that's on LinkedIn's servers, too. LinkedIn spokesperson Julie Inouye told the New York Times the company's "calendar sync feature is a clear 'opt-in' experience...We use information from the meeting data to match LinkedIn profile information about who you're meeting with so you have more information about that person." She also noted that user's iOS calendars only sync when the LinkedIn app is open and that users could opt out of the calendar feature at any point. There are two problems with this answer: One, it doesn't explain why users weren't notified their private notes were being uploaded to LinkedIn's servers, and two, it doesn't address whether a user's calendars and notes are deleted from the servers when a user who has opted in opts out, or if the already-uploaded events and their notes remain on LinkedIn's servers forever. Until LinkedIn rectifies this (or Apple steps up to the plate and pulls the app until it's rectified) there's little a user can do if they've already opted in to LinkedIn's calendar sync. However, those who have opted in can still opt out, and thus at least prevent future entries from being uploaded to LinkedIn's servers, by doing the following: On the iPhone Open the LinkedIn iOS app on your iPhone. Select your profile (the "You" badge). Tap the cog wheel icon in the top-right corner. Tap "Add Calendar." On the next screen, switch "Add Your Calendar" to OFF. On the iPad Open the LinkedIn iOS app on your iPhone. Tap the cog wheel icon in the top-left corner. Switch "Show Calendar" to OFF. UPDATE: LinkedIn has issued a statement regarding the mobile calendar feature, saying: "We Don't: We do not store any calendar information on our servers. We do not share or use your calendar data for purposes other than matching it with relevant LinkedIn profiles. We do not under any circumstances access your calendar data unless you have explicitly opted in to sync your calendar We Will Improve: We will no longer send data from the meeting notes section of your calendar event. There will be a new 'learn more' link to provide more information about how your calendar data is being used." UPDATE 2: LinkedIn has updated their iOS app to presumably alter the way their calendar sync feature collects data. The 5.0.3 update states that the changes include "miscellaneous bug fixes" and "improvements in calendar."
Droplet and StackAR bring physical interface to virtual experiences, communicate through light (hands-on)
Light-based communication seems to wind throughout the MIT Media Lab -- it is a universal language, after all, since many devices output light, be it with a dedicated LED or a standard LCD, and have the capacity to view and interpret it. One such device, coined Droplet, essentially redirects light from one source to another, while also serving as a physical interface for tablet-based tasks. Rob Hemsley, a research assistant at the Media Lab, was on hand to demonstrate two of his projects. Droplet is a compact self-contained module with an integrated RGB LED, a photodiode and a CR1216 lithium coin battery -- which provides roughly one day of power in the gadget's current early prototype status. Today's demo used a computer-connected HDTV and a capacitive-touch-enabled tablet. Using the TV to pull up a custom Google Calendar module, Hemsley held the Droplet up to a defined area on the display, which then output a series of colors, transmitting data to the module. Then, that data was pushed to a tablet after placing the Droplet on the display, pulling up the same calendar appointment and providing a physical interface for adjusting the date and time, which is retained in the cloud and the module itself, which also outputs pulsing light as it counts down to the appointment time. StackAR, the second project, functions in much the same way, but instead of outputting a countdown indicator, it displays schematics for a LilyPad Arduino when placed on the tablet, identifying connectors based on a pre-selected program. The capacitive display can recognize orientation, letting you drop the controller in any position throughout the surface, then outputting a map to match. Like the Droplet, StackAR can also recognize light input, even letting you program the Arduino directly from the tablet by outputting light, effectively simplifying the interface creation process even further. You can also add software control to the board, which will work in conjunction with the hardware, bringing universal control interfaces to the otherwise space-limited Arduino. Both projects appear to have incredible potential, but they're clearly not ready for production just yet. For now, you can get a better feel for Droplet and StackAR in our hands-on video just past the break.
Daily iPhone App: Time to Enjoy lets you find events based on time
Did you ever find yourself ready for a night out and clueless about where to go and what to do? If you need help finding a spur-of-the-moment event, then you should check out Time to Enjoy, a time-driven event calendar. Time to Enjoy is different than other event apps which list events based only on your location or a search. It's smarter than that and uses both your selected time and location to display nearby events. If it's my lunch break and I want to make plans for the evening, I can tap on the 8 pm slot on the Time to Enjoy calendar, and it will pull up events that I can attend at that time. Once I find something to do, I can add the event to one of my synced calendars, Google it for more information or share it via Twitter, Facebook, SMS or email. If you're not sure where the event is being held, you can click on the "directions" link and the app will launch Google Maps. Time to Enjoy works best in urban areas where there are ample concerts, sporting events, movies, conferences, art exhibits, and more. Even in my rural area, though, it picked up local classes, band performances and an organic farmer's market. You can grab Time to Enjoy from the iOS App Store for free.
How to enable iCal's debug menu
ZDNet (via Macgasm) has posted a couple of neat iCal tweaks that should make your life a bit easier: Enabling the debug menu and showing two weeks worth of appointments at once. The trick involves a couple of Terminal commands. To enter debug mode, use the following: defaults write com.apple.iCal IncludeDebugMenu 1 And, if you want to remove it, use the following command: defaults write com.apple.iCal IncludeDebugMenu 0 Once you've got the debug menu activated, restart iCal. Here's what you'll see. There's quite a few tricks here, including the ability to have to multiple iCal windows open at the same time. You also can expand the week view to glimpse up to 28 days at once, which is a little too much. But like ZDNet says, being able to see two weeks at a time in week view is pretty handy. To switch the views, select the desired time from the "top sekret" menu and toggle between week and another calendar option. The new mode is enabled once you return to the week view.
Windows Phone 7.5 gets multiple Google Calendar sync, additional Gmail features
Google's improved how its calendar and email services interact with Windows Phones running the Mango update. Users can now cram up to 25 different calendars into the Metro OS's built-in calendar app. The setup's not exactly seamless; you need to navigate your Windows Phone to the Google Sync page, login and check the boxes found there. While testing on our phones, although one device was able to immediately sync, the other couldn't pick up on our multiple calendars. We had to delete and re-assign our Google account to the phone in order to get it working. However, once we did, the Metro styling lent itself well to multiple calendar listings, with the ability (like the web-based Google Calendar) to assign colors to each. At the same Google Sync page, you can now choose to enable the "send mail as" feature if you're using multiple addresses, with the option to delete unwanted emails instead of archiving. However, aside from replying from the same address that you received emails to, we haven't discovered a way to assign new mails to our multiple guises. We were able to send messages through our own Engadget mail account, although that's then used on all future missives. Despite these rough edges, it remains a welcome bit of extra functionality. Are we still longing for a dedicated Gmail app? Definitely. We just hope those devs don't drop the ball.
Doodle adds iCal connector for cloud scheduling
Mac users of the cloud-based scheduling service Doodle will be happy to learn that the company has released a beta of its iCal Connector software for Mac. Doodle is a service that lets users send out potential meeting dates to friends or clients. Those recipients see a poll with the meeting schedule options; they can vote on which date would be best for them. The tentative dates show up in that user's calendar client (Outlook, Google Calendar, etc.). Users can see what other dates people choose as well. When the original meeting organizer looks over all the dates and chooses the best one for the group, all the tentative dates are automatically wiped clean from everyone's calendar software with only the chosen one left. Until now Doodle's third-party calendar support was limited to Google Calendar or Microsoft's Exchange calendaring. With the iCal beta, now Mac users can take full advantage of the cloud-based meeting selection service, no matter what calendar service they use. If you want to learn more about Doodle, check out this short video. Doodle offers both free and premium accounts for users. The Doodle iCal Connector is a free download.
PlayBook native email, calendar and contacts finally get peeked, look ready for their close-up
We've been waiting very, very patiently, for RIM to make good on its promise to deliver a native email and calendaring experience to the PlayBook. So far, we've been sorely disappointed. Supposedly the essential productivity and contact management tools will be coming with the update to version 2.0 of the OS in February, but until now we've seen neither hide nor pixelated hair of the apps. At the BlackBerry Innovation Forum RIM finally took the wraps off and demoed the email, contacts and calendar suite for a presumably relieved audience of QNX fans. The photos snagged by BlackBerry Cool aren't the greatest, but you can see the experience has been carefully crafted for a tablet, and the smartphone apps have simply been blown up to fill seven diagonal inches. A particularly interesting feature is, as the number of appointments you have scheduled on a particular day increases, the date grows and becomes bolder to alert you to your hectic schedule (above). For a bunch more pics and few more details check out the source link.
Keepsy Calendars: Doing something fun with all those Instagram photos
Every once in a while a product shows up unexpectedly at the TUAW Labs that makes me really, really happy. A flat white box arrived at my door a few days ago, and when I opened it I saw a calendar and something about Instagram. I didn't bother to actually look at the calendar until a few days later, and what I saw absolutely delighted me: a calendar of my personal Instagram pictures from a company called Keepsy. Starting today, Menlo Park, CA-based Keepsy opens the door on a new service that will take photos not only from Instagram, but other services like Facebook, Flickr, and Picasa as well, and turn them into attractive 12-month 11" x 8.5" wall calendars for US$19.95 (or an 18-month calendar for $25.95). The calendars are a new product for Keepsy -- previously they sold books made from Instagram photos. What I was impressed with was the layout and quality of the calendar. My wife makes a 12-month calendar every year from our trip photos in iPhoto, and the print quality of the Keepsy calendar was equal to what we've received from Apple. The layout was beautiful. Every page featured anything from two to 24 photos from my Instagram feed, and whoever at Keepsy did the layout used a great deal of thought in creating clever collections of travel, holiday, food, architecture, and other genres of photos. Keepsy allows customers to gift their friends with the Instagram calendars or books. To keep people from making calendars from Instagram photos belonging to celebrities and other people they don't personally know, Keepsy makes sure that an Instagram user follows the album or calendar creator. For more details, be sure to read the PR blast below, or check the Keepsy website. These calendars look like they'll make perfect holiday gifts for your friends or family. Show full PR text Keepsy launches Instagram Calendars November 1st, 2011 - Menlo Park CA If you're an iPhone user, you've undoubtably heard of Instagram by now. The hot photo-sharing application that has taken the world by storm now has over 10 million users and hundreds of millions of photos uploaded. While some experts are scratching their heads over how the free application will eventually make money, some intrepid companies are diving in head first. One such Silicon Valley startup is riding this wave with printed books and -- starting today -- with printed calendars. "We've been really amazed by the customer feedback on our Instagram books," said Keepsy CEO Peter Weck. "The print quality has been so high that introducing new products with Instagram photos was an easy next step for us." The award-winning site now offers 11" x 8.5" wall calendars starting at $19.95. Keepsy's integration with Instagram, Facebook, Flickr and Picasa allows seamless import of photos from these online services. "With nothing to upload or download, making a book or calendar takes only a few minutes," said VP of Product, Blake Williams. The first website to allow users to create Instagram books -- Keepsy is fast becoming a leading innovator in mobile-to-print technologies. This is the second announcement in as many weeks from the company, as they gear up for the holidays. Last week, Keepsy announced a new "Gift Book" feature that allows friends and family to make printed Instagram books -- and now calendars -- using each others' photos. To ensure that albums are only printed as personal gifts, Keepsy requires that a given Instagram user follows the album or calendar creator in order to access the photos.* "If you're part of the Instagram community, we can't think of a better holiday gift than getting your friend a surprise album or calendar of their best photos," said Williams. "And now that we're shipping to 22 countries, your friends can be just about anywhere." About Keepsy Keepsy uses the power of social networks to create custom, collaborative photo albums and calendars. People can create their own custom albums and invite friends to add their own photos and messages to the album. Keepsy was founded by Peter Weck, Blake Williams, and Kai Zhao. Keepsy's investors include James Hong, Tim Connors, and Dave McClure's 500Startups fund. To learn more about Keepsy, please visit http://www.keepsy.com *Other restrictions apply. For more information, visit http://www.keepsy.com/faqs#503
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich now official, includes revamped design, enhancements galore
Google has taken the stage in Hong Kong to make the next version of Android OS, nicknamed Ice Cream Sandwich, a thing of reality. Better known as Android 4.0, the update offers a massive redesign to the user interface and adds a plethora of new features. Some of the highlights include an NFC-enabled feature called Android Beam, offline search in Gmail, new lock screen features and a fancy unlocking method called "Face Unlock," which uses facial recognition to ensure strangers can't use your phone without permission. Ice Cream Sandwich also includes enhancements in almost every native app within Android itself. The SDK is already available for Android 4.0, and the update itself will make its first public appearance on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, also unveiled tonight. After the break, we'll cover all of the nitty gritty details, along with some excellent screenshots below. So come along, why won't you? %Gallery-136926% %Gallery-136932%
iOS 5 features: Calendar
iOS 5 has arrived, and with it come some really nice updates to the Calendar app. There aren't a whole lot of new things; the app's basic functionality of saving events on dates and showing them back in various views hasn't changed, but there are a few new elements. First up are the new views. On the iPhone and iPod touch, you'll be able to see a week view where you can scroll all the way through from Monday to Sunday. On the iPad there's a new year view, where you can pick up a wide angle look of what your schedule is like. In the views where it's appropriate, you can now drag event borders around to set up the various end and start times for each event (dragging a meeting from 1 pm to 2 pm to last for an hour, for example). You can add, rename, and delete whole calendars right on your iOS device. And there are some subtle features that really make the app more polished. You can now see event times on the month view -- before iOS 5, you could only see that there was an event there, not when it started -- and when you turn pages, you'll get a nice iBooks-like effect. Calendar is better than ever in iOS 5. Whether you're a longtime Calendar user or are just setting it up to sync up with your standard calendar service, these new changes should be quite helpful.
Easy Calendar for iPhone works great and is free today
I use iCal on my Mac and the iOS calendars from Apple quite a bit. I would never have even thought about using a 3rd party app on my iPhone, but Easy Calendar has changed my mind. It's the 'easy' part that I like the most. Using it reduces the taps to create events, from 6 to about 3. Events can be edited with 2 taps, and navigating to different days or weeks is also easier than the stock iPhone calendar. The app syncs with MobileMe, Outlook, Google Calendar and other CalDAV apps. Alarms are supported, and it is multi-lingual in Spanish, German, French and Dutch. Easy Calendar is usually US $3.99, but the price has varied a bit over the months with sales. Of course free is the best price of all, so if you want to try it, grab it today and see if it makes keeping up with events and appointments a bit easier. Here's a video if you want to see how it works.
Macworld's tips to make OS X Lion's iCal less annoying
The changes made to iCal in OS X Lion have definitely been polarizing, and even some of the novice Mac users I know have found some of them questionable. The word "fugly" has come up more than once when discussing iCal's new faux-leather trim, an interface choice that makes a little more sense on the iPad than it does on the Mac. Macworld came up with a few tips to dispatch some of the annoyances introduced in OS X Lion's version of iCal, including the new UI elements. Rather than copy all Macworld's tips here wholesale, I'll recommend you head there and check their advice for yourself. I will highlight one of their tips: getting rid of that execrable leather trim is not only possible, it's quite easy via a third-party program called Lion Tweaks, recommended by Macworld. The application bundles together several of the Lion-related tweaks covered here and elsewhere in an interface that's about as simple as it gets. Reverting iCal's skin to a nice, bland aluminum took less than a minute, and my eyes thank me for it. It's a modestly "hacky" solution to a purely aesthetic problem, but it's preferable to that oddball skeuomorphic design. Even after implementing all the recommended tweaks, it's worth noting that the article writer himself says that ultimately, "Use a better calendar program" is his top recommendation. For my part, the only reason I stick with iCal on the Mac is its integration with the Calendar apps on the iPhone and iPad via MobileMe (and soon iCloud).
The Daily Grind: Which MMO supports guilds the best?
In my opinion, guilds are the backbone of the social component of MMOs. Without them, games might as well be flopping on the ground, unable to move and in severe pain. Ever since MMOs first came on the scene -- and even before -- players have naturally gravitated to guilds as part of their gaming experience. At Massively, we love guilds so much we dedicate a weekly column to exploring their intricacies. Unfortunately, not all MMOs treat guilds the same; some receive a huge amount of support from the dev team, while others are given a skeleton framework and told to buzz off. Not every game has guild housing, guild ranks, in-game calendars, shared storage, perks, and other means of structure and support. If one were to consider all of the features that help guilds form, grow, and function, what MMO would top the list? Which game treats its guilds as members of royalty instead as sewer-digging peasants? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
TUAW'S Daily iPad App: Pocket Informant HD
WebIS Pocket Informant is an advanced PIM that has been around for years, transitioning from the Windows Mobile platform to iOS quite nicely. The iPad version of this calendaring and task management app is particularly notable for its wonderful layout and efficient use of the entire iPad display. One feature Pocket Informant was known for, even back in its Windows Mobile days, was its many settings and options. And, thankfully, these features are carried over to the iOS application. The settings menu on the iPad has options for General settings, Appearance, Today settings, Calendar settings, Task settings, Sync setting and Advanced settings. Under each of these headings are options to change colors, views, orientation, notifications and more. It's a field of dreams for those that like to tweak an app to their personal tastes. Pocket Informant HD has the appearance of daily planner and can be viewed in either portrait or landscape view. In either orientation, there are tabs on the right side which lets you switch from calendar view, task view, agenda view and settings. Each section has even more options in the top bar. From this bar, you can add an event or task as well as switch from days, month or week view. You can also display information from an individual calendar and use a search box to find a specific appointment or task. Despite all these options, everything is neat, orderly and pleasing to the eye. For those who adhere to a planning regimen, Pocket Informant HD supports Getting Things Done or Franklin Covey ABC/1-99 Prioritization of tasks. It also syncs with multiple Google calendars, iOS calendars and Toodledo. Some users may be overwhelmed by all the options and views available, but most users will be pleased by the power and flexibility of this personal information management app. At $12.99 Pocket Informant HD is pricey, but it's worth the cost for those that rely on their calendar to help manage their busy lives. %Gallery-129441%
Google 'winding down' Labs, likely due to meddling older sister
Google Labs, that breeding ground for the wacky, sublime, and sometimes useful experiments that Mountain View's scooter-loving employees are so fond of, is getting ready to "wind down." The software giant announced today that the experimental forum for testing out potential features is being sidelined, in order for the company to focus on bigger picture ideas. Some of the more useful experimentation for properties like Calendar and Gmail will stick around, as will the Labs experiments that eventually made their way into the Android market. Google has promised to keep us all in the loop during the transition, so perhaps we can pick up a few secondhand test tubes for our own collections.
Video App Demo: Agenda Calendar
Agenda Calendar is a gesture-based calendar app for your iPhone or iPod touch (our review here). Agenda features a very minimal interface, presenting your data in a simple, straightforward manner with a few animations here and there. There is some intelligence built in as well, giving you links to maps and other things within the app. It's very nicely done and should appeal to those who like a no-fuss interface. Check out the demo below for a preview. if(typeof AOLVP_cfg==='undefined')AOLVP_cfg=[];AOLVP_cfg.push({id:'AOLVP_1034495049001','codever':0.1, 'autoload':false, 'autoplay':false, 'playerid':'61371448001', 'videoid':'1034495049001', 'width':480, 'height':270, 'stillurl':'http://pdl.stream.aol.com/pdlext/aol/brightcove/studionow/p/5e50874aadb06/r/0ecdfddfec243/al/193062/poster-10.jpg', 'playertype':'inline','videotitle':'TUAW - App Demo - Agenda','videolink':'#'});
Fantastical 1.0.2 for Mac supports BusyCal
While I read our review of Fantastical with much enthusiasm, as a longtime BusyCal user I simply couldn't afford to play dice with my calendar. But Fantastical 1.0.2 is now available, and the primary update appears to be that the natural-language calendar tool now plays nice with BusyCal. You can get Fantastical from Flexibits directly or on the Mac App Store.
Club Nintendo 'Platinum' members to receive commemorative pin set
Yesterday marked the end of the "year," as far as North America's Club Nintendo Elite Status goes. Did you earn 600 "Coins" by registering first-party Wii, DS, and 3DS games and taking surveys between the end of June last year and yesterday? If so, you're entitled to this year's gift for Platinum status holders, a set of commemorative pins. The 25 Super Mario Bros. sprite pins come in six boxes that can be arranged to form a picture of Mario, a mushroom, or a Goomba. If you hit the 300-Coin mark in that period, you're entitled to the "Gold" gift, which, as always, is a desk calendar with a different Nintendo game theme for each month. We just switched over to the Nintendogs + Cats page in our 2011 calendar this morning! Awwww.