One of the applications for which the Consumer Cloud is particularly relevant is the calendar. Unless you still carry around a paper diary, you likely use a digital calendar service such as Google Calendar, Apple iCal or Microsoft Outlook. You probably want to access your calendar while you're out and about, for example on your smartphone or tablet. While there are many ways to sync your calendar to your various devices, they're typically fairly technical or fiddly to set up. In this post we'll explore how calendar sync has evolved... or has it?

If you use Apple's new iCloud, you have an option to turn on calendar sync. But the user experience is less than ideal. In fact it's downright messy.

I use Google Calendar for my personal and work lives. The first problem I experienced with iCloud is that you have to choose between iCloud and Google Calendar sync. iCloud won't let you integrate the two. In other words, if you turn on iCloud to sync calendars - it will only sync iCal ones.

I was frankly confused by this at first, because when I had iCloud turned on to sync calendars I noticed a bunch of my old iCal calendars - that I'd long ago stopped using - show up on my iPhone and iPad (see screenshot to the right). What's more, they began to send me notifications on those devices! I eventually figured out that iCloud calendar sync was useless for me, as I was using Google Calendar and iCloud doesn't support it. So I turned off iCloud sync for calendars.

That meant I had to set up Google Calendar separately on each device that I own. I'd actually already done that a while ago. But the point is I thought iCloud would replace that process, so future devices would be easier to sync. It didn't.

I wasn't the only one to have problems with iCloud and calendars. Danny Sullivan blogged about his experiences trying to merge Outlook and Google Calendar with iCloud. Sullivan concluded that for calendaring, "iCloud isn't solving my cross-platform issue at all." Indeed, he felt it is "more invasive" than Google's calendar sync.

Other Solutions

There are other ways to sync calendars. For example ReadWriteWeb webmaster Jared Smith uses ActiveSync, a Microsoft technology, to sync iCal with Google calendar.

I asked my Google+ followers which calendar they use and if/how they sync it. Most people do sync across devices, but their methods vary.

Bob Adams commented that he uses Google for his personal calendar and Microsoft Exchange at work. He said that both are "merged on my Android calendar app."

Rob Michael's comment is more proof that Apple hasn't figured calendar sync out yet. "I started syncing calendars/contacts on my PalmPilot," said Michael, "then moved to Mac iCal/ AddressBk for syncing to iPhone. Now I've moved everything to Google Cal and access/ sync via Android/browser cloud. I love Google's offline functionality too. In some ways, the old Palm Pilot is my favorite for its ease of use and speed. My least favorite was the iPhone set-up."

Lest we forget, there are other calendars out there other than by Apple, Google and Microsoft. Hubert Wagner commented that he uses Lotus Notes calendar, which he said is "available on my laptop via Lotus Notes and browser [and] Notes Traveler and browser on Android."

Ahhh, if it were only this easy... Apple's marketing of iCloud for calendars.

Calendar Sync Still a Work In Progress

What all of these solutions - including iCloud - have in common is that they require a bit of technical set-up. None of these calendar sync solutions is the kind of simple, painless sync that Consumer Cloud services should be providing.

Google has the best solution so far, because it's all hosted in the cloud to begin with. Unlike Apple's iCal or Microsoft's Outlook. But other than on Android, which it has a large degree of control over, Google is reliant on device software from the likes of Apple and Microsoft. Apple does allow sync of Google Calendar onto its devices, but as mentioned above it's a fiddly process and needs to be set up separately on each device.

Perhaps one day iCloud and other consumer cloud services will make it a simple, one time only process to set up calendar sync across all devices. But that day is not here yet. Let us know your thoughts on calendar sync in the comments.

Such data standards make it easier to develop apps that use your calendar data and make more viable the development of new calendar software without fear that users will be locked out of application ecosystems.

Among the new features are the ability to enhance your calendar with photos from Flickr, a built-in to-do list, and support for drag and drop. Yahoo Calendar can now also send out reminders for important events by email, IM, or SMS.

Yahoo will roll this new functionality out slowly, starting as a closed beta in the U.S., Brazil, India, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. Over time, Yahoo will roll the new calendar out to all Yahoo Mail users.

Why Now?

According to Yahoo's data, only about 8 million out of its 280 million Yahoo mail customers use Yahoo's Calendar now. As John Kremer, Yahoo's VP for Yahoo Mail, told us today, this was one of the main reasons why Yahoo started redesigning the calendar. John also told us that he thought now was the right time to reevaluate the calendar, as users are starting to become more comfortable with online calendaring and calendar sharing. Also, the widespread adoption of open standards like iCal and CalDAV is making it easier for different services to provide interoperability and is driving the adoption of online calendars.

Until now, Yahoo did not integrate the Yahoo Calendar well with Yahoo Mail. While Google Mail has far fewer users than Yahoo Mail, its users are far more likely to also use the Google Calendar, thanks to, in no small part, the straightforward integration between the two.

Cleaner, Easier to Use Interface

The new interface for Yahoo Calendar is a lot cleaner than the old one and integrates a number of features from Zimbra's calendar, including the ability to zoom in and out from a specific date.

The integration with Flickr is still in its early stages. Right now, the calendar will only display a limited set of Flickr's recently highlighted photos, but over time, Yahoo will allow you to choose your own pictures.

In this new beta, Yahoo also now allows you to layer different calendars and gives you very granular controls for sharing these. You can also very easily subscribe to other calendars. Yahoo will also make it very easy to integrate calendar information from other Yahoo properties, including Yahoo TV and Sports.

In the next version of this beta, Yahoo will also integrate a number of social features into the calendar, including data from Upcoming.org. It also looks like Yahoo is planning another overhaul of the site's design to incorporate these features.

Yahoo Taking the Lead for Mainstream Adoption of Calendaring Standards

Other online calendars like Google Calendar or 30 Boxes already offer a lot of this functionality, but Yahoo Calendar has a far wider mainstream adoption than any other calendar. It's good to see that Yahoo is taking the lead here and is planning to roll this beta out publicly around Q1 of 2009, as Yahoo can lead the market towards greater adoption of these open standards and online calendaring in general.

The new tool providing this functionality is the latest version of the Outlook Connector public beta. This downloadable software works to sync Outlook's calendar with Windows Live Hotmail's Calendar with the Windows Live Calendar Beta. Such an integrated offering is a surprise considering that Microsoft is a company that's sometimes known for launching what are perceived as too-similar, parallel solutions (think FolderShare, SyncToy, SkyDrive, Mesh).

The previous version of this connector allowed you to sync email and contacts data between Outlook and Hotmail for free, but calendar sync required a subscription service. With this new version, however, calendar sync is now free and it includes the ability to work with Live Calendar beta. And because Live Calendar also supports calendar sharing, those shared calendars will sync back to Outlook, too.

For someone who uses an Outlook calendar at work, keeps a personal calendar in Hotmail, and perhaps has a shared family calendar in Live Calendar, this new sync tool will be incredibly useful. Whether you're online or offline, all your calendars are available from one place: Outlook.

The release of this connector is a great example of Microsoft's firm commitment to their S+S (Software + Services) architecture. They intend for software to be the hub for your activities with web services available as an additional layer. S+S combines the power of the internet with the richness that is still, as of today, found mostly in desktop software (although web software is quickly closing that gap). This is an entirely different mindset than what Google and other web companies are offering - in fact, it's just the opposite. Google Calendar, for example, will be implementing Google Gears which is software that makes a web app available offline and then syncs your changes when you connect to the internet again. The battle between these two similar, but opposing, methodologies will play out over the coming months. The ReadWriteWeb audience of early adopters and web developers tends to think the winner will be web apps in the end, but the truth of the matter is that it's still too early in the game for either side to declare victory just yet.

Of course, the missing piece to the Microsoft solution is the fact that Outlook (or any) desktop software isn't necessarily available on every PC that you own. However, considering their new Live Mesh platform isn't designed to just handle file sync, but is designed to handle application sync too, it's easy to see what direction they're headed. Microsoft is still betting on software - they're just using the web as a tool which makes everything work together more seamlessly than it did before .

Do you think S+S is a viable solution for computing's future? Or do you think today's web apps should be focused on implementing offline sync? Or can these two opposing agendas co-exist? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Judging from the change in business models, however, it would seem that Calgoo couldn't attract enough paying users. It's interesting that Calgoo couldn't make its 'freemium' model of free basic services and paid advanced feature work.

According to Calgoo, it is making its products available for free in order to "move to in-calendar advertising business models." While Calgoo hasn't outlined what these in-calendar ads would look like, this move is also consistent with the overall trend on the web towards advertising financed products.

As Svetlana Gladkova also points out in this context, users have simply become so accustomed to not paying for anything on the web that even charging for premium features is becoming very difficult for some companies. Calgoo must have surely felt the same pressure. In the short run, this is probably to the users' advantage.

The service compares somewhat to Evite, but Kartzman stressed that Spongecell isn't focused on one-off events like birthday parties -- though the product could be used that way -- but rather hopes to help organizations or event managers who run a large number of gatherings to manage their entire calendar.

Spongecell's service has three main components:

• Publishing: Each event gets a web page that allows people to RSVP, comment, get directions, etc. Event pages can be syndicated to MySpace, Facebook, Eventful, Upcoming and elsewhere via widgets.
• Messaging: Spongecell lets users spread the word about their event via SMS and email. About 2 million emails are sent out each month via the service.
• Reporting: Event managers can use Spongecell's reporting features to track their email and SMS blasts and guest lists.

Spongecell's calendar widget has about 12,000 installs and serves 2 million pageviews each month, Kartzman told me. About 25% of those come through the app's RESTful API, which allows developers to create custom calendar applications. Parenting site lilaguide.com, for example, uses the API to power its event section and has customized it so that parents can add events to the site's calendar.

Conclusion

Spongecell has already landed some pretty big clients for their platform, including CNN, but plans to expand into new markets over the coming year as part of an ambitious plan to become the event marketing management platform for any industry.

Spongecell may no longer be a must have office application -- if you're looking for a simple calendar, try Google -- but it is now a very well made and versatile platform for running an online event calendar on any web site. Deciding not to compete with Google was probably a smart move for the company, which now has a much better chance of cornering their intended market.

FuseCal, a product of Public Display, a start-up technology company located in Providence, RI, is currently in alpha mode. The service works with many different types of calendars, both offline and online, including Outlook 2003/2007, Google Calendar, Apple iCal, Windows Calendar, Yahoo! Calendar, and more.

How It Works

To use the service, you just enter in a URL of any web calendar, and FuseCal will display it so that you can pick and choose which appointments you want to sync. The calendar doesn't have to be public - even a private Google Calendar URL will work.

Beneath the preview of the calendar, two events panes are displayed: "Events I Don't Want" and "Events I Want." Using the "Filter" box, you can narrow down the list by keyword or you can pick and choose events to sync manually, using the arrows.

Filtering Events in FuseCal

When you're finished filtering the calendar, you click on the "Save Events To My Calendar" button and choose the personal calendar you want to sync with. You can also choose to automatically add any new events from this feed to your calendar, not add new events, or add future events containing a particular keyword or phrase.

Setting up Syncing

FuseCal For Web Publishers

For publishers, FuseCal can also be used on your web site. For example, you may have an online calendar of your organization's events for the year which your web site visitors would be interested in syncing to their own calendar. By using the option in FuseCal for publishers, you can put an embed code on your site that allows your visitors to take your web calendar and convert it into an iCal format they can subscribe to. Each event keeps a link back to the original source URL, so your visitors can refer back to your web site at any time.

Publishers can also keep track of their calendar's usage via real-time analytics, showing subscribers, hits, times, locations and more. FuseCal even promises that publisher's calendars are human-reviewed for accuracy.

Unlike other services, like SyncMyCal, there's nothing to download and you don't have to limit yourself to only a few types of calendars. The FuseCal site also has an intuitive UI making it easy-to-use, even for those who aren't tech-savvy. I did have some occasional problems with the site's responsiveness, but that will probably be resolved as they grow. For what they are trying to accomplish, FuseCal does a great job, especially considering they have only just launched into alpha. This is definitely a startup to watch this year.