Leaked: Screenshots of Google Calendar App
March 13, 2006 12:55 PM   Subscribe

TechCrunch has published screenshots of the upcoming Google Calendar application, codenamed CL2. "It includes now-standard web 2.0 features - Ajax, subscription feeds for integration with iCal and other desktop calendars, event creation, search, sharing, notifications (including SMS) and more." The login screen is even functional.
posted by charmston (35 comments total)
 
Looks like a very cool website.
posted by Artw at 1:02 PM on March 13, 2006


I find that, with all Google products, utility correlates positively with scariness. In this one, both seem high.
posted by gurple at 1:04 PM on March 13, 2006


God, this makes me wish I had something to do so I could make use of a calendar.
posted by Astro Zombie at 1:06 PM on March 13, 2006


Can we just have the damn thing already? For the love of God.
posted by selfnoise at 1:06 PM on March 13, 2006


Only benefit I can see is you can access your calendar from anywhere. I don't really have a need for that, so I use Sunbird, but if you do, isn't a paper diary good enough, with the added plus Google doesn't scan every event in your life?
posted by Orange Goblin at 1:08 PM on March 13, 2006


Think E-vite, not sunbird.
posted by empath at 1:10 PM on March 13, 2006


Google Talk. Google Video. Google Scholar. Google Groups. Gmail. Google Print.

And this guy thinks they're going to call it "CL2"? Nifty screenshots but I'm not so big on his predictive abilities.
posted by mendel at 1:11 PM on March 13, 2006


I had an interesting discussion with a friend at Google the other day, re: the two different styles of making one's data portable and always accessible. For those with instant, always-on Internet access, all these server-based Google tools cn work fine. But for those of us who are both mobile and unready to spend a fortune for EVDO or some other ubiquitous, constant wireless connection, full access to our email and calendar means having them on our laptop/PDA. It'll be interesting to see the balance shift over the coming years...
posted by twsf at 1:13 PM on March 13, 2006


Mendel: "TechCrunch has published screenshots of the upcoming Google Calendar application, codenamed CL2"
posted by charmston at 1:17 PM on March 13, 2006


This looks great... in the meantime at least, I'm pretty happy with 30 Boxes.
posted by muckster at 1:32 PM on March 13, 2006


Does the sound of approaching footsteps scare Microsoft? Luckily for them, Google keeps things in Beta so long that Vista will come out before say, this or Gmail are out of Beta.
posted by tweak at 1:39 PM on March 13, 2006


The page you requested is invalid
posted by caddis at 1:45 PM on March 13, 2006


Hey caddis - from the first link:

The closed beta is ongoing with about 200 participants - people involved are not allowed to invite outsiders to see the calendar and are under strict rules not to share any details with outsiders. Based on feedback I am getting, CL2 is a long way away from launch.

So I imagine that login page works - for about 200 people.
posted by redteam at 1:51 PM on March 13, 2006


For those of us who don't actually have a PDA, or a laptop, or whatever, and want a little organizer, boingboing had a link to one on their site, a 'Pocket-sized DIY customizable paper organizer '. Go analog!
posted by Zack_Replica at 2:44 PM on March 13, 2006


But for those of us who are both mobile and unready to spend a fortune for EVDO or some other ubiquitous, constant wireless connection, full access to our email and calendar means having them on our laptop/PDA. It'll be interesting to see the balance shift over the coming years...

It should actually just converage via offline/online syncing. The big issue is standards. iCal is ok for basic event management, but there are so many more things these PIM-y things track.

If you're willing to be ghettoized into MS Exchange or large scale apps like those, this offline/online syncing issue was solved back in '97 or so, but good standards and interoperability will end up meaning that you can see an event in upcoming.org and add it (tentatively) to your friend's Yahoo! Calendar and post it to your blog and add it to your PDA which upon syncing with outlook will upload it to your iCal file (and perhaps sync with google calendar)… mmm, interoperatability dreams crumble fast when commercial interests come into play.
posted by Firas at 2:53 PM on March 13, 2006


TechCrunch? I think I need to contact my lawyer.
posted by crunchland at 2:58 PM on March 13, 2006


Will it sync with my Palm? WILL IT????
posted by signal at 3:14 PM on March 13, 2006


Ah, good ol' TechCrunch screenshots! Now, where's my magnifying glass?
posted by cerbous at 3:29 PM on March 13, 2006


I am not very clever, but it would seem to me that if the user has the capability of actually running a server of their own, these web-apps would die a quick death. Their greatest utility - access from any Internet point would be gone.

Now I know storing data "off site" (aka as having somebody else store your data) is attractive from a back-up point, hasn't back up been available for many years? Companies like Google seem to be basing their business on 2 observations:
1. users don't back up their own data
2. users will never be able to run their own servers out of their home

1 is a behavioral issue and 2 relies on cable/phone companies continuing to stymie true synchronous broadband. Are these 2 observations enough to base a company's business on? Am I missing something?

Why not simply make server software more service oriented so anybody can run server apps like e-mail and calendering as easy as running a blog?
posted by infowar at 3:50 PM on March 13, 2006


3) users don't want a computer running all day sucking juice
4) users want mission critical infrastructure to be maintained 24 hours a day
5) users want redundant connections to their data
6) users don't trust their telcos or cable companies that much
7) users want to be able to collaborate with other users and future users (centralization vs. decentralization).

etc...
posted by BrotherCaine at 4:08 PM on March 13, 2006


8) it's easier to sign up for a web app than it is to buy software in a box
posted by dhartung at 4:19 PM on March 13, 2006


charmston, I believe Mendel's comment was aimed at the first line of the article, not your post text. 'I am now in possession of screenshots from Google’s long delayed new Ajax calendar application, which will be called “CL2″'
posted by fatbaq at 4:49 PM on March 13, 2006


BrotherCaine: I guess I wasn't clear. I'm talking about home users, not businesses.

While I agree with dhartung, .mac is sold as software in a box, yet obviously relies on an outside server. It even does what I'm proposing on a very modest basis. That is integrate desktop apps for calendars, e-mail, photosharing etc. Does iWeb offer similar integration? The only difference in what I was speaking to is the data would reside on a home server, not a third party's.
posted by infowar at 5:20 PM on March 13, 2006


TechCrunch: Tracking Web 2.0 and breaking the goddamn back button!
posted by Potsy at 5:38 PM on March 13, 2006


If this also works as WebDav then I'm all over it.
posted by blue_beetle at 5:47 PM on March 13, 2006


who gives a shit.

In other news, Maytag is releasing the new 9200XDS series of dishwasher. And DuPont has a new titanium-dioxiode process for white paint.
posted by H. Roark at 5:47 PM on March 13, 2006


I can't talk too much about this, but since someone else already spilled much of the beans I can say that I've been beta testing this for the past couple of months. It is very, very slick. Screenshots don't do the UI justice, as you will see for yourself when might G finally releases it to the public.

In general, very few applications these days actually require much computing resources. You certainly aren't using all your clock cycles when you're writing an email or entering in somebody's telephone number into your address book. Of course, if Microsoft has its way, you'll need a gig of RAM and a 3 ghz. processor just to boot up, but as Google (and many others) have shown, it would be trivial to build a web-based, Ajax-powered Outlook-killer.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:31 PM on March 13, 2006


The big question is how Google will make money of this....? let me guess: targeted ads (like adsense and the ads you get in gmail). For example, I will put a Lenny Kravitz concert on my calendar, and I will get ads for Lenny Kravitz stuff next to it. Could be useful, but also really annoying.... Time will tell
posted by joost at 7:22 PM on March 13, 2006


9) Users don't *want* to run their own servers when they can get some someone else (more knowledgeable, with more infrastructure, and with full time employees) to do it.
posted by splitpeasoup at 8:11 PM on March 13, 2006


I for one am pretty excited about it. So far every Google product I've used is just a little better than their competitors'.

And yes, there is a scariness aspect to them, as someone else pointed out above. It's a good thing to be aware of, but for me personally it's not a strong enough risk to outweigh the benefits.
posted by splitpeasoup at 8:16 PM on March 13, 2006


Maytag is releasing the new 9200XDS series of dishwasher.

Oh, awesome! Call me a fanboy, but Maytag is soooo much cooler than Whirlpool, and they just keep getting better with every new model they promise to release. I read on the WhiteWash blog that they're thinking of buying a company that makes window washers, though -- I wonder how that'll jibe with their 'don't do windows' motto?
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 8:29 PM on March 13, 2006


who gives a shit. In other news, Maytag is releasing the new 9200XDS series of dishwasher. And DuPont has a new titanium-dioxiode process for white paint.

I bet appliance-related and paint-related blogs are talking about those. You, on the other hand, seem to have accidentally happened across one that's about things on the web.
posted by mendel at 9:35 PM on March 13, 2006


For example, I will put a Lenny Kravitz concert on my calendar, and I will get ads for Lenny Kravitz stuff next to it.

Or how about this: concert dates on your calendar instead, with links to Google Tickets?
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 2:15 AM on March 14, 2006


with all Google products, utility correlates positively with scariness.

It's the standard business model: "give" people a service in exchange for learning potentially profitable information about them. Every "personalized weather forecast" link is a way to find out where you live, not a gift from some nice people.

When Google makes it "easy — even effortless — to keep track of all the events in your life [yikes!] and compare them to what your friends and family have going on in theirs [triple yikes! rat on your friends and family!]" and it combines that with scans of all your email contents and your map views and your google searches, they pretty much know a government snooper's wet dream worth of what goes on in your head.

You know how Amazon tries to guess what books you'll like? I'm waiting for Google to start recommending sites before you even search. Depending on what horrible stuff you might have searched for the previous day, Google's equivalent of Amazon's "The Page You Made" and "Recommended for you" could be pretty interesting...
posted by pracowity at 4:32 AM on March 14, 2006


Pocketmod is great for something small to carry around and scribble on, but this looks like a great tool for sharing your schedule with a group. It could have all sorts of business applications.
posted by r3tr0 at 6:06 AM on March 14, 2006


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