Google Calendar
Nowadays all of us, and especially those of us with children, are continuously surrounded by technology.
Gadgets are everywhere, and, even though I am as guilty as the next fellow of trying to keep up and collecting toys, I wish we would be more resistant. My kids could spend 24 hours a day with some form of electronics, and, sadly enough, adults are not far behind. People check their smartphones an unbelievable average of 150 times during a waking day of 16 hours, or every 6 minutes…We are all familiar with the sight of people staring at their toy on the street, in public transit, at the restaurant. The first thing people do when they sit down for a meal, is place their phone on the table, ready for multiple checking and texting.
Some rules should apply:
1. Do not wear a communications device on your belt.
2. Once you are considered an adult in your country of residence, stop using earphones and certainly headphones in public. Allowed exceptions during prolonged train and airplane travel.
Besides these obvious rules, work on your discipline. Leave the phone home for an evening, even for a full day. Always wait a minimum of 2 hours before replying to an e-mail, 30 minutes in case of a text message. Don’t forget that only a few years back, we did not have these communication capabilities, so the “need” to communicate constantly is purely self inflicted.
Of course tools have been created, which make our life considerably easier. I can make a 10 page list of Apps that are extremely useful, be it for professional, personal, health, financial purposes, but I wish to single out a feature that has repeatedly proven to be a lifesaver: Google Calendar.
Now we all know and love Google for their unrivaled search engine, and, besides that success, the company acts like a Venture Capital firm. Throw money at a bunch of projects, and hope that something sticks.
Strangely enough, people tend to focus on the (considerable) Google graveyard: Google Wave, Google Lively, Google Answers, etc. Every time Google pulls the plug on a “failed” project, it gives detractors another opportunity to call the company a “one trick pony”.
People seem to forget that Google is responsible for the most popular free e-mail system, the most popular mobile operating system and has turned a basic video sharing platform in to a full fledged program contender, able to compete with regular networks.
Back to Calendar. The Google Calendar application allows users to create personal or public calendars. The accounts are free, and Google stores the calendars within its cloud system. The user doesn’t have to download special software to access the calendar.
With traditional desktop software, users store information to their own computers’ hard drives or other storage devices. That means if they want to access their information, they always have to use the same computer. Since the information in Google Calendars exists on the Web, users can view and make changes to calendars from any computer.
Clean and user friendly interface, but the best feature is that storing calendars on the Internet means that it’s easier to share information with other users. In turn, scheduling events and creating invitations becomes easier. Want to know if a fellow Google Calendar owner is free this weekend? If the owner opts to share his or her calendar with you, you’ll be able to see if there are any scheduled events that might interfere with your plans. Great for busy families, where parents work and kids participate in tons of activities.
Give it a try, and do not hesitate to use Google Translate if you wish to re-post this message in another language…
