The Days of "Sync" are Numbered

It wasn't too many years ago that the idea of "syncing" your Palm Pilot with your calendar was the hottest thing going!  Put it in the cradle, push the little sync button, and   badabing you got your schedule in your pocket!  I was pretty excited about my first Palm device... I mean, how much better could this get?! 

Today syncing with desktop applications and even web applications is commonplace, especially with date / time sensitive applications like calendars.  But a new technology has been steadily moving in on the "sync" territory, and that is "subscriptions". 

Subscribing to a published calendar on the web from your personal desktop calendar or web calendar allows you to stay up-to-date with the events from that calendar without having to sync.  Your personal calendar periodically checks the subscription and quietly / almost effortlessly, updates for any changes it finds.  The great thing about this is that you don't need to worry about having current information (within a few minutes or so), and you can stay tuned in to the events and activities of friends, family, and organizations who publish their calendars and offer subscription options.

Not using any subscriptions now, or don't know how?  Here's a few pointers.  First of all, some of the most common personal calendars allow you to subscribe to web calendars, including Outlook 2007, Google, and Mac iCal.  Secondly, you can find calendars to subscribe to in a couple of ways.  You can visit public sites that host calendars like icalshare.com, share your friends' and family's Google calendars, and check the websites of the organizations you are connected to (like churches and schools) that use web-based calendaring systems (like DynaCal) to manage and communicate their public event information. 

Give it a try and see what you think.  It's not perfect, and not the right answer for everyone, but you might just like it. 

If you have any experiences with subscriptions you would like to share here, or have any opinions about it, feel free to comment - we would love to hear from you!