Tag: Calendars »

We’re all trying to organize our lives a little more effectively and a little more efficiently. Time management is a skill that few of us have mastered.

While no app can force you to stick to the plan, there are plenty of calendar apps that make the process easier and we’ve rounded up six of the best apps for doing exactly that.

It seems like Readdle is all over the App Store these days. Calendars, Scanner Pro, and even the now-defunct ReaddleDocs have received plenty of praise (and downloads) over the years - all good indications of a developer that knows what they're doing. The Verge recently went to visit the folks at Readdle, based out of Odessa in the Ukraine, to learn a little more about how they've managed to get to where they are today. And also how they've managed to do it without setting up shop in Silicon Valley.

You should definitely check it out, it's a fascinating read.

Image Credit: The Verge
Photographer: Alex de Mora

Not everyone will be familiar with Readdle, but the developer has been around ever since 2007 and enjoying a steadily-increasing user base ever since. What began as a single book reading app with a handful of followers has since turned into a large collection of useful apps (scanning, printing, reading, etc) with over 16 million downloads. To celebrate, Readdle is dropping their prices for a limited time.

At the moment you can download any, or all, of the following apps at a significantly discounted price:

Scanner Pro - Originally $6.99, now $1.99.
Printer Pro iPhone - Originally $4.99, now $1.99.
Printer Pro iPad - Originally $6.99, now $1.99.
Calendars+ - Originally $6.99, now $1.99.
PDF Converter - Originally $6.99, now $1.99.

CultofMac reports that, for the next 48 hours, Calendars+ by Readdle can be downloaded for free. The app works with Google Calendar and the built-in iOS Calendar and lets you manage your work, either online or offline, with an easy to use interface to navigate through. It's originally priced at $6.99 and will return to that price point within the next 48 hours, so be quick and check it out!

Readdle made changes to their Calendars by Readdle app and renamed it to Calendars+. Then they released a brand new app with the original name, Calendars by Readdle, for free. Calendars by Readdle is a fully functioning app available for iPhone and iPad that allows you to manage your events while Calendars+ costs $6.99 and features additional options such as recurring events, multiple reminders, a task manager and the ability to invite people.

Google has made an announcement that they are shutting down Exchange ActiveSync as a way to access Google email, contacts, and calendars. This has an impact on those who used our earlier guide to get sync Google contacts with iOS, used it for calendar support, or for push email to their devices. While current Exchange connections will still work after the shut down, new ones will be unable to be made. Thankfully, for those who rely on this for contacts, calendars, and email, there are alternatives available.

For calendars, the best replacement solution is to just use the standard Gmail account setup – this uses a protocol called CalDAV to automatically sync calendar events between the device and Google. It should automatically pull in new updates to calendars shortly after they are made elsewhere.

For email, there is no reliable solution at the moment for getting push email in the default Mail app. The Gmail app, which has been recently updated, works very well and has support for multiple accounts and push notifications. Otherwise, consider using an app like Boxcar or Push 4.0 to get push notifications of incoming email.

For contacts, an open protocol named CardDAV can be used to sync Google Contacts up with an iOS device instead. Setting it up is easy. Go to Settings→Mail, Contacts, and Calendars, and choose Add Account…. At the list of services, select Other.

Now choose Add CardDAV Account under the middle Contacts section.

Now at this screen, for the server, enter google.com, for User Name and Password enter your Google Account email address (this works for both regular Google accounts and Google Apps accounts) and for Description, put whatever you want the account to be named as. If all details have been properly entered, then contacts will now sync up with Google.

To use this account as your default account, go back to the main Mail, Contacts, and Calendars screen. Scroll down to the Contacts header. Tap Default Account.

Tap the name of the account you just set up, and any new contacts will be added to this account going forward. Congratulations, your account is now future-proofed against Google's ActiveSync shutdown.

Halfbrick, developers of the immensely popular Fruit Ninja games has announced a lineup of brand new licensed Fruit Ninja products from a number of partners. These new products will include key chains, toys, plush figures, card and board games, headwear, bags, apparel, underwear, phone cases, calendars, fruit snacks, stickers, posters, and other odd and ends.

While it's not yet clear exactly what these products will be when they are all realized, the prospect of Fruit Ninja card games and underwear is interesting to say the least. These products will be produced through a number of partners and will begin to roll out this week. As of yet, no announcements have been made concerning the cost of any of the products or where they will be available for purchase.

"For the first time, we're creating characters and personalities around the fruit that players slice through," says Halfbrick CEO Shainiel Deo, commenting on the new products. "I'm confident that the Fruit Ninja community will love these products."

Readdle, creators of ReaddleDocs, an excellent file viewer/manager for iPhone, are dipping into the calender app arena with the simply-named Calendars.

Calendars is powered by Google Calendar and features a slew of features and a lovely interface. You can drag-and-drop events just like in Google Calendar, set SMS reminders, and add events with a single tap. List, month, and day view are all available; you can invite others to your calendar; a handy undo button lets your reverse accidental drag-and-drops.

Perhaps most importantly, however, Calendars downloads your data to the app itself, so you can access and edit your data offline or online. For WiFi-bound iPod Touch users like me, this one is particularly important.

Calendars is available for $6.99 in the App Store and will run on any device with iOS 3.0 or later.