BusyBlog

BusyCal awarded MacLife Editors' Choice

 MacLife recently reviewed BusyCal and awarded it an Editors' Choice!

Here's what MacLife had to say:

BusyCal does almost everything iCal does and adds some crucial missing features. In a few short weeks, it's become our default calendar application.

Frankly, BusyCal is such a vast improvement over iCal that we can't imagine switching back.

And in a related article MacLife went on to say:

Imagine iCal on steroids, then imagine that steroidal iCal on a second helping of steroids, and you start to get an idea. BusyMac brings with it so many improvements over the basic calendar, you'll soon wonder why you didn't switch earlier then later wonder what you'd ever done without BusyCal.

Thank you, MacLife, for recognizing the many great features of BusyCal.

BusyCal wins Macworld Eddy Award!

Each year Macworld picks the best Mac software products of the year and honors them with Eddy Awards. Last year they picked BusySync, and this year they picked BusyCal!

Here's what Macworld had to say:

"BusyCal looks a lot like iCal. But it does things iCal can only dream of. It seamlessly syncs with Google Calendar out of the box, shares calendars via Bonjour, and supports multi-person editing. BusyCal did more than revive the calendaring category; it established itself as the category leader."

We couldn't have said it better ourselves. We're really honored to be recognized by Macworld for all the hard work that went into BusyCal 1.0. And we're grateful for the encouragement and feedback we've received from our customers. 

Stay tuned. We're not done yet...

BusyCal 1.0 Released!

Seattle, WA - Sept. 28, 2009 - BusyMac today released BusyCal 1.0, a Mac OS X desktop calendar that provides seamless calendar sharing and enhanced productivity tools for workgroups and individuals. BusyCal combines the calendar sharing and synchronization technology from the award winning BusySync with a beautiful desktop calendar interface that is instantly recognizable to iCal users — all in one easy to use integrated application.

BusyCal allows families and small workgroups to easily and cost-effectively share calendars on a local area network and over the internet without the need for a dedicated server. Shared calendars can be viewed and edited by multiple users and changes are instantly synchronized between users. BusyCal also syncs with Google Calendar offering online access and sharing cross platform. 

In addition to calendar sharing, BusyCal provides many great productivity enhancements including the ability to:

• Enter and view event details in a non-modal floating window or an embedded info pane.
• Create To Dos, including recurring To Dos, that display in the calendar and auto-forward until completed.
• Display events in several customizable views including a List View and scrolling Month and Week Views.
• Display graphics, sticky notes, live weather feeds and moon phases in your calendar.
• Apply custom font styles to events and notes.
• Display alarms in a floating window and on the menu bar.

BusyCal syncs with iCal, MobileMe, the iPhone, and other applications and devices that support Sync Services. And it's compatible with BusySync, so you can share calendars with both BusyCal and BusySync users on your network.

Pricing and Availability

• BusyCal is available now.
• BusyCal costs $49 per user, or $79 for a Family Pack (for up to 5 users in a household). 
• A 20% discount is available for businesses when purchasing 5 or more copies.
• Registered users of BusySync can upgrade to BusyCal for $20.

System Requirements

• BusyCal requires Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, or Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.
• BusyCal is compatible with BusySync, allowing calendar sharing between BusyCal users and BusySync users.

For more info or to download a 30-day trial, go to http://www.busymac.com.

BusyCal Public Beta

I'm pleased to announce that the BusyCal Public Beta has been released!

BusyCal is our new Mac OS X desktop calendar application designed for sharing calendars on a LAN and syncing with Google Calendar. We've combined the calendar sharing and synchronization technology from the award winning BusySync, with a beautiful desktop calendar interface that is instantly recognizable to iCal users — all in one easy to use integrated application. 

In addition to calendar sharing and synchronization, BusyCal also provides many great productivity enhancements including the ability to create To Dos and recurring To Dos, that display in the calendar and auto-forward until completed; display events in several customizable views including a List View and scrolling Month and Week Views; display live weather feeds and graphics in your calendar; and apply custom fonts, styles and colors to events. 

Pricing and Availability

• The BusyCal public beta is available for download now.
• BusyCal will cost $40 per computer when the final version is released.
• Registered users of BusySync can upgrade to BusyCal for $10 when it is released.

System Requirements

• BusyCal requires Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
• BusyCal is compatible with BusySync, allowing calendar sharing between BusyCal users and BusySync users.

For more info, go to http://www.busymac.com

BusyMac announces BusyCal

iCal replacement provides integrated calendar sharing and Google Calendar synchronization

Macworld Expo, San Francisco, CA - January 5, 2009 - BusyMac today announced BusyCal, a new Mac OS X desktop calendar application designed for sharing calendars on a LAN and syncing with Google Calendar. BusyCal combines the calendar sharing and synchronization technology from its award winning BusySync, with a beautiful desktop calendar interface that is instantly recognizable to iCal users — all in one easy to use integrated application.

BusyCal is a desktop calendar application that provides integrated calendar sharing and Google Calendar synchronization. Designed for families and small workgroups, BusyCal allows users to easily and cost-effectively share calendars on a local area network and over the internet without the need for a dedicated server, and to sync with Google Calendar. Shared calendars can be viewed and edited by multiple users and changes are instantly synchronized between users.

In addition to calendar sharing and synchronization, BusyCal provides the ability to display graphics, sticky notes, and live weather feeds; create ToDos, including recurring ToDos, that display in the calendar view and auto-forward until completed; view events in a customizable List View; and apply custom fonts, styles and colors to events. These unique features are available in BusyCal, while maintaining compatibility with other apps and services including BusySync, Google Calendar, Sync Services, iCal, MobileMe and the iPhone.

Pricing and Availability
BusyCal will be released in Spring 2009 for $40 per computer. BusyMac will demonstrate BusyCal at Macworld Expo (booth #3526-I), January 6-9, 2009. For more information or to sign up for the public beta, go to http://www.busymac.com/busycal.

BusyMac’s award winning BusySync, which adds calendar sharing and syncing capabilities to iCal, is currently available for $25 per computer. Customers who purchase BusySync prior to the release of BusyCal can upgrade to BusyCal for $10.

System Requirements

• BusyCal requires Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
• BusySync is compatible with Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) and Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
• BusyCal and BusySync are compatible with each other, allowing users to share calendars on a LAN between BusyCal users and BusySync/iCal users.

About BusyMac
Based in Seattle, Washington, BusyMac is a privately-held company founded in 2007 by Dave Riggle and John Chaffee. Dave and John have a long history of developing great software together, dating back to the early 90's when they created Now Up-to-Date, a revolutionary network calendar for Mac OS 7.

BusySync wins Macworld Eddy Award!

Each year Macworld magazine selects their favorite Mac products and honors them with Editors' Choice Awards.

Back in the day, Macworld hosted lavish black-tie events to hand out "Eddy" Awards — it was the Mac community's equivalent of the Oscars. Today, the awards are distributed via email as JPG attachments. Heh. But who's complaining? Not us!

BusySync won a 2008 Macworld Eddy Award!

According to Macworld's Jason Snell, "BusySync doesn’t quite get us all the way to calendar heaven, but it brought us a darn sight closer than Leopard did this year."

We couldn't agree more. Thank you Macworld! We'll proudly display the Eddy in our virtual trophy case alongside the Macworld Best of Show Award we received last January.

BusySync 2.0 -- It Shipped!

BusySync 2.0 has shipped! BusySync 2.0 allows you to sync iCal with Google Calendar, in addition to syncing iCal calendars with others on your LAN.

This is a free upgrade for all existing customers. In addition to the new Google Calendar syncing features, many bugs have been fixed and all users are strongly encouraged to upgrade. Here is what's new in 2.0:

• Ability to sync iCal with Google Calendar, including the ability to map iCal Message alarms to Google pop-up, SMS or Email alarms.
• Option to filter out Alarms and To-Dos from subscribed calendars on your LAN
• LAN/WAN synching improvements, VPN compatibility, IPv6 and Back to My Mac compatibility
• Improved performance
• Fewer Conflict Resolver disputes
• Auto-repair of damaged iCal databases
• Improved error logging
• BusySync 2.0 is backwards compatible with other BusySync 1.5 users on your network

Existing users can install the upgrade by opening the BusySync prefpane and clicking the Check Now button. New users can download it here:

http://www.busymac.com/download

Buy Now and save 20%
For a limited time, BusySync 2.0 is available at an introductory price of $19.95 per computer. This offer is good until April 30, 2008. After that, BusySync 2.0 will cost $25.

Buy Now

BusySync wins Macworld Best of Show Award!

BusyMac exhibited at Macworld Expo last week where we announced and demonstrated BusySync 2.0. The show was a huge success and far exceeded our expectations. Much to our surprise, Macworld Magazine selected BusySync as a winner of its 2008 Macworld Best of Show Award!

We were one of many developers exhibiting in the developer pavilion next to Apple's booth. The location was excellent, the show was well attended, and the time passed by quickly as we gave non-stop demos.

It was wonderful to meet with so many existing and prospective customers and to receive such unanimous praise and appreciation. Apparently, there are a lot of people with the need to share calendars that have been searching for a solution like BusySync.

Dave and John at Macworld (photo courtesy MacRumors)

And, it was an excellent opportunity to meet with members of the press and demonstrate the product to them. Here's a sampling of the press coverage we received as a result:

• ars technica
• Macintosh News Network
• MacRumors
• MacUser
• Macworld
• Seattle Times
• The Unofficial Apple Weblog

BusySync is fun to demo. We showed how you can add an event on one Mac and it would show up within seconds on the other Mac via Bonjour. Everyone who saw it immediately understood how they could benefit from it. And the new Google Calendar syncing feature in BusySync 2.0 that we were demonstrating for the first time was a huge hit. We now have tons of people anxiously awaiting the public beta release due out at the end of this month.

On that note, we'd better get back to work so we don't keep you waiting much longer for the public beta...

BusyMac announces BusySync 2.0: Sync iCal with Google Calendar

Macworld Expo, San Francisco, CA - January 14, 2008 - BusyMac today announced BusySync 2.0, a free upgrade to its calendar sharing utility for iCal. In addition to its existing ability to sync iCal calendars over a LAN or the internet, BusySync 2.0 now enables users to synchronize iCal with Google Calendar, providing web based access to calendars from anywhere.

BusySync is a Mac OS X System Preference Pane that adds peer-to-peer calendar sharing and synchronization capabilities to iCal. Designed for families and small workgroups, BusySync allows users to easily and cost-effectively share iCal calendars on a local area network and over the internet without the need for a dedicated server. Shared calendars can be viewed and edited by multiple users and changes are instantly synchronized between users. And now, with BusySync 2.0, users can perform bidirectional synchronization between iCal and Google Calendar.

Key Features of Google Calendar synchronization in BusySync 2.0:

• View and edit calendars online -- Calendar events can be created/edited in both iCal and Google Calendar and automatically synchronized between the two.
• Sync calendars between home and work -- Users can sync their home and office computers with Google Calendar (as an alternative to syncing calendars with .Mac).
• Share calendars remotely -- Users in remote locations can share calendars with each other by syncing with Google Calendar, even while traveling.

Pricing and Availability
BusySync 2.0 will be released in February 2008 for $24.95 per computer. BusyMac will demonstrate BusySync 2.0 at Macworld Expo (booth #S1338), January 15-18, 2008. A public beta will soon be available at http://www.busymac.com/busysync2.html. BusySync 1.5 is currently available for $19.95 per computer. Registered users of BusySync 1.5 will receive a free upgrade to BusySync 2.0 when it is released.

System Requirements

• Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) or
• Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)

Supported Languages
English, French, German, Japanese

About BusyMac
Based in Seattle, Washington, BusyMac is a privately-held company founded in 2007 by Dave Riggle and John Chaffee. Dave and John have a long history of developing great software together, dating back to the early 90's when they created Now Up-to-Date, a revolutionary network calendar for Mac OS 7.

BusyMac announces BusySync 1.5: Share iCal Calendars over the internet

Seattle, WA - December 31, 2007 - BusyMac today announced BusySync 1.5, a free upgrade to its calendar sharing utility that now supports synching over the Internet, in addition to its previous support for synching over a local area network. BusySync now allows users to sync iCal calendars between their home and office computers, or with users at remote locations, while also syncing with family or coworkers on their local area network.

BusySync is a Mac OS X System Preference Pane that runs in the background and adds calendar sharing capabilities to iCal. Designed for families and small workgroups, BusySync allows users to easily and cost-effectively share iCal calendars on a local area network and over the internet without the need for a dedicated server. Shared calendars can be viewed and edited by multiple users and changes are instantly synchronized between users.

Feature Highlights

• Bonjour Networking: Shared calendars are automatically detected and synchronized over a LAN without the need for a dedicated server.
• Wide-area-networking: Calendars can be shared over the internet between home and work or with users at remote locations.
• Multi-User Editing: Shared calendars can be viewed and edited by multiple users, and calendar updates are synchronized instantly.
• Security: Calendars can be password protected to provide read/write or read-only access, and data transferred over the network can be SSL encrypted.
• Offline Access: Changes made to a shared calendar while disconnected from the network are automatically synchronized when reconnected.

Supported Languages
English, French, German, Japanese

System Requirements
Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) or
Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)

Pricing and Availability
BusySync 1.5 is available now for $19.95 per user. Multi-unit discounts are available.

About BusyMac
Based in Seattle, Washington, BusyMac is a privately-held company founded in 2007 by Dave Riggle and John Chaffee. Dave and John have a long history of developing great software together, dating back to the early 90's when they created Now Up-to-Date, a revolutionary network calendar for Mac OS 7.

Links
BusyMac Homepage
Direct Download
Purchase BusySync
BusySync Screenshot
BusySync Screencast
BusySync Users Guide