Your new iPad is a great way to stay organized and focused on the activities and events that matter to you most. The built in Calendar app has a lot of great features and tools to help you create, edit, manage, and share your schedule, including event invitations.

iCloud and Exchange

Before you can start creating and accepting proper event invitations you need to have set up either a free Apple iCloud account (@me.com address), or a Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync account (including a Gmail account set up as Exchange).

• How to set up a free iCloud account on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

How to share a Calendar event

iCloud allows you to share an event when you create it, or share it later if you choose to.

1. If you've already created event you'd like to share with someone. Tap it and tap Edit, then skip down to step 4.
2. If you haven't created the event yet, tap the "+" sign in the bottom right corner of your calendar app, or tap and hold on a time spot on the calendar, to create a new event.

3. Fill out at the information you need to about the event.
4. Tap the Invitees button.

5. If the person is in your address book, just start typing their name. If they aren't, type in their iCloud (@me.com) e-mail address.
6. Once you're done adding people, tap Done.
7. Now save the entire event by tapping Done again in the upper right hand corner.
8. iCloud will send the event invites to everyone. Once they accept or decline, you'll see their name and status within your calendar.

While users with other types of accounts will receive your invites, they won't be able to accept them into their Calendar and see your changes to events if they aren't using iCloud as well.

How to accept an event invite

If someone has sent you an event invite, you can accept them straight from your iPad with just a few taps. Depending on your settings, you might get a popup notification or email alerting you when a new invitation comes in. Your Calendar app icon will also be badged with a number representing any outstanding event invitations (similar to how Mail shows you the number of unread email messages.)

To accept an invitation:

1. Launch the Calendar app.
2. Tap the Invitations button to view the pending invites.

3. You can either accept, decline, or say maybe. Your RSVP status will appear for the creatore of the event as well.
4. You can always change your status on the event by going back into the event in your calendar.

Additional resources:

• Everything you need to know about your new iPad
• Even more tips & tricks for new iPad users
• How to set up and send e-mail on your new iPad
• iMore new iPad discussion forums

Taking a trip and curious how to set your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad calendar for the proper time zone? No problem. The Calendar app allows you to change the time zone for any event or meeting with just a few taps. Instead of trying to add and subtract time from your own time zone, just set those specific events or meetings for the time zone they're going to occur in.

Calendar will use whatever time zone your clock settings are set to by default. While this is fine in most scenarios, you also have the option of setting time zones on individual entries.

1. First pop into your calendar app and click the "+" sign in the upper right to create a new event or meeting (or edit a current one).
2. Fill out all the pertinent information for your entry.

3. Now tap into the Start & End section of the entry.
4. You'll see an option for time zone. Tap into it.

5. Search for the city that you're going to be in and that you want the meeting or event to go by.
6. Now just save your entry and you're good to go.

Adding events this way will keep your calendar from getting confused when you travel through times zones. As long as you have your iPhone set to update time automatically, your calendar will change with it and you'll be good to go!

Daily Tips range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@imore.com.

TouchBase Calendar is a 1-Touch SMS, Calling & Maps for your iPhone Calendar. It syncs with the built-in Calendar, so you can continue to use it has your main calendar. What TouchBase does, is make it easy to send a text to the person you're meeting, or get directions to where you're going, or push back your meeting by 15 minutes - with one touch.

I've played around with TouchBase Calendar a bit and it's pretty cool. I tend to always be running late to where ever I'm going, so being able to quickly send a text to the person I'm supposed to be meeting with is really nice.

TouchBase Calendar painlessly syncs with your calendar to give you 1-touch communication and mapping capabilities on-the-go. Running a bit behind? Send an "I'm running 10 minutes late" SMS or email with 1 touch. Need to know where to go? Get intelligent directions to your events with a single touch.

Finally, a smart calendar for your smartphone!

• Stop sweating tedious calendar entry! Whether you create your event on your computer or your iPhone calendar app, we’ll do the hard work of figuring out who it’s with and where it is. (e.g. Lunch with Alex J. at Fado Pub is enough for us!)
• At your meeting location? With 1-touch, let your meeting guests know that you’ve arrived.
• Running late? TouchBase lets you alert folks that you’re running late by 5, 10, or 20+ minutes.
• Need to call? We automagically match your meeting guests to matching contacts in your address book for 1-touch dialing.
• Don’t know where to go? Our maps tab gives you 1-touch links to maps (or map searches) for your destination.

Giveaway

The good folks at Tomo have given us 5 promo codes to give away to our readers! For a chance to win, just leave a comment below telling us, on average, how many calendar events you have per day.

TouchBase Calendar is available on the iPhone for $0.99.

[App Store link]

Have an app you'd love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we'll take a look.

Calendar with Alarm is an iPhone calendar app that, well, lets you set alarms.

Never miss an appointment again! CalAlarm is an elegantly designed user friendly calendar that adds an alarm to your appointments, so that you are no longer committed to the two short standard calendar beeps.

• Easy and quick navigation through days and weeks and years.
• Quickly add/edit multiple alerts.
• Copy events.
• Set defaults for new events.
• Custom week numbers.
• Distinguishes calendars with the same name but of different type.
• Lists upcoming and overdue alarms.
• Repeats continuously till acknowledged.
• Snoozes with variable intervals.
• Customize Quick Alert values, Snooze screen and birthdays alarms.
• Choice of 25 alarm sounds.
• Customizes sounds for different calendars.
• All CalAlarm alarms on/off switch.
• Sets local notifications.
• Works with all calendars that use the iPhone calendar database (iCal, MobileMe, Exchange, CalDAV, Google calendar, etc.).
• Syncs with these calendars.

It drives me crazy that the iPhone's native calendar only allows two alerts for an event. For entries that require more alerts, I normally add them to MobileMe in iCal on my Mac. Calendar with Alarm seems like a much better solution.

Calendar with Alarm is available on the iPhone for $1.99. Screenshots after the break.

[iTunes link]

Have an app you'd love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we'll take a look.

Google has updated Google Sync for iOS devices, a service that lets iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users sync with Google's Gmail, Calendar and Contacts via Microsoft's ActiveSync protocol.

Google Sync keeps your phone’s native mail and calendar apps in sync with your Gmail, Calendar and Contacts. Today, three new updates to Google Sync for iOS will allow you to:

• Search all your emails in Gmail, not just the emails stored locally by the iOS mail app.
• Accept, decline or edit calendar events from the iOS calendar app.
• Send email from the address you want. We recognize that some of you manage multiple email addresses from a single Gmail account.Gmail’s “Send Mail as” feature lets you send messages with another email address listed as the sender instead of your Gmail address, e.g. joe@altostrat.com instead of joe@gmail.com. Now the iOS mail app will respect these settings.

All of these are welcomed additions to Google Sync, specifically the ability to search all mail in Gmail instead of just what's stored on the device -- right from the native Mail app in iOS.

Let us know how these new features are working for you in the comments!

[Google Blog via Phonescoop]

Reader Jorge wrote in to let us know something he found in the iOS 5 beta -- you can now tap and hold to add, move, adjust, or delete a Calendar event. The way it works is fairly simple. From the day view, or the new landscape week view:

• Tap and hold an empty space on your Calendar and a new event will pop up. Let go and you're immediately taken to the Add Event screen.

• Tap and hold an existing event and tiny circular handles will appear on the top and bottom. Drag one to increase or decrease the time span of an event.

• Tap and hold and drag an event to move it up or down the time scale, or drag it sideways to move it to another day.

• Tap and hold and then drag up to "throw away" (delete) an event.

Nothing in list or month view that we've heard so far, but very nice additions to the day and new week view. All around it can save some time for minor edits, and is much more fun than the old, menu-heavy method.

[Thanks Jorge!]

There's some debate as to whether or not Apple will keep the MobileMe web apps, like Mail, Contacts, and Calendars around after the transition to iCloud. Some have heard no, that Apple will trash them and go 100% apps. Others have heard yes, that Apple will keep them around.

No one outside Apple seems to know for sure. For our part, TiPb has heard there will indeed be web apps in iCloud. At the very least, you'll need a way to access Find my iPhone, Find my iPad, and the forthcoming Find my Mac over the web. Apple has also poured significant resources into the SproutCore-powered Mail, Contacts, and Calendars app -- including a major update to Calendars recently -- and it's hard to imagine them flushing all that effort.

Whether Photo Stream will take over for Photo Galleries, whether Documents in the Cloud will replace the wishy-washy iWork.com, and whether or not the App Store and iTunes store get Web-to-Device push remains unknown.

Even if the native iOS and Mac apps are used far more often, having the web apps as backup is a pretty important feature. We expect Apple to clarify before iOS 5 launches and iCloud comes out of beta this fall.

Trying to figure out how to get your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad Calendar event locations to show up in Maps? If you will be traveling a lot being able to click on your Calendar and quickly pull up Maps is very helpful and can make all the difference in getting to your destination. This easy to follow tip will show you exactly how you can do that and get to where you need to go without worry!

To get your Calendar event or appointment location to open up in Maps:

1. Launch your Calendar app
2. Find the event you want to add the location to
3. Tap Edit in the top right
4. Tap Notes on the bottom of the list
5. Enter the address for the event
6. Tap Done in the top right
7. Tap Done once more in the top right
8. When its time for the event click on the event one more time and under notes you can now tap on the address and it will open up in the Maps app and you can choose to navigate to the address

Now not only will you never forget an event, you're much less likely to get lost on your way there. Hope this has helped out some new users! If you have any questions or extra tips please let us know in comments. If you need any extra expert help, check out the TiPb Forums!

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you'd like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it's especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we'll even give ya a reward...)

How does a photographer use his iPhone to get the job done and what iPhone apps help get him through his day? TiPb’s iPhone at work contest aims to bring you just such slices of the iPhone life. Here’s JustinHammondPhoto's answer and as a small token of thanks we’re sending him a $20 iTunes gift certificate. If you want to see your name up on the TiPb home page and get a gift certificate all your own, head on over to the TiPb iPhone Forum and share your story now!

I'm a professional photographer from Massachusetts. I have the wonderful job of photographing some of the most beautiful women in the world in the coolest locations all over the country. Models, celebrities, NFL Cheerleaders, it goes on and on. My work has been in magazines, advertisements, Maxim, websites... the works! I love my job!

I honestly realized for the first time when reading this contest how much I actually use my iPhone on a day to day basis for what I do. It's a lot! Especially now that I have my iPhone 4, it's been even more. Here's when:

• I own a studio, but I'm very often on location shooting, which means no wifi (on the beaches, bars, outdoors, etc). So having a 3G connection is great. I often pull up Safari in the middle of a photoshoot to come up with a pose idea, or sometimes girls want to show me a picture of a shot they really love so it's easy to Google image search some ideas! It helps out a lot during a shoot!

• Also, because I do travel to photoshoot, I'm always using Maps! Maps is so crucial to getting around because I barely know areas well. It's definitely got me out of so many jams or has even helped find shooting locations! I remember this one time I was doing outdoor shooting and I pulled up my map and noticed a large pond nearby so we walked toward where it was and got some really beautiful shots by the water at a place I would have had no idea about if it didnt show up on the gps.

• It works great in times of urgency! Even last night, the "model light" on my strobe died (lights the model so you can auto-focus on her when there's low light/lights off). Well, I pulled out my iPhone, opened the new trusty video camera, turned on the new amazing light from the iPhone, and my assistant held it to the model! It was perfect! I was so happy about having the new iPhone 4 last night.

• Also with the new video feature, being HD, I have decided to do some "behind the scenes" videos that I will be posting in the near future of my photo shoots. This is really great for my website and facebook page as a lot of models/fans follow my work, and it's real fun at photoshoots. I am beyond excited about that. I may even start video blogging and doing tips/pointer videos for photography.

• I also use it for networking with models and clients or even friends with my photography. I save all of my edited photos to my iPhone so when I am out and about, when someone asks what I do, I just open up Photos and show them my work right from my phone - they look amazing on the new retina display! It really allows me to have a portfolio with me at all times. Such a perk in the industry! It's like carrying my book with me in my pocket!

Then obviously the basics! Calendar for booking shoots/remembering what I have to do that day, and Email for keeping up with everything going on in my life in and outside of photography.

iPhone tip: Always keep it charged/charge every night! I use my iPhone so much, so my battery tends to go fast. I do have multiple chargers to make sure I am never without it. The iPhone really is my personal assistant. If it could only bring me coffee and water and move around lights, I wouldn't need to hire my real assistant anymore!

Favorite apps: Safari, Calendar, Mail, Photos, Maps. These are my most important and all Apple created! Thank you Apple!

You can see some of Justin's work at Justin Hammond Photography. Are you a photographer? If so, what apps do you use to help you with your job?

Apple is launching a new version of the online MobileMe calendar web app, and much like they did with the new version of online mail, the design influence of the iPad app is unmistakable. Want in on the beta? Here's what you have to do:

To sign up, go to me.com/calendar and click "Request an invitation." You will receive an email notification when you have been added to the beta (we will add members in the order of their request over the coming weeks).

New features include:

• The aforementioned new, iPad-like UI.
• Shared calendars (for family and friends).
• Published calendars (for groups and teams).
• Event invitations with RSVPs (yes!).
• Based on CalDAV standard.

It's good to go on iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and Mac, with Outlook support for the PC coming soon.

So, how does it sound? Enough of an upgrade? Anything major still missing? Anyone get in on the beta yet?

Full feature descriptions after the break.

[MobileMe News]

Beautiful new web application
The Calendar beta includes a new web application at me.com with great-looking calendar views. You'll find redesigned day, week, and month views, as well as a new list view to make scanning your events easier. Your calendars will also load faster, thanks to improved performance. The new web application works best with Safari 5, Firefox 3.6, and Internet Explorer 8.

Share calendars with family and friends
You can easily share your calendars with one or more MobileMe members to keep everyone on the same page. For example, create a shared calendar called "Kids" for school and weekend activities. You can allow the person you're sharing a calendar with to edit events, and set up email notifications to tell you when they make a change.

Publish a calendar for a group or team
The Calendar beta lets you share a read-only public calendar that can be viewed by anyone, perfect for publishing an events calendar such as a soccer team schedule. After setting it up you can send the team members a link to view the calendar on their iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or PC.

Event invitations with RSVPs
Inviting any guest to an event is easy from the MobileMe Calendar beta. Just add their email address to the event (they don't have to be a MobileMe member) and your guests will get an invitation email they can respond to directly by clicking a link. Your event then automatically updates, making it easy to track RSVPs right in your calendar.

Works on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac
The MobileMe Calendar beta uses the CalDAV standard so you can view and edit your calendars using the built-in calendar applications on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac. Please note that support for PCs with Microsoft Outlook is coming soon.

The are several ways to use the calendar on your iPhone, including syncing with other devices (including computers) and with the cloud (via a variety of services). You can also keep just one global calendar for everything, or separate ones for work, school, hobbies, family, training, etc.

• You can just use the calendar app right on the iPhone all by itself. It's not the fastest when it comes to data entry, but if you really want to keep your agenda in your pocket you can just hit the plus (+) key, add an event, and keep on keeping on (time that is).
• You can sync your calendar(s) over from Outlook on Windows or iCal on the Mac using iTunes and the USB-Dock cable that came with your iPhone. This makes sure both your desktop/laptop and iPhone calendar stay roughly coordinated (not instantly, but updated whenever you tether up and sync). Even if you intend to leave the desktop for the mobile, syncing over at first is a great way to start.
• You can sync from cloud services like Google Calendar, Apple's MobileMe, or a Microsoft Exchange server via ActiveSync. All three (if you're using GoogleSync, at least) will "push" changes back and forth between your online and on-device calendars, and if your desktop is linked to the same account, you can keep all your calendars automatically and up-to-the-minute accurate. (Pro users might even set up links between MobileMe and Google Calendar or Exchange via desktop or third party tools for cross-cloud sync). -You can subscribe to online calendars shared by others via CalDAV, which is useful for keeping track of public holidays, your favorite sports teams, special projects, or other group events on small or grand scale.

In iPhone OS 4, developers will have access to the calendar so we'll likely see movie ticket apps that automatically add the show time for you when you buy a ticket. Until then, let us know how you're using your iPhone calendar. On device, synced from your desktop, and/or in the cloud? If in the cloud, what service do you use? Any tips or tricks you care to share?

TiPb just got word from Azuki Systems, the folks behind Sports Illustrated's SI Swimsuit 2009 [$2.99 - iTunes link] that it's hit the App Store a tad before schedule.

it’s the first mobile application in the lifestyle category to deliver video of SI’s Swimsuit models, hundreds of SI Swimsuit photos as well as scores, schedules and team information.

The app is rated 17+ since swimsuits and body paint may not be appropriate for every age in every geography, so proceed with all due advanced notice. Additional screenshots, after the break...

iPhone 3.0 features Calendar Subscriptions, where you can enter the URL for a shared calendar and near-instantly add it to your iPhone.

That's all well and good to share a family or business calendar, but what about more wide-ranging ones? What about national holidays, religious events, movie release dates, sports team schedules? Luckily, Apple's already made this simple for Mac OS X iCal users, and even more luckily it works just as simply for iPhone 3.0 users as well.

We'll share how, after the break...

Adding Subscription Calendars

Just point Mobile Safari on your iPhone to: http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/calendars/. Apple provides categories for Most Recent, Most Popular, Alphabetical, Staff Picks, plus a handy search box. Once you find a calendar that interests you, click the Download link.

Your iPhone will ask if you want to subscribe (see image above), and once you confirm, will offer to take you straight to your calendar events to see what's new.

Viewing Subscribed Calendars

Each subscription is given its own calendar in the iPhone Calendar App, so you can choose just that calendar to view. All views, month, day, and details are supported.

Removing Subscribed Calendars

Not all shared calendars are created -- or maintained -- equally. Movie Release Dates doesn't seem to include June or July yet (making it rather useless at the moment), though national holidays and others seem quite up to date.

If you subscribe to a calendar that later disappoints, just head on over to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendar. You'll see all your subscriptions listed under Accounts. Choose the one you want to edit or remove, and hit Delete Account if it displeases you.

Share Your Favorites

If you have or find any great shared calendars, please drop a comment below and let us know about them!

Chris Breen of Macworld fame posted a handy tip on how to get birthdays for the 75+ among your family and friends to show up on the iPhone. (Seems the iPhone OS isn't happy with events that repeat more than that many times, hence no birthday love for the seniors).

The solution is to create a separate repeating event in a different iCal calendar for your well-seasoned friends and family members that begins this year. Unless they live to be more than 150 years old, you should be set.

Check out his full post for details on managing birthdays on OS X in general, and syncing them over to iPhone.

I was just listening to Dieter and Mike's latest PalmCast, where they were crowing in duet about how sweet it was that the Palm Pre has an app that can book movie tickets and automagically add the movie event information to the Palm Pre calendar.

I know, I know. If they love the Palm Pre so much, why don't they just marry it? (Dieter is, in fact, looking for a state that may allow it...) But they raise an excellent point -- where's the iPhone version of that functionality? Why can't we push a button on our movie ticket app, or concert tour app, or tradeshow app, or whatever and have that slice of time booked off for us in our calendar?

While the iPhone SDK allows access to the Contacts database to do all manner of glorious, 3rd party app-powered magic, Apple has thus far not surfaced any APIs to do the same for calendaring. I don't believe the new 3.0 SDK has announced any improvements in that area either.

What makes calendar so different? MobileMe and ActiveSync push both. Apple's even giving Calendar some much-appreciated CalDAV and subscription love, with no CardDAV that we're aware of for contacts.

We're sure developers would appreciate it. We know users would adore it.

Anyone have any idea why we don't have this yet?

Says Google's blog:

Today we're happy to announce a new and improved experience when you access Gmail and Calendar through the browser of your iPhone and Android-powered devices. What's new? For Gmail, we've improved the user interface to make it easier to message on the go, and we've introduced "Floaty Bar," which makes sure common actions such as archive and delete are only a click away (check out the video tour below). You can also start the application, compose mail, and open recently read messages even when you're offline. With the new Calendar, you can edit or respond to an event and, like Gmail, the app is accessible even without a network connection. To quickly navigate between Gmail, Calendar, and other mobile applications, you can use the classic links that now always appear across the top of the screen. The "more" menu provides easy access to the full list of applications. To read more about what's new, take a look at the Gmail and Calendar posts on the Mobile blog.

Google claims they're focusing on WebApps over native apps because they're faster to iterate which makes sense, especially if they want to leverage their work across all WebKit mobile devices (iPhone, Android, and soon Palm Pre). Still, we have to ask...

Where's our native push Gmail?!

Welcome to iPhone 101 where we're kicking off the new year for new iPhone owners with an all new, all basic how to series. If you're a beginner, worry not, we've got you covered. If you're a seasoned pro, but keep fielding support calls from friends and family new to the iPhone, we've got you covered as well -- just send them to us!

This time around we're adding calendar events. While you might already be syncing your appointments via Exchange ActiveSync or Apple's MobileMe, or from Outlook or iCal via iTunes, sometimes you may just be out and about and need to add that just-came-up event to your iPhone's calendar directly. Fret not, we'll show you how... after the break!

From the homescreen, tap on the calendar icon. Depending on how you last left it, you'll be greeted by either the List, Day, or Month view. You can add an appointment from any of them.

To start, tap the "+" (plus) button at top right to call up the "Add Event" screen.

Tap on the large, rounded rectangular box that says "Title" and "Location". Give your event a name (Title) and if you want, the location where it's taking place. (This can be either a physical location like "Library" or a virtual one like "TiPb.com")

IMPORTANT: The iPhone doesn't automatically store information as you type it, you absolutely have to hit the "Save" button or you will lose your data.

Continue down, tapping on the additional fields to fill them out. "Start" and "End" times will default to 1hr apart, but you can change either of them to reflect the actual time and duration, or you can toggle the "All-day" slider to "on" to float the event on top of your other appointments (birthdays, for example, typically default to "All-day" events.

Repeat lets you choose common frequency levels for events that you do on a daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly basis, and you can easily set custom repetitions as well (every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, for example).

Alerts let you choose to have the iPhone popup a reminder for you, and how long before the event you want that reminder to pop up. If you're only going online or down the hall for a meeting, maybe 5 minutes is enough. If you have to drive across town in traffic, you may want 1 or 2 hours!

If you have multiple calendars, you can also choose on which color-coded calendar you'd like your new event to appear. Family, work, training, etc. can all hold different events. (We'll cover creating custom calendars in a future iPhone 101).

Lastly, you can jot down any Notes, like conference call-in numbers, documents you need to bring, booking references, etc.

When everything is entered and the event is just to your liking, hit "Done" at the top right and your new appointment will show up in your calendar. If you're syncing over the air to Exchange or MobileMe, the iPhone will push out the new appointment near-instantaneously. If you're syncing via iTunes, it will transfer the appointment over next time you attach the USB cable.

Now you've done it, you've added an event directly on your iPhone. Let us know how it worked for you, and if you have any other tips for new users, please drop them in the comments!

Mac nerdery stalwart John Gruber over at DaringFireball has put together a very interesting essay about how iPhone Calendar syncing has evolved from firmware 1.x (1.0 - 1.4) to firmware 2.0, and how the current iTunes syncing differs in functionality from syncing via Apple's MobileMe service.

From welcome improvements to frustrating choices, from new methods of use to evolving work-arounds, Gruber ultimately comes to the ultimate question:

Whither the “digital hub”?

While iTunes originally served as the one-stop location for all syncing and sync settings, MobileMe now works outside the iTunes universe, but does not offer the options (e.g. selecting individual rather than all calendars to sync) iTunes does, nor does the MobileMe pref pane.

Is there a way for Apple to cleanly present a unified place to manage all iPhone syncing, with a robust set of options?

My vote remains iTunes. When MobileMe is in use, keep the settings enabled, and pass the preferences along to the "cloud". That keeps data, media, and commerce all in one place, with one interface, in a familiar context. Just "push" choices of calendars, contact groups, etc. back up to MobileMe.

[Note: This a a Wait-A-Thon post! Comment on this post -- or any post tagged "Wait-a-Thon" -- for your chance to win a $100 iTunes Gift Card! Note that you must post with a valid and real email address so we can send you your prize -- no switching!]

More and more people are switching to the iPhone. They’re switching from Palm and Windows Mobile and Blackberry smartphones to the iPhone. They’re switching carriers to get the iPhone. And now that the next-gen iPhone 3G is all but upon us, and more and more regions are announcing their plans and pricing, the switching is only going to get faster and more furious.

To celebrate the switchers, those who dare to phone different, the iPhone Blog wants to help you get your content off your old, perhaps restrictive and outdates systems, and onto your shiny, new iPhone.

We've already gone over how to move your music, movies, and other media to iTunes, so now it's time to get with the data: contacts, calendars, and email.

Read on to find out how!

This article assumes you’re switching from another smartphone, like Blackberry, Windows Mobile, or Palm, and are new to the iTunes + iPod (and iPhone!) ecosystem. It also assumes you're a dedicated Windows user or someone who just recently switched from Windows to the Mac and needs to transfer content to an iPhone.

Since longtime iPod (and Mac) aficionados will almost certainly already be using iTunes and the typical Mac applications, your iPhone will sync your content via iTunes the same as it would any other iPod. And, hey, if you’re a Linux (or any other *nix) user, I figure you’ve kept your content open from the get-go, and already know 18 different ways to get it onto your unlocked, jailbroken iPhone hax0red with Open Moko anyway...

"Push" First: Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and Apple MobileMe

With iPhone firmware 2.0, everything changes. Why lead with this? Because if you intend to use either Exchange and/or MobileMe with your iPhone, you can read this section and you're pretty much done. (Or at least you can skip ahead to photos at the end -- though be sure to download iTunes anyway for your media). With Exchange and MobileMe (billed as Exchange for the rest of us), iTunes data sync is eliminated, cables are eliminated, and intermittent syncing becomes a thing of the past. With these "push" solutions, everything is automagically updated wirelessly (via WiFi or EDGE/HSPA cell network). Change something in Outlook and a few seconds later, your iPhone will show the same changes. Tweak some data on your iPhone, and a few seconds later, MobileMe's website will show the same tweak.

(Not using ActiveSync or MobileMe? No worries. Skip to the next section and we'll start setting up iTunes for local sync!)

So, to simply and easily set up most of your syncing using iPhone 2.0: tap Settings, tap Mail, Contacts, and Calendars (Just Mail if you're doing Exchange on iPhone 1.x), tap Add Account, and then select the type of account you would like to add.

Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync

ActiveSync makes its debut with iPhone 2.0, and doesn't function on the older, 1.x firmware, so if you intend to use it, make sure you have an iPhone 3G or have updated your original iPhone (2G) to the latest firmware as of July 11, 2008. To setup Exchange ActiveSync, tape the logo for it. If you're using Exchange 2007 on the back end, you may be able to automatically set up your account. If you can't, or are using an old version of Exchange -- or just in general due to the complex and fussy nature of setting up an Exchange account in general -- you're best practice is to check with your Exchange administrator (or hosted service provider).

Apple MobileMe (formerly .Mac)

MobileMe, Apple's replacement for .Mac and it's "Exchange for the Rest of Us". It will sync, wirelessly, over the air (OTA), contacts, calendars, mail, and photos between the iPhone and your Mac (with the aforementioned Address Book, iCal, Mail.app, and iPhoto) and/or PC (with Outlook). MobileMe will debut on July 11, 2008 alongside iPhone 3G and the 2.0 firmware, and should "just work" once you enter in your MobileMe username and password (previous users of .Mac will keep the same credentials, and will be able to use either user@mac.com or user@me.com interchangeably).

Local Sync: Getting iTunes

What Data Does iTunes Sync?

If you already have your data in Outlook, you're good to go for the iPhone. If you have it in another application, or scattered among a few applications... well, we'll get to that in a moment.

On the Mac side, iTunes "just works" with Apple's default applications, Address Book, iCal, Mail.app, Safari, and iPhoto, or with Microsoft's Entourage. Since sync services, contacts, calendaring, etc. are all "CoreServices" handled at the OS level, once you check the appropriate boxes in iTunes, the automagic process is almost transparent. You can even sync to Microsoft Office Entourage (Outlook's ugly step-sibling on the Mac side) by syncing Entourage with the default apps via CoreServices.

Similarly, if you don't have your data in these Mac apps yet, or have it scattered elsewhere, we'll also get to that in a moment.

Now let's break it down...

Syncing Your Contacts

These three protocols are all supported from directly within iTunes. If you have your contacts in one of them, simply choose the appropriate program from the drop-down in iTunes and your information will be moved right over to your iPhone.

From Apple OS X: Address Book, Yahoo! Address Book, and Google Contacts

On the Mac version of iTunes, you can check both Apple's Address Book and Yahoo! Address Book if you so choose. (I keep things simple -- and fear duplicates -- so I recommend picking one and sticking with it.)

If you're running OS X Leopard 10.5.3 or later, you can also sync your Gmail Contacts with your iPhone, using a more round-about method: launch Address Book, select Preferences from the Address Book menu, and check the box next to Synchronize with Google. Once set up, this will sync your Google Contacts to your Address Book, and then iTunes will sync them from Address Book to your iPhone.

From Everywhere Else: Thunderbird, Windows Live, Google Contacts

If you have your contacts in anything other than the above-mentioned programs or services, you'll have to move them over before you can sync them with the iPhone. Many programs/services allow you to export CSV files or vCards, including: Mozilla Thunderbird, Microsoft Windows Live, and Google Contacts.

Once you've got your export file, simply import the contacts back into Outlook, Address Book, Yahoo! Address Book and you're golden.

Syncing Your Calendar

For reasons known only to Apple and Microsoft, Outlook is your only calendar/event choice for syncing with the iPhone. (The drop down is so far only a merciless tease at options yet (maybe never?) to come).

From Apple OS X: iCal

Like Windows, OS X provides only one option for calendar sync: iCal (and not even a drop down to tease more.) Check it and go.

From Everywhere Else: Google Calendar, Windows Calendar, etc.

Many popular Calendar programs are compatible with the iCalendar format, which allows you to publish and/or subscribe from one program (and even platform) to another. Using this feature, you can try to move your data over your iPhone. Here's an example using Google Calendar:

You can subscribe to Google Calendars through Outlook on Windows, or use the Google Calendar Sync utility. Unfortunately the iPhone thus far doesn't reliably sync from anything besides the Outlook default Calendar, which means the subscribed Google Calendar doesn't get moved over unless you use a commercial product like the Paul Thurrott referenced SyncMyCal.

For Mac users a one way (Google to iPhone) work-around involves subscribing to your Google Calendar. From Google Calendar: Click on the Calendar Settings drop down, click on Private Address, and click on iCal to generate a private address for your Google Calendar especially designed for iCal. Copy the URL and open iCal. Inside iCal: Select the Calendar menu and click on Subscribe, then paste in the Private Address you copied from Google Calendar. Next time you sync, iCal will feed your Google Calendar to your iPhone. For bi-directional sync (Google to iPhone and iPhone to Google), there's the commercial Spanning Sync, and you can try the demo before you buy.

Theoretically, you could also try exporting and importing XML, CSV, or another cross-program file, although in my experience this often requires a vast amount of work (and Googling, and message board begging...)

Syncing Your Email

Two options for Windows users, the ubiquitous Outlook and Windows Mail (which I believe is an "upgrade" to the horrible Outlook Express rather a desktop version of the far superior WIndows Live Mail -- tsk tsk to both Apple and Microsoft).

From Apple OS X: Mail.app

Still only one choice from Apple OS X users, however: Apple's default mail client, the eponymous Mail.app. Again, just one checkbox, to keep with the ultra simple groove. (Usability over options is a mantra).

From Everywhere Else: Google Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, AOL, Microsoft Live/Hotmail, etc.

Yahoo! Mail can be setup as an IMAP email account on your iPhone, which means your Yahoo! Mail folders on your iPhone will exactly match your folders on Yahoo!'s website and vice versa. Also, Yahoo! provides "push" email for the iPhone, meaning changes to one will be reflected automatically and near-instantly in the other, just like Exchange ActiveSync and MobileMe (but without the calendar and contacts sync).

You can also set up your Gmail account, including the new Gmail IMAP service which works like Yahoo! Mail -- but without the "push" -- keeping your web, local client (i.e. Outlook, Mail, etc.), and web-based views synchronized at user-definable intervals (manually, every 10 minutes, etc.).

Unfortunately, since they don't (to the best of my knowledge) surface any open, standard protocols like IMAP or POP, Microsoft Live/Hotmail accounts can't easily be synced with the iPhone. Your options include signing up for a Yahoo! or Gmail account and manually moving the messages over to your new, IMAP-happy account, or you can try this free solution and see if it works for you.

For any ISP mail, you can simply set up the iPhone as a POP (or IMAP if they offer it -- much better!) client.

Syncing Your Bookmarks

iTunes supports syncing over all your bookmarks from Internet Explorer (hopefully the much more secure and standards friendly IE 7, right?) and Windows Safari (Apple's own browser). Hierarchies will be preserved, so think about how you'll use your booksmarks both on the desktop and the iPhone, and organize a good middle ground.

From Apple Mac OS X: Safari

No choices here. Check Safari and move along.

From Everywhere Else: Firefox, Opera, etc.

If you're using Firefox, Opera, or another Firefox-like (Mozilla Gecko powered), or Safari-like (Apple WebKit powered) browser, is to try and import your bookmarks into Internet Explorer or Safari (export first via HTML if you have to).

If you want to keep using Firefox (or another browser) for desktop use, there's no way to keep your bookmarks synced, unfortunately, but you can delete the IE or Safari bookmarks (since you're not using them) and re-import a fresh, updated set whenever you like.

Syncing Your Photos

For Windows users, the procedure to sync photos to the iPhone is as simple as it is non-powerful. Put all the photos you want to sync in a folder (or hierarchy of folders if you want to separate them out, e.g., Family, Friends, Birthday, etc.) and then select that folder in iTunes.

From Apple Mac OS X: iPhoto and Folder Sync

For Mac users, in addition to the folder sync described above, you can also chose to sync from Apple's iPhoto application, either your complete library, or from selected sub-libraries.

From Everywhere Else: Yahoo! Flickr, Facebook, Google Picasa, etc.

If you keep your photo collection online (i.e. Flickr, Facebook, Photoshop Express, Windows Live, etc.), you're going to have to target a desktop backup, or download the photos you want on your iPhone to a local directory. Put all the photos you want to sync in one folder, and make sure you note down the location of that folder (e.g. iPhone Photos). This will be the folder you target inside iTunes as described above.

For Picasa, make sure you organize all the pictures you want on your iPhone into one folder, or a hierachy of folders, and then that will be the folder your target from inside iTunes, also as described above.

Wait! Help! My Data is Stuck On My Phone!

From the Original iPhone (iPhone 2G) to iPhone 3G

Apple provides excellent directions for upgrading to the iPhone 3G.

From RIM Blackberry, Windows Mobile, and Palm Treo (Windows Mobile OS)

Blackberry's are data monsters. Data -- all of it, all now, all the time -- is the only reason for a Blackberry. It's why RIM invented the Blackberry. Windows Mobile, whether running on a Motorola, Samsung, HTC, Palm, or whatever device, is made to integrate with other Microsoft products like Exchange, ActiveSync, and Outlook/Entourage. (Note: Always make sure you have the latest/greatest firmware, patches, updates, etc. from your phone carrier and platform provider).

From a Blackberry or ActiveSync perspective, pretty much all business users will have an Exchange server of one kind or another available to them. Just use ActiveSync on your new iPhone 2.0 and you're good to go. (Check with IT if you have to, especially for the settings information).

If you don't have a business Exchange server but you do have access to a Windows computer with Microsoft Outlook on it, sync your Blackberry to Outlook, then Outlook to your iPhone.

For Mac users, check out Markspace, which provides a variety of phone-specific syncing solutions especially for the Mac. They're not free, but the time and effort they'll save you are well worth it. (I used to it get my data off a Palm OS Treo 680 into the default Apple apps and it worked seamlessly).

If you don' have any of the above available to you, try a hosted Exchange service, even temporarily. Sync your Blackberry data to that, then ActiveSync it to your new iPhone, and cancel the hosted Exchange service.

From Palm OS Treo

Palm OS (Garnet) Treo's can work similarly to the above if you have ActiveSync installed (or download it from Palm's website -- warning, direct file link!) and access to an Exchange server (business or hosted). 

Similarly if you have access to Outlook. If you're stuck in Palm Desktop, you'll first have to find your Palm install CD and go through the setup again, choosing Outlook instead.

(Mac users, see Markspace, above).

From a Feature Phone

If you don't have a smartphone, but are coming instead from a standard consumer feature phone (candybar or flip phone from Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, etc.) and have data on there you really don't want to retype, you can try looking for a data transfer kit that matches your phone. These vary widely in form, availability, and functionality, and will cost you money and time, but if you have both check out Howard Forums or even Google. Search and ask around. Be key word specific (i.e. "transfer data nokia model# outlook". Best of luck, and please share what you find in case others are trying out the same.

Conclusion

Well, there they are, my tips and tricks for getting your data off the old and outdated just in time for your brand new iPhone 3G/2.0. But try as I might, I know our readers — the real data ninjas — have a whole host of sneaky black magic all their own.

What are your best tips and tricks? Drop a comment and let us know!

Updating yesterday's story about .Mac getting the push-email treatment in iPhone 2.0, TUAW's tipsters are back with this little gem:

According to our anonymous tipster, .Mac will undergo a complete revamp that will coincide with the iPhone 2.0 launch (which everyone expects to occur at WWDC 08).

Again with the asking and receiving, eh?

Rumored highlights for the updated .Mac include full wireless (cell + wifi?) calendar, contacts, and email (an Apple Exchange anyone?) and .Mac support for -- you guessed it! -- Windows.

First El Jobso gives PC users a cool glass of iTunes and iPhone, and now a possible consumer-centric push service.

Did I mention how June can't come fast enough yet?

Can’t wait till iPhone firmware 2.0 to get your corporate calendar on your iPhone? Here is a great trick to get your enterprise appointments onto you’re your iPhone.

What you will need:

• Novell GroupWise (tested, though should work with other mail applications)
• A Google Account with:
• Gmail
• Google Calendar

For the bonuses, you will need:

• A calendar that can subscribe to .ics files (iCal) I found the basics of this idea here, but have elaborated it to iCal which works great for me.

Ever since I purchased the iPhone I have longed for a way to get my GroupWise calendar onto my iPhone. I use a PC at work and an iMac/PowerBook G4 at home. I sync my iPhone with my iMac. Since I don’t actually sync with my PC, how can I get the calendar on my iPhone? The answer: Google… to the rescue!

What you can do is configure a rule in GroupWise to delegate (forward) a meeting to your Gmail account. When Gmail receives, this, Google automatically adds it the Google Calendar on your account. You can then subscribe to the Google Calendar Feed in iCal. Then, sync your iPhone! You instantly have all of the calendars you are currently syncing with but now you have your “work” appointments too! There is a downside; you can’t add appointments to the read-only calendar from Google. However, this has not proved to be a huge roadblock for me. Also, if you want to take full advantage of this, don’t use Posted Appointments, only Appointments. This way you will have all of the appointments you make delegated (more on this later).

There are added benefits too. I have Google send me a daily agenda and SMS reminders. These items are based off of the appointments delegated to my Google Calendar, so I am always in touch with what is going on for the day.

Now, let’s discuss how to set this up in more detail…

Step 1:

From GroupWise, create a rule like this:
"When event is Filed to Calendar folder and if condition is Appointment, Add Action to Delegate to: name@gmail.com Comments to recepient:GWDelgate"

Step 2:

From Gmail, create a filter where the search criteria is from your GroupWise email address, name@source.domain, and has the words GWDelegate.

Step 3:

Set the action to "Delete it".

Step 4:

On the computer that can subscribe to .ics files (preferably the computer you sync your iPhone with, for this example, iCal on a Mac) open Google Calendar and click on the options for your “work” calendar.

Step 5:

Find the iCal icon and click on it, this should open iCal for you to subscribe.

Step 6:

Accept the settings in iCal, but make sure you set the calendar to refresh on an interval you find acceptable.

Step 7:

Make sure that you configure the reminders and email options in your “work” Google Calendar to the criteria you want. I have it set to email me a daily agenda at 5:30 AM and send me an SMS reminder 30 minutes prior to a meeting. I then added the text number from Google to my Address Book and I now have an SMS thread called “Google Calendar”.

That is it! You are done! Place your iPhone in the cradle and sync. Of course, you may have to manually add the calendar in iTunes for syncing with your iPhone.

For an extra cool tip, if you have an Apple .Mac account or if you have your own FTP server, AND if you publish your personal calendar from iCal, you can subscribe to it in Google Calendar and have all of your calendars online! This works great for me and comes in very handy; I can access all of my appointments on ANY web browser. Keep in mind that this does only sync Appointments and Meeting Requests; tasks and notes are not included. We will have to wait for Apple to add note and to-do syncing functionality to Mail and the iPhone for that.

Your mileage may vary based on the Enterprise mail/server client and configurations you are using. There is already an Outlook sync tool from Google, but it does not sync Meetings, bummer. So, this solution is currently more useful. Post your comments if this works for you, or you got it working on another client other then GroupWise!

Engadget honcho Ryan Block got his techie mitts on a pre-release version of the iPhone 2.0 firmware, and here are the highlights (and lowlights!):

Exchange over Wi-Fi is not instantaneous (!). No contact search he could find. New button in Calendar don't do nothing for him yet. App Store error's out. Cisco branded VPN screen. Parental controls are good-to-go. Wi-Fi order can be specified in prefs. Calc has new widescreen scientific mode and icon. And his favorite new feature -- Multi-Select in Mail!

Head on over for a full rundown and gallery o' pics!