There are hundreds of thousands of iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad apps for just about everything -- so how come the one you need, the one you know just has to be there, is so hard to find? Enter TiPb's new weekly feature where staff and readers alike sort through the App Store and help you find just the right App for That. This week, Kevin asks:

We are looking for an app that can be updated by several different users at the same time and display that updated schedule to everyone on their iPad. Let me give you the specifics to better explain what I am looking for.

The setting is a cold storage facility with 10 different buildings. Throughout those 10 buildings are 5-6 workers loading or unloading trucks and 2 employees in the office checking in drivers. The office employees make the appointments for the drivers but appointments can be made on the same day.

So we would like the warehouse workers to be able to see the updated schedule as it changes as well as be able to note the arrival and departure times of the drivers from the delivery docks. It doesn't need a lot of bells and whistles but it just needs to be current and easily updatable by different parties at the same time.

CalenGoo [$6.99 - App Store link] is an iPhone and iPad app designed to keep your Google calendars synced across all devices. Additionally, it integrates Google Tasks which may be helpful in a work environment.

Obviously, Kevin will need to create a Google account in order to use this app, but that will only take a few moments and then he'd be good to go.

Another option is to still use a Google calendar account, but to set it up in the iPad's built in Calendar as an exchange account.

Anyone else have any App for That suggestions for Kevin? Let him -- and all of us -- know.

Having trouble finding what you need in the app store? Head on over to our App for That Forum and let us know what you're looking for. The TiPb community will do our best to find you just the right App for That!

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]

Have a lot of different calendars arranged in your Google Calendar, and curious how to manage which calendars display across the different devices you sync to? Perhaps you use an iPhone primarily for work and an iPad for play? If you're syncing both devices to the same Google account, then knowing how to tell Google which devices should see which calendars is a necessity. Follow us after the break to find out how to do just this.

The default calendar app for the iPhone lets you only show certain calendars, but this often doesn't extend to 3rd party App Store apps that pull calendar data from iOS. Fortunately, Google has provided an easy and straight-forward way of doing this if you're set up through Exchange ActiveSync.

• After you setup Google Sync on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, you'll want to go into Safari and point it to m.google.com/sync in order to manage your devices.

• From here you'll need to select your desired device. If you've ever synced other devices (including but not limited to previous iOS devices) you'll see them all displayed here with a time-stamp of your last sync.

• Tap on the device you'd like to manage and you'll have the ability to select any calendar you want synced to your device. De-select any calendar you'd like your device not synced with.

• Finally, tap 'Save' at the top and you'll be taken back to your device selection. Once you've saved the calendars you'd like to have synced, open up your calendar app and allow it a moment to sync up your new calendars. If you'd like to verify that only the specific calendars you selected have been synced, tap 'Calendars' at the top-left to see a list of all calendars.

That's it! Now you have full control over which calendars are synced to your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad from Google Calendar. Let us know if you have any questions in the comments below!

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…)

So how's iOS 4 Active Sync working for you? iOS 4 allows multiple ActiveSync accounts, meaning iPhone users can finally have their work Exchange setup alongside Google Sync, for example.

I've got both Exchange (2003) and Google Sync (Google Accounts) set up on both an iPhone 4 and an iPhone 3GS, and both mail and calendar are working fine (I don't sync Exchange contacts, never mind the mess that is Google contacts -- I use MobileMe for that).

Some users over on the Apple Support forums aren't having as much luck. Calendars in particular seem to be giving them problems where they weren't under iOS 3.x.

I did notice that, on my iPhone 3GS, the first time I added the second ActiveSync account the phone got hot and the battery started to drain so I deleted it, rebooted, and added it back and it hasn't happened again -- battery life has been surprisingly good.

What's your experience with ActiveSync under iOS 4?

[discussions.apple.com, thanks Sagar!]

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?

Google Sync, the nifty ActiveSync-powered service that lets iPhone and iPod touch users get instant, "push" access to their Gmail, Google Contacts, and Google Calendar seems to be suffering a bit lately. According to Google:

As many of you have noticed, Google Sync is having some difficulties due to an extended problem with one of our datacenters. This has been going on over the weekend, but it’s got significantly worse today, so I’m just letting everyone know what’s happening.

None of your information has been lost, and you will still be able to get your data through Sync, but you will find that Push isn’t working very well. This is because we’re batching up fetch requests to be able to cope with the traffic we’re seeing while this problem is ongoing. As soon as we’ve got the problem fixed, push should seamlessly start working properly again.

We’re working flat out to get this fixed, but unfortunately we don’t have an ETA at the moment. We’re doing everything we can to improve the situation in the meantime, and I’ll post here again when I have more news.

Finally, I want to apologise to everyone – we’re feeling your pain too, and we will get this sorted out as soon as we can.

If you're having problems with your Google Sync, let us know!

[DailyMobile.se via WMExperts]

Our sibling site, Android Central, brings word we'd almost given up faith at ever being brought'ned. Google apps, including the Gmail, Calendar, Docs, and Talk we love so much on the iPhone (and iPod touch), are out of beta and high on life! Google's own blog explains-ish:

We've come to appreciate that the beta tag just doesn't fit for large enterprises that aren't keen to run their business on software that sounds like it's still in the trial phase. So we've focused our efforts on reaching our high bar for taking products out of beta, and all the applications in the Apps suite have now met that mark.

Makes the kind of sense that doesn't, but whatever. Opaque, non-standard definitions of beta aside, it's still good news. What's next, announce a second operating system or something?

Anything but Push Gmail, right?

Here's a welcome surprise for you: Google has now created Google Sync for iPhone so that you can sync up your Google Contacts and Google Calendar. They are doing it by making their data look like an Exchange server -- meaning that if you're not already using Exchange on your iPhone for work, you can point it at Google's servers (see full instructions here) to get your contacts and calendars pushed out to you. Nice? Nice.

Of course, if you're already using Exchange for work but still want to get your Google data on your iPhone, you'd going to need to get a solution to sync your Google data down to your desktop and then get it from your desktop to your iPhone either via USB tether or via MobileMe. You can learn more about how the two work together in Rene's excellent article on that very subject.

Now, Google, just get Gmail to look like Exchange and we'll be happy campers. Actually, you know what, just fix IMAP, that'll be enough.

Quick Update: As I just noted over at WMExperts, Google licensed Exchange Active Sync (EAS) from Microsoft, which is a shot at RIM but also, maybe, a shot at Apple. Rene just pointed out to me that given all of Google's recent moves with the CalDAV/iCal system, they might have kept on pushing to make the stuff that Mac uses the industry standard. Instead, Google and Microsoft are suddenly working together on using EAS.

Google has dropped the iCal bomb. That's right. Buh-bye third party intermediaries, hello built-in Google Calendar support for Apple's open source CalDAV standard:

The Google Calendar team is proud to announce the public release of our support for the CalDAV protocol. You can now use Apple iCal with your Google Calendar, so you can work even when you're offline, sync almost instantly, respond to invitations from others and see the free/busy data of your friends and coworkers.

You can get both the setup program and the download from Google code source. (Now if we could only get some similar Google love for CardDAV as part of a Google Contacts revamp...)

If anyone has a chance to try it out, let us know how it works for getting your gCal into MobileMe or onto your iPhone (I'm -- right now very sadly -- transitioning to the HTC FUZE for the Round Robin, so let me live vicariously through you!)