TechVenue.com: Mobile Access
                  "Your Regional Business Technology Events Calendar"
 

TechVenue.com Event Postings in vCalendar/iCal Format FAQ:

1) About vCalendar & TechVenue.com Calendar Event Postings
2) Why did we choose vCal?
3) Mobile Computing &  vCal Standards
4) vCal and Mobile Usage Statistics

4) Main Products and Services Using vCal standard
    a) Palm III, Palm 4.0  (Pilot, OS, Desktop)
            HOW to save an event on TechVenue.com as a vCalendar event/appointment

    b) Microsoft Products
        Outlook
            HOW to save an event on TechVenue.com as a vCalendar event/appointment
        Microsoft Mobile Devices
        Microsoft® Mobile Explorer™

    c) Netscape
        Netscape Calendar
            HOW to save an event on TechVenue.com as a vCalendar event/appointment

5) Various Mobile Hardware/Software Services & Calendaring Directions
    a) Hewlett Packard Jornada 
    b) Casio Cassiopeia
    c) Motorola
    d) Newton
    e) Nokia
    f)  Psion
    g) Handspring Visor

6) Software Platforms and vCal Usage
    a) Lotus Organizer 6.x  http://www.lotus.com 
    b) Support for the new vCard 3.0 and iCalendar standards, as well as the vCalendar standard:
http://www.lotus.com/products/organizer5.nsf/w_org60/df2089c1710addae852567fa00564121?opendocument 

About vCalendar & TechVenue.com Calendar Event Postings
Developed with the cooperation of leading producers of PIMs, Mobile
devices, group scheduling, enterprise calendaring and scheduling, and
Internet calendaring software, vCalendar is an exchange format (since
1996) for personal scheduling information. It is applicable to a wide 
variety ofcalendaring and scheduling products and is useful in exchanging
information across a broad range of transport methods. A growing
number of vendors are fast adopting the specification because it
allows their products to exchange calendaring and scheduling
information in an easy, automated and consistent manner. vCalendar is
an open specification based on industry standards such as the x/Open
and XAPIA Calendaring and Scheduling API (CSA), the ISO 8601
international date and time standard and the related MIME email
standards.

The vCalendar format utilizes data normally stored within a
calendaring and scheduling application, facilitating the cross
platform exchange of information about items such as events and to-
do's.

Why did we choose vCal?
As opposed to the many choices of file types, programs,
and 3rd party solutions?  

Three reasons: Simplicity, Simplicity, Simplicity.
We wanted to adhere to industry standards (Ex. vCal since 1996) and
keep mobile access to calendar data as "vanilla" as possible to allow
more flexibility with the many mobile hardware/software offerings 
in the marketplace. No extra software to load, etc. 

TechVenue.com's vCal enabled calendars meet needs by providing:
• a solid feature set enabled by adhering to industry standards
• accessibility through desktop, PDA, and wireless devices
• a standards-based link architecture that allows companies to integrate with a wide
variety of software products, including integration with the proven technology of the
Openwave InterMail email system
• a highly scalable system that can support large numbers of users without any impact
on performance
vCalendar can be used to transport personal calendaring information
between applications of your choice whether they are personal
information managers, email systems or web browsers. Once the
information is on your system, you can share it with other vCalendar-
enabled application with desktop interaction techniques such as the
clipboard and drag-'n-drop.

Mobile Computing & vCal Standards
You are at a business meeting with representatives from various
companies. Every imaginable portable computing device is there-PDAs,
hand-held organizers, laptops and notebook PCs. Follow-on events and
action items are scheduled during the meeting. The chairperson uses a
PDA device or laptop with an infrared port to beam the information
over to one representatives calendaring and scheduling application and
it is, in turn, passed around to the other attendees. At this meeting,
you've made contacts, set-up appointments or events and created your
own action items. You accomplish this capability by using the vCard
and vCalendar cross-platform standards as infrared transport formats.
As a mobile user, this information is easily relayed to your
colleagues and contacts over your company's network or Intranet via a
dial-up connection.

TechVenue.com's PDA/Mobile calendaring links serve a full set of
business-class features for personal and group calendar management and
is leading the way toward a truly mobile tech event collaboration
environment. Our service makes core features and functionality
available to nearly any type of wireless- enabled device, including:
Personal digital assistants (PDAs)
Wireless Access Protocol (WAP)-enabled mobile phones
Two-way pagers
Non-WAP-enabled handsets that have short message service (SMS)
functionality

vCal and Mobile Usage Statistics:
IDC estimates that there will be over 400 million
calendaring and scheduling application users by the year 2004.
According to a survey by Network Computing magazine (July 10, 2000),
the top three key drivers for enterprise wireless-data-enabled systems include:
• Remote access to specific corporate data and applications
• Remote email access
• Integrated organizational calendaring and scheduling
IDC projects the growth of handheld computers and Internet-enabled smart phones to grow
annually at approximately 36% and 102%, respectively, from 2000 until 2003. Based on
these growth rates, over 100 million subscribers will have wireless access to Internet and
enterprise content by 2003.
The proliferation of these devices will drive enterprises to demand flexible communication
systems that allow for access to corporate resources such as email, calendars, and task lists
from and across a variety of devices.


_____________________________________________________________________
Products and Services Using vCal:
_____________________________________________________________________
Microsoft Outlook (Versions 98 and above) - http://www.microsoft.com 

1) Outlook 98 allows you to import and export calendar events using
the vCalendar format. http://www.microsoft.com/office/outlook 

2) Outlook 2000 has enhanced support for the vCalendar (vCal) standard
for calendar information, including appointments, meeting requests,
and displaying free/busy times. In Outlook 2000, you can save, import,
and export vCalendar appointments.
http://www.microsoft.com/office/outlook 

3) HOW To save an event on TechVenue.com as a vCalendar event/appointment:
    a) On the TechVenue.com Calendar event detail, click the "vCal" link.
    b) If you are asked to either open the file or save it, choose open.
    c) If your computer default setup does not know what program to use to open the 
        vCal event, you may need to follow the following steps:

You may need to set your file type mappings. This is easier than loading 3rd party 
software to use vCal. To do this, run Windows Explorer (*not* Internet Explorer),
and - select "View-->Folder Options"
- click on the "File Types" tab
- click "New Type..."
- Fill in the blanks:
o Description : vCalendar
o Associated Extension: vcs
o Content Type (MIME) : text/calendar
- Click on "New" for a new action
- Fill in the blanks:
o Action: Open
o Application user to perform action: <full path to>\outlook /vcal %1

_____________________________________________________________________
Microsoft Mobile Devices - http://www.microsoft.com/mobile/downloads/default.asp 
(Handheld PC, Pocket PC)

Microsoft® Mobile Explorer™:
vCard and vCalendar Attachments vCard and vCalendar attachments can be
downloaded into the phone memory by simply clicking on the relevant e-
mail attachment or Web site.
_____________________________________________________________________
Netscape Communicator 4.x and above, Professional Edition Netscape

Netscape Calendar, part of Netscape Communicator 4 Professional
Edition, supports import and export of events in vCalendar format
though text files and through the Clipboard.
http://www.netscape.com/comprod/products/communicator/calendar.html 

3) HOW To save an event on TechVenue.com as a vCalendar event/appointment:
    a) On the TechVenue.com Calendar event detail, click the "vCal" link.
    b) If you are asked to either open the file or save it, choose open.
    c) If your computer default setup does not know what program to use to open the 
        vCal event, you may need to follow the following steps:

You may need to set your file type mappings. This is easier than loading 3rd party 
software to use vCal. To do this, run Windows Explorer (*not* Internet Explorer),
and - select "View-->Folder Options"
- click on the "edit" menu item
- click "Preferences"
- click "Applications" under "Navigator" 
- click "New Type..."
- Fill in the blanks:
o Description : vCalendar
o Associated Extension: vcs
o Content Type (MIME) : text/calendar
- Click on "New" for a new action
- Fill in the blanks:
o Action: Open
o Application user to perform action: <full path to>\outlook /vcal %1

_____________________________________________________________________
PALM III - http://www.palm.com 
_____________________________________________________________________
The Palm III portable personal information device transmits address
book entries between systems using the vCard format. The device can
transmit one or more vCards at a time, and can interact with any other
IrDA device that can handle vCards.
_____________________________________________________________________
PALM 4.0 - http://www.palm.com 
_____________________________________________________________________
What are the new features of Palm Desktop 4.0.1?
Functional New Look - View, find, sort and edit records more
efficiently with our new user interface. vCard and vCal Support - Send
friends and associates business cards or appointments electronically
as vCard and vCal attachments to e-mail messages.
RE: vCal - The following enhancements have been made since Palm
Desktop software 4.0:
1) The vCal export feature was changed to ensure that Microsoft Outlook
correctly interprets the time zone for events.
2) Forward as vCard, and Forward as vCal, are now available in the
Edit menu of the Palm Desktop software on PCs running only Microsoft
Outlook Express (i.e. neither Microsoft Office nor Outlook is
installed).

3) HOW To save an event on TechVenue.com as a vCalendar event/appointment:
    a) On the TechVenue.com Calendar event detail, click the "vCal" link.
    b) If you are asked to either open the file or save it, choose open.
    c) If your computer default setup does not know what program to use to open the 
        vCal event, you may need to follow the following:

    Under Palm Desktop (Ex. 4.0) simply choose "options" and click to choose 
    vCard/vCal as a default file type for Palm to automatically recognize. Once
    you do this, clicking on the vCal link should activate Palm Desktop and
    ask you if you want this appointment/event added to your calendar.

ARTICLES:
1) Palm Desktop gets a facelift - Network World Mobile Computing
Newsletter http://www.techinformer.com/english/crd_palm_472876.html 
2) Palm Desktop v4.0 Review - ZDNet
http://www.zdnet.com/downloads/stories/info/0,,001ENS,.html 
"...Some of the major new features include a new, elegant user
interface, vCard and vCal support, and desktop alarms that allow you
to get notification on your desktop of event alarms."
_____________________________________________________________________
HARDWARE and Associated OS's and Software:
_____________________________________________________________________
Hewlett Packard Jornada - http://www.hp.com/jornada 

Product Manuals: http://www.hp.com/jornada/products/520/manuals.html 
_____________________________________________________________________
Casio Cassiopeia - http://www.casio.com 

User Guides: http://www.casio.com/support/index.cfm?cid=3675 
_____________________________________________________________________
Motorola - http://www.motorola.com 

1) Timeport™ Personal Interactive Communicators (Ex. P935) have vCard
and vCalendar support for beaming business card over IrDA
2) TrueSync Desktop: Calendar
http://www.motorola.com/GSS/CSG/Products/cliponorganizer/calendar.pdf 
_____________________________________________________________________
Newton - http://www.newtonware.com 
_____________________________________________________________________
Nokia Mobile - http://www.nokia.com
 
The Nokia Communicator is a phone fax, email client, Web client, a
calendar, and notepad. The 9110s allow the exchange of vCalendars
during a telephone conversation and store the information in the
Communicator's calendar.

WAP Calendar Agent:
The WAP Calendar Agent included in the Nokia Activ calendar notes
entries from common scheduling backend systems to Nokia 6210, 7110,
and 9110i mobile phones supporting vCal format or to other mobile
phones via SMS.
The Nokia Activ Office WAP Calendar Agent is installed separately from
the Nokia Activ Server. The installation requires Nokia Activ Server
and a separate activation key.
Supported scheduling systems:
Microsoft ® Exchange 5.5
Lotus Notes 4.6 and 5.0
Supported functionality:
Browse back end calendar
Define rules and personalize calendar synchronization settings
Automatically receive reservations on a mobile phone calendar
http://www.nokia.com/corporate/wap/softwaresuite/option_office.html
_____________________________________________________________________
Psion - http://www.psion.com
_____________________________________________________________________
Visor: http://www.handspring.com

Visor & Visor Deluxe User Guide:
http://www.handspring.com/support/download/user_guide.pdf
_____________________________________________________________________
OTHER SOFTWARE PLAYERS:

Lotus Organizer 6.0 and above:
Organizer offers rich and easy-to-use PIM features, Internet group
scheduling based on iCalendar, and accessible contact management
functionality. Organizer has supported vCalendar in its last four
releases. vCalendar objects can be imported and exported to and from
the Organizer Calendar section using drag-and-drop, the clipboard, and
the import/export menu. Organizer also supports iMIP group scheduling
and iCalendar busytime. http://www.lotus.com/home.nsf/welcome/organizer
Lotus Organizer 6 - What's New?
Support for the new vCard 3.0 and iCalendar standards, as well as the
vCalendar standard.
_____________________________________________________________________
OTHER PDA RESOURCES:

USENET PDA Newsgroup:
http://groups.google.com/groups?oi=djq&as_ugroup=comp.sys.handhelds