Need someone to lead product management at your software company? I create software for people that create software and I'm looking for my next opportunity. Check out my resume and get in touch.

This is the blog of Adam Kalsey. Unusual depth and complexity. Rich, full body with a hint of nutty earthiness.

Google Calendars in iCal

Freshness Warning
This blog post is over 18 years old. It's possible that the information you read below isn't current and the links no longer work.

Tara Hunt recently complained on her blog that with Google Calendar if she’s not online she can’t see her calendar. If you have a Mac with iCal or any other calendar software that can subscribe to an iCalendar, you can have offline access.

First, log into Google Calendar and pull up your calendar. Click the little down arrow next to your calendar’s name on the left. Choose "Calendar settings."

Access Calendar settings

Scroll down to "Private Address" and copy the ICAL url to your clipboard. (Right click or CTRL-Click the ICAL image and "Save Link As")

Get the iCal URL

In iCal, choose Calendar / Subscribe from the menu (or hit Cmd-Opt-S) and paste in the URL you just copied and hit Subscribe.

Paste subscription URL

Change the settings to...

  • Refresh every 15 minutes
  • Don’t remove alarms
  • Don’t remove To Do items

iCal Subscription options

Your calendar is now synced to iCal. You can’t change any events or add new ones, but you can see them when you’re offline and sync them to other devices using iSync.

iCal Screenshot

Recently Written

Video calls using a networked camera (Sep 25)
A writeup of my network-powered conference call camera setup.
Roadmap Outcomes, not Features (Sep 4)
Drive success by roadmapping the outcomes you'll create instead of the features you'll deliver.
Different roadmaps for different folks (Sep 2)
The key to effective roadmapping? Different views for different needs.
Micromanaging and competence (Jul 2)
Providing feedback or instruction can be seen as micromanagement unless you provide context.
My productivity operating system (Jun 24)
A framework for super-charging productivity on the things that matter.
Great product managers own the outcomes (May 14)
Being a product manager means never having to say, "that's not my job."
Too Big To Fail (Apr 9)
When a company piles resources on a new product idea, it doesn't have room to fail. But failing is an important part of innovation. If you can't let it fail, it can't succeed.
Go small (Apr 4)
The strengths of a large organization are the opposite of what makes innovation work. Starting something new requires that you start with a small team.

Older...

What I'm Reading