.KEYWORD readysyncgo
.FLYINGHEAD PRODUCT REVIEW
.TITLE Synchronize your electronic devices with ReadySyncGo!
.FEATURE
.SUMMARY If you’re like most mobile professionals, your Palm device isn’t the only electronic gadget you carry around. You might also have a wireless phone or pager, among other things. Bob Draper reviews ReadySyncGo! from Synchrologic, Inc. It’s a Web-based PIM that offers data synchronization across a number of electronic devices, as well as with Microsoft Outlook.
.AUTHOR Bob Draper
In today’s busy and ever-changing world, your Palm device can be a great asset. But, if you’re like most mobile professionals, your Palm device isn’t the only electronic gadget you carry around. You might also have a wireless phone or pager, among other things. If you travel a great deal, you might also use several different desktop workstations.
Managing all this information, scattered across various platforms and locations, can be a real headache. It’s no wonder, then, that several companies, including Palm, Inc., have launched Web-based portals that allow you to HotSync your Palm device online, thereby reducing the problems associated with synchronizing your Palm device on numerous computers.
This month, I’ll be discussing one of these Web-based PIMs (Personal Information Managers) that goes far beyond just giving you an online calendar and address book. Synchrologic Inc.’s ReadySyncGo! (at http://www.readysyncgo.com), is a free Web-based PIM that offers data synchronization across a number of electronic devices, as well as with Microsoft Outlook. That’s an impressive feat, especially for a free service, and based on my experiences over the past month or so using it, ReadySyncGo! has performed rather well.
Before we get into it, here’s a rundown of the system requirements:
.BEGIN_LIST
.BULLET Palm OS3.x;
.BULLET Microsoft Outlook 97, 98, or 2000;
.BULLET Windows 95, 98, ME, NT 4.0, or 2000;
.BULLET Web-enabled phone;
.BULLET SMS (Short Message Service) text messaging (phone and pager).
.END_LIST
The browser requirements are Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or later, or Netscape Communicator 4.6 or later.
.H1 Initial installation and set-up
Set up is quite easy. Simply head over to http://www.readysyncgo.com and select the Sign Up Now button. You’ll be taken to a page similar to Figure A.
.FIGPAIR A Just fill in the blanks, check some boxes, and you’re ready to go!
The setup process is fairly intuitive and well-designed. You’ll be asked to provide device-specific information depending on what kinds of devices you’ll be using with ReadySyncGo!. You’ll then have the chance to confirm that your phone or pager has been configured correctly.
During the setup, you’ll also install the ReadySyncGo! client applications on your Palm device and Windows PC. Then, as the setup concludes, you’ll be asked to specify what kind of notifications you’d like to receive, as shown in Figure B.
.FIGPAIR B Make your choices, click Submit, and you’re done.
.H1 Using ReadySyncGo!
ReadySyncGo!’s Web-based PIM is easy to use and consists of five basic components. Your RSG! (ReadySyncGo!) Home, pictured in Figure C, provides current weather information, as well as links to your RSG! Trips and RSG! Appointments. We’ll get to those in a minute.
.FIGPAIR C Your RSG! Home offers valuable current information.
You’ll also notice that just like Outlook or Palm Desktop, RSG! offers Calendar, Contacts, To Do, and Memos modules. RSG!’s Calendar, pictured in Figure D, is well-designed and easy to use, offering day, week, month, and year views.
.FIGPAIR D With RSG!, you’ll have easy, anywhere access to your schedule.
The Contacts list, pictured in Figure E, allows you to easily view the basic information for any of your contacts.
.FIGPAIR E RSG! makes it easy to find that number–whereever you are.
You can also easily send an email message simply by clicking a contact’s email address. Clicking a name gives you access to the details for that contact. The RSG! Contacts module is also designed to handle up to ten phone numbers and four email addresses, as shown in Figure F. That’s a pretty slick trick.
.FIGPAIR F A place for every number, for those who have numbers for every place.
Of course, this means that the RSG! conduit has to do some serious maneuvering to fit all that information into your Palm device’s five phone number/email address fields (though Outlook handles these extra fields just fine).
To accomplish this, RSG! automatically groups any fields with the same label together into one field, and if necessary, places the remaining numbers in the fifth field (labeled "other"), using the following prefixes to identify the items:
.BEGIN_LIST
.BULLET W = Work;
.BULLET H = Home;
.BULLET E = Email;
.BULLET F = Fax;
.BULLET O = Other;
.BULLET Ma = Main;
.BULLET P = Pager;
.BULLET Mo = Mobile.
.END_LIST
Of course, this means that the data in your handheld Address Book will be rearranged once you start using RSG!, and you’ll have little control over how it gets listed. In most cases, this shouldn’t be a problem, and if you need all those numbers, the advantage of having them all on your Palm device will greatly outweigh any inconvenience that this rearrangement may cause.
The To Do list, pictured in Figure G, lets you review your upcoming tasks. As with Contacts, you can perform a search for a particular item, or sort items by category.
.FIGPAIR G The RSG! To Do list is never more than a click away.
Finally, the Memos module pictured in Figure H offers the same ease-of-use and clean design that’s found in the other modules.
.FIGPAIR H Like the other RSG! modules, the Memos list is easy to access and use.
The Web-based client software is intuitive and works quite well. However, as with all things Web-based, the speed of your Internet connection will be a significant factor in determining how well RSG! works for you. Of course, if you don’t want to use the Web-based PIM, you don’t have to. You can use Outlook as your primary PIM while you’re at your workstation. Just be sure to synchronize Outlook with your online RSG! profile regularly by selecting Synchronize Now! from the RSG! Synchronization menu on your task bar, shown in Figure I.
.FIGPAIR I The Synchronization menu gives you access to a number of RSG! options.
With RSG! installed on your Windows PC, your Palm device, is synchronized with your online RSG! profile when you HotSync. Therefore, when using RSG! and Outlook, it’s important to remember that getting the information from Outlook to your Palm device and vice-versa involves a two-step synchronization process.
If you have just accepted an appointment from a coworker in Outlook, you must synchronize Outlook with your online RSG! profile and then HotSync your Palm device with your online RSG! profile if you want that appointment to show up in your handheld Date Book. Don’t worry; it’s not as cumbersome as it sounds–although it does take some getting used to.
.H1 Creating RSG! Trips and RSG! Appointments
Of course, the easy access offered by RSG!’s Web-based PIM and its smooth integration with Outlook are only a small part of what makes this service so attractive to mobile professionals. One of RSG!’s key strengths lies in the ability to create special calendar entries, called RSG! Trips and RSG! Appointments.
There are several ways to create an RSG! Trip or RSG! Appointment, and you can do so from within Microsoft Outlook or in the Web-based RSG! Calendar module.
I’ll start by showing how to create an RSG! Trip using Microsoft Outlook. In Outlook, there are several ways to proceed. You can select New RSG! Appointment or New RSG! Trip from the Actions menu. You can also choose Create Trip or Create Appointment from the Synchronization menu on your task bar. Finally, at the end of the Outlook toolbar, you’ll notice two small buttons. The button on the left is for RSG! Appointments and the one on the right for RSG! Trips. Figure J shows the various ways to create an RSG! Trip or RSG! Appointment.
FIGPAIR J With so many choices, you’re sure to find one that works best for you.
No matter which route you choose to get here, the custom RSG! Trip tab in the Outlook Appointment window looks like the one shown in Figure K.
.FIGPAIR K If only planning the trip were this easy.
As you can see, you can enter just about every pertinent bit of information related to your upcoming trip. The suitcase and car buttons allow you to enter hotel and rental car information as well.
Once you have finished creating your trip entry, simply choose Save and Close and synchronize Outlook with your online RSG! profile. Then, once you HotSync your Palm device, not only will the new appointment be added to your handheld Date Book, but specific information about your upcoming RSG! Trip will be added to the RSG! application on your handheld, as shown in Figure L.
.FIG L At least your Palm device is now packed and ready for your trip.
In addition to weather and other related information about your destination, the handheld RSG! application also provides detailed information about your flight, as well as directions to the airport, your hotel, and so on, based on the information you entered when you created your RSG! Trip.
Creating an RSG! Appointment is easy as well. I’ll show you how using the RSG! Calendar module. When you create a new event, you can specify that you want it be either an RSG! Trip or RSG! Appointment by selecting the appropriate button, as shown in Figure M.
.FIGPAIR M Creating RSG! Appointments on the Web is easy, too.
Once you select the RSG! Appointment button, a second tab will appear, offering the various options shown in Figure N.
.FIGPAIR N Just give me a date and time, and I’ll be there.
Here I can enter the various details for my meeting with Steve Niles, my editor here at PalmPower, including whether this meeting will be in person or by phone (and, in the case of a phone meeting, whether I’ll call him or he’ll call me). Click the Save button, and the appointment appears on your calendar.
RSG! Appointments are easy to spot, as the excerpts from my RSG! Calendar in Figure O demonstrate.
.FIGPAIR O RSG! makes it easy to see which events are RSG! Appointments.
Telephone meetings appear with a small phone icon; in-person meetings have a handshake. As with RSG! Trips, RSG! Appointments created in Outlook, travel directions, and other information will show up in the handheld RSG! application after your next HotSync.
.H1 Other features
RSG! can also provide mobile reminders about appointments and your daily schedule via email, either to your desktop PC or a mobile device, as shown in Figure P.
.FIGPAIR P If your Palm alarm isn’t enough, RSG! can email you, too.
Obviously, this option is geared more towards RSG! users with Web-enabled cell phones or email-capable pagers, rather than Palm device owners. After all, it would be a bit redundant to have your Palm Vx, your Nokia 8210, and your Motorola pager all remind you of each upcoming event. Of course, if you think you need that, RSG! can let you have it!
In addition to receiving email reminders on your Web-enabled cell phone, you can also access your contacts and calendar information from your phone as well, which provides easy "enter once/use anywhere" access to your Palm device’s information.
In the future, RSG! will offer those with PalmVII handhelds, OmniSky wireless modems, and similar devices the ability to synchronize wirelessly, too. The next version of RSG! will also include the ability to synchronize your online RSG! profile with Palm Desktop, ACT, and Lotus Notes.
.H1 Now to wrap it all up
Without a doubt, I was impressed by the wide array of services that ReadySyncGo! offers. I found the application to be mostly reliable, and I only experienced a couple of problems while synchronizing with the RSG! servers. Of course, as seasoned users of services like AvantGo can tell you, server timeouts are a to-be-expected hazard of HotSync operations with a remote server. Still, in each case I was able to successfully HotSync within ten minutes or so, so there was no real harm done.
On the other hand, RSG! isn’t for everyone. Like all Web-based PIMs, it’s targeted toward mobile professionals. If you’re simply looking for an easy (and free) way to synchronize with Outlook, there are other options (which I’ll be discussing in coming months). I was also disappointed that there wasn’t any way for me to HotSync my Palm device with my online RSG! Profile using my Macintosh at home; however, I was told that Macintosh compatibility should be available within a year or so.
That having been said, RSG! is an impressive service that fills the needs of its target audience nicely.
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information on ReadySyncGo!, visit http://www.readysyncgo.com.
For more information on Synchrologic, Inc., visit http://www.synchrologic.com.
For more information about Palm computers, visit http://www.palm.com.
.H1 Bulk reprints
Bulk reprints of this article (in quantities of 100 or more) are available for a fee from Reprint Services, a ZATZ business partner. Contact them at reprints@zatz.com or by calling 1-800-217-7874.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO Bob Draper is a technical writer at Westar Corporation’s U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground office. His favorite tax deduction (after his children, of course) is his Palm IIIxe. He can be reached at palmguy@mac.com.
.DISCUSS http://powerboards.zatz.com/cgi-bin/webx?50@@.ee6f2c0
