Are iCal’s days numbered?
I am SO sorry for that pun. Please forgive me – I honestly tried not to write it, I really did, but I am just not strong enough. 
And no, for the record, I do not really think iCal is on the way out, (after all, would Apple have finally fixed the icon if it didn’t think iCal had a long and rosy future ahead of it?) but is anyone else having trouble finding those iCal calendar subscriptions Apple used to make available? Or, for that matter any mention of iCal at all on Apple’s site (aside from its cameo in the 300 new features of Leopard, that is).
Previously, going to Apple.com/iCal brought you to the iCal page where you could find the link to iCal’s calendar library subscription pages – full of goodies such as the latest Movie Releases, or NFL schedules. Now that link redirects you to Leopard’s 300 New Features propaganda page. A quick search of Apple.com reveals iCal is now a very hard app to find info on. iCal’s support page leads you to similar dead ends. Clicking on “Specifications” for iCal brings you to Leopard, and the link Apple’s “Mac 101: iCal” page gives you for the old iCal library page http://www.apple.com/ical/library/ returns Apple’s “Page not found” screen.
For the moment, all the current iCal calendars we had previously subscribed to seem to be working correctly, but it’s not looking good for future Apple served calendars. Can any of you web sleuths find where Apple has hidden iCal’s library page? First one to do so becomes my BFF. Thanks.
Leopard fixes iCal’s icon
I’ve been running Leopard now for about 5 days, and until just now I really couldn’t come up with a good reason to recommend anyone rush out to upgrade to the latest OS. However, thanks to faithful Macenstein reader Bilbo, I feel confident Leopard is worth all of its 12,900 cents. Why? Well, notice anything different about this picture?
That’s right! Bilbo pointed us to a posting over at as 2sentencesorless.com where they were astute enough to notice that Apple has finally listened to our daily feature requests, and fixed iCal’s icon to display the current date in the dock! (It still displays “July 17th” in the Applications folder). I feel ashamed that I did not pick up on that one myself, as, as I said, I pretty much sent Apple a daily feature request on that one.
So yes, thanks to iCal, Leopard actually IS worth $129, and application compatibility be damned, I suggest you rush out and upgrade today.
(Now, who wants to take bets on how long it’ll takes for some old school Tiger fan to hack the icon back to July 17th?)
iCal’s missing Calendars
Filed under: Apple, Not Cool, Users Helping Users, iCal
Posted by Dr. Macenstein
Since I have no friends or social engagements worth noting, I mainly use Apple’s iCal to track movie and DVD releases so that I can sit alone in a theater (or at home) and cry tears of loneliness while watching a movie. This sad ritual is one of my great joys in life, and thanks to iCal’s DVD Releases and Movie Openings calendars, I have been able to avoid MovieFone for over a year now.
However, starting about 3 weeks ago, both the Movie Openings and DVD Releases calendars stopped updating. The last DVD Release update occurred Tuesday, August 14th, and the last Movie Opening refresh was Friday August 24th. While it is possible that the DVD release of Wild Hogs and the Movie Release of Mr. Bean’s Holiday were enough to cause Apple’s iCal servers to self destruct, somehow I doubt it.
Above: iCal’s DVD and Movie calendars seem to have stopped being updated about 3 weeks ago. Same with the NFL calendars.
I also tried subscribing to some NFL calendars with no luck. Subscriptions to the Patriots and Vikings show up in iCal, but list no events. Since the new NFL season kicks off today, seems like these should be in working order. Luckily, the Japanese Holidays calendar seems to work just fine.
I had Helper Monkey attempt to subscribe to the same calendars on his MacBook, with similar results. After numerous iCal feedback posts to Apple, it appears I will have to log on to (shudder) MovieFone and see what’s coming up. Well, at least it’s not Fandango.
Anyone else out there able to confirm or deny this?
Contest
Advertisement
Product Reviews
Our Finest Moments
Where are they now? Interview with Switcher Girl Ellen Feiss Review: The iCar by Corgi - Possibly the worst iPod accessory EVER Apple blames iPod nano screen defects on obese Americans/tight pants Using Safari can slow your system down as much as 76% vs FirefoxDonate Now
iPhone Feature Request
