Firefox with Greasemonkey: The GmailAgenda user script puts your Google Calendar's upcoming events on the right hand side of your inbox. This script is pretty straightforward: Once you install GmailAgenda, a panel appears on the right side of every view inside Gmail which contains your GCal agenda (as pictured). On my Mac, the agenda panel did white out intermittently, but even with slight bugginess its usefulness makes it a keeper. GmailAgenda is a free download for all platforms running Firefox with the Greasemonkey extension. (Better Gmail users: I've asked the script author's permission for inclusion in Better Gmail; if I get the green light it's in.)

If you need to schedule a meeting and want to skip the hassle of emailing and playing phone tag to establish what time works best for everyone invited, a web-based schedule optimizer like Diarised will save you a headache or two. Visit Diarised and plug in information about the meeting, a description, the email addresses of the meeting attendees, and a list of potential meeting times. Diarised notifies attendees via email and they select the best meeting time. Diarised sends you an email summary of the optimal times. For other web based meeting time optimisers check out previously reviewed Doodle, WhenIsGood, Pointment, and Diarised [via MakeUseOf]

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Windows only: If you need to use both Outlook and Google Calendar, free sync utility KiGoo makes the process completely painless. KiGoo displays your Outlook and Google calendar side by side or overlays them to see all your appointments on a single calendar. Changes you make in either Google Calendar or Outlook appear quickly in both. You can manage your Google Calendar entirely from within Outlook if you desire—creating, modifying, and deleting appointments. The same synchronisation you get with your calendars applies to contact lists, too—KiGoo can move contacts between Outlook and Gmail or create a master list of contacts from both.

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Webapp Mixin is a social calendar that accepts short messages describing not only what you're doing but when, and shares that info with your friends. Plan and propose events or enter where you're going to be when with Mixin's drop-down box on-site, or wish for things or events (which have no specific time). Alternately use Mixin's short Twitter-style one-line commands (in the format of what @where when, like "Rock Band @Adam's at 7") to enter events via SMS or IM. You can also let your friends know where you are for a possible impromptu meet-up with Mixin. Check out a video demonstration of how Mixin works after the jump.

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Most everyone seems to love the iPhone, but the same can't be said for Apple's MobileMe service, which has performed so badly at launch that the company even issued an uncharacteristic apology. If MobileMe is driving you nuts, or you just don't fancy the annual service fee, blogger Beau Giles outlines how you can get similar results using NuevaSync and Google's mail service. The setup process looks a trifle fiddly, but there's step-by-step instructions, and it could be the solution to your mail, calendar and contact syncing woes -- and hey, it's free.
Using Google as a *free* MobileMe alternative (with push contacts & calendar) [Good News for People That Love Bad News]

Windows only: Free PocketPC app Calendar+ sorts the Today screen calendar to your liking. Set Calendar+ to only display X number of days ahead or to ignore certain days altogether or to show only relevant appointments. Calendar+ versions are available for Windows Mobile 6/5/2003 and earlier PocketPCs. Thanks, Myrddin-Wyllt!

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Mac OS X only: Donationware application Organized is a Dashboard widget that integrates with your system notes, events, and to-dos, providing you with quick access to all of your activities. Made by the folks who brought you previously mentioned iStat Menus, Organized boasts an attractive interface and impressive feature set. The widget integrates with iCal and Mail for managing your events, notes, and to-dos, which is great, but the biggest disappointment is that it only comes in Dashboard widget form (as opposed to iStat menus, which is either a widget or menu bar app). Organized is donationware, requires OS X 10.5. Thanks Jason!

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Mac user Adam Laiacano came up with a neat way to embed his iCal calendar on his desktop—in text, using our favourite text calendar, Remind. You've already seen how to keep your calendar in plain text with Remind, and embed it on your desktop using GeekTool. Laiacano came up with AppleScript that converts his iCal calendar into Remind-friendly files to get the best of both worlds—the pretty iCal GUI, and the GeekTool text heads-up display. After the jump, see Laiacano's desktop in full and get the script.

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Windows only: Create new appointments in Outlook with plain English using freeware application Easy2Add. Similar to Google Calendar's Quick Add feature, just invoke Easy2Add (it comes in either system tray or Vista sidebar form), enter in a simple sentence like "Meeting with Gina on Monday at 2pm," and the application automatically translates and adds the event to your Outlook calendar. The application supports one-time events, recurring events ("every Tuesday"), and user-definable defaults for setting length of appointments if not specified. Easy2Add is freeware, Windows only.

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Conferences are often viewed as an excuse to skive out of the office for a few days in a sunny location, but in truth there's not much point doing that: all your regular work will still be there when you get back. In a busy working life, how can you make sure the information you gather at a conference will get used?
Security expert and conference veteran Chris Joscelyne offered this useful tip at the ITSM Conference on the Gold Coast earlier this week: schedule time in your calendar to revisit conference materials and notes the week after you've been there. For maximum impact, Joscelyne advises a double-review process: "Make an appointment with yourself one month after you attend a conference and spend two hours reviewing how it was relevant to you."