FIGURE M


Creating RSG! Appointments on the Web is easy, too. Roll over picture for a larger image.

Once you select the RSG! Appointment button, a second tab will appear, offering the various options shown in Figure N.

FIGURE N


Just give me a date and time, and I'll be there. Roll over picture for a larger image.

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.

FIGURE O


RSG! makes it easy to see which events are RSG! Appointments. Roll over picture for a larger image.

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.

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.

FIGURE P


If your Palm alarm isn't enough, RSG! can email you, too. Roll over picture for a larger image.

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.

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.