These apps will help you stay on schedule
Google Calendar interacts seamlessly with Gmail and other Google apps and will even access information from other calendar apps. Credit: Google
Now that spring is here, the days are getting longer — and so probably are the tasks you must do. These calendar and reminder apps will help you plan your day and keep you organized so you can complete all the little and big events that make up your daily life.
Google Calendar
(iOS, Android; free)
Even Apple diehards can’t fight it anymore: Google Calendar has become the preeminent calendar app for both Android and iOS. As you would expect from Google, it interacts seamlessly with Gmail and other Google apps, and events such as hotel and restaurant reservations can be automatically imported to the calendar. If you use other calendars, for example Microsoft Outlook or iCloud, Google Calendar will access the information.
Any.do
(iOS, Android; free)
Any.do harvests the information from your default calendar app (in most cases Google Calendar or the built-in iOS calendar) to create a highly customizable task manager, to-do list and planner. Instead of simply offering a day-by-day listing, you can prioritize which events you want to stand out prominently. And since a good calendar app goes beyond meetings and events, you can add your grocery list to make shopping easier.
My Study Life
(iOS, Android; free)
A calendar app aimed primarily at students, My Study Life will save your class and exam schedules and remind you when your homework and term papers are due (and overdue). The information is synced to the cloud, so you can access it on any mobile device, PC or Mac. The app is also useful to teachers, who can add their class schedules and academic events.
Calendar Widget
(Android; free)
This app shows off the power of Android’s widgets by leveraging the information in your Google Calendar to offer an at-a-glance view of your appointments on your home screen. The app is highly customizable and offers an array of views, all uncluttered, no matter how cluttered your day is. There are several similarly named Android apps, but this one from developer Milan Sillik is the best.
Malware is coming
“Game of Thrones” begins its final season next week, but anyone looking to download pirated episodes on the internet may be in for a nasty surprise: malware. Kaspersky Lab says “Game of Thrones” accounted for 17 percent of all infected pirated content in 2018. “Winter is Coming,” the debut episode of the show from 2011, is the episode most likely to contain viruses or adware.
— PETER KING
7’s up
Windows 7 hits “end of life” on Jan. 14, meaning that even though the software will still work, it will no longer receive updates, including security updates. If you are using Windows 7, expect to start seeing popup messages from Microsoft nagging you to upgrade to Windows 10. Windows 7 still remains highly popular, with a 38 percent market share compared with 40 percent for Windows 10.
— PETER KING
Zappos zapped by high court
The U.S. Supreme Court turned away an appeal by Amazon’s Zappos unit, letting a lawsuit proceed over a 2012 hack that exposed the personal information of 24 million customers. The rebuff is a setback for business groups, which urged the court to tighten rules for data-breach lawsuits. Zappos, an online shoe and clothing retailer, was acquired by Amazon for $1.2 billion in 2009.
