Feeds
Introduce me to your calendar and I'll automatically add appointments, reminders, and to-dos. Subscribe to your stuff and I'll deliver piping hot appointments, to-dos, contacts, etc. to your RSS reader.
Calendar feeds
Sandy can automatically add appointments, reminders, and to-dos to Outlook 2007 (Windows), iCal (Mac), Google Calendar, or any other calendar that supports subscribing to remote calendars using the iCalendar standard.
What is a calendar (iCalendar or iCal) feed anyway?
iCalendar (or iCal, not to be confused with the iCal calendar program on the Mac) is a data standard that allows desktop calendars like Outlook 2007 (Windows) or iCal (Mac) and Web-based calendars like Google Calendar and 30 Boxes to subscribe to remote calendars, incorporate their appointments and to-dos, and keep them up to date.
You'll often hear iCalendar referred to as an "iCal feed" or "calendar feed" because it works like an old-fashioned news feed where the latest details come in over the wire — but without the annoying "ta-ka-ta-ka-ta-ka-ta-ka" noise those old news-room printers always made.
You'll also sometimes hear iCalendar referred to as "ICS," in reference to the ".ics" usually tacked on to the end of iCal files like so: "home.ics"
How do I subscribe my calendar to Sandy's calendar feed?
Sandy provides an iCal feed of your appointments, reminders, and to-dos that you can introduce to your calendar. All you need to do is make the introduction.
First, though, you'll need to turn on your private iCalendar feed...
Turn on your private iCalendar feed
You'll find a "Subscribe » iCalendar" link at the bottom of every page on Sandy's web site.
Click the link and you'll be taken to your Account settings page.
In the "Calendar subscription: Private iCalendar feed" section, click "Yes" radio button and then the "Save" button (at the bottom of the page) to save your settings.
In the same section you'll now see your private iCalendar feed's address, along with links to Subscribe (if you're using iCal (Mac), Outlook 2007, or Outlook 2003 with RemoteCalendars) or Download your calendar.
Now you're ready to subscribe...
Google Calendar
Visit your Google Calendar.
Click "Add" from the "My Calendars" box on the left-hand-side of the page and choose "Add by URL".
Paste your private iCalendar feed address into the field.
Click the "Add" button.
WARNING: Before you click that "Add" button!
Make sure the "Allow others to find this public calendar via Google Calendar search?" checkbox is *NOT checked! If you check that box, your I want Sandy calendar, it's contents, and private address will be added to Google Calendar's public calendar feed listings.
Outlook 2007 (Windows)
Log into Sandy's website and visit your home page.
Click the "Subscribe via Outlook 2007" link in the right-hand sidebar.
Outlook 2007 will ask you for permission to open Sandy's calendar feed with "A website wants to open web content using this program on your computer." Click "Allow."
Outlook will then ask you if you want to "Add this Internet Calendar to OUtlook and subscribe to updates?" Click "Yes."
Outlook will subscribe to your Sandy calendar and display it alongside your default calendar. (You can click the Arrow next to the name of your Sandy calendar ("Sandy") to use the Overlay view to show a unified view of all of your calendars — local and remote.
Outlook will periodically check in with Sandy in the background to see if there's anything new to add to your calendar, to-dos to mark done, or forgotten items to remove.
Outlook 2003 (Windows)
While Outlook 2003 doesn't understand how to subscribe to iCalendar feeds out of the gate, some of Sandy's clients have found great success using RemoteCalendars, a third-party add-in. "RemoteCalendars is a COM-.NET Add-in for Outlook 2003/2007, written in C#. After installing this plugin, every Outlook user should be able to subscribe, reload and delete a generic remote iCalendar (RFC 2445) from Outlook 2003/2007."
(Please note that is RemoteCalendars is third-party software and is not affiliated with Sandy in any way. We're afraid we cannot provide any guarantees or hands-on support should you decide to give it a whirl.)
iCal (Mac)
Log into Sandy's website and visit your home page.
Click the "Subscribe via iCal" link in the right-hand sidebar.
iCal will pop open a "Subscribe to" dialog box with the right URL already filled in. Click "Subscribe."
iCal will give you a few choices about how often to "refresh" the feed (we recommend "every hour" or less-frequently if you don't have a lot going on), whether or not to "remove alarms" (if you don't want iCal reminding you in addition to Sandy's email and SMS reminders), and whether or not to "remove To Do items" (Sandy includes all your undone or scheduled to-do items). Click "OK" when you have things set the way you'd like them.
iCal will subscribe to your Sandy calendar and display it along with any other calendars you already have.
iCal will periodically check in with Sandy in the background (assuming you turned on "refresh" for her calendar) to see if there's anything new to add to your calendar, to-dos to mark done, or forgotten items to remove.
Entourage, Palm (Mac)
Neither Entourage nor Palm Desktop for Mac have the baked-in ability to subscribe to an iCalendar feed (Sandy's or any other).
There are, however, some workarounds involving synching Entourage or your Palm with iCal — or, more generally, with iSync. In this way you can have iCal talk to Sandy (see "How do I subscribe... iCal" above) and Entourage or your Palm talk to iCal or iSync as a switching station of sorts.
Here are some links to get you going in the right direction:
Please do share your experiences, suggestions, and any instructions, tips, or hacks on talking to Sandy from Entourage or Palm.
Is Sandy's calendar feed public?
No, your calendar's public feed is not shown to anyone on iwantsandy.com. But it is publicly accessible by anyone who knows the your private iCalendar feed's address.
To keep your stuff safe, your feed's address is made extremely hard to guess by obscuring it with a randomly-generated key (that string of letter and numbers at the end of the address)
WARNING: Anyone with whom you share your private iCalendar feed's address will be able to see your reminders, appointments, and to-dos. If you've accidentally shared the address with someone you didn't mean to, click here to reset it »
RSS feeds
Sandy delivers a piping hot RSS feed of your latest appointments, to-dos, contacts, etc. to your favorite feed-reader.
What is RSS? What is an RSS feed?
"In Oprah speak, RSS stands for: I’m “Ready for Some Stories”. It is a way online for you to get a quick list of the latest story headlines from all your favorite websites and blogs all in one place. How cool is that?" — How to explain RSS the Oprah way »
You'll usually hear RSS referred to as an "RSS feed" because it works like an old-fashioned news feed where the latest details come in over the wire — but without the annoying "ta-ka-ta-ka-ta-ka-ta-ka" noise those old news-room printers always made.
You'll also sometimes hear an RSS feed referred to as "XML feed," in reference to the underlying data format on which RSS is based. When you hear XML, just think "info" and you'll instantly feel much better about it all.
For a more traditional (i.e. geeky) explanation, read more about RSS on Wikipedia ».
How do I subscribe my feed reader to Sandy's RSS feed of my stuff?
Log into Sandy's website and visit your home page.
Click the "Subscribe via RSS" link in the right-hand sidebar (under the "Subscribe to your stuff" heading).
You'll be asked for your iwantsandy.com login information (email address and password); type them in and click "OK."
Your feed-reader will add Sandy's RSS feed to your subscription list, wander off to ask Sandy for the latest, and then show you a list of recent stuff you've asked Sandy to remember for you.
If your feed-reader never asks you for your iwantsandy.com login information, it may well not support password-protected feeds (see below).
Is Sandy's RSS feed public? (Why can't I subscribe to Sandy's RSS feed from Google Reader?)
No. The RSS feed of all Sandy's remembering for you is password protected to keep your stuff safe.
This means that you can only subscribe to Sandy's RSS feed from a feed-reader that supports authentication using username and password. Many desktop feed-readers support password-protected feeds — FeedDemon (Windows) or NetNewsWire (Mac), for instance. On the other hand, various Web-based feed-readers do not — Google Reader and Blogines, for example.
If you subscribe to Sandy's RSS feed using a reader that doesn't understand password-protected feeds, it'll visiting the feed's URL and not able to log in as you to get to the personal details that Sandy is storing for you. You'll see complaints like "There's no feed available for that Web site."
Unfortunately all we can recommend if your feed-reader doesn't support password-protected RSS feeds is using an RSS reader that does or using the one baked into your Web browser (Internet Explorer, Safari, and Firefox all either read RSS feeds natively and use the fact that you've already logged into iwantsandy.com as their authentication method or have plug-ins/extensions that'll do just that).
Where can I find an RSS feed of my stuff?
You'll find a link in the right-hand sidebar on your Sandy home page under "Subscribe to your stuff."
Or you can paste the subscription URL — http://iwantsandy.com/list.rss — right into your feed-reader.
What sorts of things does Sandy's RSS feed include?
Sandy's RSS feed includes your most recent appointments, to-dos, contacts, bookmarks, notes, etc. — each with associated details and an attachment ("enclosure" in feed parlance) ready for import into your calendar, to-do list, or address book.
