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Google Calendar for Android: Find a time for my meeting

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Re: Google Calendar for Android: Find a time for my meeting

#31

Post by JoBrad »

falcolas wrote: post #26

I'm going to guess that this only works if you're meeting with people who all have Google calendars. Within this limitation, the web interface has been capable of this for quite some time ("Find a Time" tab or "Suggested Times" when creating an event). Of course, not everybody uses Google as their calendar provider, but that would be a harder (if more interesting) problem to solve.

The current Outlook app allows you to insert availability into an email, and let someone on another domain pick one of those times that works for them (and it auto-creates the meeting at that chosen time, too). I think this came from Sunrise, which also did this.

Re: Google Calendar for Android: Find a time for my meeting

#32

Post by fphhotchips »

reustle wrote: post #4
fmorel wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The web app already has this feature, and also got the reminders feature. I kinda don't want a refresh - I like the current high information density.

The single necessary feature that the web calendar lacks is the option to enable infinite scrolling (much like the osx Calendar app). I constantly find myself toggling back and fourth between months, like at the end of this current month, where I see Saturday but Sunday (May 1).

And the ability to forward an event. And the ability to propose a new time for a meeting. And the ability to accept a new proposed time for a meeting from a client that does have that ability.

Re: Google Calendar for Android: Find a time for my meeting

#33

Post by adrusi »

Is this the first release of this app? I thought that previously the standard google calendar app was just AOSP Calendar, but I prefer the AOSP apps anyway so maybe I didn't notice the shift earlier?

Anyway, in case I'm right, it's probably useful to point out that this is another non-free app that's being marketed as a replacement for an existing free app that works perfectly fine. Not condemning Google for it (although I do wish they'd stop), just pointing out that if you don't find the new headline feature or visual redesign interesting, and you care about free software, you can go ahead and use the old app. Maybe fork it too, since it won't be getting any feature upgrades any time soon...

Re: Google Calendar for Android: Find a time for my meeting

#35

Post by ams6110 »

alooPotato wrote: post #2

Does anyone know why Calendar is getting a ton of new features on mobile but the web app gets no love?

I find them annoying. Not long ago, I would tap the + icon on the calendar to add a new entry. Then a few weeks ago, they added an intermediate step: Do I want to create an Event or a Reminder. What's the difference? Who knows, but it was a stutter step in my expected workflow. Now this week I have a third choice: Goal.

My needs in a calendar are very simple: I want to be able to enter a description of something happening at a date and time, and get an alert when that date/time is approaching. That's it. I don't seem to be able to do that as simply anymore.

Re: Google Calendar for Android: Find a time for my meeting

#36

Post by enjo »

CardenB wrote: post #28
euphemize wrote: post #24

Interesting. Had a google interview not too long ago, and this was exactly the question asked to me - how would you design an algorithm to find overlapping free time from person X, Y and Z. I guess they got more practical with their questions over the years. Looks great, liking that is suggests times too.

Isn't that just a bit wise AND?

There might be a really clever hash you could build, but it's actually a somewhat complex problem. Finding an overlapping range between two entities is easy... finding it for n-entities is a bit more difficult particularly if you want to do it efficiently. I can imagine a couple of answers.. you can build a lookup table (which makes sense if the time resolution is low enough) and then find gaps in it.

It's actually a pretty good interview question if your going to ask a whiteboard question. It has lots of answers depending on requirements. You can get into parallelizing it for speed. It's more of a practical problem than most and you can implement it basically any language.

Re: Google Calendar for Android: Find a time for my meeting

#38

Post by dsymonds »

CardenB wrote: post #28
euphemize wrote: post #24

Interesting. Had a google interview not too long ago, and this was exactly the question asked to me - how would you design an algorithm to find overlapping free time from person X, Y and Z. I guess they got more practical with their questions over the years. Looks great, liking that is suggests times too.

Isn't that just a bit wise AND?

Try having actual time ranges, not just slots, and you need to find, say, a 30m contiguous block of time.

Re: Google Calendar for Android: Find a time for my meeting

#39

Post by dsymonds »

yonibot wrote: post #37

Am I the only one concerned about privacy implications here? Google is revealing private calendar data without any ability to control what is shared and what is not. This is another example of sacrificing personal privacy for a "cool feature". No thanks!

It only works when you already have access to see the other people's calendars (and hints at this with "Designed specifically for organizations where sharing your calendar with colleagues is the norm").

Re: Google Calendar for Android: Find a time for my meeting

#40

Post by notatoad »

yonibot wrote: post #37

Am I the only one concerned about privacy implications here? Google is revealing private calendar data without any ability to control what is shared and what is not. This is another example of sacrificing personal privacy for a "cool feature". No thanks!

It's only enabled for Google apps users. The information they're exposing doesn't belong to you, it belongs to your employer.
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