// Internet Duct Tape

Disorganized? Scrybe it down

Posted in Technology, Web 2.0 and Social Media by engtech on October 08, 2006

My most popular post is a guide I wrote for synchronizing various programs and devices so that they all share the same contact and calendar information — which is surprising because I’m really quite disorganized. Today I came across a videocast demo of a new calendar application called Scrybe that has me pretty excited. They have some innovative approaches to natural views of data. I especially like the ability to quickly do organized web clippings when researching a subject and to print information out in a format that is convenient for wallets or pockets. They also get the concept that people need to be able to interact with their calendar/organizer offline and do periodic syncs.

It looks like they are missing the ability to sync to Microsoft Outlook (so firmly entrenched in the office that there’s no way to get away from it). But once they have that, then they’ll be able to sync with portable devices.

They’re accepting applications for beta.

>> Scrybe video demo

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  1. Paul said, on October 21, 2006 at 1:10 am

    Hopefully their next video will reveal some truly powerful syncing capabilities. Without that the service will not become as useful as it could be.

    Other than that this one looks like a winner. The notepad/web clipping feature alone is something to write home about. The scheduling features are pretty hot too. I am looking forward to the launch.

  2. engtech said, on October 21, 2006 at 2:29 am

    I was talking to the creator about it on Reddit.

    from faizanbuzdar 11 days ago

    Engtech ..Thanks for giving a shout out to us on your blog

    My reference was more to online applications leaving you completely stranded even on your trusted machines…when you are not connected … because they can’t work either with local data or local business logic.So the benefits of online access anywhere combined with the capability of occasional offline use on your machine is the holy grail for web applications.

    Not so much to synchronizing multiple desktop applications,web applications and devices.Althoguh not a direct reference to your article I just read thtough your article and found it very relevant to the discussion.It is the most clear illustration of the pain of using different applications online, offline , and on devices.And it’s popularity is a clear reflection on how badly peoply need it and the torture they will go through to achive it.Will talk more about it in my upcoming blog.

    Thanks again for appreciating the screencast.

    engtech 1 point 11 days ago
    It was a very, very well-done screencast.

    One question I was wondering about is how you will handle Microsoft Outlook? It is so funamentally entrenched in the office space that there is no way to get your company to change from using it while you use Something Better.

    Any application that seeks to seriously disrupt the scheduling space needs to have a strategy for integrating with Outlook (and Google Calendar as a distant second).

    faizanbuzdar 2 points 11 days ago

    Google calendar is the easy part.We support ical import, export and syncing.Anyone that can sync to a standard ical feed can use us.Hence Apple ICal or even Windows apps that have ical support are also handled easily.

    Outlook is a different beast.And you are right…you are being an ostrich if you don’t have a plan for that(.Even though we are not just a calendar) The problem there is that Outlook’s support for ical syncing is really prehistoric.The reasons for which i won’t delve into right now.But i am pretty sure they weren’t purely technical.The good news is the upcoming Outlook 2007 in Jan will address that issue. and you will be able to sync Outlook to ical feeds.

    Other than Outlook 2007 there are a few recent developments for 2 way synchronization that we have beeen analyzing and working on. I will talk more about this in the weeks after the beta .But you can rest assured that we have been working as hard on this as anything else. We are looking to implement Outlook support in a way that it is not Scrybe specific. Please bear with me.

  3. a blog « My first blog said, on October 31, 2006 at 12:26 pm

    […] I especially like the ability to quickly do organized web clippings when researching a subject and to print information out in a format that is convenient for wallets or pockets. […]

  4. Anybody have an ‘i’ on using Scrybe yet? » Make You Go Hmm said, on November 04, 2006 at 8:16 pm

    […] And speaking of syncing, legacy versions of Outlook might already be a problem, the developer of Scrybe writes: The problem there is that Outlook’s support for ical syncing is really prehistoric.The reasons for which i won’t delve into right now.But i am pretty sure they weren’t purely technical.The good news is the upcoming Outlook 2007 in Jan will address that issue. and you will be able to sync Outlook to ical feeds. […]

  5. Scrybe Beta Update « //engtech said, on November 07, 2006 at 2:37 am

    […] All I can say at this point is that I’m very impressed with the professionalism of Faizan, the CEO and Co-Founder of Scrybe. When I asked him questions on Reddit before the hype wave hit he was very quick to respond. His latest response to the people clamoring for invites only increases my belief that this is a man who is committed to delivering a well-engineered product. “We think that both the product and its users will be best served if we exercise a little self discipline right now and stick to our original plan. At this critical stage, a solid approach to engineering the product has to take precedence over gathering users. The important point is to get feedback, analyze it, incorporate some of it, test it and roll it out AND add a few thousand new people to get their fresh perspective. The product will benefit greatly from a few such iterations.” […]


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