Spanning Sync Blog

[FIXED] Google Calendar API Experiencing Problems

Over the last few days we've gotten numerous reports of problems with the Google Calendar API including failed logins, redirection issues, "Could not generate feed" errors, and the mysterious "Error=Unknown".

The problems are on Google's end and are not specific to Spanning Sync; if you sync Google Calendar with other applications or devices you'll notice that they're affected too.

We've reported the problems to Google and are optimistic that they'll be addressed soon. I'll update this post when we know more. In the mean time, the Google Calendar web UI seems to be unaffected.

Update: This morning (April 22) we got an update from Google on this issue: "A quick update—we see the problems you're having in our logs, it appears to be an issue on our side, it's not very widespread, we have some ideas why it may be happening, and we're thoroughly investigating."

Update 2: Trevor Johns at Google just posted this message to the Calendar API group:

"Google is aware of a problem with the Calendar Data API affecting a small subset of users. The affected users are able to access Google Calendar, but are seeing error messages when attempting to access API feeds.

We will provide an update by April 22, 2009 3:00:00 PM UTC-7 detailing when we expect to resolve the problem. Please note that this resolution time is an estimate and may change."

Update 3: Late last night we got word from Trevor at Google that they believe the problem has been solved. We'll continue to monitor our logs for signs of trouble. If you see any errors, please create a problem report (Advanced > Create report) and email it to us at support@spanningsync.com. Thanks!

Company-Only Contact Display Fixed

Two weeks ago we announced a change that made contacts with company names only display better in Google, but that change only affected people using Spanning Sync's Gmail compatibility mode.

This morning we pushed an update that allows company-only contacts to display properly in Google regardless of which compatibility mode you choose in Spanning Sync. (People who sync their Google contacts with other applications or devices should use Gmail compatibility mode.)

To switch between compatibility modes:

1. Open the Spanning Sync pref pane
2. In the "Contacts" tab, uncheck and then re-check "Sync contacts"
3. Choose the desired compatibility mode
4. Click "OK"

To update your Google contacts to display properly, just make some small change to one of your Address Book contacts and then sync. This will force a "push" sync, during which your Google contacts will be fixed.

Working with the World's Most Innovative Companies

For the fourth year in a row Apple and Google have been named BusinessWeek's two Most Innovative Companies. And as I wrote in 2007, "Spanning Sync combines products from the two most innovative companies in the world into something even more useful. We find that incredibly exciting."

A lot has changed in the last two years as both Apple and Google have continued to innovate at a blistering pace. And I'm proud to say that we've not only kept up with new technologies—for instance by introducing contact sync shortly after Google released its Contacts API—but also gone head-to-head with the giants of innovation and won on features, cost, and quality.

But not content to just build on the work of others, we've introduced some exciting innovations of our own. Last summer we rolled out Save 5+Make 5, our profit-sharing program that rewards our loyal customers for recommending Spanning Sync to their friends and saves their friends some money at the same time. And just this week we launched SpanningSyncDiscountCodes.com, which helps level the playing field for program participants who don't run high-volume web sites.

Obviously we operate on a smaller scale than Apple and Google, but every day we look for new ways to innovate, and not just with features like calendar and contact sync but also with business model innovations like Save 5+Make 5. Our next few projects are already well underway, and we look forward to rolling them out in the coming months.

The Easiest Way to Find a Spanning Sync Discount Code: SpanningSyncDiscountCodes.com

This morning we launched SpanningSyncDiscountCodes.com, the easiest way to find fresh, valid discount codes for Spanning Sync.

We've been very pleased with the success of Save 5+Make 5, the program that rewards our customers for referring their friends to Spanning Sync and saves their friends some money at the same time. Every month we send out thousands of dollars in referral payments.

But recently we've noticed that a few affiliates are earning a disproportionate amount of referral fees simply because of their Google search rankings. We'd like to help level the playing field a bit for our customers who don't run high-traffic websites, so we've created a site of our own for them.

SpanningSyncDiscountCodes.com lists the discount codes of the people who have most recently signed up to participate in Save 5+Make 5, so earning that first referral fee is now even easier for affiliates and finding a discount code is even easier for new customers.

If you're a Spanning Sync customer and you haven't signed up for Save 5+Make 5, you should! To get started just open the Spanning Sync preference pane and click "Refer a Friend". Once you've agreed to the terms of the program, your code will instantly show up on SpanningSyncDiscountCodes.com and you can start earning referral fees.

Sending a customer his or her first referral fee is one of the most rewarding things we get to do. It's our hope that SpanningSyncDiscountCodes.com will help us do that more than ever before.

Spanning Sync Keeping Pace with Google Contacts Improvements

Thanks to a recent changes by Google, we've been able to improve the way contacts sync.

Last year when we introduced contact sync in Spanning Sync v2.0, Google Contacts had a number of small annoyances we had to work around: no two contacts could share an email address, company contacts didn't display correctly, etc. But Google has been steadily improving their system, and as they do we're making changes to Spanning Sync to deliver the best experience for our users.

Until recently Google Contacts didn't display company contacts correctly, so Spanning Sync used the company name from Address Book for both the company name and the contact name in Google:

Google Contacts now shows company contacts correctly, so Spanning Sync no longer doubles up company names:

As Google continues to improve their contacts system, we'll make sure Spanning Sync continues to improve along with it.