New Google Calendar Favicon

Google Calendar has a new favicon and it looks just like the icon of the new Google Calendar app for Android, except that it changes every day.

The new icon is also added to the landing page that introduces the updated Google Calendar app. Here's a bigger version.

{ Thanks, Hamish. }

Google Calendar Permalinks

Google Calendar for desktop has recently been updated. The changes may seem minor, but they add some features that were already available in Gmail and make Google Calendar a better app.



Google Calendar now uses permalinks for all views, sections and events. You can quickly bookmark them, as the URL changes in the address bar when you switch to a different view, open an event or use the search feature. An important side effect is that you can now uses the browser's back and forward buttons in Google Calendar.

Another new feature is that Google Calendar updates automatically. You no longer need to click the refresh button to make sure that all the events are updated and you're not missing some new events.



The calendars from the "other calendars" section that are currently displayed are now placed at the top of the list. This is useful if you've added a lot of calendars.



{ via +Gmail }

A Smarter Google Calendar

If you wanted a Google Calendar that works more like Google Inbox, that's what you'll get in the new version of Google Calendar for Android.



The new Google Calendar is designed to be "a helpful assistant", so it creates events automatically using information from your Gmail messages. If you book a flight, buy concert tickets or make a hotel reservation, you'll usually get an email conformation and Google Calendar now creates events by extracting relevant data from your email. The nice thing is that the events are updated if you change your reservations or your flights are delayed and you get email updates.

Google Calendar now offers suggestions when you create events and the suggestions are based on the events you've previously created. "With Assists, Calendar can suggest titles, people and places as you type, as well as adapt to your preferences over time. For example, if you often go running with Peter in Central Park, Calendar can quickly suggest that entire event when you type 'r-u-n.'"

Google uses data from Google Maps and other Google services to make the calendar look better. The new Schedule View "includes photos and maps of the places you're going, cityscapes of travel destinations, and illustrations of everyday events like dinner, drinks and yoga".

The new version of the Google Calendar app for Android requires Android 4.1 or later and it will be available in the coming weeks on Google Play Store. Google also promises to release a Google Calendar app for iOS. Hopefully, Google will also update the desktop version and the mobile web app.