Interesting Ways to Use Google Calendar

Google Calendar was launched just 2 days ago and there is already a long list of public calendars that you can add to your Google account:

• History
• US Holidays, plus the national holidays of more than 20 countries
• Religious Holidays
• Astronomy calendar
• World Events Calendar
• Celebrity Birthdays
• DVD Releases
• Movie Releases

See the complete list at Google Blogoscoped: Interesting Google Calendars.

It is funny to see how Google managed to cause a significant surge of interest and creativity by launching their calendar. Yahoo Calendar has been around for almost 10 years and nobody pays attention to it.

Google Calendar is Ajax-based and it works like a desktop application (and better). Somehow I never liked Outlook and I was not very impressed with 30Boxes, so it looks like this is the solution for me. The new calendar even has keyboard shortcuts that are logical and easy to remember: M for Month view, D for Day, W for Week, A for Agenda and C for Create.

I wonder if a medical office can use Google Calendar to show open slots in which patients can schedule their own appointments... It should not be that difficult to do.

Update 4/15/2006:
It's done: Google Calendar for Doctors: Help Patients See Your Practice Schedule and Make Appointments

Update 6/7/2007:
One can use Google Calendar to chronicle past events: Google Calendar as your long term memory. LifeHacker.com.

Update 10/03/2007:
Jay Parkinson, a doctor without an office, uses G Calendar to schedule appointments

References:
Google Calendar: Staying organized has never been so easy. The Unofficial Google Weblog.
An Open-Access Doctor's Office. BusinessWeek.com.

Updated: 10/03/2007