AirSet

Free Web services are all the rage, and the land is strewn with Beta offerings from Google and Microsoft. It is a pleasure to see a free service like AirSet, which is both polished and a complete group scheduling and virtual calendar and alert system. It works as well for professionals on the road as for soccer moms and dads organizing PTA functions.

AirSet creates Web-based calendars for any groups and gives members and viewers varying access rights to view or change them. Better yet, AirSet is a group alerting and collaboration tool that sends event reminders or daily agendas to yourself or anyone in the group. You can even run a blog for the group. The only requirement is that members access the Web site. The elements can be a bit obtuse to use and AirSet needs to compose clearer instructions for novices, but it all comes together quite well.

A downloadable synchronization tool seamlessly uploaded all of our calendar and contact data from Outlook to the Web service, and kept both in sync. You can schedule a meeting from your laptop on the road and AirSet will sync automatically with Outlook back on your home PC.

AirSet really takes off as a synchronized cell phone extension of your PC’s personal information manager. Currently available on more than 30 Verizon Wireless phones for $6.49 per month, the AirSet mobile application is highly usable. The BREW app navigates all personal and group calendars, edits meetings, and adds new events. You can direct dial contacts, send yourself and others alerts for an event, and much more. This is among the best mobile apps we have used for accessing critical contact and scheduling data from our PC. Our only complaint is that input text sizes can challenge aging eyeballs.

It may seem a bit tortured to have a mobile app sync to a Web app that in turn syncs to your desktop, but AirSet succeeds by giving users quick access to their most important data and keeping it in sync from three touch points.