iPhone, Box.net, and the end of sync

I've gotten excited by the idea of using box.net as a way of getting files onto my iPhone. With capability of having drag-and-drop file storage for the iPhone, I don't really miss the USB disk mode present in older iPods. Remote access is like having a 3000-mile long USB cable.

You are limited to the file types supported by the iPhone. Support for basic file types is there,including JPEG, PDF and Microsoft Word and Excel. I've tried some other file formats - I was particularly hoping that iCal (.ics) would open in the calendar, but no dice. Still, it got me thinking. 

It isn't a stretch to imagine adding iCal support to Calendar, or even better, supporting access to .ics feeds over the net - after all, iCal on the Mac does this already, as do several other calendar programs. Combine this capability with the iPhone's always-on access, there's no reason you couldn't just use, say Google Calendar as your master calendar and sidestep syncing altogether. You'd still need to go to Google Calendar to set up new entries in this scenario, though.

Similarly, many have noted the lack of a to-do list on the iPhone. Frankly, I don't miss having a local to-do list. For a while now, I've been keeping to-dos in Stikkit, which gives me a single view of to-dos no matter what device I'm using. There have been an number of other web-base to-do organizers leaping in to fill this need, such as Ta-Da Lists, which is now offering an iPhone optimized page, and ToodleDo, which also has an iPhone page.

While there have been some rumors of to-do syncing coming with Tiger, I don't actually see a need to wait. It's time for iPhone owners to cut the tether to their laptops and switch to a web-centric model for calendars and to-dos. 

Shoulda done my homework dept: Roughly Drafted has a good article on the iPhone, iCal, and syncing.