After updating to iOS4, I finally got the calendar colors correct on my iPhone. The key is knowing the order of the colors that the iPhone assigns the calendars. iOS4 assigns colors in the following: Blue, Red, Green, Orange, Purple (or Brown), Brown (or Purple). I noticed that the last two colors (Purple and Brown) switched on the second time through – - first time through Purple was assigned before Brown but the second time through it was just the opposite.

Here’s how to “assign” the correct colors to your calendars if you sync Google Calendar (via MS Exchange) to your iPhone:

1 – Create a bunch of dummy calendars in Google Calendar. You’ll need to these to “assign” to colors you want to “skip.”

2 – Figure out what color you want to your main Google calendar to be. I wanted mine to be blue or green.

3 – Select the appropriate number of dummy calendars to sync so that you’ll likely get the correct color for your main calendar. I chose 1 dummy calendar to bring my calendar total to 3 (main Google calendar, dummy calendar, Birthday calendar). Note: the birthday calendar is part of iOS4 and can’t be disabled. Doing this method, my main calendar came in as Green.

Use www.google.com/calendar/iphoneselect or m.google.com/sync (on your iPhone) to select the calendars.

4 – Select and sync one dummy calendar at a time to figure out where you are in the pattern of colors. I synced one more dummy calendar and it came in Orange.

5 – Once you get the pattern down, start bringing in your real calendars in the order you want. After Orange came up in step 4 for me, I selected my wife’s calendar because I wanted it be purple. That worked great.

It may take few attempts to get it right, but it can be done.

I’m pissed. The new iOS4 doesn’t allow me to select calendar colors. The previous OS didn’t either, but I could work around it by creating dummy calendars and syncing calendars until I got the colors right (and then delete the dummy calendars). However, the new OS doesn’t even allow me to do the old work around. I’m stuck with the colors the iPhone assigns to each calendar. UPDATE: The old work around now works. Google was having problems syncing exchange accounts today. The new calendar color order is: Blue, Red, Green, Orange, Purple, Brown. Although, I did notice one time through Purple and Brown were flipped. I’ll leave a post tomorrow with more details on how I fixed the calendar colors.

Why is this a problem? Because my wife and I use Google Calendar for everything. We primarily use BusyCal on our MacBook Pro to manage 7 different calendars. All of those calendars are synced to my Google Calendar, my wife’s Google Calendar, and my iPhone…and we are planning to get my wife an iPhone in the next few weeks. Because we want to use the same Google calendars in 5 different places (BusyCal, two online Google accounts, and two iPhones), calendar colors are a big deal to us.

I’ve tried countless times to get it right. I deleted and added my Google account several times as an Exchange account. Those attempt didn’t work. I also noticed that Apple added over the air sync for Google Calendars if the Gmail account is set up as an IMAP account. I tried that, but it only syncs the MAIN calendar — not the sub calendars.

A freaking smartphone should be able to at least let me choose the calendar colors. Android phones get it right. Palm Pre gets it right. Why can’t Apple get it right?

8 years. I knew this day would come. My trusty PC officially died on Monday February 1, 2010. A lot changed in those 8 years: RAM upgrade, hard drive upgrade, DVD burner upgrade, one complete reformatting and reinstall, one new controller board, and a new power supply. We accomplished a lot together: school projects, a CPA review course, numerous fantasy baseball drafts, work projects, a little web design, and tons of web surfing.

Sadly, a rogue spyware program took my PC down. I tried to save it, but I just couldn’t safely remove the program. I was able to grab my important files before my PC sipped its last bit of electricity.

Yes, I could reformat and reinstall Windows. But I won’t. It was my PC’s time to die. Reinstalling Windows XP would be an insult to my PC’s legacy. It’s time for it rest in peace. Who knows…maybe he’ll be reincarnated as a Linux box in a few years.

Good bye, PC.  You will be missed.