Updating the iCal Icon & Friday the 13th

First, Happy Friday the 13th. This “holiday” has me thinking about what I consider to be the lame iCal icon, that always shows July 17th as the default date (unless iCal is launched – in that case the icon shows the correct date.) The iCal icon shows the July 17 date because that’s when it was announced at Macworld 2002.

There are a couple of ways to make the icon reflect the correct date.

1. Simply launch the application. As long as it’s running, it will show the correct date. You can even go one step further, and make iCal automatically launch at startup or log-in.

Do this by dragging the iCal icon into the dock (if it’s not already there), then click and hold your mouse on the icon for about two seconds. A dialog box will open above the icon – one of the options to select is “Open at Login.” If you choose to launch iCal at start-up, but later change your mind, simply repeats the steps above and deselect “Open at Login.” This works for all apps in the dock.

2. Download iConiCal 1.3. iConiCal is a simple donationware utility for setting iCal’s icon and dock icon to show the current date in a choice of colors, even when iCal is closed. Click here to read about the application / download the application.

Note that the iCal icon on the iPhone always shows the correct date.

Also, for lazy Mac users, note that in a couple of days (July 17), the iCal icon will automatically be correct for 24 hours. You won’t need to lauch anything or install anything…