Second Gear (http://secondgearllc.com) has released Today 2.5, an update of the US$15 Mac OS X application for managing iCal events and tasks. The new version adds the ability to set a default calendar for new events and tasks you create inside Today.

Version 2.5 also adds support for creating daily, weekly, monthly or yearly recurring events. What’s more, the update should also be a better MobileMe syncing citizen by remembering your calendar preferences more reliably between machines.

Today distinguishes between different events based on the calendar color you define in iCal. Assign a keyboard shortcut, and you can toggle Today’s visibility in a split second. Adding new events and tasks can be accomplished in the same way. You can also schedule next week’s meeting or a quick task in Today. No iCal required.

It synchronizes calendar information from an iPhone and iPod touch and synchronizes between multiple Macs using .Mac. Today also works with Mac OS X 10.5’s (“Leopard”) system-wide calendar store

It requires Leopard. Today is Universal Binary so runs natively on both PowerPC and Intel Macs. It costs US$24.95, Family pack licenses, which cover up to five computers in one household, are $34.95. Upgrades from earlier versions of Today are $14.95, and free to users who purchased after Nov.1, 2009. A 14-day fully-functioning demo of Today is available at the Second Gear site.