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Contact management app VipOrbit hits Mac App Store
If you're an iOS power user, there's a good chance you're already familiar with the VipOrbit contact-management apps. The apps -- for iPhone and iPad -- are essentially address books on steroids, complete with options to track every essential detail you'd ever need to know about a person, including digital aliases, social media activity and schedules. Now the company has pulled the curtains back on an all-new VipOrbit app for Mac, ensuring that you are never without your digital contact almanac as long as you're within arm's reach of your tablet, phone or computer. VipOrbit for Mac is now available in the Mac App Store at a price point of US$29.99 ($70 off of the regular price), with both the iPad and iPhone apps now discounted to free. In order to get all three of the apps to play nicely together -- and sync all of your important information in real time across your gadgets -- you'll need a subscription to the VipSync service which runs $4.99 per month or $45 per year. We'll be putting the VipOrbit system to the test over the next week or so and plan on having a full review of all three apps ready for you next week, so stay tuned!
Yahoo acquires Xobni, aims for smarter contacts in its services (updated)
Yahoo must be starting the summer with an acquisition spree: it bought Qwiki yesterday, and it's buying Xobni today in a deal that AllThingsD estimates is worth $30 million to $40 million. The acquisition gives Yahoo a developer with experience in creating automatic, connected address books -- a perfect fit for a web giant that has been revamping its email and social services. Neither of the new partners is talking about what they'll create together, although Xobni is no longer accepting new customers for its paid services and has pulled downloads for both Smartr Contacts on Android and Xobni for BlackBerry. It's a gentler transition than we've seen with other takeovers, although we wouldn't get too comfy when most of Xobni's services go dark after July 2nd of next year. Update: Our colleagues at TechCrunch hear that the acquisition price may be over $60 million.
Adding copy-to-clipboard rollovers in Contacts app via AppleScript
Apple's Contacts app includes a lot of great shortcuts for initiating different forms of communication. Just click an email address, phone number or URL field label to display a list of available options. You can send an email, show a phone number in large type or start a FaceTime call, for example. Curiously, one shortcut that's absent from most of these popups is one for copying the email address, phone number, URL, etc. to the clipboard. Mailing addresses are one exception, as they provide an option to copy a mailing label. But, other fields don't include this option. Sure, you could just select a phone number, email address, URL, etc., and press Command+C to copy it. But, what fun is that? It sure would be nice if there were just more handy copy-to-clipboard shortcuts instead. With the help of AppleScript, you can add your own. Here's how... Writing the Script The following steps demonstrate how to add a Copy to Clipboard shortcut to phone number fields in the Contacts app. If you have any trouble following along, you can download the complete script here, along with ones for email address and URL fields too. 1. Launch AppleScript Editor (in /Applications/Utilities) 2. Create a new script document and enter the following code: Note: If you want to create a version of this script for email address or URL fields, just change the action property handler to return the appropriate field type, i.e., on action property return "email" end action property or... on action property return "url" end action property Installing and Using the Script In order for the script you created to appear in the Contacts app, it needs to be saved in the proper place. 1. Quit Contacts if it's running. 2. Save the script you created as Contacts > Copy Phone to Clipboard.scpt, in script format, into the ~/Library/Address Book Plug-Ins folder in your Home directory. If this folder doesn't already exist, go ahead and create it. Now, just relaunch the Contacts app. When you click on a phone number field label, you should see a new option for copying the phone number to the clipboard. Now, repeat the steps above for email addresses and URLs to enhance the Contacts app even further. This marks my last scheduled post for the TUAW for a bit. Hopefully, you'll see more of me here in the future. In the meantime, feel free to reach out to me on Twitter to say "Hello," ask a scripting question or two, suggest a future topic, etc. Until next time, Happy Scripting!
How Brewster saved me time digging through old contacts (Updated)
Update: So after a few weeks of testing Brewster I started to notice some bad things. First, contacts started merging or disappearing. Most notably: My dad. Since I'm a "junior" the Brewster support staff said it was likely due to the similarity of our names. Unfortunately his contact worked fine before, and trying to extract his data meant I was left with a fragmented look at his contact info -- and his photo never re-appeared. In fact, a number of photos started disappearing. Brewster staff (before abandoning my support requests entirely) claimed this wasn't possible, but the evidence was right there in front of me. As a result, I must withdraw my support and recommendation for Brewster until the service can address the nagging problems that came from its clumsy attempts to merge your data in unpredictable ways. As a result, Brewster is the first app to be featured in our new series "When good apps go bad." Sorry folks, this one's just not ready for prime time yet. Preface I had Brewster on my iPhone for a while, liked the interface and concept, but eventually abandoned it because it didn't work into my daily routine. The interface used big photos and tiles, plus an algorithm to see who you speak to on a regular basis to surface contacts you haven't spoken to in a while. A new update adds some powerful integration by setting up a profile on your iPhone, and connecting to CalDav, letting Brewster connect your contacts and feed them to you in one easy app. Finding people across networks has never been easier, nor prettier. Today Brewster nearly saved the day with its powerful contact surfacing tools. Brewster to the rescue As many of you may have seen, we had a weird flag for malware pop up on TUAW recently. Just a couple of pages, but since Google only appears to have an avenue to complain for those who have a Google Webmaster account (which we do not at TUAW for the simple fact that our parent company, AOL, doesn't really need one -- we have plenty of our own tools). Since the two pages in question were showing as blacklisted by Google, I decided to ping anyone I'd ever met who happened to work at Google to find a solution. After all, TUAW isn't spewing malware and this is just such a simple fix -- surely someone could just ring up Matt Cutts and let him know of this oversight? Enter Brewster, which keeps track of contacts across jobs. I tried a couple of searches in my Gmail, but honestly it's a mess. Like MG Siegler, I loathe email. The only thing worse is contacts management, which you would think would be better in 2013. We have warp drive in sight but I'm still exporting three-letter files to move my contacts around? Brewster, after requesting you install a profile (more on this in a moment), ends this problem. By giving Brewster access to my info Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and more, plus installing a profile on my device, I was able to quickly and easily find some friends from the old Weblogs days who work at Google. Within minutes I'd sent a few emails off, and queries were being made. In the end I think it was an unsung hero at AOL who got through, but Brewster, for me, made it possible to find those needles in the noodle soup that is my contact management. TechCrunch has a nice writeup of today's update, but here are a few other nice things I've found about Brewster, and a couple of issues: Pros Complete search solution. Seriously, this is wonderful. No longer do I need to rummage in 3 services, now I can check all at once, easily. Big photos for calls. I thought my contacts had this covered, but Brewster somewhat magically enhanced the photos I have for the callers I got. It won't help my productivity, but it's nice. Send emails from Brewster. I was able to save a lot of time and email directly within Brewster, while keeping one list of contacts open. No "connecting" various services in weird ways. Cons While the photos of who you're losing touch with are nice and sometimes useful, I found that the data on the main screen is sometimes incorrect or contradictory. I connect with different people in different ways, and Brewster is just learning how that all ties together. I expect this will be an area for growth and focus for the company as the connections we forge are quite important (ask Google Now and Google Glass). You'll have to install a profile. I know this will scare some people, because the Settings on your iPhone are involved and, to the uninitiated, it will appear as though there may be malware being installed on your iPhone. But you're safe -- the profile is signed by Network Solutions, a leader in online security, and it's so you do have a secure connection. I have to wonder if keeping the profile going will be a monetization avenue for Brewster in the future, but for now the company isn't talking about money (which may also worry some). About the profile I spoke to the CEO and founder, Steve Greenwood, who explained a bit more about the profile and the purpose of using CalDav instead of having a user monkey with Settings manually. He explained that Google also does this, and by Brewster serving as your contact server, none of your local contacts are written over. As someone who has had a lot of problems with contacts disappearing, this pleases me. More importantly, CalDav is secure. Brewster is acting as a go-between, handling both the authentication and the management of different systems in the background. While it may seem complicated, the end result for users is a unified address book and up-to-date contacts with pictures and data you may have not seen before. Bottom line Brewster, when fully installed on your iPhone, is the most powerful and amazing contact app I've ever seen. If you dig into it, you can actually learn things about your contacts. I tried searching "google" and found not only current employees, but people whom I knew who were tagged "google" -- and I have no idea how that happened. Welcome to a powerful tool in your productivity belt, especially if you have more contacts than time to manage them.
MetroPCS intros first Rich Communication Services on LTE, touts universal contacts and chat (video)
Smartphone users are well immersed in a world of contact syncing, media sharing, VoIP and video calls. They're just not used to finding everything in one place, let alone guaranteeing that any carrier-level features will work with other phones and providers. MetroPCS is hoping to put itself ahead on that front by offering a potentially universal fix. It's the first carrier anywhere to launch the Rich Communication Services standard on LTE, which provides a perpetually synced contact list that serves as the launching pad for everything else. Early adopters of the Joyn-branded service can chat through text, share media (including during calls) and start up WiFi voice or video calls without needing yet another specialized service and the extra sign-in that goes with it. Right now, the very young state of RCS on LTE leaves it behaving more like the isolated services it's trying to replace -- on MetroPCS, only those with the Galaxy Attain 4G and an after-the-fact Joyn app download can get the experience as intended. As long as more devices and carriers come onboard, though, the technology might be the long-term key to pulling us away from fenced-off conversations in Google Talk or Skype.
Google adds CardDAV support to contacts for easier syncing with iOS and other third-party devices
The marvelous folks from Mountain View never seem to take a break from working on tools to help make almost everyone's life easier -- even if some of these folks happen to be on the other side. Today, Google announced it was adding CardDAV to the list of open protocols it currently supports to access Gmail and Calendar from mobile apps and devices alike, noting that with the recent adaptation it'll be easier for third-party clients -- such as iOS -- to access and sync with Google Contacts. Better yet, the company posted a full set of instructions on how users can do just that, which you will find at the source link below.
Why apps in Mountain Lion might need to see your address data
In OS X Mountain Lion, Apple has added extra protection around the address book and restricted apps from gaining access to the contents without a user's permission. This added security is beneficial for users, but it poses a communication problem for developers who need to access the address book for feedback or crash reports, says Daniel Jalkut in a post on his Red Sweater blog. Developers who generate a bug report or feedback request within their app must deal with the foreboding dialog shown above when they try to populate the fields of a contact form using data contained in the "Me" card. Not only does the dialog confuse the user, it also makes it appear that the app is doing something nefarious when it's actually not. Working off a tip from Panic founder Cabel Sasser, Jalkut has devised a way to add a friendly tone to the dialog that'll explain to users why the app needs to pull information from the address book. According to Jalkut, you can modify the Info.plist file and add a string for the NSContactsUsageDescription key. This key will tell the user why the app needs the contact information and will appear the first time the app tries to gain access to the address book. You can read more about this solution on Jalkut's Red Sweater blog and in the documentation on Apple's website. #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
Skype confirms fix rolling out for instant messaging bug
When one of your main services throws up a pretty embarrassing bug, you're going to want to squash that quick. Skype has stepped up and done just that, according to its blog. The hotfix will be rolling out for version 5.10 for Windows, 5.8 for Mac, 4.0 for Linux and 1.2 for Windows Phone. Skype was also quick to point out that not all clients (and therefore users) were affected. If you were on 5.9 for Windows, version 2.8 for Android or Skype 4.0 for iOS, then the firm assures you that you won't be affected. The official line is that the fix should start arriving in the next couple of days, so still best to keep a lid on those office gossip chats for now. Let us know if you start getting the update in the comments below.
Skype confirms 'rare' bug that sends messages to unintended contacts, promises fix soon
Only a handful of Skype users have reported this problem over at the support forum, but what they're complaining about is pretty hair-raising. They say that, following an update in June, instant messages have repeatedly and unintentionally been forwarded to random people in their contact lists. In other words, third-parties are seeing stuff they were never meant to see, which constitutes a serious breach of privacy. Skype now tells us it's aware of the issue and is working on a fix. Here's the official response in full: "We are aware that in rare circumstances IM's between two contacts could be sent to an unintended third contact. We are rolling out a fix for this issue in the next few days and will notify our users to download an updated version of Skype." [Thanks, Kuldar]
Microsoft details the People app, its cloud-connected address book for Windows 8
If you've yet to try the Release Preview of Windows 8 for yourself, fear not, because along with our detailed impressions, Microsoft is catering to your trepidation with a series of blog entries on its MSDN site that explore the nitty-gritty details of its latest OS. In the latest installment, we're given an in-depth preview of the People app, a cloud-connected address book that promises to be one of the many centerpieces in the Metro environment. For starters, Windows Phone users are bound to feel right at home, as the address book relies on cloud services to populate the entries from sources such as Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft and Twitter. Not only does this ensure that one's address book is always accessible and up-to-date -- friend removals come to mind -- it also brings quick access to social feeds via the "What's new" section and lets you keep tabs on specific contacts via live tiles on the home screen. By leveraging APIs known as contracts, Windows 8 makes the address book available to other apps such as Mail and Messaging, along with other programs written to take advantage of the service. One of the hurdles Microsoft is working to overcome with its cloud-connected services are the inevitable duplicate contacts. Currently, Windows 8 does a pretty good job of identifying and linking multiple accounts to one individual, but for the rare exceptions, the company will soon add the ability to manually edit and link various accounts to specific contacts. Naturally, with such a connected approach, security could be an issue for businesses, and for this reason, one's Exchange contacts will not be synced with their Microsoft account. In this scenario, users must manually add their Exchange accounts for each device they use. Take one look at the length of the MSDN blog entry and you'll be left wondering how Microsoft employees find time to code, but it makes for a worthwhile read.
Sidecar comes out of beta, reinvents phone calls
Smartphones have revolutionized how we communicate and the way we create, share and consume content. Yet there's one aspect of using these devices that remains stuck in the last millennium, and that's the calling experience -- yes, apparently some people still make phone calls. Sure, there are plenty of VoIP and video calling apps out there, but few are simple and beautiful. Enter Sidecar, a free app which aims to reinvent the way we make phone calls by adding messaging as well as real-time video, photo, location and contact sharing to that antiquated calling experience. It achieves this through an intuitive and polished user interface plus a handful of standards such as SIP and XMPP. Phone calls between Sidecar users are free anywhere in the world -- the app even supports free WiFi calling to any number in the US or Canada. While Sidecar's been available in beta on Android for several weeks, it's launching on iOS today with support for the iPhone and iPod touch. We've been using the app on and off for a few days on several handsets, including a Galaxy Nexus HSPA+ and an iPhone 4S and it works exactly as described. Looking for additional details? Check out the demo video and full PR after the break.%Gallery-155893%
Apple patents that moment when you text-bomb everyone with your new number
So, you've changed your phone number to escape that stalker (look, we're sorry, we just wanted to sell you a pyramid scheme), but how do you let all 104 of your remaining friends know without manually texting 'em? The answer lies in Apple's newly granted patent, which aims to end the tedium by having your device recognize when your number switches and automatically send an updated contact entry to everyone in your address book. Of course, there's nothing in the claims to say it's discriminatory, so now we've got your number again -- have you changed your mind about that pyramid scheme?
Cobook is an alternative address book for your Mac
If you're looking for an alternative address book for your Mac, you should take a closer look at Cobook. It's been featured by Lifehacker, TechCrunch and most recently Swiss Miss. It's defining features are its simple UI, intelligent search and social network integration which updates your contacts using information from Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. The app is available for free from Cobook's website. You can also check out the promotional video below. [Via Swiss Miss]
US Congress sends letter to Apple about Path, data access, Apple responds
The latest "-gate" suffixed controversy, the so-called "Address Bookgate," has surrounded the popular social networking app Path. After Path was found to collect data on users' contacts without prompting users for permission, CEO Dave Morin apologized and the app was updated to change the behavior. That revelation, and the backlash that followed, has sent ripples throughout the iOS developer community. Path's update sets its app to explicitly request user permission to store contacts; Instagram and several other iOS apps followed suit. In what's becoming a predictable trend any time the words "Apple" and "privacy" are mentioned together, two US Congress members have sent a letter to Apple asking the company to explain the situation (hat tip to The Next Web). "This incident raises questions about whether Apple's iOS app developer policies and practices may fall short when it comes to protecting the information of iPhone users and their contacts," Congressmen Henry A. Waxman and G.K. Butterfield write. Following that, the representatives voice the very questions that have been raised: Please describe all iOS App Guidelines that concern criteria related to the privacy and security of data that will be accessed or transmitted by an app. Please describe how you determine whether an app meets those criteria. What data do you consider to be "data about a user" that is subject to the requirement that the app obtain the user's consent before it is transmitted? To the extent not addressed in the response to question 2, please describe how you determine whether an app will transmit "data about a user" and whether the consent requirement has been met. How many iOS apps in the U.S. iTunes Store transmit "data about a user"? Do you consider the contents of the address book to be "data about a user"? Do you consider the contents of the address book to be data of the contact? If not, please explain why not. Please explain how you protect the privacy and security interests of that contact in his or her information. How many iOS apps in the U.S. iTunes Store transmit information from the address book? How many of those ask for the user's consent before transmitting their contacts' information? You have built into your devices the ability to turn off in one place the transmission of location information entirely or on an app-by-app basis. Please explain why you have not done the same for address book information. AllThingsD reports that Apple has issued a brief response: "Apps that collect or transmit a user's contact data without their prior permission are in violation of our guidelines. We're working to make this even better for our customers, and as we have done with location services, any app wishing to access contact data will require explicit user approval in a future software release." This response may address user concerns over the potential privacy issue, but Congress may not be satisfied so easily. Waxman and Butterfield (both of whom chair committees on commerce) have given Apple until the end of February to respond to the inquiry. From our perspective as iOS users, this means we can likely look forward to more pop-up dialogs every time we open certain kinds of iOS apps for the first time. We're already prompted to give user permission for location services and push notifications, and now it seems we'll be prompted for access to Address Book contacts as well. Hopefully iOS developers can write these dialogs in a way that encourages users to pay attention to them rather than blindly tapping "Allow" several times just to rush past the preliminaries and actually use the apps they've downloaded.
iPhone address book issue prompts response from Apple, apps' access to contact data will require user permission
A week ago today, developer Arun Thampi detailed on his blog how the Path app for iOS accessed users' contact information and uploaded that data to Path's servers -- all without any explicit permission granted on the user's part. That sparked quite the firestorm, including investigations into which other apps behaved in a similar manner (quite a few, it turns out), and some responses from a number of other app makers -- Twitter, for one, has acknowledged that it does store users' contact data, but that it now plans to adjust its app to more clearly inform users of that behavior. Now, Apple itself has also responded, with spokesman Tom Neumayr telling AllThingsD that "apps that collect or transmit a user's contact data without their prior permission are in violation of our guidelines," but that it is "working to make this even better for our customers, and as we have done with location services, any app wishing to access contact data will require explicit user approval in a future software release." Still no word on when we can expect that software update, though. Incidentally, this news comes on the same day that Congressmen Henry Waxman and G.K. Butterfield sent a letter to Apple over the issue, asking that it respond to a number of privacy-related questions no later than February 29th. That letter can be found in full after the break.
Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me create GPS address book locations
Dear Aunt TUAW, I want to set Siri geofenced reminders for my kids' bus stop and a few other locations. The problem is that I live in a rural area, and these places don't have street addresses. What can I do? I want to be able to remind my wife to pick up milk and butter after she's done picking up the kids. Can you help? Your loving nephew, Kaelin Dear Kaelin, Auntie has some bad news for you. As far as the TUAW team can reckon, the Contacts app doesn't support GPS locations. That means that you can't use geofenced reminders for arbitrary locations beyond "when I leave this location." If you try to drop a pin in Maps, you'll quickly discover that rural locations plus the GPS coordinates plus the address book don't add up to a coherent location solution. Maps tries to find a street address to match the coordinates, and that address may be miles away, especially if you try to mark a camp site in a large state park. Since Contacts is built on street addresses, not coordinates, your locations will be off -- sometimes way off. For now, Auntie recommends the "when I leave this location" workaround if it's you doing the errands, and encourages all her nieces and nephews to file a feature request with Apple. Hugs, Auntie T.
Tidying up location contacts for Siri and Reminders
My personal address book has no shame. I have contacts for people I haven't spoken to in years, contacts for people who I met at tech conferences, contacts for schools, for local stores, for repairmen, and so forth. It's one big old happy jumbled mess. I'm cool with that. When I want Siri and Reminders to be able to trigger a location-based event, I just throw it into my address book where it joins the hundreds of other often sad and neglected entries. I believe this makes makes me a type "N" on Myers Brigg or something like that. Not everyone will be happy with this kind of unstructured approach and an overflowing address book, or this kind of lack of organization. If you want to be able to to set location reminders without messing up your address book, TUAW reader Will Herbert has a solution. On your Mac, launch the Address Book application and create two new groups. Call one Contacts and the other Locations. Drag all your normal contacts into the Contacts group and create a set of location-only contacts in the other. Add stores, offices, dry cleaners, supermarkets, and so forth. These are all places that you don't necessarily want in your day-to-day contacts list. Each of these is still available in the address book and therefore still available to Siri and Reminders. At the same time, they won't clutter up your standard contacts. Score one for the Felixes of the world. The rest of us Oscars will trudge on as we were.
Managing your Mac's Address Book
Address Book.app on your Mac offers two options for getting information out of your address book: "Export vCard..." or "Address Book Archive..." but you may not have ever known which you should use and which you should avoid as if it were a swarm of bees. Here's a simple mnemonic: "vCards good, Address Book Archives VERY VERY BAD." Sorry for yelling, but it's true. Address Book Archives can only do one thing: replace your entire address book. Why is that bad? Let's assume you backup every Monday, and then some Friday you realize that you accidentally deleted some contacts. If your only backup is an Address Book Archive, you have to hope that you won't lose any important information that you've added or changed since Monday. If you had an export of your vCards, you could merge it with your existing information: The only real "trick" to exporting vCards is that you have to be sure to select all contacts before choosing File » Export » Export vCard... Also, if you want to see what Address Book is going to do, click the "Review Duplicates..." button (above) and then click "Keep Both" to see the Old vs New information: vCards are also a good choice because they can be used by a variety of different programs, whereas Address Book Archives are only useful for Mac OS X's Address Book app
Video App Demo: WhitePages
If you're over a certain age and live in the USA you may remember the days when giant books filled with addresses and phone numbers were thrown at your house each year by Ma Bell. Unlike countries elsewhere, such as France, where computers took over the task of finding phone numbers before cell phones were popular, the White Pages (and their paid cousin, the Yellow Pages) were a fixture of American life for many years. Of course, now we have smartphones. But if someone isn't in your address book on your iPhone, you can use the WhitePages app to find their info. The WhitePages app does more than reverse lookup, but don't take my word for it. Check out the demo video below to see it in action. if(typeof AOLVP_cfg==='undefined')AOLVP_cfg=[];AOLVP_cfg.push({id:'AOLVP_1034513390001','codever':0.1, 'autoload':false, 'autoplay':false, 'playerid':'61371448001', 'videoid':'1034513390001', 'width':480, 'height':270, 'stillurl':'http://pdl.stream.aol.com/pdlext/aol/brightcove/studionow/p/96f369cb1e0a9/r/9f97f0a0ab0cd/al/193082/poster-10.jpg', 'playertype':'inline','videotitle':'TUAW - App Demo - WhitePages','videolink':'#'});
MobileMe: Some speculation about the transition to iCloud
I'll start this post off by stating the obvious -- there's a lot about how MobileMe services will transition to iCloud that we don't know yet. But I'm going to take a stab at some of the most pressing questions we've received from TUAW readers regarding the transition. As more facts come in, we'll update this post and/or let you know in a new article. First, let's talk about what's available in MobileMe as it stands today. The details are in that graphic above, which is taken directly from the web-based MobileMe service. There are web-based versions of Mail, Contacts (Address Book), and Calendar (iCal); there's Find My iPhone, which has already become a free service; there's iDisk, a "cloud-based storage" solution; and then there are things like Gallery and iWeb hosting. Speculation #1: Web-based versions of Mail, Contacts, and Calendar will be de-emphasized I'd speculate that the web-based versions of Mail, Contacts, and Calendar will get less attention going forward, and might even disappear on June 30, 2012. Seriously -- who needs them? If you have a Mac or three, you'll sync Mail, Address Book, and iCal through the free iCloud service. The same with your iOS devices, which will send Mail, Contacts, and Calendar changes to the iCloud, where they'll all be echoed to the rest of your digital world. For Windows users, you'll be using Outlook 2010 or 2007 to sync to the iCloud. The only scenario in which you might not be able to get to your "stuff" is when you're using a public computer of some sort at a hotel, on a cruise ship, or at a cybercafé in Spain. Of course, you don't want that to happen, so you'll have your iOS device with you. Hook up to Wi-Fi or use your 3G data service, and the problem is solved. That's why they call them mobile devices. [The counterargument would be that dropping web-based access to PIM and email from iCloud would be a pretty big competitive disadvantage for the service, compared to Google and Microsoft offerings. It's equally likely that the web components will simply flip over from MobileMe to iCloud without any new features or engineering effort -- since Apple is already doing a passable job on them. –Ed.] Speculation #2: iDisk disappears Apple's already stated that iCloud will back up your content -- music, photos, apps, and documents. But there's nothing out there about what will happen to your other stuff. I personally have about 15 GB of iDisk storage available to me on MobileMe, of which I've actually used about 3 GB. All of my important data is sitting out in my Dropbox, syncing between my Macs and iOS devices. I personally don't see the need for iDisk in this world of Dropbox, but there are others who may be using iDisk since they either don't know about Dropbox and similar services or don't want to migrate to them. I think iDisk is going to go extinct, but that Apple will provide iDisk users with a variety of third-party cloud storage solutions and warn them to migrate their data well in advance. There is a full year to prepare. Speculation #3: Gallery is toast Gallery was Apple's way of creating web-based photo albums of your photos for sharing with friends and relatives. Once again, I can't see a need for it in the post-MobileMe world. Apple has already provided an "out" to those who want to share their photos to the world -- iPhoto supports sharing pictures to both Flickr and Facebook. I don't know what Flickr's membership is these days, but Facebook has well over 600 million users, and a good number of them may be former or current MobileMe subscribers. Those two services are perfect for photo sharing, and I'd be willing to bet that the current number of photos hosted in Gallery is a tiny fraction of the number out on Facebook or Flickr. Another reason I think Gallery is going away is the tendency for people to use iOS devices as a sort of electronic photo album. I don't know how many times I've seen my wife show off photos of our trips to friends or complete strangers using either her iPhone or iPad. It's a lot easier than telling them to go out to some long-winded MobileMe URL to see a gallery of pictures. Speculation #4: So long, iWeb hosting As the author of several editions of a book on iWeb, I have a vested interest in the future of this Apple product. However, the future just doesn't look all that bright for iWeb. The software hasn't been updated recently, and there is a lot of rumbling out on the Apple Support Forums about what will happen when MobileMe disappears. My guess? Apple will once again tell MobileMe users that they need to find their own hosting. iWeb can publish websites to a number of hosts, so it's no big deal to republish on a new one. I even wrote a post almost two years ago about how to use free Dropbox space to host an iWeb site, so there's a solution. Finally, a significant portion of the people who set up iWeb sites initially were putting together personal sites. Many of those people have probably gone the easy route and are either letting friends know about their lives via Twitter and Facebook, or have set up sites with free services, like Blogger or WordPress.com. Nevertheless, judging by the frustration and concern on Apple's support boards, this may be one of the trickiest transitions to manage. Conclusion Before some of our readers who are adverse to change go all ballistic on me in the comments, remember what I said at the beginning -- we don't really know what's going to happen to some of these services between now and the demise of MobileMe on June 30, 2012. All of this is speculation about what will happen, based on my personal perspective. If you have an alternative idea, or you're a disgruntled MobileMe employee who wants to spill the beans, please let us know about it in the comments or send us a tip via the "tip us" button at the top of the page.
