MobileMe
Latest
Find My iPhone is live, totally found our iPhone
We wouldn't really say we "have it together" when it comes to remembering where we put our keys / phone / small children, so Apple's announcement of the Find My iPhone service for MobileMe users came as quite a relief. The service just went live, and with a quick toggle of a preference pane in iPhone OS 3.0 the phone is fully prepared for all sorts of lost and found scenarios -- along with acting as an incredibly intuitive (if pricey) stalking mechanism. Find My iPhone works exactly as advertised, giving us a fairly good location estimate from within our lead-lined underground fortress, and sending annoying messages to the phone complete with sound, even when the handset is switched to silent, though unfortunately the sound is a sort of sonar ping that strikes us as incredibly difficult to locate, unless of course our phone is taken by whale. The only other problem is that both the location function and the message service took a couple minutes to track down our iPhone -- not a deal breaker, but we don't know what the hangup could be. After the device is pinged, a confirmation of the event was sent to our MobileMe email address. A live, enthralling video demonstration is after the break.
Apple launching free iDisk iPhone app for viewing and sending stored docs -- still no substitute for a file system
Buried under the considerable stack of WWDC newness is news that Apple is launching an iPhone iDisk application for MobileMe users alongside iPhone OS 3.0. It lets users browse through and view their remotely stored docs, but there doesn't seem to be an offline component to the app (at least none is mentioned in Apple's brief writeup) -- though a feature that lets you email a download link to an iDisk file is welcome. Naturally, there are plenty of apps that already access iDisk, WebDAV, Google Docs and other online storage systems, and offer added functionality like local caching to boot, but it's at least nice to have a bit of first party support when it comes to basic iDisk browsing for users who are already paying for the privilege -- we just hope it grows into so much more.[Thanks, Arya]
MobileMe: Even it gets some updates
Coming about six weeks too late for Steve Sande, the new Find my iPhone feature demoed at WWDC will enable you to locate your iPhone on a map by logging into me.com. Sadly, I doubt that feature will help those of us who accidentally knock their phones behind the bed or get stuck between the couch cushions, but at least you'll know if it's in the house. Edit: I forgot, you can hear it beep, even if it's set to silent. However, how loud it beeps remains to be seen ...You can also use the Find My iPhone feature to do two things: First, you can send a message to your phone that will display on the screen, even when it's locked, alerting to the Good Samaritan who has found it that you'll be on the way to get it. However, if someone with more nefarious intentions in mind gets ahold of it, you can do a remote wipe of the phone, thus returning it to factory settings.Not mentioned during the keynote are these little gems: The ability to access your iDisk from the iPhone: A feature that should have been on the iPhone for version 2.0, you can upload a file to your iDisk and immediately access it on your phone. The iDisk app will be free through the App Store. File sharing via iPhone: Likewise, that nifty little iDisk app will enable you to share a file with someone else by tapping on the "Share" button in the application, and it'll shoot an e-mail link to your recipients. You can also tweak the settings to set passwords and the number of days a file is available. You can also use it to access other MobileMe's Public folders. Mail search: If you've got a message on MobileMe but not on the iPhone itself, the improved search capabilities of iPhone OS 3.0 will allow you to search MobileMe for messages in addition to the e-mails that are on your iPhone as well.
QuickTime X leaps forward in Snow Leopard
Seems like only yesterday that QuickTime was at version 7. Oh wait, that was yesterday. Among the many announcements surrounding Snow Leopard we saw a little more of QuickTime X, Apple's next-generation version of the venerable media player/technology/doohickey. While the interface has been totally overhauled, the changes are more than skin deep.QuickTime X is a significant update. For consumers, there won't be a Pro version. Any version will allow simple editing, video/audio capture, and allow you to "publish your media to MobileMe or YouTube -- without worrying about codec formats or resolutions." We're not sure if you'll be able to save as a QuickTime movie or source file as before, but the removal of some previous limits will make QuickTime the snappy iMovie substitute it could be. Plus, QuickTime X will allow you to use any web server to stream live video over HTTP. Can't wait to see what people do with that.In addition to the visible changes, QuickTime X looks like a fundamental rewrite of the application and its underpinnings. Support for Core Audio, Core Video and Core Animation could mean some really interesting things for the future of media playback (not that we weren't promised as much a few years ago, of course). All of this comes wrapped up in Snow Leopard, and takes full advantage of the speed-tuning tech therein.
9 things I learned from almost losing my MacBook Air
I swear, getting old is not a lot of fun.Last night, I taught a class in data security for home and small business users at our local community college. There were a lot of good questions from the community education program students, so the class ended quite late and I was still answering questions as I walked out the door.This morning, I went to grab my MacBook Air out of my laptop bag and literally grabbed air instead. In my haste to get out of the classroom and head home, I had packed everything but the laptop. Fortunately, the classroom was locked and few classes are scheduled for early morning, so I called the campus police and had them rescue the MBA for me. Problem solved!After actually losing an iPhone 3G a few months ago, I wrote a post about what to do to prevent data loss and identity theft when lose your iPhone, and included a few tips on how to hopefully keep yourself from losing the phone in the first place. In this post, I'll talk about the things that I do (or can do) to keep my MacBook Air and my data safe, even when my mind conspires against me to try to lose the computer.
MobileMe control panel for Windows helps with proxy servers
Yesterday, Apple released MobileMe Control Panel for Windows 1.4, recommended for users on corporate networks that use proxy servers. Some users were reporting errors when trying to sync contacts and calendars, or were unable to log into the MobileMe control panel at all. This update sorts that out. According to Apple technical note on the subject, supported proxy server types include: Web proxy servers (HTTP) Secure Web proxy (HTTPS) SOCKS proxy servers (see note below) HTTP/HTTPS proxy servers that require authentication Proxy bypass lists Proxy auto-configuration (PAC) files The update is available on the MobileMe website, and is also included with iTunes 8.2 for Windows.
A photo frame for your pocket and desk
DreamStream [App Store] is a new piece of software for the iPhone and iPod touch that gives you a personalized wireless portable picture frame. It can access photos you have on your phone, or with internet connectivity provide you with links to MobileMe galleries, Facebook, Flickr tags and RSS image feeds. I tried attaching to my MobileMe account and Flickr images and it worked just fine.You also get widgets that display the time, weather in cities you select and the date. Happily, the app runs in either portrait or landscape mode.I thought the documentation was a bit thin, and adding images from your camera roll on the iPhone is a bit time consuming as there is no way to select multiple photos -- you have to add them one at a time.I'd love to see a method to add scrolling news feeds from selected sources, and perhaps an option to add music from your on-board collection. Remember that iPod touch users will only have Wi-Fi as an option for connectivity.As it is, DreamStream is a nice, well performing app, and certainly worth the $1.99US asking price. I like the ability to see the photo streams from friends around the country, and now when my iPhone is idling and charging on my desk it has something to do.Here are some screen shots of Dreamstream in action: %Gallery-63886%
Beware of MobileMe phishing scam
Several TUAW readers have contacted us about a MobileMe phishing scam. These readers are getting an email that looks surprisingly official (see below). When they click on the Log In button, they're going to a page that has already been shut down. That might not always be the case. Never, never, NEVER click on a link or button in an email asking for personal or financial information -- that's a sure way to become a victim of a phishing scam. If you receive a note like this, log into your MobileMe account and update your billing info directly, if it really needs to be updated. Do NOT click on the button. A couple quick ways to see where a link or button in an email is going to take you are to hover your mouse over a link to see the real URL, or to right-click a button and select properties from the menu to see what URL is embedded in the button. Be careful out there, folks -- there are a lot of unscrupulous people who would love to take all of your money.A tip of the hat to Noah for supplying the screenshot!
Apple announces end of .Mac HomePage
Apple has begun sending an email to MobileMe customers about a pending service change. Specifically, .Mac HomePage will be discontinued on July 7, 2009. While existing pages will remain live at their current addresses for MobileMe users, they'll no longer be able to edit them or add new ones. If you want to delete an existing page between now and then, simply visit the HomePage application. Groups will also be discontinued on July 7 when Apple shuts down all group email address, group HomePages, message boards and iDisk "Groups" folders. Your data will be safe, however, as Apple will move the "Groups" folder to a new folder on your iDisk called "Groups Archive."While I never used Groups, it's kind of sad to see HomePage go. I can remember building homepages on my old 333mhz G3 iMac. It was so easy to make a quick-and-dirty site for sharing photos, etc. with grandma. No, it wasn't the cleanest code ever produced, but it was fun back in the day.Of course, Apple recommends that customers consider MobileMe Galleries and iWeb as an alternative. You can get the full run-down here.
TUAW 2016
Good afternoon, and welcome to your daily brainload from TUAW, a division of Weblogs, Inc. owned by Comcast Online. Please make sure the neural connector is clicked in all the way, and then think "Start" when you are ready.Steve Jobs returns to Apple's Board of Directors after stint at GMSteve Jobs announced his return to Apple today after a government-mandated stint as CEO of General Motors. Obama White House spokesperson Ruth Christopher stated that since Jobs had saved the American auto company with the introduction of the extremely popular flyCar, he could return to his usual duties. Apple executives released a statement saying they were "overjoyed" to have Jobs back on the job.New MacBooks and Mac mini appear on Apple Store siteApple has quietly updated its legacy line of personal computers, adding exabyte molecular hard drives and gigacore nanoprocessors without raising the prices. Fans, unfortunately, were unimpressed with the updates -- "my implants can move faster than that," John Gruber transmitted to his brainload feed, along with a TwitFeeling of disappointment and anger. But Apple defended the updates, stating that the new computers were "perfect for the older member of your family who still need their hardware in the box, rather than out of it." Anyone who has purchased one of the older units in the past six months (if there are any of you out there still buying hardware) can be eligible for an exchange at any Apple center.MobileMe announces record number of subscribersOver three billion people have subscribed to Apple's MobileMe service since its reintroduction two years ago, according to a new study transmitted by analysts NPD. Apparently people love the fact that they no longer have to carry an iPhone, a laptop, or any hardware at all, as MobileMe now works directly with tiny processors implanted into your head to bring you brainloads, news, TwitFeelings, and the Webview over the cloud directly into your visual and memory cortexes."People really love not having to deal with devices or pesky buttons," said an NPD analyst. "MobileMe allows them to connect directly into the ethersphere, leaving them open to do or think or feel anything while anywhere." The price of the system was also lauded as one of the reasons it's so popular. Apparently after the big economic meltdown in 2010, Apple's customers are thrilled to get a full-service communication package for just over a billion dollars a year. "MobileMe has never been so worth it," said longtime user Dave Caolo.Apple announces event next Tuesday: "Go ahead. Take a guess, suckers."Press outlets around the brainsphere have recieved invites from Apple for an event next Tuesday in Chicago's Willis Tower (up until two years ago, events like this were held in San Franscisco at the Moscone Center, but of course the unfortunate earthquakes and flooding in 2014 mean that all of California is currently underwater). Rumors are flying about what might be announced at the event, but Apple hasn't given any indication of what there might be -- in fact, the invite itself features a question mark, and the text: "Take a guess, suckers. You still haven't gotten it right."Most brainloaders have speculated that the event may finally feature the debut of the long-awaited iTablet, or maybe, finally, the reveal of The Beatles unenhanced audio recordings into the iCollective. Either way, TUAW won't be there: we still haven't gotten an invite. But we will, as usual, be providing Mike Schramm's unfiltered thoughts on the event live as it happens. Remember to make sure your children are unplugged at the time.
USB tethering, Publish Video and Find my iPhone found in OS 3.0
Apple touted quite a few new iPhone features at yesterday's OS 3.0 event, but now that the beta build is trickling out, there's been a bevy of unearthed discoveries to further pique our interests. First up, the gang at Boy Genius Report found an option to enable the "Find My iPhone" service in the MobileMe settings. Unfortunately, that's all we've got, but we wouldn't put it past Cupertino to build some me.com-linked location tracker that'd be the envy of Orwell himself -- hey, that'd be pretty useful if you accidentally left the mobile in a taxi. Also in the MobileMe section, it now says Publish Video when you go to publish an image. It's an odd typo, to be sure, and while video recording has been near the top of our wishlist for some time, we're not about to get our hopes up. Finally, Mac Rumors is reporting that a hacker has dug up and successfully activated the USB tethering capabilities. Apple's Scott Forstall had mentioned the devs were building it in, but were still in talks with the carriers. As to whether any or all of these functions will actually end up in the final OS 3.0 build, your guess is a good as ours. For now, check out more pics of the MobileMe additions after the break.[Thanks everyone who sent this in!]Read - Find My iPhoneRead - USB Tethering
Apple updates Time Capsule and Airport Extreme with internet sharing
A closer look at the gaggle of Apple hardware updates today shows a rather useful change to both Time Capsule and the Airport Extreme base station.MobileMe members can access any file on a hard drive connected to either product via the internet. The older versions allowed hard drive sharing to people on the same network. Now the feature has been extended to allow you to get these files from anywhere.You initiate the sharing by registering your Airport Extreme or Time Capsule with your MobileMe account. When you are away from your Mac, that hard drive will show up in the Finder sidebar. The drive must be a USB drive -- there is no support for either flavor of Firewire on the AE or TC.It does not appear that this remote sharing feature has been added to the last generation of these products, although a firmware update might be able to accomplish it. No word from Apple on whether or not this will happen. Update: the Apple Sales internal site (thanks Mr. X) is listing the following... looks like that feature is going to work on the older gear!Note for existing AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule customersExisting AirPort Extreme (MA073 and MB053) and Time Capsule (MB276 and MB277) customers can access their AirPort Disk / Time Capsule disk through Mobile Me over the Internet by upgrading to AirPort Utility 5.4.1 and AirPort firmware 7.4.1. Subscription to Mobile Me online services is required for this feature. Simultaneous dual-band Wi-Fi and Guest Networking features are only available to new AirPort Extreme (MB763) and Time Capsule (MB764 and MB765) customers.This update is obviously designed to boost the attractiveness of the MobileMe service, to which Apple has been showing increased attention of late. Apple specifies that Leopard is needed for this feature, so Windows subscribers to MobileMe appear to be out of luckThanks to everyone who sent this in.
TUAW review: iWeb '09
Along with the other changes to iLife '09, iWeb was quietly upgraded to version 3. While the changes aren't as dramatic as those seen in iPhoto and iMovie, they do move iWeb further down the path to being a good web design tool for beginning to intermediate users.I'm in the process of writing a new edition of an iWeb book, and I took a month to go through iWeb in detail during my research. Click the Read More link below to see what's new in iWeb '09.
Apple making nice with MobileMe customers
After a less than stellar debut last year, Apple is doing a better job of communication with MobileMe customers who need to decide if they want to stay on as paid users or try other options.In an email to subscribers, Apple says it has been working hard on getting MobileMe up to spec. The email details these improvements: Easy File Sharing. It's especially nice to have the large file sharing turned on and working. It was supposed to be available months ago, and while one could quibble about how it is only available from the web client, at least it has been delivered Faster Syncing with Mac and PC. The speed of updates between computers and the iPhone have been increased. My own experience confirms that this is now working very well. Your mileage may vary, but most reports are positive Improved notifications and sync on iPhone. Apple says the reliability of new email notices and syncing of contacts and numbers with MobileMe have been improved. Apple suggests you run iPhone software version 2.2 or later for optimal notifications. Better web app performance. Apple wants customers to know that the web app is faster, particularly with regard to start time for Calendar and Contacts search. I can't confirm this. Loading my Calendar took more than a minute this morning using Safari 4 beta. Later in the day, it came up instantly. I don't see anything dramatically faster in searching for contacts. You may do better, or, perish the thought, worse. Apple adds that they are constantly working to improve the service, and make it easier to use. For more information keep on top of MobileMe news. Leave your comments on this story to help give us a picture how, or if, MobileMe has improved for you.
MobileMe login page sports a new look
After a brief overnight outage, the MobileMe services are back this morning -- and sporting a new look on the login page. Aside from the recently revealed file sharing feature, we don't know of any other changes behind the scenes, but putting on a fresh coat of polish never hurts.If you're seeing changes on the inside of MobileMe please pass them along. Update: Richard spotted the release page for today's changes -- improvements to calendar performance, address book behavior and more.Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
Windows Mobile, Android, Flash make headlines at Mobile World Congress
Two of Apple's rival mobile platforms announced news this week at the 2009 Mobile World Congress, with Windows Mobile 6.5 on the way, and a new Android-based handset from HTC. Windows Mobile has updated its user interface to more closely resemble the iPhone's. I can imagine the brainstorming session: Developer 1: "It needs to look, work, and feel like the iPhone, but -- you know -- not be." Developer 2: "Instead of putting the icons on a rectangular grid, let's do a (one two three four five six) hexagonal one!" Developer 1: "Brilliant! Book it. Done." I kid, I kid. I'm sure it was more complicated than that. Anyway, Windows Mobile will also feature two new services, a "My Phone" synchronization service, and a new marketplace that will sell mobile applications from both phones and desktops. It's like I've heard this song before, but can't remember exactly where. Also at the conference, HTC announced the Magic, a handset to run Google's Android operating system. Unlike the G1, the Magic will not have a slide-out keyboard. It will first be available to Vodafone customers in the UK, Germany and Spain, among other European carriers. Cult of Mac's Ed Sutherland suspects T-Mobile will carry the handset in the U.S. because it can handle the phone's transmission protocols. Both the Windows Mobile and Android platforms also announced they'll support Flash (along with Symbian and Palm's new webOS) in 2010. And what of the iPhone? No dice: Adobe lobs the ball back in Apple's court, saying during the announcement, "We would love to see it on the iPhone, too, but it's Apple's decision on when and how they support any new technology. So we will continue to work on it." [Via Hardmac, MDN, and IGM.]
Mobile Me debuts large file sharing with iDisk
Apple yesterday announced a new addition to Mobile Me: The ability to share large files with others via iDisk. One of our readers had noticed an announcement about it way back on New Year's Day. The service works much like YouSendIt, though rather than uploading a file, you point to an existing file on your iDisk. MobileMe then assigns a URL to that file, and offers to send an email to a recipient with the link. You can also assign an expiration date and password to the link. MobileMe's sharing functionality is so far only available only through the iDisk web application, and not through the Finder. Tools like Dropbox and FileChute -- available on the desktop -- allow you to upload files and assign them a public link, but don't feature expiration dates or passwords (yet). Apple offers a tutorial on how to use the new feature on its website. Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
MobileMe Control Panel for Windows updated
We assume that there are a few of you who have got Windows machines with MobileMe access in place. If so, you'll be pleased to know that version 1.3 of the Control Panel is now ready. As you know, this control panel allows Windows users to synchronize MobileMe services and iDisk.According to Apple, version 1.3 "...delivers faster syncing of contacts and calendars between MobileMe and Microsoft Outlook ... [and] a new tray icon also indicates whenever an automatic sync is in progress." Additionally, any change in Outlook will automatically trigger synchronization.This is a 2.27 MB download and requires Windows Vista SP1 or later ( or Windows XP Home or Professional SP2) and Microsoft Outlook 2003 or 2007 for calendar sync.[Via MacNN]
Google beta of Sync for mobile contacts & calendar is live
That thudding sound you're hearing is the head-to-keyboard collision of everyone who, for the purposes of wireless PIM sync to an iPhone, renewed a MobileMe subscription last week. Google announced today that the beta Google Sync for Mobile capability, long a feature on the Blackberry, has now been extended to iPhones (via Microsoft's ActiveSync), and also to other devices that support the SyncML standard. You can sync your Google-side calendar and contacts to your device of choice, free, bidirectionally, starting today. There are a few caveats with this beta, as one might expect: the main one is that you cannot use the sync capability if you already synchronize with an Exchange account, as there can be only one ActiveSync config on the iPhone or iPod touch at any time. Setting up sync with Google will also nuke your local contacts and calendar on the device, so back up before you proceed. Still, this represents a big step forward in the delicate dance of Google services in cooperation with Apple's mobile gear. If you configure sync for your device, let us know how it goes! Early comments note that the lack of multiple calendar support is a showstopper -- if that applies to you, check out the NuevaSync option. Update: You can apparently sync up to five calendars to the phone, see here for details. [via Engadget]
Syncplicity opens up its Mac beta
The Boy Genius Report has reported on the latest cloud storage solution to grace the Mac world. Syncplicity, which currently exists for Windows, has opened up its beta version for the Mac. Syncplicity, free for 2GB of storage and syncing between two computers and $9.99 a month ($99 a year) USD for syncing among an unlimited number of computers and 50GB of storage, mirrors any folder on your system with its online sibling in the "cloud." Unlike MobileMe, where items to be synced must be contained within your iDisk, any folder on your hard drive can be synced by right-clicking it and selecting it from a menu -- really nice if you need to get a subfolder of a subfolder online. As soon as that folder is updated, so is the remote one. Another touted feature is the ability to access those folders from a browser on any computer, including your cell phone. The Syncplicity beta is an Intel-only program and requires OSX 10.5. Syncplicity joins a crowded field that just doesn't include MobileMe: Zumodrive, Dropbox and SugarSync are out there as well, all willing to do battle for customers who are growing increasingly dissatisfied with Apple's offering to the point that they are considering alternatives. Have you tried out the private beta for Syncplicity? What other cloud storage solution do you use? Let us know in the comments! Meanwhile, we'll start looking at Syncplicity on our end and present you with a full look at the beta in the next few days.
