MobileMe
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Mac OS X Update for MobileMe 1.1
We all know how rocky the transition from .Mac to MobileMe has been. It now seems to be working for quite a few folks (at least to some degree), and Apple has already pushed out an update for the service. The Mac OS X Update for MobileMe 1.1 is available now through Software Update. Note that if you aren't yet seeing the update, try signing out of .Mac via System Preferences and then back in again -- you should see a dialog asking you if you want to download the update.As per usual, the notes are sparse, but it is recommended for users of 10.5.4 and "includes general system fixes that enhance your Mac for MobileMe." Let us know if it improves things for you.[via Macworld]
Apple had a bad day
Last year, I took my toddlers -- at the time 4-years-old and 2-years-old -- to see a play. We intended to meet up with a friend of mine and her 4-year-old.Hours before, the whole thing fell apart. My friend offered to sit with the older of the two while the 2-year-old and I went off on our own. I agreed, and 90 minutes later the kids and I were sweating in the worst traffic jam I had ever seen. We arrived 20 minutes late and had to park at the far end of the lot. Stressed, I sprinted to the box office with a toddler under each arm, praying it was open. Panting and drenched, I put them down and handed my debit card to the woman behind the glass."Cash only" she said.That was a bad day. But it's nothing when compared to the trouble Apple and AT&T have experienced over the past 36 hours. MobileMe was initially scheduled to go live between 6 p.m. and 12 a.m. PT on July 9th. At 9:30PM Eastern, Apple stated that the transition would take place between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. PT. As of this writing MobileMe is live, but not all of the push services are working. As for the 3G iPhone, there are plenty in stores. The problem is that customers can't get them working. Reports are coming in of people waiting for hours in Apple Stores while employees attempt activation. Some are being told to go home and activate on their own, only to find that activation servers are down. Not the PR either company wanted today.Additionally, the 2.0 iPhone software became available yesterday, a day earlier than Apple intended. Today, it's out for real, but the same servers hindering 3G iPhone activation are preventing 1st generation iPhones from re-activating after receiving the update. Finally, the iPod touch update was available briefly before disappearing again (as of this writing). Just like the iPhone users, iPod touch users are a bit cranky.Everyone has a bad day, but unfortunately this affects a lot of people. The best we can say is buck up, little Apple soldiers. This will soon be over. At least you're not standing with two cranky toddlers in the hot sun.Image used with permission from Sean O'Steen.
Mobile Me appears to be up and running
I realize I post this at great personal peril, but Mobile Me appears to be working. Apple has updated the Mobile Me support page with information specific to Mobile Me, and has removed the notice about the update taking longer than usual. After a rough first 24 hours, Mobile Me services appear to be mostly operational, although for me, Mail is still a little shaky, and everything is still pretty slow. Even so, Internet Explorer 7 users appear to be left in the lurch: Apple displays a notice for those users saying IE7 is "not fully supported." Apple mentions on its website that Mobile Me can sync IE7 bookmarks, and features the IE7 logo fairly prominently. Your mileage, as has been the case for the last 48 hours, may vary. It will be interesting to find out in the coming days what precisely happened, and what Apple will do to prevent it from happening in the future. Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
Apple fesses up to MobileMe transition difficulties
It doesn't take a genius to figure out that there's something wrong with Apple's MobileMe transition -- which was originally scheduled to take place Wednesday evening. Now, into the early hours of Friday, and almost a day after the iPhone 3G's launch in NZ, we've seen maybe a total of 30 minutes of scattered uptime for the service, and Apple is finally confessing that the transition is "taking longer than expected." The good news is that .Mac users should still be able to check their mail, sync their contacts and use their iDisks, but at the moment there's no telling when MobileMe's sexy new web apps will be available, or what to expect next as far as those other services.Update: For what it's worth, MobileMe is up again -- now with working email and new "Getting Started" tours which we haven't seen before. Looks promising but we'll need to give it a few hours to burn-in. Screenshot after the break.Update 2: And by "up" we meant "not up," of course. Get it right, people. [Thanks, Alec A]
MobileMe: A First look
We've all awaited the .Mac to MobileMe switch for a while now (some more than others). However, Apple's 6 hour time table for upgrading to MobileMe turned awry and led into an almost 24 hour up, down, up, up, down cycle.If you're like most users experiencing the 24 outage, then you haven't been able to login and experience MobileMe first hand. So why not take a look at our gallery? We've got pictures of the entire MobileMe suite of web applications and user preferences: from the login screen to storage partitioning. %Gallery-27239%
MobileMe now really, truly up? No.
As Robert mentioned earlier today, the launch of MobileMe has been a rockier road than a Baskin-Robbins convention in the same hotel as a Weight Watchers conference. With .Mac services (including webmail, near and dear to my travelin' heart) down most of the day, all we could do was commiserate with the scores of inbound tip emails and eagerly hit the "refresh" button until the circumstances changed.Looks like we made it, though -- as of 7 pm ET it seems that most Me.com services are up and running from the web side (sync status TBD). Enjoy the cloudy goodness, if you will.... ulp, now it's down again. Y'know, if the idea behind your new service offering is "Exchange for the rest of us," perhaps the first order of business ought to be ensuring some sort of baseline SLA, or an uptime expectation? The last thing Apple needs is the reliability reputation of some other popular communications service...Update: Per Apple's support status page for .Mac, all the back-end services should be running as of 2 am ET, but the web UI is still not available and there is no ETA. If you're depending on .Mac webmail from the road, may I suggest a POP download into another (free) email service.
The MobileMe rollercoaster
MobileMe has been up and down since late last night like so much rancid Chinese food. We know just about as much as you do: we're getting tips that it's up -- no, wait -- it's down. And now it's back up! And now it's down. I was briefly able to log in and explore Contacts and iDisk, but was shut out when the site went back down. What I saw was pretty nifty, but without the larger context of app integration, I can't really form an educated opinion on it yet. I am planning, however, on writing a full-scale review for this weekend. Hopefully the problems will clear up by then -- or at least long enough for me to write the story. We'll keep you posted on the continuing ups and downs of MobileMe as we get more information. I'm hoping the act of writing this post will provide just enough schadenfreude to get the service running for good. Thanks to everyone for the uninterrupted updates on this one!
MobileMe now live, ready for you
Hello MobileMe, goodbye .Mac (and good riddance). Apple's synchronization and web application solution for your Macs, PCs, iPod touch or iPhone is now live. Push eMail, push contacts, and push calendar and a new suite of web applications are now yours for the taking. You know, after you hand over $99 for the first year or $149 for a one-year family subscription.P.S. Things are loading slowly at the moment as the service comes up.Update: As noted in the comments, the site is now down for most people.Update 2: It's coming up again but it's still flaky as hell. We've managed to get to our calendar, contacts, and settings but Mail is still a no, no.Update 3: And... it's down again. Nice going.[Thanks, Tim]
Apple TV 2.1 update goes live, adds MobileMe support
To commemorate the launch of MobileMe, Apple has updated the Apple TV to work with the new service. The new update includes a new MobileMe sub-menu in the Photos menu.MacRumors is reporting that you will also be able to control your Apple TV using the free Remote app from the iTunes Store. You can download this update by going to Settings > General > Software Update. If you notice anything that we haven't, be sure to leave a comment! Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
Apple releases OS X MobileMe update
Apple has released a new "MobileMe" update that allows your OS X system to "see" and interact with the new MobileMe service. As many may know, the change over from .Mac to MobileMe happened last night into the wee hours of the morning. This software adds the new MobileMe system preference pane and adds MobileMe support for Mail.app. We have uploaded a gallery of images for your viewing pleasure showing the subtle changes in System Preferences."The Mac OS X Update For MobileMe is recommended for users running Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.4 and includes general system fixes that enhance your Mac for MobileMe," Apple says.You can download this update by opening Software Update (Apple menu > Software Update). %Gallery-27227%[via GearLive]
And so it begins...
.Mac as of 9:14 PM PDT. It looks like the changes are underway!
MobileMe launch pushed back two hours
Yesterday, we noticed that the .Mac status page listed a MobileMe launch date and time of July 9th between 6 p.m. until 12 a.m. PT. Tonight, there seems to have been a change. As of this writing, the .Mac status page says, "MobileMe Launch: 7/9/2008, 8pm-2am PT -- As part of the MobileMe launch, www.mac.com will be taken offline at 8pm PT on Wednesday, July 9th."So, we've got to wait two more hours? Oh, no! Actually, we'd rather the folks at Apple take the time necessary to do things right. Oh, who are we kidding ... we want MobileMe!Stay tuned here for the latest information on this transition.Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
Mac 101: Back up Address Book, iCal, iPhone before MobileMe
Being the paranoid person that I am, it occurred to me that it would be a good idea to back up Address Book and iCal before all of the syncing madness begins between Macs, MobileMe, "the cloud", and iPhone/iPod touch. Here's how to do it (Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard only):Backing up Address Book Launch Address Book Select File > Export > Address Book Archive Find a location to save the Address Book archive, then click the Save button. Backing up iCal Launch iCal Select File > Backup iCal Find a location to save the iCal backup, then click the Save button. Backing up iPhone / iPod touch Just sync it Ahhh, don't you feel all safe and happy now? And remember, if you're running Leopard and Time Machine, your backups are going to be backed up, too!
Apple To Ship 2.5 Million Macs Thanks to Vista?
With all the current hype surrounding the imminent release of both the upgrade to Apple's .Mac service, now to be forever known as MobileMe, and Friday's launch of the new, improved iPhone version 2.0, let's not forget that Apple also makes other types of hardware that seems to be selling pretty well these days. In fact, according to a recent article up over at AppleInsider, Apple is apparently poised to ship 2.5 Million Macs in the Spring -- thanks, in some measure, to the poor reception of Microsoft's Windows Vista.According to BMO Capital Markets analyst Keith Bachman, Apple's potentially strong quarter, which ends in June, can be attributed to several factors. Among them, user dissatisfaction with Vista. "Thus far, user satisfaction ratings for Vista have been weak, and startup times for Vista have been known to be much slower than the Mac OS X," Bachman said in the article. "Thus, more than 50% of recent customers buying Macs in Apple retail stores are first-time buyers."In addition, the analyst added that this problem could help Apple's bottom line well into 2009 and could potentially improve the company's current world market share, raising it to 3.9% or higher. This is good news for those of us who remember the time, not so long ago, when most in the press and analysts like Bachman predicted Apple's certain demise. Still, even with this good news, we still need to hope Apple doesn't do something to hurt itself -- like bungle the .Mac to MobileMe transition or run out of shiny new iPhones at 8:30AM on Friday. That would not be a good thing.
Apple, Amazon offer boxed versions of MobileMe
Early Tuesday morning, Apple started offering boxed versions of the much awaited MobileMe web service. While buying from Apple costs $99 for the boxed version, Amazon is offering MobileMe for $89.99 (US). According to Amazon, MobileMe has been on sale since "July 1, 2008," however, they also say "This item will not be released until July 12, 2008." We did learn last night that MobileMe is scheduled to launch on Wednesday, July 9th around 6 p.m. pacific time. Stay tuned to TUAW for the latest information regarding the .Mac to MobileMe switch, iPhone 2.0 software, and the iPhone 3G coverage. Thanks, Jay!
Apple Store down
The Apple Store just went offline. The site has been updated to show the yellow sticky note that we've all come to love. What could it mean? Might it mean that MobileMe boxes will be available and ready for shipping? One could only hope. If you notice anything new, be sure to send us a tip! Stay tuned here as we keep you updated. Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
MobileMe launch date set: July 9th at 6 p.m. PT
Apple has just updated the .Mac status page with the date/time of the .Mac to MobileMe switch. So, for those of you wondering when Apple might start the switch will not have to wonder any longer. July 9th from 6 p.m. until 12 a.m. PT is the scheduled date and time.Apple says that during the switch, users will be "unable to access www.mac.com or any .Mac services ... with the exception of .Mac Mail accessed via a desktop application, iPhone, or iPod touch." According to Apple, "MobileMe will be available as soon as possible during this maintenance window." Be sure to stay tuned to TUAW for the latest on the .Mac to MobileMe switch. Thanks, Andy and Barry!
Apple accidentally ships MobileMe to .Mac customers
Apparently someone at Apple HQ got a little trigger happy on shipments of MobileMe. According to reports, the company mistakenly mailed boxes of the all-syncing, ever-loving software to at least a couple of current .Mac users ahead of schedule. When Apple was alerted to the gaffe, the user was told that a courier would be by to pick it up the next day. One question: why would you tell Apple?
.Mac Bookmark webaccess going away July 6th
The above message has been posted to the .Mac Tips website. As you can see .Mac members are being told to sync their .Mac bookmarks to a computer (Mac or PC) by July 6th because web access to bookmarks is no longer going to be supported in MobileMe (.Mac's replacement). The July 6th date is actually a few days later than the one Apple first gave in this KB article (June 30th). It looks like Apple wants to give all .Mac members as much time as possible to get their bookmarks in order.Does this mean we'll see the official launch of MobileMe on the 6th? Probably not, since Apple has stated that MobileMe will be available on July 11, but then again Me.com email is already being properly routed so this might all be part of a soft launch (as they say in the biz).Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
MobileMe and personal domains
According to Apple Support documents, personal domains will be kept intact with MobileMe. Blogger Sean Sperte noticed a "personal domain" option while watching the MobileMe quick tour. That prompted some investigation which led to this support document. Sure enough, it confirms that .Mac personal domains will remain untouched by the change:"...If you have a personal domain setup for your iWeb site, it will continue to work without changing any settings at your registrar."Thanks, Apple![Via Geek&Mild]
