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Alleged Steve Jobs email: MobileMe to get a lot better
MacRumors is reporting on an email, which it believes to be authentic, that one of its readers received from Steve Jobs. The reader sent an email to Jobs after the frustrations over his MobileMe experiences mounted. The reader told Jobs that while he's a huge fan of Apple and "wants to stay inside the Apple ecosystem," MobileMe is making it hard to do so. The reader goes on to tell Jobs that MobileMe is almost "unusable" and cites "unreliable/unpredictable syncing" and "creating duplicate entries" as two examples of the shortcomings of MobileMe. He then asks Jobs to tell him that it will get better soon. Jobs' reply: Yes, it will get a lot better in 2011. If the email is from Steve Jobs, it's nice to hear that Apple is apparently taking steps to constantly increase the value of MobileMe. However, Jobs' answer doesn't specify just how MobileMe will get better. It's possible the sync services will become more reliable, or perhaps that Apple will add new features to MobileMe to make it more attractive to users as an annual paid service. To some, Apple recently degraded the appeal of MobileMe by making its Find My iPhone feature a free service to owners of current-generation iPads, iPhones and iPod touches.
Solved: The case of the missing .Mac widgets
Back in April of 2005, Apple released the much-awaited Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" OS. One of the big new features of Tiger was Dashboard. The overlay feature supported Widgets, mini-apps that were the descendants of Mac OS 9 Desk Accessories, and that some might consider the precursors to modern iOS apps. Dashboard widgets were (and still are) fairly useful tools, and some pretty cool eye candy to boot. But the number of widgets that shipped with Tiger were limited, and many hoped Apple would quickly release additional widgets. Apple eventually did add more widgets with the release of Mac OS X 10.4.4, but that release didn't happen until January 2006. Apple did, however, plan to release some additional widgets to select Mac users before 10.4.4 shipped... If you were a .Mac member (now known as MobileMe) in mid-2005, you may recall a certain call-out on the .Mac Member's Central page that stated "Members Exclusive Widgets - Coming Soon!" The promise of additional Apple-made widgets set Dashboard fanboys drooling. Months passed, however, as the message remained on the .Mac Members Central site, but the widgets had yet to appear. And they never would. In the end the member exclusive .Mac widgets failed to materialize without any explanation from Apple; eventually all mention of the member-exclusive widgets was removed from the .Mac page. Many wondered just what had happened to the elusive exclusive widgets, but no answers ever materialized...until now. I thought I'd finally take the time to close this small chapter of in the book of Apple mysteries.
Ask TUAW: Canceling Mobile Me, iPhone backups, playing Windows media files and more
Welcome back to another edition of our weekly Q & A column Ask TUAW. Each week this column will appear with questions and answers. If you have questions for the following week's column, drop them in the comments, and I will do my best to get to them. I won't be able to answer them all every time, so please, be patient. When asking a question, please include which machine you're using and what version of Mac OS X is installed on it (we'll assume you're running Snow Leopard on an Intel Mac if you don't specify). If you're asking an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad question, be sure to note which model and version of iOS you have. For this week we've got a new batch of questions about how to cancel Mobile Me, getting Windows Media files to play on a Mac, backing up an iPhone and more. Rusty Cantor asks How do I cancel Mobile Me? I can't seem to figure it out. I'm 83 and this tech life is driving me nuts.
Find my iPhone to be free in iOS 4.2 for current-gen devices
Update: As pointed out by Aulia Masna, the fine print on the free Find my iPhone instructions makes it clear that the service is only available for the iPhone 4, the iPad or the current (4th generation) iPod touch. 3GS, 3G and original iPhone owners are out of luck; however they can still subscribe to MobileMe and get Find My iPhone as part of the paid service. There's also a grandfather clause of sorts: if you create your Find My iPhone account on a qualified current-gen device, you can then use that same ID to enable FMI on any iOS 4.2 device, which allows you to stretch back to the 3GS, 3G and previous-gen iPod touch at least. ----- The ability to remotely locate your iPhone is one of the most appreciated and sought-after features of Apple's MobileMe package. If you've been on a frantic Black Friday shopping spree, for example, and accidentally left your phone behind at an unknown store, you can quickly dial up Find my iPhone on your Mac to figure out where your errant smartphone is hiding. Once you've upgraded your iPhone or iPad to iOS 4.2, however, you'll be able to use Find My iPhone for free with the iPhone 4, iPad, and 4th Gen iPod Touch. To activate the feature, go to Settings. Select "Mail, Contacts, Calendars" and choose to Add an Account. Enter your existing Apple ID username and password, which is the same information you use to interact with iTunes. Free use of Find My iPhone is a significant competitive advantage for iPhones and iPads. It's a handy feature which brings great peace of mind to its users. Hats off to Apple for making it available even outside the MobileMe account.
Apple's Find My iPhone / iPad service now free, doesn't require MobileMe
We'd been sort of hoping Apple would just make MobileMe a completely free service, but it looks like we're taking baby steps instead: Find My iPhone / iPad is now free for iPhone 4, the iPad, and the fourth-gen iPod touch running iOS 4.2.1. As with the paid feature, you'll be able to locate your device on a map, lock it, display a message, play a sound, or remotely wipe your data from any browser or the updated iOS app, which should presumably go live sometime today along with iOS 4.2.1 itself. Like we said, it's a baby step, but hey -- we never say no to free. Update: Okay, so this is strange -- Find My iPhone is free for all devices running iOS 4.2.1, but you can only register for the service from an iPhone 4, iPad, or new iPod touch, unless you pay for MobileMe. Why? We'd guess it's to limit it to owners of the newest gear, but whatever -- if you've got an iPhone 4-toting friend you can totally get in on the action.
Terminal Tips: More reliable SSH connections to your Back to My Mac hosts
Back to My Mac is a feature of MobileMe that allows you to connect remotely to your Macs. Usually this is for screen-sharing or file-sharing through the Finder, but you can also connect via SSH. In the Terminal app (found in /Applications/Utilities/), you can connect via Shell » New Remote Connection, then click the "Secure Shell (SSH)" item, then the computer you want to connect to under the "Server" column. But what if that doesn't work? In that case, I have two suggestions for you: first, use SSH v2 and IPv6. Perhaps it's best to show you the command and then explain it: ssh -2 -6 imac.luomat.members.mac.com -v The "members.mac.com" is consistent for all users. "luomat" is my MobileMe username. "imac" is the hostname of my Mac. See System Preferences » Sharing if you don't know what your computer's name is, or to change it. The "-2" tells SSH to only try SSH protocol version 2, and the "-6" tells SSH to only use IPv6 addresses. The "-v" tells SSH to be "a little" verbose in its output. That part is optional. You could also use -vv or -vvv if you want more verbosity. So far, this method has given me even more success than my DynDNS hostname, which I described before. Before you worry about the security implications of giving people my MobileMe hostname, I should mention that it seems to be impossible to connect to BTMM hostnames unless you are connecting from another computer that is logged into that same MobileMe account. If you have spaces in the computer's name, they are usually replaced with "-" and punctuation is ignored. So, "John's iMac" becomes "Johns-iMac" in the SSH command. Marco Arment also figured out that if you have a period in the hostname or MobileMe username, you should escape it with a \ so that "john.doe" becomes "john\.doe" when you are connecting via SSH. Of course, to be able to connect to your remote Mac via SSH, you must have enabled "Remote Login" under System Preferences » Sharing.
MobileMe finds a missing iPad but it's not a happy ending
Find My iPhone/iPad is one terrific benefit of MobileMe. In fact, to me, it is the best part of the service. For an Indiana man, the ability to find a missing iPad worked as it should, but too late to do much good. Here's the depressing story. One of our readers was moving stuff into his car with his Dad. With hands full, Dad put the iPad on the hood of the car. Then the pair drove off, leaving the iPad in the street. When our reader discovered the missing iPad he went straight to MobileMe, and the service dutifully located the iPad a few blocks away. The police assumed the iPad was stolen, and as they searched the apartment building where the location was, the police asked the owner to send a sound to the iPad so it could be found. They did locate the iPad, and the guy who had it said he found it in the street and was going to try to find the owner the next day. The iPad had been run over while it was in the street, and the case didn't look too spiffy, but amazingly the iPad still worked well enough to contact MobileMe servers, but the screen was cracked and not displaying anything. Lessons #1: don't leave your iPad on the top of a car. It's unlikely to stay there. Lesson #2: Find My iPhone really does work. Lesson #3: the iPad can "take a licking and keep on ticking," as the watch commercials used to say. Check the gallery for Find My Phone in action and the grim results. %Gallery-107065% Thanks to Jack K. for sending us his tale of woe
iOS 4.2 gold master offers design tweaks
As we told you yesterday, Apple released its iOS 4.2 GM to developers. Gold Master, or GM, status means development on the software is complete and usually also means users can expect to see it sooner rather than later. While the GM brings everything Apple promised it would, there were also a few surprise tweaks in it. Multitasking bar: The multitasking bar adds brightness and volume controls for easy access. An AirPlay button has also been added. MobileMe settings login: The new MobileMe settings login allows you to log into your MobileMe account using your Apple ID (like the one you use for iTunes purchases). While MacRumors is hesitant to state what this change implies, they suggest it could be an indication that Apple is about to offer some of the pay-only features of MobileMe to any person with an Apple ID. Apple has not set a specific date for the release of iOS 4.2, only promising to deliver it sometime in November. [via MacRumors]
iOS 4.2 goes gold, available now to developers (updated)
The iPad's ticket to multitasking freedom -- better known as iOS 4.2 -- has moves past the beta phase and onto GM, which means retail units should be seeing it soon. Besides the iPad, Apple is also providing builds for the second, third, and fourth generations of the iPod touch, along with the iPhone 3G, 3GS, and 4... so if you've got a friend with an iPhone Developer Program subscription, now would be a great time to get cozy. Update: Apple made some last minute tweaks that give fast access to brightness, volume, and AirPlay controls right in the multitasking bar (pictured after the break). Apple's also on the verge of allowing MobileMe service logins using an Apple ID. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Review: iPhoto '11 is a very mixed bag
When iLife '11 was announced, I was quite excited to hear there was an update to iPhoto, and even more surprised to learn my local Apple Store had the software in stock the day after the "Back to the Mac" event. The feature list for the latest version of iPhoto is impressive, and since I do so much photography it seemed a no-brainer to get it. New features include: Full screen mode A direct link to Facebook for posting comments and pictures New slideshow templates New book designs Enhanced templates for emailing photos Letterpress Cards for sending to family and friends For US$49, with GarageBand '11 and iMovie '11 in the mix in addition to iPhoto, I was ready to buy iLife. Let's go over the changes, then deal with some of the ugly truths.
MobileMe may be Apple's least "green" product, packaging-wise
When I purchased my MacBook Pro in early 2008, I threw down US$69 for a .Mac (now known as MobileMe) membership. I expected to get an email confirmation of my .Mac order (which I did), followed shortly by another email with an activation code. Instead, I received the hot mess you see in the pic above (US size 9.5 shoe included for scaling purposes). First, a huge FedEx package, about the same size as the current MacBook's packaging. Rattling around inside of it was a cardboard box with .Mac emblazoned on the front, large enough to fit a CD or DVD inside. But instead of a CD or DVD, I found a small paper booklet with a sticker on the front page containing my activation code. In all, it was about a pound of packaging (at least) for something that really didn't need to be mailed to me at all. Nearly three years later, the situation hasn't improved. The New York Times notes that MobileMe's packaging needs to go on a diet, and they're absolutely right. Apple's made a big deal in recent years about its push for "greener" practices in both its products and its packaging, and they've made big strides. In 2006, Greenpeace gave Apple very poor ratings for its environmental practices. Greenpeace spent the next few years hounding Apple for its environmental record, until earlier this year when Apple got top ratings. Apple has since slipped to ninth place in the rankings.
MobileMe Calendar web app out of beta
Apple has announced that the MobileMe Calendar web app is now officially out, leaving beta and becoming available to all MobileMe customers. The service allows you to check or update your MobileMe calendar from any computer or iOS device, share or publish calendars out to friends, family, or coworkers, and even send invitations straight from the calendar for upcoming events. If you're already using the beta, of course, you don't have to do anything at all, but other MobileMe members can sign in to me.com/calendar, and click "Upgrade Now" in the lower left. There's nothing super new here (there are certainly lots of other ways to do these kinds of things using MobileMe and other free services), but having what was previously in beta open to all customers is a nice benefit. [via MacRumors]
Apple will discontinue .Mac HomePage viewing Nov. 8
Apple has given final notice to those publishing content through the old .Mac service. A note was sent to MobileMe members today stating that as of November 8th, Web pages published using the obsolete .Mac service will become unavailable. Those publishing via iWeb will not be affected. If you're one of those still going about things this way, fret not. Your content will not be deleted. Instead, you'll find your content stored on iDisk and, should you wish, you can republished your content through MobileMe tools, like Gallery. Apple first warned of shutting down its legacy .Mac services over a year ago. A FAQ page pertaining to this can be found on Apple's support forums here. It's certainly the end of an era, but bigger and better things have arrived. Mark your calenders for November 8th and take a minute to remember just how far things have come. [Via TheLoop]
Motorola suing Apple for patent infringement
It's getting hard to keep track of, isn't it? The way we hear it told, most of these patent disputes and overlaps in the mobile space used to be settled in quiet ways, mutually assured destruction-style, but lately there's a whole lot of nukes going off. Motorola is now suing Apple over a wide range of technology patents which it claims Apple is infringing on with its iPhone, iPad, "iTouch," and even some Macs. The company is leveling three complaints which include 18 patents on "early-stage innovations" by Motorola, covering a pretty wide swath of the mobile landscape, including WCDMA, GPRS, 802.11, antenna design, wireless email, proximity sensing, software application management, location-based services and multi-device synchronization. Outside of the devices, Apple's MobileMe and App Store services get called out specifically. At the end of its press release Motorola makes a very similar claim to the one Nokia made at the outset of its own lawyer salvo against Apple: We have extensively licensed our industry-leading intellectual property portfolio, consisting of tens of thousands of patents in the U.S. and worldwide. After Apple's late entry into the telecommunications market, we engaged in lengthy negotiations, but Apple has refused to take a license. We had no choice but to file these complaints to halt Apple's continued infringement. We'll of course be digging deeper as we get more info, and covering the blow by blow with perhaps just a little too much enthusiasm. Oh, and before you go, riddle us this: do you think this is a preemptive strike on Motorola's part, afraid of another Android-related lawsuit from Apple, or has Apple been holding off for precisely the threat this lawsuit represents? Or maybe Moto's still mad about that antenna thing? Perhaps we'll never know.
MobileMe Gallery app goes universal in version 1.2
Apple's free MobileMe Gallery app was just updated, and the new version finally supports the iPad. Other changes have been made to finally bring the app up to speed with iOS 4 and the iPhone 4 -- there's now support for fast app switching, and the app is now optimized for the Retina Display on the iPhone 4. Previously, users needed a MobileMe subscription to view friends' galleries; now that restriction has been taken away for iPhone and iPad users. The app looks great on an iPad, and if you have any photos stored in MobileMe galleries, you'll want to get this update as soon as possible. Thanks to Michael K. for the tip!
Xmarks calls it quits
I've been a big fan of Xmarks for a while now -- I work on a few Macs and PCs regularly, and while MobileMe is nice, I've always appreciated Xmarks' ease of use (after a one-time setup, it basically worked automatically) and compatibility across whatever browsers I happened to use. That's why I was disappointed to hear yesterday that they're calling it quits. Around 90 days from now, the servers will shut down, and Xmarks will be no more. Co-founder Todd Agulnick goes through the story of the service on that blog post. It was originally developed as Foxmarks, and it was designed to work directly with the Firefox browser to sync bookmarks there. Eventually, they brought in large numbers of users with tons of bookmarks in their browsers, but the company struggled to try and find a way to make money off of those numbers. Search became a main target, and if you're an Xmarks user, you'll know the 'tags" that would appear on Google Search pages in the browsers. But despite initial interest, that never took off, and after unsuccessfully finding a buyer for the company this past spring, Agulnick says the end has come. Fortunately, there are bookmark syncing alternatives, and most of the browsers these days have options built-in (which is why Xmarks won't move to a subscription service -- hard to sell something most browsers are offering for free). But I'll pour some out for Xmarks -- it was an excellent service. I'm just sorry it couldn't find a profitable place to settle down.
Apple's MobileMe News details how iWork for iPad works with iDisk
iWork for iPad was updated yesterday with many changes, one of those being that the mobile app suite now includes integration with the MobileMe iDisk. What does that mean for iPad users who use Pages, Numbers, and Keynote? You can save your documents to the iDisk and then open them either from the iPad or any other internet-attached Mac or Windows machine. The details were posted on MobileMe News, the blog of the MobileMe team. Windows users can point a browser to me.com/idisk and upload existing Microsoft Office documents. Once the documents are in the cloud, they can be opened from the iPad for viewing or editing. Once work has been completed on the documents, they can be saved back to the iDisk as iWork, Microsoft Office, or PDF files. It would be nice if iWork for iPad also supported Dropbox or Box.net, but for the time being, it's good to see that Apple has added support for their own cloud storage solution. [via TiPB]
Palm webOS 2.0 preview video hits the wilds
First things first -- before you jump on past the break and mash play, mute your speakers. Mute. As in, off. Alrighty, now that you're prepared, you've got two minutes and 14 seconds of teasing just a click away, as some sure-to-be-yelled-at developer has leaked a sneak peak into the wide, mysterious world of webOS 2.0. Not that we haven't seen a cornucopia of screenshots already, but at least this emulation vid gives you a better idea of how things will actually flow once it gets released to end users. Oh, and as for those DropBox and MobileMe integration rumors? Looks like that's just QuickOffice being QuickOffice. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Over-the-air notes syncing option disappears from iPhone 3G in iOS 4.1
For the iPhone 3G, the biggest new feature for many users under iOS 4.1 is the phone now actually works. Making the iPhone 3G usable under iOS 4 came with some trade-offs before the new OS was even released -- app multitasking and wallpapers didn't make the cut on the older iPhone -- but it looks like a couple more features have been pruned from the iPhone 3G after iOS 4.1. One missing feature we noticed right away: Spotlight no longer searches through MMS messages on the iPhone 3G after the iOS 4.1 update. Given that disabling Spotlight searching was the most common suggested remedy for poor iPhone 3G performance on earlier builds of iOS 4, this omission is somewhat understandable. More puzzling, however, is another omission the folks at geek.com noticed: over-the-air Notes syncing is now missing in action on the iPhone 3G, too. Up until now, the iPhone 3G, like its newer siblings, has been able to sync Notes between the iPhone and a Mac/PC via Gmail or MobileMe rather than through iTunes, allowing for near-instant Notes updates between devices. According to Apple's support document on Notes syncing, both the iPhone 3G and second-generation iPod touch have lost this feature. You can still sync Notes with the iPhone 3G via iTunes, but you'll no longer enjoy device-to-device updates without syncing your iPhone first. Given the plethora of alternate apps on the App Store that offer far more flexibility and features than Apple's built-in Notes app, though, this omission is something we might never have noticed if one of our readers hadn't brought it up. We're not sure why Apple removed this feature in 4.1; it's possible that, like Spotlight searching of MMS, it was one of the things dragging down performance on the older devices. Either way, losing over-the-air Notes syncing in IOS 4.1 is a small price to pay for an iPhone 3G that actually functions properly in iOS 4. Thanks to Jeff for bringing this to our attention.
MobileMe iDisk app and Find My iPhone updated with bug fixes
If you've been having problems with the Apple MobileMe iDisk app, or even if you haven't noticed anything weird, it's a good idea to get the latest update. The newest version (1.21) fixes a problem opening Keynote files in some circumstances on the iPad. Rotated images now show in the correct orientation, and there are the usual unspecified 'stability and performance improvements.' Meanwhile, the Find My iPhone app has been bumped to version 1.01. The updated app supports the new iPod touch and fixes some translation issues in French, German and Japanese. There are also 'various bug fixes.' The apps work on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, so check the app store for the free updates pronto.
