iPhone mini and changes to MobileMe rumors
Another year, another rumor about a smaller iPhone, this time reported by Bloomberg and WSJ. Believable?
loving the Apple (in a Beta'ish way)
Another year, another rumor about a smaller iPhone, this time reported by Bloomberg and WSJ. Believable?
Apple has made available a beta trial of the online MobileMe Mail service which you can access at http://me.com if you are a MobileMe subscriber. This beta brings in some new features in their attempt to make their online Mail page more user friendly.
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Apple has added the ability to combine and compress files in MobileMe’s web iDisk interface:
A number of MobileMe members have asked if there’s a way to use the new iDisk sharing feature to share multiple files at once. The answer is yes, it can be done easily using the Compress command in the iDisk web app.
Once you’ve selected multiple files you want to share with others, choose the “Compress X items” option in the drop down menu and iDisk will archive them into a .zip file, just like your Finder. Select the new file and choose the “Share File…” option. Easy as 1-2-3.
Besides just providing online storage with your MobileMe account, iDisk now comes with a new feature that lets you share files stored in your iDisk easily.
Instead of attaching a large document to an email and hoping it’s not too big to be received, you can place the file in your iDisk and use the new Share File command in the iDisk web app. It lets you send your friends, family, or colleagues a link they can click to download the file directly. You can password protect the link if you choose to and even set how long it will be available.
Slowly and surely, Apple is giving more features to MobileMe that hopefully will make the service worth the S$148 you pay for having it.
Have a look at the tutorial in case you aren’t sure how to do that.
Google just announced a beta version of Google Sync that will let you sync over the air your Gmail Contacts and Google Calendar with your iPhone. Google Sync uses Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync to allow updates (except Gmail) to be pushed between your Google account and your iPhone.
Instructions on setting up can be found on the Google Support page but do take note on a few points. As it is still beta, it is best that all data on the iPhone is fully backed up and your Mac’s AddressBook and iCal are updated.
Some additional points:
Watch a video introduction from Google about Google Sync:
It does work. From my iMac to me.com to my iPod Touch, the changes on my Address Book are reflected within one minute online and my iPod Touch.
However, you would need to set your MobileMe Sync setting in System Preference to sync “Automatically” for that to happen (see image above).
More details about the changes in the syncing behavior with this update can be found at this Knowledge Base article (via The Apple Blog).
Apple’s MobileMe News blog has sort of become a tip and knowledge site on using your MobileMe account as compared to being a MobileMe uptime status site when it started in August. The latest is on how easily you can upload photos from your iPhone or iPod Touch straight to a MobileMe gallery with just a few taps on buttons.
Before you can send photos from your iPhone to the web, you need to set up an album in the Gallery web application at me.com. In Gallery, select (or create) an album, click the Adjust Settings button and then check the box to allow adding of photos via email or iPhone.
With that option set, when viewing a photo from the iPhone camera roll you need only touch the Send Photos icon in the lower-left corner, then Send to MobileMe, where you can choose among the MobileMe albums you allow this for. Enter any text you want to appear with the photo in the subject line, and send it. It will then appear on your Gallery album on the web.
Plus they have a video to show you how
Apple sent an email out to all MobileMe today to explain and apologise for the furore over a few issues that happened over the past few days since the launch.
Firstly it was the state of the new MobileMe service.
Although core services such as Mail, iDisk, Sync, Back to My Mac, and Gallery went relatively smoothly, the new MobileMe web applications had lots of problems initially. Fortunately we have worked through those problems and the web apps are now up and running.
But the bigger issue was how pushy was the MobileMe’s push feature? Apparently not much.
While all email, contact or calendar changes on the iPhone and the web apps are immediately synced to and from the MobileMe “cloud,” changes made on a PC or Mac take up to 15 minutes to sync with the cloud and your other devices. So even though things are indeed instantly pushed to and from your iPhone and the web apps today, we are going to stop using the word “push” until it is near-instant on PCs and Macs, too.
So much for Phil Schiller’s explanation of MobileMe during the Keynote at this year’s WWDC. But the silver lining is that giving us full “push” functionality shouldn’t be that far off. Another case of Marketing pushing the envelope without consulting the TechHeads? We probably wouldn’t know.
So to appease the pitchfork holding Mac fans, Apple throws in a full month’s worth of MobileMe to all existing customers.
We want to apologize to our loyal customers and express our appreciation for their patience by giving all current subscribers an automatic 30-day extension to their MobileMe subscription free of charge. Your extension will be reflected in your account settings within the next few weeks.
On one hand, its disappointing for Apple not to map out their infrastructure to counter the sudden increased in demand for the services on the launch day, it is heartening to know that the company does listen to the fans and react fast to acknowledge its deficiency and work on solving them. Bonus point for the 30-day extension.
On hindsight, I’m also glad that Singapore wasn’t in the first batch of countries getting it. Besides Apple who should iron out their backend issues, 3rd party apps developers would also have sufficient time to roll out their .xx updates to their iPhone apps by the time SingTel sells the iPhone.
Maybe it’s a blessing afterall. BUT, I still want my iPhone, quickly!