Mobile Me
.Mac is now Mobileme. I will try not to make this sound like
a commercial for Apple’s service here. What do we need to be
aware of as examiners?
The big change, Windows! Its now synching with Windows
applications too. Here is a summary of services first:
- Mail
- Contacts
- Calendar
- Gallery
- iDisk
Synchronization takes place thru a MobileMe account and gets
“pushed” (okay, not pushed) out to subscribed computers,
iPhones and iPod Touch devices.
On the Mac, applications that support the sync include:
On the PC, applications that support the sync include:
- Microsoft Outlook
- Outlook Express
- Windows Mail
- Windows Contacts
Something to watch for: iDisk! File Sharing with iDisk is
soon to become extremely easy. The service already allows for
online storage of files. Soon, the service is supposed to
allow for a simple emailing of a link to a friend and then
the download of a shared file.
.Mac (the old service)
.Mac was a service offered by Apple via one year
subscriptions. It offers 1 GB of storage for files, IMAP
email service, and syncing. The syncing service is where
things can being to begin to get interesting. Online storage
of files and email is something that we are used to looking
at. The sync service is something new and has been available
since Tiger.
Back To My Mac operates thru the .Mac service offering users
a zero-configuration way to access all of their Leopard
Macintosh computers from any other Leopard Macintosh.
Items synchronized thru .Mac include:
- Safari bookmarks
- iCal Calendars and To Do items
- Address Book Contacts
- Mail Account Settings
- Mail Rules, Smart Mailbox Settings and Signatures
- Keychains
- Third Party Syncs
Specific to Leopard:
- Dashboard Widgets settings
- Dock Items
- Preferences
- Mail Notes
(Read Apple Technical Note 301228)
A person using this feature can access their synchronized
items via the internet either from another Macintosh that has
been registered, or from a web browser that has signed in
thru the .Mac web page.