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Apple Planning to Sync Video Across Devices

Written on October 16, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 5 people have commented

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office posted on Thursday a very interesting application from Apple, one which shows that MobileMe could have far more in store than just personal info synchronization. Movie playback position syncing appears to be on the way, so long as this patent sees its way to fruition, which isn’t always the [...]

Dropbox: Now Native on Your iPhone

Written on September 30, 2009 by Chris Ryan and 14 people have commented

Of all the file syncing solutions available, one of the most popular is Dropbox. As one of the solutions that is also cross-platform compatible, many Mac users have embraced Dropbox as a more reliable and robust solution than other alternatives, like MobileMe’s iDisk. Diehard Dropbox users can now rejoice as the Dropbox team is at [...]

BlackBerry Desktop Manager Hitting the Mac Oct. 2

Written on September 30, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 5 people have commented

We reported earlier that BlackBerry would be delivering its Desktop Manager software for Mac in September of this year. Keen readers will note that, in fact, that was not the case, since it is now the last possible day for that software to appear, and that software isn’t coming.
It is, however, going to arrive just [...]

Google Sync Gets Push Gmail Support on the iPhone

Written on September 22, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 33 people have commented

Oh, MobileMe, how will you deal with this latest threat to your iPhone feature dominance? First it was improved Exchange support, and now it’s push Gmail using Google Sync.
Remember Google Sync? It’s the service from Google which allows you to synchronize your contacts and calendar with your iPhone or iPod touch, in much the same [...]

iTunes 9: Keeping In Sync

Written on September 17, 2009 by Chris Ryan and 10 people have commented

iTunes 9 brings about a much more flexible setup for syncing. It’s definitely an improvement, in some senses, but still far from perfect. In fact, many might be quick to term some of the options as “feature creep.” Check out some of our thoughts on the new options and look at the side by side [...]

iTunes 9: Deconstructing LPs & Extras

Written on September 14, 2009 by Chris Ryan and 12 people have commented

Leading up to Apple’s music event last week, rumor sites had been circling about a new format from Apple that would provide additional content, like lyrics, liner notes, video interviews and more. The rumors came true as Apple announced yet one more way to spend more money inside iTunes: iTunes LPs for music and iTunes [...]

iTunes 9 Wishlist: 10 Ways Apple Can Improve Its Media Organizer

Written on September 07, 2009 by Chris Ryan and 51 people have commented

With Apple’s music oriented media event right around the corner, everyone is abuzz with thoughts about new iPods, Apple TV updates, tablet rumors and more. The one thing we can all but guarantee besides new iPods is an update to iTunes. But what will this version bring? Social aspects have been rumored, but there is [...]

Über Charger Now Available for Over-enthusiastic iPhone, iPod Owners

Written on August 06, 2009 by Olly Farshi and 4 people have commented

Do you own 20 iPhones or iPods? Do you need a bulky beast of a charging solution for them? Then set aside your energy-related woes, as we’ve found just the device for you.
Designed by Parat Solutions, the Parasync is a multi-port charging hub. The mammoth device can simultaneously recharge up to 20 iPhones or iPod [...]

Official BlackBerry Desktop Software for Mac Coming in September

Written on July 20, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 14 people have commented

Many, many months ago, it looked like an official solution for syncing BlackBerry devices with the Mac (including media and iTunes playlists) was right around the corner. Now, almost a year later, RIM is finally making it official. But don’t get too excited. You still have to wait until September before the new software will [...]

Third-party iTunes Syncing: It’s Not Just About Palm

Written on June 18, 2009 by Tom Reestman and 50 people have commented

Apple’s recent tech note regarding third parties using iTunes’ syncing has caused plenty of discussion. Should Apple “break” the Pre’s ability to sync as an iPod? Why would Cupertino do this? The comments across the web vary in their opinions, so I’ll throw mine in here as well.
First, it’s no secret what I think of [...]

doubleTwist Takes Jab at iTunes Tyranny

Written on February 26, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 7 people have commented

Look out iTunes, there’s a brand new media manager in town, in the form of a public beta just released for OS X. The program is called doubleTwist, and it’s the brainchild of anti-DRM crusader “DVD” Jon Johansen.
Ars Technica had a look at it in length, and it seems to be fairly promising. The idea [...]

Sync Your iPhone/iPod With Any Computer

Written on February 26, 2009 by Jenny Kortina and 46 people have commented

One thing I have always wanted to do is be able to sync my iPhone or iPod with any computer. Lifehacker had an article a while back on doing this, but the software they used does not support the iPhone or iPod touch. So, I have developed a method to connect any iPod or iPhone [...]

Syncing Apps With Dropbox

Written on February 25, 2009 by David Appleyard and 27 people have commented

Many Mac users are fortunate enough to have more than one machine. Whether it’s a home desktop and laptop, or a home and office machine, it can be very useful to keep some form of continuity between the two systems. This is easy enough to do with individual files — simply using an online service [...]

Weekly App Store Picks: Feb. 21, 2009

Written on February 21, 2009 by Olly Farshi and 1 person has commented

The weekend seems to have rolled up super-fast, so welcome one and all to the Weekly App Store Picks.
Before we jump in to this week’s apps, let’s take a gander at recent happenings in the world of Apple.
First up, as a frequent tweeter, I was pleased to learn about desktop tweeting without a client app earlier [...]

Syncing iCal Birthdays to Your iPhone

Written on February 11, 2009 by Clayton Lai and 16 people have commented

One of the perplexing limitations about MobileMe is its inability to sync birthdays in iCal to the iPhone and iPod touch. As you may already know, iCal can take birthdays from Address Book and add them into a special “Birthdays” calendar, which is really a subscription calendar.

But while the latest updates to MobileMe now allow [...]

Google Calendar Sync: We Have Choices

Written on December 19, 2008 by Matthew Bookspan and 17 people have commented

A little while ago, Google released a free iCal-to-Google Calendar sync tool called Calabaration. I don’t believe that Calabaration works very well, given how it generates a new calendar group within iCal and has limitations on how the Google Calendar can then sync to MobileMe. So I reached out to BusyMac, the makers of BusySync, [...]

Wirelessly Sync Google Calendar With Your iPhone

Written on December 05, 2008 by Jenny Kortina and 37 people have commented

I live and die by my Google calendar and have always hated the fact that I could not wirelessly sync it with my iPhone. I’ve tried every method in the book, and finally have found two methods to wirelessly sync your Google calendar to your iPhone.
NuevaSync
The first method is free and uses a service [...]

MobileMe: What it Syncs, When it Syncs, and Why I’m Staying With It

Written on November 19, 2008 by Tom Reestman and 39 people have commented

Recently MacLife magazine reviewed Apple’s MobileMe service. My problem with the review is that it lists something as a negative that continues to spread misinformation: 
Doesn’t “push” your email instantly, rather every 15 minutes.
This is wrong. In this article I’ll touch on what gets synced with MobileMe, when it occurs, and why I’m happy with it. 
First, [...]

I Want MobileMe, Enterprise Edition

Written on November 14, 2008 by Matthew Bookspan and 17 people have commented

I have been using MobileMe, and its previous incarnation DotMac, for just over two years. Everyone has talked about the great features it has as well as some of the near-misses. However, I haven’t seen anyone point out a major flaw in MobileMe — how it does not compare to Enterprise class offerings.
With MobileMe, we [...]

Break Away From MobileMe: 7 Free Services to Help You Make the Move

Written on November 12, 2008 by Jonathan Buys and 41 people have commented

Apple’s replacement for .Mac has had a very rocky start, and has a long way to go before its ready to compete with free alternatives. Many users do not want to move away from MobileMe because of the deep integration with the Mac desktop, while others are reluctant because its hard to find another single service [...]