Appletell

Although there are already platforms like Dropbox and MobileMe for the Mac when it comes to syncing your data with the cloud, these solutions may not be right for some users. Those people will be happy to know that Microsoft’s Live Mesh platform has now made its way to your Mac OS X machine. All that’s required is a small application and a Windows Live ID, and you’ll be on your way to adding Mac computers to your Live Mesh account and staying in sync with the cloud.

Like MobileMe and me.com, Live Mesh has a website (mesh.com) that allows its users to get and download their content and files from any computer. In the storage area, MobileMe quadruples the storage of Live Mesh, with a nice sized 20GB compared to Mesh’s 5GB. However, when it comes to price, Live Mesh can’t be beat. MobileMe will run you $99 a year whereas Live Mesh is 100% free. The choice is yours now between these options, I leave it up to you to make the right one.

Via [The Unofficial Apple Weblog]

• The MobileMe problems go all ironic on us [updated]
• September over, with neither hide nor hair of push notifications
• Free Apps Roundup for November 7, 2008

Despite some recent MobileMe updates that Apple quietly rolled out in an effort to improve the stability and functionality of their “cloud”-based web service, the service still isn’t performing up to the usual Apple standards. Perhaps this is why the updates haven’t been announced as of late—Apple doesn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up that the service will actually work, finally, as originally advertised.

Last week, I experienced all kinds of funkiness with e-mail: messages wouldn’t send, my in box wouldn’t load up, I couldn’t delete messages, etc. It was annoying, but par for the course since the switch. This morning, however, I couldn’t log in at all. Visiting www.me.com, I was greeted with the following message:

(The message was still up at press time.)

On a whim, I thought I’d try going directly to www.mac.com. After a few slow redirects, sure enough, I got into my MobileMe account was able to access all my information and use the services provided.

So, next time someone screws up the definition of irony, you can point that person to MobileMe for a true example; Apple switched from .Mac to MobileMe in order to improve use and increase functionality of their server-side data management service, but, in order to even access it, you have to use .Mac.

Other reports and workarounds after the break.

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Just when you thought nothing else could possibly go wrong with MobileMess, it seems that Apple has created a spammer’s paradise!

Learn about it after the break.

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A lot of people are looking at Apple’s new MobileMe service and seeing push delays, server outages, e-mail oddities, etc. Me? I’m looking at it and seeing, as of this morning, a total of 90 days of free service.

In their ongoing effort to smooth things over with angry customers, Apple has announced that those with active MobileMe accounts as of August 19, 2008 will receive a free 60 day extension to their subscription. This is in addition to the free 30 day MobileMe extension offered a little over a month ago.

Details after the break.

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According to Ars Technica, Steve Jobs sent an e-mail to Apple employees last night admitting that MobileMe was launched too early.

“It was a mistake to launch MobileMe at the same time as iPhone 3G, iPhone 2.0 software and the App Store,“ said Jobs.

More after the break.

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If you’d like to know the current health of Steve Jobs, you might be out of luck. But, if you want to know the health of MobileMe, then you might want to check out the new page called Status in the MobileMe section of Apple’s site. I think the blogger who is responsible for the updates describes it quite well:

Steve Jobs has asked me to write a posting every other day or so to let everyone know what’s happening with MobileMe, and I’m working directly with the MobileMe group to ensure that we keep you really up to date.

So far there are only two posts, and they are both positive, as is be expected. The page does admit to MobileMe’s launch being a “rocky road,“ but they are working to get all services up and functioning. E-mail access to the 1% that were blocked is first on their list, and they are making progress. Though it’s sad to hear that any e-mail for those affected between July 18 and 22 may be lost forever.

Via [MobileMe Status]

• The MobileMe problems go all ironic on us [updated]
• Free Apps Roundup for November 7, 2008
• Live Mesh makes its way to the Mac

David Pogue of The New York Times calls it “Apple’s MobileMess“. Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal says it is “far too flawed to be reliable.“ When Apple is hearing these sorts of things about MobileMe from a usually unmistakable Apple fanboy (Pogue) and a man who has called the iMac “the best desktop PC on the market at many price” (Mossberg), in addition to thousands of unsatisfied customers, former .Mac members and new members of the bandwagon alike, I think it’s pretty clear that they have not “finally got it right” as far as their online services are concerned, as Steve Jobs said at WWDC.

MobileMe’s launch was, as the former .Mac members among us are well aware, a complete disaster that took days to finally get somewhat right. In fact, not all of the launch issues have been worked out even now, two weeks after MobileMe’s initial release.

Chaos and gripes after the break.

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MobileMe, Apple’s upgrade to their previous .Mac web service, has been available pretty much since the iPhone 3G launch. We’ve seen MobileMe 30 day extensions and MobileMe reviews since then, so why are some Apple users just now seeing the official release announcement? Perhaps Apple was waiting until the kinks were worked out before beginning the big promotional blitz, as their e-mail campaign seems geared towards attracting new users:

The simple way to keep everything in sync. Stay up to date with email, contacts, and calendars that sync across your iPhone, iPod touch, Mac, and PC. Access it all using the feature-rich web applications at me.com. You’ll also get an email address at me.com, easy online photo sharing, 20GB of online storage, and more.

Obviously, the rest of us already knew about this and have been taking advantage of these features for a couple weeks now. Those new to the service, however, can sign up for a free, 60-day trial. I recommend Mac users take advantage of the trial; the apps really are pretty sweet.

Product [MobileMe]

• Live Mesh makes its way to the Mac
• The MobileMe problems go all ironic on us [updated]
• Free Apps Roundup for November 7, 2008

Apple has updated its iLife ‘08 applications and accompanying software. The updates are available for download from Apple’s Web site, and can also be downloaded through the Mac Software Update tool.

The new versions are as follows:

• iWeb 2.0.4
• iLife Support 8.3
• iMovie 7.1.4
• iPhoto 7.1.4

Additional info after the break.

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Apple’s successor to .Mac, MobileMe, announced during WWDC and touting a release date of one week ago, has faced some difficulties with stability. Thus, Apple is offering a 30-day service extension to eligible users, gratis. An e-mail was sent out to all MobileMe/.Mac users, apologizing and informing them of the 30 day increase in their subscriptions. If you were a .Mac member whose account was active as of July 9, 2008, or a new MobileMe user who created your account on or before July 15, 2008 at 7:00 PM Pacific Daylight Time, the 30-day extension will be added to all qualifying accounts (surprisingly, including free trial accounts) in a matter of weeks. In the same e-mail, Apple has also apologized to the time lag of the “push” features of MobileMe, citing that they will not use the term until it is completely true.

Can you name another company besides Apple that would go to such lengths?

Jump ahead to read the full e-mail.

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