When Apple discontinued MobileMe at the end of June 2012, this book became obsolete. You may instead be interested in Take Control of iCloud, also by Joe Kissell.
MobileMe has become a Swiss-army knife of online services, offering not only a whizzy push data-syncing service for tracking calendar, contact, bookmark, and note info on a variety of devices, but also email services, online storage and file sharing, a place to put your iWeb site or share photos or videos, and more. Take Control of MobileMe helps you understand the features and get set up, and then it dives into the details of real-world tasks.
This 140-page ebook covers how to handle many aspects of using MobileMe, including:
- Syncing—what to expect, handling problems, and more
- Various ways to use an iDisk for storing and sharing files
- Setting up and using a MobileMe email account
- Managing calendar and contact data on the MobileMe site
- Posting photos and videos online via the Gallery and iLife ’11 or ’09
- Publishing a Web site to MobileMe’s servers via iWeb
- Using Back to My Mac to get at the files and screen of one Mac from another
- Understanding what Apple’s Backup, free with MobileMe, can and can’t do, and whether it’s a good choice for you
- Tracking your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch via Find My iPhone
- Accessing your iDisk from an iOS device (with instructions for Apple’s free iDisk app and notes on several third-party apps)
"Kissell cuts through [the syncing] thicket cleanly, with clear step-by-step instructions, with key caveats included. The book also provides great detail – good for peace of mind…"
—The Cherry Creek News
Read this book to learn the answers to questions such as:
- What are MobileMe’s primary features?
- How do I set up MobileMe syncing on my iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch?
- How quickly should I expect MobileMe to sync my data?
- Which types of data sync only between Macs and which can sync across platforms?
- How do I configure my email software to use MobileMe?
- How do I access my iDisk from Windows?
- How do I add movies and photos to my Web Gallery?
- Where in my MobileMe account does my iWeb-created site go?
- What should I do to host a non-iWeb site in my MobileMe account?
- How can I configure my AirPort Extreme to work with Back to My Mac?
Take Control publisher Joe Kissell has written more than 60 books about technology, including many popular Take Control books. He formerly wrote for publications such as Macworld, Wirecutter, and TidBITS. He lives in Saskatoon with his wife and their two sons.
What’s New in the Second Edition
A great many changes affecting MobileMe have occurred since version 1.2 of this book was released. The iPad appeared, as did the iPhone 4 and iOS 4; Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard was released, as was iLife ’11; and the MobileMe Web site got a major overhaul (especially the Mail and Calendar applications). The second edition of this book is an attempt to bring it up to date with these new developments. Although the book contains numerous changes, the most significant are these:
- Added coverage of the new site layout, navigation controls, toolbars, and other changes in Navigate the MobileMe Web Site.
- Updated the section A Word about Push Synchronization so that it remains correct for 10.5 Leopard while also more fully describing Snow Leopard and iOS.
- Completely revised the discussion of Notes, which now sync via push across Macs and some iOS devices.
- Thoroughly updated the Mail chapter to account for changes such as a new layout, styled text, server-based rules, support for multiple From addresses and POP accounts, and greatly revised preferences.
- Gave the Calendar chapter a massive makeover to reflect the sweeping changes to the MobileMe Calendar application.
- Updated the iDisk chapter to keep it current with the latest user interface and feature changes.
- Broke out Find My iPhone as its own chapter and expanded it significantly, now that Apple has added to Find My iPhone’s capabilities and put it in a new location on the Mobile Me site.
- When iLife comes up, I discuss iLife ’11 and iLife ’09. (I dropped coverage of iLife ’08, and Apple never released an iLife ’10.)
What Was New in Version 1.2
Version 1.2 added instructions for using Apple’s then-new MobileMe iDisk app for iPhone and iPod touch (see Connect Using an iOS Device) and removed one tiny leftover mention of .Mac Groups.
What Was New in Version 1.1
Version 1.1 of Take Control of MobileMe was released in July 2009, and brought this ebook up to date with the latest developments in MobileMe and Apple software since its original publication, so it covered interactions with iLife ’09 and iPhone OS 3.0 software. Noteworthy changes included:
- Coverage of MobileMe’s improved support for push synchronization
- Details about new MobileMe features for owners of iPhones and iPod touches with iPhone OS 3.0, such as mobile iDisk access and Find My iPhone
- Updated instructions for sharing media with iLife ’09
- Instructions for using the iDisk file sharing feature
- New information about publishing Web sites made with your own tools—even when using a personal domain
- Details on using Back to My Mac with a Time Capsule or AirPort Disk
- Removal of information about HomePage sites and .Mac Groups, as those features have been officially discontinued
What types of hardware and operating systems does this ebook cover?
The ebook assumes that you are running Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard or 10.6 Snow Leopard on a Macintosh computer, and it has plenty of details about using an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with MobileMe. To a lesser extent, it discusses using MobileMe with Windows, so if you're using Windows, you'll find the ebook useful—and you'll find some content aimed at Windows users, but you won't be the main case that the ebook is assuming. Apple no longer supports Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger with MobileMe, so the ebook does not cover 10.4 Tiger.
I can't make Back to My Mac work. Will this ebook help?
Maybe. If you are using an AirPort Extreme or Express and just need to turn on NAT-PMP, this ebook will tell you how. But, if you need to understand how Back to My Mac works behind the scenes, or if you need help with a tricky router configuration, this isn't the ebook that you want. What you want is Take Control of Back to My Mac, by Glenn Fleishman.
What versions of iLife does this ebook cover?
At present, the ebook covers iLife '09 and iLife '11. (Note: Apple never released an iLife '10.)
October 24, 2011 -- Because Apple is replacing MobileMe with iCloud, we do not plan to update this ebook again.
