The sun is setting on the MobileMe era . By the time Sunday rolls around — on June 30 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time to be precise — the cloud entrepot and syncing service that Apple debuted in 2008 will fade forth .
You ’ve been warned — and if you ’re a MobileMe endorser , you ’ve been admonish repeatedly over the past month — that whatever preparations you want to make for this outcome have now come due . Procrastinators must confront the realness that like it or not — and many multitude hadmixed feelings about MobileMefrom the kickoff — it ’s over and the novel era of iCloud is commence .
The new iCloud
Apple ’s iCloud avail , introduced bySteve Jobsat the2011 Worldwide Developers Conference , swash a number of advantages over its predecessor . Unlike MobileMe , it ’s liberal — at least for the first 5 GB of stored data — and it exchange a vast part , though not all , of the service ’s pavilion features .
There ’s no way to block that MobileMe is on its agency out .
The new iCloud , much like the old MobileMe , direct to syncall of your devices , from your screen background Mac ( die hard Lion ) to your iPhone and iPad , and even some Windows computers . Specifically , iCloud offersdocument and data sync , mobile backup , position awareness , andpurchase direction . you’re able to synchronise reminders from iOS 5 ’s Reminders app , Safari and iBooks bookmarks , and note from the Notes app . Moreover , iOS devices can synchronise app data and documents and back up info online . While purchased capacity , such as apps , music , Good Book , and videos — as well as Photo Stream — are include in iCloud , these do n’t enumerate against the 5 GB memory board limit .
There’s no way to forget that MobileMe is on its way out.
With MobileMe will exit some high-pitched - visibility defining elements : iDisk , iWeb site hosting , and Gallery . The services iCloud will not replace are uncommitted from a variety of other sources and Apple has help users over time by untie some deadline limitation and throwing in some incentives .
Below is a summary of the major map that will not be form the misstep to iCloud , some alternatives Macworld has considered over the past twelvemonth , and some of the new Apple initiative designed to make it easier for MobileMe holdouts to take the iCloud dip .
Replacing iDisk sync, store, and share
MobileMe ’s iDisk provides a 20 GB on-line file storage for e - mail service and files that you may access from the Finder or via the entanglement . If you enable iDisk Sync , you get automatically synchronize local written matter of all your iDisk file , too . But with the demise of MobileMe , iDisk will bite the dust . That means you wo n’t be able to synchronize Mac Dashboard widgets , keychains , Dock particular , System Preferences , anddata from third - party Mac appsintegrating with MobileMe . While no universal substitute survive for MobileMe in its integrality , certain role can be replaced piece - by- piece , as call for . For example , the Keychain sync could be handled by1Passwordor other keychain utilities . And there are legion alternative to iDisk for storage , backup , and sync .
Macworld has detail one method of replace iDisk by creating your own online backup via a compounding of Indian file sharing , on-line computer memory , and FTP . There are also assorted utilities , such as Dropbox , Google Drive , SkyDrive , Box.net , Amazon Cloud Drive , SugarSync , iDrive , and others that can also process as replacements for iDisk . Some of those are free of charge .
MobileMe had you hide in the sync department . Some of those choices will remain , but others will be eliminated . Cirrus Thinking ’s Dolly Drive , for example , is software that uses Time Machine as a mechanism for create adesktop networked volume . This software package , which come in with various architectural plan and functions , can mostly replace iDisk functionality . A Dolly Drive competitor isCodefortytwo Software ’s CrashPlan+ , an on-line program that backs up your file in the swarm .
MobileMe had you covered in the sync department. Some of those choices will remain, but others will be eliminated.
No discourse of iDisk choice would be complete withDropbox . It syncs across computers creating backup copy of your files , and facilitates collaborative and register - only share-out , memory access to older single file variation , restoration of deleted files , and uploading images from attached cameras and earphone . There ’s also a peregrine app to go with it . SpiderOakand Sharpcast’sSugarSyncare similar in concept . All three services include software package that you’re able to install on your Mac or on a Windows PC ( SugarSync is also available for the iPhone and iPod touch ) . Once installed , you could easily synchronise file cabinet between your computing gadget and an online storage area .
Amazon Cloud Drive , which launchedmore than a year ago , now put up anAmazon Cloud Drive background appfor Macs run Snow Leopard or Lion . You get the first 5 GB of memory free . As part of the Cloud Drive table service , users can also store digital music — from Amazon ’s MP3 store or elsewhere — and play that medicine back on their computers . It also has afree nomadic app .
If you have a Hotmail account and are running Lion , you may getSkyDrive , a Microsoft productthat lets you lay in files in the cloud via a special folder , like to Dropbox . Like Dropbox , you could trail files to it to upload them to the SkyDrive server for on-line access anywhere . You get 7 GB of free storage with SkyDrive , but there are a few premium options usable , too .
Sandvox has introduced a feature that extracts the content of your iWeb site pages and offers an approximation of the layout. It cannot reproduce your iWeb site to look the same as it did in Apple’s program.
Replacing iWeb hosting
Perhaps nowhere has anxiousness been higher than the view of losing MobileMe as a iWeb site innkeeper . That ’s because there are two distinct issues : one immediate and the other within argument of mass . By Sunday morning , MobileMe will no longer playact as a Web - hosting political platform for iWeb , but sometime in the future , iWeb too , will no longer be usable .
With MobileMe ( and before it , .Mac ) , iWeb was an well-off and seamless way of life to get web site online without the hassle of dealing with a third - party Web host or FTP clients . For iWeb , MobileMe was the one - click publication solution citizenry really got behind . If you currently release an iWeb site hosted by MobileMe , and you have not transfer your site to a new Web host yet , you are almost out of metre .
Sandvox has introduced a feature that pull the content of your iWeb site pages and offer an estimation of the layout . It can not procreate your iWeb site to look the same as it did in Apple ’s program .
An extracted iWeb page in Sandvox.
Macworld study someMac - friendly Web hostssuch as Digital Forest , Dreamhost , MacHighway , Fat Cow , MacMate , and others . Karelia Software , for example , recommendsA2 Hostingfor Sandvox sites and Realmac Software recommendsLittle Oakfor hosting RapidWeaver site .
It ’s very loose to salvage your iWeb site for publication on a different host . In iWeb , after make or modifying a situation , choose File->Publish to a Folder . Enter your situation ’s URL and take or make a folder to hold the files . Then upload the file with an FTP plan such as Panic’sTransmitor Nolobe’sInterarchy . There are a number of free FTP clients too , such asCyberduck .
Macworld has published several in - depth stories about how totransition from iWeb , too . While iWeb is still among us , and is still in practiced working order , it ’s wide foretell that future generations of the Mac operating system will eventually break down the programme , which is no longer being update , and which is no longer for sale by Apple .
Many people loved the elegance of MobileMe’s Gallery. By Sunday, it will be no more.
BothRapidWeaverandSandvoxare often considered the most Mac - similar alternatives to iWeb . The recently release Sandvox 2.6 introduced an Extract feature article that brings text and graphic from previously published websites — such as iWeb — into a new Sandvox document . The extract feature article lets you enter that website ’s URL and Sandvox mechanically examines it , analyse its main contentedness , and creates corresponding pages in a Modern Sandvox papers worthy for continued development and publish to a unlike Web horde . An extract iWeb varlet in Sandvox .
If you ca n’t make up one’s mind on a new Web emcee just yet , you could always issue youriWeb site via Dropbox . While not design as a long - terminal figure solution , it ’s prosperous to do and very effective in keeping your website online for the time being .
When it comes down to the conducting wire , most ISPs offer limited detached World Wide Web hosting , and there are a number of other options like Google Sites and free blog - specific hosts like Blogger , WordPress , andTumblr . Free Web - based designers likeJimdoandWeeblyalso offer robust blogging tools . Although lately acquired by Twitter , Posterousis still usable . count on the purpose of your site , it may be potential to simply use societal networking sites to divvy up substance and entropy .
Replacing Gallery
As with iDisk , Apple is not offering a lineal backup for its MobileMe Gallery . This part of MobileMe lets you create gorgeous on-line albums of picture and movies — either by publishing your media from iPhoto or iMovie , or by uploading files via the Web . Many users loved the entanglement Gallery because it allow a private , ad - liberal , fashionable interface with which to view vidual content via computing machine , iOS machine , and Apple TV .
Apple does allow for a newfangled feature article called Journals in iPhoto for iOS that lets you create album on the go . diary differ from the elegant Gallery feature , but can do the function of aggroup images together in a pleasing way .
However , at this point there are numerous other way to share photos online , and in leaving users to fend for themselves , Apple acknowledges that MobileMe ’s individual photo sharing method acting can be replaced by free , third - company apps and websites , though perhaps without the same style .
Many people loved the elegance of MobileMe ’s Gallery . By Sunday , it will be no more . For example , a freeFlickraccount lets you upload 100 MB of spiritualist per month with limitless full storage while a $ 25 - per - twelvemonth Pro explanation gives you unlimited photo and TV uploads and other features . Smugmugpresents your photo more stylishly than Flickr , but account with straight-out storage start at $ 40 per twelvemonth .
Both Flickr and Smugmug have Web interfaces for upload photos , andoptional Mac softwareto make the job easier . Dedicated exposure sites likePicasa Web Albums , Photobucket , Shutterfly , and Adobe Photoshop Express lease you organise and blue-pencil picture and ordering prints or photo - base product , such as cards or books . Some of these features are also available in iPhoto , iPhoto for iOS , and in the iOS app Cards .
Also look at that you might want to switch to societal networks for share pic and creating veranda . For that you have Facebook , Twitter utiltities , and many iPhone and iPad sharing apps .
Deadline extensions
While many masses do n’t have a philosophical problem about transmigrate from MobileMe to iCloud , they may have a software program or hardware trouble that prevents them from doing so . For users with older Macs that can not run Lion , or who for other reasons do not desire to upgrade to Lion , switch over to iCloud is a problem . For them , Apple has solved the problem . On May 1 , the society declare that it was generate Mail users a elbow room to get ready for iCloud , advise that anyone wish to hold their me.com or mac.com electronic mail address require only sign on up for the service of process atme.com/moveby June 30 .
Applesweetened the dealfurther : MobileMe customer who had 20 GB of storage will receive 25 GB of iCloud storehouse for free until September 30 ; that much iCloud reposition would normally cost $ 40 a year . MobileMe users who had purchase 40 to 60 GB of storage will receive 55 GB of spare iCloud service , a $ 100 - a - year note value , until the new deadline . After that , user can opt to compensate for the expanded memory board space , or revert to iCloud ’s destitute 5 GB of storage .
Apple is also examine to ease the essence on some client still running Leopard . Because you call for at least Snow Leopard to set up Lion , and Lion is the only screen background OS compatible with iCloud , Apple has offer Leopard users of MobileMefree upgrades to Snow Leopard . That paves the manner for them to purchase Lion without the extra cost of two upgrades .
Moving forward
The end of MobileMe and the beginning of iCloud give Mac drug user , PC users , and those with iOS mobile devices a lot to think about . While no one likes to deepen by forcefulness , MobileMe user have had a recollective clip to mull alternatives to the service and decide how to proceed . Now ’s the time to take the plunge . You might find that the water sense just fine .
This history was update on 6/28 at 2:30 PST to clarify Apple ’s solution for MobileMe email users who want to switch to iCloud without take to the woods Lion .
