March 15, 2010

MobileMe Updated, Adds iDisk Public Folders, Easier to find “Find My iPhone” Feature

Apple has added a few new features to MobileMe, their subscription based internet service. Probably the most noticable new features is the inclusion of iDisk Public Folders. Here are some of the release notes from Apple’s support documentation:

- New Public folder page located at http://public.me.com/{membername} now matches the look of me.com and supports drag and drop of files between folders (when enabled for visitors)
- Allowing visitors to upload, move, and delete files on your Public folder can now be set from www.me.com/idisk
- An iDisk Public folder password can now be set from www.me.com/idisk
- When logging in to a password-protected Public folder with a web browser, entering the generic username “public” is no longer required
- Adds ability to connect to another member’s Public folder while viewing your own iDisk at me.com

In addition to public folders, this update places a “Find my iPhone” icon in the main navigation bar, gives it a direct URL so it can be accessed quickly, and fixes a bug that caused trouble with exporting multiple contacts.

Apple Releases iDisk iPhone Application

Apple has finally released it’s long-mentioned MobileMe iDisk App [iTunes Link]. Since WWDC this past June, users have been patiently waiting for the release of this app, which allows users with a MobileMe account to access their iDisk data on their iPhone or iPod Touch.

Features:

- View files on your iDisk
- Access Public folders
- Easily share files from your iPhone
- Quickly access recently viewed files
- View iPhone-supported file types-including iWork, Office, PDF, QuickTime and more. (Files larger than 20MB may not be viewable.)

This app requires a MobileMe subscription to function, and an iPhone or iPod touch with the iPhone 3.0 software installed. Apple has even released a video overview of the app.

Support for .Mac Tools Ends In July

It is reported that Apple has began sending  emails to MobileMe subscribers warning of a service change taking effect this July. The change is the removal of old .Mac tools such as Homepage, and Groups.

If you are still using Groups all accompanying features are disappearing as well, such as group emails, group Homepages, message boards, and iDisk “Groups” folder. If you still have data in a iDisk groups folder, you don’t have to worry. Apple has stated that they are moving the “Groups” folders to a new folder on your iDisk named “Groups Archive”.

All of this takes effect on July 7th, 2009.

MobileMe Users Endure Another Phishing Scam

Beware MobileMe users! There’s another phishing scam going on right now that could rob you of your credit card information. A similar scam ran its course back in August of last year. Much like the previous scam, this new one sends out an email that looks like a genuine note from Apple. The email told recipients that their annual subscription was up for renewal but attempts to renew by charging your credit card failed. You can guess what happens from here of course… There’s a link that directs you to a page which asks for your credit card information, you submit the form, and voila, the theifs have your credit card information.

Great care has gone into making these emails and landing pages look and feel like they are from Apple. I don’t need to tell you to take care when any email or communication asks for your credit card information. If you receive a suspicious email from ‘MobileMe’, you can always pick up the phone and call Apple or visit the MobileMe support site. Better safe than sorry.

[ Source ]

MobileMe Update Improves Experience

Since the release of MobileMe back in July, many subscribers have been left feeling the service isn’t quite what .Mac was. It got off to a bad start and many feel that releasing the iPhone 3G, software update 2.0 and MobileMe all on the same day was a bit too much for Apple to handle. At one stage the MobileMe servers crashed and many users lost their e-mails in the process.

I purchased a MobileMe subscription on the day of release along with the iPhone 3G. For the first few days, I had no e-mail at all — I simply could not send or receive any e-mails and was greeted by an error message. Although for me, it wasn’t too much of an issue. I wasn’t being moved from .Mac so I had no e-mails or data at risk, neither was I relying on my e-mails and other information. However many users felt the pain of the poor setup.

Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, publicly admitted that Apple had bitten off more than they could chew on July 11th. Apple also launched a MobileMe status blog that indentified all of the issues they were having with MobileMe and what they were doing to resolve them. MobileMe subscribers were given an extra 60 days of free subscription to make up for the mess up.

An update has now been made to the MobileMe service in an attempt to bring the service up to Apple’s standard and the experience of using the cloud-based service should very much improve. Apple have said:

Since server-side updates are a bit more innocuous than a standard software update to Mac OS X or Microsoft Windows, it’s easy not to notice that updates are occuring. Usually the only hint of these updates is that thinks just “work better”.

Apple believe that the update will bring:

  • Improved experience when viewing galleries on iPhone/iPod Touch
  • Improved localization for MobileMe web applications
  • Resolved issues with attempting to ‘Reply All’ to some messages

Are you using MobileMe? If so, what do you think of the service? Leave a comment and let us know!

Yet Another MobileMe Phishing Scam

MobileMe has again been targeted by malicious users. They are using another phishing ploy setup to obtain your credit card info. According to sources, the scam comes in the form of a billing verification email from Apple. The email leads you to an official-looking website. Of course, the site is hosted on a bunk, fraudulent web server and the domain name used is klubdna.com. Beware. If you encounter this, it’s a scam. Delete the email or close the browser window and carry on about your day.

[via: MacNN]

Breaking News: Apple Gives More Time for MobileMe

If you have been following the mobile me story this past month, then you know that Apple has had a difficult release of their highly acclaimed service dubbed MobileMe.  The service was set to be out and running smooth along with the launch of the iPhone 3G.  Then the servers began to explode, and MobileMe crashed for a while (days).  Apple then realized their mistake and handed out 30 extra days to all the subscribers of their service.  They apologized and have had a status blog to keep all the patrons up to date on the corrections in MobileMe.

Tonight I received an email from the MobileMe team, and I assume all other subscribers got the same email, that told me that Apple has made improvements to their service but they still have more to go, and as a token of appreciation for our patients they are giving all subscribers a 60-day extension on their subscription.  That is on top of the free 30 days handed out earlier.

If you remember I started a story on the first day launch of the MobileMe service, and the bad things, and I said I would report at the end of the trial, well it looks like that story will be coming later on seeing that I have 60 more days to evaluate.  I hope that by the time my trial ends the service will have been completed and working great.

Good Luck Apple, and thanks for the extra time!

MobileMe Status Updates Grind to a Halt?

MobileMe Update Blog Grinds to a Halt?You’ll remember back at the end of July that a new MobileMe status page was setup at Apple. It is authored by one ‘David G‘, and was setup to provide the latest news and updates on the condition of MobileMe… and I say ‘condition’ because we all know how ’sick’ it was upon the launch. To date, the update page has only seen 3 new posts from David G, on July 25th, 27th and 29th respectively.

Some are probably dissapointed about the lack of news and updates. I know I would be if I had signed up for MobileMe… I’d want the latest and greatest news posted for me at that location, each and every day. Frequent updates assure users that problems are being addressed, and that the team at Apple is doing everything they can to fix all issues. Not to mention, if I was privy to all update information, I might be more inclined to subscribe once I knew the service was running at full throttle.

Now, I’m not saying they aren’t already doing this, but it would be a nice gesture to let the public (and paying MobileMe subscribers) know exactly what is going on.

C’mon David G, perhaps it’s time for another update!?

View the MobileMe Status Page

[via MacNN]

Was Steve Jobs’ Internal MobileMe Email Meant to Go Public?

Steve Jobs' MobileMe Flop

If you haven’t heard already, Steve Jobs recently crafted an internal email all about the botched MobileMe launch. It is very interesting indeed. You can tell that a CEO wrote the letter, as he puts it in a way that is constructive and positive.

Yet, I couldn’t help wondering to myself ‘Hmmmm… I wonder if this thing was actually MEANT to go public!?’ I mean, how hard could that be? And what better way for Jobs’ to indirectly apologize to the mac computing public at-large, without the embarrassment of issuing a public apology.

If you haven’t read the full email yet, I’ve included it below for your reading pleasure.

Team,

The launch of MobileMe was not our finest hour.  There are several things we could have done better:

– MobileMe was simply not up to Apple’s standards – it clearly needed more time and testing.

– Rather than launch MobileMe as a monolithic service, we could have launched over-the-air syncing with iPhone to begin with, followed by the web applications one by one – Mail first, followed 30 days later (if things went well with Mail) by Calendar, then 30 days later by Contacts.

– It was a mistake to launch MobileMe at the same time as iPhone 3G, iPhone 2.0 software and the App Store.  We all had more than enough to do, and MobileMe could have been delayed without consequence.

We are taking many steps to learn from this experience so that we can grow MobileMe into a service that our customers will love.  One step that I can share with you today is that the MobileMe team will now report to Eddy Cue, who will lead all of our internet services – iTunes, the App Store and, starting today, MobileMe.  Eddy’s new title will be Vice President, Internet Services and he will now report directly to me.

The MobileMe launch clearly demonstrates that we have more to learn about Internet services.  And learn we will.  The vision of MobileMe is both exciting and ambitious, and we will press on to make it a service we are all proud of by the end of this year.

Steve

[via arstechnica]

MobileMe Service Gets Green Light… We Think.

MobileMe Service Gets Green Light... We Think.

Apple’s MobileMe service has been talking a beating over the past 3 weeks. Apple has now assured users that the service is fully operational. Mail issues have been resolved, including nagging Webmail and message history issues have been an issue for 1% of MobileMe subscribers.

If you are still experiencing e-mail problems, Apple has setup a dedicated chat line to assist and correct any further issues users might encounter. I think that’s the least they could do!

All this being said, an unrelated bug did appear on Monday which caused contact and calendar sync to break when connecting OTA from an iPhone or iPod Touch. This bug has since been fixed. Lets hope this is the last ‘bug’ to rear it’s ugly head… MobileMe is off to one heck of a bumpy start.

[via iPodNN]