Mobileme: Solving problems part 1 (for mac)

Apple's new service named "MobileMe" it is a really interesting bet on the online market.

Since its lunch there are many users experiencing problems of many different kind, including me.

First of all, I think the problem is caused because of the huge traffic the Apple servers are facing, more than 1 million new iPhones sold in a weekend! plus all users like you and me trying to evaluate the free trial of MobileMe.

Problem 1: No contacts on the www.me.com

After setting up my account and configuring my computer (Mac) I wanted to see if my contacts were on the online version of my address book. They weren't!

The solution is:

(Please be sure to have a backup of your contacts, otherwise if you make the wrong click you could delete them!)

Go to your Mac's system preferences; Select the "mobileme" icon; click on the "sync" tab; click on the "advanced" button; click on "reset sync data..." button; Select the correct arrow, the one pointing to the right side means that will replace all the contents on Mobileme with the contents on your Mac (if your Mobileme Contact list is empty and then you replace the contents on your Mac with the contents on your mobileMe then... your data will be deleted!); in the section "Replace" select the "contacts" icon; click the "replace" button and then check your MobileMe Contact page... all your contacts will be there!

Problem 2: I can't see my calendar items

Even it took some time for my calendars to appear on the www.me.com site they arrived... The problem is that I could not find my events there. So I made an event from the Web interface and in a few seconds it appeared on my Mac's iCal, but on the wrong hour! Why?

Well it looks like the time zone is not being transfered. I just changed the time zone from the Web interface... and the problem is fixed.

Check the "preferences..." option; Go to the "Advanced" section; Select the correct time zone.

iPod Touch upgrade

As many of you know, Apple released today a great update to the iPod Touch. It makes the gadget useful in my opinion. Before that is just an beautiful ipod with a under-used screen and interface. Now... it makes sense.

For owners of iPod Touch: bad news! you need to buy the software upgrade. That sounds to me strange. But for users of iPod Touch residents on any country that is not included in the "allowed" list for creating accounts in the iTunes store... they are fried! because you can't but the upgrade. I live in Slovenia, I bought the iPod Touch in a local authorized reseller, and I can't create an account in iTunes, therefore I can't upgrade. Let's hope that Apple will fix that mistake!

For any new iPod Touch: good news! your gadget will be loaded with the software. Just double check on your local retail store... otherwise you will be pushed to pay 20 dollars.

Upgrade from iPhoto '06 to iPhoto '08

It is amazing that there is no easy way to find a solution for the following problem:

"I have a MacBook and there I use the iLive '06. Now I got a new iMac and I would like to free some space on the notebook and move all iPhoto library. The trick is that the MacBook uses a newer version of iLife. How to do it?"

1. First of all forget about looking for some "import" or "export" function. Those are for exporting pictures or photos, not for exporting the library. That would not get details and custom properties from the pictures like: keywords, name of the roll, dates.
2. Burning to a DVD is an option. But if your Library is too big then the task is complex.
3. Make a backup of your current library (Source computer - MacBook in my case). You can find it on "Home"; "Pictures".
4. Go to the new computer (target computer) and find the same folder in the same location. You will delete the Library folder and replace it with the one you backed up.
   Attention! When you will delete the "target" "iPhoto Library" you will delete all the contents of that iPhoto. In my case I had none... I'm talking about a clean and just installed iPhoto '08.
5. Once the copy process finishes, and not before, open the iPhoto, it will request you to update the library. Accept and go forward.
6. That's it! All will be working like in your other computer!
   

Tip!: The same applies for moving the music library from iTunes!! and it will keep your podcasts and videocasts subscriptions. All working like nothing happened!

Problems with iMovie'08 and Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard)

I have an iMac with a clean installation of the operating system (Leopard) and the iLife 2008. All fine but I found that my iVideo was just not starting. I removed the software and installed it again; no effect.
Something interesting was that the other applications found that there is an update but anyway I couldn't download it using the "software update". So I ignored this step...
The error message on iVideo was:


So, how I found the solution... Looking on Google? no. I did it but I couldn't find a solution...
So I went to Apple web site... :)

When I installed that update all went fine! and then the "software update" functionality worked perfect and installed all the rest of the updates.

You will find the link to the download on the page of each one of the products of iLife. It looks something like this:If you find more interesting ways to solve issues regarding your iLife 08 and your new Leopard (Mac OSX 10.5) please write a comment. And enjoy!

iWork Numbers: Apple's spreadsheet - Part 2

I'm constantly working with calculations from Information I get on the Web. That means that I get and copy a table with data from the Web and then I paste it in Excel and all works pretty well. Excel takes care of placing the information in the right cell. Often I need to make changes on the formatting but that is just a minor issue.
In the case of Numbers it is not possible to copy and paste from the web and get something right. Here is the source table from a web site:


And here what Numbers makes when pasting the table:

That is not a big issue, but it is important if Apple really wishes that advanced users will find on Numbers a real alternative. Importing data from the web and other kind of databases is very important.

Learn more about your Mac

In the Windows world it is not so easy to get a good software for capturing screenshots or to learn some very useful shortcuts to perform some tasks. In the Mac is not needed event to look for that software because many are part of the operating system (OS).

Like in the image: if you press "command" + "shift" + "4" will give you the chance to capture a section of your screen. Just with this trick you can save some 20$ in a software like that. There are many other tips like that so I advise you to visit the video tips in Apple site. Click here to check them.

iMovie ’08, avoid problems on upgrading, buying or replacing

I'm waiting for buying the new iLife, it is still not available in Slovenia, but it is coming in a few days. And while waiting I found a very important post about iMovie '08 you need to read before upgrading or buying the iLife '08. Click here to read it.
It looks like you will not be able to open your iMovie '06 files on the new version, also you will be incapable of using your iMovie '06 plugins. The article is so important that could cause a delay in my decision to buy the software! Why? because I will buy soon 2 macs, so they will come with it for free, while I keep the superior iMovie '06 on my notebook.

Upgrade iWork '06 to iWork '08

As you may know, yesterday, Steve jobs released new iMacs, new iLive '08 and new iWork 'o8.
the problem is that just 3 weeks ago I bought my iWork '06 so I was worried about how to upgrade. Maybe they will give me a free new version? or maybe an upgrade price?
Well, I have called Apple and they told me that it could be changed if I bought the iWork within the past 2 weeks.

In my case that's not possible because I bought it 3 weeks ago. But if you just bought iWork or iLive you can receive a replacement with the new version. That's good news.
Actually I feel not a lot of pain because the price of the new iWork is really low and now it comes with a spreadsheet that I really want to see.

Something also interesting is that the .Mac now gives you 10GB instead of 1GB for the same price than before.

How the music business work online?

I took some minutes to read a message from Steve Jobs regarding the part of the music industry that concerns his company. It is truly interesting and to tell you the truth helped me to understand the "mistery" of "DRM" or digital rights management.
It also offers interesting numbers.

iMovie basic training

Lately I'm working very hard with iMovie HD for making some videos for a customer.
The product comes with a series of interesting tools, effects, transitions and technologies. I find it good for family videos if talking about the product out of the box. But actually become very powerful if enhanced with software designed for iMovie HD.
You can find a free training guide (I really advise it... it would save me some time if I would know about it some weeks ago) like part of the free training that the Shireland Language College (Birmingham, UK) publishes on their web site.

Life is comic...?? Only for mac users

I just discovered in my MacBook a software named "Comic Life" and it is just great!

Its purpose is to add pictures in comics style templates, then you can add bubbles with texts and some other cool effects.

It is so nice that I'm thinking in transforming my Blog into a "comic style blog". Here you can see a sample: The amateur gourmet