Syncing data from your Mac to various different devices is easy in theory, but often troublesome in practice, and truly annoying when something goes wrong. Whether you'd like to figure out how to sync contacts to your non-Apple smartphone, get your head around how your Apple TV syncs, help your father sync his Palm after upgrading to Snow Leopard, sync a particular set of podcast episodes to your iPod, or make it so you can update your calendar on any of six devices and have changes reflected on all of them, the $10 "Take Control of Syncing Data in Snow Leopard" has the answers you need.

Written by Michael E. Cohen, the 162-page "Take Control of Syncing Data in Snow Leopard" explains how to sync managed data from a Mac to another device or service. "Managed data" is data that you can't usually see as separate files in the Finder, including things like iCal events, Address Book contacts, Safari bookmarks, and anything you store in iTunes or iPhoto. This ebook looks at how you sync data on a Mac running Snow Leopard with various devices and services including:

• Another Mac
• Microsoft Exchange
• The cloud (i.e. MobileMe or Google Calendar)
• An iPhone or iPod
• A non-Apple mobile phone
• A PDA like a Palm or Blackberry (specifics are brief)
• An Apple TV

Michael details how Sync Services and the all-important truth database work under the hood (fascinating stuff!), helps you get set up properly, and offers advice for what to do if you run into syncing conflicts or other problems. You'll especially like this ebook if:

• You're just getting started with syncing
• You've always wondered how syncing works behind the scenes
• You're already syncing, but want to add complexity or solve problems
• You need to be able to answer a wide variety of syncing questions from clients or curious family members

If you own a previous edition of this ebook, you should have already received an email message with an upgrade discount; if not, open your PDF and - on page 1 - click the Check for Updates button.

 

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WebCrossing Neighbors Creates Private Social Networks
Create a complete social network with your company or group's
own look. Scalable, extensible and extremely customizable.
Take a guided tour today <http://www.webcrossing.com/tour>   Copyright © 2009 Adam C. Engst. TidBITS is copyright © 2009 TidBITS Publishing Inc. If you're reading this article on a Web site other than TidBITS.com, please let us know, because if it was republished without attribution, by a commercial site, or in modified form, it violates our Creative Commons License.

Recently I was given just 24 hours to explore a first production build of the Apple iTablet -- and here are my first impressions and discoveries. First, it's more like an iPhone than a MacBook. The operating system depends on gestures, and expands the vocabulary. Your hand is going to be dancing.

Shareholders press Microsoft's CEO about Apple's marketing campaign

Image: Apple Inc.

Those Get-a-Mac ads make "you all look like a buffoon," one long-time shareholder (and father of four Mac-using children) told Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer at the company's annual meeting Thursday. "I'm just wondering why your marketing group can't do something to try to rein in this next generation, because you've got a real bad image out there."

"We all watch television," Ballmer responded, before quickly changing the subject to Microsoft's market share.

"The truth of the matter is, we do quite well," he said, according to TechFlash's Todd Bishop, who seems to have taken the best notes. "Even among college students, we do quite well. Do we have an opportunity for improvement? We do. Some of that is marketing, some of that is phase of life. It is important to remember that 96 times out of 100 worldwide, people choose a PC with Windows; that's a good thing. Even in the toughest market, which would be the high end of the consumer market here in the U.S., 83 times out of 100 people choose a Windows PC over a Mac."

Ballmer acknowledged that Apple (AAPL) had "picked up a couple of tenths of a percent of market share," an achievement some in the audience seemed to find laughable.

But as the Wall Street Journal's Nick Wingfield points out, citing IDC numbers, Apple's share of new PC shipments in the U.S. was 9.2% in the third quarter, up from 4.8% in the same period four years ago. (Worldwide share: 3.9% compared with 2.4% four years ago.)

Wingfield also took a crack at estimating how many copies of Window 7 Microsoft has sold, a number the company has not provided.

Source: Morgan Stanley. Click to enlarge.

According to Ballmer, Microsoft sold twice as many copies of Windows 7 in its first few weeks than any previous version of the operating system. Since Vista sold 20 million copies in its first month on the market, that would put Windows 7 unit sales to date at roughly 40 million.

That number includes both boxed copies and copies sold to PC makers for pre-installation on their machines, according to a Microsoft spokesperson. Sales of PC hardware spiked sharply immediately after the Oct. 22 launch (see chart at right).

See also:

• PC sales spike with Windows 7 debut
• How Apple is gaining on Microsoft
• Windows 7, like it or not

[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped]

Filed under: Odds and ends, Podcasts, Holidays

Here it is, T-7 days until Black Friday, and you don't have any gift ideas?

I joined MacJury podcaster Chuck Joiner earlier this week to provide my ideas for gifting. This was part two of a holiday gift ideas episode on the popular podcast.

Joining me on the podcast were MacMouseCalls support genius (and grandmother) Pat Fauquet, Julio Ojeda-Zapata from the St. Paul Pioneer Press, and The Mac Observer's Jeff Gamet.

Storage seemed to be a popular gift idea from the panelists, along with iPhone / Mac jewelry, video tools, and even some freebies. I take no responsibility for the singing that was taking place...

You can listen to MacJury Episode 918 at the MacJury website, or subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.

TUAWTUAW's Steve Sande provides gift ideas on the latest MacJury podcast originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cover Up is a new $0.99 iPhone app that masks embarrassing bathroom noises with other bathroom sounds, like running water, a hand dryer or blow dryer. Trying to mask the sound of a giant anal raspberry is like spraying deodorant to mask a pooey smell: it never really works. But it may be useful if you’re [...]

Filed under: Software, Cool tools

MacUpdate announced today the release of version 5.0.2 of the MacUpdate Desktop utility, which allows users to manage application and widget software updates on their Mac OS X machines. The new version of the application adds some features and bug fixes as well as support for more languages.

MacUpdate Desktop can track software updates for 30,000 Mac applications, and it also provides update support for applications on the iPhone, although iTunes handles that pretty well. Updates can be triggered manually and individually, or set to install automatically when MacUpdate Desktop is open. It also provides support for updating screen savers and allows users to sort applications into "watch lists," so they can keep track of programs that are more important to keep current than others.

The update includes improved handling of the software it tracks, such as version and application matching, as well as French, German, and Italian localization. Some of the bugs it fixes are community preferences, registration problems, and issues with extracting tar bzip2 and dmg.zip downloads.

There are several update managers out there for Mac OS X (including AppFresh, LogicielMac, VersionTracker Pro, etc.) with fans and detractors of their own. If you've had great or not-so-great experiences with any of the updater tools, let us know in the comments.

Want to win one of two subscriptions to MacUpdate Desktop, courtesy of MU and TUAW? Read on for details!

Continue reading MacUpdate Desktop version 5.0.2 released, win a membership from TUAW

TUAWMacUpdate Desktop version 5.0.2 released, win a membership from TUAW originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Happy Friday! Mac Games and More has again picked out a collection of casual games you might not have heard of, to play into the weekend. Games include a hack and slash fighting elves, a logic puzzle mining for treasure, an addictive arcade classic and more. Deluxe Poc Mon – As the name suggests, this game [...]

Filed under: iPhone, App Store

Twitter has flipped the switch on some new features, including geotagging of tweets and automatic retweeting. As a happy user of Stone Design's Twittelator Pro 3.3.1 [iTunes link], I was even more giddy when I found out that my favorite Twitter app already supports both of these features.

The geotagging feature lets you optionally attach a latitude and longitude to your tweets. If you receive the tweet in Twittelator, you can tap on the sender's avatar icon to see the geotag and pull up a Google map of the location near where the tweet was sent. The app lets you turn off geotagging when you send a tweet, which is useful if you're trying to shake off a stalker. It's also cool to use "nearby search" to find people who are near you and sending out tweets, and view their location on a map.

The official retweet feature has been going live for the past two weeks or so, although as of yet I haven't seen or been able to send a retweet that appears with the new retweet icon. In the web-based Twitter, I do see the new icons and messages that say "Retweeted by you," but I'm not sure why I'm not seeing this in Twittelator Pro.

Is anyone else using Twittelator Pro 3.3.1 who can vouch that the new retweet capability is working for them? Leave a comment.

TUAWGeotagged tweets now alive in Stone Design's Twittelator Pro 3.3.1 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s nothing better than gazing up at the stars on a night out. For $3, Pocket Universe: Virtual Sky Astronomy, using sorta-augmented reality, lets the astronomically impaired among us impress our dates. The app uses the iPhone’s accelerometer, compass and level — just not the camera (which means it works on an iPod Touch too) — [...]

Steve Jobs doesn't email Apple customers often, but when he does, his responses are always short and to the point

This printer is cute and stylish, but it wastes ink and has an awkward paper-handling setup

We close out the week and prepare for the long flights, long waits and long lines as Thanksgiving rears its head. To get you ready (maybe even point out a stocking-stuffer or two), we offer our top trio of deals. First up, nothing beats a good set of in-ear “headphones.” This deal features ‘phones from [...]

It’s not an easy time for Microsoft — with Steve Ballmer having to field questions about being “buffoons” and an “evil empire”  at the shareholder’s meeting (.doc) — so when they get together “the world’s most influential technology pundits and online writers” (nb: we weren’t invited) for Mobius to discuss super-secret mobile tech you’d think [...]

Filed under: Odds and ends, iPhone

Gee, we were just saying how competitive it is getting in the iPhone nav department, and Navigon has gone and cut prices for holiday travelers.

For 10 days only, beginning today (November 20-30) Navigon's iPhone app, Mobile Navigator [iTunes link]will be on sale for U.S. $69.99 instead of $89.99 providing a $20.00 savings. In addition, Navigon's Traffic Live feature is also on sale for $14.99 instead of $24.99. Traffic Live is a one time charge, not a continuing cost.

That's a significant saving for this very popular app, and puts it under similar featured apps from TomTom ($99.99) and Magellan ($79.99).

In my tests of the Navigon app I have found it accurate, and it has a superior user interface that is easy to use. Of course you shouldn't be looking at it while you are driving, and the text to speech does an excellent job of helping you keep your eyes on the road.

The Live Traffic feature will route you around major traffic congestion and adjust your ETA times.

It's nice to see prices heading south on some of these GPS packages. Now you'll be able to head south (or north, or any direction really) for less money and with more features. Have a safe trip.

TUAWNavigon briefly cutting price on its popular Nav app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Camino Project has released a significant update to the Mac-focused, Gecko-based Web browser Camino. The latest version has been upgraded to version 1.9 of Mozilla's Gecko rendering engine, adds Growl support, improves full keyboard access in the browser window, enhances pop-up blocking, and heightens security with increased malware and phishing protection. The update also improves tabbed browsing by enabling users to rearrange tabs and providing a new tab overview feature. (Free, 15.8 MB for English-only or 21.2 MB for multilingual)

 

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<http://www.tidbits.com/about/support/contributors.html>
Special thanks this week to Craig Lane, Marc Fleisher,
Jacobus Kats, and Miles Anderson for their generous support!   Copyright © 2009 Doug McLean. TidBITS is copyright © 2009 TidBITS Publishing Inc. If you're reading this article on a Web site other than TidBITS.com, please let us know, because if it was republished without attribution, by a commercial site, or in modified form, it violates our Creative Commons License.

In a sign of the iPhone’s power to attract, China Unicom Friday said it expects to have 10 percent of the nation’s 3G users by 2012. The comments by an unnamed executive of the country’s second-largest wireless carrier to China Daily echo those made publicly earlier this week. China Unicom Chairman Chang Xiaobing told reporters [...]

In this slideshow, we present to you several input devices that are a lot different from the mouse (or laptop trackpad) and keyboard used on a daily basis.

We’re in the Golden Age of Rodents. It’s time to look at the mice you’re missing. However, the wealth of choices can be daunting. We have a few tips to help you.

The keyboard you choose is based on a personal decision, but there are some features and terms you should understand so you make the proper buying decision. And that’s what this guide is here to do. Here are our tips to buying a new keyboard.

Filed under: Gaming, Software, Odds and ends, Developer, Snow Leopard

The folks behind CrossOver Games sent us a note that version 8.1.0 of their software has come out, and it's got some nice upgrades for Mac and Linux folks who prefer to run their games in Windows almost-emulators (it's based on Wine, and as we all know, Wine Is Not an Emulator) rather than Boot Camping over to the real thing. We tried out CrossOver Games a while back, and found it lacking in almost everything but Steam games, but actually that's OK, because lately Steam has a lot of games going on. Accordingly, this new version has support built-in for the brand new Left 4 Dead 2, as well as fixes for Steam's voice chat, a few upgrades for WoW on Linux and Guild Wars, and a couple of changes to ensure compatibility with Snow Leopard. Sounds like a nice solid upgrade -- owners of the software can grab it for free, or you can try out the app for yourself from their website.

In case you don't have the app yet, CodeWeavers also let us know that they're giving away a Linux rig that's the "ultimate" in... wait for it... gaming. Yes, putting together a Linux rig for gaming is like putting a UFC fighter on a dance show, but we guess stranger things have happened. Anyway, CrossOver Games will definitely help you play at least a few games on the decked-out rig, if you want a shot at winning the thing, all you have to do is pick up the software before December 1st. They'll pick a name out of a hat, and if it's yours, there'll be an awesome 'nix box headed your way. Good luck with getting smooth fullscreen Flash video to work. We kid! You Linux guys make it so easy.

Oh wait, what's that? Flash on the iPhone? I have no idea what you're talking about.

TUAWCrossOver Games releases version 8.1.0 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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