Wednesday, March 16th, 2011
AJ of Marketcircle, makers of Daylite and Billings, has just posted a summary on how Apple’s recent changes in MobileMe calendars affect Daylite, called “Daylite and MobileMe“. It is a must read for anyone who used to sync their Daylite calendars with their iCal calendars, and then out to their iPhones with MobileMe, but now no longer can due to the May 5th change (see this earlier post for more).
While they acknowledge that the changes result in a loss of functionality that some users previously enjoyed, they have endorsed a work-around that addresses most users needs, such as…
- How do I accept external meeting invites?
- How do I share my calendar with people that aren’t using Daylite or a Mac?
- How do I work with my personal/family calendar while in Daylite?
- How can I see my Daylite calendar on the iPhone/iPad/iPod touch?
- How do I share my Daylite Calendar with other handheld devices like Android, Blackberry or Nokia?
Much of this is done through the use of an excellent third party utility called Busy Sync, and Google Calendar. Read the full post for more.
I’m encouraged that AJ concludes with…
Taking a cue from Apple, we’re not in the habit of talking about future products, however, let me assure you that we understand that some of these *use cases* are very important to many of you. We cannot predict timelines, but please know that some of these are on our priority list.
Monday, February 28th, 2011
Apple is forcing all MobileMe users to upgrade to the new MobileMe Calendar format on May 5th. From Apple’s official support page on the issue…
On May 5, 2011, MobileMe will transition to the new Calendar service… You must upgrade to the new Calendar by May 5, 2011 to maintain calendar syncing between your devices and to continue accessing your calendar at me.com. See How do I upgrade to the new MobileMe Calendar … for instructions.
While this is good news in that the new calendar structure (using the CalDAV standard) is more robust than the iCal/MobileMe calendar, it will cause issues for people who have enables the Daylite to iCl sync option in Daylite. IF YOU DO NOT SYNC CALENDARS BETWEEN DAYLITE AND ICAL — THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO YOU.
Do not enable the "Synchronization" preference in Daylite
So why is this happening, and why is it a problem? The new MobileMe calendars are truly cloud based: your iCal app on the Mac will talk to the MobileMe calendar server and sync its data from there. So will your iPhone/iPad. However, Daylite was designed to work with LOCAL iCal calendars, ones that stored their data on the Mac, and then through MobileMe, would synchronize those changed to other Macs using a MobileMe account. While the difference may seen unimportant, the current version of Daylite (designed before Apple announced these changes) expects to see the old, LOCAL, iCal data for each calendar on your Mac when it performs its sync to iCal. It has no way of communicating with the new cloud based MobileMe calendars. If you were to enable synchronization in Daylite for Appointments and Tasks, Daylite would create a new LOCAL iCal calendar, one that exists only on your Mac. This local only calendar would not be part of the MobileMe system, and wouldn’t sync across your Macs or iPhone/iPads. You would see calendar information duplicated in iCal, and it would be a data dead end.
The instructions provided by Marketcircle (http://www.marketcircle.com/mobileme/) recommend tuning off Daylite to iCal sync entirely, and I concur. Address Book and iCal are free for a reason. They are consumer products. They can’t handle the volume that a shared business database like Daylite can create. If you value your data, I recommend turning the Daylite to Sync Services feature OFF permanently. Instead, embrace the robust, multi-user calendar features of Daylite on your Mac and Daylite Touch on your iPhone and iPad.
Friday, February 25th, 2011
Yesterday Apple announced several new MacBook Pro models. Although the form factor is similar to previous models (aluminum unibody construction, 13″, 15″ and 17″ sizes, etc), they feature two significant changes.
The first is that they are using the very latest in mobile processors, Intel’s Sandy Bridge Core i5 and i7 chips, in both dual- and quad-core configurations. Testing has shown that the performance gains are huge, with the current MacBook Pros testing as fast as or faster than last years Mac Pro desktops. That shows just how far laptop computing power has come. Previously, the trade off for laptops was power for portability. With this latest upgrade, that gap has closed.
The other change is the addition of a new interface, Thunderbolt. This new port, developed by Intel with the help of Apple, has the same appearance as the mini Display port that appeared on older models, but it is a whole lot more. It is a high speed data port, display adapter, and power port. In Apple’s words…
Thunderbolt is a revolutionary new I/O technology that delivers an amazing 10 gigabits per second and can support every important I/O standard which is ideal for the new MacBook Pro.
Apple’s Thunderbolt page shows Thunderbolt being twenty times faster than USB 2.0, twelve times faster than FireWire 800, and twice as fast as the new, but barely implemented USB 3.0 standard. Apple and Intel are looking to position this port as new high speed/all-in-one connector for displays a peripherals. look for third party manufacturers to be developing hard drives, displays, and other peripherals with Thunderbolt interfaces soon.
Friday, February 18th, 2011
MacTech has announced for more conferences coming in 2011, one of which will be in Chicago on August 31. I am going to be one of the two session chairs for the event. I’m excited to be involved in the event, as I regretted not being able to attend the first conference in San Francisco last month. Here’s the announcement.
On the heels of the success of MacTech Conference in November, and a sell-out MacTech Boot Camp in San Francisco in January, MacTech has announced today four more MacTech Boot Camps in 2011.
Each of these one-day events cater to those who support the home user, and small business market. MacTech Boot Camp is a single-track, hotel-based seminar specifically geared to serve the needs of consultants and techs wanting to serve their clients better. MacTech Boot Camp will be held in the cities of Dallas, Boston, Los Angeles and Chicago.
“Last month, MacTech Boot Camp San Francisco 2011 sold out. We know that many consultants and techs in the market focus on serving the home and small business communities. We’ve designed the MacTech Boot Camp curriculum just for them,” says Neil Ticktin, editor-in-chief/publisher, MacTech Magazine. “If you’re already serving the home and small business Mac users, or want to be, MacTech Boot Camp expert-taught sessions will help you to learn best practices that will not only make you more productive, but also more successful. And, for those Windows consultants that want to know more about the Mac, this is a great way to get exposed to a completely different type of market.”
Dates for newly announced events:
MacTech Boot Camp Dallas
Dallas, Texas, April 27, 2011, Sessions Chair: CV Rao, and Nathan Toups
MacTech Boot Camp Boston
Boston, Massachusetts, May 18, 2011, Sessions Chair: Andy Espo, and Leon Lincoln
MacTech Boot Camp Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California, July 27, 2011, Sessions Chair: Sean Colins
MacTech Boot Camp Chicago
Chicago, Illinois, August 31, 2011, Sessions Chair: Douglas Ward, and Ben Greiner
Using MacTech’s proven “running order” approach, the Boot Camp packs in the maximum amount of sessions possible into the time available. Sessions include topics such as:
- Marketing Oneself in a Community
- Client Handling
- Client Documentation, Passwords and Records
- Resources for Finding Answers
- Basic Command Line
- Troubleshooting Hardware
- Networking Basics and Troubleshooting
- Printing Setup and Troubleshooting (Wifi, USB, Bluetooth, and Wired)
- iOS Support
- Windows on the Mac Options
- Software Updates
- Backup Systems and Options
- Viruses and Security
- Basic Scripting
- Support Call Techniques
- Remote Support and Access
MacTech Boot Camp is priced at US$495. If you act by the early bird deadlines, attendees can take advantage of the early registration and save $200 on MacTech Boot Camp (making the registration just $295). There’s a limited number of attendee registrations for each event slotted for Early Bird pricing, so attendees should not wait to register.
More information on MacTech Boot Camp can be found at http://www.mactech.com/bootcamp. Registration is open now at http://www.mactech.com/bootcamp/register.
While many speakers have already been selected, those interested in speaking should use the speaker application form at: http://www.mactech.com/bootcamp/callforspeakers no later than March 1.
If you’re attending, I look forward to seeing you there. Look for more news as it develops.
Monday, February 7th, 2011
I am now an Office for Mac Expert and Trainer, and as such I’ll hopefully be doing some presentations in the Apple Stores in the area on Office for Mac 2011. I just passed their certification course and test.
Office for Mac has been one of the biggest application suites for Mac for a long time. Most of the is due to its ubiquitous presence in the Windows world. While I have personally had a love-hate relationship with it over the years, it has become much more polished with each iteration, Office X (2001), Office for Mac 2004, Office for Mac 2008. In addition to using OFM, I use and recommend many Office compatible alternatives, such as Apple’s iWork suite. or the free OpenOffice.org suite. All have their advantages and disadvantages (…when comparing price vs. polish vs. compatibility). But one of the biggest “pluses” for using Microsoft’s OFM over the alternatives is supposed to be compatibility with Windows Office documents. But embarrassingly, one of the major holes in OFM2008′s offering was that it didn’t support macros and scripting! Thus, when a Windows Office user send a Mac user an Excel spreadsheet with lots of complicated macros in it, it just wouldn’t work right. This was a huge dent in the impression of cross compatibility. In most other areas (basic documents, and ones that didn’t use scripting/macros) the alternatives held up just fine with Windows documents.
So, with OFM2011, Microsoft has made that compatibility their #1 goal. All the scripting/macro support is there, and complicated, macro heavy documents work fine on Windows or Mac. The #2 priority was speed, and comparing Excel 2011 with Excel 2008 is amazing: 2011 opens even huge documents in a second or two, where Excel 2008 can take a minute or so.
Of course, a lot of that comes from the tighter system requirements. OFM2011 is Intel only (PowerPC Mac the “G4″ and “G5″s were retired in 2006!), and works on Mac OS X 10.5.8 Leopard or 10.6.x Snow Leopard.
Keep an eye on my Events page for my next scheduled Office for Mac 2011 event.
Monday, October 25th, 2010
This past Saturday, I had the pleasure of attending the opening of the newest Chicago area Apple Store in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. This was a big event, as the store is architecturally unique and stunning. Apple considers it to be one of their most unique stores to date. Despite the rain in the morning, there were the typical lines of eager Apple fans on hand waiting to get in.
One of the striking elements of the new store is the pair of HUGE 110″ LCD displays that flank the south entrance. They apparently are able to rotate and retract into the floor when not needed. I can’t wait to be able to use them when doing an in-store presentation.
One of the other interesting aspects of this store is that is sits adjacent to the North/Clybourn Stop on Chicago’s CTA Red Line. I love this fact as I use public transportation as my primary method of transport when traveling around town for work. Due to its proximity, Apple invested about $3.9 Million into refurbishing the station, and even installed illuminated billboards in the subway stop itself. I believe these are the first of their kind in the subway tunnels. They gave the station an unexpected brightening, which is welcome compared the usually dim station lighting.
I had a good time meeting up with the Apple Store business team, and picked up an Apple TV, Magic Trackpad, and and iPad for my wife. I look forward to going there in the future, as it will be the closest store to me in town.
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010
Today, Apple held an event where they talked about the future of the Mac, Mac OS X, and unveiled a pair of new MacBook Airs. Among the highlights were showcasing the new iLife ’11 suite of iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand. Also shown were future iPhone/iPad like features that are being incorporated in Mac OS X Lion, which will feature multi touch gesture navigation and full screen views, as well as a Mac App Store, styled like the current iOS App Store. Finally, the two new MacBook Air models show were notable in that they have no optical drive or hard drive — they use flash memory technology to provide iPad like “instant on” with 30 day standby times.
Another nice announcement was the availability of FaceTime for the Mac, so you can make Facetime video calls between Macs or iPhone 4 users. The beta is available for download today for Snow Leopard users.
Some good summaries will be popping up soon, and I’ll post those links here…
“Mac App Store is Good News” – Macworld.com
“Apple previews Mac OS X 10.7 ‘Lion’ at media event” – powerpage.org
“The new MacBook Air” – marco.org
Monday, October 4th, 2010
I just returned from the 2nd annual Marketcircle Partner Conference 2010 in Niagara Falls, Ontario. This is a two day event for Daylite Partners and Marketcircle to get together, learn about new developments, tips, techniques, and networking for Daylite and Billings. This year was better than ever with Partners from as far away as Germany, England, Australia and Ukraine. This year I was recognized for achieving Master Partner status! Thanks to everyone who attended for a successful conference.
Monday, July 12th, 2010
It appears as if Apple is recalling some flawed Time Capsule devices, sold between February and June 2008. If your device was purchased in that date range, or more specifically, your Time Capsule’s serial number is in the range of XX807XXXXXX – XX814XXXXXX , bring your Time Capsule in to Apple for a repair or replacement.
Here’s Apple’s Knowledge Base article on the matter:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3351
And a summary from TUAW:
http://www.tuaw.com/2010/07/11/apple-recalling-flawed-2008-time-capsules/
Wednesday, April 21st, 2010
I am very excited about the release today of Daylite v3.10. As a Daylite Partner who installs and supports Daylite for many, many clients, I have learned where Daylite shines, and where it doesn’t. I love the product, but like any software, it has some areas that are not so polished. One of the pain points for current users of Daylite has been the online/offline sync system.
For those of you not aware of what this is, here it is in a nutshell. When users work with Daylite on a LAN, there is a server, and client copies of Daylite connect to that server to access the database. But because that data is so rich, detailed, and plain old LARGE, there had to be a way to access that while away from the office without trying to link to that database over intermittent and sometimes slow internet connections. As opposed to trying to build some web-based implementation, Marketcircle crafted an “offline” mode. When a user would get ready to leave their office LAN for the day, or for travel, and wanted to have their Daylite info go with them, they would choose a menu items to take their login of Daylite into “offline” mode. A local copy of pretty much the entire database would be created onto their Mac, and then they could have access to that data regardless of whether or not they had an internet connection. This was great for working on a plane, a bus, or anywhere that WiFi access was poor or spotty. Once there was an internet connection, the user could sync their offline with the live online database, and all changes, the ones they’d made on their offline, and the ones other users had been making to the main database, would sync.
This was a good solution that worked for most users, but could be problematic. If the database was large, with many thousands of contacts, and many users were making a lot of changes, those offline syncs could potentially take a long time. And if one of those long syncs was interrupted, with a bad or slow wifi connection in an airport, for example, there was a risk that data could get corrupted. Or, that the user’s offline database would be sort of half synced, and then not function. Users might then wait for another oportunity to sync again, at which point the changes needed to sync would be larger, and require a longer sync.
Marketcircle has been very aware of the weakness of their sync in regards to this scenario, and have been working diligently to solve it. With the release of Daylite 3.10, they have. I have been participating in the Daylite 3.10 beta testing program for several weeks now, and couldn’t be more thrilled at the change. The big difference is that Daylite will perform constant, regular tiny background “whisper” syncs every 5 minutes. In addition to making their sync consistency checks more robust, the automatic syncs work so well, that users can now just go offline, and forget about it. Their data gets updated within a few minutes, and the other users users their changes as well.
It seems like a simple and obvious thing when described this way, but with all software development, the devil is in the details. Getting this to work so well and so smoothly was a lot of work, and finally the online/offline system is working in the way Marketcircle had always hoped it would. I really appreciate them targeting issues like this that are important from end user’s point of view, and making Daylite even more pleasant to use.
For more details you can read the full release notes here.
douglas@ugutech.com
773-309-4839
2842 N Springfield Ave
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