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More ways to avoid .Mac

Bruce — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 04:35:32 +0000

I just received my .Mac renewal notification from Apple. Since I don't consider .Mac value-for-money at £70 per annum I shall not be renewing, and have already found a WebDAV-based workaround for iCal sharing and a direct iPhoto-to-web solution. Independent software developers are obviously responding to a disgruntled .Mac user base, as options for achieving similar functionality without a .Mac account are on the increase. You can do a lot via Google, or if you like getting your hands dirty hack your own .Mac replacement. Most .Mac users, however, are likely to want "out of the box" solutions. Here are three that I've come across recently. iSynCal ($US25) allows scheduled synchronisation of iCal calendars between Macs, or between users on the same Mac—without a .Mac account or other WebDAV server (it makes use of standard Apple File Sharing). iSynCal can be used in demo mode for 15 days SyncTogether ($US50) from Mark/Space is a peer-to-peer application for synching iCal Tasks and Events, Address Book, Safari bookmarks and more on up to 3 Macs (formerly MySync). The clean interface will be familiar to users of M/S Missing Sync products, and this app is definitely the most comprehensive of the three. SyncTogether uses plugins & Apple's Sync Services technology (© Mark/Space) Spanning Sync is still in development (although you can download a beta as of this writing), and promises bidirectional data exchange between iCal and Google Calendar. The Spanning Sync System Preferences pane (© Spanning Partners) Update 13.03.07: GCALDaemon is a Java app that syncs between Google ...

Easily share an iCal calendar without .Mac

Bruce — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 04:37:11 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net :

Attempts to duplicate the functionality of .Mac can be very technical (as here), or Google-centric (as here). In his recap of alternative options, Derek mentions a potential iDisk replacement called Box. Box offer unofficial WebDAV support; WebDAV is the same protocol used by .Mac that lets you publish your calendars and allow other folk to subscribe to them from within iCal. Unfortunately (mt), my web host, doesn't support WebDAV. I've already taken care of photocasting using iPhoto to bypass .Mac, although an easy way to share my calendar to my wife had eluded me until now. Register for a Box account (1GB free storage), providing a login (email address) and password that you're prepared to share with those needing access to your calendar; In iCal select the calendar you want to share and choose Publish from the Calendar menu; Choose to publish on a private server, entering http://www.box.net/dav as the Base URL (thanks Dan; https:// didn't work for me); Enter your Box username and password and hit the Publish button. Once you've published, folk can access your calendar via a simple "webcal" URL (Calendar > Subscribe... in the iCal menu). On entering this URL and clicking Subscribe, they will be required to supply the login and password as above. Your uploaded iCal .ics file can now be managed from your Box account, even made public if you choose. When you refresh your calendar in iCal, the uploaded file on Box is automatically updated.

Moving from .Mac to Google

Bruce — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 23:35:24 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net :

MacDevCenter have published a great article entitled Making a Smooth Move from .Mac to Google. Intend to ditch .Mac? The article covers forwarding to Gmail, importing your Address Book (not an issue if using Gmail via POP), iCal to Google Calendar (synch is sadly one way), Google Notifier, using gDisk for online file storage, .Mac Groups to Google Groups, iWeb to Blogger, iPhoto to Picasa, and Google Browser Sync for synchronizing Firefox bookmarks, etc.

iPhoto to web gallery bypassing .Mac

Bruce — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 11:45:57 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net :

Apple's .Mac HomePage was a simple way to build a web gallery using versions of iLife prior to 06. With iLife/iPhoto 06, you're forced to use iWeb instead if you want integration. But it's not the changes that have caused me to shy away from .Mac—it's the lack of them. All those regular member benefits dried up like a Namibian river bed. When I migrated to WordPress the only substantial part of my online presence that remained dependent on .Mac was my photography. That is the case no more. What do you need to perform a .Mac bypass? An alternative web host (e.g. Media Temple) A version of iPhoto (I'm using iLife 06) Gallery software that "connects" with iPhoto Some photos (huh?) Gallery software for "static" web-space To a large extent your initial choice of gallery software depends on the capabilities of your web space; if you can upload only static pages (as with .Mac), you can't make use of solutions that require server-side scripting. If you want something very basic, you could just use iPhoto's built-in "Web page" Export plug-in (just upload and link to the exported pages): If you want more options, Galerie is a free Universal Binary application (it's not a plug-in) that integrates with iPhoto to publish your pictures or albums with the press of a button (shown without configuration): Gallery software using server-side scripts There are several open-source photo galleries based on PHP and a back-end database, such as MySQL. Rob has written an informative write-up comparing Coppermine and Gallery. I installed Gallery ...

Step-by-step iBlog to WordPress

Bruce — Mon, 29 May 2006 10:57:22 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net :

I talked about doing it, and even tried out the some of the theory. Eleven months later I did it. This is a reconstruction of the process I went through in migrating from iBlog to WordPress. In the best tradition of reconstructions it is put togther partly from hand-written plus typed notes, old screen captures, lots of coffee, and reliance on memory. Apologies if it seems a bit dis-jointed. I should have gotten to it sooner, but you know how it is... Alternative post title: "Crossing to the Server Side" WordPress.com or WordPress.org? Having decided on WordPress, the next step is to decide if you want hand-holding (.com) or wish to bring the warp core online and experience the full power of a DIY install (.org). In a nut shell, with a WordPress.com hosted account you get: Blog stats (but you can add this functionality to a DIY installation); Askimet plug-in activated (but you can activate it for DIY using a free API key. More important is what you don't get relative to a DIY installation: The ability to import your posts from previous blogging systems; The ability to use plug-ins of your choice; The ability to edit (and create new) custom themes. The choice is yours. Sometimes being constrained is a good thing (i.e. you have better things to do than tweak code 'till the early hours); other times it is a bind. If you chose the .com option you're done reading here. Otherwise, if you dare, read on... (A) Create a WordPress development environment Download and install the MAMP local ...

How to build a DIY .Mac replacement

Bruce — Mon, 27 Mar 2006 06:10:50 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net :

Matter Simerson describes a project to retain the .Mac features he found most useful (iDisk, iSync (between computers), iCal sharing, and Backup) and address various shortcomings: for iDisk speed and disk space; for iCal slow publish and subscribe; for Backup disk space.

Apple .Mac membership looking less attractive

Bruce — Sat, 14 Jan 2006 06:53:01 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net :

Once, long ago, being a member of Apple's .Mac seemed like a good idea—even value-for-money. Following the recent Macworld in San Francisco (Jan 2006) I'm left wondering what I'm getting for my money. I use Gmail instead of .Mac for e-mail, because I find it more flexible in use for mail forwarding to and from my domain. I used to make use of Virex, until Apple killed support in recognition that it caused some users more problems than it solved (I now use ClamXav). The .Mac membership area used to make software freebies available (including iBlog); this habit has long since dried up. Occasionally the Pulbic folder on my iDisk sees use as a drop-box, but the only .Mac feature I use regularly is HomePage integration with iPhoto for sharing holiday snaps (although there are excellent free alternatives, such as Galerie). When Mac OS X Tiger was released .Mac users were promised "exclusive" widgets; they never materialised. And now Apple has released iLife 06, together with iWeb, the icing on the cake of disappointment. Apple promotes iWeb as if it's some kind of benefit of a .Mac membership—but it's not. It's not included. whereas it used to cost £70 for a .Mac membership, if you want to enjoy all the features Apple trumpets, it now costs £125 (£70 for .Mac plus £55 for iLife 06). Add your ISP costs to that and you have a fair bit of cash to spend on a more transparent and competitive hosting service. A couple of "first impression" ...

Blogging with ecto: big on features

Bruce — Sat, 31 Dec 2005 20:16:24 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net :

This blog is published using the iBlog client, an easy-to-use OS X application that makes uploading static pages to the .Mac server simple. iBlog version 1.x has been around for a few years now and despite a number of updates its basic feature set has remained relatively static. However, version 2.x is now in development and promises to add some of the features requested by users in the small but friendly community Forum. Mac fans can now choose from an increasing range of blogging software, and here I take a quick look at ecto, a seemingly popular and well-regarded client. This article refers to iBlog (version 1.x), a Mac blogging client that was formerly used to publish this site. It may refer to design elements and other features that have since been replaced. Ecto is described as: a feature-rich desktop blogging client for MacOSX and Windows, supporting a wide range of weblog systems, such as Blogger, Blojsom, Drupal, MovableType, Nucleus, TypePad, WordPress, and more. This software is far from a gooy mess (as in ectoplasm... sorry) but not perfect, and in some ways overly complex. I was unable to get iPhoto or iTunes integration working (I tried version 2.4.1 with a Blogger account). I want to highlight some of the things that work well from the point-of-view of an iBlog user with a "version 2.x wish list" in mind! Do you prefer plain or RTF? iBlog 1.x uses and RTF editor which is responsible for introducing spurious code that has thus far prevented this blog from ...

Transmit improves on iDisk access speed

Bruce — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 18:54:00 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net :

One of the (increasingly few) benefits of an Apple .Mac account is the iDisk—space on Apple's servers for hosting your website, sharing files or iCal calendars, saving backups, and displaying iPhoto-made photo albums, etc. The Mac OS X Finder mounts your iDisk using the WebDAV protocol, but it does so at a depressingly lethargic pace. Most of my interaction with iDisk involves prolonged periods of observing that all-too-familiar spinning beach-ball. I'm pleased to report that there is a faster, yet still Finder-like way, of working with an iDisk. Transmit is an FTP client from Panic Software. I used to use an earlier version to manage a website stored on an FTP server, but this was not capable of opening and browsing WebDAV servers. As my site is current hosted on .Mac I have been using the Finder to mount, browse, and drag-and-drop between my iDisk and my desktop. Recently the slow pace of interaction has become a real issue; I decided to look at alternatives. Also of interest, receiving favourable comments in online fora (or forums's if you prefer), were Cyberduck (free), Goliath (free), and Yummy FTP ($US25). Of these only Goliath joined Transmit in being able to access WebDAV servers, but the interface was not to my taste. I tried it out and decided to upgrade to Transmit 3. I'm not going to review it here but rather highlight two things which make it a winning product for me as a .Mac user. Firstly, as mentioned you can use it instead of ...

Tiger issues

Bruce — Sat, 07 May 2005 05:26:44 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net :

I've updated to Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" and it's become clear that Tiger has a number of "issues". To minimise the chance of incompatibilities I wiped my hard drive and did a clean install, restoring documents and re-installing applications from a backup. Some of the issues are easily overcome, others a bit more concerning. I'll add to this list as I encounter new issues, and document any fixes as I become aware of them. Shared iCal calendars Under Panther you have the option to publish to .Mac (which creates a publicly-accessible web page) or to a WebDAV server. Under Tiger you have the option to publish to .Mac or to a private server. You can still enter the same .Mac URL as previously—provided you made a note of it (which I didn't!): Unable to wake from sleep This issue seems popular. Fix: set Never as the sleep option in the Energy Saver preference pane. Unable to revert to QuickTime Pro 6 I don't want an extra codec at a cost of $US30, having paid for several previous QuickTime Pro licenses and the MPEG-2 licence. Apple won't let me "downgrade" to QuickTime 6 Pro under Tiger. The QuickTime 6.5.2 installer says: The QuickTime 6.5.2 re-installer (apparently for Mac OS 10.3.9 only) says: Bruce says: "Bugger!" Adding a signature to a .Mac account in Mail 2.0 Under Panther I used aliases to protect my .Mac e-mail address. It turns out that in Mail 2.0 you cannot associate a signature with aliases to your .Mac account unless your also list you "real" ...