This is a new feature in Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and now you can sync your Mac Address Book contacts to your Google or Yahoo Account, virtually eliminating the need to purchase Mobile Me.
Note: Syncing won't happen immediately - it can take up to about an hour.
What this does it keeps your Mac Address Book Contacts synced with your Google/Yahoo Mail Contacts automatically. So that when your working away from home or on vacation you can log into google/yahoo mail and have all your contacts email
addresses there, and up to date. It does not sync email.
Apple has something called Mobile Me which you can purchase for PC and Mac. This is what Mobile Me does:
Maybe you have a Mac at home, a PC at work, and an iPhone. MobileMe uses push technology to keep them all up to date. Make a change on one, and the rest are automatically updated.
With MobileMe, you can create a beautiful web gallery of your photos in just a few clicks. Add shots from your iPhone and flick through them with the new MobileMe Gallery app for iPhone and iPod touch.
iDisk makes it easy to store and share files online so you can access them from any computer. And with the free iDisk app for iPhone and iPod touch, you can view and share files even when you’re on the go.
Don’t know where your iPhone is? Let MobileMe help you find it with Find My iPhone. Display its location on a map, remotely set a passcode lock, or protect your privacy with Remote Wipe.
When you purchase Mobile Me they also give you a mobile me.com address where you can set up email addresses and have them come to your home computer, your iphone, or accessible from anywhere you are.
If someone doesn't want to purchase Mobile Me then syncing of the mac address book and google/yahoo is a good alternative.
I have Mobile Me and I love it.
There is a free 60 day Trial for Mobile Me for your PC or Mac which you can find here Mobile Me Free Trial
ahhhh very cool and thanks for the great explanation. OK I will say the "Find my iphone" is cool - do they have that for just ipod touches? See I would buy that for the son's ipod touch.
No they don't have it for ipod touches that I know of, but I read that they are upgrading that service, adding new features and options because of the new ipad so it might be worth watching.
Well I lock my network with MAC address only. But then I do not broadcast my SSID, which in a way hide my SSID, so no 1 would see my router on the computer even if they are in the next room. I think it is secure enough thou.
It only synched the email and phone numbers, not the addresses?
Wellington Florida
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Nice post SOTR. OK I admit I'm not a MAC person but what does it doe Syncing? Does it just mean that you don't have to add your password or it merges your emails?