The program has three major components: Calendar Cleaner, Contacts Cleaner and Sync Tune-Up. If you want just one of the components, you can purchase the first two separately at the Mac App Store. However it’s likely you’ll need all three so I recommend the buying the full package.

Contacts Cleaner looks for issues that could cause errors such as invalid characters, malformed phone numbers as well as duplicate information. What I like about this program is that it not only finds the errors, but tells you why it thinks they represent a problem. For example, I’d often put “husband and wife” in the First Name field, but Contacts Cleaner warns me “This contact has a space in the first name. In some cases these names can become transposed after syncing with Google.” Sure enough when I went into Google, I noticed that problem.

Calendar Cleaner does similar checks for errors that can occur with your various sync destinations. My calendar was fraught with malformed recurring events that wouldn’t sync, and a pass by Calendar Cleaner fixed those in no time.

Both programs give you the option of opening the item within Address Book or iCal in order to make sure you know what kind of change is being made before you authorize it. Apple’s Address Book application looks for merged items itself, but doesn’t give you options to control what is merged. iCal users have no built-in options to search for duplicates and merge events.

Finally, Sync Tune-Up (only available as part of the bundle) gives you a front end for more fine-grained control over fixing your sync-related issues, such as de-registering individual devices and software, or the “nuclear” option which rebuilds the entire sync database. If your sync is taking extra long or you’ve made a bunch of changes with your devices or accounts, a nice reset can do you a world of good. A good indication of problems can be found by looking at your console logs and looking for mentions of the “truth” and too much vacuuming.

The more you sync, the more likely it is that problems will occur. To prevent or repair these problems, Spanning Tools is a great option.

Disclosure: Spanning Tools provided a copy of the software for review purposes.

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As you can see in the video, the iCloud apps (running in the latest version of Safari on OS X Lion) look a lot like the redesigned Address Book and Calendar apps from Lion, as does the Mail app from screenshots I’ve seen. Apple’s decision to go for a unified look and feel between the web-based iCloud presence, Mac apps and iOS software is a great idea for encouraging adoption of cloud services among users new to the concept. One experience, no matter where you access from, really helps the learning curve and should help alleviate any concerns about privacy and security of access.

One other really nice feature about the iCloud.com beta: it appears to remember where you are when last you left off, even if you last logged in from a different computer, and delivers you right back to that same spot the next time you log in. It’s sort of like having Lion’s Auto Resume feature on the web.

Apple has definitely stepped up its game compared to MobileMe. Do you see yourself using iCloud on the web when it becomes available to the general public this September?

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Apple’s original implementation of “smart” file management isn’t just limited to the Finder, and in fact, you’ve probably seen it more often in other applications like Address Book and Mail.

Here are some ideas of how you can harness the power of these two applications using the same idea as Smart Folders.

Smart Groups

Address Book provides support for smart groups which allow for dynamic content, just like a smart folder. As new content is added that meet your guidelines, the group will automatically update.

Creating a Smart Group is as simple as going to File and selecting “New Smart Group…” or by clicking the plus icon (+) in the lower left corner of the Address Book window. Then give your group a name and set of criteria. As you add your second criterion, you’ll have the choice for your group to consist of any of your rules or all of your rules.

Here’s some ideas for useful smart groups.

Upcoming Birthdays

Interested in who might have a birthday this month? Set the birthday criterion to include entries that occur within the next month. (This will include all birthdays within a month of the current date or when you click to view the group.)

Missing Email Addresses

To see a list of people who you do not have an email address for, set the email criterion to include entries that are not set.

My Coworkers

Most companies offer their employees an email address that uses the corporate domain. If you created a smart group for “email” that contains “yourdomain.com” then you will have a group that is always updated with all of your coworkers. An extra bonus, these Smart Groups also show up and autocomplete in Mail.

Or Anything You Want

Since the Address Book allows for a “notes” section on each card, you can use this region to “tag” cards and then use a smart group to show results based on that information. (You could also repurpose one of the other standard fields for this use.) For example, throwing the word “family” into the appropriate contacts’ card would allow for you to create a smart group that just showed your family members.

Currently, Smart Groups cannot be synced to iPods or iPhones. While they also cannot be synced through MobileMe to me.com or Windows computers, they can still sync through MobileMe to other Macs.

Smart Mailboxes

Mail has its own flavor of smart file management too with the implementation of smart mailboxes. To create one, use the Mailbox menu or the plus (+) icon in the lower left of the message viewer and select “New Smart Mailbox.”

Give your smart mailbox a name and choose the appropriate criteria for your mailbox. With the ability to create criteria based on recipient, subject, mailbox, date, message, attachment and more, you can create some pretty powerful mailboxes to help organize your workflow. Here’s a few suggestions.

Recently Viewed

Most people process tons of email on a daily basis and frequently people have multiple email addresses for different purposes. With all of these messages, is there an easy way to find that email you were looking at last night?

Sure! Create a new smart mailbox and select “date last viewed” and choose “is in the last” and specify a number of days.

Recently Sent

If I wanted to quickly find an email that I had sent recently, I could create a Smart Group that showed me messages in the mailbox “Sent” that were “date received” in the past 2 days. Also make sure you tick the “Include messages from Sent” checkbox.

Emails from My Family

Remember the family smart group we made in our Address Book earlier? We can create a smart mailbox to show us all the messages from those family members.

Select “Sender is Member of Group” and then choose the appropriate group from the drop down menu.

Similar to Smart Groups, Smart Mailboxes do not sync to iPods or iPhones nor to me.com or Windows computers through MobileMe. They will only sync via MobileMe to other Macs.

Do you use Smart Groups or Smart Mailboxes? Have any tips you’d like to share? Share them in the comments.

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There are comprehensive third party desktop syncing programs available such as Missing Sync, but realize that with a “Google-based” phone, over-the-air syncing is automatic and built in. When you purchase your Android-based phone, you’ll link it with your Google account (a free Google account is required to use the phone’s over-the-air syncing). Your phone will generally auto-sync with your Google account allowing you to possibly ditch your MobileMe subscription. The task then is to get your Mac to sync with the Google account.

1) Foreplay

While using a Droid isn’t as easy as using an iPhone, it’s not that much harder. Here’s a tip, do NOT allow your mobile phone company to import your contacts from your old phone. This has caused problems with synchronization for some. It’s best to start with a clean list of contacts in your Google account. If you haven’t synced your previous phone with your Mac, go ahead and do it before switching phones. If you can’t, you might consider typing the phone numbers into your Mac Address Book beforehand.

2) Safe Syncing

Syncing is only one step above the SCSI voodoo of previous generations. It’s always best to start with a core data set and push it to other devices. Trying to merge two data sets can result in duplication and corruption.

If your Google account already has contacts, export them from Google as a vCard file and import them into your Mac Address Book.
Once imported, delete the contacts from Google so the initial sync pushes all your Mac info into Gmail. As always, it’s a good idea to back up your data before any sync endeavor. From the Mac Address Book, go to the File menu, then choose Export, and then Address Book Archive.

For your calendar, the safe sync concept is similar but you actually want to start with a populated Google calendar and a clear iCal. From experience, if you push too much into Google at once, it can choke. If you already have a Google calendar, back it up by clicking “Settings” under the “My calendars” Then choose “Export Calendars”.

They’ll download as a zip file that you can double click and get the individual .ICS files. Similarly, backup your iCal by visiting the File Menu and choose “Backup iCal.”

Syncing can be buggy under the best of circumstances, which is why I recommend backups throughout the whole process.

Now that both your Google Calendar and your iCal calender are backed up, you’ll then want to export your existing iCal calendars and import then into your Google calendar. This isn’t the same as backing them up. Click on a calendar, and then go to the File menu and choose “Export This” which will create individual .iCal files for each calender you use. Note that Google doesn’t like To Dos so go ahead and remove those beforehand.

Now that you have your individual iCals exported, go to that same Settings tab in Google under “My Calendars” and now import your individual iCals into your existing calendars. Note: it won’t give you an option to create a new calendar from the import, so have your Google calendars ready beforehand. Finally, delete your iCal calendars (remember to back up first) so your iCal is clear of info and all your data is now on Google’s servers.

3) Getting Your Sync On

If you skipped step two, proceed at your own risk. You have been warned.

If you have Snow Leopard, Google contact syncing is built-in: go to the Address Book Preferences and check “Synchronize with Google”. Put in your Google name and password and let the syncing begin! For Leopard users, you’ll need to own an iPhone or iPod touch to enable syncing or use third party apps like Gsync.

To sync calendars, you’ll need to be running Leopard or Snow Leopard. Go to your iCal application and then go to Preferences and then Accounts. Click the + icon and put whatever you want for description. For username put your name@gmail.com and your password for Gmail. Then under the disclosure triangle for Server Options, put https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/(followed by your googlemail address) and then user. So for example, https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/myname@gmail.com/user would be what you enter. Your calendars will now start downloading from the cloud. Alternatively, you can use BusySync and avoid these hassles.

For photos, iTunes-like picture sync isn’t available, but you can mount your Droid like any other mass-storage device and have it recognized. You’ll need to enable USB mounting first. Go to the menu at the top of your phone and then click USB Connection to mount the SD card. To move music and other multimedia files easily I recommend DoubleTwist.

Having used a Droid for a while I’m pretty darn impressed and you gotta love the advertising. If Mac syncing is holding you back from buying one, you just removed one reason not to switch!

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But now, as August finally draws to a close, there’s news that some investors might have been a bit naughty in their dealings with Apple shares. And the Securities & Exchange Commission is very keen to get to the bottom of it.

Reporting yesterday in the Huffington Post, Dan Dorfman says that he has obtained copies of internal SEC documents from what he calls a “regulatory contact” that show the SEC is investigating trading that occurred in four very specific periods of time, suggesting that more than one violation in trading may have taken place. Wall Street sources, he writes, have speculated that:

“…the agency’s investigation likely centered on possible trading that may have been based on the illegal use of inside information involving three particular Apple-related developments.”

The SEC is asking very pointed questions. It wants to know:

• Whether anyone got an illegal lead on precisely how sales were faring on key items in Apple’s highly successful Ipod product line.
• Whether anyone was given a precise insight into the health of the company’s co-founder and CEO, Steve Jobs, a cancer survivor who took a six-month leave of absence last January and then received a liver transplant. Subsequent questions about the viability of his health then led to a great deal of volatility in Apple’s shares.
• Whether anyone had exact knowledge of when specific releases would be made by the company with regard to Jobs’ health or Ipod sales and pretty much of an awareness, as well, as to what those announcements would say.

Dorfman adds that a trader told him that he saw “uncanny” trading taking place at Apple. “[I]t almost looked at times like the buyers and sellers were working at the company,” he quotes the trader as saying.

Coincidentally fortuitous buying and selling happens from time to time. But on four separate occasions? However this unfolds, you gotta admit that August has been a tumultuous month for the boys and girls in Cupertino.

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Many, many months ago, it looked like an official solution for syncing BlackBerry devices with the Mac (including media and iTunes playlists) was right around the corner. Now, almost a year later, RIM is finally making it official. But don’t get too excited. You still have to wait until September before the new software will be available for download.

BlackBerry Desktop Software for Mac, which should allow you to do pretty much everything you can do using the Desktop Software for Windows package currently available, will be available as a free download from BlackBerry.com. In addition to iTunes playlist syncing, you’ll also be able to manage your contacts, calendars and tasks, and install new software packages, if you’d rather not use App World to download them to your device directly.

In addition to a brief overview of the features of the new Desktop Software for Mac, Andrey at Inside Blackberry (the company’s official blog) also posted screenshots of the application in action. It looks a lot like their official Media Sync solution for Mac, but with a lot more options, as you’d expect from a program that does so much more. And it’s nice to see that RIM is paying attention to the desires of its users, as Apple-loving BlackBerry users have been clamoring for just such a program for years.

If you’ve been eagerly awaiting this release, and want to be first in line when it does eventually come out, you can sign up to be notified of its availability via BlackBerry’s web site. Users who want to get a taste of iTunes playlist syncing, without all of the other features, can download a Mac-compatible version of BlackBerry Media Sync that came out back in December of last year.

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A recently released application for the iPhone exploits an interesting new market — tracking conversations and following up calls. FollowUp aims to provide a location for noting down the action you need to take after receiving or making a call, along with a due date.

Functionality

As you’d expect, FollowUp integrates well with the Contacts application for noting down who you’ve called. The process involves opening FollowUp and noting down that you’ve had a conversation. You can enter the details of the person, date, call subject, associated notes and also set a follow-up date for when you should call them back.

If you’re lagging behind, the app will flag up those conversations which are most urgent and warn you if the follow-up date has expired. You can also set your own priorities if preferred.

After returning the call, you mark the conversation as completed and the previously stored details are retained for future reference. You may also choose to follow-up immediately, storing the old conversation while simultaneously creating a new one.

Problems

If you are someone who deals with regular phone calls and ongoing conversations, the application could be quite useful. However, I’m slightly skeptical about its functionality and price for a couple of reasons:

• If dealing with a large number of clients and phone calls, inputting notes and conversations into your iPhone would be far more time consuming that using some form of desktop solution. It’s great when traveling, but probably not the ideal solution when in the office.
• Most people would find the notes app to be perfectly suited to their needs. While lacking Contacts integration, it’s a quick (and free) way to jot down the required response to a call. Alternatively, sending an email to yourself or using some form of To-Do list manager would also work well.

If it’s an app which you’d find useful, FollowUp is available now from the iPhone App Store for an introductory price of $6.99. I’m interested to hear your thoughts on how you remind yourself of the need to call someone back — do you rely on a razor sharp memory or, like me, do you have some form of to-do list app?

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You’ll obviously want to decide what sort of grouping works best for you and the contacts in your iPhone’s Favorite list. Start by editing your favorites list, and ordering the contacts by your desired categorization. For me, it’s ‘Friends’, ‘Family’, and ‘Work’. So I’ve created a new contact for each.

The first name field looks something like ——FRIENDS—— and then a bogus 1 (234) 567-890 number has been created (since the Contacts app will argue with you if you try to create an empty listing).

Then make sure to favorite these new contacts to add them to your list. Once in the list, move your new separator contacts to the top of the ordered categories you previously decided on. Sure, it makes your Favorites list just a bit longer, but the usability (at least for me) is increased significantly.

The App Store has a few possible solutions as well:

• Fast Contacts is sort of a ‘kitchen sink’ option that does all kinds of sorting with your contacts data. It’s $1.99.
• Q Contacts adds a search feature to your list, and buttons next to the results allow you to text, email, or call the contact right from there. The two latest reviews when I looked seem to like it, but ask for more speed, and a Favorites list…maybe this won’t help solve the problem I started this article with. It’s free though, so give it a shot.
• InTouch Contacts appears to be another full-featured Contacts alternative that sorts in 5 different views, though it’s not immediately clear if you can create any custom lists. This one will cost you $2.99.

If you’ve got some useful tips for managing a lengthy Favorites list, or know of a killer contacts app for the iPhone (or iPod touch), do tell! It’s nice to share, and that’s what the Comments are for.

Author’s Note: I’ve been using this technique for a while and don’t recall whether the original inspiration for the idea was my own or not. I’m getting up there in my years, so if this was something I actually found elsewhere, it’s poor memory to blame for the lack of a shout-out, not a lack of respect…

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This might just be incredibly coincidental timing, but Apple is announcing that they’ve finally brought the Windows side of their MobileMe personal data syncing service up to snuff, only shortly after it’s come to light that Microsoft in working on their own similar service, currently dubbed “My Phone.” Either way, Windows users who are also MobileMe subscribers (like myself, via BootCamp and netbook) should be well pleased with the new feature additions.

The improvements were made to MobileMe’s syncing service for Outlook, which until now was pretty dismal, and not very Push-y at all. In fact, I never actually considered Windows syncing to be a big part of my MobileMe purchase, and rarely used it when running Windows, preferring to just check my email, calendar, etc. via the web interface or on my iPhone.

Apple now promises that changes you make to your Outlook calendar and/or contacts list will automatically update the information stored on MobileMe, and vice versa. To get the new auto-syncing features working, all you have to do is make sure you are running iTunes 8.0.2 and have downloaded and installed the latest update for MobileMe Control Panel, version 1.3. Once that’s done, you just have to set the “Sync With MobileMe” option to “Automatically.”

It’s something the service should have launched with, honestly, if they really wanted to appeal to the Windows market. Personally, I suspect that most, if not all, Windows users of MobileMe are also OS X users. I find it highly unlikely that Window-only people would buy an Apple-branded personal data syncing solution. If you’re out there, speak up and prove me wrong!

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Jealous of MobileMe users but not willing to part with $100 and/or wary of its seemingly persistent problems? Have no fear, Google’s here.

Google Sync Beta, that is, which is now available for the iPhone (and Windows Mobile, but c’mon, honestly). With it, you can sync your Google Calendar and your Gmail Contacts over the air, and what’s more, changes on either side are automatically pushed. I know I’m sort of regretting that MobileMe subscription right about now, considering I never use the Photos, iDisk, or Bookmarks features anyways, although push Mail syncing is not yet supported.

Setting up Google Sync Beta on your iPhone is easy, but be forewarned: doing so will delete your existing iPhone contacts and calendar data, so don’t do it unless you have that information safely stored somewhere else. And if you’re currently using MobileMe, disable that first, or you’ll run the risk of pushing your deleted contacts/calendars to your other devices.

Once you’ve safely backed everything up, activating the service is easy. There’s no app to install, and nothing to activate on the web-based side of things. Google Beta Sync uses Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync protocol, so you’ll basically be setting up a new Exchange account via the “Add Account…” feature in the “Mail, Contacts, Calendars” settings submenu. Google has full instructions on their official help page.

I set this up on my iPod touch, once I’d safely deleted my MobileMe account there, and it worked without a hitch. Since my Gmail account is long neglected, and only briefly used in the first place, I only had about three contacts, but their information was there. My calendar was actually still set up from when I’d used it for work, so it had all the recurring events accounted for. Test events and contacts that I created on either side were automatically synced, so the service does indeed behave as advertised.

Probably too early to say, but if Google builds this out a little more, and manages to add support for any of its other web services, I’d say MobileMe has good reason to shake in its proverbial boots.

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