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 from this checklist, iWeb publishing, Gallery and iDisk are all getting the axe. Apple has said that it will continue to support iWeb publishing, posting and viewing photos in MobileMe Gallery, and reading and writing to iDisk cloud storage through June 30, 2012 if you’re an existing customer, even if you choose to transition to iCloud before that cut-off date. If you’re looking around for a hosting alternative for your site, check out Geoffrey’s rundown of some of the options available.

Services you can’t take with you if you transition early include syncing of dashboard widgets, keychains, Dock items and System Preferences. You’ll have to remain a MobileMe user if you want to continue using these features, but they’ll also be shut off for everyone on June 30, 2012. Apple points out that while the services listed above are ending, iCloud brings new features not available in MobileMe, like iTunes in the Cloud, Photo Stream, Documents in the Cloud, automatic downloads for purchased content, and cloud backup and restore.

Services that you can take with you — including Mail, Contacts, Calendar and Find My iPhone — will still be accessible via web apps after the transition to iCloud, Apple says, which is a nice plus for users who want to be able to access their info, email and contacts on devices they don’t own.

As someone who’s been using MobileMe since the service was first introduced, I can honestly say that I’ve only ever used a couple of the services being discontinued (Gallery and iDisk), including the sync options. Even the ones I did use, I used only sparingly, and not recently. I think Apple’s making the smart move here, by cutting the fat as it shifts the focus to the much more generally useful services coming with iCloud.

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Crazy as it sounds, Google, Apple’s chief rival in the smartphone market, will be the one saving iOS users stuck in this donut hole. Moving to Google syncing requires only minor modifications to your iOS gadgets and your Mac, and you’ll be able to keep your contacts, calendars and email in step across devices. You’ll need to sync your iOS device to Google as well as sync your Mac to Google, and you should always backup the data on both before doing so. Note that doings so requires at least Leopard for Mac users.

Google has excellent instructions on how to set up your iOS device with a Google account. You’ll need to set up the Google account first of course, but most people already have that. Note that other email addresses you happen to be using on your devices that aren’t tied to your Google account won’t have their data backed up.

Setting up your Mac to sync with Google is also quite easy again due to excellent instructions, in particular on how to sync your calendars and how to sync your contacts.

While you’re at it, you might consider moving from iCal to BusyCal, as BusyCal syncs simply with Google using only your login credentials, while syncing with iCal is a multi-step process.

Google has a great opportunity to get users signed up in this window between Apple’s announcement and when its service goes live. Both Google and Apple will soon be battling for the right to store users’ data, a much different fight than that going on between operating systems. Any advantage in that coming fight could be a significant one.

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Music and Video

For syncing music and video, I found two Mac applications which grab content from iTunes and sync it to your phone: one free and one which costs $40.

The saying “you get what you pay for” definitely applies here, as the free application, DoubleTwist, isn’t exactly feature-rich. When you connect a phone, you get the option to view the music, photos and movies that are on the device, and you can sync your music and videos onto the phone. You can either select Sync all or choose certain playlists to sync. I don’t use playlists in iTunes, but I can imagine that it would be simple enough to set up some Smart Playlists to decide what to sync. There’s also the option to select content from your media library and drag-and-drop it onto your device in the sidebar. Straightforward, but somewhat tedious.

If you’re interested in using DoubleTwist with your Mac and Android device, check out James Kendrick’s screencast on the subject at the end of this post for a more in-depth look.

The $40 application, The Missing Sync by Mark/Space, claims to be much more like iTunes. It can sync everything iTunes can sync, plus it has some extra bells and whistles thrown in, such as Wi-Fi syncing and Proximity Sync, which syncs your phone automatically when it’s near your computer. Looking around the Mark/Space website, I couldn’t find a trial download. Seems like it’s all or nothing with the Missing Sync, so if the feature list and demo video are enough to entice you, take the plunge.

Apps

Since you can’t store your Android apps on your Mac, there’s no way to sync apps in the same way as iTunes does. However, there is an online service, AppBrain, which lets you log into your Google account and set up lists of apps to install on your device. When you open the corresponding AppBrain app on your phone, it’ll go ahead and install those apps for you. The app on the phone will also keep track of available updates to apps you have installed, much like the App Store for iOS.

Contacts and Calendars

Address Book and iCal also can’t sync directly with an Android phone. The aforementioned The Missing Sync can sync your contacts and calendars, but for a free option, it’s simple to set up syncing using a Google account. Android phones effortlessly sync with Google accounts, and you can set up Address Book and iCal to sync with Google, too.

In iCal, open up Preferences and go to the Accounts tab. Add a new account and select Google from the dropdown list. Then add your basic Google information and click “Create.”

In Address Book, go to Preferences and go to the Accounts tab. Check the “Synchronise with Google” checkbox and click Configure. Now simply enter your Google account details and hit OK.

Photos

We’ve looked at ways of getting content onto your device, but what about getting it back off? If you take photos using your phone’s camera, you’ll likely want to transfer them to your computer for later viewing. Once again, The Missing Sync can do this, but there are a couple of free alternatives.  iPhoto can transfer photos the same way as it does for an iPhone. Just plug in your phone, and it’ll appear in the iPhoto sidebar under Devices. You can then go ahead and choose the photos you want to import.

For non-iPhoto users, you can also use Image Capture, which comes with all Macs and can be found in the Applications folder. It’s not as pretty as iPhoto, but it allows you to choose the exact folder to store imported photos in, and also lets you delete photos from your device. Strangely, although it’s called Image Capture, the application also picks up the MP3s stored on my SD card, but other than that, it works as you’d expect.

Backing Up

Anyone who’s had to restore an iPhone knows the importance of iTunes’ automatic backups. By using the MyBackup Pro app on your Android device, you can either save a backup of your content to your SD card, or to the MyBackup servers, where it’ll be available even if you lose your phone. It costs $4.99, but in the long term, it may be able to save you from hours of work getting all your content back if something goes wrong. You can even schedule backups so you can just set up and forget.

Wrap-up

So there are some ways to replace iTunes for use with an Android device. I don’t doubt that there are many other solutions out there, but these are the ones I use. If you’d rather have everything in one place, and don’t mind spending $40, go for The Missing Sync. Otherwise, almost everything else I’ve mentioned here is free.

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The platform itself only launched earlier this month, so it’s nice to see Microsoft moving so quickly to support Mac users. Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 also hits OS X tomorrow, and it’s a major improvement from previous incarnations from what I’ve seen so far. Maybe Redmond is tired of fighting against the tide, and just wants to ride the Apple wave. Though not everyone associated with Microsoft is embracing Cupertino.

Windows Phone 7 Connector for Mac is a free download from the Windows Download Center, despite requiring Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard) or higher.

I’m sure I know what you’re grumbling right now: “iPhoto/Aperture does that, what’s the big deal?” Well, if you want to get right to the good stuff — all the good stuff — without scrubbing through the chaff first, there may be a better way to address the situation.

The situation as I see it, looks something like this:

• Over time, I’ve used iPhoto, so I have some photos there.
• I also, and exclusively now, use Aperture.
• I’ve got random video clips from the point-and-shoot camera that are scattered around Finder and iPhoto.
• I’ve got Flip video in the Flip version of iPhoto.
• I’ve got photos and HD video from my iPhone 4 in Aperture.

I realize that maybe I’m just sorely disorganized (ok, I know I am), but I’m guessing similar conditions probably exist in many a household out there in reader-land. Sharing all of this from my Mac is one thing. At least it’s all right there, so even if I have to switch apps and dig a little bit, I can get to it. But then there’s the real kicker: How do I elegantly get all of the good stuff synced to my mobile iDevice to share on the go?

My Solution

The solution I came up with isn’t necessarily the best (please share your own in the comments for the good of the community!), but it has certainly proven to suit my needs. Basically, I siphon all of the photos and personal video from their various locations (older iPhoto libraries, various Aperture libraries, Flip Video, Finder, and so on) and drop them all into a single iPhoto library (which I’ve named ‘sync’).

If you’re unfamiliar with creating a new iPhoto library, it’s quite easy. When you launch iPhoto, hold down the Option key, and a dialogue will ask you if you want to select a different library, or create a new one. Once I created the new library and dragged all my media in, I made sure it was organized in a way that made sense for me to show it off. So I’ve got ‘Family 2009′, ‘Family 2010′, ‘Photography’, and ‘Home Movies’ albums for easy access to everything. Of course, you may want to drill down to specific events like iPhoto and Aperture do, so do whatever makes most sense for your needs.

The beauty of this particular solution is that since Aperture is my main photo application, iPhoto is left untouched. Therefore, leaving the ‘sync’ library as the default in iPhoto means it’s always available for syncing to my iPhone. And of course if I’m at home I can pull up iPhoto on the MacBook or big screen to easily share the content that I want without having to sift through tons of other media that isn’t nearly as interesting.

The downside here is that whenever you have new photos or videos, you have to manually drag and drop them into your new ‘Sync’ iPhoto library. Although with a little time and know-how, Automator could be utilized to solve this problem as well.

If you’ve run into the same problem, and developed your own workaround, we’d love to hear your solution as well.

While we’re patiently waiting for our friends over at the iPhone Dev-Team to finish up the new jailbreak for iPhone 4, I thought It might be fun to have a look at some of the cool apps available for those willing to crack open their magical devices. Please keep in mind that by jailbreaking your phone you’re totally voiding your warranty, so proceed at your own risk.

If you’re willing to take the chance, modding your phone can really add a lot of new functionality to those little computers we’re all carrying around. Want to quickly create your own Wi-Fi hotspot? There’s an app for that. Would you like to sidestep Apple’s 3G restrictions? There’s an app for that. Ever thought it would be nice to wirelessly sync with iTunes? You get the idea.

Here’s a few I plan on installing once the new jailbreak drops and they’ve all been updated to work with the latest version of iOS.

• 3G Unrestrictor lets you get around all those draconian restrictions Apple places on how you can use your 3G connection by tricking the phone into thinking it’s on Wi-Fi. Watch high quality videos, download applications or podcasts, maybe even use FaceTime.
• Wi-Fi sync lets you cut that USB cable and sync your music, apps, photos, contacts, calendars, and more with iTunes over the air at the touch of a button.
• snes4iphone is an emulator that lets you relive those heady days of Super Nintendo fun right on your phone. F-Zero on your phone? OMG.
• MyWi creates a Wi-Fi hotspot for connecting laptops or other mobile devices to your iPhone’s internet connection. You can also use it to enable USB and Bluetooth tethering as a bonus.
• Action Menu adds some additional handy buttons to the usual copy/paste menu you see when selecting text on the phone. Send the text to your Twitter app of choice, look it up in the dictionary, access clipboard history and more.

Jailbreaking your brand new phone is always a risk. You void your warranty and start down a path of SHSH blobs, root passwords, and SSH connections. Oh my! The Dev-Team and app developers have done a great job at making things as easy as possible, but if you’re not willing to spend some time troubleshooting your own issues, you’re probably better servedleaving your phone factory fresh.

Still, I think it’s well worth jumping through all those hoops in order to pick up the kind of added functionality you see above. What do you think, is it worth it? What apps are you looking forward to adding?

To get iTunes ready is simple. All you have to do is open your Applications folder, and make an alias of iTunes by control-clicking its icon and selecting ‘Make Alias’. Now drag your newly-created alias and drop it in [Your Home folder] → Library → PDF Services. What this does is adds iTunes as an option when you select the PDF button in a Print dialog.

At the moment when you click PDF under Print, it’s going to say ‘iTunes alias’, which isn’t very informative. Rename your iTunes alias in the Finder to something along the lines of ‘Send PDF to iTunes’ or ‘Add PDF to iTunes’ and the menu item in the Pront dialog should update next time you open it.

Now whenever you have a document or web page open that you’d like to read in iBooks, all you have to do is go to File → Print, then click the PDF button in the lower left and choose your menu item for iTunes. The document will be saved as a PDF and sent straight into the Books section of your iTunes library.

This method works for any application that can open PDF files, not just iTunes.

Previously named Foxmarks, this plugin has now been made available for Safari, Google Chrome and Internet Explorer as well as Firefox, which previously was the only browser it supported.

Once you’ve downloaded Xmarks for whichever browsers you use, all you have to do is set up an account and the software will do the rest, working either as a preferences pane or as a plugin directly in the browser. All your bookmarks, whether they are in the bookmarks toolbar or in the folder hierarchy, are sent to the cloud, ready for syncing with another computer. When you log in from the second computer, you can even choose whether to replace your local bookmarks or merge them with the cloud.

Now whenever you make a change to your bookmarks, even if you only change the name or the location of one of them, the changes are synced with the website and changed accordingly on your other computers.

Xmarks also allows you to access your bookmarks from the Xmarks website, which is useful if you need to access one of them from a public computer, for example. Also available on the website is the ability to search the web and have the results sorted by how many people have the site in their bookmarks, allowing you to find sites based on whether other people have decided they are good, rather than what a search engine decides.

Developer Greg Hughes first revealed his Wi-Fi Sync app last month, demonstrating how the application would work via a video. His video shows a simple process in which upon launching the Wi-Fi Sync app for the first-time a required pairing exercise is completed. Following pairing with a near-by Mac, iTunes quickly opens and begins to complete a full typical sync as normal – all with no tethering required.

Following the applications submission to Apple, sadly but by no means surprisingly, the application was rejected. Greg detailed that an Apple representative explained the reasoning behind the applications rejection over the phone:

While he agreed that the app doesn’t technically break the rules, he said that it does encroach upon the boundaries of what they can and cannot allow on their store. He also cited security concerns.

Due to the application being denied access to the official iTunes App Store, as predicted Greg has since decided to offer the app to jailbreakers via alternative app store Cydia. In order to get the application working you will first need to have a jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch, have downloaded the Mac pairing client and have bought the app.

Joining the ever growing list of attractive jailbreak only apps, Wi-Fi Sync is now available to buy for just $9.99 (Cydia).

Jailbreakers: Will you be grabbing Wi-Fi Sync? Tell us in the comments if you plan to sync without wires!