From the iTunes interface it appears you have to choose the option of either local or iCloud backup of your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. But that’s not true. You can do both! Here’s a quick tutorial on how to do it. Read more »
In the first quarter of 2012 all eyes were on the screen, both big and small. Apple’s new Retina display pushed video streaming, and broadcast-TV streaming service Aereo’s launch was quickly followed with litigation. These events and more are discussed in a new quarterly report. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
This is a victory for Motorola: Not only did the judge agree that an earlier injunction granted against Apple’s cloud e-mail services should be upheld, Apple was also ordered to pay Motorola unspecified damages, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. Read more »
The contact and calendar sync service hopes to use newly-acquired seed funding to release a collaborative product by the end of the year Read more »
OS X Mountain Lion looks to improve on Lion with UI refinements and some significant changes for developers. Most of those changes appear to be out in the cloud. Here’s a list of changes that Apple is rolling out, and how they will affect developers. Read more »
Seven months after Mac OS X Lion, Apple is releasing its first developer preview of what comes next for its desktop OS, which will be called Mountain Lion. Like its predecessor, Apple’s upcoming desktop OS is starting to bear more than a passing resemblance to iOS. Read more »
On Friday, Motorola was granted a permanent injunction by a German court against a feature of Apple’s iCloud. The same day Apple removed some older models of iPhones and iPads from its German online store due to enforcement of another patent held by Motorola. Read more »
This year’s CES was the biggest in the show’s 44-year history. It boasted 15 miles of exhibit hall aisles, 3,100 booths and 153,000 attendees. It is easy to be jaded by the endlessly repetitive products, but the thousands of innovations point toward a future of connectivity. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Apple CEO Tim Cook said iCloud “is not just a product, it’s a strategy for the next decade.” What will that mean for a company trying to lead us all into the post-PC world? We look at possible future applications of cloud-based services from Apple. Read more »
Call it the year of lessons learned, if not quite bubbles burst. In 2011, several trends in the connected consumer space that appeared inexorable at the start of the year seemed disorganized by the end. What does that mean for the next 12 months? From cloud-based media storage to daily deals to the fight for the digital living room, 2012 will be a year of consolidation and integration. Both entrepreneurs and investors will figure out that many once-promising standalone business models need to be grounded on more solid, integrated platforms to create real value. Companies mentioned in this report include Hulu, LivingSocial, Netflix and Zynga. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
When Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) launched its iCloud service earlier this year, it automatically gave users of its own devices 5GB of free cloud-base… Read more at paidContent »
Microsoft’s SkyDrive is coming to an iPhone near you, the company said this week. A new app means that iPhone users can store and access their personal photos, files and documents in SkyDrive as opposed to, say, Apple’s own iCloud. Read more »
Access to past iTunes purchases through iCloud is a big plus when it comes to transferring media, and a competitive advantage for Apple’s digital sales ecosystem. But users who depend too heavily on it stand the chance of getting burned, as one customer recently discovered. Read more »
With Google Music, Amazon Cloud Player and iCloud, there has never been an easier — or more confusing — time to buy music. Avowed music geek Dan Kantor of exfm tells you everything you need to know about how (and where) you should buy your music online. Read more »
Apple told a German court Friday that if it granted a temporary ban on some Apple products in the country for infringing a Motorola email syncing patent, $2.7 billion is the amount of money Apple could potentially lose. The judge was reportedly skeptical about the amount. Read more »
Apple officially launched iTunes Match on Monday. I managed to sign up, and take the service for a test ride using a small iTunes library to see how it would handle iTunes purchases, ripped tracks and anything else I could think to throw at it. Read more »
On Monday, Apple made iTunes Match available to any U.S. iTunes account holder for $24.99 per year. On the surface, having your entire iTunes library stored in and accessible from the cloud is great, but getting from Match subscription to usable library isn’t exactly easy. Read more »
Whether you use iCloud, MobileMe or Google to sync your contacts and calendars — no matter how careful you are — glitches occur. Fortunately, Spanning Tools helps clean up your contacts and calendars, making sure your syncs go as planned and correcting errors after the fact. Read more »
Apple announced at its iPhone 4S event that iTunes Match would launch by “late October,” but that self-imposed deadline has come and gone, and consumers have yet to gain access to the service. The cloud music storage service has been available to developers since August. Read more »
The rapid growth in storage and processing power will put a big strain on the capabilities of the cloud and our wireless networks. But Jeff Belk of ICT168 Capital believes that there is opportunity to be found if we look both forward and backward. Read more »
In addition to the apparent acquisition of Yahoo’s former head of Global Data Center Infrastructure, Apple’s recent staff shifts apparently also include the departure of one of Siri’s co-founders. Don’t worry, though, the iPhone 4S’s personal assistant remains in good hands. Read more »
While Apple delivered an overwhelming batch of updates, new features and new software in recent weeks, there are still some loose ends it could stand to tie up. Read on to discover why features like iMessage, Siri and AirPlay mirroring still feel somewhat incomplete. Read more »
With the arrival of iCloud backups we are free from needing to attach your iOS device to iTunes to have it backed up. Gone are the annoying delays when you just want to sync something quick, but need to suffer through “Backing up…” first. Read more »
Apple’s highly anticipated iCloud consumer cloud service went live last week in a debut marred by snafus that show that cloud providers addressing the consumer market still have some kinks to work out when it comes to easing data transition from device to cloud. Read more »
A common theme of questions I’m seeing about iOS 5 relates to how the update plays well with shared family devices and Apple ID accounts. People obviously love using iOS among family, and that will probably only become more the case with iOS 5 and iCloud. Read more »
When I wrote about Documents in the Cloud, one of my chief complaints was that the only way to upload and download files on my Mac was through the iCloud web interface. Turns out there is a way, thanks to an easy backdoor trick I discovered. Read more »
Configuring your iOS device to take advantage of new iCloud services is resulting in confusion and frustration for many. At the core of this confusion is the Apple ID. Here’s a thorough explanation of your options using Apple IDs with the iTunes Store, and with iCloud. Read more »
Thursday, I guest-hosted a live Q&A session at The Washington Post. The topic was upgrading to iOS 5, and also included questions about how iOS 5 and iCloud work, what features they offer, and how to transition to iCloud from other services. Read more »
Of all the iOS 5/iCloud announcements made during this summer’s WWDC, the one that excited me the most was Documents in the Cloud. Unfortunately, it’s also turned into the one that disappointed me the most at launch, thanks to a number of issues. Read more »
With iCloud, Apple introduced Photo Stream, a new feature that automatically syncs your photos across iOS devices, Macs and Windows computers. It makes transferring photos absolutely painless, but comes with one big caveat: Synced photos can’t be deleted from iCloud as of right now. Read more »
Part of Apple’s iCloud offerings is iTunes in the Cloud, which allows users to download past music, app and TV show purchases on any iOS or Mac associated with their account. A new report says Apple will soon add movies to the mix, too. Read more »
It’s happening again: three years after myriad problems derailed a massive relaunch of an Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) Web service, Apple’s servers we… Read more at paidContent »
Along with major OS updates for both OS X Lion and iOS, Apple released a boatload of software today in the form of new apps and updates to old favorites. Here’s a quick look at what’s new, what’s changed, and what we think about that. Read more »
Reminders, new in iOS 5, is a very simplistic task management app that syncs automatically between devices with iCloud. While it isn’t particularly complex or involved, it’s probably all the task management the average iPhone or iPad user needs. Read more »
Setting up iCloud on your iOS 5 device is actually pretty easy, especially because Apple gives you the option to either use your existing Apple ID or set up an entirely new account to get the process started. Here’s how it works, from beginning to end. Read more »
In addition to the iOS 5 updates, Apple has released the latest version of OS X 10.7, which allows users to access iCloud on the desktop. The update adds an iCloud System Preferences pane, and prompts you to sign up for the service immediately upon install. Read more »
Apple promised that iOS 5 and iCloud would be available Oct. 12, and as of 10 a.m. PDT, both are open to the general public. You can download iOS 5 for your device by plugging it into your computer and checking for updates in iTunes. Read more »
One part of Apple’s iCloud service that went live originally back in June is “iTunes in the Cloud,” which let U.S. users download past music purchases to any device associated with your iTunes account. Now, international customers can join in the fun, too. Read more »
Apple’s iOS 5 and iCloud are set to arrive for the general public later Wednesday, but Find My Friends and AirPort Utility have arrived a little early. Both are live, but you can’t access or use them unless you have iOS 5. Read more »
On Wednesday, Oct. 12, Apple will release iOS 5 and iCloud for all users of its mobile devices and Macs. The arrival of this new software could lead to big changes in the way you use your Apple hardware, and big changes call for preparation. Read more »
