TidBITS Presents “Adieu MobileMe” Live Online on 16 June 2012
And now for something completely different… TidBITS Presents!
We’ve written a number of articles about dealing with MobileMe’s upcoming demise and how to keep certain capabilities on older machines or on services other than iCloud. And, more comprehensively, Joe Kissell’s “Take Control of iCloud” has helped thousands of Mac users switch from MobileMe to iCloud, and learn how to make the most of iCloud’s features.
But judging from the anxiety that we’re hearing from TidBITS and Take Control readers, there are still lots of people out there who haven’t yet made the jump to iCloud, even though MobileMe is slated to go dark in less than a month, on 30 June 2012. We updated “Take Control of iCloud” with the latest information just a few weeks ago, but not everyone has a copy yet, and even for those who do, it’s impossible to anticipate every last question. And, of course, iCloud may not be the best option for everyone.
So here’s what we’re going to do. On Saturday, June 16th, at 12 PM Eastern (9 AM Pacific, and 6 PM in Paris, France, where Joe lives), we’re going to host a live online presentation about how to deal with MobileMe going away, which may involve switching to iCloud or replacing MobileMe’s services with those from Google, Dropbox, ZangZing, and others. This is exactly the sort of talk that Joe gives at major conferences like Macworld | iWorld and the MacMania cruises, but we’re making it free for all comers. Plus, our plan is to record it so those who are busy on Saturday can tune in later, although those who attend live will have a chance to ask questions and help guide the discussion while Joe is talking. Again, all of this
will be free, though we certainly hope it will encourage those people who wish to switch to iCloud to purchase “Take Control of iCloud.”
This is a big experiment for us, since although we’ve done lots of point-to-point online presentations for Mac user groups over the years, we’ve never tried a webinar for what could be hundreds of simultaneous viewers. We’re planning to use the Google+ Hangouts On Air service, since it seems to combine a decent live experience with automatic recording to YouTube. Even though we’ve done our last few staff meetings and this week’s WWDC commentary via Hangouts On Air, we’re still a bit unsure of how it will work for everyone. For instance, we believe that anyone can watch live, but you’ll need a Google+ account (and need to be logged in) to add questions to the Hangouts On Air post. And, alas, Hangouts On Air doesn’t work
on iOS yet, which is a shame, since we think it would be brilliant to be able to watch on the iPad (you will be able to view the YouTube video on the iPad afterwards, though).
So, if you have some free time next Saturday at noon Eastern, do join Joe and me, and bring your MobileMe questions. As you’ll see on the TidBITS Presents landing page we’ve set up, the link to the live presentation won’t be available until we start it. If you need to communicate with us in some fashion outside of Google+, send me messages via Twitter at @adamengst.
Hangouts On Air doesn’t seem to have a scheduling or reminder service, so it’s up to you to remember at the right time. Or you can download this .ics file and import it into iCal or BusyCal on the Mac, or into Calendar on iOS.
My mother's mini can't handle Lion, but she uses email @me.com. I configured Mail.app to use the iCloud IMAP & SMTP servers manually, but it reverted to the wrong servers at least twice.
My father brought the mini to the Apple Store, where they upgraded to Snow Leopard (insufficient RAM for Lion) and redid the IMAP reconfiguration. Now that she's running Snow Leopard, if it breaks we can use iChat screen sharing to fix it again, but so far so good...
Apple has told people what to do to prepare for the MobileMe shutdown, but hasn't explained what will happen if they don't. Should be interesting.
For example: suppose you have your iDisk mounted on your Mac and you put your Mac to sleep on or before June 30; what happens to your Mac when you wake it on 1 July? I may run that experiment on my old Snow Leopard iMac just to see...
I have 3 business websites in iWeb and would like to know how to back this data up (besides on routine back-up to a Lacie) incase I can't recreate them in WordPress by the 30th.
I am also interested in anything hidden that may not be obvious for mac users to prepare for.
Thanks a million!
You might look at using Sandvox, which can extract the content from your iWeb sites (but it does it from the actual live site, so you would need to do this before the 30th). See my article about it.
http://tidbits.com/article/13070
I can't access it on my iPad 3. However, I can on my G5 iMac but the screen is very dark; audio is OK. Unfortunately I can't figure out how to ask questions.
Thanks, Dennis. Was the screen darker in the live presentation than what you can see in YouTube now?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVwRmXHrFyE
To leave comments, you needed to have a Google+ account and be logged in, and be on the appropriate Google+ post. It's a somewhat wonky system to explain.
Just watched the presentation live. Great! Thank you both. You Tube Great - Google Plus NO! Google Plus I could not watch the video though I could watch it live through the You Tube page. Though I have a Google Acct, I will not sign up for Google Plus which I distrust and they will not allow comments. Thanks again
Glad there was an option that worked even without Google+ then!