Your MobileMe Account Ends Soon: Moving to iCloud

Last summer Apple released iCloud along with iOS 5 and Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. iCloud offers many of the same features that MobileMe users have been enjoying for years, and iCloud is free.

At the same time, Apple announced that MobileMe would be discontinued this summer in favor of iCloud. Existing MobileMe users were given a free extension of their MobileMe account until June 30, 2012 – at which point MobileMe service will end. MobileMe users can migrate to iCloud, as long as your devices are supported.

iCloud requires your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices to be running iOS 5, and your Macs to be running Lion.

PsiMac has been evaluating iCloud, iOS 5, and Lion since their releases, and we are prepared to begin transitioning existing MobileMe users to iCloud ahead of the June deadline.

Scheduling

We are scheduling iCloud migrations for April and May. Please check the online availability and let us know your preferred appointment.

Preparing for iCloud and Lion

Please send us some information about your systems so we can advise further about how you can migrate to iCloud.

On each Mac you plan to use with iCloud, please complete the following five steps:

1) Go to the Apple menu in the upper left of the screen and choose About This Mac. Please make note of the Version, the Processor, and the Memory. Click More Info and make note of the Serial Number.

2) Go to the Finder by clicking the Finder icon in the Dock. Click on your Startup Disk (usually named Macintosh HD) and then choose Get Info from the File menu in the menubar at the top of the screen. Please make note of the Capacity, Available, and Used.

3) Make a list of the non-Apple apps that you use. Older apps may need to be upgraded to a Lion-compatible version, and some apps do not yet have a Lion-compatible version. Here are some examples of common apps that are incompatible with Lion:

• Microsoft Office 2004 (upgrade to Office 2011; Office 2008 also compatible)
• Adobe CS 1 or CS 2 (upgrade to CS 5; CS 3 and 4 also mostly compatible)
• Quicken (no compatible version; consider Quicken Essentials or iBank)

Other apps can be checked against this compatibility table to determine whether they will need to be upgraded.

4) Click the Time Machine menu in the menubar in the upper right of your screen and make note of the status to be sure your backups are up to date.

5) Go to the Apple menu in the upper left of your screen and choose Software Update.  Install all updates. If a restart is required after installing updates, check Software Update again after restarting to be sure all updates have been installed.

On each iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch you plan to use with iCloud, please complete the following two steps:

1) Go to Settings: General: About and make note of the Version (e.g. 4.2.1 or 5.0.1) and the Model (e.g. MD278LL).

2) Connect your iPhone to your Mac to be sure it is synced, backed up, and up to date.

Please call the office at 203.247.5147 or email Ashleigh to let us know the info requested above. We would be happy to walk you through collecting the info and preparing for the upgrade.

We are scheduling iCloud migrations for April and May. Please check the online availability and let us know your preferred appointment.

Our youngest client

Our nephew (Joe's godson) Michael Joseph, 5 months

Update on Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 11:57PM by Ashleigh

4 1/2 month old Apple technician in training, Michael Joseph

New services: Extended Hours and High Availability

Regular Hours of operation are Weekdays from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Extended Hours: Evening or Weekend consultations can be scheduled, when available, for an additional 50% surcharge.

High Availability service is priced at $500 per year and includes

• Extended Hours at no extra charge (subject to availability)
• Guaranteed phone or email response to urgent inquiries within four hours (during Regular Hours)
• Remote or onsite consultation for urgent inquiries scheduled within 24 hours (during Regular Hours)

Examples of urgent inquiries include hard drive failure, potential data loss, failure to start up, network failure, or other issues impacting business operations.

Apple's iPad success, and Microsoft's general failure

Nineteen months ago, Apple invented a new product category when they released the iPad.

They have completely dominated the new market, selling over 40 million iPads since spring of last year.

A story was posted recently on CNET about the tablet that Microsoft was working on when Apple released the iPad.  While Apple's designers and engineers toiled away in secret for years until the iPad was ready, Microsoft's own tablet team worked on a folding two-screen design called Courier. But Microsoft canceled their tablet project in April 2010, conceding the market to Apple's just-released iPad.

One paragraph in the CNET story about Microsoft's Courier had me laughing out loud.

Since Apple's iPad had not yet been released, Microsoft didn't have a reference design from which to blatantly copy derive inspiration. So, trying to do something original with their digital tablet, they sought advice from the makers of paper notebooks!

The Courier group wasn't interested in replicating Windows on a tablet. The team wanted to create a new approach to computing. The metaphor they used was "digital Moleskine," a nod to the leather-bound notebooks favored in the design world. In fact, according to a few team members, a small group [...] flew to Milan, Italy, to pick the brains of the designers at Moleskine to understand how they've been able to create such loyal customers.

"Moleskine was interested but a little perplexed," said one executive who worked on the Courier project.

I laughed at the thought of Microsoft's bungling designers showing up at Moleskine, the makers of fine paper notebooks, and asking with quiet candor, "what's your secret?"

The iPad comes with an unlimited number of blank, college ruled, or grid-lined pages – it's your choice, starting at $499.

Welcome Ashleigh, Office Manager

I'm pleased to announce that my fiancée, Ashleigh, is now the Office Manager of PsiMac.

Our working relationship is inspired by other couples whose livelihoods are integrated. As we grow into the next phase of PsiMac, we are empowered by those around us and by our joined strength and love.