The only Apple news worth reading…

AppleInsider took a quick look at the latest MobileMe Calendar beta, version 2.  The new beta has an iPad look, but will not support push updates for iPad users.  The push update feature will most likely come back whenever Apple releases iOS 4 for the iPad.

From AppleInsider:

Apple has launched its new beta V2 update of the MobileMe web-based Calendar, sending users announcements that allows them to opt into the new program, which brings shared calendaring and an iPad-like appearance.

Opting into the new beta upgrades the calendar data in a way that makes any changes connected to the new format. Users who choose to leave the beta will lose updated changes, as Apple warns in the signup process.

The new Calendar requires users to upgrade to the latest iOS 4 for iPhone and iPod touch, the latest Mac OS X 10.6.4 or the most recent MobileMe Control Panel 1.6.1 for Windows, and demands a modern web browser, minimally Safari 4, Firefox 3.6, or Internet Explore 8. Read more

MobileMe Calendar is now available as a beta on me.com and looks awesome.  Go to me.com/calendar and click “Request an invitation.”

Here are some of the new features:

Beautiful new web application
The Calendar beta includes a new web application at me.com with great-looking calendar views. You’ll find redesigned day, week, and month views, as well as a new list view to make scanning your events easier. Your calendars will also load faster, thanks to improved performance. The new web application works best with Safari 5, Firefox 3.6, and Internet Explorer 8.

Share calendars with family and friends
You can easily share your calendars with one or more MobileMe members to keep everyone on the same page. For example, create a shared calendar called “Kids” for school and weekend activities. You can allow the person you’re sharing a calendar with to edit events, and set up email notifications to tell you when they make a change.

Read more

Apple has updated Me.com and the new Mail is now out of beta.  The new login page looks very nice and the interface for switching between the different web apps is fast and beautiful.

Check out the pictures below.

Read more

Graphicpeel has created a visual walkthrough of the new MobileMe Mail beta.

From Graphicpeel:

When MobileMe launched two years ago we saw a major improvement from Apple’s original service “.Mac.” MobileMe came with the use of the cloud and “push” technology and a brand new set of desktop-class web applications (or Me.com). Me.com allowed anyone to access their email, contacts, calendars, photos, and files from any computer with an internet connection.

One of the reasons I love Me.com (other than being an Apple fanboy) is that it looks great. Every little aspect of the interface was thought out, from the icons to the scrollbars. It was a major improvement over the original .Mac interface which was filled with brushed metal, serif fonts, and aqua buttons. Me.com uses an interface based of applications on the Mac, but formatted for the web. This way, we’re already familiar with how to use Me.com before we even open the browser. But recently, this all changed.

Read more

Former Apple employee and cofounder and CEO of Posterous, Sachin Agarwal, thinks that the Finder is dead.

He has two main points:

1. We will no longer interact with applications or files on a desktop PC
2. The central point of syncing your data will no longer be your PC, it will be Mobile Me (the cloud)

It’s an interesting article worth reading.  I agree that the way we store and manage files on desktops and laptops will change, but I’m not sure if it will be to the extreme we currently see on the iPad and iPhone.  As far as Agarwal’s second point, I already do this to some extent.  I use MobileMe to sync my bookmarks, calendars and contacts between all my computers and devices.  I use iDisk for some of my storage, but since Apple is stingy on storage space, I’m not able to use it for my photo library, music or videos.  Besides unlimited storage, another improvement I’d like to see is the way iDisk works on the iPhone and iPad.  There is currently an iDisk app built for the iPhone, but it doesn’t let you do anything with the files except view them.  Apple needs to make it easy for apps to give an option to store or retrieve files from your iDisk.

From Sachin’s Posterous:

The Finder is dead. Soon, a PC won’t have files, folders, or documents. It will have “apps” like an iPhone

There’s a major shift occurring in the way we interact with PCs, applications, and files. It’s being led by Apple with the iPhone, the iPad, and I predict, the next major version of Mac OS. Read more