Apple may have business-friendly iPad features up its sleeve
Disagreements about the lack of certain features aside, Apple clearly had casual computer users in mind when building the iPad. Still, that doesn't mean Apple will ignore enterprise users, which have been adopting the iPhone in growing numbers. iWork is a nod to users who need to get work done using an iPad. Pages, Numbers, and Keynote cover word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation tasks. The iPad can also be attached to a projector to give a presentation directly from the device. You can still import and export files compatible with Microsoft's Word, Excel, and Powerpoint, just like you can with the desktop versions. If for some reason iWork won't serve your productivity needs, at the very least it serves as a proof of concept. Microsoft could develop iPad versions of Office apps if it determines that the demand was there. And, while Office is pervasive in the corporate world, the potential for productivity apps from other vendors is there as well—Omni is already talking about porting OmniGraffle to the iPad, for instance. The iPad still retains the enterprise features of iPhone OS, including Exchange ActiveSync support for e-mail, contacts, and calendars. But according to AppleInsider's sources, Apple has some enterprise-friendly features planned for the iPad that haven't yet been publicly announced. One feature is a planned ability to access standard file servers on a local network. The other is the ability to print to networked printers. Combined with Office-compatible iWork apps, an iPad could be useful for many routine business tasks. These features won't make the iPad appealing for every business. Especially in larger corporate environments, admins still need better management tools than Apple currently offers for its mobile devices. And security must remain a priority, since many corporations have legal responsibilities to protect certain kinds of data. Still, its good to see Apple is thinking about some of the business use cases for the iPad, since its size and weight will likely appeal to some enterprise users.
published on Sunday, the 31. January 2010, ars-technica
Lotus Notes, Domino update to support iPhone, other devices
IBM has released v8.5.1 of Lotus Notes and Domino, the company's enterprise-level collaboration packages. Through Lotus Notes Traveler the software now has native iPhone support, allowing Domino to automatically sync e-mail, contacts and calendars. Push e-mail is supported, and owners of iPhones can work offline if need be....
published on Tuesday, the 6. October 2009, macintosh-news-network
BusyCal 1.0 shares calendars over Internet, LAN
BusyMac has launched the first version of BusyCal, a new calendar application. The software shares calendars over LAN connections as well as the Internet, in either case bypassing the need for a central server. Edits can be made by multiple users, and once committed they are synced to other group members, as well as to iCal, MobileMe, Google Calendar and iPhones. More hardware and software should be compatible through Sync Services....
published on Tuesday, the 29. September 2009, macintosh-news-network
Get push for Gmail on iPhone, WinMo via Google Sync
The Google Mobile team has announced a new enhancement that fills in a major gap in its Google Sync feature that enabled over-the-air, push syncing of contacts and calendars to mobile devices earlier this year. It now supports push e-mail for both iPhone OS and Windows Mobile-based devices. When we first looked at Google Sync, we noted the odd lack of push e-mail capability. Google Sync uses Microsoft's Exchange ActiveSync protocol to enable syncing of contact information, multiple calendars, and now e-mail from your Gmail account—effectively addressing the one major criticism of the service and the most requested feature from users.
published on Tuesday, the 22. September 2009, ars-technica
Google Sync adds (push) support for iPhone, Windows Mobile
Google on Tuesday announced that it has expanded its Google Sync service to support the iPhone and other handsets running on either the Windows Mobile or S60 platform. Users can configure the function to automatically push Gmail messages to the phone's native e-mail application. Other synced content includes Calendar information and contacts....
published on Tuesday, the 22. September 2009, macintosh-news-network
Put Things Off: A Practical, Pragmatic Prioritizer for Procrastinators
Once you've set up MobileMe, Google Sync or any other syncing service to wirelessly coordinate a desktop calendar to the Calendar app on the iPhone, it's easy to start entrusting your every waking task short of heartbeat and respiration to a "ding!" and a pop-up notice.
published on Thursday, the 27. August 2009, macnewsworld
Week in Apple: earnings, flaming iPods, legal threats, and more!
This week's top Apple news was spiked with strong third quarter earnings, flaming iPods, and various legal threats. Office 2008, Skype, and Final Cut Studio all got updates, too, and we even have a few tips for you on how to sync Google Calendar with your iPhone. Read on for the roundup: Review: NVIDIA GTX 285 on an 8-core Mac Pro: Is NVIDIA's GTX 285 a capable high-end GPU for professional 3D rendering on the Mac Pro? Ars takes a look at how NVIDIA's gaming monster handles itself at work, and we also check out the performance under Windows, as well. Lawsuit alleges Apple helped Mafia to send threats via iPod: There's no shortage of conspiracy theories, but rarely do we see one that involves the police, the FBI, the DOJ, an auto repair shop, a private investigator, and Apple all conspiring with the Mafia to harass one individual.
published on Saturday, the 25. July 2009, ars-technica
Sharing calendars with Google Calendar, iCal, and the iPhone
My five-year-old iPod can sync with iCal, and the iPhone/iPod touch have had this capability from day one. MobileMe took this capability a bit further by syncing the calendar application on the iPhone with iCal more or less immediately and over the air. The Microsoft Exchange support that came to the iPhone a year ago then propelled calendaring to the next level with the ability to share calendars with other Exchange users. Now, over the past year or so, Apple and Google have steadily added building blocks to bring the same functionality to those of us living outside the Microsoft universe. This is accomplished by sharing calendars with others in Google Calendar and then syncing those to your Mac and iPhone. First a bit about Google Calendar, then the syncing.
published on Thursday, the 23. July 2009, ars-technica
BlackBerry Desktop Software to arrive for Mac in September
It may be later than predicted, but at least it's official: BlackBerry maker RIM has announced that a Mac client for its BlackBerry Desktop Software will be arriving in September. The software will be available for Mac OS X 10.5.5 and above and several screenshots have been posted to the Inside BlackBerry blog. BlackBerry Desktop will be able to sync iTunes playlists (assuming they contain non-DRMed songs, of course), calendar info from iCal, contacts, notes, and tasks. It will also allow users to add and remove applications from their devices, perform updates to BlackBerrys when they become available, back up and restore data, and even manage multiple devices. Basically, kind of like what iTunes does for the iPhone, except for the BlackBerry. Click here to read the rest of this article
published on Monday, the 20. July 2009, ars-technica
Get around a Google calendar and iPhone sync issue
I wanted to have all my calendars sync between iCal, Google calendars, and my iPhone. The master copies of my calendars are the Google calendars. To sync them with iCal, I use Google's free Calaboration application.To sync with my iPhone, I tried to follow the steps indicated on this page. The problem is that I have several calendars stored on Google. When I opened Safari on my iPhone and went to m.google.com/sync, I got a message that said "This service is not available for your device." The message was in German, since I am in Switzerland. It turns out that this webpage also allows you to choose a different language. I switched to English, and suddenly the service was available and I could continue setting up my calendars. Now all my Google calendars synchronize to my iPhone.
published on Wednesday, the 15. July 2009, macosxhints