Apple is launching a new service called MobileMe that will provide push mail, contacts, and calendar data. In practical terms, that means you can synchronize your personal data across multiple computers and devices. And the service works with both Windows and OS X.

In other words, you can synchronize your Mac, PC, and iPhone. The service works with Mac's Mail.app, iCal, and Address book. On Windows, the service syncs with Outlook. In addition to PIM data, you can use MobileMe to syncrhonize photos from your iPhone.

Apple's Phil Schiller demonstrated the new service at WWDC this morning, showing you email gets pushed to all devices in a matter of seconds. There are also web based versions of the applications that look like desktop apps, including a photo application that looks like iPhoto.

The service will replace .Mac, and current .Mac users will automatically be upgraded to MobileMe. For new customers, the service will cost $99 per year for 20GB of online storage. There's a 60 day free trial available as well. MobileMe isn't live yet, but will be available at Me.com soon.

So you may have heard, Apple threw a little press event today. And while we won't get into all of the gritty details (our friends at Engadget have already done a pretty good job of that), we did want to highlight a few of the more exciting announcements related to the iPhone SDK:

• Apple has licensed Microsoft's ActiveSync technology to enable Exchange synchronization. That means Push email, calendar, and contacts.
• The iPhone SDK is available for free today to developers who want to create applications which can be run natively on the iPhone.
  
• Developers will have to pay $99 per year to have their items listed in the iPhone App Store. Apple will also take a 30% cut of any sales you make through the App Store.
• Users will be able to install 3rd party apps through iTunes or the App Store.
• Some of the applications demoed today include AOL Instant Messenger, a business tool from Salesforce.com, and several games including Spore. Yes, Spore.
  
• The iPhone 2.0 software that will let users run these 3rd party apps will be available as a free update in June.

One thing the iPhone SDK will not enable? Software that unlocks the iPhone so it can be used with different Wireless carriers. And that means that while there's now an official way for developers to get their software on the iPhone, there's at least one good reason that we still expect some lively updates from the iPhone hacking community.

Oh yeah, and the version 2.0 software will be available for the iPod Touch as well, but it won't be free. No price has been set yet.

For a company that develops software for PCs and PDAs, Microsoft has never done a stellar job at letting those devices play well together.

ActiveSync and its successor, Windows Mobile Device Center only let you sync your calendar and contacts with Microsoft Outlook. You can't even synchronize with the new Windows Calendar included in Windows Vista.

That's why Laplink PDAsync 4 is so attractive. The program let you sync dozens of devices with your Windows 2000/XP/Vista machine, including PDAs and smartphones running Palm OS and Windows Mobile. But it also lets you synchronize your data with the following applications:

• Microsoft Outlook 98, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2007
• Lotus Notes R5, 6.0, 6.5, 7.0
• Novell Groupwise 6.5 SP2, 7.0
• Lotus Organizer 5.0, 6.0, 6.1
• ACT! 2000, 5.0, 6.0

It'd be nice to see Thunderbird/Sunbird on there, but you can always use BirdieSync for that. PDASync doesn't come cheap. It'll set you back $50, but there's a free trial available.

[via jkOnTheRun]

So Microsoft has a way of releasing Windows Mobile updates that have fewer features than previous versions. ActiveSync, the program that lets you synchronize data on your PDA or smartphone and your computer, for example used to support synchronization over WiFi. Not anymore.

And Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone edition lacks something that the PocketPC version has: the ability to synchronize files in your "My Documents" folder between your PC and phone.

Microsoft has decided to restore that feature in Windows Mobile 6 Standard (which is the name of the smartphone version). There's just one catch. It only works with ActiveSync. And ActiveSync doesn't work with Windows Vista. It's been replaced by Windows Mobile Device Center, which has no support for file synchronization.

So essentially Microsoft has issued two major operating system updates this year, but they aren't really designed to work well together. If you buy a new smartphone and a new computer, you're going to be penalized. Of course, you can always use 3rd party applications like Mobsync to synchronize your files.

Most Pocket PC users have at one time or another found themselves frustrated that ActiveSync kicked in at just the wrong time. Maybe you wanted to charge your Pocket PC but not have to launch Outlook to synchronize it--that's the scenario that sometimes gets me. Of course, if you're feeling up to it, you can always dive into the Task Manager and kill the wcesmgr.exe and wcescomm.exe processes, which will stop ActiveSync. You can then launch it again from your Start menu.

Alternatively, there is a utility called, aptly, ActiveSync Toggle which can unload ActiveSync from memory when it is not needed. The reason the developer felt that an application was needed for this purpose turned out to be the fact that once installed, it is very difficult to set ActiveSync to not load with Windows. Each time it runs, it checks to ensure that the registry key that launches it at system start exists - and if it doesn't, it adds it in again. ActiveSync Toggle will actually permanently remove ActiveSync from starting up at all, unless you choose to re-enable it.

Don't you hate it when a company goes and updates its software only to leave you with fewer features?

One of the main complaints people have had about ActiveSync 4.x is that Microsoft took away the ability to synchronize your Windows Mobile device with your computer over WiFi. If you want WiFi syncing, you have to go back to ActiveSync 3.8 or ealier.

Microsoft has long maintained that they removed WiFi sync for security reasons, but that's pretty much all they were willing to say. Users were dubious because you can still sync over WiFi if you're syncing with an Exchange Server.

Well Mike Calligaro has posted a detailed explanation on the Windows Mobile Team Blog. And here's the deal: Microsoft had taken absolutely no steps to protect your data when syncing over WiFi.

Essentially ActiveSync was designed for connecting your PC and your PDA over a serial connection. Later, USB support was added. And eventually when Microsoft saw hardware manufacturers making CompactFlash Ethernet cards they enabled Ethernet connections. And then they added WiFi syncing using the same protocol as Ethernet.

The problem is they didn't account for viruses or security in any way. There's no encryption. When you're connecting two devices via a cable, that's fine. But when you're connecting over WiFi, you're sending all over your personal information out over an unsecured network. And Calligaro says ActiveSync doesn't do a very good job of making sure the correct device is connected. That means if someone observed you syncing your PDA to your computer, they could theoretically trick your PC into thinking it should connect to their device.

So they eliminated WiFi syncing. At some point, it may return, but only after Microsoft builds a layer of encryption into ActiveSync. Encryption is already part of Microsoft Exchange Server, which is why you can still sync to a server over WiFi. Calligaro says there's no telling when The Windows Mobile Team will get around to WiFi sync.

[Via Brighthand]

[Update 6:55 PM - as ScOObyDoo notes in the comments below, this post relates to pre-Windows Mobile 5 devices]

ActiveSync might be one of Microsoft's most-maligned pieces of software. It's been around for years, and most of its users have a love / hate relationship with it. When it works, it's fantastic, and when it doesn't, well, it's downright painful.

Over the years ActiveSync got better and better, and in terms of usefulness really peaked at version 3.8. This is the last version in the 3.x line before Microsoft did a major overhaul for the release of 4.0. Now, I'm not going to try to tell you that ActiveSync 3.8 is more stable than the 4.x series. I'm sure it's not. But, in their infinite wisdom, Microsoft removed one of the most valuable features in ActiveSync for version 4: the ability to synchronize over a network, or wireless network. This ability was removed and replaced with the ability to sync via BlueTooth.

The sheer freedom that can be gained from being to be anywhere in your home or work office and check your email, or change the time for a meeting is completely destroyed if you install ActiveSync 4.x. So my suggestion is just don't. Luckily you can simply uninstall whatever version of ActiveSync you are using, then download and install version 3.8 from the fine folks at HPCFactor, and you're back in business.

Microsoft has released version 4.2 of ActiveSync for Windows Mobile devices. On the system requirements page, they list basically every version of Pocket PC back to Windows CE OS version 3.0 (before they were even called Pocket PCs). I've installed it, and so far, so good. A few of the dialogs seem to have changed slightly, but overall the experience is pretty much as expected.

[via JK]