Filed under: Software, Internet, Internet Tools, Software Update
.Mac Upgraded!
As of 12 AM Tuesday morning, .Mac has received a serious upgrade. Standard members now receive 1 GB of combined email/idisk/web storage, while upgraded members and family packs now receive a total of 2 GB.Backup has received a major upgrade to version 3, offering a host of new customization and features such as: Preset backup plans for iLife content and other Mac essentials, automatic scheduling to CDs and DVDs, incremental backups, advanced file restoration and the ability to back up more than one Mac to your iDisk.
One major new feature I have yet to play with is Groups - "your place to get connected with friends and family online." It looks like you can set up a dedicated .Mac page for a specific event or organization that can be a sort of home base for announcements, photos, a calendar of events and more.
This is all I can tell for now, but stay tuned for more new features and tidbits on what Apple's upgraded with .Mac. Here's hoping they listened to previous complaints from users, and who knows - maybe they even listened to our podcast. Feel free to let us know your initial reactions to what's new, what's changed and what still needs an upgrade in the comments!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
narco said 7:06AM on 9-20-2005
All I have to say is: it's about F'ing time. 1GB is still a bit low to me, but I've been surviving off of 250MB for the longest time, so it should be a blessing for now.
A lot of people are reporting improved iDisk speed, which I think is the most important thing here. iDisk was an absolute NIGHTMARE sometimes, especially when it hangs up and completely shuts Finder down as a result.
Fishes,
narco.
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LD said 8:10AM on 9-20-2005
Hey, wow, Apple almost offers half as much as the free services. Sorry, .Mac is a miserable failure and not worth a dime still. Disappointing considering how well thought out most of their products are.
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Caius Durling said 8:47AM on 9-20-2005
fuck yes!!
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Phil said 8:49AM on 9-20-2005
Does anyone know if mail supports the imap "idle " command now?
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MZ said 10:11AM on 9-20-2005
Looks very good. I ditched .mac after the trial period because of the price but now it looks more interesting. I'll wait for more details in order to get a complete picture but there just could be a new user for them here :)
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David said 10:44AM on 9-20-2005
This is what i have been waiting for - i am now very tempted to get it! May sign up for the trial and see what it can do for me.
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Jordan Merrick said 10:55AM on 9-20-2005
now this sounds more like what they should be offering. I like everything about .Mac, but one thing has stood in the way of me signing up (besides the cost) and that's gmail. They're offering 2GB of email space for free. I know they don't offer the same services as .Mac but if Apple were to offer the same, I'd sign up straight away. Right now, I am still a bit hesitant...
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Jay Contonio said 11:43AM on 9-20-2005
this is it? Consider me gone in 22 days.
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thesecurityguy said 1:21PM on 9-20-2005
Thank god it's long over - do but I'll take it anyway --- now if they would just come up with a way to offer a easy way of building a true webpage or two or even three --- for start up business like mine
ric
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TheDoode said 2:16PM on 9-20-2005
No sane person would waste good money of this dung. A whole Gig? Thats pathetic people. You can get a domain and server with greater capacity for cheaper. Gmail is free. And external hard drives or a hard drive and an enclosure are cheap as well.
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Jay Contonio said 2:53PM on 9-20-2005
Ok let's help everyone out here.
Carbon Copy Cloner
$5.00
http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
Gmail
free (2.5GB email storage, free pop, etc)
http://www.gmail.com/
Flickr
free (10 megs of photos a month, way better interface than Apple's templates, export right from iPhoto)
http://www.flickr.com/
Web Hosting
$7.95 a month (2GB storage, tons of bandwidth, php, mysql, etc, etc)
http://www.mediatemple.com/
This is my current setup and is why I am canceling my .mac. If you just need photos/mail/backup, then all you ever have to pay is 5 dollars...
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Jay Contonio said 2:57PM on 9-20-2005
Ok let's help everyone out here.
Carbon Copy Cloner
$5.00
http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
Gmail
free (2.5GB email storage, free pop, etc)
http://www.gmail.com/
Flickr
free (10 megs of photos a month, way better interface than Apple's templates, export right from iPhoto)
http://www.flickr.com/
Web Hosting
$7.95 a month (2GB storage, tons of bandwidth, php, mysql, etc, etc)
http://www.mediatemple.com/
This is my current setup and is why I am canceling my .mac. If you just need photos/mail/backup, then all you ever have to pay is 5 dollars...
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bhamm said 5:42PM on 9-20-2005
for those upset with the pricing ('gmail is this/that').. .Mac isn't just an email acct. Christ, calm down already. If all you need is web based mail/storage, then by all means get a domain for cheaper and be done with it. But if you use multiple macs/pcs and need your mail/address book/bookmarks/calendars all nicely synced.. or need to publish a webdav calendar, share an address book with a spouse, etc.. THAT's what people paying for this service are doing. Anyone spending that kind of $ for just an email account are wasting their money, certainly.. but this isn't what everyone is using it for.
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MILE said 7:21PM on 9-20-2005
I actually like the new Backup 3.0 -- easy to use but it features all the options that I (ans most average users) need...! The new groups feature is nice as well, although I don't understand why Apple tries to "force" people to use a .Mac-ID for those...!? Totally unnecessary and makes building up a community more difficult...
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bloodthirstyrobot said 8:00PM on 9-20-2005
Far too little and much too late. I'm getting better value for less money thanks to gmail, flickr and a basic webhosting plan.
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kc! said 1:09AM on 9-22-2005
I agree with Jay Contonio. The only thing I use .Mac for now is the iSync options. Since they have ditched free virus protection, and since i already pay for a really good, personal web server offering 2gb for $1 cheaper per month (mediatemple.net)... this is just not worth it. Which is unfortunate, as I really appreciate the sync.
If anyone from Apple is reading this, please give us an option to pay reduced prices (or free) for just sync capabilities, and while you are at it, please reduce the overall prices as well.
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