As announced last year and with the introduction of Apple’s iCloud service, MobileMe is scheduled to be shut down in June 2012.

Apple has now begun encouraging users to transition to iCloud. Email messages are going out this week that promote iCloud’s services and provide  a single click migration process.

iCloud offers most of the services MobileMe customers are used to, but some are missing as in keychain sync and iDisk for example.

It’s only February so there is some time left but if you are still on MobileMe you really need to start the thinking about moving to iCloud or another similar service.

A new bug in Apple’s iOS 5.0.1 software could allow unauthorized access to contacts and the calling features of an iPhone, bypassing passcode protection. However the method is really tricky/slow. It involves inserting and ejecting the iPhone’s SIM card many many times, leading to a bypass of the passcode and access to the phone app after several missed calls to the device.

There is a great video of someone demonstrating this ‘hack’ here

Most of the tools are available from most hardware/DIY Stores. A small range are Apple Specific Tools and these can be purchased direct from Apple.

Mac Mini (2006-2009)

Mac Mini (2010-2011)

• ESD WristStrap and Mat
• Nylon Probe Tool/Black Stick (922-5065)

• Tweezers
• Jewelers #0 Phillips Screwdriver
• Jewelers #1 Phillips Screwdriver
• Phillips #2 Screwdriver
• Needlenose Pliers
• Putty Knife

• Torx T6, Magnetized
• Torx T8, Magnetized
• Torx T9, Magnetized
• 2mm Hex Wrench
• #0 Phillips Screwdriver
• Logic Board removal Tool

You may find the need for some additional tools, which are optional, but above is the minimum required to do the full range of repairs.

NOTE - The Apple Certified Macintosh Technician (ACMT) course that we run here at Amsys will not only train you to repair Apple Macintosh Products, but will also discuss in depth these tools and which products require which tools.
(It is very important that you have adequate knowledge of ESD safety and the ESD equipment required, which is also described in detail in the ACMT course).

Click here for full details of the ACMT course and schedule

By Russell Harris & Daryl McCartney

Now we have some of the functionality back that we had in 10.6 server, for me the only thing that is missing is the ability to turn

the Modules on and off without having to go through terminal and modifying the config files!

Apple specified the following capabilities about the web pane in the 10.7.3 Server release notes:

• enable .htaccess overrides
• edit web sites’ domain names
• map multiple domains into a single web site
• configure redirects and aliases
• specify custom index files
• choose SSL certificates for individual websites

by Hugo Costa

Rumours are circulating that Microsoft are about to submit a version of Microsoft Office for the iPad to the App store for approval. The version (pictured above) is said to allow the creation and editing of Word, Excel and PowerPoint files both locally and online.

The app’s user interface is meant to be similar to the current OneNote app, but it has hints of Metro, the new design language that can be seen in Windows Phone and in the as-yet-released Windows 8 desktop operating system.

Notably, a version of Android is “not in the works”.

If true this could give the iPad another advantage in the business world. Only time will tell.

Via thedaily.com

When Apple announced the developer preview of Mount Lion, Mac OS X 10.8, one of the changes that has kind of gone unnoticed was that OS X  was moving to a yearly release cycle like iOS. This is great way to introduce new features for consumers, but will it cause problems for organizations that have a large number of Macs such as businesses and education?

If you take Microsoft Windows as an example, businesses typically take 2 or 3 years to fully transition to a major new release. Not only has it not been 3 years since Lion shipped, but it has not yet been 3 years since the release of Snow Leopard, Lion’s predecessor.

For each OS X release, businesses and schools have to test all their apps for compatibility, both commercial and bespoke in house apps, no easy task considering I know of one company who has over 200 different applications deployed to their Mac suite.  If 10.5, 10.6 and 10.7 are any indication we can alway expect issues with the new release,  Active Directory integration being a great example.

But saying that iOS has proved an annual release schedule can work.

So going forward IT departments will have to embrace this change. More planning will be required. For example you may have to buy extra spare machines to deploy if the apps you rely on  require an older legacy system. Having sophisticated deployment solutions , such as Casper from JAMF, to help you manage the upgrade process would always help as well as having procedures to test the next OS in your environment.

When it comes to actual testing then you don’t need to wait until Apple release the OS to the public. Anyone can sign up to the Mac OS X developer program and grab the betas that Apple will release. Not only will this give you a head start in your preparations but you can also send feedback to Apple based on bugs and features requests which can only help in the long term.

If you need any advice on areas covered in this blog then feel free to contact our support department at support@amsys.co.uk

One issue with Mac OS X that pops up every now and again are incorrect permissions. For various reasons permissions on folders, files or applications can get set incorrectly causing random problems from applications quitting to not being able to save your files.

The Disk Utility application, which can be found in your utilities folder, has a repair permissions option. This is useful for repairing system wide and application permission problems.

However an area it will not repair are incorrect permissions in your home folder. In Lion, there is an additional Repair Permissions application utility hidden away. This tool is located inside boot Repair Utilities. Here’s how to access it.

1. Restart Lion and hold down the Command and R keys. This boots your Mac to the recovery partition Lion installed.
2. You will boot into the Repair Utilities screen. On top, in the Menu Bar click the Utilities item then select Terminal.
3. In the Terminal window, type resetpassword and hit Return.
4. The Password reset utility launches, but you’re not going to reset the password. Instead, click on the icon for your Mac’s hard drive at the top. From the drop-down below it, select the user account where you are having issues.
5. At the bottom of the window, you’ll see an area labeled ‘Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs’. Click the Reset button there.

The reset process takes a couple of minutes. When it’s done, quit the programs you’ve opened and restart your Mac.

If you connect your mobile devices to the machine with a USB cable and launch iTunes (should it not do this automatically) select the mobile device and look to the top row of options, select the ‘Info’ tab and scroll down the page, you will see there are multiple options to sync from address book to iCal and Mail.

Simply tick the sync accounts box and select the apply button at the bottom, this will create the Mail accounts on the mobile device with minimal inconvenience and frustration

I have used this a couple of times, it works like a absolute charm and hopefully will for you too.

One of my favourite open source projects, VLC – a media player, as just been updated to version 2.o. This version brings a whole host of new features including:

• Redesigned User Interface
• Initial support for Blu-Ray Discs
• Support for multiple files inside RAR archives
• Improved Video Codes

You can grab it from here http://www.videolan.org/

iMessage in iOS and the Messages for Mac beta let you send files like movies, text, pdf, audio, and pictures between a Mac and iOS device easily. To use the file transfer feature:

• Drag a file from the Mac into a Messages chat window
• Click send from the Mac
• The user on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iMessages will receive the file in a familiar fashion to iChat file transfers

The iOS user is then able to open the file, be it an mp3, video, picture, whatever. This works for file types supported by iMessage