Editorial - DR. Mac 
Dr. Mac - iSync - Whom You Know, iCal - Where You Go, Apple - Way to GO !!
By Bob LeVitus
WELL, it turns out rumors about updates to Apple's iApps were true.
Before Macworld Expo even began, Apple released new versions of iCal
(1.0.1) and iSync (1.0) with numerous performance and stability
enhancements and improvements.
ICal is, of course, Apple's free application that lets you manage
calendars, appointments and tasks.
ISync is a new Apple iApp, just out of beta, that lets you synchronize
contacts, calendars, appointments and tasks between your Mac and
iSync-compatible Bluetooth mobile phone, Palm OS-based device or iPod.
It also lets you synchronize your data with other Macs, such as a
PowerBook and a desktop, or a work Mac and a home Mac, although this
feature requires a $99-a-year Mac account.
Apple announced iSync at Macworld Expo in New York last July. It sounded
incredibly cool but was only going to work with Address Book and iCal.
So I was forced to give up Microsoft Entourage, an excellent
contact/calendar/to-do/mail application that I liked just fine and had
no other reason to abandon.
But abandon it I did. The allure of synchronizing both of my Macs, my
cell phone and my iPod, complete with conflict resolution, was too much
to resist. So I transferred my contacts, appointments and to-do items
from Entourage to Address Book and iCal, bought a Sony-Ericsson T-68i
wireless phone with Bluetooth and one of those little plug-into-USB
Bluetooth adapters for my Mac.
In the old days, before iSync and Bluetooth, I only had a handful of
phone numbers stored in my cell phone. No addresses or e-mail
addresses, either. Sure it would have been nice to have more, but using
a 12-button telephone keypad for data entry is not my cup of juice. So
I only had a few.
Today, if you're in my Address Book, you're in my phone, too. ISync made
it painless. I fired it up, introduced the phone to the Mac, then
synchronized them. In a few minutes my new phone was fully stocked with
all 300 contacts in my Address Book, complete with all of their
different phone numbers and e-mail addresses. That alone is worth the
price of admission: free.
Imagine you are in my Address Book. You change jobs and move to another
city. I update Address Book with your new information. The next time I
run iSync, your old address and phone numbers will be replaced with your
new ones automatically, on my phone, my iPod and my PowerBook. If
that's not cool, I don't know what is.
Or maybe I do -- even cooler.
Every appointment I have on my iCal calendar is also in my cell phone.
And they got there without my having to touch the phone's tiny keypad.
Heck, they got there without my having to touch the phone at all --
because the phone and Mac both have Bluetooth, it's all done
wirelessly. I can synchronize my phone and my Mac even when the phone is
across the room, tucked away in a zipped compartment, inside my
briefcase.
And that may be the coolest part of all.
I sometimes pine for Entourage's superior searching, printing and
notifying, but iCal and Address Book have the killer feature I can't
live without: They work with iSync.
ICal and iSync, free, for Mac OS 10.2.2 or later, Apple Computer,
http://www.apple.com
Bob LeVitus is a leading authority on Mac OS X and the author of 41 books,
including Mac OS X For Dummies and Dr. Mac - The OS X Files, (or, "How to Become
a Mac OS X Power User").
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