Apple’s MobileMe News page has posted two updates today, one on recent MobileMe service improvements, including direct access to Find my iPhone, and the other on iDisk public folder updates.
First up, the service improvements:
As part of an update to the MobileMe web applications, you can now access Find My iPhone directly from the MobileMe toolbar. This support article contains information about this and other service improvements.
Second, iDisk:
Your iDisk Public folder, a place where you can share files with friends, now matches the look of me.com and supports drag and drop for moving files between folders. You can manage your Public folder preferences at me.com including allowing visitors to upload, move, and delete files, and setting a password to protect your Public folder. To edit preferences simply click the Action button (gear icon) in the iDisk web application and select Preferences. You can then upload or move files to your Public folder at me.com, and your friends can access them by visiting http://public.me.com/[YourMemberName].
Apple’s MobileMe News “blog” is touting a new feature: you can now remotely set a passcode lock with Find My iPhone and iPhone 3.1:
With Find My iPhone, you can help protect the information on a missing iPhone by remotely assigning a four-digit passcode lock. This is especially useful if you’ve never set a passcode before or if you want to set a new one.
This is a nice half-way ground between leaving it wide open, or having to wipe it clean, if you can’t find it but aren’t sure you’ve permanently lost it.
And, again, it shows MobileMe is all about the incremental update. Very incremental…
In the justice system of internet zaniness, iPhones are represented by two separate yet equally important groups. Apple, who creates cool technology, and the badapps people who put it to use. These are their stories…
First up, reader Matt pointed us towards an article on CNN.com where a passenger traveling within the US, carrying over $4000 in cash, was held for questioning and all he had to defend himself was:
a pocket edition of the U.S. Constitution and an iPhone capable of making audio recordings. And he used them.
Next up, Icebike let us know about Intermittent Kevin (via Slashdot) who was attending a Lego convention in Chicago who’s iPhone was left behind at a bar, and stolen. His only hope:
I had just activated the brand-new Find My iPhone service.
(Note: while he recovered his iPhone, he might just as easily have run into Hannibal Lecter. “Hero complex” is personal protection faux-pas 101. These stories are presented for interest-sake only. No one at TiPb or SPE advises anyone to put their life in jeopardy for a gadget.)
UPDATE: Enable your iPhone via Settings > Email > Mobile > Find my iPhone. Then go to me.com, login to your Account tab, and choose Find My iPhone from the sidebar. Voila! Thanks to everyone who sent this in. Screen grab after the break!
ORIGINAL: Apple just announced via their MobileMe News “blog” that:
Find My iPhone can be found at me.com today, but you also need iPhone OS 3.0 (available on June 17) installed on your iPhone to use the feature.
You can learn more about Find My iPhone by visiting What’s New for MobileMe.
We don’t see it yet, but if you’re a developer already rocking 3.0 and MobileMe, hit http://www.me.com and let us know if/how it works for you!
Read the rest of this entry »
As part of the WWDC keynote today, Apple announced new features for their MobileMe service as it pertains to the iPhone:
- Find my iPhone shows map location
- Find alerts sends text or sound to advise of lost iPhone or help find it
Remote wipe lets you clear data from a lost iPhone, or restore it via login or iTunes
Mobile iDisk App gives access to viewable files right on your iPhone
- File sharing lets you send links to files via email with access control
- Access public folders lets you share files on your friends’ iDisks
Like iPhone 3.0, the MobileMe updates will be available June 17.
[Thanks Cody for the tip!]
A minor tweak in iPhone 3.0 Beta 4 changes the language for the — still-unannounced by Apple — “Find My iPhone” feature from simply saying it uses your MobileMe account at me.com, to saying it uses a MobileMe Web application.
The assumption has always been that this feature would let you track a lost iPhone (or perhaps the child for whom you bought it), web application sounds — at least to us — a tad more substantial in terms of implementation.
Since Apple will have to build out MobileMe to support this, and since we’re speculating anyway, we’re also still hoping a revamped MobileMe in general might make a guest appearance at WWDC (where Phil Schiller introduced it last year). With note sync finally available, adding it to MobileMe seems an obvious move. Tasks/Todo sync, as well as Photo Sync (currently photos can be shared and stored, but sync only to iPhoto web albums, not to the iPhone) and perhaps — some of the other improvements we’ve dreamt of?
/Tangent
(Thanks to Cody for the tip!)
BGR, who claims to have chanced upon the iPhone OS 3.0 developers beta via shinobi-affiliated sources, also came across an interesting looking new setting in the MobileMe account page:
Find my iPhone
They wonder allowed if this is a new GPS locate feature for iPhone (like an iPhone low-jack). That would be a very cool update to MobileMe indeed, though limiting it to MobileMe wouldn’t be anywhere near as cool.
