After you’ve made the transition to iCloud from MobileMe, the option to remove the old and now obsolete MobileMe menu bar icon disappears. It’s easy to get rid of though, as Tony R shows us in this tip he sent in:

• Hold down the Command key and click and hold on the old MobileMe icon, then just drag it out of the menubar

The little icon will disappear into a puff of smoke. You can use the same command key trick to rearrange menubar items and remove other ones as well.

If you haven’t done so yet don’t forget to get iCloud configured, the basic account is free and it’ll sync data between your Macs and iOS hardware easily.

Thanks for sending this in Tony R!

Update: iTunes Match is now available along with iTunes 10.5.1, download it now to sign up for the music streaming and cloud storage service.

The public release of iTunes Match seems to be approaching quickly as a third beta of iTunes 10.5.1 is made available to developers. The new beta focuses on iTunes Match and includes stability and performance improvements directly related to the iCloud service. Despite Apple missing their originally planned “end of October” release date for Match, 9to5mac notes that the iTunes beta updates are coming out faster, further indicating a public release is soon.

When iTunes Match is released to the public, a subscription will cost $24.99 each year and allow for up to 10 personal computers or iOS devices to access up to 25,000 songs of an iTunes library from anywhere through iCloud. On the software side, iTunes Match requires Mac OS X or Windows, iOS 5, the newest version of iTunes, and iCloud. The yearly fee is separate from the iCloud storage upgrades, and music purchased from iTunes does not count against the 25,000 song limit.

Users can prepare for the iTunes Match service by signing up for and configuring iCloud to work on their desktops and iOS hardware. Once the Match service is made public, using the music service will then just be a matter of downloading the latest version of iTunes and paying the fee through iTunes, and then enabling the service through iOS settings.

Below are the brief attachment notes for the latest beta via 9to5mac:

iTunes 10.5.1 beta 3 is now available. This update includes a number of important stability and performance improvements for iTunes Match. iTunes Match stores your music library in iCloud and allows you to enjoy your collection from anywhere, any time, on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, computer or Apple TV. In order to subscribe to iTunes Match, or continue using your existing subscription, please upgrade to iTunes 10.5.1 beta 3. Once upgraded, turn on iTunes Match on each of your computers and iOS devices. On your computer, choose Store > Turn on iTunes Match. On your iOS device, tap Settings > Music, then turn on iTunes Match. On your Apple TV, please turn off iTunes Match under Settings > General > iTunes Store. The songs on your computer should not be affected. As always, please backup regularly and do not delete the music you add to iCloud from your computer.

Using iCloud, sharing a Calendar from your iPhone, iPad, or Mac OS X iCal with anyone else is now easier than ever. It’s a straight forward process that requires iCloud, set it up if you haven’t already and get sharing, here’s how:

• Go to http://icloud.com and login with your Apple ID that’s configured with iCloud
• Click on the “Calendar” icon
• From the left side Calendar menu, click the little radiowave icon next to the Calendar you want to share with others
• Enter the iCloud email address of users who you want to share the calendar with, then click “Share”

The recipient can then find the shared calendar in their own iCloud Calendars list, but all parties must be using iOS 5+ and Mac OS X 10.7.2+. You can also choose “Public Calendar” to share the calendar with the world.

Great tip discovered by TheGraphicMac.

Once you have iCloud set up, it becomes easier than ever to keep recent backups of your iPhone and iPad, the backup starts automatically any time the device is connected to a power source and the synced computer is turned on and connected to the same wifi network.

Automatic backups are great but if you want to be absolutely certain you have the most recent backup stored in iCloud before you do something like an iOS Restore or jailbreak, you’ll probably want to do a manual backup first. Manual backups are also highly recommended if you don’t use the automatic backup feature.

Start a Manual Backup to iCloud from an iPhone or iPad

You’ll need iOS 5+ and iCloud, and a Wi-Fi connection for this to work:

• Launch the “Settings” app
• Tap on “iCloud” and scroll to the bottom, then tap on “Storage & Backup”
• Navigate down and tap on “Back Up Now”

iOS will give you an estimated time before the backup is complete, and there’s a progress bar to watch too. It’s generally fairly quick but since it’s uploading to iCloud it is partially dependent on your internet connection speed.

Remember that you can also backup from iTunes as well, but that won’t go to iCloud.

You can sync files across iCloud-equipped Macs by using an unofficial feature tied to a little known folder hidden in OS X. We’ll walk you through exactly how to get this set up, allowing you to sync files and folders across Macs seamlessly, but first make sure you meet some basic system requirements.

Requirements:

• Macs must have OS X 10.7.2 (or greater) installed
• iCloud enabled and set up on each Mac, using the same iCloud account

After you’ve sure you have the latest version of OS X installed and iCloud configured to use the same account on all Macs you want to sync between, you can proceed. This is a great little trick that was first noticed by a reader submitted tip to a sister publication of MacWorld, but oddly they didn’t bother to test the tip to make sure it works. Nonetheless we and others did test it and can confirm it syncs files and folders perfectly.

Share & Sync Files Using iCloud Between Macs

Complete the following steps on all Macs you intend to sync files with:

• Open “System Preferences” on all Macs from the  Apple menu
• Click on “iCloud” and be sure the checkbox next to “Documents & Data” is checked



• Go to the Mac OS X Desktop and enter into ~/Library/ either by holding Option and clicking on the “Go” menu or using another method to access user library
• Locate the folder named “Mobile Documents” and right-click on it, choosing “Make Alias”



• Copy the alias of that folder to the OS X Desktop



• Test iCloud syncing by dragging a file into that directory

Wait a few seconds, and check the same directory on the other Mac, you should see the files.

Officially Unsupported
Keep in mind this is currently an unsupported feature of iCloud and Mac OS X, so you shouldn’t rely on this 100% to sync files reliably. You’ll want to keep a copy of files elsewhere and then copy them into that folder so you can prevent any potential data loss. It does work, but until it’s officially supported you should be wary of depending on the feature.

Syncing with GoodReader & iOS
Testing was also done by MacStories, who discovered a variation of the trick can be used to sync things between Macs and an iPhone or iPad with the iOS app GoodReader. If that interests you, check it out.

DropBox Competitor?
This whole thing was initially noticed after Yahoo/Business Insider found it and went on to assume that Apple might be prepping a competitor to DropBox. This is a possibility, and Apple did attempt unsuccessfully to buy DropBox years ago, but more likely this is just a feature of iCloud that hasn’t found it’s way into an official feature list yet, for whatever reason.

If you’re set up to use iCloud with an iOS 5 device, you may have noticed that Photo Stream hosts your pictures online on iCloud.com and also syncs the pictures to the Photo Stream of your other devices. Apple will remove these pictures automatically after 30 days or after 1000 photos are uploaded, but if you want to delete them manually you can do that too:

Remove pictures from Photo Stream and iCloud

• Login to iCloud.com with your Apple ID
• Click on your name in the upper right corner of iCloud, seen in the screenshot above
• Click on “Advanced”
• Click on “Reset Photo Stream”

The warning below the reset button says “Reset Photo Stream to remove all photos from iCloud. This will not remove any photos from your devices or computers”, what this means is that if a picture was taken on an iPhone, it will continue to be in your standard camera roll in the Photos app, but will be deleted from the “Photo Stream” folder, and from iCloud.

If you’re concerned about the available space on iCloud, you may want to consider upgrading to one of the paid iCloud plans, which start at $20/year for 15GB of storage. Just remember that your photos (or apps and iTunes music) do not count against the free plans 5GB of iCloud storage capacity.

Enjoy this? Check out more iOS 5 tips in our archive.

New to Mac OS X 10.7.2 and iOS 5 is the ability to hide purchases from appearing in the Mac App Store, iOS App Store, and the iTunes Store purchased items lists. This is great if you download tons of stuff but use only a fraction of apps, and you don’t want the other items clogging up your purchase history. It’s also really easy to unhide purchases from all the online stores, and we’ll cover that too.

Hide Purchases from the iOS, Mac, & iTunes Stores

Hide a Purchase in iOS:

• Swipe over any app to reveal the “Hide” button

Hide a Purchase in iTunes App Store or Mac App Store

• Click on the “Purchases” tab, hover over any purchased item and click on the (X)

Of course hiding the purchases is only useful if you can see them again if you need to. That’s just as easy, and regardless of iOS or Mac OS X it’s done through the account settings of iCloud:
Read more »

Apple has rolled out iCloud, the cloud syncing service that automatically syncs all your content to all of your devices, be it an iPhone, iPod touch, Mac, PC, iPad, whatever. It also includes things like Find My iPhone and Find My Mac, in addition to several web apps that let you get your Mail, Contacts, and Calendar while on the go, via any web browser. It’s an awesome service, it’s free, and you don’t want to miss it. Here’s how to set it up from any iPhone, iPad, or Mac:

iCloud Requirements
First things first, you’ll need the latest versions of iOS and/or Mac OS X.

• An Apple ID – same as an iTunes account or MobileMe login
• iOS 5 update or later – for iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
• Mac OS X 10.7.2 updated or later – for Mac users
• iTunes 10.5 or later installed – required for PC & Mac users

Have those installed and ready to go? Here’s how to set up a free iCloud account:

Setup iCloud from an iPhone or iPad with iOS 5+

First be sure you have upgraded your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to iOS 5, you can download it here.

• Tap on the Settings app
• Tap on “iCloud”
• Choose “Sign in with an Apple ID” (alternately, you can create a new account entirely by selecting “Create a free Apple ID”)
• Enter your existing Apple ID (iTunes account), or an older MobileMe account
• Choose “Use iCloud” at the setup screen
• Tap the “ON” switch for the types of data and services you want to sync with iCloud: Mail, Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, Bookmarks, Notes, Photo Stream, etc

By default you get 5GB for free, but the iCloud plan prices are reasonably cheap if you require more storage.

Setup iCloud from Mac OS X 10.7.2

Obviously you’ll need your Mac updated to OS X 10.7.2 or later, get it from Software Update or download it here if you haven’t yet.

• Open “System Preferences” from the Apple menu 
• Select “iCloud” under the ‘Networking’ section
• Enter an Apple ID which is the same as an iTunes account, MobileMe login, or create a new Apple ID if you don’t have one yet
• Accept the EULA and choose which apps and items you want to sync with iCloud

You can change iCloud settings at any point by going back to this preference panel.

Read more »

Apple has released the second update to Lion, Mac OS X 10.7.2, the build is 11C74 The focus of OS X 10.7.2 is on bringing iCloud support to Mac OS X Lion, and also includes Find My Mac and Back to My Mac features. You can learn how to setup iCloud here, it’s very easy.

Download Mac OS X 10.7.2

Download from the Apple  menu and “Software Update” or use the direct links below to grab it from Apple:

• OS X 10.7.2 Client Combo Updater
• OS X 10.7.2 Client
• OS X 10.7.2 Server
• OS X 10.7.2 Server Combo Update
• Lion Recovery Update or Apple Support
• Additional download links will be posted as they become available

The update will likely be bundled with OS X Lion on the Mac App Store in the near future as well.

Release notes are as follows:
Read more »

Apple has released iTunes 10.5 in preparation of iOS 5 and iCloud. The latest version is a major update that includes full iCloud support, in addition to the highly anticipated Wi-Fi syncing feature, which allows anyone to sync an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iTunes wirelessly as long as they’re on the same wifi network.

iTunes 10.5 is required for installing and using iOS 5.

Download iTunes 10.5

There are several ways to get the latest version of iTunes:

• Download iTunes 10.5 directly from Apple.com (Windows & Mac OS X)
• Check Software Update in Mac OS X
• Update directly within iTunes 10.4

If you choose to download through Apple, keep in mind that you don’t need to fill out an email address, and you can just click on the big blue “Download Now” button to get iTunes.

The release notes attached to Software Update are as follows:

What’s new in iTunes 10.5

• iTunes in the Cloud. iTunes now stores your music and TV purchases in iCloud and makes them available on your devices anywhere, any time, at no additional cost.

• Automatic Downloads. Purchase music from any device or computer and automatically download a copy to your Mac and iOS devices.

• Download Previous Purchases. Download your past music, TV, app, and book purchases again, at no additional cost. Previous purchases may be unavailable if they are no longer on the iTunes Store.

• Sync with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 5.

• Wi-Fi Syncing. Automatically sync your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iTunes any time they’re both on the same Wi-Fi network.

For information on the security content of this update, please visit: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.

Stay tuned, iOS 5, iCloud, and Mac OS X 10.7.2 are soon to follow.