Practical Mac / Glenn Fleishman
Mac users sometimes treated as industry afterthought

By Jeff Carlson
Special to The Seattle Times

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I'm happy to announce that Glenn Fleishman, the regular Practical Mac columnist, is now enjoying the blurry, sleep-deprived marvel that is being a new father.

His infant son was born last week, and remarkably does not yet have his own e-mail address. I'll be filling in for Glenn for a short while until he's mastered the art of holding a baby with one hand and typing with the other.

Macintosh users are sometimes considered a computer-industry afterthought. In 1998, Intuit announced that it would no longer create Quicken for Macintosh, even though Quicken was the market leader for financial-tracking software on the Mac.

It took the persuasive power of Steve Jobs and a sneak preview of the first iMac to persuade the company (whose chairman, Bill Campbell, continues to serve on Apple's board of directors) to renew its support for the Mac. Quicken is still the most popular finance tracker on the Mac, even though it doesn't share all of the same features found in its Windows counterpart.

In the case of palmOne, the maker of popular Palm OS-based handheld computers, the size of the Windows market has meant that some features have never been supported on the Mac, including built-in support for synchronizing e-mail messages.

Then, in February of this year, PalmSource (the spinoff company that now handles development and licensing of the Palm OS) announced it would stop supporting Mac synchronization with the next wave of handheld models that run the newest Palm OS Cobalt system. (So far, no Cobalt devices have been announced.)

Fortunately, this development doesn't spell the end of Palm support on the Mac. In fact, it's opened the door for an independent Mac developer to improve the interaction between the two platforms. Mark/Space (www.markspace.com) recently released The Missing Sync for Palm OS 4.0, which replaces Palm's HotSync architecture and adds features that tie into Apple's iLife applications.

If you're unfamiliar with the synchronization process, it works like this: When you connect the handheld to the Mac via a USB cable, you can perform a HotSync operation that scans the data on both machines (calendar events, to-do items, contact information, etc.), notes which records have changed, and updates each side so they match.

The plumbing that allows this to happen is a set of HotSync conduits, which are instructions for keeping track of that data. Palm OS Cobalt uses a new system for performing HotSync operations, which PalmSource isn't supporting on the Mac but The Missing Sync will be able to handle.
 
For owners of current handhelds, The Missing Sync replaces the HotSync software but uses existing conduits to facilitate the data synchronization. So, if you use software other than the Palm Desktop that came with the handheld, such as Microsoft Entourage or Apple's iCal and Address Book applications, you can still sync as you do now. (There is one exception: You need to be using a device with native USB. Handhelds older than the Tungsten T are not supported by The Missing Sync.)

What The Missing Sync provides is enhanced support for devices that accept expansion cards (nearly all palmOne models except the original Zire and Zire 21).

The Missing Sync can mount the card on your Mac's Desktop, just as if it were a hard disk or network volume. This is an easier way to transfer larger documents (such as electronic books), but also a pipeline for The Missing Sync's other features.

In iTunes, you can drag song files to an icon of the mounted memory card to transfer them to the handheld, then use software such as AeroPlayer (www.aerodrome.us) to play them back. Depending on the amount of memory afforded by the card, you could use the Palm as an iPod replacement (however, you can't play back AAC-encoded songs, such as those purchased through the iTunes Music Store).

Thanks to integration with iPhoto, you can store digital snapshots on the Palm: export photos to the memory card and view them using a demo version of SplashPhoto, included with The Missing Sync.

Last, The Missing Sync features an Internet Sharing mode that lets your Palm tap into your Mac's Internet connection to send and receive e-mail, explore the Web, or use AvantGo (www.avantgo.com) to retrieve and store Web pages on the Palm (AvantGo was never updated to run under Mac OS X).

Unlike the HotSync software, which is free with every Palm OS handheld, The Missing Sync 4.0 costs $40. However, the price is justified if you want to take advantage of the utility's features that go beyond just synchronization. Consider it an investment in the future of Mac-Palm relations.

Jeff Carlson is managing editor of the online newsletter TidBITS (www.tidbits.com) and the author of several books covering the Macintosh, Palm OS handhelds, and Web design (www.necoffee.com). Send questions to carlsoncolumn@mac.com. More Practical Mac columns at www.seattletimes.com/columnists.