The rest of the country has been broiling for weeks but here in the Pacific Northwest, summer didn’t arrive until July 6. Super-long days here provide a luxurious “golden hour” that lights up the path of my daily walk spectacularly. This walk is near Larsen Lake in Bellevue, Wash.

What to do when iCal and iPhone have irreconcilable differences?

What’s Wrong?

Yipes! My iPhone’s calendar and contacts have stopped syncing with my MobileMe calendar and contacts. I’ve tried deleting my MobileMe account on my iPhone, then re-creating it to force the iPhone to sync properly with MobileMe. My mail synced OK but my calendar events and contacts have disappeared. They’re safe on my computers and on MobileMe itself but they just won’t sync with the iPhone. Help!

What to Do

One of the best selling points of Apple’s cloud solution, MobileMe, is how easily and transparently it syncs your mail, calendar, contacts and Safari bookmarks among all your computers and iDevices. Occasionally, however, it succumbs to hiccups like this one, where it refuses to sync properly.

You’ve done the thing you ought to do — re-creating your MobileMe account on your iPhone — and still you have no joy. Short of the cumbersome fixes (re-installing iTunes, restoring your iPhone from a backup — assuming those tactics would even work), here’s what has worked for some people:

Re-setting your Push settings. The objective of this solution is to “force” your iPhone to sync manually with MobileMe in hopes that your data will be restored to your phone.

1. On your iPhone go to Settings » Mail, Contacts, Calendars » Fetch New Data. Turn Off Push.
2. Set Fetch to Manually.
3. Go back one screen to Accounts, select your MobileMe account and click the red Delete Account button.
4. Back on the Accounts screen, select Add Account… and re-create your MobileMe account. Make sure you set Mail, Contacts and Calendars to On (Bookmarks, Notes and Find My iPhone are up to you).
5. Go back to Fetch New Data and turn Push back on.
6. Open your Mail or Contacts app. If all goes well, you’ll see them re-appear.

It didn’t work! What do I do now?

Re-setting your sync data. Here’s your other option; this one is your best bet, though a tad more complicated.

1. Make sure your Mac has synced very recently with MobileMe, and that it has the most recent Mail, Contacts and Calendar events.
2. On your iPhone go to Settings » Mail, Contacts, Calendars » Fetch New Data. Turn Off Push.
3. On your Mac, open System Preferences » MobileMe » Sync » Advanced.
4. Unregister your Mac.
5. Enable Sync again for just Contacts, Calendar and Bookmarks.
6. Go back to Advanced.
7. Select Reset Sync Data and make sure you pick Computer Overwrites MobileMe. This makes sure you’re re-uploading fresh data to MobileMe.
8. Wait until your Mac completes its sync to MobileMe.
9. Go back to your iPhone and re-enable Push.
10. Plug your iPhone into your computer and let it sync with iTunes.
11. When the sync is complete, check your iPhone: Your Contacts, Calendar events and Bookmarks should have returned!

This solution should work for both iOS 3.1 and iOS4, and on all flavors of iPhones (though I used it on my iPhone 4). Apple has a tech note available for other combinations of hardware/software, which you can read here. It’s a cautionary tale.

ON ITS “Conversations” area of its Web site, big mobile phone manufacturer Nokia is asking its community to help design the next smartphone:

This isn’t just about creating the next-gen smartphone; we want you to think beyond that. To avoid creating some kind of unweildy beast, we’ve created a six-step process where you get to vote for the features and functions you think are most important. Every week we’ll tally up the votes and display the defined spec.

Is Nokia crowdsourcing its next smartphone design? Or is it just creating the illusion of interaction with its customers?

This is not true crowdsourcing. This is a popularity contest, an echo chamber in which people relate what they think they want, not what would actually work for a design that sets out to break the mold and create something new. Think about it: Can you imagine a “crowd” coming up with the iPhone three or four years ago, based on what was available in smartphones then? I don’t think so.

True crowdsourcing would use the crowd to tell you how people actually use smartphones and how they want to use smartphones. Not by asking them, because real designers know that people notoriously say they want things they don’t truly want, or they confuse features with the underlying needs that could be better met by features they haven’t even thought of before.

My guess is that this design effort won’t net Nokia much more than they already think they know.

For example, how many people in the “crowd” know the difference between capacitative and resistive screens? I don’t off the top of my head. And does knowing the difference mean I automatically know what the pros and cons of each are. And if I have to Google it to fill out a simple poll, you’re diluting your “crowd” into a self-selected subset of engineering nerds (and we all know what design geniuses they are).

And screen size? Most people in the “crowd” wil likely think bigger is better without knowing what the ergonomic and weight tradeoffs of such a choice would be. These are considerations designers would take into account. A “crowd”? Not so much.

And can you imagine what the “crowd” would’ve told Apple four years ago about keypads? Apple struck out on its own here, convinced it could offer a different type of keypad that wouldn’t have won a popularity contest back then but would work, and would allow other design features that contributed to an overall, cohesive design masterpiece, rather than something created from a checklist generated by random polling. Same with secondary buttons. How are regular people expected to know enough to weigh these options?

I’m disturbed by the ways in which the term crowdsourcing is being bandied about these days. Crowds can process or give you data that can help you discover patterns you might not otherwise have seen. But to impute expertise for a very specific task (i.e., product design) stretches crowdsourcing’s promise beyond what it can deliver.

I showed a friend the the Nokia survey and his response was, “You want to know all this? Let me grab my iPhone and I’ll tell you.” ‘Nuff said.

From a bulletin board for the Communication and Media program at the University of Minnesota. The funny part is that the “B.S.” bit was taped onto the Scientific & Technical Communication label — someone went out of their way to let you know.

MINNEAPOLIS — My niece, zRose25, took this photo with her iPhone 3GS at Cupcake, a Minneapolis lunch spot near where she works. The cupcake was delicious.

I nominate the new Internet Movie Database (IMDB) app [iTunes Store link] for the iPhone for the Nobel Peace Prize. Just think about all the arguments it has settled.

Factoid

IMDB’s mission statement makes the world a better place:

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is the largest collection of movie, TV and celebrity information anywhere. We aim to list every detail about every movie and TV show ever made, including who was in it, who made it, the plot, user ratings, trailers, photos, reviews, and trivia.

Extreme Distress Dismissed by AirPort Express

Two questions from my pal P.K., who’s clearly trying to win Brownie® points from his boss —

My boss has a two story house. He has an AirPort upstairs that allows his Mac and his work PC to print wirelessly. However, the range is not good enough to allow him to print from downstairs. Is it possible to set up another wireless airport downstairs that can relay to the upstairs unit? What do I need to buy to make this work?

The short answer is yes, you can do this using an AirPort Express (the cheaper version of the AirPort Base Station; other than its limitation to 10 simultaneous wireless users it’s nearly as full-featured as the base station) in “bridge” mode. The Express can extend the range of a WDS (Wireless Distribution System) network hosted by an AirPort Extreme Base Station or another AirPort Express. Just plug the AirPort Express into a power receptacle on the first floor to improve the signal downstairs. You can learn more at Apple’s AirPort Express FAQ.

The longer answer has to do with figuring out why the range of his existing AirPort is so limited. Is it really more than 150 feet from his downstairs to his upstairs? I lived in a three-story townhouse that presented no problem to the range of my AirPort Express. While the extra Express will certainly solve his problem, your boss may want to try manually switching to another WiFi channel that may be prone to less interference, especially if he lives in a neighborhood with a lot of WiFi networks. Here’s a Google search with links to a number of helpful sites about improving your WiFi range.

Please Delete Me, Let Me Go …

On to P.K.’s next question:

On his iPhone my boss would like to be able to delete call logs individually. It appears that you can only clear the entire page [all calls in your Call History], but not delete individual calls.

You can’t do this natively on the iPhone but luckily lots of third parties have come to the rescue. Here’s the Google search I used to find them. Or, if you have a Mac, you can use the incredibly useful software I use, PhoneView. Only $19.95 (and a free demo to try before buying), and it allows you desktop access to almost everything on your iPhone (including archiving your Visual Voicemail), not just your phone logs. All without jailbreaking, which many of the other apps that do what your boss wants will force you to do.

PhoneView: A simple way to access everything on your iPhone

Have a question about your iPhone or Mac? Try stumping me at carlos (at) cosmicsitcom (dot) com.

One of the most useful iPhone apps ever is free today only as a holiday gift from the developers. Ping! [iTunes download] works exactly like the iPhone’s native SMS app except your text messages are free. Ping! [Web site] basically uses your iPhone’s push notification system to simulate SMS msgs.

PROS

• You can send texts to iPod Touches (touché!) as well as iPhones.
• Integrates with your Address Book.
• Works with any iPhone/iPod touch, even internationally. For free.
• Did I mention you can download it for free today only?

CONS

• Works only with iPhones and iPod Touches. Any friends using other types of phones or devices are beyond your reach.
• You have to sign up with Ping for a user ID and exchange IDs with all your ping-able friends.
• Occasional jankiness with its stability; it crashes from time to time.

This will just have to do…

• OBAMA WEB SITE READY Obama’s transition team is ready to go with Change.gov, a Web site explaining the president-elect’s agenda and offering information about the inauguration and even how to apply for jobs with the new administration. Wow. Transparency. What a concept.

Check out change.gov, the incoming administration’s new Web site.

• iPHONE WINS! The iPhone beat Blackberry in J.D. Power & Associates survey of business users. They preferred the iPhone’s ease of use, design and features. Apple’s smartphone led sales in that category last quarter; Blackberry plans new models to fight back.

• SARAH AIN’T SO SMART After the election McCain campaign staff reveals how woefully unprepared Sarah Palin was to be vice president. Cases in point: She thought Africa was a country not a continent; she couldn’t name the three countries that are parties to the North American Free Trade Agreement. Hint: They’re the countries in North America.

• DO THEY GRADE ON A CURVE? Twitter Grader compares your Twitterificness with other users. Earlier today, my score was 55 out of 100. Now it’s up to 60. I plan on getting better and the badge below is updated in real time.

• KUDOS TO SOUTH PARK for turning around a new episode that featured the election results within 24 hours of Election Day.

• OBAMA SPAM It’s a good thing I (a) tend to ignore spam, even when I’ve signed up for it from the Obama campaign, and (2) have a Mac. Why? Because evildoers took advantage of all the viral Obama victory speech videos floating around the intarwebs to attach malware to emails with subject lines like Obama win preferred in world poll and return addresses like news@president.com.

• GUN NUTS GO NUTS over what they believe is inevitable new gun controls from the Obama administration. The New York Times reports gun sales surge on buyers’ concerns.

• OTHER SHOPPERS, NOT SO MUCH Double-digit sales declines last month don’t augur well for the holiday season as the recession well and truly sets in. Retailing analyst John Morris told the Times, “You walk the mall and consumers look like zombies. They’re there in person, but not in spirit.”

• PROP. 8 WORSE FOR ECONOMY THAN RECESSION The gays’ über-fabulous weddings are over in California, leading those in the marriage business to worry about the economic impact of embedding discrimination in the state’s constitution.

• INSIDE THE TENT PISSING OUT That’s my vote on what to do with turncoat Joe Lieberman. The recovering Democrat who nearly (some say should’ve) became McCain’s running mate is not high on his former party’s popularity polls. Even so, with a sub-cloture majority in the Senate, the Dems should keep him on their side (Lieberman had been caucusing with his former party even though he’s officially an independent). Think of it like Reconstruction.

• OK FOR TROOPS TO FIGHT FOR FREEDOM BUT not exercise it. The Pentagon restrained Stars & Stripes (an independent newspaper) from reporting on troops’ public reactions to the election.

So, is this the best way to subvert iTunes?

The free AppleScript, Advantageous, allows you to use iTunes to find the music you want but switch to Amazon’s sometimes cheaper, higher-quality and DRM-free music store to buy what you want.

Say you want the latest album from those cute serious musicians, the Jonas Brothers.

• Jonas Brothers’ album on iTunes (AAC and DRM): $9.99
• On Amazon (MP3 and DRM-free): $8.99

After installing Advantageous, just pull down iTunes Script Menu and select Buy From Amazon.

Zip on over to your Web browser and there’s your JoBro album, $1 less than what iTunes charges (though on a per-song basis, they’re the same price at 99 cents).

Amazon’s music store has been up for a while offering higher-quality MP3s without the restrictive DRM on many songs purchased via iTunes.

And another thing…
It bugs me, by the way, that iTunes won’t let me create iPhone ringtones from music that I’ve purchased from them, even though that’s built into the software. Not even for money. Whereas I can create ringtones both willy and nilly from unprotected MP3s. For this, iTunes earns a: