Inside .Mac [Paperback]

Chuck Toporek (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 14, 2004

Apple's .Mac service (pronounced dot Mac) offers everything Mac OS X users have come to expect: an attractive, intuitive interface and a wealth of features with all the underlying power you'll ever need. .Mac includes web mail, an online contact management system, storage space, a fully customizable web site of your own, and much more. On your first tour of this suite of subscriber-based services, you'll be delighted by how easy and convenient .Mac is to use. But you'll soon discover that there's a lot more to .Mac than meets the eye!

Inside .Mac will help you get the most out of Apple's new Internet services. This handy, quick reference offers a clear overview of the entire .Mac package and many of its not-so-obvious features. You'll learn how to set up and manage your account quickly and without fuss. Each .Mac service is discussed in an objective, no-frills fashion that'll show you how to use--and what to expect from--iDisk, web mail, your personal web site, and everything else that .Mac offers. The book covers:

• Setting up your .Mac account: a guided tour to getting started with .Mac
• Using your iDisk: a detailed look at using iDisk, its directories, the iDisk utility and more
• Mac Software: a look at what's included in the software directory, including Virex anti-virus software, the Backup utility, Mac Slides Publisher, and third-party software
• .Mac Email: everything you need to know, on configuring your settings to adding additional email accounts
• Building a HomePage: an overview of HomePage options that covers uploading files, publishing iPhoto libraries, protecting your site, and publishing and announcing your site
• Synchronizing Your Mac with .Mac: learn how to set up and sync your Address Book, iCal Calendars, and more using iSync

From enthusiastic new users to hardcore Mac geeks, anyone who uses .Mac will want to get the most from their subscription service. Inside .Mac is the only book that shows you how. There's no better way take control than with this handy guide.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Chuck Toporek cut his teeth on a Mac II system when he got his first job in publishing in 1988, and has been using them ever since. Chuck is a senior editor in charge of the Mac OS X/Apple Developer Connection (ADC) series for O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. He is also the author/editor of the Mac OS X Panther Pocket Guide, co-author of Mac OS X in a Nutshell, and author of the upcoming title, Inside .Mac.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media (May 14, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596005016
• ISBN-13: 978-0596005016
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,076,923 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

By day, Chuck Toporek is a senior acquisitions editor for Addison-Wesley, an imprint of Pearson Education, Inc. Here he manages the Mac and iOS developer list for AW, and frequently pokes at the hornet's nest. In his off time, Chuck has written books for Mac users for O'Reilly Media (his former employer), and irregularly posts stuff to his blog, at chuckdude.com. If you are interested in writing for AW, or being a technical reviewer for one of the books he's editing, feel free to contact him at chuck[dot]toporek[at]pearson[dot]com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good place to start for novice .Mac (or Mac) users, July 19, 2004

By 

M. L McGuire "mlmcguire" (Grafton, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Inside .Mac (Paperback)

Most things Apple makes can be easily fgured out without a manual. That's a good thing since Apple rarely includes a manual (other than a booklet or online help) with any of its products these days. Having a .Mac membership, I thought I pretty much knew what I could do with the member benefts. Still, I decided to give trusty O'Reilly a try to see what sorts of insights their .Mac book could give me.

I am three chapters into the book and I've already come upon a few. Not only is the Inside .Mac book helpful for .Mac users, it also contains some helpful hints for those new to any of Apple's iLife products. I learned a little bit about synchronizing my iDisk as well as setting up Mail.

I have made use of my homepage space from my .Mac account to share pictures of my son. What I didn't know is that I could synchronize that site (and all the contents of my iDisk) on my local hard-drive. This will let me work offine on my site, which is a good thing because my cable modem connection is still unreliable.

I also learned how to "fake out" Mail in order to set up my .mac account as a POP account. This will download all mail to my hard-drive instead of leaving it up on Apple?s servers. If you set up your .Mac account the default way, all mail in your inbox actually resides on the Apple servers. This enables you check that inbox via the web or any other computer you've set up to access your .Mac account. I tend to save my emails, forever, so downloading and keeping was an option I wanted to use.

I'd recommend this book for folks new to the Mac and new to using Apple's online tools. If you're looking to host a webpage and put up some of your home movies or pictures, but aren't sure how to do it, this book walks you through all the steps with easy to follow instructions and accompanying graphics. I'm looking forward to learning how to use the iBlog software to put up an online blog onto my site.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Inside .mac - a worthwhile read & reference, August 24, 2004

By 

C. BLANCHARD "Desert Book Reader" (Tucson, AZ) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Inside .Mac (Paperback)

Title: Inside .Mac
Author: Chuck Toporek
Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates, 2004, $19.95
ISBN: 0-596-00501-6

Reviewed by: Curt Blanchard, Tucson Macintosh Users Group

I've had a dot-Mac account for a couple of years now and although I use it for many things, I haven't really taken advantage of it the way I could have. This is part sloth, but it's also because a dot-Mac account has features that I guarantee you'll never figure out on your own. With the new O'Reilly book, Inside .Mac by Chuck Toporek, you're going to find out how impressive dot-Mac really is! This isn't fluffy, light reading, it's 350 pages dense with information, that begin with a basic explanation, then take you straight through the dot-Mac's rich feature-set, module by module.

Toporek is quite thorough considering the amount of material there is to cover. There are lots of useful screenshots - sometimes unnecessarily too many, and in a few instances I found it frustrating to locate answers to specific questions even with help from the index. The only other nit is that it's pretty dry reading - no manual will ever be considered "light Summer reading", but other authors are a little better at keeping the reader engaged by lightening up from time to time.

This book could almost be divided in two; volume one would be a slim Getting Started guide and the second volume could deal with the deeper, more technical subjects. The two are fully blended throughout this book which may intimidate the casual user. I'm a better informed dot-Mac user after having read this book and recommend it to those who want to expand their knowledge.

If $99.00 per year for a dot-Mac account seems steep, read this book and you'll realize you get a lot for your money. It works out to only $8.25 per month.

--Curt Blanchard
Tucson Macintosh Users Group

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book for .Mac members, July 5, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Inside .Mac (Paperback)

I've had a .Mac account for about a year now and all that I thought it was good for was email and the iDisk. This book has really opened my eyes to everything that's available to .Mac members. The book is packed with little tips on how to use the different services and applications like Backup, Virex, and even iBlog. But for me, the best part of the whole book was the HomePage chapter. I've been posting Photo Album pages to my .Mac HomePage for a few months, but never really knew how to tie all of those pages together to make my site useful to my friends and family. As I said before, this is an excellent book, and I'd highly recommend it for anyone who has a .Mac membership. Even if you've been using .Mac for some time (like me), you're bound to find some great stuff here.