By Graham K. Rogers

There are many changes and some additions to System Preferences in OS X 10.8, Mountain Lion. When version 10.7 of OS X first came out, there was no iCloud. That arrived in an update to OS X in the middle of October 2011 at the same time iOS 5 was released. The panel for these features looks to be unchanged from that time.

The preferences panel for iCloud is not rich with information. It is a means of deciding if iCloud is to be used to synchronise data across devices and then which parts of the available services are to be used.

When first opened, the panel briefly describes the services available but the main panel is a display of the features in icon form. At the bottom are two boxes. The one on the left is to allow entry of the Apple ID. Below this is a link to iCloud so that an account may be created.

A box on the left is for typing in a password. If the password has been forgotten, a link below will start a process for creation of a new password that can be sent by email.

Once a user has logged in the single panel displayed is in two distinct parts: account information to the left and services in a larger window to the right.

The left panel is dominated by a shiny iCloud icon with the word "iCloud" in bold beneath. Under that is the name of the user in grey. Two buttons are available below the name: Account Details; and Sign Out.

• Pressing the Account Details button brings up a small panel with information about Apple ID, Name of the user, and Description. In my case this was shown as "iCloud". Changing the Description had no apparent effect, but I reverted to iCloud just in case. Two buttons on the panel at the bottom are marked, Cancel and OK.

• Sign Out returns the preferences to the original information pane (above). However, before the user is logged out, a warning panel appears for each of the services being used. Logging out will delete the information from the Mac (also see below).

The main panel shows the services that are currently available for users. These are shown in a list of icons and names. The order is not alphabetical on my computer: Mail, Contacts, Calendars & Reminders, Notes, Safari, Photo Stream, Documents & Data, Back to My Mac, and Find My Mac. To the left of each is a checkbox indicating whether it is currently active or not.

There is no information about the services available in this preference pane but individual applications, such as Aperture with Photo Stream may need additional settings activated. More features (like Safari synchronisation) are expected to come on line with the iOS 6 update.

• There is a separate preference panel for Mail, Contacts & Calendars. The iCloud panel there indicates the services being used. Clicking on the section reveals a panel identical to the one in the iCloud preferences.

• Notes synchronisation is controlled by the iCloud panel and by the app settings on iOS devices.

• Documents & Data has had a significant change in its operations with the arrival of 10.8. My main use has been with Keynote as I use this on all three of my devices: Macs, iPhone and iPad. For a while it has been possible to sync with iCloud, but this was limited on the Mac. Making a change on the iPhone would see the same change appear on the iPad. And on the iCloud version (accessed via a browser).

  However, this did not change a version of the same presentation on the Mac. That required a clunky process of saving to the cloud (making the presentation available for iOS devices; or downloading from the iCloud browser page. [Direct synchronisation with iOS devices by wifi or USB cable is also possible in iTunes, using the apps section of a specific device.]

  Now many applications on the Mac, including Keynote, have two ways to save documents when Documents & Data are active. The document may either be saved to the desktop as in the normal/previous way of working, or it may be saved to iCloud. When this is done, the version is available across all devices that access the service. This alone saves me much work (as long as I have internet access).

  
  

  

  
  

• Back to My Mac has been a feature available on Macs for a couple of years. It allows a user to control a Mac remotely and I wrote about this in 2008 in an item on Screen Sharing in the Sharing Preferences.

  An Apple Knowledge Base Document, PH2572 (referring to OS X 10.7.2), has more details about the service in iCloud, but there are two main parts: Browse your remote Mac computer's hard drive, and drag files and folders to your local Mac; and Control your remote Mac just as if you were sitting in front of it.

  When I turned this on, I was asked for my password (my Apple ID was already identified). As I work in a user account, I was also required to enter the Admin password. I also turned this on in Sharing preferences.

  
  

  

  
  

• In OS X 10.7, I had used the final item: Find my Mac. At that time, this had to be turned on from within the Admin account. With 10.8, I am able to activate this from within the user account.

  However, with a recent report of a user (who had not backed up for a while see below) losing all data when his password information was accessed (using Amazon and Apple login systems), I decided to pass on this for now, despite using the service on my iPhone and iPad. There are a number of third party applications, such as Undercover from Orbicule and I prefer this.

Deselecting any of the services will bring up a warning about removing data from the cloud. For example, unchecking Notes brings up a panel with, "If you stop using iCloud for Notes, the notes stored in iCloud will be removed from this Mac" and "Your notes will still be available on other devices using iCloud."

Below the main panel is a window that shows the amount of iCloud storage currently in use. Apple provides 5 GB for users (perhaps because I used Mobile Me I have 25 GB indicated). Additional storage is available: 10 GB for $20 p.a.; 20 GB for $40 p.a.; and 50 GB for $100 p.a..

A button to the side of the capacity display is marked, Manage. This reveals a two-part panel with apps to the left and details to the right when an app is highlighted. As well as Apple software like Keynote and Numbers, I have Just Type and Pocket Planes (iOS apps) shown. When the files are shown in the main panel, they can be deleted individually (or all). There is also an icon for Backups which I have not yet started to use.

More information concerning features available in iCloud are available on the Apple website.

Note on Find My Mac

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs.