Apple said to launch free MobileMe in April

By Andrew Couts Published March 19, 2011

The MobileMe rumor train is back up to full steam, with a new report from iLounge that Apple plans to release a free, overhauled version of its online storage service in April. The report matches earlier rumors that such changes to MobileMe were expected sometime this year.

According to iLounge senior editor Chalres Starrett, a “trusted” unnamed source, “who works for a major educational institution,” has told the publication that “the current version of MobileMe is no longer available, and that Apple is suggesting new students sign up for the 60-day trial to cover the gap between the final MobileMe shipment and the launch of the new version.”

Recommended Videos

All of this lines up with both things we already know — that Apple has, in fact, removed the ability to purchase the $99 version of MobileMe that was long available for download or in its stores — and unconfirmed rumors — that a revamped, free version of MobileMe is on its way.

In mid-February, the Wall Street Journal reported that MobileMe would eventually be re-released as a free service to all Apple customers. The new version would act as a digital online “locker” for the storage of various types of media, like music, pictures and video.

Adding further fuel to the new MobileMe rumor bonfire, Apple confirmed late last month that its new 500,000-square-foot data center in North Carolina — the company’s largest — would be at least partially devoted to the support of iTunes and MobilMe services.

This news re-ignited talk of a cloud-based iTunes, merged with MobileMe, which would allow users to store their music and video files online, and access them from any enabled mobile device (like the iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad). There is so far no verified evidence that such an iTunes upgrade will be announced anytime soon, or that plans for the service exists at all.

It must be made clear that today’s MobileMe news is also just rumor — but given the sheer amount of talk and corroborated rumors about a MobileMe overhaul, it would be surprising if Apple doesn’t announce something sometime soon.

Topics

Apple

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Features Editor for Digital Trends, Andrew Couts covers a wide swath of consumer technology topics, with particular focus on…

Computing

Bid farewell to this small but helpful Windows 11 feature

The Surface Pro 11 on a white table in front of a window.

As Microsoft mentions in a December 12 blog post, Windows 11 users will soon no longer receive future updates for the suggested actions menu. The helpful feature would offer you related actions when you copy items like dates or phone numbers with actions to create an event or make a call.

Microsoft first introduced the feature in a Windows 11 2022 update. It made the suggested actions menu appear and gave contextual information based on the copied data. Microsoft describes the feature as follows: "Suggested actions that appear when you copy a phone number or future date in Windows 11 are deprecated and will be removed in a future Windows 11 update."

Computing

AMD’s next-gen gaming laptop chips may have just leaked

AMD's CEO delivering the Computex 2024 presentation.

AMD is readying its Strix Point Halo and Krackan Point APUs, with a potential launch in January at CES 2025. Ahead of launch, details about an Acer Swift Go 16 laptop with an upcoming AMD laptop chip have been spotted on Geekbench.

According to the leaked listing, the laptop is powered by a Krackan Point engineering sample with an OPN Code of "100-000000713-40_Y," which is most likely the Ryzen AI 7 350. It features eight cores, divided into two clusters of four cores each, utilizing Zen 5 and Zen 5c architectures. It has a base frequency of 2GHz, which can reach a maximum boost clock of 5.05GHz, along with 16MB of L3 cache and 8MB of L2 cache.

Computing

Today only: 55% off the Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 4

The Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 5 opened up on a table.

Today is the last day of Lenovo's 4-Day Sale, which means there are plenty of great laptop deals happening, but you have to act fast. We’ve picked out one of our very favorites: the Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 4 is down to $1,080. According to Lenovo, that’s reduced from $2,399, but as experienced folk know, Lenovo tends to be a little optimistic with its estimated value system. What we do know though is that $1,080 is a great price for the Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 4. Here’s a deeper look at what it has to offer, but remember: the sale ends today so you only have hours to snag this offer.

Why you should buy the Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 4
Lenovo is one of the best laptop brands, particularly for business laptops, so the Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 4 is built to last. With this particular model, you get a 13th-generation Intel Core i5-1335U CPU along with 16GB of memory and 512GB of SSD storage. That trio forms essentially the core things you need from a business laptop. There’s also a great looking 14-inch WUXGA screen with 1920 x 1200 resolution, 45% NTSC, 300 nits of brightness, and anti-glare properties. It’s a little smaller than some other laptops, but that means it’s very portable and you can easily take it with you on your travels.