101. Synchronize Your Palm PDA and Other Devices  BEFORE YOU BEGIN 95 Add a Person to Your Address Book 97 Create an iCal Event
 SEE ALSO 100 Synchronize Your Information Using .Mac 86 Synchronize With an iPod
iSync is a utility designed to keep your data synchronized with any smart digital devices you use to keep track of things and communicatePersonal Digital Assistants, cellular phones, and iPods. iSync can talk to all these devices and keep their data in sync whenever they're connected to your Mac. All you have to do is set them up.  WEB RESOURCE http://www.markspace.com Mark/Space is the home of The Missing Sync, a commercial software package ($40) that makes the PDA sync process far more hassle-free and full-featured than even the official Palm software does. It also supports Pocket PC devices; if you have one, The Missing Sync is just what you need.
NOTE Although you need a .Mac account to synchronize your Macs with each other, you don't need to be a .Mac memberor even have an Internet connectionto synchronize your devices with a single Mac using iSync.
For cell phones and iPods, the process of registering them with iSync is a simple one: Just plug it in and use the Device, Add Device command to scan for it so that iSync can automatically pick it up. But to use a Palm OS-based PDA with iSync, the process to set it up is rather more complicated. 101. Synchronize Your Palm PDA and Other Devices 
NOTE If you have multiple Macs, you should choose a single one to which to synchronize your PDA, iPod, or cell phone. In other words, don't synchronize the device to your Mac at home, and then again to your Mac at work; the different copies of iSync might become confused , and you may lose data. Instead, make sure that your multiple Macs are synchronized (see 100 Synchronize Your Information Using .Mac ), and then choose one Mac to use any time you want to synchronize your digital device.
| 1. | Add an iPod or Cellular Phone to iSync Whether you want to add an iPod or cellular phone to iSync, the process is the same. First, plug in the device using FireWire or USB cables as necessary, or Bluetooth if your device and Mac both support it. Open iSync and select Add Device from the Devices menu. In the Add Device dialog box that opens, click the Scan button to scan for connected devices. Any iPods or cellular phones connected to the computer appear in the window. Double-click the icon for each device to add it to iSync. iPods and different models of cellular phones differ in what kinds of data they can synchronize, but the configuration pane contains controls that let you select from whatever types of data are applicable . Select the check boxes for the data you want to synchronizecontacts, calendars, and other itemsand use the Automatically synchronize when <device> is connected check box to tell iSync to launch a sync process whenever you connect the device to the computer. With this option selected, you never have to open iSync to ensure that your latest data is present on your device; just plug it in and the data is synchronized in the background. To synchronize the new device with the data on your Mac and .Mac server for the first time, click Sync Now . NOTE With certain devices, including newer phones from Nokia and other manufacturers, you are prompted to install an iSync Config application on your device to enable iSync configuration. Follow the instructions provided to enable this functionality. | | 2. | Install the Palm Desktop Software
To add a Palm device to iSync, you must first download the Palm Desktop application suite. Visit the Palm website at http://www.palmone.com/software to locate the Mac OS X version of the Palm Desktop. Register with the website (you must enter the serial number for your handheld device) and download the software.
Double-click the Palm Desktop Installer icon to install the Palm software. The installer creates the Palm Desktop and HotSync Manager applications on your computer, and then presents a brief series of panels that set up your user account, using your Mac OS X user information. When the installation procedure is complete, restart your computer.
| | 3. | Configure the Palm HotSync Conduit  | After restarting your Mac, navigate to the Applications folder and double-click the HotSync Manager icon. The HotSync Manager launches. From the HotSync menu, select Conduit Settings to bring up the window where you configure the various conduits , or mini-applications that transmit data between your Palm device and the Mac.
| KEY TERM Conduit A piece of software hiding under the surface of Mac OS X that transfers a certain kind of information, such as Address Book contacts or iCal events, to and from a digital device such as a PDA. NOTE If the Conduit Settings window doesn't show an iSync Conduit entry, you might have to get a newer version of the Palm Desktop software. HotSync Manager version 3.0.1 and earlier might not work properly with iSync 1.2.1 or Tiger. Double-click the iSync Conduit entry in the list in the Conduit Settings window. In the dialog box that appears, select the Enable iSync for this Palm device check box and click OK. iSync will now show the Palm device in the palette at the top of the iSync window. Whenever you connect the Palm device to your computer from now on (either by directly connecting a USB cable or by pressing the Synchronize button on the Palm's cradle), iSync will launch a sync process and update the information on the Palm device, just as it does with .Mac and any other devices to which it is connected and registered. |  |
