Two potentially naive iCloud questions related to photo stream and mail

[Whackintosh]

I hope this doesn't sound too silly, but I've got two basic questions related to iCloud:

Photostream: is there a way to make the sharing work in only one direction, so that any image snapped on my iPhone or iPad appear on my desktop machine, but the various high rez images I put on my desktop don't end up being pushed to my iPhone and iPad?

Mail: am I correct in thinking that I need to change my email address if I want my mail to be synched between all my machines? I'm being prompted to create an @me account for mail, but I can't change my normal email address, which I've been using for far too long, and is a company one.

Other than these lingering worries, I love everything about iCloud so far!

 

[ifoner]

Most people these days use web-based mail, or Exchange based. Either way they do their own syncing, so you don't need Apple's mail.

Keep in mind that in Apple-land, Reminders are tied to Calendar, and Notes are tied to mail. So if you turn on notes in iCloud you need mail. (me.com) In your case this wouldn't replace your mail, but if you want to sync Notes that's the only way to do it in iCloud.

 

[Whackintosh]

Thanks, Ifoner. My email is still POP. Do you know if that would work smoothly with iCloud in a way that would let me keep my normal email address?

 

[ifoner]

Thanks, Ifoner. My email is still POP. Do you know if that would work smoothly with iCloud in a way that would let me keep my normal email address?

I'm saying that you just keep your own email address, the one using POP, separate from iCloud. You can't choose a non .me email account for iCloud. However, if you want to sync Notes, you need to pick a free .me account, and just use it separately for notes. You can then at least see the notes in the web interface of iCloud, or on a Mac.

 

[Whackintosh]

Thanks. I'd like to synch my email across all devices using iCloud if possible.

 

[ifoner]

Thanks. I'd like to synch my email across all devices using iCloud if possible.

Sounds like time to move to IMAP. That will solve your syncing problems without iCloud. iCloud requires that you setup an xxx.me mail account.

 

[LapsangSouchong]

In the days of mobileME you could have used your preferred email address, in mobileME on the web. And on your mac. (And Gerry rigged a way to use it on your iPhone). Now? Not so much. If you want YOUR email address, just keep that part separate. But make it an imap account if you can, so it WILL be in sync across your devices.

 

[Whackintosh]

Thanks, guys. Looks like a move to Imap is inevitable. I'll tackle that at the start of the week.

Does anyone have any idea about my photostream question? I work with a lot of high rez images and I don't want my desktop to be pushing them to my iPhone and iPad, which would bog out their storage pretty quick. I definitely love the idea of my mobile devices pushing all images they take onto to my iMac and MBP though!