MacInCloud Saves My Life

I’ve been agonizing over my lost iMac (see: Descent into the Divorce Maelström) because I was so excited to have iBooks Author. Once I initially had the iMac, I was still bummed because I didn’t have anything to test anything on. So, after separating, moving out, etc. I had to now buy both again, starting over. But then I learned that Mavericks would have iBooks so all I’d need to do is buy a new Mac but that be expensive, yo. So I got an inexpensive H-P at the local pawn shop to at least get some work done.

Then I discovered MacInCloud.

It’s like a combination of Google Docs (or Google Drive) and the Adobe Creative Cloud. It’s like the latter in that it provides Apple Software via subscription and sorta like the former in that you can access it in your browser.

This means I can get just the iPad for testing and to be online at home without cable or other internet service so I win all around. I got a great Black Friday deal on the iPad. Here are my humble specs:

• iPad Mini
• NO retina
• Sprint cellular

The good:

• 1 GB service is $14.99/month with no contract
• $50 off for Black Friday Goodness

The great:

• 2 GB service is $15/month with no contract so I got that
• Another $20 off for applying for a Best Buy card (I got the same deal on my Kindle)

The icky:

• They only had them in white
• Service at home is slow and low (but WAY better than nothing and it doesn’t drop)
• No student discount

At present, I’m using MacInCloud it in Chrome and it is really slow. That might be because of my location. I also plan to try it on the iPad which, if it works, will rock my world.

Now, a few moments later, I’m using the “popup” access thingy on the desktop as opposed to the browser. It is still not as fast as a real desktop but much faster than using the browser which is a big relief. Both methods use Remote DeskTop as opposed to Google‘s full/native browserness and Adobe‘s full on-your-desktopness.

All of this is for a more interactive, multimedia iBooks experience. Some of the projects will be only iBooks but some will have exact duplicate iBook versions, and still others will have an “enhanced” iBook version.

I did get a student discount on the MacInCloud subscription so for the month it is $14 instead of $20. Yay for me.