Why do my calendars not always update 9or update right away?)

Question

I am not sure i am following APPLE's instructions correctly as I don't get consistent results. Can someone help? Thanks.
I have the newest IPOD TOUCH. And some things I have entered on my MACs and even work PCs (me.com calendars eventually showed up on my ipod touch. Vice versa too.) Problem is that this is not consistent. I occasionally find something does not make it, especially from internet (me.com) to the IPOD.
I THINK my IPOD TOUCH settings may be the problem.
They are
PUSH--> ON
FETCH --> MANUAL
I have tried other ways, and the results are always unclear. I thought to save the battery PUSH should be off, or is it only FETCH?
I have wifi on AT HOME. But only to get mail sent to my IPOD. Out on the street and at work there IS no wifi. But anyway, on or off, it seems like I need to have my usb connector plugged in to sync. So I do that too.
SO, Calendar--> PUSH ON OR OFF? FETCH ON OR OFF? WIFI ON OR OFF?
Now Push on, wifi on.
MAC settings too are confusing. There is SYSTEM PREFERENCES and Itunes.
Here they are for my PPC G5 running 10.5.5 and Intel Macbook Pro running 10.4.4)
MOBILE ME (SYSTEM PREFERENCES)
Sync (all items checked except, on the desktop, the mysteriously named "com.panic.transmit.favorites". So that includes calendars. And set for AUTOMATICALLY.
NOTE!!
---> THIS ONE ---WAS-- SET FOR AUTO, BUT JUST NOW I SWITCHED TO MANUAL AND IT DID WORK!!
-> DOES THIS MEAN I FOUND THE SOLUTION? OR A FLUKE???
ADVANCED shows the two machines being synced
ITUNES SETTING
Contacts and Calendars are synced "OVER THE AIR" from Mobile ME. That implies wifi? But regardless, with or without, plugged in or not, I do not always get things synced.
Mail account--only have me.com. before I had the other email I use, but it seemed to create multiple instances of Mobile me on my IPOD and also multiple calendars "On my Ipod" and UNTITLED Account" So now I leave only mobile,me checked. (see below ADVANCED)
Advanced:
REPLACE INFO ON THIS IPOD.... Or, THIS may have been the culprit, so now I leave this off
So, now I am left wondering if any of my settings are less than desired. And is the syncing, when it happens, occurring over wifi or over the USB? So far, the one setting that seems to MAYBE make a difference is in SYSTEM preferences-->changing to SYCH WITH MOBILE ME MANUAL (whereas before it was AUTO).
Thanks

Answer 1

tokyoprogressive wrote:
Thank very much for your answer. Let me see if I understand.
I have Mobile Me (this mac account and a set of calendars: home and work)
Fairly similar to my set up.
Ok...I have PUSH ON and FETCH MANUAL. But then in ADVANCED it says MOBILE ME CONTACTS AND CALENDARS --> PUSH. And MAIL also PUSH.
Though I am not sure what this actually means. So far, I seem to get things to happen
Rule 555: if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Stuff from Mobile Me comes down automatically. That was supposed to be Push (instant), but Apple had to admit that in reality for now, there is going to be some delay. Even so, if I time it well, mail and calendar changes arrive elsewhere as soon as I make them on the computer or the touch or even the cloud.
Some apps do not support Push, so that Manual (or the times) cover that situation.
automatically IF I have wifi on at home and the calendar app is open. In other words, do PUSH And FETCH settings work if using USB and NO WIFI (on my home computer?)
No. By selecting the Mobile Me method, the USB syncs are closed off.
This works with wifi if you have Mobile Me (but then subscribed calendars do not sync).
Ok.
You mean other things sync but not calendars? I am not sure how I actually subscribe them. I just see the same info now on the web and on my TOUCH.
Your ordinary calendars do, but those you subscribe to (for example I subscribe to a calendar that I found on a website that gives me Formula 1 schedule; and my boss at work gives me a calendar I subscribe to). My basic calendars are fine, but the subscribed calendars do not even appear in Mobile Me or on the touch.
Hm. So far with that specific computer I can ONLY get wifi and not USB. You said I can turn it off??? You mean by turing PUSH to off? So PUSH off, no sync. Push on, sync.
Right. The Sync would be via USB, but that only syncs the touch and the computer, the computer would also sync with the cloud. OK, if you only have one computer, I guess. Syncs from the touch wait until you come home and plug it in.
So turning on MOBILE ME (PUSH???) makes SYNC via USB stop working?
That is right. If you look in the information panel in iTunes when you have the touch connected, that is what is indicated.
Thanks you. As you see, I am still very foggy about this all. It seems like the USB is good for charging and Itunes stuff, but that the calendar only syncs with PUSH on and FETCH set to, so far for me, MANUAL.
You have that about right, Yes.
And yet on some of its pages Apple says you should turn off PUSH and/or FETCH to save battery life.
Right. If you are in a situation where Push is not going to work for a few hours (like on a plane, or in the middle of a desert) it makes no sense to discharge a battery unnecessarily. If you are in and out of Starbucks in the US, or somewhere that has wifi on that you can link to -- and you do update a lot, or read email -- then keep it on.
Glad to have been of help.
Graham