You would think the Palm platform would be a little more Mac friendly, considering how much Apple and Palm have in commom—devoted cultish followings and an overarching enemy/partner in Microsoft, to name just a couple.

That's where Mark/Space comes in. With The Missing Sync, it delivers the level of compatibility between Palm PDA or smartphone and Apple desktop or laptop not delivered by PalmSource (the Palm operating system developer) itself.

Today, Mark/Space announced version 5.0 of the synchronization software. According to company, this major upgrade of The Missing Sync improves syncing with the Address Book and iCal applications in Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger), introduces folder synchronization, Spotlight searching of memos and adds synchronization of iPhoto albums and iTunes playlists.


The Missing Sync Interface

"Last year, with the release of version 4.0, the focus was on connectivity, device management and usability. Version 5.0 completes the picture by vastly increasing the types of information that users are able to sync, including handheld calendar categories and additional contact record fields, providing a better experience all around," says Mark/Space CEO Brian Hall.

Since The Missing Sync now interfaces with Tiger's new Sync Services technology, contacts, calendar events and tasks can be synchronized directly with the master database on the Mac. Previously, users had to go through Apple's iSync utility and iSync Palm Conduit.

PalmSource hasn't updated the latter to handle the latest handheld database fields, such as calendar event categories, multiple postal addresses, instant messaging addresses, and birthdays. The Missing Sync now does all this and more, however, even synchronizing contact photos from Palm Treo smartphones and other camera-enabled Palm handhelds.


The Missing Sync Setup Assistant

Version 5.0 of The Missing Sync also introduces a new Folder Sync conduit that allows users to define folders on their Mac and Palm OS device that are then kept in sync automatically. For example, if a document is edited on a Palm OS handheld, the updated version will be copied back to the Mac the next time the Folder Sync conduit is run. Users can define multiple folders and unidirectional or bidirectional synchronization.

New conduits for iPhoto and iTunes provide media synchronization. iPhoto albums can be selected for synchronization, and photos can be automatically resized for optimized viewing on the Palm OS device. Additionally, photos taken with a camera-equipped handheld or smartphone can be copied to the Mac, either into a specific folder or directly into an iPhoto album.

The new iTunes conduit lets users select playlists to be synchronized with their device. All audio files in a format supported by software on the handheld are automatically copied. The plugin supports Smart Playlists that select music at random, so new audio files will be sent to the handheld during every sync operation. Both the iPhoto and iTunes conduits can be set to ensure that a specified amount of storage space is left available on the device.


The Mark/Space iTunes Conduit

New connection-aware Conduit Profiles give The Missing Sync the ability to run a specific set of conduits based on the type of connection made between a Palm OS device and a Mac. Mark/Space says one use of this feature could be to have all conduits run when the device is connected via its cradle or USB cable, but then to only run a subset of conduits if the connection is over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, saving time when using slower connections.

Mark/Space's bundled MemoPad application runs on Mac OS X and gives users a way to create, edit and synchronize handheld notes. With the 5.0 release, MemoPad gains sorting and searching capabilities, and it also responds to Spotlight searches on Tiger, giving users more ways to quickly locate the information they need.

The Missing Sync for Palm OS sells for $39.95 as a download. It should hit store shelves in CD format in a few weeks for $49.95.