This same advantage, however, can occasionally turn around and bite you, leading to a total and potentially irrecoverable disaster. That's exactly what happened to me.

It all began when I launched my iPhone and discovered that my list of contacts, as stored in the Contacts app, had vanished. The Contacts database was empty!

I quickly surmised that my syncing strategy might precipitate a larger problem here. I was right.

I launched the Address Book application on my Mac. Empty.

I checked the Contacts list at the MobileMe Web site. Empty.