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Aug 25 2010

Teleport …and a Feat of Geek Strength

If you don’t know about Teleport from Abyssoft, you should. It’s a donationware application that allows you to use one keyboard and mouse to control many Macs—a virtual KVM switch of sorts. In the video below, I show how I am able to drag a single folder from one iMac across the screens of two other Macs to a fourth Mac situated across the room from the mouse I’m using to control it.

You probably have no use for such a Feat of Geek Strength, but one situation where I’ve used Teleport with great success is when I’m sitting at my desk using my iMac for some serious video rendering while my MacBook Pro sits in front of the iMac’s screen. I use the mouse and its built-in keyboard to control the MacBook Pro and also use them to control the iMac. With Teleport configured to let me move my mouse to the top of the MacBook Pro screen as the portal to the bottom of the iMac screen, the interface is slick and seamless.

I have to admit and caution that, when using Teleport to control another iMac to control a MacBook to control another MacBook as I did in the video, it can become very easy to lose your cursor and become confused as to which Mac is in control at any given time. But, hey, that’s why they call them Feats of Geek Strength

Have you accomplished any Feat of Geek Strength? Let me know in the comments. Better yet—challenge me!!

No Flash? No problem—click here!»

By RickMacMerc • Featured, Geek News, hax0r, MacMerc.TV, Mini Video, News, osx, productivity, tips • 2 • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Aug 20 2010

Xtand and LogMeIn Ignition

I give credit to my buddy Brent Flink ( @indivisual ) for showing me LogMeIn and it’s super cool (and somewhat overpriced at $29.99 US) iPhone/iPad app LogMeIn Ignition.

LogMeIn is a web-based VNC service that allows you to install its free software on your Mac (or PC) and not only access, but control that computer from a supported web browser. Unfortunately, though Mobile Safari on the iPad and iPhone is one of those supported browsers, when you try to control the cursor within LogMeIn’s web-based VNC, you only end up controlling the view of the screen in the browser.

So, in order to control your Mac at home from your iPad in a coffee shop, you first need to have signed up for a FREE LogMeIn account, installed and activated the software on your Mac. Then you can share your Mac through LogMeIn. Now, when you launch LogMeIn Ignition on your iPad or iPhone, you can control your home computer from the road.

My favorite thing I’ve done with LogMeIn is use it to help me send files to clients that I couldn’t keep with me on my iPhone or iPad. While controlling my home Mac, I save the file to my Dropbox folder. This sets Dropbox to work making that file available to me online via the FREE Dropbox App on my iPad or iPhone. I still don’t actually have the file on those devices, but I can get a link to where it has been stored online by Dropbox that I can paste in an email on my iPhone and send it to my client. Problem solved.

No Flash? No problem—click here!»

My little joke at the start of the video below made use of a very cool iPhone stand called the Xtand.1 It’s a nice iMac-like stand that will hold the iPhone 3G, 3GS or 4. It sells for about $39.99 US2

As I mentioned at the end of the video, there is another service called TeamViewer that offers many of the same features of LogMeIn but offers FREE lite versions of its apps for iPhone and iPad …though its full-featured apps sell for $99.99 US for the iPhone version and $139.99 US for the iPad version. Suddenly, $29.99 US doesn’t seem so bad to me.

  1. I’m actually not sure if I’m supposed to pronounce it “EKS-tand” or “ztand”…clearly I chose “EKS-tand” [↩]
  2. the one I used in the video is available for $35.99 CDN if you can get to MacStation in Abbotsford before they sell it icon biggrin Xtand and LogMeIn Ignition [↩]

By RickMacMerc • apps, Featured, gadgets, iPad, iPhone, MacMerc.TV, Mini Video, News • 3 • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Jun 19 2010

G-DRIVE mobile FireWire

G DRIVE mobile with MacBook Pro 300x197 G DRIVE mobile FireWire

At first look, the G-DRIVE mobile FireWire G DRIVE mobile FireWire1 will remind you of Apple’s MacBook Pro and though it’s not milled out of a single slab of aluminum, it is clearly cut from the same design cloth as the revolutionary notebook. It’s got the same matte finish on the sides and bottom, a shiny black top surface reminiscent of the MacBook Pro’s screen—even the activity light matches.

By the numbers, the G-DRIVE mobile is a light (9 ounces), portable 250GB or 500GB drive that spins at 5400RPM and transfers data over FireWire 800 or USB 2.0. G-Technology includes a FW800-to-FW400 cable for those of us who still makes use of some of Apple’s older tech. Best of all for this coffee shop hopping blogger, the drive is bus powered. That’s right—no frikkin’ brick. Yes, that means it will drain your MacBook Pro’s battery while it’s attached but, hey, you don’t need to leave it attached all the time and I bet you perpetually keep your notebook tethered to the wall with AC power anyway.2

Down to the cost and quality, the G-DRIVE mobile, like all drives I’ve ever had from G-Technology, is top tier and as such is a little bit more expensive than the run-of-the-mill portable FireWire drive. But at USD$149.99 with a 3-Year warranty, I think you’re getting incredible value and dependability. This is a sweet little drive and belongs in your laptop case.

  1. buying through this Amazon Affiliate will probably save you some money and it will definitely help keep this site going. Thanks ~RY [↩]
  2. I gotta say, this is a practice I don’t quite get: you laptop wants to be free. Plug it in to charge it, not to use it…not when you’re out. That’s my rant. [↩]

By RickMacMerc • Featured, gadgets, News, review(s), Reviews • 5 • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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