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TouchPad turns your iPhone into a remote keyboard and mouse for your Mac
TouchPad [iTunes Link] is my new best friend. It allows you to control the mouse and keyboard on your Mac through your iPhone, as well as Front Row. It is currently on sale in the App Store for $1.99 (50% off) for a "limited time" so you may want to grab it while you can. At the end of most days, I settle into bed to watch a little TV on my iMac through EyeTV. Last night I was all snuggled under the covers when I realized that I had left the mouse pointer over the video window. EyeTV kept thinking that I wanted to move the "time scrubber" and so it kept popping up the on-screen overlay. Most of the time I keep an Apple Wireless Keyboard on my nightstand in case I need to control my iMac from bed (don't you judge me!) but the batteries had run out. I pulled myself out of bed, went to the kitchen where the batteries had recharged, put them into my keyboard... and they still didn't work. So I spent about 10 minutes trying to figure out why before I finally gave up. All I really needed to do was move the mouse off-screen. If I had TouchPad, I could have done that. When I viewed the webpage and iTunes listing for TouchPad, I wasn't clear how it worked. Turns out it is very simple. By default, TouchPad works like a touchpad on a Mac laptop. Drag your finger around the iPhone screen and watch the mouse move across your Mac (yes, it supports multiple monitors). Tap the keyboard icon and the usual iPhone keyboard will appear with the addition of several special keys: escape, tab, shift, control, option, and the classic Mac "cloverleaf" command key. These special control keys are used when you want to access keyboard shortcut such as cmd+space to bring up Spotlight. Tape the "Play/Pause" icon and you will be presented with what looks like a regular Apple remote control; however, it will only control Front Row. Click "Start" and Front Row will launch on your Mac, and then you can use the TouchPad controls to navigate. Press Quit to exit Front Row. I was disappointed to see there are no Function keys, making it impossible to change the brightness, or use the play/pause, fast-forward, rewind media keys, or even trigger Exposé or the Dashboard. You can adjust the volume settings if you have it in the menu bar, but that would be a pretty precise "hit" from across the room. It would be a good addition to add a third icon up near the existing two in the top-left (keyboard and Front Row remote) to add the "fn" key plus F1-14 and an eject button. That said, for $2 this app is a steal. It works quickly, the setup instructions are very straightforward. You can easily control multiple Macs. It supports Leopard and Snow Leopard using Screen Sharing, and it also supports Tiger using Apple Remote Desktop settings. A quick search of "VNC" in the App Store results in about 25 applications, including Jasdu VNC which appears to be a full VNC client which will put your computer screen on your iPhone (see its website for more information). Very cool, but a costly $25 far more than I would spend without being able to try it out first. (Dear Apple: please give developers a way to offer time-limited demos so we can "try it before we buy it!") I have not tried all of these VNC applications (I'm sure TUAW readers will let us know in the comments which ones we should check out) but TouchPad is going on the home page of my iPhone, and my Apple Wireless Keyboard has lost its spot on my nightstand. (Another TUAW favorite is HippoRemote which you'll be hearing more about soon. You might want to check it out too!)
Welcome back, macTV
I don't know about you, but I sure missed macTV. The last few months have been devoid of a central place for a Mac happy guy (or gal) to seek out and watch Mac related videos, notably those cool videos that Apple creates to be played at Apple Stores and in a variety of other places.The long Mac video drought is over. Much like the Phoenix, macTV has risen from the ashes and is better than ever. Hosted by our friends at Uneasysilence, macTV is ready for your eyeballs.Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
macTV unveils new look
Congrats to the entire macTV team. Today they unveiled their new look, and a host of new features. Videos are still king on macTV, but now you'll also find Celebrity Playlists, forums, and better navigation.What are you waiting for? Go on and watch some Mac related videos, you know you want to.
macTV offers up iPod ads
Our friends at macTV let us know that they now have a special section devoted to only to iPod ads. This way you can all every iPod ad on your iPod (in case you need to let others know about the wonders of the iPod). You can subscribe via iTunes or simply subscribe to macTV's RSS feed.
macTV: Simpsons "diePOD"
A couple of weeks ago on Fox's The Simpsons, grandpa attempted an assisted suicide, Soylent Green-style. To get the job done, the doctor connected him to the "diePOD" while he watched "...footage of cops beating up hippies." It was pretty funny, and macTV has the clip. Check it out.
MacTV offers "Premiere" service
MacTV, the site that offers an ever-changing variety of Mac and Apple-related videos, has announced their new premiere service. For $2US per month (that's less than one large coffee, folks!) you will receive exclusive content, streaming access to their full library of videos, faster downloads and access to an exclusive RSS feed. They've posted some real gems in the past, like the Futurama parody of the 1984 commercial as well as unaired Mac OS X commercials. Check it out.
"The world's biggest backyard fence to talk over"
MacTV has posted a really interesting videocast 'flashback' on the early days of computing in 1981 (iTMS link), including news footage and computing expo coverage. An intriguing but brief interview with "multi-millionaire Steve Jobs" made it into the vidcast, and barring any discussions of how ruthless his Steveness may be, he exhibited the same kind of well-spoken zest for computing in 1981 that he still has on stage today. At the least, it's a short but fun glimpse at what all this computer stuff was like 25 years ago. If you haven't subscribed to the MacTV vidcast (or the iPod edition) yet, this is a great time to start. They consistently post interesting video bits like this both new and old, covering topics you typically won't see elsewhere.
Eat Up Martha
Of all the snarky Apple references in pop culture, my all time favorite is this brief clip from The Simpsons. During a school assembly, Kearney tells his buddy, "...take a memo on your Newton: Beat up Martin." He scribbles away only to see the Newton's handwriting recognition interpret his memo as "Eat up Martha."A few years ago, a number of plastic Simpsons characters were issued, and the Kearney character actually shipped with a tiny Newton with "Eat up Martha" on the screen. I have one in my office.Update: Here is a picture of the Kearney toy.
Rig of the Day: The collector
Now, I collect Macs and other Apple goodies, but Flickr user mactarkus has got me beat. Check out the iMacs (is that a flower power in the foreground?), All in One, compact Macs, Mac TV...even a Twentieth Anniversary Mac, which, for me, is the Holy Grail. Two great posters wrap up the collection."Macintosh Fever" posted by "mactarkus"If you'd like to see your own rig featured here, simply upload photos into our group Flickr pool. We'll select an image every day to highlight.
MacTV releases screen capture video tutorial
MacTV (no, not that Mac TV) is a videocast that features all sorts of interesting Mac videos. Previous editions have included the Hal 9000 ad (one of my favorites), the original iPod TV spot and a formerly press-only video of Steve introducing the white iBooks (including Reality Distortion Field). This week they offer their first tutorial in collaboration with ScreenCastsOnline. It's a very thorough look at several methods for creating screen captures and working with the results. I imagine that many seasoned Mac users are already aware of most of the presented information, but you may still find it interesting, as I did. All of the MacTV videos are presented in H.264, meaning QuickTime 7 is required. If you like what you see, you can subscribe to the videocast in iTunes 4.9.
