remoteaccess
Latest
Dish Network remote access app extends its long arm to Android tablets
Dish Network is still on a mission to make sure that you get your TV Everywhere, and as of today, that means your Android tablet. We reported in November that the provider was bringing its Dish remote access app to Android, opening up the world of paid-for TV to even more smartphones. As with the smartphone app, Android tablet users will have to have a Sling-enabled device, like a Sling Adapter, to access their hard earned programming, and as with the smartphone, the tablet app is free. The Dish Network app's got all the same functionality as its predecessor: browse and search options, DVR scheduling/management, and a remote control function. So it's basically the same beast, but we're definitely still impressed.
Dish Network launches Remote Access app, brings live TV and scheduling to iPad
See, that wasn't so bad, now was it? If you're befuddled, we're simply referring to the week that iPad owners have had to listen to their Android-lovin' brethren gloat about having Dish Network's Remote Access app. As of today, that same piece of software is available in the App Store, enabling iPad owners to watch live and recorded programs so long as they've a broadband-connected, Sling-enabled device like the Sling Adapter. It'll also allow iPad owners to browse and search up to nine days of programming, schedule DVR recordings, manage conflicts, delete shows on multiple receivers, and use their tablet as a fully functional remote, but much to our dismay, it doesn't have the power to make Heroes a show worth watching again.
Splashtop Remote Desktop brings Windows PC access to your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch
Oh, sure -- you've got a smorgasbord of virtual machine clients out there for the iDevice in your life, but you haven't had this one. Until today, of course. Splashtop (the former DeviceVM) has just unleashed its Remote Desktop app for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, enabling users to funnel Windows PC content onto their handheld. The catch is an obvious one -- you'll need a WiFi connection to make the magic happen, though we're assuming you wouldn't even want to imagine how sluggish the process would be over 3G. The company claims that this app will let users "watch movies, listen to music, or access any other Windows files and programs, including full web browsers with Flash," and you'll need a WiFi-connected Win7, Vista or WinXP machine nearby to take advantage. We've got a feeling this won't work nearly as well as advertised (sorry, it's just the nature of tunneling / emulation), but those willing to take the plunge can tap into the App Store as we speak.
Select Time Warner Cable customers gain remote DVR services not-so-fashionably late
If ever there was a moment Time Warner Cable deserved to be honored with an inspirational slow clap, let it be now. That's because it finally announced remote DVR service support -- a feature both Verizon FiOS and Dish Network subscribers have enjoyed for over a year. Intuitively dubbed Remote DVR Manager, it only works now via the web -- TWC iOS app teasers be damned -- and provides expected services like recording one-offs or scheduling entire series. Canceling previously scheduled recordings is also available, though deleting old content to clear more space for Glee isn't. There are plenty of other dubious caveats, like some services not being available to CableCARD users or on all TWC equipment, and remote DVR services not working on all mobile phones through its mobile optimized site. Furthermore, the service has only officially launched in five markets including: the Carolinas region, northeast region, New York city region, San Antonio, Texas, and San Diego / Desert Cities. Come October 29th, the service will expand to include five more regions, with national coverage dragging until who knows when. For full Time Warner pat ourselves-on-the-back details and a PDF user guide, hit the source link below.
Lower Merion, PA school district cleared of Federal spying charges, approves new privacy policies
Though a now-infamous Pennsylvania school district admitted to taking thousands of pictures of schoolchildren without their consent, federal investigators have decided not to pursue criminal charges. That doesn't halt a class-action complaint against the district (which charges invasion of privacy and wiretapping) but a US attorney told reporters that FBI and police investigators hadn't found proof beyond a reasonable doubt that school employees had criminal intent to spy on students using their school-issued laptops. On a related note, students returning to Lower Merion for a new school year can set their minds at ease, as the school board just approved a new set of laptop regulations that (among other things) ban remote monitoring of microphones and webcams. Feel free to pick through for technical loopholes at our more coverage link, and let's hope this little LMSD soap opera is finally at an end.
Seagate's FreeAgent GoFlex Home adds flexibility to your next NAS setup
Looks like Seagate's not content with giving users a choice of connector -- the outfit's latest GoFlex apparatus utilizes a docking system to give users an easier way to upgrade their NAS. 'Course, those that really plan ahead will go ahead and grab a multi-bay device like Data Robotics' Drobo FS, but for the money, it's hard to argue with the FreeAgent GoFlex Home. Designed to work seamlessly with Windows-based PCs and Apple's Time Machine, the 1TB and 2TB devices provide a NAS dock for the drive to sit in, and the dock itself also boasts a USB port for adding external storage to the mix or sharing a printer over the network. Seagate's also tossing in its Share Pro service, which enables families to access content stored on the drive from mobile devices such as an iPhone, iPad or BlackBerry. Best of all, the $159.99 (1TB) / $229.99 (2TB) asking prices won't totally crush the bank, so it seems like you've just about run out of excuses for backing up those childhood memories. %Gallery-97737%
Google flexes biceps, flicks Android remote kill switch for the first time
We knew Google had the power to remotely remove Android apps -- Microsoft and Apple have backdoors into their mobile operating systems, too -- but it's always a little disconcerting to see a kill switch used. Such is the case today, as we've just heard Google unleashed the hounds this week, siccing bits and bytes of remote deletion power on a pair of "practically useless" but still Terms of Service-infringing apps. Curiously enough, Google admits that most who'd downloaded these programs had deleted them already, and that this "exercise" of the remote application removal feature was merely a cleanup operation. Google says users will get a notification beamed to their phone if an app is removed, however -- so as Big Brother as that all sounds, at least the company's being nice and transparent about the whole matter, eh? Update: To be clear, the developers of the offending apps had already removed them from the Android Market, so this was technically a cleanup. The only question is why Google would go out of its way to mop up an app that absolutely no one would miss. [Thanks, Matt]
Thousands of images apparently captured by spying school district, more details revealed
Legal proceedings are getting underway in the case of Philadelphia's Pennsylvania's Lower Merion School District -- you know, the one accused of remotely turning on webcams on its student's laptops inappropriately? We knew that district IT folks enabled the webcams 42 times in total, capturing pictures every 15 seconds, but now we're learning that over 400 images were retrieved of a single sophomore and that there are thousands more of other students. There is also seeming proof of use of the webcams even when laptops were not reported stolen, like when a student failed to pay the school's hardware insurance premiums. The district is apparently not standing behind its two IT employees who had the necessary permissions to enable this remote viewing, technology coordinator Carol Cafiero and technician Michael Perbix, and from what little we can tell now it's not looking particularly good for them. In a deposition Cafiero refused to answer any questions, citing her Fifth Amendment rights, but an alleged e-mail exchange between the two saw Perbix calling the pictures "a little LMSD soap opera," to which Cafiero replied "I know, I love it!" That doesn't sound entirely appropriate... Update: We've received a few comments and e-mails about calling this "Philadelphia's Lower Merion School District" when, in actuality, the school is outside of the city limits, and county limits too, so we've corrected that above. Apparently nobody wants to be associated with these guys.
TUAW Review and Giveaway: Here, File File!
Back in December we got an early look at an app that allowed you to view and share your Mac's files while on the go. Put simply, Here, File File! [iTunes link] aimed to be the cure to what ailed the file-forgetters among us. Yesterday, the crew behind the very promising preview video announced that HFF was officially available from the App Store. Read on for our full review of Here, File File!, and be sure to read all the way down to the bottom of the post for news of a Valentine's Day special (because we just love files that much) as well as your chance to win one of five copies of the app for your very own. %Gallery-85170%
SSH and the case-sensitive username in Snow Leopard
Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard introduced a lot of under-the-hood changes and many are not very obvious. One such change is to the authentication requirements for logging in remotely via SSH. In 10.5 logging in remotely via SSH was a pretty standard affair. In 10.6, however, security has been beefed up a bit to require case-sensitive login credentials. While this requirement has already been imposed on passwords, Snow Leopard now requires a case-sensitive user name as well. In other words, when logging in via SSH, Snow Leopard differentiates between the username "aron" and "Aron." This threw me for a loop for quite some time and is another one of the numerous reasons I have held off upgrading my Mac mini to 10.6.
Found Footage: Here, File File! lets you access your Mac's files
When using your iPhone to access your files, you really have two options. First, some apps let you copy files to your phone for later viewing. In the second option, a service such as Dropbox or MobileMe allow you to access a subset of your files. However, none of these options cure I-completely-forgot-to-grab-the-sales-presentation-before-leaving-itis. Here, File File! wants to make it incredibly easy for you to access any file from anywhere. By using a small application running on your Mac, HFF is able to do just that. The app provides user authentication and SSL encryption, as well as content-on-demand to prevent any eavesdropping on your file-access activities. While the app isn't available yet, you can get a good idea of how it will work in the video above. In the video you can see how HFF will allow you to view all of your folders and connected volumes, as well as the files within them. This even includes the ability to stream movies and music. Furthermore, you can attach a file to an email and send it to someone else, or for particularly large files you can send a unique, randomly-generated download link via email. According to the developers of Here, File File!, the app will be available in January for your downloading pleasure. Until then you can peep the video or sign up to be notified when HFF is released.
FarFinder remote access tool: on sale and iPhone savvy
I'm a sucker for anything that allows me to get secure remote access to my home machine, so when I saw that FarFinder, the remote access tool from FlyingMac, was on sale for US$20, I jumped on the chance to buy it. It'll be on sale until October 22nd, so if you want to get the application for US$15 less than the normal price, you'll want to head over to the FlyingMac site right now. The family license is US$20 off during the sale, and is available for US$45.The last time someone at TUAW wrote about FarFinder was back in 2008, when blogger Mat Lu referred to it as "your Finder on the web." That's a perfect way to describe FarFinder, since it makes your Mac's files and folders (plus any network-attached or external drives that are mounted) available to you from most web browsers and your iPhone (see screenshot at right). FlyingMac offers a 20-day free trial of the application. One thing I really like about FarFinder is that once you've purchased it, there are no extra subscription fees. That means that US$20 price will give you service forever...or at least until there's a major upgrade you need to purchase.
Your iPhone and iPhoto library are in sync with Simplify Photo
Like its music app on the iPhone, which allows you to use your iPhone to tap into your desktop's music collection, Simplify Media provides similar functionality with photos through its Simplify Photo [iTunes link] iPhone app. Many of us are forgetful in some form, and this trait is especially magnified when one proceeds to show others an "awesome photo" on your iPhone that, sadly, didn't get synced. Instead of telling your friends that you'll show or email them the photo later -- assuming you even remember to -- you can use Simplify Photo to view your entire iPhoto collection. While increased megapixels in digital photography brings with it the promise of better picture quality, in most cases it comes at a file size premium. And because storage space on your iPhone is a finite resource, you can choose to set aside dedicated space for those really important photos and use Simplify Photo for those that are not as important but would nonetheless like to have access to just in case. Simplify Photo is available for 99 cents on the iTunes App Store, while the required desktop client (available for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux) is available as a free download at the Simplify Media site. The desktop app allows you to not only specify which iPhoto albums and events to sync, but the people as well -- via integration with the app's "Faces" facial detection feature. And if you're not exactly sure which album or event a photo is stored, you can use the app's search feature, which searches your photos' tags, titles and comments. But the standout feature of Simplify Photo is its geolocation support. Like iPhoto '09's places feature, Simplify Photo displays a map with various dropped pins; and tapping on the pins will display the photos taken in the vicinity. If a picture can say a thousand words, then Simplify Photo's desktop syncing capabilities have the potential to make your iPhone speechlessly filled with photos.
DISH Network launches remote DVR control
Congratulations DISH Network DVR owners, you no longer have to be jealous of your DirecTV brethren, now that DISH Remote Access lets you schedule recordings from anywhere. All that's necessary is a broadband connected ViP DVR like the ViP® 722k, ViP® 722, ViP® 622 and ViP® 612. Got an attached Slingbox (or, in the future, SlingLoaded ViP 922 HD DVR?) Then you can watch recorded shows from anywhere too via the SlingGuide we peeped at CES. That's really all there is, we could whine about this upgrade taking so long but really, it seems better to just go ahead and try out the new features immediately. Now, about that Sling app for iPhones...%Gallery-40979%
Pogoplug review
When we first caught wind of the Pogoplug -- a small box that essentially lets you turn any USB hard drive (and drives only) into a network device -- we were pretty darn excited. Having a house full of disparate storage boxes and no easy way to connect to them made the prospect of the 'plug seem very enticing. Not only does the Pogoplug make your drive accessible via your PC (with accompanying software), but it -- we think more importantly -- makes the drive accessible via a web front-end and an iPhone app. We finally had a chance to break one of these out and see how it performs, and our findings are below.
Citrix aims to brings desktop virtualization to Apple's iPhone
Citrix and Apple have been linked before under less positive terms, but word on the street has it that the former will soon be expanding its desktop virtualization software onto the iPhone. If successful, PC and Mac users would be able to access the same desktop session on their iPhone and their desktop, and moving "seamlessly between the two" would be a lesson in simplicity. Reportedly, the capability will be a part of the outfit's App Receiver, which is described as "a software client that would be installed on both a user's computer and mobile phone, and work in conjunction either with Citrix's desktop virtualization software or its XenApp Windows application delivery system." Of course, this type of setup isn't exactly new territory, but it certainly has yet to catch on in a big way. Who knows -- maybe this is the big break virtualization has been waiting for.
Searchlight, remote Spotlight on your Mac or iPhone
Searchlight 2.0 was officially released last week. Searchlight offers remote Spotlight functionality, allowing you to search your computer's files via a web browser, and it includes an iPhone-optimized interface. I talked with Searchlight's authors, Gravity Applications, during WWDC and got a good look at the pre-release version which left me pretty impressed. I've personally been using the beta for a while now to access the Mac Mini at my house which serves as my central file repository. Read on for a Searchlight overview ... and an exclusive TUAW giveaway!
Cyberlink Live to add web access to any DLNA device
Have all manner of DLNA-enabled equipment laying around, but want an easier way to access it whether at home or on the road? Cyberlink Live's personal web service plans an upgrade that will combine its existing remote access to content stored on a PC, with direct media access to your entire home media network, from a TV, NAS, DVR or anything else via your web browser. Slingboxes, PS3's remote play and other systems have helped enable media access from the next room or the next state, but we'll keep an eye out to see if our disparate hardware will be flying one flag when direct media access becomes part of the package in Q4 of this year.
Back To My Mac alternative: TeamViewer
Back To My Mac got you down? After the 10.5.3 update, all BTMM is telling me is what I already know -- my Comcast-supplied router is old and doesn't support NAT-PMP or UPnP. iChat Screen Sharing works, but really needs someone on the other end of the connection to activate it. Yeah, Timbuktu has been available for years, but who knows what Motorola is going to do with it in the future? MacHelpMate is wonderful for supporting clients, but what if I just want to access my own Mac when I'm on the road?TeamViewer is a popular GoToMyPC-like app that was Windows-only until May 28th, when the Mac client was announced. The application is free for personal use, which is nice for those of us who want to get "Back to our Macs" but can't get BTMM to work or don't have .Mac accounts. I gave the freebie service a test last night, accessing my home iMac from my MacBook Air over a Sprint Mobile Broadband connection. Setup was simple: I installed the application on both Macs, then wrote down the ID and password generated by TeamViewer on the iMac. I left TeamViewer running on the iMac, then went out to dinner. While enjoying a few beers, I popped open the MBA and fired up TeamViewer. I told it to connect to my iMac, gave it the ID and password, and was rewarded with complete control of my machine at home. TeamViewer works well for remote control, file transfers, and blasting presentations out to co-workers. For commercial use, TeamViewer sells licenses varying from $249 for six months, or an unlimited license for $1399. If you're a system admin who needs to control both Macs and PCs remotely, TeamViewer may be the app for you. Download TeamViewer here and see if it works for you, too!Note: Quite a few commenters (and our own Mike Rose) also recommend LogMeIn as a free/paid option for remote control of both Macs and PCs.
Verizon preparing to enable internet scheduling for FiOS TV
Verizon's hoping to give prospective FiOS TV subscribers yet another reason to come on board with its new FiOS TV Central website. Currently, the newly launched portal "allows customers to use any desktop or laptop computer to review their local TV schedules and information about video-on-demand (VOD) and pay-per-view offerings." All that's well, fine and good, but the real meat is in the future. "Soon," customers will be able to program their DVR from the web, ensuring that you'll never miss a recording should you remember ahead of time and be anywhere near an internet connection. C'mon Verizon, stop teasing!
