teleport - a must have for multiple macs

The Problem: Clutter

If you’re anything like me, you really want a desktop that is functional while remaining spotless.  I hate nothing more than to sit down to a messy space to try and work.  Clutter is my enemy and I will do anything I can to fight it.  There are wonderful resources onilne that talk about keeping your space clean, contained and organized, such as Unclutterer.  If having one computer on your desk wasn’t complicated enough, think about having multiple computers on your desk all at the same time.  For me, I have an iMac and a MacBook Pro at my desk (usually) at all times.  I have different uses for both machines and sometimes I like to use them both simultaneously.  So, the problem arrises, how can I control them BOTH from the same keyboard and mouse???

In the past, I’ve used KVM switches to accomplish this task.  However, this soltion means that you can only be working on one machine at a time … not to mention the fact that there’s no real easy way to use a KVM on an iMac.  KVM switches are bulky, expensive and an all around hassel.

The Solution: Teleport

Teleport is a free Mac utility that, when installed on two Macs, allows the user to control multiple Macs with one keyboard and mouse.  The intuitive setup utility allows computers to be arranged as they exist on your desk, allowing you to move your mouse over to the other computer seamlessly.  Once you have moved your mouse over to the other computer screen, everything you type is routed to it and you’re fully in control of it.  To move back to your original computer, simply drag the mouse back to it and - voilla - you’re back in business.

Teleport works over Bonjour (a network service) and so the number of computers that can be controlled from one keyboard and mouse seem to be limitless.  There’s no connecting cables or bulky equipment to buy, just having the program running on both Macs connected to the same network establishes the connection.  Another great feature that Teleport provides is pasteboard syncronization and easy file drag-and-drop.  Setup is a breaze and making use of it’s many customizeable features is super simple.

Give this utility a try if you’re interested in using multiple Macs with one keyboard and mouse … you won’t regret it.  Checkout SoldierKnowsBest review for Teleport on YouTube if you’re interested.

apple store

Tonight we ate at an amazing seafood place called legal seafood in Burlington. It was amazing, as I’m sure you saw, I had lobster. Coincidentally, before we left phoenix, I had made an appointment at the apple store in Burlington due to the untimely death of my MacBook’s battery. I didn’t realize that the place we were eating at was so close to the apple store. I literally walked across the hallway in the mall and there was the beacon of hope where I had made my appointment. They replaced my battery and I was quickly on my merry way, fat and happy!

video chat

too many songs

So, you know you have too much music when the new Genius feature in iTunes 8 takes over 2 1/2 hours to gather all of the information about your music library … it hasn’t even SENT the information yet!  I’ll be talking more about iTunes 8 soon but in the meantime I’ll be waiting for this thing to finish before I can do a decent review.

dorm light awesomeness!

a boy after my own heart

Those of you who know little Jason Dineen know that he’s a very special little boy.  While Sharilyn and I were over at their house last, I spent a good while trying to figure out what little Jason had done to make the Xbox that I gave them cease to display the games that were saved onto the hard drive.  He has apparently been discovering his way around the technological world by pushing buttons and playing with controllers and figured a way to make the Xbox behave quite differently than before.  Oddly enough, I stood beaten by the little genius who had made it so that I couln’t return the Xbox back to it’s original functionality.  I thought about this little story when Karen (Jason’s mom) put up the most precious picture of little Jason … and I just have to share it with you.  He’s going to be a smart little boy and hopefully a very saavy young man some day.  I told Karen that he could come work with me … once he learned what pushing buttons and tweaking settings actually meant.  Makes me think about what our children are going to be like some day … pretty interesting thought.

all things stripes

I have to admit, as I was watching PopSiren (an awesome video podcast that’s normally geared toward the female gender) I saw them demonstrate the coolest little unipurpose website I’ve seen in a while … stripedbgs.com, a site that allows you to create striped backgrounds and save them for a variety of devices and resolutions.  Here’s a random one that I liked.  Go check it out if you’re in the mood for an interesting stripey flare for your site/wallpaper/iPhone/etc.

ah the pwnage

This might not come as a shock to anyone, but my iPhone runs on T-Mobile (Not AT&T) so I’ve been waiting for the wonderful hacking community to supply the loveliness that is the iPhone PWNAGE tool.  This past weekend I updated (only about 32 minutes after the tool being released) and I couldn’t be happier.  There are a couple of bugs, but that’s to be expected.  There is a slick new AppStore which I’m actually okay with … despite my last of Installer.app.  I’m really happy with the polish that the official release of this software brings to my iPhone.  Anyway, don’t forget, You mist Neuter to Unlock!

updated to wordpress 2.6

Just wanted everyone to know that I’ve updated my blog software and it seems to be pretty seamless.

last.fm iPhone

It would seem that since the advent of the AppStore for iPhone/iPod Touch owners, many new and interesting applications have been coming down the pipes. One of the most exciting apps that I have on my phone now is the MobileScrobbler application. It allows all of the songs I listen to to be uploaded and cataloged on the last.fm site, sort of a social network around music.  The newest app to flow through the AppStore is a version of this application, the new Last.FM app, but without all the features.  Since Scrobbling involves background services and Apple will not allow developers access to background services, it would seem that the Last.FM no longer will provide scrobbling capability.  This makes me sad since there’s nothing like listening to a song on my iPod and then tapping the scrobbler button to see the lyrics/band info/tour information for the song I’m listening to.  Oh well, hopefully the iPhone-Dev Team will come out with their patch and we can all begin installing Installer.app on our iPhone 2.0 software.