Review: Pogoplug Software Puts Your Mac In The Cloud

Yesterday, I scored a free Pogoplug Software Premium account thanks to the good folks over at The Next Web. I’m a big fan of well-done cloud services that allow me to access my stuff anywhere I go, and as I’m also always interested in desktop solutions aimed at securely mirroring your computers’ contents to the cloud, I was excited to install the new Pogoplug app on Lion and take it for a spin. The results are surprisingly good, but far from perfect.

Pogoplug became popular a few years ago thanks to a network-attached device that enables you to put media in it, and access it from a variety of devices and the web because it is actually connected to the Internet. Rather than forcing you to buy an additional piece of hardware to plug into your home router and waste space on your desk, though, the new Pogoplug Software product allows you to access your media in your personal cloud at $29 per year for unlimited computers and devices. That’s undoubtedly a great offer: once installed on your Mac, the Pogoplug app will scan your computer’s drive and default locations (like Music and Movies) for content, and make it available online. Once authenticated, you’ll be able to stream music, watch a movie, or read a PDF from an iPhone, iPad, or web browser. The concept is not too far away from what Jim Dalrymple at The Loop said Apple was working on to enable users to put files in the cloud. The solution turned out to be a little different as we know, yet Pogoplug Software holds up to this idea: it’s your Mac, mirrored to the cloud, and available anywhere. Read more

Philips Introduces New AirPlay Products at CE Week 2011

At the CE Week 2011 event in New York City, Philips has unveiled new AirPlay-compatible speakers that will allow Mac and iOS users to beam audio from their devices to the external speakers instantly, without the need of an AirPort Express station. These speakers, in fact, come with AirPlay integration built-in thanks to a wireless chip that uses the licensed AirPlay technology to allow users to stream audio from mobile devices.

Following the Fidelio SoundSphere speaker unveiled back in March, Philips has outed four new products of the Fidelio line, all compatible with AirPlay, as reported by iLounge: the Fidelio SoundSphere DS6800W, the Fidelio DS8800W, the circular Fidelio DS3881W, and the Fidelio AD7000W. With the exception of the DS8800W shipping this July at $400, Philips’ new speakers will be available this holiday season with prices ranging from $229 to $500.

Engadget has also posted a hands-on with Philips’ new AirPlay speakers, you can check out the embedded video after the break and read the original report and with photo gallery here.
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OS X Lion Concept: iMessage App

Ever since Apple unveiled iMessage for iOS 5, its new universal messaging protocol to send free text messages, videos and pictures to other iOS users, many have wondered whether the new app would be integrated with the Mac as well, perhaps in a new version of iChat. iMessage for iOS brings some new functionalities like delivery and read receipts in real-time, as well as sync and Messages.app integration, but it resembles the desktop iChat in the way it visualizes new messages, or lets you see when a person is typing. With the upcoming iCloud integration in OS X Lion, launching this Fall and available right now to developers for testing as a beta add-on, there is the possibility Apple will release a standalone iMessage app for Mac in the Mac App Store once iCloud is available for all. Just like they did with FaceTime, the app could be sold for $0.99 in the Store, and pre-installed by default on new systems.

Based on this kind of speculation, designer Jan-Michael Cart, creator of other iOS 5 concepts we posted ahead of WWDC, has come up with an interesting idea for iMessage on OS X Lion. The messaging protocol could have its own desktop app powered by real-time notifications, bounce on the Dock upon receiving new messages, and have a Mail-like toolbar for composing new messages and search among existing ones. We imagine having a desktop iMessage app could mean users would be able to rely on system-wide integration with Services to send any text to iMessage, as well as start a new FaceTime session from a contact in iMessage or the Address Book.

The concept video is interesting and we have embedded it after the break. iMessages are currently enabled in the iOS 5 betas for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, but some code strings found in the latest Lion developer preview suggest Apple might be working on a desktop counterpart to launch later this year.
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Macs Now Account For 11% Of Corporate Computers, Windows PCs Still Dominate With 87%

A new report out today shows that whilst Microsoft may still completely dominate the enterprise landscape in terms of desktop computers, Apple is still making steady progress in the market. According to market research by Forrester, the share of Mac OS X in corporate USA has climbed from 9.1% in April 2010 to 11% in March this year.

Ben Gray, co-author of the report, attributed the increase in Mac OS X’s share of the market because of a shift towards “BYO [bring your own] device programs” that workers were pushing for - workers are now expecting Mac and iOS support. Such “consumerization” of the enterprise has been driven by the popularity of the iPad which has shown some significant penetration in the enterprise market - driven by workers wanting to bringing their own iPad into work.

Nonetheless, as Macworld notes, “Microsoft remains a hegemony in the enterprise – 86.7% of all corporate computers run one of its operating system”.  Windows XP, over a decade old, remains the dominate OS in the enterprise with 59.9% of the market, Windows 7 is next with roughly 21% and then Vista with just 6.2%.

[Via Macworld]

Review: #NowPlaying with NowPlayer

There are many iPhone audio player apps available, yet only a few really stand out. My Artists, which we have reviewed in the past, is one of our favorites and is very feature filled. Notes on artists, links to videos, and lyrics are just some some of the extended features. However, most of the time I don’t need these features and if I’m on AT&T’s stellar EDGE network, many of these features take too long to load on my iPhone.

I jumped on a new beta some time ago from @misecia for an app called NowPlayer. Without ever using it, but only seeing mock-ups on Dribbble, I was very interested. The interface is sexy and every pixel has been placed perfectly. Now, I know that usability is important too, and this app doesn’t fall short in that category either. NowPlayer is largely based on gestures for controlling the audio within the app: you can control your music with swiping or tapping with your finger on screen. These gesture controls are perfect for when you’re exercising or typing up a review and don’t want to look over at your iPhone’s display. The gesture system is totally customizable too:

 two-finger tap is used to play/pause, but it can be changed to a double tap if you desire; you can then perform a three finger tap to auto-send a tweet, swipe left/right to change tracks, swipe up/down to change the volume, and double tap with two fingers to change shuffle mode. There are a few Easter eggs for extra options, some still haven’t been found! Don’t worry, as there are onscreen controls, too, and they are minimal and look great as well. Read more

HP Extends AirPrint Support to 8 More Printers

As noted by TUAW, HP’s support for Apple’s AirPrint technology has been extended to eight more LaserJet printers that are now capable of wirelessly receiving documents from iOS devices, and print them. AirPrint, originally introduced with iOS 4.2 back in November 2010, is a feature that allows iOS devices such as the iPhone and iPad running 4.2 or later to print any document, webpage, photo or email using the system-wide AirPrint action from the default sharing menu. AirPrint was introduced as a breakthrough driverless printing system that would allow users to send any file to officially compatible printers from HP, as well as any shared printer already configured on an OS X machine; support for shared printers through AirPrint was later removed in the public version of Mac OS X 10.6.6, leaving many users unsatisfied because of the lack of the promised universal support for any kind of printer. In an alleged email to a customer, Steve Jobs said Apple was taking a giant leap to driverless printing.

The new HP printers compatible with AirPrint are:

  • HP LaserJet P1102w Printer
  • HP LaserJet P1606dn Printer
  • HP LaserJet Pro CP1025nw Color Printer
  • HP LaserJet Pro M1212nf MFP
  • HP LaserJet Pro M1213nf MFP
  • HP LaserJet Pro M1214nfh MFP
  • HP LaserJet Pro M1216nfh MFP
  • HP LaserJet Pro M1217nfw MFP

These printers follow previously reported additions such as other LaserJet Pro and Officejet printers:

  • LaserJet Pro M1536dnf Multifunction Printer
  • LaserJet Pro CM1415fn Color Multifunction Printer
  • LaserJet Pro CM1415fnw Color Multifunction Printer
  • LaserJet Pro CP1525n Color Printer
  • LaserJet Pro CP1525nw Color Printer
  • Officejet 6500A e-AiO5
  • Officejet 6500A Plus e-AiO5
  • Officejet 7500A Wide Format e-AiO5
  • Officejet Pro 8500A e-AiO5
  • Officejet Pro 8500A Plus e-AiO5
  • Officejet Pro 8500A Premium e-AiO5

The full list of AirPrint-enabled printers can be viewed on Apple’s website. This support document last updated on June 20 also contains a list of printers, as well as frequently asked questions about AirPrint. More information about HP and AirPrint can be found here, whilst the firmware update for the new printers can be downloaded from HP’s Support website.

“Undivided” Music Video Created Entirely Using Brushes On The iPad

The Brushes app for iPhone and iPad has been covered a number of times here on MacStories for some amazing creations that it has enabled on the Apple devices. Today we bring you the music video for “Undivided” – the debut single for the group Blush featuring Snoop Dogg, and yes, it was created entirely using the Brushes iPad app.

Using the Brushes feature that records of every stroke made, animator Shawn Harris meticulously drew more than 7000 strokes to create the four-minute music video. We’ve embedded both the music video and a making of video after the break, be sure to check both out, it is very impressive.

[Via Mashable]

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Legal Disclaimer In iOS 5 Further Hints At Apple Mapping Service

Tipped off by a reader, MacRumors has found that the legal disclaimers in iOS 5 contain new references to a number of third party companies that provide various mapping services. The disclaimers come under a new section called “Map Data” that is not present in previous disclaimers and is completely separate to the section which deals in the disclaimer which deals with licenses used by Google for its mapping service that is used by Apple in the Maps app.

Today’s discovery comes after a number of other revelations, together they form what seems to be the suggestion that Apple is looking (or potentially actively working on) its own mapping solution that could replace Google Maps on iOS. Some of those clues include its acquisition of mapping companies Placebase and Poly9 and its recruitment of employees with navigation software expertise. The location log debacle also revealed that Apple was “collecting anonymous traffic data to build a crowd-sourced traffic database”.

MacRumors had a look into all the companies newly listed in the legal disclaimer and gave a quick description of each of them (included below). Noting two companies in particular that suggest Apple may be developing its own maps service. Urban Mapping provides some extensive additional data such as a wide range of demographic information that can be layed on top of traditional data. Waze, however, is experienced in developing crowd-sourced traffic data - it also has a popular app in the App Store now which demonstrates a lot of their services.

  • CoreLogic offers Parcel data which marks boundaries for of properties to provide positional accuracy in location-based solutions.
  • Getchee provides location and market data on China, India and Southeast Asia.
  • Increment P Corp provides location and traffic data for Japan.
  • Localeze provides local business listings.
  • MapData Sciences Pty Ltd. Inc provides mapping data for Australia and New Zealand.
  • DMTI provides postal code data for Canada.
  • TomTom offers global TeleAtlas mapping data which is also licensed by Google for their map solution.
  • Urban Mapping provides in-depth neighborhood data such as crime, demographics, school performance, economic indicators and more.
  • Waze offers real-time maps and traffic information based on crowd sourced data.

Whilst this doesn’t provide concrete proof of whether Apple is working on its own mapping service, we are fairly sure it (if it exists) will not be launching with iOS 5. This is likely related to the fact that Google recently renewed its agreement with Apple to provide Google Maps to iOS.

Jump the break to see some screenshots of the new legal disclaimer which features these new companies.

[Via MacRumors]

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