Posts tagged with "mac"

LogMeIn for iOS: Remote File Transfer Made Easy

Reviewed a couple of times in the past by our editor Cody Fink, LogMeIn Ignition for iOS has been around for a while in the App Store. In fact, in spite of popular apps like Edovia Screens and iTeleport allowing users to remotely access their computers’ screens, thousands of users installed LogMeIn’s software for the iPhone (and later, iPad) on day one and never thought of going back to another app. That’s what Cody did, whilst I settled with Screens as my go-to app for displaying my Mac’s desktop on iOS devices. Recently, however, I decided to take LogMeIn Ignition for a spin, and I was surprised to find out the new features introduced in the latest update are exactly what I was looking for.

LogMeIn comes with VNC functionalities, but I will keep on using Screens for that. It’s a matter of a personal preference, and you can read more in my Screens review. Edovia’s elegant and simple solution to remotely connect to a Mac’s screen has incredibly useful, reliable and easy to configure for me, so I won’t switch over to LogMeIn as far as screensharing is concerned. Rather, I’ve been intrigued by LogMeIn “file transfer” option added in version 2.0, which aims at offering users a simple way to copy and move files across computers and iOS devices using LogMeIn’s desktop companion. Best of all, once you spend your 30 bucks to purchase LogMeIn Ignition in the App Store, screensharing and file transfer will be offered as free services with no need to buy an additional LogMeIn Pro subscription. Read more

Rediscovering A Must-Have Movie Utility: Air Video

In the sea of App Store releases and updates, it’s easy to get lost and forget about that great app you used to love. New apps come around, better alternatives for just about anything are provided by developers and, especially if you’re geek, you know what it means to constantly tweaking your workflow to accomodate the latest offering in the iOS or OS X panorama. In the past week, I’ve rediscovered an app I had for a long time, but somehow managed to leave unused in my iTunes app library: Air Video.

I’ve always been a fan of Air Video and have been following the development (and updates) closely. Yet, for the reasons mentioned above, during the past months I kind of forgot how useful this app used to be, and how greatly it could improve my media consumption experience. So when the iPad 2 showed up at my doorstep and the thinner design made it crystal clear that it was easier (for me) to hold with one hand, I remembered about Air Video. And I’ve fallen in love with it all over again. Read more

#MacStoriesDeals - Monday

If you didn’t already know, we’ve set up a new twitter account for Deals, it’s @MacStoriesDeals. We’ll tweet the daily deals there as well as exclusive weekend deals too. Help spread the word! Here are today’s deals on iOS, Mac, and Mac App Store apps that are on sale for a limited time, so get ‘em while they’re hot!

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Fresh Feed Elegantly Puts RSS In The Menubar

There are many ways to consume RSS feeds on the Mac platform: when it comes to syndicating content from your favorite websites, apps like NetNewsWire and the Reeder beta come to mind, although many people simply prefer to keep an eye on Google Reader (the most used service nowadays to subscribe and follow feeds) in their desktop browser.

Over the years several alternatives have surfaced that enable users to read RSS feeds in different ways on the desktop. Fresh Feed, a free utility in the Mac App Store, does what many other apps have tried, but in a very elegant way: it puts RSS items in the menubar, and allows you to open them as new tabs in the browser. Where Fresh Feed really shines, in my opinion, is the user interface: it looks like a bigger iPhone app placed in the menubar, yet it doesn’t feel “weird” as several other Mac apps that try to resemble their iOS counterparts. Its “cells” for new RSS entries look sweet and polished. They’re chronologically ordered, but you can scroll with your trackpad to load as many articles as you can. A click on the “more” button loads the item in your desktop browser, automatically leaving Fresh Feed. To add new RSS feeds, you have to open the Preferences and paste a website’s feed URL.

There’s no option to set refresh times or auto-import feeds from Google Reader, unfortunately. If you just want to use Fresh Feed to stay up to date with the articles from a specific website, however, and not your entire Google Reader list, this might just be the app you need.

Looking forward to future updates with more features, Fresh Feed is a free download in the Mac App Store.

#MacStoriesDeals - Friday

If you didn’t already know, we’ve set up a new twitter account for Deals, it’s @MacStoriesDeals. We’ll tweet the daily deals there as well as exclusive weekend deals too. Help spread the word! Here are today’s deals on iOS, Mac, and Mac App Store apps that are on sale for a limited time, so get ‘em while they’re hot!

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Keep Your Files Safe! Two Copies Of Disk Drill Pro Up For Grabs

Your Mac can be kind of a jerk sometimes ya know? I mean, it’s totally not your fault that you accidentally dropped that school report in the bucket then emptied the trash the day before it was due. But not to fear: Disk Drill for the Mac knows right where’s it been marked for deletion, and yanks it right from our hard drive (without boring any holes). And if you’re just buying Disk Drill, a deep scan should uncover just what you’re looking for. You need Disk Drill as assurance against unfortunate mishaps, lost files, and damaging deletions. Not only will Disk Drill protect your home folder, but it’ll keep an eye on your hard drive’s health so you’ll never have to worry about a dying disk. And if all goes haywire: just back up your documents to a disk image! It’s that simple, and Disk Drill comes in free and pro versions so you can decide what’s right for you. Super easy to use, we’re giving away two licenses to a couple lucky readers.

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Samurai II For Mac: Good, Bloody Fun

For fans of the original Samurai: Way of the Warrior, we ended on quite the cliffhanger. Confronting your demons, things hadn’t turned out exactly as planned. In Samurai II: Vengeance (now on the Mac App Store), the quest for revenge will leave no prisoners. Cel-shaded environments mix with 3D combatants for a hack & slash adventure that takes you through the second chapter of the Samurai story line.

Heads up: there are some graphic screenshots behind the break (those swords can be pretty sharp), where we take a look at how well Samurai II fares with a keyboard or mouse.

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#MacStoriesDeals - Thursday

If you didn’t already know, we’ve set up a new twitter account for Deals, it’s @MacStoriesDeals. We’ll tweet the daily deals there as well as exclusive weekend deals too. Help spread the word! Here are today’s deals on iOS, Mac, and Mac App Store apps that are on sale for a limited time, so get ‘em while they’re hot!

Read more