Last week, Kaiser Permanente released a new app for Android and iPhone devices that will allow its patients to access their own medication information and records through a mobile-optimized website. Kaiser has the largest electronic medical record system in the world, with 9 million Kaiser Permanente patients.

In a press release, the health care organization wrote that “patients will have 24/7 access to lab results, diagnostic information, direct and secure email access to their doctors, and will also be able to order prescription refills”.

Being able to access medical records can be a huge advantage to patients, particularly the elderly, carers and patients with chronic conditions who need to get updates on lab results, fill prescriptions and communicate with the doctor’s office.

The Android app contains sections for medical records, pharmacy center, appointment center, message center, and a Kaiser location facility finder. Your secure, electronic medical record includes your health history, information about allergies and immunizations, details about prescriptions and any ongoing health conditions, health care reminders, and most test results.

The app for the iPhone has not been released yet, but users can in the meantime access their records on a mobile-optimized version of kp.org and save the site as a shortcut icon to their iPhone device.

Kaiser said that in “2011 alone, more than 68 million lab test results were made available online to Kaiser Permanente patients. The mobile-optimized site and the new app make that information, and much more, securely available at members’ fingertips”.

Source: Marketwatch

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/bdrive.jpg?323f2c" alt="personal cloud" />You can’t walk five feet these days without bumping into a cloud storage service. Dropbox, Sugarsync, Box.net, Syncplicity…the list goes on and on.

All of these services are easy to use, but they are true clouds. All of your data is kept in a remote location, which leaves you with limited control over its security and limited storage space. There are only a few cloud solutions that can provide unlimited free storage – and href="http://www.bdrive.com">Bdrive is one of them.

A Personal Cloud?

style="text-align: center;"> href="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/personacloud.jpg?323f2c"> class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-95396" title="personacloud" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/personacloud.jpg?323f2c" alt="personal cloud" width="448" height="295" />

There are two basic types of cloud storage service offered to consumers. True cloud services, such as href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/dropbox/">Dropbox, actually store your files in remote servers, from which they can be accessed at any time from any computer.  Personal clouds, like Bdrive, rely on your own hardware to keep the cloud active.

A true cloud service has many advantages. Your files are always available (in theory) because the servers are always up and maintained by a professional staff. Files can be accessed from any PC with an Internet connection, even if it’s not one you own. Most such services allow for sharing files with friends, as well. Yet there is one major disadvantage with a true cloud, and that’s cost. Maintaining a database with professional staff striving to ensure zero downtime isn’t free, which is why Dropbox charges once you exceed the href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/earn-extra-space-dropbox-zumodrive-sugarsync/">free storage limit.

Personal clouds such as Bdrive don’t use anyone else’s hardware, so you have an unlimited data transfer limit. This is the most important thing to know about Bdrive. If you don’t need to transfer and share much data, you should just stick with Dropbox (or an alternative) and be happy. Otherwise, read on.

Bdrive Basics

A personal cloud like Bdrive is really just a streamlined way of creating a personal Internet network. In fact, the software goes so far as to offer “server” and “client” versions of the software.

How it works is simple. On the computer with files you’d like to share among multiple PCs, you install the server version. You select the folders you’d like to share and start the server. Bdrive will provide you with a BID (which identifies your server) and that’s it.

href="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/bdriveserver.jpg?323f2c"> class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-95397" title="bdriveserver" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/bdriveserver.jpg?323f2c" alt="personal cloud storage" width="510" height="410" />

Now, install the client on another PC. Enter your server’s BID and presto! You’re connected over the Internet, and you can move as many files about as you’d like. Though I assume there is some limit to the number of connections that can be made to a server but Bdrive doesn’t state what it is, and I didn’t run into it in my testing.

OS Support & Streaming Media

href="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/bdrivestreaming.jpg?323f2c"> class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-95398" title="bdrivestreaming" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/bdrivestreaming.jpg?323f2c" alt="personal cloud storage" width="560" height="296" />

If that’s all Bdrive offered, it’d be just nifty, but the developers have gone further by offering server software for both Windows and Mac and client software for Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android. You can share files between platforms as easily as you can with Dropbox.

Bdrive also supports href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/streaming-video/">streaming content from your server to remote devices, such as smartphones. Some users might be interested in this software simply to use it as a remote media server. I found that streaming video was fluid on 4G, but a bit choppy on 3G. This feature also works well on phones connected via WiFi.

Versus Windows Live Mesh

href="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/bdrivevswindowslivemesh.jpg?323f2c"> class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-95399" title="bdrivevswindowslivemesh" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/bdrivevswindowslivemesh.jpg?323f2c" alt="personal cloud" width="570" height="428" />

I like the idea of a personal cloud. I have a lot of files that I like to have access to, and I need to access them on both my Windows PC and my Mac. Most cloud services are out of the question because I’d have to pay a monthly fee, and that adds up over time.

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/sync-files-access-pcs-remotely-windows-live-mesh-2011/">Windows Live Mesh has been my weapon of choice as a result, yet that service is not perfect. It can be confusing to set up syncing between folders, and the sync process can become laborious when working with folders that have thousands of files.

Bdrive is a much easier solution, and I’ll probably start using it instead. Setting up the server took no more than a couple of minutes, and within another minute I had installed the client on my laptop and connected it to my desktop. Within a few more, I had it on my phone.

Better yet, you don’t need to have, or log into, an account with Bdrive. Live Mesh requires a Windows Live account to use.

Conclusion

The main disadvantage to this software is that if your server goes down, you can’t access files from any device. This factor alone makes it a solution targeted more towards power users, organizations and small businesses than your average Joe. Yet this is also an extraordinarily simple piece of software, and for people (like me) who need to access my files across the Internet without paying, it fills exactly the role intended.

Best of all, href="http://www.bdrive.com/download.html">Bdrive is free to download and use. There is mention in the FAQ of “freemium” features that will be coming in the future, but they’re not unveiled yet.

If you decide to install BDrive, let us know in the comments how it went and if you like it.

id="similar-stuff">
class="content-header">

Similar Stuff

class="stuff-list">

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-great-amazons-s3-web-services/" rel="bookmark"> width="125" height="125" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/aws-150x150.png?323f2c" class="with-border wp-post-image" alt="aws" title="aws" style="width:125px;height:125px;" /> class="title">4 Great Uses For Amazon’s S3 Web Services

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/download-stream-files-torrents-faster-fetchio/" rel="bookmark"> width="125" height="125" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/00_fetch-150x150.jpg?323f2c" class="with-border wp-post-image" alt="00_fetch.jpg" title="00_fetch.jpg" style="width:125px;height:125px;" /> class="title">Download & Stream Files & Torrents Faster With Fetch.io

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/otixo-access-cloud-accounts-files-place/" rel="bookmark"> width="125" height="125" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/00_otixo-logo-150x150.jpg?323f2c" class="with-border wp-post-image" alt="00_otixo-logo.jpg" title="00_otixo-logo.jpg" style="width:125px;height:125px;" /> class="title">Otixo: Access All Of Your Cloud Accounts & Files From One Place

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/screenshot1388_11.png" alt="icloud for ios" />No doubt the most welcomed feature of the latest iOS 5 update for the iPhone, iPod, and iPad is Apple rolling out iCloud and wireless Wi-Fi connectivity for its smart mobile devices and Macs. Many of us have experienced the pain of connecting our iOS device using USB to iTunes just to update a playlist or backup some related app files. It was almost like calling someone on a wired phone.

But now those days are getting behind us. Apple has made it possible to walk into an Apple Store, purchase a device and have it up and running by the time you walk out. If you are an existing iOS user, you only have to connect one more time to make the wireless iCloud connection. Afterwards, your eyes may get watery when you open iTunes and see your iOS device(s) connected without wires. But hold on, if you haven’t set things up, there are some things you need to know.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/screenshot1459.png" alt="icloud for ios" width="361" height="123" border="0" />

iCloud Requirements

First off, to use iCloud, you will need to have a free MobileMe account. If you’re an existing iOS owner, you probably already have such an account, but if you don’t, you will be asked to set it up when you try to add iCloud to your system.

So now connect your iOS device to iTunes and complete the iOS 5 update. As usual, make sure existing content on the device is backed up by iTunes. After the update is completed, you need to click on the Info menu for your device.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/screenshot1438.png" alt="ios icloud" width="580" height="281" border="0" />

If you plan on syncing your Address Book and iCal Calendar data using iCloud, you will want to uncheck the two sync buttons on that page.

src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/screenshot1445.png" alt="ios icloud" width="522" height="200" border="0" />

Next, on the Summary page, click either “Back up to iCloud” or “Back up to this computer.” If you want to back up the content of your device to your iCloud device, remember that you only get 5GB of free storage, so depending upon how much content you have on your device, that might not be a good idea. On the other hand, backing up to iCloud means having another place to secure your data. So for the average user, backing up to iCloud should be okay.

If you are an href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/mobileme-icloud-worth-move/">existing MobileMe user, you might have more storage space, that is until Apple closes out all those accounts in June of next year.

Other Options

Notice also you have other options before you apply the iCloud setup. You will want to of course check “Sync with this iPad over Wi-Fi” and probably all the other boxes under that.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/screenshot1436.png" alt="ios icloud" width="580" height="214" border="0" />

In managing your music, you will need to go to the Music section and click “Selected playlists, artists, albums, and genres” if you have a large iTunes library. Under Options, either select “Sync only checked songs and videos,” or “Manually manage music and videos,” which will prevent iTunes from trying to load your entire library onto your device.

The beauty of iCloud is that you can now add and delete songs for your devices over your Wi-Fi network connection. Unfortunately, you can’t do it over 3G. Once you have everything set the way you want it, click the Apply and Sync buttons to make your first iCloud connection.

After your data is restored to your device and it’s restarted, you should be invited to go through the process of setting up iCloud. But if some reason you did the upgrade and skipped this process, you can still go back and set it up using the following directions.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/icloud-ipad-setup.png" alt="ios icloud settings" width="300" height="400" border="0" />

Setting Up An iOS Device

If you need to set up iCloud on your iOS 5 updated device, open the Settings app and tap on iCloud. Add your account and enable all the items you want to sync via iCloud. Do the same for your Mac or PC if you have data you want to sync from there (System Preference > iCloud.)

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/IMG_1056.png" alt="ios icloud settings" width="400" height="600" border="0" />

Enable the data that you want to upload to iCloud and sync between your computer and iOS device(s). In order to use Photo Stream, you will need to enable it also in iPhoto and/or Apple’s Aperture. Likewise, Documents & Data is for use with Apple’s iOS and Mac iWorks apps—Pages, Numbers, and Keynote.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/IMG_1056.jpg" alt="ios icloud settings" width="320" height="480" border="0" />

If you scroll down on the iCloud menu and tap Storage and Backup, you will get that described information, as well as an invitation to purchase additional storage.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/IMG_10571.png" alt="IMG 1057" width="386" height="580" border="0" />

You can and should enable iCloud Backup, which means the data on your device will back up to your computer or to iCloud your camera roll, accounts, documents, and settings when the device is plugged, locked, and connected to Wi-Fi. Notice also, you can manually “Back Up Now” if you need to quickly push data to iCloud and other devices.

Once the backup is complete, you can tap Manage Storage to double-check that all the items are now backed up in iCloud.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/IMG_1060.jpg" alt="IMG 1060" width="320" height="480" border="0" />

Using iCloud

As stated above, iCloud synchronization works automatically, but you can also go into say iTunes on your computer and manually add songs or apps to your device(s) wirelessly. In my experience, however, the process of re-adding a single app on your Mac to a selected device is a slower process than simply going back into the App Store and locating an app you’re previously purchased and re-downloading it from there.

If you want to access your Mail, contacts, and calendar data online, simply go to href="http://www.icloud.com">iCloud and sign in using your iCloud/MobileMe username and password. You also go there to use the href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/locate-missing-stolen-iphone-ipad-ipod-touch-find-iphone-mac/">Find My iPhone, and to upload, download, and synchronize your iWork documents.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/screenshot1456.jpg" alt="Screenshot1456" width="580" height="245" border="0" />

Sadly, in order to sync iWork documents with iCloud, you have to upload documents to your online account (click on the iWork icon, and then click on the gear button on the upper-right of the page to upload documents to iCloud.) You can’t upload documents to your account from within iWork applications.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/screenshot1457.png" alt="Screenshot1457" width="292" height="197" border="0" />

If you’ve been using href="http://www.iwork.com">iWork, you will have to switch to iCloud if you want documents to automatically sync to all your iCloud supported devices.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/screenshot1444.jpg" alt="Screenshot1444" width="562" height="363" border="0" />

Also, while we’re on the subject, if you’re a heavy iPhone camera user, you may or may not like the Photo Stream feature. It’s great that it automatically uploads all your iPhone photos to your corresponding devices and to your iPhoto/Aperture library.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/IMG_1059.jpg" alt="icloud for ios" width="320" height="480" border="0" />

But though it keeps those photos in your iCloud account for 30 days, it’s almost impossible to delete them from iCloud. You can turn off Photo Stream on your device to keep it from uploading images to iCloud, but it seems that images remain in iCloud until after 30 days.

There’s a lot more to iCloud, but hopefully this article has given you enough to get started. Let us know about your experiences using iCloud.

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/instapaper-300x300.png" alt="" />Yet again, another iOS application pushes out a game changing update to go along with the release of Apple’s latest software version, iOS 5. The changes to this version of href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/instapaper/id288545208?mt=8">Instapaper are pretty extensive, and it is clear that Instapaper takes browsing your articles on iOS very seriously. The layout of the app has completely changed on iPad. Now it uses a grid instead of a list. Also, the layout has been cleaned up on the iPhone, though not as drastically.

In addition to improving the layout, many articles now feature the author’s name, as well as the website name and date, as long as it can extract that information. They also made some improvements to the scroll bar. Tapping and holding down on the article enables quick scroll. They also added brightness controls, so depending on the lighting conditions where you are reading, you can fine tune your experience.

They also made it easier to read footnotes in any article. Simply tap the screen. For most articles, the footnote will appear as a pop up, saving you from have to scroll all the way to the bottom of the screen.

iOS 5 added an OS wide dictionary, and if you prefer to use it, you can set up href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/instapaper/id288545208?mt=8">Instapaper to use it instead of their own in-app dictionary.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/mzl.esiijnrj.320x480-75.jpg" alt="" width="334" height="480" />

Lastly, you can now set up the app to pull in any links you like on Facebook, post to Twitter, or share on Tumblr.

For href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/instapaper/id288545208?mt=8">Instapaper diehards, this is a must-own.

Source: href="http://www.macworld.com/article/163068/2011/10/instapaper_4_sports_a_new_look_and_new_features.html#lsrc.rss_main" rel="nofollow">MacWorld

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/instapaper-huge-update-ios-devices-news/">Instapaper Gets A Huge Update On iOS Devices [News] is a post from: href="http://www.makeuseof.com">MakeUseOf

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Minecraft-Pocket-Edition-300x300.jpg" alt="" />Minecraft – Pocket Edition for Android is about to be re-released with support for a wider range of Android devices. Until now, the game was optimised for the Xperia Play and was not guaranteed to work well with other Android phones. This long-awaited Android application update is great news for Minecraft fans everywhere.

The application’s creators at Mojang were originally due to re-release the game on 29th September, but came across a last-minute bug to iron out. However, the instant that bug is fixed they’ll release a version of Minecraft – Pocket Edition which most Android users [2.3+] can enjoy. As well as offering support for more phones, the re-release has some great new features which Minecraft fans will love.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/MinecraftPocket-Screenshot.jpg" alt="" />

Minecraft lovers can pick up the Minecraft – Pocket Edition application for class="vt-p" href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.mojang.minecraftpe">4.99€ / US$6.50 from the Android Market or test out the class="vt-p" href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.mojang.minecraftpe.demo">demo version for free. The applications use Minecraft’s creative mode, and the demo version is limited so that users are unable to save their worlds.

The new application release will also offer touch-screen controls, which you can class="vt-p" href="http://youtu.be/rCcsuPH4vJY">see in action on YouTube here.

width="580" height="325" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /> name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rCcsuPH4vJY?version=3&hl=en_US" /> name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> width="580" height="325" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rCcsuPH4vJY?version=3&hl=en_US" allowFullScreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" />

Be the first to know when the bugs are fixed by following Mojang application developer David Kaplan, class="vt-p" href="http://twitter.com/#!/Kappische/">@Kappische on Twitter.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Minecraft-Pocket-Tweet.png" alt="" />

Source: class="vt-p" href="http://www.droid-life.com/2011/09/26/minecraft-pocket-edition-to-be-released-for-wider-selection-of-android-devices-sept-29th/" rel="nofollow">Droid Life

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/netflixandroidthumb11.jpg" alt="" />Though href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/netflix/">Netflix arrived on Android in May, its rollout to devices has been slow and on a device-by-device basis. As a result, many devices that seemed to have the required hardware were left out in the cold. Now, for owners of href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/quick-guide-android-versions-updates-android/">Android 2.2 and 2.3 smartphones, that’s in the past.

Netflix’s latest update of its Android app surprisingly states that it supports all Android smartphones running 2.2 or 2.3. This greatly expands the number of devices that have access to the service. According to the href="http://developer.android.com/resources/dashboard/platform-versions.html">Android Developers website, over 82% of current installations are one of these two more recent incarnations. Only the 13% of users still owning Android 2.1 devices are likely to feel a bit miffed.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/netflixandroid12.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="276" />

This isn’t the end of device-by-device support, however. Android Honeycomb is still not fully supported, but in earlier announcements Netflix provided support for the Lenovo IdeaPad K1, one of the newer tablets on the market.

Hopefully Netflix support will be extended to all href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-android-tablets-today-buyer-check/">Honeycomb tablets quickly, but don’t hold your breath. Less than two percent of Android users have the tablet version of the OS, which means there’s little incentive for Netflix to prioritize that branch of the operating system.

Source: href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/239830/netflix_now_works_on_android_22_and_23_devices.html#tk.rss_news" rel="nofollow">PC World

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/pogoplugthumb.jpg?54167" alt="" /> class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-reasons-why-students-should-be-using-dropbox-as-a-study-tool/">Cloud services have become a popular way to share files with others, and they work well in most situations, making it easy to upload photos or documents and then access them on a variety of devices.

This is not the only way to send files between devices, however. Streaming software such as class="vt-p" href="http://www.pogoplug.com/products-pogoplug-free-software.html">Pogoplug has advantages, such as a lack of storage caps and a simpler user experience, since you don’t have to hassle with local and cloud copies.

Streaming vs. Cloud: What’s The Difference?

class="aligncenter" style="border: 1px solid black;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/pogoplug3.jpg?54167" alt="" width="521" height="295" />

Before I go into detail about Pogoplug, let’s talk about how it’s different from popular and well-established services like class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/dropbox">Dropbox.

Pogoplug does not offer a cloud. At no point do you upload files to a server so they can be downloaded again later. Instead, you create an account when you install the software and then share folders on your PC. Those folders then can be accessed on other devices and computers, and you can share information on those as well, creating a network of computers that share files across the Internet.

As there’s no cloud to upload data to, there’s no monthly storage charge once you go over a certain limit. The storage is all on devices you personally own. You also no longer need to worry about the service possibly being hacked or inaccessible.

Streaming Made Easy

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/pogoplug2.jpg?54167" alt="" width="570" height="333" />

Once installed, the Pogoplug software is easy to use. The included remote access controls are used to determine what is being shared on your computer. On my class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/two-tools-to-monitor-your-macbooks-battery-mac/">MacBook, for example, my Desktop, Documents, Music, Movies, and Pictures folders were selected by default.

Any folder can be de-selected by removing a check from the appropriate box, and new folders can be added as well. All remote access can be cut off using a big remote access switch on the interface.

Once shared, the files can be accessed using Pogoplug software on any other computer as long as you log into your account. Remember however, that this software depends on access to the various devices sharing information. Unlike a cloud service, this software won’t let you access data from a shared folder if the computer hosting it is turned off.

Pogoplug Mobile Access

One of the greatest advantages of a cloud service is the ability to access information while on the go. Pogoplug replicates this both via a web interface and on your mobile device.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 1px solid black;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/pogoplug1.jpg?54167" alt="" width="462" height="243" />

The web interface is impressive, as it provides access to a wide variety of content and is quite snappy. All of your folders that are shared via your Pogoplug software will be accessible, and the class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/dropmocks-create-picture-gallery-instantly/">Gallery tab lets you view photos as a class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-ways-to-create-beautiful-slideshows-of-your-digital-pictures/">slideshow. Those who pay for the class="vt-p" href="http://www.pogoplug.com/products.html">premium account (a $29 one-time fee) will also be able to stream music and video content via this in-browser interface.

Android and iOS users will have access to the same features via the Pogoplug app available for free on each operating system’s respective marketplace. This app provides mobile access to all of your content with the exception of audio and video, which again is restricted to those who have a premium account.

Backup and Printing

Although the ability to stream and share content between devices is the focus of Pogoplug, it does have two other notable features.

One is Active Copy, a simple but useful backup feature. It effectively links two folders together so that their content mirrors one another, making it easy to keep an up-to-date backup of important information on a multiple computers.

Another great extra is online printing, which can be used to send documents to a remote printer connected to a computer running Pogoplug. It’s even possible for friends to share a printer with you, which means you can use their printer while logged into your own account. It’s even possible to print from the Android and iPhone apps.

Conclusion

Pogoplug isn’t a perfect service, but it has definite advantages compared to cloud services. My situation is a great example. I have multiple computers that I need to keep synced, but Dropbox won’t work (for free) because the amount of data I need to sync is in excess of 10GB.

With this alternative, I’m not able to sync when one of my PCs is turned off, but that’s a trade-off I’m willing to make in exchange for the ability to freely transfer a very large volume of data. The Active Copy feature is an excellent way to keep my data backed up, as well.

class="vt-p" href="http://www.pogoplug.com/products-pogoplug-free-software.html">Give it a try and let us know what you think of it in the comments.  Any missing features you would like to see included?

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/share-files-folders-computers-mobile-devices-pogoplug-windows-mac/">Share Files & Folders With Computers & Mobile Devices Using Pogoplug [Windows & Mac] is a post from: href="http://www.makeuseof.com">MakeUseOf

More articles about: href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/backup/" title="backup" rel="tag">backup, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/cross-platform/" title="cross platform" rel="tag">cross platform, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/file-sharing/" title="file sharing" rel="tag">file sharing, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/mobile-phones/" title="mobile phones" rel="tag">mobile phones, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/printing/" title="printing" rel="tag">printing, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/streaming/" title="streaming" rel="tag">streaming />

Similar articles:

class="st-related-posts">

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/spideroak-online-data-backup-sharing-solution-crossplatform/" title="SpiderOak – An Online Data Backup & Sharing Solution [Cross-Platform] (September 15, 2010)">SpiderOak – An Online Data Backup & Sharing Solution [Cross-Platform] (17 comments …)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/total-media-domination-your-tv-video-and-audio-on-any-device/" title="Total Media Domination – Your TV, Video and Audio on any Device (March 20, 2008)">Total Media Domination – Your TV, Video and Audio on any Device (13 comments …)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/simpleshare-crossplatform-easy-sharing-tool-5gb-free/" title="SimpleShare: A Cross-Platform Easy Sharing Tool With 5GB Free (June 22, 2011)">SimpleShare: A Cross-Platform Easy Sharing Tool With 5GB Free (4 comments …)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/setup-perfect-media-center-plex-mac-windows/" title="Setup A Perfect Media Center With Plex [Mac & Windows] (May 15, 2011)">Setup A Perfect Media Center With Plex [Mac & Windows] (274 comments …)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/share-and-stream-unlimited-files-from-your-computer-with-orb/" title="Orb – Free File Sharing and Streaming Program for Your PC (October 4, 2009)">Orb – Free File Sharing and Streaming Program for Your PC (10 comments …)

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/00_join_me_logo-1.jpg" alt="web conference call" />Your friend has called. They have a problem with their computer and are asking for your expertise. You want to help, but it’s a bit difficult to assist your friend if you can only rely on their limited oral description and your imagination. Everything would be so much easier if you could see what’s on the screen, and if possible take control of their computer from your computer.

You can probably think of several other occasions when you would need to class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/tag/screen-sharing/">share computer screens and maybe do something on the remote computer. There are class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/7-easy-screen-sharing-and-remote-access-tools-all-free/">several applications – both desktop and online – that can help you to do that. But class="vt-p" href="https://join.me/">join.me is probably the easiest of them all. It’s the simplest way to have a web conference call between computers. The product comes from LogMeIn, the name behind class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/share-your-desktop-remotely-with-multiple-viewers-easily-with-logmein-express/">LogMeIn Express.

Let’s Start The Conference

To start a web conference, all you have to do is visit the class="vt-p" href="https://join.me">join.me website from any class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/windows/">Windows or class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/mac/">Mac computer and click on the orange “share” button. Registration is not needed, but you can register for the paid pro version if you need more bells and whistles.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/01a_share.jpg" border="0" alt="web conference call" width="580" height="200" />

If this is your first encounter with join.me, you will be asked to download a little application/java applet to your computer. The applet will be your main interface to access the web conference.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/01c_dl_Java_Applet.jpg" border="0" alt="web conference" width="525" height="131" />

After the download has finished, the application will open and connect to the web. You will see a set of numbers in a link that will identify your conference session. The link is called the “viewer link“. You can copy the link to the Windows clipboard to be used later or send it via email to your friends. The numbers will change every time you start another conference.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/02b_java_applet-2.jpg" border="0" alt="web conference" width="350" height="140" />

Now you are ready to have a web conference.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/02c_applet1-2.jpg" border="0" alt="web conference" width="310" height="120" />

There are five buttons on the interface: The first one is the “Get conference number” button, followed by “Chat“, start/pause “Share screen“, “Participants“, and the last one is the “Share control” button.

Let’s Join The Conference

Joining a conference is also easy. On the right side of join.me’s main page, put the viewer number in the “join” field and press the arrow button. If you are the one who started the conference, share the viewer number to your friends so they can join your conference.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/01b_join.jpg" border="0" alt="web conference service" width="580" height="200" />

The conference application will open after you click the green button. You’ll notice that the color of the buttons is green on the participant’s side. The features are almost the same. The only difference between the orange and green side is the middle button.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/05b_on_client_side.jpg" border="0" alt="web conference service" width="280" height="100" />

The number on the fourth button shows you how many participants there are in the conference. Clicking on the button will show you a list of attendees. You can edit your own name on the list by double clicking on it and retyping the word. However, you can’t edit other people’s names.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/04c_viewer.jpg" border="0" alt="web conference service" width="300" height="260" />

Using Join.me

Now that everybody has arrived, what’s next? What can you do with join.me?

For a start, if you are the host and you have more than one monitor, you can choose which monitor you want to share with the others. To do that, click the small arrow button on the right.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/03a_share_monitor.jpg" border="0" alt="03a share monitor" width="450" height="200" />

The chat button allows you to send messages to one of the participants, or to everybody. Click the button to start, then use the dropdown list at the bottom to choose the recipient(s).

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/04_chat.jpg" border="0" alt="04 chat" width="272" height="328" />

You can also send files to the participants. Click the “Participants” button and hover your mouse over one of the names. Then click the square button in the middle.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/04e_extra_menu.jpg" border="0" alt="04e extra menu" width="272" height="150" />

To let other participants control your computer, click the “Share control” button and choose one of the names. Only participants who access the conference from a personal computer can take over another’s computer. Those who access the conference from a mobile device can only monitor.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/04g_share_control.jpg" border="0" alt="04g share control" width="300" height="240" />

Let’s Go Mobile

Other than web access from a personal computer, join.me is also accessible from mobile devices. At the moment, the mobile access is only available from iOS devices like the  class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/iphone/">iPhone and class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/ipad/">iPad. But the developer has promised that the class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/android/">Android version is on the way.

After downloading and installing the iOS app, open it, write down the viewer code, and tap on the green button.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/07b_insert_code.jpg" border="0" alt="07b insert code" width="320" height="460" />

The shared screen will appear on your device’s screen. But there are only three features available via mobile access: Conference number, Chat, and Participants.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/07b_computer_screen_on_iOS.jpg" border="0" alt="07b computer screen on iOS" width="460" height="290" />

This kind of arrangement is good if the one with mobile access will only give comments and advice to other participants without the need to take control of another computer.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/07e_chat.jpg" border="0" alt="07e chat" width="320" height="460" />

The End Of The Conference

To end the conference, click the small “X” button on the application. First time users will be asked to install the app so future meetings can start faster.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/06_close.jpg" border="0" alt="web conference call" width="300" height="230" />

So if you need to set up a quick web conference call with your friends, try join.me and tell us what you think about it. But please note that the quality of the conference will really depend on the speed of your Internet connection.

If you know or use other similar services and applications, such as  class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/be-a-remote-support-superhero/">TeamViewer, class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/almostmeet-online-group-collaboration/">AlmostMeet, class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/dimdim-excellent-free-web-conferencing-solution/">Dimdim or class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/remote-pc-assistance-with-crossloop/">Crossloop, please share them using the comments below.

Image credit: class="vt-p" rel="nofollow" href="https://join.me/">join.me />
/> Follow href="http://twitter.com/MakeUseOf" target="_blank" >MakeUseOf on Twitter. Includes cool extras.

/>

 

Read comments: href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/joinme-simplest-web-conference-call/#disqus_thread">Loved it? Hated it? Join discussion here …

 

href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/joinme-simplest-web-conference-call/"> src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/joinme-simplest-web-conference-call/"> href="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis/login?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/joinme-simplest-web-conference-call/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/diggme.png"> href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/joinme-simplest-web-conference-call/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/fb.jpg"> href="http://www.google.com/reader/link?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/joinme-simplest-web-conference-call/&title=Join.me: The Simplest Way To Have A Web Conference Call Between Computers & Mobile Devices&srcTitle=MakeUseOf.com"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/gbuzz-feed.png"> href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/joinme-simplest-web-conference-call/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/stumble.png">

 

More articles about: href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/chat/" title="chat" rel="tag">chat, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/collaboration/" title="collaboration" rel="tag">collaboration, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/desktop-sharing/" title="desktop sharing" rel="tag">desktop sharing, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/file-sharing/" title="file sharing" rel="tag">file sharing, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/mobile-apps/" title="Mobile Apps" rel="tag">Mobile Apps, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/remote-desktop/" title="remote desktop" rel="tag">remote desktop />

Similar articles:

class="st-related-posts">

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-excellent-apps-to-place-group-and-conference-calls/" title="6 must-know Apps to make FREE Group Conference Calls (January 14, 2008)">6 must-know Apps to make FREE Group Conference Calls (13 comments …)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-free-online-meeting-tools-collaborate-team/" title="The 6 Best Free Online Meeting Tools to Collaborate With Your Team (January 3, 2011)">The 6 Best Free Online Meeting Tools to Collaborate With Your Team (0 comments …)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/be-a-remote-support-superhero/" title="TeamViewer – Be A Remote Support Superhero! (June 20, 2008)">TeamViewer – Be A Remote Support Superhero! (37 comments …)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/beam-your-screen-with-others-using-mikogo-windows-mac/" title="Share Your Screen With Others Using Mikogo (March 13, 2009)">Share Your Screen With Others Using Mikogo (20 comments …)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/share-files-collaborate-groups-people-rrripple/" title="Share Files & Collaborate With Groups Of People With RRRipple (May 25, 2011)">Share Files & Collaborate With Groups Of People With RRRipple (1 comments …)

View full post on MakeUseOf

If you’ve already updated your iOS device to 4.3.1, you might be happy to know that the iPhone Dev Team has just released an update to Redsn0w and Pwnage Tool, bringing an untethered jailbreak to your device. For iPhone users who depend on ultrasn0w to use your phone on the carrier of your choice, this update is not for you. You will have to wait a little longer, until a new update to ultrasn0w is released. iPad 2 users will also not be able to benefit from the latest jailbreak, while other iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 (GSM) users, along with iPad 1, iPod Touch 3G/4G and Apple TV 2G users will be able to go ahead and get their jailbreak on.

The Dev Team have provided both Windows and Mac OS X versions of RedSn0w and a Mac version of Pwnage Tool [Torrent link]. For the time being, Apple TV 2G users can only use Pwnage Tool to jailbreak their devices.

Redsn0w is possibly one of the easiest ways to jailbreak your iOS device. For a detailed, step-by-step guide on jailbreaking, one of the best places to get tutorials no matter what you device is, head over to iClarified and select the appropriate guide for your device.

Have you jailbroken your iOS device? Which method did you use? Let us know in the comments.

More articles about: iOS, iphone, jailbreak, news

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/nabaztag-300x300.jpg" alt="cool devices" width="240" height="240" />Wireless devices have really made a mark on our daily lives, whether it be in the form of unresponsive keyboards that drop words every 2 seconds or AA-battery guzzling mice – but there is so much more fun to be had with WiFi than any of us realize.  Here I present the 2010 MUO Awards for the top cool wireless devices that you’ve probably never heard of.

Before we begin, you might want to check class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/is-your-wireless-network-safe/">if your wireless network is safe, and class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/people-hacking-wireless-networks-protect/">learn about how hackers might get into your wireless network, and class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-troubleshoot-weak-wireless-connections/">strengthen your weak wireless signals.

id="more-61394">

Hilarious – Wifi Bathroom Scales ($150):

For those looking to track their weight – class="vt-p" href="http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/db64/">these awesome WiThings scales cut out the tedious and possibly error-prone step of having to manually enter your weight into your app – because they do it automatically over WiFi for you.

The scales record your weight, body mass and BMI, and integrate with the free (and password protected) website or iPhone app, as well as class="vt-p" href="http://www.google.com/health/">Google Health (so presumably you can now get targeted “lose weight now” ads delivered to your personal browsing experience!), or even Facebook if you are brave enough.

The cool device handles up to 8 family members, and cleverly (scarily) knows who you are without clumsy menu systems. This is the kind of simple tech we like, and it just works. Available from class="vt-p" href="http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/db64/">ThinkGeek.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/db64_wifi_enabled_bathroom_scale_inuse.jpg" alt="cool devices" width="400" height="300" />

Incredibly Geeky Beyond Belief – Dr Robot X80-H (~$3,500)

class="vt-p" href="http://www.drrobot.com/products_item.asp?itemNumber=X80-H">The Dr Robot X80-H is not just your garden variety robot, it’s an entire “wifi mobile development platform” – with a head, no less. Rather than settling for a lame pan-and-tilt camera, the latest revision of the X80-H has “five servo animatronic head with integrated IR sensor”.

Capable of an astounding 1 meter per second, it can also carry 10kg of weight – like, a baby from a burning building, or an axe, or something. The unit is of course fully programmable via all your favorite programming languages, and totally compatible with class="vt-p" href="http://www.microsoft.com/robotics/">Microsoft Robotics Studio, whatever that is.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/X80-H.jpg" alt="cool electronics" width="250" height="250" />

Creepy: The WifiRobin Autohacking Router ($120)

Creepy perhaps, but admittedly very clever. The class="vt-p" href="http://wifirobin.com">WifiRobin device is an innocent looking compact router, with a small LCD screen menu. Having chosen your target Wifi network, this sneaky little Chinese device sets to works “sniffering” packets, until it has enough to crack the password, at which it re-broadcasts the signal for you to use. Not only does it change the name of the network so that the original owners have no idea they are being leeched from, it also adds a higher level of security so that it itself cannot be hacked!

The device is currently limited to WEP only networks, as cracking WPA secured networks takes significantly more effort. If your Wifi is still secured by WEP, then take this as a big hint that you ought change your security to something more secure.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/WIFIROBIN_SM.jpg" alt="cool electronics" width="299" height="292" />

Genuinely Useful: FOSCAM Wifi Security Camera

As a British citizen, I’m quite used to being recorded by CCTV literally everywhere I go – heck, the newest generation of CCTV cameras even add the ability class="vt-p" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/6524495.stm">to talk back to the public to tell them to pick up litter or stop loitering. So it is with no hesitation that I heartily recommend the same level of security for your home with this almost too-easy to install class="vt-p" href="http://foscam.com/Products_List.asp?id=128">Wifi security camera FOSCAM. Just bolt it on the front of your house and give it some power, and your security feed will be viewable anywhere in the world on the Internet, or class="vt-p" href="http://www.senstic.com/iphone/aircam/aircam.aspx">on your iPhone, so you can see your house being burgled live.

In fact, I’m thinking that one of these combined with an X80-H mounted water pistol would make an incredible autonomous home security system, or at least some rather funny YouTube videos.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20103129412755547.jpg" alt="cool electronics" width="350" height="350" />

Quirky – Nobaztag (~$80)

class="vt-p" href="http://www.nabaztag.com/en/index.html">The Nobaztag is a curious little device, but one that might actually prove useful in a variety of niche situations – none of which I can imagine at this precise moment. This Wifi rabbit-thing has a host of features that nobody really needs, the most significant of which is reading out your emails and RSS feeds, and changing color or moving its ears according to the mood. Your friends can also send messages directly to you – a unique feature that no other device has yet been able to achieve *.

* excluding answerphones, computers, cell phones, and pagers.

Like all great things, class="vt-p" href="http://nabaztools.sourceforge.net/">it’s been hacked too. I can’t wait for someone to publish a directory of these things so some teenager can spam rude words to them!

As for the name – it’s Armenian for “rabbit”. Yes, sorry, I was expecting a rather more colorful story there, too.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/nabaztag1.jpg" alt="cool devices" width="406" height="307" />

Well, I certainly learned a lot over the course of this article, how about you? Hands up who knew Microsoft had an entire Robotics Development Environment, or that Google was secretly collecting health information about us all?

Do you have a favorite awesome wireless device you absolutely must tell the world about? Then tell us about them in the comments! />
/>Follow href="http://twitter.com/MakeUseOf" target="_blank" >MakeUseOf on Twitter. Includes cool extras. />
/>

 

href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/cool-wireless-devices-heard/"> src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/cool-wireless-devices-heard/"> href="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis/login?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/cool-wireless-devices-heard/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/diggme.png"> href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/cool-wireless-devices-heard/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/fb.jpg"> href="http://www.google.com/reader/link?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/cool-wireless-devices-heard/&title=5 Cool Wireless Devices You’ve Probably Never Heard Of Before&srcTitle=MakeUseOf.com"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/gbuzz-feed.png"> href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/cool-wireless-devices-heard/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/stumble.png">

 

Similar MakeUseOf Articles

class="st-related-posts">

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-use-your-psp-wifi-scanner-to-find-a-wireless-internet-hotspot/" title="How To Use Your PSP WiFi Scanner To Find A Wireless Internet Hotspot">How To Use Your PSP WiFi Scanner To Find A Wireless Internet Hotspot (13 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-troubleshoot-weak-wireless-connections/" title="How To Troubleshoot Weak Wireless Connections">How To Troubleshoot Weak Wireless Connections (21 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/catch-snoop-logging-wireless-network/" title="How To Tell If Someone Is Using Your Wireless Network">How To Tell If Someone Is Using Your Wireless Network (31 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-share-the-internet-connection-between-your-mac-and-a-pc/" title="How To Share The Internet Connection Between Mac and PC">How To Share The Internet Connection Between Mac and PC (27 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/set-wre54g-range-extender-home-network/" title="How To Set Up A WRE54G Range Extender On A Home Network">How To Set Up A WRE54G Range Extender On A Home Network (14 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-increase-security-by-securing-your-d-link-wireless-router/" title="How To Secure Your D-Link Wireless Router">How To Secure Your D-Link Wireless Router (22 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/finding-wireless-internet-service-providers/" title="How To Find Wireless Internet Service Providers Near You">How To Find Wireless Internet Service Providers Near You (8 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-easily-share-your-wireless-connection-in-ubuntu-9-10/" title="How To Easily Share Your Wireless Connection in Ubuntu 9.10">How To Easily Share Your Wireless Connection in Ubuntu 9.10 (33 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-free-wifi-sites-show-hotspot-locations/" title="4 Free WiFi Sites That Show Hotspot Locations Near You">4 Free WiFi Sites That Show Hotspot Locations Near You (4 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/zomgies-god-zombies-a-zombie-survival-game/" title="ZOMGies! – An Addictive Zombie Survival Game">ZOMGies! – An Addictive Zombie Survival Game (32 comments)

View full post on MakeUseOf.com

Santa Claus was generous to you and you got a brand new MP3 player. The disk of this nice gadget is so big that it can hold a thousand times more MP3s than you currently have. So, you are searching hectically where to download MP3s from. Don?t worry; the Internet is the place to go to, if you want to download loads of MP3s.

If you have an iPod or an MP3 player, then you are probably always on the lookout for more music to download. Fortunately for you, the Internet has a plethora of resources to satisfy your music appetite. Soon, you will have hours of tunes at your disposal.

If you have been to high school lately, you will see about half of the student body plugged into iPods or MP3 players in between classes, at lunch, and after school. For those who have teenagers at home, you know how hard it is to get their attention when they are listening to their music. With the increasingly advanced technology, it takes about 24-48 hours of music to fill a disc.

Thus, it requires a LOT of downloads to fill an MP3 player. For some kids, one site, one genre, and they are all set to download all the MP3 music they will ever want. However, if you like different kinds of music, from a variety of artists, you may want to check out numerous sites before settling on one or two. Unless the music is pirated, which is illegal and punishable by law, you will have to pay for the music by the single or pay a subscription.

Generally subscription sites offer unlimited downloads. This is great but only if the site has songs from genres you like. Therefore, before you subscribe to a MP3 downloads site, check what they offer because if you subscribe with many sites, which don?t have your music, the costs can be overwhelming.

There is one more thing to bear in mind ? consumers benefit when MP3 download sites compete. Because of this competition, you will often find offers for free downloads. As with any other purchasing decision, first you need to make some research where the best deals are and only after that sign up with a site. For instance, if a site gives you a 15% discount if you download more than 10 songs, make the calculations if this is feasible for you or not.

You will soon see for yourself that the Internet is a golden mine for downloaders. Well, we also mentioned that free lunch (i.e. free MP3s) can be poisonous (or illegal), so make your best to watch for the best deal not for the free stuff. The best deal can be a cheap song or a low subscription fee for unlimited downloads for all (including your siblings and relatives).

Therefore, if you want to download MP3 songs, you just need to learn how to choose the best places for MP3 downloads. Some sites offer discounts or free songs, while others offer unlimited downloads for a low fee. You see, competition for your dollar is great and you are the one who benefits most from it!

PLEASE READ Step1 Open Up Cydia and add this source www.sinfuliphonerepo.com Step2 Now click search and type in NES 3 sellect the cracked version step3 Download any Nes rom you like from www.theoldcomputer.com For More Updates Follow Me On Twitter twitter.com Search and win prizes with Swagbucks EASY & FREE $$ !! www.swagbucks.com Click on this link to download WinRar Windows Vista 32 bit download.cnet.com Windows 64 bit download.cnet.com Click on this link to see how to SSH your device www.youtube.com

Input Devices : Overview
Input devices are essentially all the peripherals that controls the data and sends information to an information processing system. It performs the task of transferring the data from one device to the other and are connected to a computer or any computational device in most of the cases. The scope of input device hardware is not limited to one’s house but today shopping malls and even small retail shops have various input devices to assist them in calculations and convenience in collecting information. The markets have been flooded with variety of options and almost everyday a new technology is launched in the market. Some of the recently launched products are discussed below.

Crayola – Living up to its name is the Crayola keyboard that will give your dull mood a swing. For all those who are bored with using their dull keyboards switch to this colorful version of keyboard that not only is attractive but will make your children’s experience on computer, more fun. This is the latest one from the computer hardware industry.

Logitech Cordless Mouse – Enjoy highest level of comfort while doing the most tedious job on your computer, while working on the Logitech Wireless Desktop Wave Pro keyboard-and-mouse combination, giving a unique feel to your computer hardware.

Ultimate Gaming Mouse – Avtar has launched a gaming mouse that has unique features to make computer games much more interesting and easy to play. The optical sensors provide maximum sensitivity and responsiveness which yields unparalleled gaming accuracy 7 programmable keys allows gamers to customize their configuration. The Ambidextrous design gives full use to both right and left handed gamers and it can be easily plug into a USB port.

USBee Flash Memory – Having and elastic neck, a clever ventilation system to prevent it from heating up and a unique look is the USP of this USBee flash memory drive.

Socket Compact Flash Scan Card 5M Bar code scanner – This product has the capacity to turn your pocket PC to an advanced mobile bar code reader. Introduced in the input hardware market by Socket, this device has a new level of convenience and portability to mobile data collection by combining Socket’s Mobility Friendly Compact Flash technology with a revolutionary laser scanner from Symbol Technologies.

Speed Pad Gaming Mouse 3- a new device in the game controller segment has been launched by Belkin. However, it has been launched only for specific action packed games like MMORPGs, FPS and RTS and World of Warcraft.

Lipstick 1GB USB Pen Drive – This lipstick shaped USB port has been designed especially for girls who can disguise this USB drive in their purses. The Lipstick Drive can store and transfer your pictures, music, video and data to another computer with a USB port and is fully compatible with all USB connectors.

Launch X431 Scanner (LX-A106) – This is a milestone product in the input hardware market. This new generation tool is a perfect amalgamation between automotive electronic technology and information networking. Adopting diagnostic technology, it has PDA functions apart from reading trouble code, data stream and actuation test, sensor waveform and digital code control.

The computer hardware industry has grown leaps and bound in the past decade. Different types of 2D and 3D input devices has helped the scientific community spread its horizon in the consumer market. Effective cost and efficient service is all that lures the consumers to buy these input devices. For Wholesale Input Device Manufacturers & Suppliers Sources & Resources….

*CLICK MORE INFO* *BEFORE ATTEMPTING JAILBREAK, READ THE WHOLE VIDEO DESCRIPTION* 1st of all: I am NOT responsible for what you do to your ipod or iphone!! 2nd: DO NOT attempt this Jailbreak if you have an MC model iphone or ipod! MB Models only!! You can find what model you have by going into Settings-General-About-Model. It should have MB and some numbers and letters that lets you know you can Jailbreak it! 3rd: When you update your ipod/iphone, YOU MUST RESTORE TO THE 3.1.2 FIRMWARE, NOT UPDATE!! IF YOU CHOOSE ITUNES’ UPDATE, DON’T LET IT INSTALL YET!! You MUST restore it by going to your ipod’s or iphone’s summary, then clicking shift+restore and select the firmware you downloaded from apple! For Insctructions on how to restore, go down to the bottom of description! Here’s how to Jailbreak your iphones or ipods on the 3.1.2 firmware. Blackra1n Download: www.blackra1n.com If you have ANY concerns or problems or questions, put them in the comments or PM me! megaupload Download & Instructions Download: www.megaupload.com Download Instructions: 1. Click link above 2. Enter code on right side of screen 3. Wait 45 seconds and click “Regular Download” 4. Save the file and there you go! I DO REALIZE PEOPLE ARE GETTING STUCK AT THE RE-BOOT SCREEN. ONCE AGAIN, MAKE SURE YOU’RE ON AN MB MODEL IPOD OR IPHONE AND YOU RESTORED TO THE 3.1.2 FIRMWARE IF YOU CONTINUE TO HAVE PROBLEMS WHEN YOU ARE ON AN MB MODEL, CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO MY VIDEO ON HOW TO FIX IT!! How to restore to 3.1.2 firmware and Jailbreak CORRECTLY: 1: Go to this link : www.felixbruns.de 2: Download the 3.1.2 firmware for whatever device you have and save it to your desktop! Ex: I have a First generation ipod Touch , so I’d pick “ipod touch (3.1.2/7D11)” and click download and save it to my desktop! ***Make sure you click the second drop down list as that one is for iphones and ipod touches only*** 3: Plug in iphone/ipod and open up itunes and go into its summary. 4: Back up your iphone/ipod’s Settings, Contacts, and other things and sync downloaded apps/music to your itunes library so you can put them back on AFTER you jailbreak. 5: Go into your ipod/iphone’s summary in itunes, and if your on Windows, Click Shift+Restore and browse to your desktop and highlight the 3.1.2 firmware you saved there, and click open. If your on a Mac, click Option+Restore and browse to and open the firmware. 6: Let itunes do its thing, and then you will have a factory settings, 3.1.2 device. 7: THEN you Jailbreak, and once it’s Jailbroken, Then you download all your apps and music back to your device! Jailbreak Fix Link: www.youtube.com If you have ANY concerns, problems, or questions, put them in the comments, PM me, or Email me @ minisk83r2sipodthelp@yahoo.com saying that you have a problem with the Jailbreak, and state the problem. And YES there is at in between the ipod and help in my email, I didn’t mess up.

Nowadays, because of blackouts, voltage surges and any kind of faulty condition, UPS devices have become one of the essential parts of houses, offices, research organizations and various establishments. These devices not only keep your electronic appliances powered during blackouts, but also safe from any kind of damage. But for each UPS device, software is required to operate the device and keep it safe. It supports the operation and functions of UPS devices and also keeps them safe from any kind of damage. It not only provides you with the information about the working process of UPS, but also controls the UPS devices.

UPS software reveals the load, temperature and uniqueness of UPS devices output and input power. It is organized to send information to the connected computer in case it faces problem or switches to battery operations. With the help of the UPS software, you can monitor that how long the power was interrupted from the device. One of most important features of the software is that it automatically shuts down the connected computer when the power supply is stopped. Whether, it is UPS control software or monitoring software, it helps keep your electrical appliances powered and also protected from any kind of damage due to power failure or blackouts.

Starts with the UPS control software; it works well with UPS devices that are connected with computers, communication devices and servers. It comes in an assortment of models and you are advised to get it according to your UPS device’s requirements. It not only monitors UPS devices, but also can send your computer to sleep mode and shut down via LAN. Above all, it is the software that keeps control over electrical components by keeping them powered incase of power failure. In addition to UPS control software, UPS monitor software reveals real-time information and information about critical data including UPS load and battery charge percentage.

It also allows remote interrogation of UPS logs as well as operating parameters to help diagnose alarms and potential fault conditions. In the low battery situation, it shuts down the computers and UPS device before the battery becomes low. In any problem, UPS monitoring software informs systems administrator or user with alarm window and sound. It also has an alarm message on the screen of your PC. Above all, UPS monitoring software supports many languages and can be installed easily.