Edovia Inc.

Update: At the end of the original post, Erica mused about a single-purpose iPhone 4S dictation app; turns out, of course, that there already is one. The $0.99 Remote Dictate, from the makers of Mobile Mouse Pro, works with the same Mac-side server and offers only dictation with no remote mouse/keyboard. We'll grab it and test it out shortly. –Ed. Recently, TUAW posted about how Mobile Mouse could be used with Siri for iPhone-to-Mac remote dictation. While trying it out, I grew annoyed by transposition errors at the start of my text. So I decided to put several similar solutions to the test. What Mobile Mouse Pro ($1.99), RowMote Pro ($4.99), Edovia's TouchPad ($4.99), and Splashtop Touchpad (Free, normally $4.99) have in common is that each app provides a way to send mouse events and key strokes to your Mac. For this post, we decided not to test full screen sharing apps like iTeleport and LogMeIn due to the more extensive set-up involved. (iTeleport offers a similar $0.99 Touchpad Elite app, but we were unable to get a copy in time for this write-up.) To test them, I dictated the same text sample into TextEdit, courtesy of the iTunes Terms and Conditions. To do this, I connected each app to my Mac, opened a standard keyboard, and used the Siri dictation mic to speak this sentence: "You agree not to use or attempt to use the iTunes Store from outside of the available territory." I ran each app three times, and categorized the errors each app made. How did they stack up? Here are the results. Setup: Very easy. Install and run the Mobile Mouse Server app, run Mobile Mouse from your iPhone 4S. App detects and announces active app. Dictate at will. Performance: Transcription transposition errors, no default uppercase entry at the start of each sentence. Setup: Easy. Enable screen sharing on your Mac. Launch app, and set up VNC-style. Tap pad button, then tap keyboard button, and start dictating. Performance: No default uppercase entry at the start of each sentence. Other than that, it showed no errors with transposition through these tests. Setup: Overly difficult. First I had to google my way to find about the Splashtop Streaming app for Mac. That information should have been in the iTunes marketing text. Then I had to authenticate to install what should have been a simple tweak. After that, once I Read More

Recently, TouchPad, an app for remotely controlling your Mac from your iOS device, introduced an update that allows you to dictate text through Siri on your device and have it show up on your Mac. You can use this handy little feature in combination with Alfred, a launcher application for OS X, to make it easier to open programs, perform searches and open files on your computer from across the room. You’ll need an iPhone 4S with Siri turned on to get started, of course; TouchPad by Edovia from the iOS App Store ($4.99); and Alfred running on your target Mac, which you can pick up for free from Alfredapp.com. You’ll also need to make sure Screen Sharing is enabled on your Mac, which you can set up by going to System Preferences > Sharing and then checking the Screen Sharing box. Alfred basically allows you to quickly accomplish tasks through typing queries, application and filenames, instead of having to use the mouse to navigate through folders and your Launchpad application manager. With TouchPad, you can dictate text instead of typing it, which, if you’re operating a media Mac from your couch, for example saves you a lot of time and potential for improper entry via your iPhone’s software keyboard. To get started, make sure Alfred is running (after the first run, it should be configured to launch at Login). Then, using TouchPad on your iPhone 4S, select the target Mac as the server, and use the software keyboard to type “Alt (⌥) + Space,” which calls Alfred up. Then, tap the microphone icon on your iOS device’s virtual keyboard within TouchPad, and simply say the name of any application you want to find. It should then transfer the text to Alfred, which will show if it found a match, and you can hit “Return” on your iPhone to launch it. You can dictate any text you like, and options for searching the web will pop up, including Amazon, Google and Wikipedia by default. In Alfred’s preferences under the Features tab, you can also set up a custom search for any URL of your choosing, such as Facebook for instance. Under the Features tab, you can set keywords to trigger actions related to certain files. By default, saying “Find xx” will locate files in Finder that match whatever term you use; “Open” followed by a keyword launches the file using its default Read More

Earlier we told you about the update to TouchPad, a VNC remote control app for iOS devices. It’s a well known app in itself, but this latest update is sure to make a few people ecstatic. Indeed, Edovia — the highly esteemed developers behind this and other great apps, like Screens — has updated TouchPad to allow Siri dictation between an iPhone 4S and a Mac, Windows, or even Linux machine if that suits your fancy. Check out our video demonstration inside… As you can see, Siri dictation works fairly well between he iPhone 4S and the Mac. TouchPad worked flawlessly; the only stumbling blocks were Siri misinterpreting things coupled with my haphazard pronunciation. If you want to try it out, simply download TouchPad ($4.99), connect it to your Mac or PC, and get to talking. Read More

By Seth Clifford, Wednesday, Oct 26, 2011 | Since I began using smartphones in 2004, they’ve become an indispensable part of my daily workflow. When I bought my first iPhone (a 3G in 2008), that workflow changed immensely, and for the better. The wide variety of apps available for the platform and the connected nature of the tools Apple provides make iOS a very compelling choice for managing many aspects of our business. At Nickelfish, I do a lot of different things, but a large part of my daily routine is maintenance of all our systems, both user desktops and laptops as well as our online accounts, backups, and services. I use a combination of apps to manage all of this easily. 1Password syncing to Dropbox means I have all the information for everyone’s accounts as well as software licenses and secure notes at my fingertips. I use Screens to monitor a few different machines via VNC around the office, making sure backups and updates are running and completing, and test machines are still testing the way we need them to. I use a variety of Dropbox-linked text editors to take and refer to notes throughout the day, notably WriteUp and Elements on iOS and nvALT (a Notational Velocity fork by Brett Terpstra) on my MacBook Pro. I’m currently using iCloud for my contacts, personal calendars and a personal email account. But we synchronize our company mail, contacts, and calendars with a Google Apps business account, so we’re set up with the standards on everyone’s Macs. Apple Mail and iCal run all day, and we all have those accounts hooked into our phones too. We used to run iCal server off of our Xserve internally and had our mail hosted externally, but we made the decision to bring everything together into Google Apps several months ago because of the availability of apps plugging into it. iOS has a ton of different calendar apps that can either sync with Google or with the iOS calendar accounts, as well as apps that tie into Google Docs, so people can choose how they want to hit those services, and there’s definitely something for everyone. When I’m out of the office, I rely on a few of the iPhone’s heavy hitters – Mail and iMessages – to stay in touch, as well as a few fantastic third-party apps. I use Verbs for IM when I’m Read More

Oft nachgefragt: ein Beitrags-Update über meine ‘Homescreens‘. Seit März 2011, als die letzte Aktualisierung dieser Artikel-Serie erfolgte, hat sich die eine oder andere App verschoben, geändert und aussortiert. Der derzeit aktuellen Stand ist an dieser Stelle festgehalten. Vielleicht finden an diesem Montag ja speziell frische 4S-Käufer, die einen ersten Grundbedarf an Software benötigen, die eine oder andere Anregung. Ich persönlich ziehe jede individuelle Empfehlungen allen generischen ‘Hitlisten’ vor. Genau deshalb soll mein privater Einblick auch nicht alleine bleiben: Wer Screenshots oder Tipps von seinen verwendeten Apps in den Kommentaren kundtun möchte, ist dazu herzlich eingeladen. Zwei Anmerkungen noch: Die zwei benutzten Hintergrundbilder gibt es hier und hier. Auf meinem Standby-Screen befinden sich dieses und dieses Bild. Außerdem führe ich zwei Ordner mit ‘Review’-Software, die ich mir für dieses Blog noch genauer anschauen möchte. Da diese Programme (noch) keine Empfehlungen sind, verbleiben sie für diesen Artikel ohne Erwähnung. Außerdem verstecken sich in den iPhone-Ordnern: Delivery Status touch (3.99 €); Dropbox (kostenlos); eBay (kostenlos); iCab Mobile (1.59 €); Skype (kostenlos); WeatherPro (2.99 €); Tumblr (kostenlos); Verbs (0.79 €); WhatsApp (kostenlos); PayPal (kostenlos); Analytics Pro (4.99 €); Boxcar (kostenlos); Articles (2.39 €); Instapaper (3.99 €); Facebook (kostenlos); Kicktipp (kostenlos); Flickit Pro (3.99 €); 360 Panorama (0.79 €); Lab (0.79 €); Halftone (0.79 €); Instagram (kostenlos); Finnish English (2.39 €); Evernote (kostenlos); Reeder (2.39 €); CrashPlan (kostenlos); Meine Freunde suchen (kostenlos); Shazam (kostenlos); Synonymwörterbuch (19.99 €); iSSH (7.99 €); Handoff (1.59 €); Screens (15.99 €); Google+ (kostenlos) und AirPort Dienstprogramm (kostenlos). Außerdem verstecken sich in den Ordnern: Evernote (kostenlos); iOutBank (9.99 €); Pages (7.99 €); iSSH (7.99 €); Dropbox (kostenlos); iMovie (3.99 €); Skype (kostenlos); Numbers (7.99 €); Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery (3.99 €); Bumpy Road (2.39 €); Cut the Rope (1.59 €); Emberwind HD (1.59 €); Groove Coaster (2.39 €); The Last Rocket (2.39 €); Contre Jour HD (2.39 €); ShadowGun (3.99 €); Comic Zeal (5.99 €); Flipboard (kostenlos); Kindle (kostenlos); Tagesschau (kostenlos); Wired (2.99 €); Zeit Online (kostenlos); Big Picture (2.39 €); Color Splash (1.59 €); Instagallery (1.59 €); Instamap (1.59 €); PhotoSync (1.59 €); Remote (kostenlos); Boxee (kostenlos); iCab Mobile (1.59 €); Simplenote (kostenlos); Air Display (7.99 €) und PDF Expert (7.99 €). * Alle Affiliate-Links (Danke!) führen direkt in den App Store. Read More

, der Fernwartungs-Service mit Remote-Apps für iPhone und iPad, zelebriert seit ein paar Tagen den 50-Prozent App-Store-Ausverkauf (11.99 €; Link). Ich habe regelmäßig Bauchschmerzen meinen Feed mit solchen Preisdumping-Beiträgen zu füllen. Insbesondere dann, wenn eine App an dieser Stelle bereits zahlreiche Erwähnungen genoss (1/2/3). Aber vielleicht hilft’s trotzdem jemanden. Immerhin lässt sich über diesen Rabatt ein vollmundiges Mittagessen einsparen. Was in der Vergangenheit immer für Verwirrung und Nachfragen sorgte, ist das dahinterstehende Preismodell. Die Beschwerden darüber sind berechtigt: Durch den Dschungel an Rescue-, Central-, Backup- und Pro-Features blickt kein Mensch. Glücklich sind Privatanwender mit Basisbedürfnissen wie Fernzugriff und ein bisschen Datei-Schieberei. Ich habe zur Bestätigung noch einmal die Recherche-Installation angeworfen: Sowohl für Mac als auch PC fallen nach der App-Store-Ausgabe keine weiteren Kosten an. Die ‘LogMeIn-Abos’ laufen nach der ersten Anmeldung im einmonatigen ‘Pro‘-Paket und anschließend (bis 2020) im ‘Zugriff Free‘. Die ganze Software- und Webseiten-Navigation ist nicht hübsch, verrichtet jedoch ohne Murren seit Monaten (bei mir) ihren Dienst. Trotzdem nicht unerwähnt soll ‘Screens‘ (15.99 €; Universal; App Store-Link) bleiben, das wesentlich hübscher eine ‘Back to my Mac’-Optik herstellt. Die neuste Version läuft unter Lion wieder ohne Probleme. Neben der Mac-Systemerweiterung gibt es auch die ‘Screens Connect’-Software für Windows (Version 1.0), die sich genau wie unter OS X, mit einem Alias um alle Netzwerk-Verknüpfungen kümmert. von alex olma | 26. Mai 2010 | 07:37 Uhr Eine App, eine Minute für einen Monat = EA-EM-FEM Mir ist bewusst, dass die Fernwartung ‘LogMeIn‘ in diesem Blog bereits viel zu häufig Erwähnung fand. Eigentlich, ja eigentlich ist sie jedoch derzeit ausgemustert. ‘‘ liefert seit Dezember eine feine ‘Back-to-my-Mac’-Optik, der ich nicht widerstehen konnte. Jetzt rappelt sich der VNC-Client jedoch wieder auf und bestückt sich mit einer zusätzlichen Dateiverwaltung. Damit wird es möglich, nicht nur den entfernt stehenden Rechner zu steuern sondern im gleichem Atemzug auch Bits & Bytes von diesem Gerät zu kopieren. Die vergessene Präsentation oder das in der Arbeit schmerzlich vermisste Musikstück XY gelangt darüber sowohl lokal aufs iPad oder einen anderen LogMeIn-Rechner (iPhone/Mac/WindowsPC). Ein (für mich vollkommen ausreichendes) Basis-Konto kostenloser Natur, lässt sich auf der Webseite anlegen. Wer mehr möchte, greift zum bezahlten Pro-Account. Nach dem Programmstart entscheidet man sich für eine Übertragung des Bildschirminhalts oder der Navigation durch die Datei-Struktur. Diese ist auf Basis-Funktionen wie Öffnen, Kopieren, Verschieben, Umbenennen, Markieren, Löschen und Sortieren beschränkt, erfüllt jedoch den versprochenen Dienst – sogar das Layout fällt mittlerweile zeitgemäß aus. Wer ausschließlich am Read More

By Leanna Lofte, Saturday, Aug 13, 2011 | Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game. To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break! Especially with school starting back tomorrow, I figured it would be smart to get it in early. Now put it somewhere safe!!! I jumped on the Google+ bandwagon early. I never liked Facebook, and I was tiring of Twitter. If you haven’t already tried Google+, there’s a great forum thread where you can get an invite, if you can’t already get yourself in there. The app works a lot like the web client, only it provides notifications. So the real question is – why do I like Google+. And the answer is simple: it’s like having any of your other social networks mixed with a forum, and real time updates. Take away the games from Facebook, take away the spam from Twitter – that’s Google+. Now that you have a working iOS app for Google+, there’s really no reason NOT to try it. Right?! I’m away at the beach this week, so I thought it only right that my pick be something super-useful when you’re away from home. Screens is a VNC client for iOS that works as a universal app on all your devices. What sets it apart from the many other apps that do the same thing in the App Store is that it was designed from the ground up with touch devices in mind. Where other VNC clients try to emulate your desktop exactly as a traditional client would, Screens makes excellent use of multi-touch gestures and different touch patterns to provide a really seamless remote experience. The other feature I really like is the super easy and fast setup for connection using Screens Connect, a server assistant app you download and run from the computer you wish to control. In doing this, you’re able to assign the computer a dedicated name instead of having to remember a long IP address (which may be changed without you realizing it by your ISP) and you also gain some more specific controls that make Read More

Posted 08/12/2011 at 9:02am | by Cory Bohon iOS devices are great on their own, but if you're constantly using your Mac for work or other personal projects, you might feel like you're not fully utilizing your iPad and iPhone. With a few applications, however, you can transform your iPhone into a trackpad or your iPad into an external display and control desktop applications like Keynote and iTunes right from your mobile device. Read on to find out how. With an application called Air Display, you are no longer limited to your MacBook’s screen size while traveling or working. As long as you have an iPad, iPod touch, or iPhone, you can extend your Mac’s screen to these devices, giving you extra room to move windows around. Best of all, you can actually touch these windows on your iOS devices instead of having to use your mouse. To get started with Air Display, download the $9.99 Air Display application from the iTunes App Store. While that’s downloading, head over to the Avatron website and download the free software for your specific Mac or Windows machine. After both applications are installed, open Air Display on your iOS device. Next, navigate to System Preferences > Air Display on your Mac. Flip the OFF switch to ON, and then select your iOS device from the “Devices” drop down menu. When you do, your Mac will extend the display to your iOS-powered device. Mac trackpads are great, but if you don’t have a portable Mac or $69 Magic Trackpad, you can’t join in on the Multi-Touch fun. Luckily, though, if you have $4.99 in your iTunes account, you can purchase Touchpad from the iTunes App Store. This application turns your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad into a Multi-Touch trackpad, wireless keyboard, or iTunes remote. After downloading the application from the iTunes App Store, navigate to System Preferences > Sharing on your Mac, and check the Screen Sharing checkbox. After doing that, click Screen Sharing > Computer Settings. Check the box labeled “VNC viewers may control the screen with password” and specify a simple password that you will enter in the iOS application. When you’re finished, click the OK button. After doing that, open the TouchPad application on your iOS device and tap on the small gear in the top, right-hand corner of the application. Tap on the blue arrow next to the Mac you wish Read More

By Leanna Lofte, Sunday, Feb 27, 2011 | Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game. To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break! Ally: I tend to lean towards games that have a simple concept but keep you entertained for hours. Tiny Wings fits right into that category. It has beautiful graphics and backgrounds but the controls and game play are dead simple. You are a bird and you have one dream, to fly. But your wings are tiny. You use the hills in order to make your bird propel himself high into the sky. You’ll tap and hold the screen to tuck his wings and make him dive down hills. If done properly, he’ll peak high into the sky after using hills to propel himself. The goal is to fly (glide) as far as you can before night falls. It’s an incredibly simple game but the graphics alone are worth the $0.99 it costs. Check it out and let us know what you think! George: This is by far the most addicting game I have played on my iPhone! Its so simple, yet quite difficult at the same time. Gorgeous yet basic retina graphics, extremely easy, one button controls, and amazing original background music, makes this an even more fun game to play. Simply race against the clock, and get as far as you can, but avoid ‘night fall’ as you’ll fall asleep, and see the end of your trip. If you think this game looks too simple, you’d be wrong, as its packed full of bonuses, like ‘fever mode’ and speedboosts, and objectives, like, getting a certain number of coins, or having to play the whole game upside down! Pick up this game, and watch time go by, but watch out for night fall! Totally free, totally mindless, totally entertaining. The idea is to drop little balls onto tubes to make… well, sound. When the balls hit the tubes, they make a pinging sound. The pitch changes depending on the distance between the “drop” and where the ball strikes the tube. You can change the length Read More

VNC (virtual network computing) has been around for a long time, but lately there seems to be more and more interest in it, perhaps because of all the iPad and iPhone owners who want to connect to their computers back home or at the office. Screens, from Edovia, is a new entrant in the VNC app race. It is on sale at US$14.99 for a limited time, after which the price will go up to $24.99. The app is universal, so your purchase allows you to install it on both an iPad and iPhone, or an iPod touch. Like many other similar apps, Screens has support for many multi-touch gestures, as well as squeeze motions to enlarge or shrink the screen back down. The main difference is that with the other apps, you use those gestures to move a cursor around the screen or, in some cases, move the screen around a stationary cursor. Screens allows you to control the remote computer using your finger as a virtual mouse or trackpad. Of course, you have to run a VNC server app on the machine you want to connect to, and you can find those for Windows and Linux. OS X has VNC built in; you just activate screen sharing in the Mac Sharing preference pane. If you have multiple PCs set up to connect to, you flick between those screens on your iPad, iPod touch or iPhone. I've tried it at home, and I was easily able to connect to my desktop Mac and a Windows XP PC. Using the app was a pleasure, and because of the way touch is integrated, it felt like a pure multi-touch app rather than a screen emulator. There is a dedicated keyboard, and a second one with keys that relate to the type of computer you are connecting to. For example, you can invoke a Spotlight search with a tap when connected to a Mac. For Windows PCs, the developers recommend running the free TightVNC on the target machine. I was running RealVNC and could not connect, but when I substituted TightVNC it worked fine. My experiments were done on my local network, but if you want to connect to your home PCs when you are away from home, there is a free app you can run called Screens Connect that lets you control your Macs or PCs remotely. It's a free download from Read More