Hasta La Gadget!

So we have seen how Atama’s Sesame fob allows users to lock and unlock their Mac computer wirelessly, and if you’re after a similar solution, here’s an alternative in the form of “Knock”. The good news is that unlike Sesame, Knock is not an external device but rather an iOS app that allows the user to knock on their phone a couple of times to unlock their Mac computer. Similar to Sesame, Knock will rely on Bluetooth 4.0 LE to pair your phone with your Mac and as it stands, it is only available for iOS devices and Mac computers. It’s a pretty cool feature and if you’re trying to do away with having to type passwords all the time, but still want to secure your Mac computer when you step away to the bathroom or attend to a call, perhaps Knock is an app for iOS and Mac worth checking out.

The Mac app is free for download, but to get the accompanying app for your iPhone will set you back $3.99. According to Knock’s website, it seems that a Windows version of the app could be in the works but no word on a launch date just yet. If you’d like to see the app in app, check out the video above for the details!

Knock Unlocks Your Mac By Knocking On Your iPhone original content from Ubergizmo.

Apple has high hopes for Bluetooth LE, planning to use it to oust NFC for mobile payments among other things, but meanwhile apps like Knock are using it for easy authentication when you get near your Mac. Released today for iPhone, Knock turns the iOS smartphone into a physical password for a Mac computer: when […]

This article was written on October 29, 2008 by CyberNet.

Web Browser Wednesday

Web browsers are becoming more and more important to our everyday lives because they help keep us connected, informed, and productive. So it’s no wonder that there are several different people competing to be successful in this area including Microsoft, Mozilla, Apple, Opera, and now even Google.

Today we wanted to take a look at an awesome new WebKit-based browser called Cruz. I wouldn’t have found out about it if it wasn’t for one of our readers, Yansky, who pointed it out. And I must say that it has some unique features that might be able to pull Mac users away from their current browser of choice.

(Click to Enlarge)

–The Awesome Features–

Here are some of the best features I’ve found in Cruz:

• Site-specific Cover Flow. As you can see in the screenshot above there is a Cover Flow system that is able to integrate with certain sites (Google Search, Flickr, Wikipedia, Digg, and Facebook, are a few examples). What it does is scan the page for links based upon certain CSS attributes that you specify. Digg is a great example of how it works because it shows thumbnails of each site listed on the page your currently viewing.
• Sidebar Sites. You can have a sidebar open on either (or both) side of the screen, and each one can serve up a website. You can also adjust the user agent for each sidebar independently from the primary viewing area, which is handy for viewing iPhone-only sites within your browser.
• Userstyles and Userscripts Built-in. If you’re a fan of Greasemonkey or Stylish in Firefox you’ll be happy to know that the functionality of both add-ons are already incorporated into the browser.
• Create TinyURL’s. You can right-click on any link inside the browser to have a TinyURL created for it. The shortened link will then be automatically copied to your clipboard.
• Google Search Thumbnails. If you’re more of a visual person you can choose to show thumbnails of websites next to each Google Search result.

–The Other Features–

Here are some of the other things that is included with Cruz:

• Open Plug-in Architecture
• Global Keyboard Shortcut
• Single-Window Browsing Mode
• Session Restore
• Full-Screen Mode
• Customizable Shortcuts
• Integrated Gears-loading (InputManager)
• Hidden “Closed” Windows
• Automatic Software Updates
• Custom User-Agent Strings
• Full WebInspector
• Custom Window Opacity/Level/Style

–More Screenshots–

And finally here are some more screenshots showcasing some of the browser’s features and preferences:

(Click to Enlarge)

–Overview–

Since the browser uses the same rendering engine as Safari most sites I tested worked just as you would expect them to. While some of the features are cool I don’t see Cruz pulling me away from using Firefox as my primary browser. But in their defense this is a very early release, and they might still have some other aces up their sleeve.

Cruz Homepage
Thanks Yansky!

Copyright © 2013 CyberNetNews.com

This article was written on May 03, 2012 by CyberNet.

When setting up my XBMC instances, I wanted to have a central machine in my house serve up all my media, and for that I chose to use my Mac OS X Lion machine. Since my XBMC machines are being powered by Windows 7 I ran into a bit of a predicament. In Mac OS X Lion, Apple started using the SMB2 protocol that Microsoft introduced in Vista back in 2006. Naturally this would be a welcomed change since the original protocol has been around since the Windows 3.1 days, but XBMC doesn’t include support for SMB2.

There are some alternative protocols you can try using, such as AFP or FTP, but even those have their drawbacks. XBMC 11 added built-in support for AFP shares which is file sharing protocol that Apple prefers. In my case AFP isn’t even an option since Windows doesn’t natively support AFP, which means my XBMC machines don’t see the AFP shares. As far as the FTP goes Apple removed that functionality in Lion, but it can easily be restored. I didn’t want to go that route though because FTP connections limit some of what you can do with the media in XBMC, such as not being able to delete videos directly from the XBMC interface. So for me Samba/SMB was still my best option.

After some searching I came across a free app called SMBUp that restores the old-school SMB protocol compatibility in all its glory on your Mac OS X Lion install. You just have to download the app, open it up, and it will install a version of Samba that works beautifully with XBMC. As you can see in the screenshot above you’ll be provided a full interface for managing all of your shares, and you can even enable guest access to shares making it even easier to hook XBMC up to them.

A lot of geeky people will argue that using the older protocol will drastically limit your transfer speeds compared to other methods, but I have not found that to be the case. In fact before installing SMBUp I was able to transfer files at 92MB/s to a Windows machine, which was being done with the newer SMB2 protocol. After installing SMBUp I saw speeds to the same machine reach 98MB/s, and that was with the older protocol. Not bad, and that shows that my gigabit network is on par to my expectations.

Tip: Most people treat the Samba and SMB terms as one-in-the-same, but in reality they are not. SMB/CIFS is pretty much only found in Microsoft Windows, whereas Samba is the free and open source version that you’ll find in the Mac and Linux OS. Samba was originally developed by reverse engineering SMB.

SMBUp Homepage (Mac only; Freeware)

CyberNet’s XBMC Guides:

• XBMC: Introduction to Our Upcoming Guides
  Our introduction provides some of the deciding factors for switching from Windows Media Center to XBMC.
• XBMC: Build Your Own HTPC
  Our extensive guide on the hardware we chose for our home theater PCs (HTPCs), the cost, and some tips on choosing the hardware for your own HTPC.
• XBMC: Prepare and Optimize Windows 7
  A helpful list of tips to optimize the performance of Windows 7 so that the system is able to offer as many resources to XBMC as it can.
• XBMC: IR Receiver and Remote (Harmony, Xbox 360, and More)
  If you want your HTPC to operate like a set-top box you’ll definitely want to get a remote control configured, and for me this was a critical step so that I wouldn’t have to be concerned about less tech-savvy users trying to use my TV.
• XBMC: Share and Sync Media/Settings Between Multiple XBMC Installs
  Configuring XBMC to share settings between multiple instances means you’ll be able to stop a show in one room, and seamlessly pick up where you left off in another room.
• XBMC: Fit the Picture to Your TV with Overscan
  If XBMC doesn’t fit your TV screen perfectly there are a couple of steps you can take to get it just right.
• XBMC: Installing Skins
  How to tweak the appearance of XBMC so that it looks the way you want it to.
• XBMC: Custom Home Screen Menu Backgrounds
  Make the backgrounds of your chosen skin/theme a little more interesting by having it flip through artwork from your favorite TV shows and movies.
• XBMC: Dynamic Weather Backgrounds
  If you’re using the Aeon MQ 3 theme you can have it use dynamic wallpapers that change based on the time of day and current weather conditions.
• XBMC: SMB on Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion)
  I use a Mac to serve up files to my XBMC instances running on Windows, and so my preferred protocol for sharing files is SMB. This guide explains how you can get a XBMC-compatible version of SMB running on Mac OS X 10.7 Lion.
• XBMC: Adding Media Sources
  Learn how to add your media to XBMC and turn on the appropriate content scrapers.
• XBMC: Troubleshoot Buffering Issues
  Trying to troubleshoot buffer issues in XBMC can be quite a pain, and so I lay out some of the most common culprits.
• XBMC: Test Your HTPC with High Bitrate Sample Videos
  Want to see how well your HTPC performs? Throw some of these high bitrate 1080p sample videos at it.
• XBMC: More Advanced Settings
  Configure some of the settings that you won’t find anywhere in the GUI.
• XBMC: Stream Hulu, Food Network, and More
  Thanks to add-ons you can stream videos from some of your favorite sources including Hulu, Food Network, HGTV, TWiT, and more.
• XBMC: AirPlay on Windows
  Send videos from your iOS device to any XBMC instance with very little configuration.
• XBMC: Web Interface and Chrome Extension
  As long as you are on the same network as your XBMC box you can control it from any browser using the built-in web interface, or you can install a Chrome extension to make it even easier.
• XBMC: iPhone and iPad Remote
  If you own an iPhone or iPad you can enjoy one of the best XBMC remote control experiences I’ve seen, and it will only cost you a few bucks.
• XBMC: A List of Our Guides, Plus Helpful Wiki and Forum Posts
  A recap of all the guides we’ve written as well as useful wiki and forum post from the official XBMC.org site.
• XBMC: Free and Official iOS Remote for XBMC Released
  This is the free and official XBMC remote control iOS app (optimized for both the iPhone and iPad). It will let you easily control all of the XBMC instances in your house as long as they are all on the same network.
• XBMC: Running XBMC on Startup in Windows 8
  Learn how you can make XBMC start automatically when Windows 8 boots.
• XBMC: Send YouTube Videos From Chrome to XBMC
  Send YouTube videos from your PC to any XBMC instance in a single click.
• XBMC: Aeon MQ 4 Skin
  If you’re looking for one of the best and most popular XBMC skins the Aeon MQ 4 is a great choice.
• XBMC: Android Widget Remote Control
  Control multiple instances of XBMC without ever having to open an app on your Android device!

Copyright © 2013 CyberNetNews.com

Earlier this year Amazon launched its Cloud Player for PC users. That application has proven to be popular for computer users and Amazon has now announced that the Cloud Player is available for Mac users. Cloud Player for Mac gives Mac computer users a new way to manage their entire music library whether music is […]