Hasta La Gadget!

One neat feature of Apple’s new Time Capsule and Airport Extreme base stations is the ability to access them remotely via Mobile Me’s Back to My Mac service (stop sniggering at the back — we know Back to My Mac doesn’t work, even with hard-wired drives).

Previously, Back to My Mac would only fail to connect to drives hooked directly to the Mac. The new hardware allows you to fail to connect to USB drives hooked up as network attached storage (NAS).

Now, a simple software update from Apple allows owners of the old Time Capsule and Airport Extreme to do the exact same thing, enabling "remote access to compatible USB connected drives via Back to My Mac (except on AirPort Express)".

Ah, yes, Airport Express. One of the neatest, handiest little gadgets in the Apple line-up, except that you can’t hook up a USB drive and use it over the air. This update still applies to the Express, but it only fixes a few security holes, and the USB port on the side remains completely useless unless you have a printer to plug into it.

The update is available now. Rumors that Apple is working to fix Back to My Mac are unfounded.

Product page [Apple]