Users of Parallels Desktop for Mac find a number of advantages apply to booting Windows in a virtualized environment that is integrated with OS X. The shared access to hard drives, keyboards, networking, displays etc. does not unfortunately extend to your Mac's built-in Bluetooth. When I reviewed a Bluetooth-based GPS data logger recently I wanted to compare the Mac tools to their Windows equivalents. A small investment in a Bluetooth USB adapter was all that was required to make this possible.
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It can be a struggle to provide remote assistance via Windows Messenger when both parties are behind NAT routers, even when UPnP is supported by both devices and computers, and port forwarding is in use. UltraVNC SC is a custom-configured "single click" VNC server used to initiate a support request; the "expert" runs UltraVNC in listening mode and forwards port 5500 on their router (the novice doesn't need to configure their own router). More here. This worked for me where RealVNC and Screen Sharing (vnc://x.x.x.x) failed.
Installation of software you didn't actively choose to install is malware. I'm referring to Apple's recent decision to force Safari 3.1 on hapless Windows users via Software Update. How can you "update" a product that isn't installed? Wife: Have you got anything without Safari? This is bad form Apple. At least Ars consider this browser a much-improved and stable "true competitor".
FeedDemon, purportedly the most popular Windows-based feed reader, automatically detects geotagged feed items. Form version 2.6.1b1 it uses the Geotag Icon as a visual identifier for plotting the location, "hidden" in metadata, via Google Maps. FeedDemon has lots of other great features, including synchronisation with NewsGator Online which I use when travelling (in conjunction with NetNewsWire on the Mac).
Developing on an Intel Mac but need to test websites under Internet Explorer? Virtualization is one option, and you could run multiple IE versions side-by-side in Windows. Another option is ies4osx for multiple IE versions in an X11 window in OS X—sans Windows (£) or Parallels (£)! The ies4osx app is free and depends on an OSX wine port, Darwine. See Derek's write-up for more details and discussion.
My parents have a PC running Windows XP. From time-to-time they encountered glitches, and it's been useful to establish a Windows Messenger connection and thus provide remote assistance using the tools built into the OS. The remote "expert" (that would be me) is able to see what they see on-screen, and to take control of the screen to help diagnose problems. It worked fine so long has my parents had dial-up Internet, even when I was asisting from my Mac via Parallels. But when they got broadband this functionality broke—all because of their NAT router.
Continue reading 'Remote Assistance and NAT routers'
