Filed under: MobileMe

Many folks were excited when Apple announced Back to My Mac as part of MobileMe. Being able to remotely access your Mac from anywhere sounded like magic. We’re used to products from Apple that “just work” but for most people most of the time, Back to My Mac “just doesn’t.”

To maximize your chances, you’re supposed to use a supported router, but even that’s no guarantee. At home I have an Airport Extreme Base Station (Wireless-N), and at the office I have an Airport Extreme Dual-Band model. I don’t think it’s possible to get a “more compliant” setup, yet I still can’t get it to work most of the time.

Under the adage “nothing ventured, nothing gained,” I took a chance and signed up for a free account with DynDNS. DynDNS gives you a free hostname which will go to your computer even when your IP address changes. There are scads of DynDNS domain names available, but for the purposes of this example, let’s assume that your domain name is imac.homeip.net.

After you’ve signed up for your free account and chosen a hostname, download and install the DynDNS Updater for Mac and install it on the machine you want to access via Back to My Mac. (If you want to do this for more than one computer, you will need a different DynDNS hostname for each computer. You can get up to five at no cost.)

Once you have it running, make sure that it has updated, and then switch to your other Mac. You could launch Screen Sharing.app directly from /System/Library/CoreServices, but a much better suggestion is to install the free ScreenSharingMenulet which will sit in your menu bar. ScreenSharingMenulet will remember hosts that you have previously connected to, meaning that you don’t have to re-type the hostnames. Click on the menu bar icon, select “New Connection…” and then enter your DynDNS hostname (i.e. imac.homeip.net) and check the “Add to My Computers” box so it will appear in the My Computers sub-menu in the future. Click “Connect” and cross your fingers.

If it still doesn’t work, I have a few more suggestions, but I warn you, we’re going to get a little technical here. First, you’re going to want to setup a DHCP Reservation for the computer you are trying to connect to. The process isn’t very difficult. Essentially what you are doing is telling the router to always assign the same IP address to the computer you are trying to access. After you have done that, tell the router to send all traffic directly to that computer. On the Airport Express this is called the “Default Host” and is found on the Internet Tab under “NAT” but other routers have different names for it (I believe Linksys routers refer to this as the “DMZ” host. Check your router’s documentation if you’re not sure.)

Warning: once you do this you are bypassing your router’s firewall. Mac OS X has a firewall, but it is not enabled by default. Launch System Preferences and click on the Security panel followed by Firewall tab. If it doesn’t say “Firewall: On” be sure to enable it.

If all else fails, you might want to try another direction: Back to My Mac through iChat. I haven’t actually tried that, but it’s another option.

I can’t explain why using a DynDNS domain name works more reliably than the built-in Bonjour sharing/connecting method, but after days of unsuccessfully trying to connect to my work computer, I have been able to connect via DynDNS without fail. As my Dad taught me long ago, “A good strategy is that which works.”

TUAWUse DynDNS for better success with Back To My Mac originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple’s per-hour total for iPad pre-orders could be somewhere in the range of 15,000 to 25,000, according to bloggers who have been tracking order numbers. The initial efforts began at Investor Village’s AAPL Sanity Board and Silicon Alley Insider; the former came in at 25,000 per hour and the latter at 20,000. Later estimates, a few hours later, were 15,000 and 16,000 per hour.

In sync with pre-orders, the iPad today was passed through the FCC in both Wi-Fi only and 3G enabled models. The tests don’t confirm new features but show that the two are clear to use Wi-Fi in the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands as well as AT&T’s 850MHz and 1,900MHz HSPA bands for the 3G edition. In a possibly intentional nod to tech enthusiasts, the 3G model carries the model number A1337….

UK telecommunications regulator Ofcom has proposed using 3G technologies at 2G frequencies in the UK, with an amended document that should be approved this August. In it, rules are updated to Ultra Wide Band usage, while 3G network technology will be deployed at the 900MHz and 1,800MHz bands which are currently restricted to the 2G GSM network….

Apple temporarily jumped to third place this morning in market capitalization among U.S. publicly traded companies, overtaking Wal-Mart.

MacNN reports that with the commencement of pre-orders for the iPad at 8:30 AM EST Friday, Apple stock jumped to $227.73, causing its market capitalization (stock price x number of outstanding shares) to briefly be more than Wal-Mart’s.
Apple shares have risen dramatically since the announcement of the iPad’s April 3rd launch. Apple shares are expected to reach between $250 and $270 by 2011.

Apple temporarily jumped to third place this morning in market capitalization among U.S. publicly traded companies, overtaking Wal-Mart.

MacNN reports that with the commencement of pre-orders for the iPad at 8:30 AM EST Friday, Apple stock jumped to $227.73, causing to its market capitalization (stock price x number of outstanding shares) to briefly be more than Wal-Mart’s.
Apple shares have risen dramatically since the announcement of the iPad’s April 3rd launch. Apple shares are expected to reach between $250 and $270 by 2011.

Filed under: Retail, Apple, iPad

According to MacDailyNews, shoppers who placed iPad pre-orders this morning are being told by Apple Store employees that demand could affect their plans for in-store pickup.

It seems that several customers ordered iPads this morning, opting for at-home delivery. For whatever reason, they later changed their minds and opted for in-store pickup. That’s when things got tricky.

When requesting the switch, those customers are being told that their existing orders will have to be cancelled and new in-store orders placed. However, the employees warn, demand for the iPad has been so “overwhelming” today that they can no longer guarantee that an in-store pickup order will be available on April 3rd if placed at this late hour.

As of this writing, the online Apple Store notes that Wi-Fi iPads ordered today will be able for pickup at Apple Retail Store “…between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. on April 3.”

In other words: Selling like hotcakes.

TUAW“Overwhelming” demand limiting iPad in-store pickup originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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For the past twelve years, the Independent Games Festival has been a platform upon which indie game developers could showcase their work and receive some constructive feedback in return. The event is held annually at the Games Developer Conference and is the best place to see up-and-coming developers strut their stuff. This year, we got to talk to a developer whose team used Utility on their Macs to produce an engaging top-down platformer, and two developers who are utilizing the accelerometer on the iPhone to develop imaginative mobile games.

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Puzzle Bloom
puzzlebloom.com

First up, we have a game from a team of students from The National Academy of Digital Interactive Entertainment (DADIU), who managed to put together this artsy looking puzzle game in no more than four-weeks time. The game is called Puzzle Bloom, and the premise of it is to assist a kindred tree spirit named Canotila in restoring the vitality of the land in which she lives. You control her using your mouse, and you can use the scroll wheel to zoom in and out. The protagonist moves by jumping on top of various animals and moving them around the map, solving puzzles along the way.

Unfortunately, the team of developers have disbanded, as most of them have graduated since finishing the game and moved on to full-time jobs. However, both levels of Puzzle Bloom have been left up on the internet for passersby to casually play, so head on over to the Puzzle Bloom site, or watch our video for a quick demo.

Lilt Line
Liltline.com

Fans of electronica music and the dubstep genre will love the game Lilt Line. This retro rhythm racing action game includes fourteen levels of game play fueled only by the music playing in the background. Guide the rhythm line through a side-scrolling obstacle course using the iPhone’s accelerometer and tap the screen when the bass hits. You’ll need headphones that will enable you to hear every bit of the music. Each song is about 2-4 minutes long and there’s over half an hour of original music produced by the dubstep musicians, 16bit.

The game was developed by Different Cloth, a one man endeavor headed by Gordon Midwood, who refers to himself as the "head of everything." The game is available in the App Store [iTunes link] for $2.99 and was one of IGF’s Mobile finalists.

AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! A Reckless Disregard for Gravity
dejobaan.com/aaaaa

Aaaa!!! A Reckless Disregard for Gravity is under massive development to be released as an iPhone game that will fully utilize the accelerometer and get gamers moving their bodies along with their mobile devices.  The premise of the game is to jump off buildings floating above Boston, Massachusetts and control your character as they fall through the sky. Along the way, your character can receive points for "hugging" a building, which is  gliding along the side of a steel super-skyscraper, or "kissing" one, which is managing to avoid the many obstacles surrounding each structure. You can also flip people off or give them a thumbs up–the choice is yours, but the game has a really open ended user experience.

The game featured in the video is a prototype, but Ichiro Lambe, president and founder of Dejobaan Games, hopes that the game will be finished soon to submit to the app store. "Getting into the game [seems almost] impossible on PC," says Lambe, because you’re sitting down in front of a monitor and keyboard. The company is also looking into developing games for the iPad and porting over their current PC titles to Mac OS X. Lambe says that in the future, the company plans to "strongly consider cross platform." Aaaa! is currently available to PC users for $9.95.