We knew it wouldn’t be long before a simple solution brought Apple’s AirPlay streaming media functionality to Windows, and today the deed is done. Independent developer Apostolos Georgiadis has assembled a neat little Windows application called AirMediaPlayer that allows Apple’s iOS devices to stream music and video via AirPlay to a Windows PC. The player is compatible with Windows 7, Vista and XP, and requires .NET framework 3.5, Bonjour and Quicktime to operate. Once those installations ar...

Apple’s latest iOS update finally adds AirPrint to iOS devices, bringing wireless printing capabilities to the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. That’s the good news. The bad news is that in order to use AirPrint, you need a compatible printer. Since very few printers are compatible at this point in time, odds are pretty good that yours isn’t one of them. Don’t worry, though — that’s where hobbyist hackers come in.If you own a Mac [update for Windows PCs added below] and a printer, ...

Windows XP set the bar quite high when it was released back in August 2001. Barring a few security issues, XP was considered a success and is still the OS of choice for some PC users today. Microsoft followed this up with arguably their most criticised offering, Vista. Steve Ballmer, CEO of the Redmond outfit went as far as calling Vista “a work in progress” after its launch. 2009 marked the start of better days for Microsoft, a year in which they released Windows 7, a welcome refresh for PC user...

Sometimes, company executives provide the best one-liners. Microsoft’s chief operating officer, Kevin Turner, was speaking at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference in Washington D.C. when he let this little cherub go:“It looks like the iPhone 4 might be their [Apple's] Vista, and I’m okay with that.”But the COO wasn’t done there, he also went on to say, “One of the things I want to make sure you know today is that you’re going to be able to use a Windows Ph...

Well, the numbers for week 1 are in, and they look good for Microsoft and Windows 7. Microsoft’s latest OS venture has outpaced Vista in first week sales by, get ready for it, 234%. Not bad in a down economy for sure. The new OS has also outpaced Vista in terms of revenue: Seven has generated 83% more revenue for Redmond than the big “V” in its first week. We’ve got 7 on our fleet of machines, but how many of you out there have upgraded? What are your thoughts thus far? So far, we like...

Google recently issued a new beta of its infant web browser and while it touts some huge improvements over older builds, we still find ourselves hesitant to give it any real face time on our machines. Let’s start by covering the improvements: First and foremost, Google claims the new version 3.0.195.4 runs over 30 percent faster than previous builds according to benchmark tests. Wow. To jump over 30 percent from one build to the next is nothing short of incredible and in our time spent playing with it, ...

It’s no mystery that when it comes to computers and the Internet, you need protection. Maybe not the kind of protection ‘ole Harry here is packing, but the stronger the better in this day and age. Most agree that there are several good free anti-virus solutions available on the market and while they may offer decent protection against the various malware floating around, there’s no substitution for subscription services such as those offered by Symantec and McAfee. Apparently, Microsoft hope...

Mark your calendars, Windows fans. Ballmer’s crew has just made the launch date for Windows 7 official: October 22nd, 2009. Since Microsoft first released Windows 7 to the public in beta form (and even well before then), feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. In fact, many were caught by surprise. Windows 7 is a breath of fresh air to those who were blindsided by a disastrous Vista launch and who didn’t bother to stick around to sample later, infinitely more stable/usable builds. Despite the f...

Back in February we reviewed a great little piece of software for OS X and Windows called Expandrive. In a nutshell, Expandrive makes interacting with FTP servers as easy as interacting with an external hard drive or a networked drive. FTP connections appear as drives and you can browse them and drag/drop files just as if you were using Finder or Windows Explorer — because, well, you are using Finder or Windows Explorer. During this past week, Expandrive announced a major upgrade in the form of version ...

You know when you’re talking about a subject you’re really passionate about and you start to head down a dangerous path? In the back of your mind, you know it’s going to come back and bite you in the ass but you don’t care at that particular moment because you’re so intoxicated with said passion… So you throw caution to the wind and keep going. Ahem. Microsoft COO Kevin Turner had this little gem to say at the MidMarket CIO Summit last week:Vista today, post-Service Pack 2,...

We’ve been wondering how long it would take Microsoft to kick things up a notch with its responses to Apple’s I’m a Mac smear series. Times are tough these days and it looks like Microsoft is finally starting to target cost with its latest TV ad. Titled Windows Laptop Hunters, the spot features a young woman named Lauren tasked with finding a laptop that meets her requirements — “speed, a comfortable keyboard and a 17-inch screen” — for under $1,000. If she finds one,...

No, we’re not exactly out of the water just yet but growth in any market these days is definitely a diamond in the rough. The NPD Group released its February numbers yesterday and with both Apple and Microsoft still spending major ad dollars, PC and Mac computers saw remarkably different results. PC units sales jumped 22 percent year over year in February and revenue crept up 1.4 percent. In stark contrast, Mac unit sales were down a steep 16.7 percent and revenue dropped off a cliff, down 23.3 percent ...

With the advent of intelligent one-to-one file sharing solutions such as Streamfile and the increasing popularity of great cloud storage and sharing solutions such as Dropbox and Syncplicity, FTP’s days are numbered. Why bother with unsightly FTP software and annoying server settings when a solution like Syncplicity will allow you to securely share any directory in about five seconds? The answer: You don’t have to. Massachusetts-based ExpanDrive offers two solutions, one for Mac and one for PC, th...

If you’ve tried Microsoft’s Windows 7 beta for any period of time, odds are you’re pretty impressed with its performance. Many call it what Vista should have been and we’re not so sure that’s a bad thing – remove the stigma from Vista, make some key (major, at times) tweaks and you’re left with a solid OS. If you’re in the seemingly massive group of unhappy Vista customers however, the questions are now twofold: 1. Are you ready to trust Redmond again and embrac...