Pyrate Tech with Steve

This will be my first impromptu blog.  The other one’s I’ve posted were welling up in me for awhile and I just had to post.  I’ve already written about this topic briefly on facebook, but I’ll give you more background and details here.

Yesterday I played around with the notion of making my iPhone a mouse for my PC.  I’m an “engineering” (went to school for it, not working in the field), and I’ve heard engineers being called “ambitiously lazy” before.  That’s me to a T.  So the simple idea started that I want to use my iPhone as a mouse for my PC.

I have previously used an app called TeamViewer, which allows me to completely control my PC from my phone or another computer anywhere in the world.  It’s kinda nice for some things, but the screen is a bit small to emulate the PC, and the mouse is difficult to move.  However, I use this app more than you would imagine (including at work).

This time I wanted to try something different, that controls the PC without much delay in response, and without slowing down it’s internet connection.  I’m at work in the gas wells - Internet is already slow enough here.  This app called Remote Mouse does just what I wanted.

Now back to the “ambitiously lazy” comment.  The whole point of this app was that I wanted to navigate my laptop while kicking back in my chair, WITHOUT having to lean forward to click (or even type).  The problem I ran into was (unlike TeamViewer), this app required your phone and PC to be connected to the same wifi network.

Not a problem, normally, but there’s no wifi here.  I made my own hotspot using AdHoc on my PC and was able to get the two to network.  I Googled how to setup AdHoc on Windows 7, because even though I’ve heard about it, I’ve never set one up.  We even used one on a job once, but I wasn’t sure how to troubleshoot it when the Internet failed.  No matter what I tried, my phone would not connect if 1. There was a password (who cares - not too many people to steal my wifi here). or 2. Using DHCP.  To solve this, I setup an unsecured network, found out it’s IP address, and entered this all statically in the phone!

And it worked!  Mostly…. The only problem was my Cell Phone would no longer connect to the Internet.  I’m not sure if this was due to the slow connection being shared, or (more likely) that the AdHoc didn’t properly share it’s Internet.  After I setup my network, it was a breeze connecting the app.  I simply downloaded the software on my laptop, opened the program, and used it’s setup features to find the right IP address, which I entered in my iPhone.

Once again, if anyone sees this and has more input to add, I’ll gladly update the page.  Please check out my other posts as I’ve left one incomplete due to lack of ideas fixing it.  Thinking further, this may solve my “airplay” dilemma, because I would maybe be able to control music on a laptop with this app (as long as I’m close enough to see the screen).  I’ll let you know how that goes when I try it out.  That will be on the other post or a new one…

This will be my first official blog.  I decided to start this, because there is limited research on the goal I wish to achieve.  Any time I try out some new technology, I’m caught somewhere between, “You can’t do that, (yet)” and “That doesn’t work anymore.”  My goal with this blog is to find out what works now, and work on how to fix what doesn’t.  Better yet, I plan to update and remove old methods or workarounds, which no longer function properly.

My most recent endeavor, involves a Roku 2 XD I bought recently.  I saw it for what it was capable of out of the box (streaming apps such as Netflix, etc.) and also knew it's greater potential if I would decide to try and mod it, which seems kind of unnecessary now. They already allow third party apps which may be installed via developer mode.  The background of this describes what I used before Roku, so if you just came for info on Roku, skip here: #Roku. I may still decide to split this into two blogs. But if you wanna skip to the Roku descrption you may here..

Prior to Roku I had three different methods of controlling my music wireless.  First, I could simply plug in my laptop and control it wirelessly from my phone.  I used an app called Team Viewer.  It’s great for remote controlling a laptop, but is cumbersome when you only want to pick songs on spotify, etc.

I later decided to splurge and buy an iOS app called Remoteless for Spotify.  This app has a rather annoying interface as well.  My major issue was it often lost connection and said nothing was queued, when I actually ended up with several copies of the song.  This app was just a waste of money in my opinion.  I considered another remote, SpotQueue; however, currently it only queues to another iDevice or Android, meaning someone would need to plug in their phone.  (And who wants to do that?)

 Sometime ago, however, I remembered an old program I once installed which enables airplay via Wi-Fi.  This program is called ShairPort4W.  This would be a great solution, but often it ends up skipping when streaming from my iPhone to a PC, and that’s just unacceptable for me, especially when entertaining friends.

#Roku

This brings me to Roku.  Prior to this I bought a Bluetooth streaming device that skipped quite a bit.  I saw Roku with all of its apps and potential, so I returned the Bluetooth device.  Roku has some great perks.  It adds access to Netflix in my living room, as well as many other apps.  I can also control it using my iPhone and the stock Roku iOS app.  It also has a Spotify app in the store, but I think it requires a premium subscription (which I have).

My only issues with Roku are that the Spotify app is lacking (no queue, etc), and it is completely lacking of YouTube.  There are a couple of workarounds for the YouTube dilemma.  I found an app called Twonky Beam for Roku and iOS.  This app allows you to transmit YouTube videos from your phone or table to Roku.  The other app I found is a partial solution.  You may also watch MOST YouTube music videos on the Vevo app, and some of the (non-official) videos can be seen on the private channel VideoBuzz.  I’ve found VideoBuzz too glitch to be a feasible replacement to an official YouTube channel, as it doesn’t support most of the official videos, but they can be found on Vevo at times.

My favorite thing about the Roku, is unlike AppleTV, it has no need for jailbreaking (or rooting like some devices).  You already have access to the developer mode and can easily install unofficial apps (such as VideoBuzz) from your laptop.  I’m still looking for an app which I can find online, maybe something currently unsupported, which adds true airplay to Roku.  You may currently stream anything from your phone, ie pics, mp3s, or videos to Roku via the stock Roku iOS app.  The only issue I have is my songs are no longer mp3s.  I stream almost all of my music from Spotify and none is saved as mp3 anymore.

I’m stuck on editing my first official post, which was meant to be about Roku; however, I wrote so much about the Airplay feature I wish it had, I may split that blog into two separate posts.

This will be another description of my goals in creating a blog.  I’ve always been the geek among my friends.  Even when I was at college and in my geeky classes, I still stood out as nerdy.  I’ve always liked to share my knowledge with anyone who will listen (and sometimes those who don’t, haha).

Going forward with this blog I would like insight from anyone who visits.  Even if you just happen to stumble upon this and never plan to return, let me know what you think.  Better yet, ask me what you’d like to know more about.  If it’s a topic I’m familiar with, I’ll blog about it promptly.  If you ask me something I’m not familiar with but might find interesting, I’ll do my best to research it then post about  it later.

Welcome to my blog, all things tech.  As for my tech background, I repaired computers while putting myself through college at Penn State.  I graduated with an Aerospace Engineering Degree, which has been of little use as of late. I’m a huge Apple enthusiast; however, this doesn’t mean I don’t own a PC.  In fact, my only apple device is my iPhone. (I’ve had several different models, however, as well as iPods.)  I would own a MacBook, but I’m not yet able to justify the price difference from PC.  I’m not much of a gamer anymore, although I was once lost in the World Of Warcraft.

I recently decided to start a blog while I was playing with one of new toys, Roku 2 XD.  For those of you who don’t know, Roku is similar to Google TV or Apple TV.  It basically makes any TV a smart TV for people who are too poor or too cheap (in my case) to buy a smart TV.