TUAW reader Patrick McCarron read my Mac-based file catcher post and wrote in to ask if I could set up a utility to automatically trigger screen shots from the Macintosh. Sure, Patrick. You've got it.

Like SnapNGo, AutoSnap grabs the contents of the screen and serves it via Bonjour. Unlike SnapNGo, AutoSnap automatically names and serves its files and can be triggered from your Mac using FileCatcher. Tap on the "File Throw Auto Snap" server and your iPhone snaps a picture and shares it to your Mac. The file appears on your desktop.

So then, I got to thinking. Since SnapNGo is sending pictures, why not adapt Apple's Picture Sharing Browser sample code to work with my updated protocol? So I grabbed a fresh copy of the code, and did a bunch of code monkey stuff to it, and produced a new utility: Erica Picture Sharing Browser--because I really stink at coming up with good names.

EPSB works more or less the same way that File Catcher does--tap on the server name to trigger a screen shot--but it also displays the picture in a fancy NSImageView and, favorite bit, offers a check box that allows you to optionally save the screen shot to your desktop. It uses the same automatic names produced by SnapNGo but you can easily rename the files once they're there.

Thanks for the suggestion, Patrick. I hope you enjoy the results.

To make my life easier, I decided to stop focusing on phone-to-phone file transfer and write a utility for the Mac to catch those files I've been tossing into the ether. File Catcher is the result. This Universal Binary application sits on your desktop and automatically downloads files to the desktop.

To make this happen, I've been working hard on putting together a new protocol that defines the name of the file being sent and other useful information. I've written and uploaded entirely new versions of my catch and throw utilities and SendFile application to conform to this new protocol.

My favorite little utility though is a new one tonight, called snapngo. Just run it at the command line and give it one argument, a name. e.g. snapngo mypic. The application takes a screen snapshot and shares it using the name you specified. If you're running File Catcher on your Mac, the file mypic.png automatically appears on your Desktop.