I love everything about my MacBook Pro, but for some reason it does not like to share its screen. It appears under the "Shared" section of the sidebar in Finder, and file sharing works perfectly, but for some reason screen sharing won't work. The "Connecting To 'MacBookPro'" panel will pop up and then disappear a few moments later (as if it is about to connect), but at least 90% of the time no screen sharing window appears.

Fellow TUAW writer Aron Trimble suggested that I go into Finder and try "Go > Connect to Server" and then put in "vnc://10.0.x.x" (where 10.0.x.x is my MacBook Pro's IP address). That worked immediately, and every time.

This confirmed that it wasn't a firewall setting (Screen Sharing is explicitly on) or trouble accessing the MacBook Pro over the LAN (file sharing already worked perfectly). For some reason the screen sharing connection was just not being made over Bonjour.

The only drawback to this direct-IP method is that my network, like most, uses dynamic addresses with DHCP, meaning that the IP addresses change from time to time, especially on a network with multiple devices which are not always turned on. My first thought was to create a static IP for the MacBook Pro in System Preferences > Network, but then I realized that my office LAN uses IPs which start with 192.168.x.x. I could create a new network "Location" but that would also involve manually switching it back and forth, or using a third-party program.

What I really needed was a way to make sure that my MacBook Pro is given the same IP every time it connects to my home LAN. Fortunately, Apple's Airport Extreme will allow me to do just that using DHCP Reservations.

A DHCP Reservation tells the Airport Extreme to reserve a certain IP address for certain computers, as determined either by a "DHCP Client ID" or the computer's MAC address. A DHCP Client ID is easier to remember than a MAC address, but the MAC address will never change unless you swap out the logic board or Airport card of your Mac. I'll show you how to set it up using either method.

It's not a hidden secret, but lots of people simply don't know about it. We mentioned it ourselves more than a year ago in answer to a reader question, but I think it's worth a revisit.

Here's my scenario. People show up at the house with PC laptops and want to print something. A boarding pass, an email, a web page. They screw around with Windows control panels trying to find the printers on my Mac network. In my case, they are both shared on a Mac Pro.

Enter Bonjour. It's the Apple answer to zero configuration networking. All you have to do is download Bonjour for Windows. There's also a 64-bit version if you need it.

Once it is downloaded you'll get a Printer Wizard, which will instantly find the printers available on your network, including the shared ones. (Make sure you are sharing them in the Sharing pane of System Preferences.)

Now when your guests want to print, they will be all set. No other drivers are needed. I now keep the Bonjour for Windows .exe on a thumb drive. I hand it to guests, and they are ready to roll.

Bonjour can do more than discover printers. Per Apple:

Bonjour for Windows includes a plugin to discover advertised HTTP servers using Internet Explorer. Click the Bonjour icon in the Internet Explorer toolbar to enable Bonjour browsing. If you have Bonjour devices on your local network with embedded HTTP (Web) servers, they will appear in the list.

It's possible you have a printer that doesn't support Bonjour, but most do. In my case an Epson and a Brother laser printer worked with no glitches. Bonjour requires Windows 2000/2003, Windows XP or Windows Vista.

If only everything in life was this simple.

If you've been listening to all the clamoring on Twitter, or perhaps have seen the updated Apple page, then you know there was an iPhone event today to discuss a new version of the iPhone OS, version 3.0. While you will have to wait until the summer to get the new version (unless you join the developer program), Apple showed off over 100 new features that we're all excited about. iPhone developers are also getting some love from Apple with over 1,000 new APIs.

Some of the biggest updates include:

• Push notifications will be standard in iPhone 3.0. Apple claims that there was a scaling issue when they first announced this feature last year, with thousands of developers clamoring to use it, so it had to be delayed. Developers will be able to build message, sound, and badge alerts into their applications.
• iPhone will support cut, copy and paste -- copy text and pictures, then paste them in any application on the device. If you change your mind about the newly pasted data, just shake to display a menu asking if you wish to undo the paste.
  
• In-App purchasing -- developers will have the ability to charge a fee from within the application for more levels in a game, magazine subscriptions, eBooks, etc. This solves the problem of the 20 ebook readers that only allow you to read one book each.
  
• MMS -- you'll be able to use MMS on your iPhone 3G (yes, 1st gen iPhones will not get the fortune of using MMS due to the use of a different cell radio). The new Messages application will be taking the place of the SMS app and will allow you to send voice memos and pictures to your friends.
  
• Peer-to-Peer connectivity -- allows iPhone apps the ability to find other iPhone users over WiFi or Bluetooth. This can be using for anything from gaming to sharing data.
  
• Third-party Accessories -- app developers can now access third-party accessories attached to the iPhone. This could allow for developers to interface with their own accessories to create a truly unique experience on the device. One of the demonstrated uses was a prototype blood glucose meter for the iPhone, from a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, which is already getting attention from our readers; it's not for sale yet!
  
• Apple will now be allowing applications the ability to get GPS coordinates from Core Location and turn that into software that provides Turn-by-Turn directions for iPhone users. However, due to the terms of use with Google maps, developers will be required to license their own maps for this use (meaning that Turn-by-Turn GPS applications will almost certainly be paid apps). This isn't a problem for vendors like TomTom or Telenav, who already have licenses for their map data.
• A landscape keyboard option is now available in all iPhone applications, including the infamous Mail.app.
• Voice memos will allow iPhone users the ability to capture audio and then email it, or send it through the Messages application as a multimedia message.
• System-wide Spotlight searching is built right into the home screen. To the left of the first home screen, there is a magnifying glass, so by flicking to the left of the first home screen will show this search app. You can search for anything, including mail, music, and notes. There is no word yet on how this will interface with third-party applications.
  
• Stereo Bluetooth audio devices are now supported through the use of A2DP technology.

iPhone owners should note that A2DP technology and the use of MMS will not be available on 1st generation iPhones. This is probably due to the iPhone Bluetooth spec used, and Apple has confirmed (during the Q&A session after the keynote) that MMS is not available because of the cell radio used.

iPhone OS 3.0 will be available for regular users "this summer." iPhone developers will be able to get the beta of OS 3.0 sometime today -- Apple is still busy updating their iPhone Dev Center, but we'll let you know when it is available.

Our good friends at Download Squad found a great app on the App Store called Air Photo that will let you wirelessly print pictures directly from your iPhone or iPod touch. Just install the app (for $1.99, cheap if you print your iPhone's photos often) on your mobile device, put the server on your Mac (or PC, if you swing that way), and then you can snap and print at will. Connecting to the server from your device opens up a Bonjour window, where you can crop or adjust the picture and then print whatever you like.

While the technology itself won't be that helpful for everyone (who really prints pictures any more, especially iPhone pictures?), it is interesting to see this done so easily and well with a wireless connection. Sure, there's apps like Remote and the Keynote controllers, but it seems like the iPhone-as-wireless-accessory idea is still relatively untapped on the App Store.

My very favorite Dashboard widget is iSlayer's iStat Pro. It is invaluable for figuring out how fast Internet connection is moving, tracking down what processes are hanging up the system and monitoring CPU usage.

But what if you want to monitor your systems performance remotely? What if you have a Mac server and you want to keep track of the memory and network usage? This is exactly what iStat for the iPhone was designed to address. Bjango (the new venture from part of the iSlayer team) was nice enough to let me try the app before it hits the App Store, and put it through the paces.

This is how it works:

You install the lightweight iStat Server deskop app (you need to be running Mac OS X 10.4 or higher) and then you run the iStat app for the iPhone to connect it to your Mac.

If you are on the same local network, Bonjour will take care of everything, you'll see your computer name on a list and you just need to enter in the passcode displayed in the iStat Server app to access your data.

If you are connecting to a remote server, just enter in the IP address and port number (the default is port 5109) and your passcode and you're good to go.

The iStat program will show you information on your iPhone or iPod touch and any computers or servers that you've configured with your device.

Take a look at the gallery and read on (the next page) for more details.

Another Friday Favorite, our weekly opportunity to get all sloppy over our most-loved applications.

If you have an always-on Mac at home, a decent upstream connection and another Mac anywhere outside of your home network, you might find ShareTool to be as useful as I do. It allows you -- with an amazing degree of simplicity -- to access your Bonjour services on a remote machine as if you were still within your home network. It does this over an SSH encrypted connection (and also automatically sets up a proxy for secure web-browsing over the tunnel). Yes, you can get some of these benefits with a simple SSH tunnel, or you could set up a VPN using HamachiX, but the simple fact that ShareTool "Just Works" makes it my favorite choice for everything from screen sharing to iTunes streaming.

I use ShareTool on a Mac Mini, with an Airport Extreme Base Station on a connection that gets about 800k average upload speed. iTunes streaming is flawless, and remote drive access is as good or better than just using SFTP. Setup is as simple as choosing a port (defaults to 22, the standard SSH port) to share on and hitting "Share" on your home Mac. After that, you can set it to start at login, and begin sharing on launch. Then, on your remote machine, you just need to enter an IP or domain and the port, and the rest is automatic. You can select which Bonjour services to enable or just go for broke and enable everything. I've got a static IP these days, but services like No-IP and DynDNS work great if you have a dynamic IP address. ShareTool can even handle updating the dynamic IP service for you, so you don't have to run any daemons.

ShareTool is provided by YazSoft, and a free trial is available for download on the main page. The pricing structure requires a license for every computer, and a pair of licenses costs $30USD (5 for $75USD). YazSoft provides free updates within a major version number (1.x customers get all 1.x updates for free). If you're looking for an easy way to keep your entire home network handy anywhere you go, it might be worth a try.

It's not all new features and delight behind the scenes with the now-shipping iPod touch 2.1 firmware -- among the updates and changes are five patches to address security issues with the device. Frameworks that have been tweaked include the Application Sandbox, CoreGraphics, the mDNSResponder, Networking, and WebKit.

The mDNS fix tackles the Dan Kaminsky DNS vulnerability that sparked controversy over the pace of Apple's patch releases... yet more proof that the iPod touch is a teensy little computer, with all the risks and challenges thereto. You can review the security notes for the update at Apple's security site, and of course you can download the update through iTunes.

Also updated for security purposes today was the Bonjour for Windows package, now at version 1.0.5. This utility, which gives XP and Vista machines access to zero-configuration network resources such as printers or Mac OS X web sharing, now includes a couple of DNS-related patches including one for the vulnerability noted above. See here for the full details; Bonjour for Windows is downloadable from Apple as well.

If you've been looking for a way to turn that 16GB iPhone into a wireless flash drive, there's a new solution available for you in the App Store: DataCase for iPhone (link opens iTunes). The developers, Veiosoft, missed their original release date of July 28th thanks to Apple's annoying application approval process, but you can now buy DataCase in the App Store for US$6.99. Unlike FileMagnet, DataCase doesn't require that an app be installed on the Mac, and it can also be used with a PC or Linux machine.

Read after the break for more information about DataCase for iPhone.

One feature of many other handheld devices is the ability to use the device as a portable flash drive to move data between a couple of computers. The iPhone doesn't have that ability now, but will on July 28, 2008.

That's the day that DataCase will be available in the iTunes App Store for $6.99. From Veiosoft, DataCase works with Apple Filing Protocol (AFP) and Bonjour to allow any Mac on the same network as your phone to transfer files to and from it.

Your iPhone appears as a Mac volume, so you just drag-and-drop data you want to take with you. If you're a Windows or Linux user, DataCase gives you the same capabilities from your iPhone using HTTP and FTP.

In case you want to view those files you've moved to your iPhone, DataCase lets you read Microsoft Office, PDF, and text files. You can create up to 16 different volumes on your iPhone, each of which can be set up with read/write/browse permissions. Volumes can be made invisible to protect data from unauthorized people or iPhone snatchers.

This is an innovative app that I think a lot of iPhone owners are going to buy come July 28th.

Man, I wish this Bonjour class wrapper had been around a few weeks ago. The CFBonjour Cocoa class simplifies mDNS/Bonjour programming for the iPhone and iPod touch. iPhone developer Ecume pointed me towards this simple class that allows you to publish and subscribe to Bonjour network services with a minimum of programming. He's using this code to write a DropCopy client for iPhone. Hopefully this new step forward will make it a lot easier for more developers to get on the iPhone/Bonjour wagon--the opportunities go far beyond Zune-like file sharing. (Speaking of Zune-like sharing, my new version of SendSong allows you to squirt your music to anyone using SendFile.)

Thanks to Ecume.

See this picture? It's a picture of my iPod touch. But here is the interesting thing. The picture you see is actually a screen shot from my iPod touch. As you can see from the iPod logo, it has no on-board camera. Instead, it's subscribed to a Bonjour service on my iPhone and using its camera instead to take a picture of itself.

We last mentioned Picnic when the beta was released in June; now Objectpark software is shipping version 1. Picnic is a utility designed to allow you to synchronize folders you specify between two Macs on the same local network. By using Bonjour it requires little or no setup.

Unfortunately, I see two major downsides to Picnic. First, it seems rather expensive. Each machine/user requires a license which are $29.95 each (though there are discounts when ordering multiple licenses, e.g. $55 for two). Compare this to the similar Martian Slingshot at $29.99 for use on all your personal computers. Second, it only works over a local network and not the Internet (though I suspect you could hack it together with Hamachi or another VPN solution).

A demo of Picnic is available for download.

[via MacNN]

Apple has released a new version of Bonjour for Windows, 1.0.4, just in case you're zero-configuration networking with any Windows PCs in the area. There's no changelog available, but this version dropped as a preview onto the ADC page last month, and apparently "includes Windows Vista support and various other bug fixes and enhancements."

The release is good, of course, not only for Vista, but also for Windows 2000/2003 and XP. Additionally, Apple's covering their 64-bit bases as well-- they've got a 64-bit compatible release ready too. Like it or not, we can't all be on a Mac all the time, and fortunately, Bonjour makes networking without the hassles possible on both platforms.

[via Ars Technica]

I'm not sure if you've been following the story of "Infosec Sellout" (it's a tough one to follow), but apparently the anonymous Mac hacker has given up blogging about OS X security-- his blog has been deleted and renamed on Blogspot. Just recently, he made headlines by claiming that he'd developed a worm for OS X called "Rape.osx," that hit a known vulnerability in the OS X mDNSResponder, an open source Internet protocol used by Apple. But apparently Infosec Sellout didn't think Apple responded appropriately to his warning (and/or his site was hacked itself), and he's gone quiet.

Robert McMillian of the IDG news service has has contact with Infosec Sellout in the past, and heard from the hacker in an email that "it was a great experiment to see how the industry could handle some honesty, which they can't. They are quick to attack the credibility of others in order to hide their own flaws." From that comment, it sounds like Infosec thinks Apple is somehow claiming to be impenetrable, but as other security analysts say, that's far from true. Still another story is that Infosec's identity was close to being found out, and he quit because of that. Apparently Infosec says that the identity discovery was a factor, but not because he didn't want to be found out, just because he didn't want his employer to be approached by "crybabies."

Strange story indeed. Unfortunately Infosec still hasn't revealed the hack, and says he won't reveal it to Apple until testing is completed.

Picnic appears to be an interesting tool for small Mac networks where users need to share files. It allows you to "create shared folders of files which are automatically synced between all user's accounts using Bonjour." This could really make it easier for small businesses or workgroups to share files between users (such as was requested by Stephen in a comment to the Ask TUAW post from last week). Since the files are synchronized across multiple computers it essentially gives you a kind of live backup. Mobile users retain a copy of the files when they disconnect from the network and changes are synced back when they reconnect (conflicts are apparently marked). In a lot of ways Picnic looks like the two Mac syncing tool Martian SlingShot, but with support for multiple Macs.

Picnic is now in beta and available for download from Objectpark software.

[via uneasysilence]