4 Ways to remotely access your files/PC

5. Dropbox/Box.net
Using these online storage services gives you an easy and universal method for accessing your files absolutely anywhere. Both sport online access to your files from any browser, both have desktop and mobile (iPhone particularly) clients, meaning you shouldn't have any comparability issues. The concept is simple. On your local computer, simply drop your files into a 'folder' and they go straight to the cloud, where you can work on them without getting anything out of sync or in the wrong spot. In the case of Dropbox, you can move your folder wherever you want and it acts just like a normal folder. For the more business-oriented Box.net system, it give you a nice WebDAV address that you can map as a network drive. Both services are geared up for sharing and collaboration with direct links and shared folders as well as Push functionality to keep everyone in sync fully. This model is also a nice way of backing up your data, but you'll have to keep it under 2GB of data unless you want to pay for it. Overall, if you use a lot of computers and do a lot of collaboration work, Dropbox or Box.net are extremely easy, useful and powerful.

4. Opera Unite
This new service built into the latest version of the Opera Internet browser connects your computer directly to the Internet and uses web-based apps for all of it's impressive array of functions. Once you set up an account, you get a page hosted at your own address, something like laptop.agc93.operaunite.com where you can install web apps such as a media player for your music library, a web hosting server, a messaging service, and, most importantly, file sharing. The file sharing function allows you to share any number of certain folders or drives. You can then navigate to the URL, choose File Sharing, enter your password, and voilà, all your files are waiting for you. Because it's just a web page, it's accessible in any browser and most of the applications seem to be very compatability-friendly, which is nice. If you only need your files occasionally and prefer a slicker, socially-oriented web interface, this is the best choice.

=2. FTP Server
For users who constantly access their files and need something a bit more serious, an FTP server is a powerful and functional way of remote accessing files. While the protocol itself is outdated, showing it's age and generally difficult to use, a savvy user will find a lot of possibility in it's advanced capabilities. The basic concept is that a computer (generally with a fairly large hard drive attached) is connected to the Internet with some FTP software active. Then, by logging into a Web address (using a Dynamic DNS updated like DynDNS works brilliantly) using similar FTP software or even most browsers you can access all your files as if they were on the local computer. What this also means is that you are not uploading your files to the Internet and then accessing them from a different location. What this entails is actually connectng directly to your home computer's files from another computer outside your home network.

=2. Orb 2.0
This innovative solution works fairly similarly to Opera Unite, but is a generally more complex and more advanced service. The premise is simple: log in to the MyCast website from anywhere in the world and start streaming your media straight away. In practice, after installing and configuring the client on your computer and getting yourself an Orb account, the real fun can start. Tell Orb where your music, videos, photos and documents are on your local computer and it begins to index them and (presumably) upoloads at least the index if not the files (it's all a little unclear) to the Orb servers. Then, by heading to the Orb site and logging in, you receive a browser-based Web interface for your media. While Orb can act as a full-function file sharer, it can be a little slow/clunky to use extensively. However, Orb's biggest trick is with media, especially music. Simply browse through your music library by folder, iTunes playlist, or by metadata and then choose a song or collection of songs to play. From there, Orb builds a stream which then opens on the local computer and starts playing in whatever the default stream client happens to be (usually Windows Media Player). What is great is that this stream is directly streaming your full-quality music file with only minor time lag, and the stream is very simple and stable to use. To change media, choose it in Orb and the stream re-builds to play your new choices. Video works also, but it and the photos function I haven't yet tested so I can't vouch for their abilities. For anyone with a love of music (especially those without iPods) you cannot go past Orb for easy, powerful online media access.

1. TeamViewer
This VNC alternative is simply genius. Where VNC usually involves FTP-style connections directly to the local computer complete with the complex port forwarding, strange address and Internet manoeuvres, TeamViewer revolves around Internet-based connectivity. First, youll need to install the TeamViewer application on your home computer. To connect to your computer, simply log on to the TeamViewer website and either download the client (necessary for complex operations like Presentation modes and direct File Transfers) or even better, continue with the Web interface. You'll have to sign up with an account to use the Web interface, but an account also maintains a live updating connection to your specified list of computers, which is nice. From here click on the name of your computer (that you've specified using a simple 9-digit code and password) and after a short connection wait, you'll see your computer and have full control from right within the browser. This is briliiant. A method to fully control and utilise your home computer without a direct connection with very little lag, even when both ends are working over WiFi, which is impressive. This also means that you not only have access to your files, but to your whole computer as if you were sitting right in front of it. It's amazing. And to go along with the desktop app and web interface, there is also a neat little iPhone app which uses multitouch and gestures to have full control of your computer, straight from your phone. Again, amazing!

If you want more guidance at setting up any of these, drop me a line, either in the comments or at ferretynetwork@gmail.com
Hope you enjoy it!

YouTube videos locally on the iPhone

Since the iPhone's native YouTube app has no automatic or manual cache function, watching YouTube videos (especially for offline iPod Touch users) becomes very difficult and often quite slow. So, here are a couple of ways to get your iPhone playing videos without using all that prized 3G data or waiting a couple of years for that 20 second clip to buffer.

Method 1 (Recommended) Requires $1.19 app purchase
This method doesn't need any computers at all, but still gives you the option of using it on your computer if you want. Here is what to do.
1.Find the video you want and copy the URL. This is slightly more difficult to do than it would seem. Using the native YouTube app, you can choose to email to a friend and then copy the video URL from the message, or you can use Safari to navigate to YouTube, then choose Desktop view at the bottom to get the full version, then search for the video you want. From the search results, you can just tap-hold on the name and copy the link, or go to the video page and copy the URL out of the address bar. Now, in your clipboard is the URL for your video (http://youtube.com/watch?h7T14m, for example). Next in Safari, head over to Zamzar.com. While there are other (arguably better) online video conversion sites, this one I've found to be the most reliable for iPhone-only operation. Now, choose URL jsut above the file box, then paste the URL of your video in the box, then choose iPhone as your output format. Next, enter in an e-mail address that is active/checkable on your iTouch device and click Convert. 98% of the time, it will work, there will be progress bars just under the box and it will give you a confirmation message that the upload has worked. For the other 2%, try again and if it still doesn't work, choose a different video.
2.Now, go to the Inbox of the email account you entered previously (in Safari or Mail, doesn't really matter) and after about a minute, you should've received an e-mail from Zamzar.com (longer videos take longer to arrive), not with the actual video (which would be pointlessly trapped in Mail) but with a link to a download page. Tap-hold to select, then Copy the URL for the download.
3.Now is when you'll have to pony up the money. You are going to download a download browser. There are a billion of them on the App Store, but my choice would always be hwBrowser. While it doesn't support pause/resume with downloads, everything else about it is solid, easy-to-use and it's cheap. You take your pick, but make sure it has an option to force download a link. Some browsers will see an iPhone compatible file and simply start playing it, instead of downloading it. Now, after you have downloaded hwBrowser, open it up and tap the bottom right icon and choose settings, then change the download button from Action to Toggle (Action *should* work, but I've had mixed results, try it if you want). Now choose Done and tap in the address bar, then tap again, and choose Paste, which should paste an enormous URL from Zamzar.com into the address bar, then hit Enter. Now, the download page should appear. Tap the Download icon (top left) to choose Download mode (shows DL) (if you are using the Action button, choose Download Next Link). Now, tap on the Download Now icon on the download page and choose Yes to save the mp4 file. Wait for the download to finish. If you tap X, then Hide, you can keep browsing and check the progress in Settings(bottom right)>Downloads, but it will give you a pop-up when it's done. Now, if you tap the files icon (left of Settings) you should see your file. You can rename it, create a folder for it, etc by using the folder tools button in the top left corner. Tapping on the file will start playing it, straight off your iPhone. This now means that since you can use hwBrowser without the Internet, you can watch the videos offline.
4.You can also move the videos back onto your Computer by starting hwBrowser, opening Settings>Settings and entering the address shown into a browser onto your computer. From here, you can also drop it back into your favourite app (however, but usually with WebDAV or FTP).

Method 2 (horrifically unreliable) FREE!
This method will download Youtube and Dailymotion videos directly to your device, but you won't be able to access them outside of the app or on your computer, which doesn't seem so bad, until you start actually using the app in question.
For this, you'll need an app bizarrely named iWoopie. It's free, which is nice. It's also an absolutely horrific app, which is unfortunate. Once you open the app, ignore the Most Popular videos which are invariably hopeless and head to the search tab. Click in the search box (more difficult than you'd think since it's hiding *under* the status bar) and type in your query. Try to be specific. Once the results arrive (if they do, and if the app hasn't already crashed, a frequent occurrence) choose a video from the list and click Download. Now, a badge will appear on the Downloads tab. Tap on the Downloads icon and watch what happens. If it says 0% and then Complete, it hasn't worked. If it just says Error, it obviously hasn't worked. On the off chance that it has worked, you should've seen the progress bar fill up and then tap on the video to check that it's playable. It often isn't. To combat this, you'll have to download about 50 different videos by about 50 different people from both site in the hope that one of them will work. For example, I've downloaded almost every video in the Top 25 results for Iron Man 2 and none of them worked. Of course, that's not a problem, because even if it does, it'll probably just crash anyway. Yes, this app is actually that bad. Use it if you really want, but believe me when I say that even Method 3 would be better than this.

Method 3 (not so fantastic) FREE!
This method will need a computer at some point, so be ready. For starters follow steps 1 and 2 from Method 1 to get your download link.
1.Now, download ByteTornado Downloader. This is actually a good app anyway with quick, easy downloads and almost-full pause and resume functions (won't work with the dynamic Zamzar servers we're using for this, so don't try). After you've downloaded it and opened it up, paste the URL you copied into the Browser tab's address bar. You should see a little yellow box and a badge on the second tab, indicating that you are downloading the file. Tap the downloads tab to watch the progress and wait until it's done. The problem here is that ByteTornado has no inbuilt preview function. It can only download and host the files from it's own file server. Even if you navigate to 127.0.0.1 (geeks will recognise this as like calling your own phone number, except with computers, it works) and trying that, it simply downloads it again, from itself. Strange.
2.Now, download another app. For this, you want a mobile disk app, with viewing capabilities. My recommended pick is Discover, a useful, powerful and easy-to-use app with an amazing web interface. I'll do the instructions for Discover, so if you're unsure, try it first, then try your own pick if you don't like it. Other choices inclued FileApp (uses FTP and has good file management capabilities) or DocumentViewer (simple and poweful, but also $1.19)
3.Now, go to your computer and open a browser, any browser should work so it's not really important. On your iTouch, open ByteTornado, then enter the address shown in the Share tab into youre computer's browser. You should be greeted with a simple page listing the files you've downloaded. Right-click>Save Target as to download the files and save them somewhere on your computer. Now, quit out of ByteTornado and open Discover or whatever you've downloaded (Some apps need to enter a sharing mode. If so, do so). On your computer, enter the address the app gives you. For Discover, it will be the same address as before, but with :8888 at the end instead of :9999. Now, choose (or create) the folder where you want the videos, then choose Add files in the bottom pane, find and choose the *.mp4's that you downloaded before, then click Upload All to push them to your device.
4.Once the upload is complete, you can simply tap the file in Discover to start watching the video
One of the biggest problems with this method is that since the video files have to go via the computer anyway, you have two far more viable options. Firstly, you could just use YouTube Downloader and a converter to download the videos on your computer in the first place and then put it on your device however you want to. Secondly, since the videos are on your computer, why not just import them into iTunes, sync your device and be done with it...

There are probably a couple of methods and feel free to let me know, but for the moment, these (especially Method 1) are pretty sound methods of getting YouTube (or generally online) videos onto your iPhone/iPod Touch. Hope it helps and Good Luck!

UPDATE: It appears that some (or all) of these methods may've been nullified by YouTube's new video page design. Unfortunate. Will keep trying and let you know if they come back online.