Tag Archives | Remote Control

Splashtop Brings Its Windows Remote Control to the iPhone

Posted by Harry McCracken on November 18, 2010 at 7:35 am

Splashtop is best known for its lightweight, fast-booting operating environment, which comes preinstalled as a Windows alternative on hundreds of PC models. In August, it branched out with Splashtop Remote, a remote-control program for the iPad that let you control a Windows computer from your tablet. And now it’s launched an iPhone/iPod Touch edition.

Like the iPad version, Splashtop Remote for the iPhone is cheap–it’s ninety-nine cents, compared to $29.99 for LogMeIn’s Ignition. It’s designed for local use–it works over Wi-Fi connections, not 3G. It does indeed let you maneuver around your Windows machine, launching and running apps and doing stuff you can’t do on an iPhone (such as watch Flash videos and play Flash games). And the performance is snappy enough that even video playback is decent.

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GoToMyPC…or Mac

Posted by Harry McCracken on January 13, 2010 at 11:56 am

Back when I had a “work PC” and a “home PC,” I swore by Citrix Online’s GoToMyPC remote-control service. I used it frequently to run business-related apps I didn’t have at home, and sometimes to snag files I’d forgotten to bring home. It certainly wasn’t my only remote-control option, nor the cheapest, but it scored extremely high for simplicity and rock-solid reliability.

When I started using Macs as well as Windows boxes, however, I used GoToMyPC less frequently. It had a Java client that let me control a PC from a Mac, but it was nowhere near as good as the native Windows app, and there wasn’t any way to control a Mac at all.

Citrix is remedying the situation today with the first version of GoToMyPC with full Mac support. It’s not a separate OS X version–which is why it’s not called GoToMyMac–but an upgrade to the standard one that works with Macs as well as Windows. For the first time, you can control a Mac from another Mac, a Windows PC from a Mac, or a Mac from a Windows PC. Or, as before, a PC from a PC.

Mac remote control is far from a breakthrough: GoToMyPC archrival LogMeIn already has it in its free and for-pay versions, and OS X even has a version built in, in the form of its Screen Sharing feature. And Citrix hasn’t yet implemented all the features available for Windows-to-Windows usage. But it’s still a welcome addition to a service that’s worth the bucks if you’ve got serious, ongoing need for remote access. GoToMyPC pricing remains the same: It’s $19.95 a month to control one computer, or $29.95 to control two. There are discounts for annual subscriptions, and a 30-day free trial offer.

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