TweetMyMac Offers Remote Control by Twitter: "
TweetMyMac is possibly one of the most bizarre, but then instantly obvious ideas that I've seen in a while. The software uses Twitter as a messaging mechanism to control your Mac remotely.
The folks at Twitter have long made available access to the system via an API (application programming interface) used by developers outside the company to create Web, mobile, and desktop applications. TweetMyMac is software that runs under Mac OS X, and receives messages from an account you set up specifically as a control channel.
The concept is simple. Direct messages in Twitter are received only by the party to whom the messages are addressed. Thus, if you set up an account specifically for each Mac you want to control, you have a direct conduit to each. Each account you set up for a Mac must be set to follow a Twitter account from which you want to send commands; only users being followed may send the Mac direct messages.
The set of commands is small but interesting. You can remotely restart, logout, sleep, or shutdown a Mac; retrieve its IP address (perhaps useful in case of theft if TweetMyMac remains active); pull a picture from the built-in camera or grab a screenshot (hmm, also useful for a stolen Mac) which is sent back to you via Twitter; and lock the screen (errr...same comment); among other commands.
The software, by TheMacBox, is free, although donations are encouraged.
'
Read and post comments about this article | Tweet this article
Microsoft's MacBU: Supporting Mac users with Office 2008.Straighten up your Office with the latest updates to Word,
Excel, PowerPoint, and Entourage. Update today at Mactopia!
<http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.mspx>
Copyright © 2009 Glenn Fleishman. TidBITS is copyright © 2009 TidBITS Publishing Inc. If you're reading this article on a Web site other than TidBITS.com, please let us know, because if it was republished without attribution, by a commercial site, or in modified form, it violates our Creative Commons License.
TidBITS - http://www.tidbits.com/