Solution for Transfering Photos from iPad to Computer and Back

When transferring photos between your mobile devices like iPad and iPhone or to your MacBook Air and back, you need to consider the amount of time and bandwidth or data transferred via the cloud.    As an alternate solution, one should consider one of the excellent apps available to do this efficiently and seamlessly.

How It Can Be Accomplished with PhotoSync

PhotoSynch is such an app available for the Mac and also the iPhone/iPad devices.  PhotoSync allows synching photos in both directions without hassle, using an easy-to-use interface, which allows transfer of all photos or a selection of photos. 

* This transfer from device to computer and computer to device can be accomplished via a wireless connection or 3G/LTE. The device to device transfer is available using bluetooth and wifi.
* The number of photos you plan to transfer can be limitless, but I haven't tried that yet.
* You can share photos to other sites such as Facebook, Dropbox, Picasa, and others like Google Drive (the new Google Docs).

* It also has Web Browser viewing capabilities where you can view your photos in a web page from a computer on your same network.
* Transfer is done in the background, allowing iPhone and iPad users to continue with phone calls or games.
* You can select the size to send, which computer to use as your default storage.

* You can setup defaults in the settings of the app for quick transfers and also choose to send to a certain folder or to iPhoto on your computer directly when receiving or sending photos.

Support for Mac and Windows Companion App

The iPad/iPhone app is relatively inexpensive for your iPad/iPhone and comes free for use on your desktop or Mac laptop (Mac OS X10.5 or higher Intel and PPC supported).  There is also a Windows PhotoSynch companion app that works for those using a PC as their default computer (Windows XP SP 2 or higher, Windows Vista or higher, Windows 7).  Location services needs to be enabled in order to use the app successfully.

For those who don't want to use a cloud server or have limited wifi capability or your internet connection is down this is a great solution as it offers a means to transfer photos and videos between devices and computers using a local network. I give PhotoSync a thumbsup rating of 5 stars for all my fellow travelers and photographers.






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International Charges on iPhone

I've decided to outline some of the things I learned today, about using your iPhone abroad.

If you wish to use your iPhone for voice, text messaging, email, surfing the web or using apps that access the internet, while you are in Edge or 3G mode, then you will be charged.

• If you receive a VoiceMail, you will be billed per minute and if you listen to that voicemail, you will be billed per minute.  Note: You can have this Voicemail disabled by calling AT&T.  It is nice to have this feature, assuming you don't have a lot of friends calling and leaving you messages all the time.  A good reason to consider leaving this option enabled would be if you need to hear from someone back home. 
• Any calls you make overseas to overseas or the US will incur a charge per minute for each call based on the roaming fees associated with that country.  To receive discounted per minute roaming rates, you can take out a World Traveler Plan costing $5.99 per month or you can be charged the standard rates for that country which a generally higher rate for the countries without taking out this plan.  Therefore, if you just plan to make a few calls or only for emergency, it might not benefit you to also have the additional $5.99 monthly plan.
• Text messages are received and billed as well.  Check the ATT site for international costs and plans.  Usually text message options will offer a cheaper alternative to incurring costs for lengthy voice calls.
• When using email, surfing the web, streaming movies, or using apps that rely on data transmission you can rack up some pretty hefty charges.  If you do not use these services on your iPhone while in the voice mode and only while using wifi, you can avoid these added costs.  You should try to take advantage of free hotspots and inexpensive wifi services in cafes, hotels and restaurants during your trip.  If you plan to access these services while under Edge or 3G, then it is advisable to get a plan offered for international usage which currently includes:  

• 50 MB for $24.99 Monthly Charge
• 125 MB for $49.99 Monthly Charge
• 225 MB for $99.99 Monthly Charge
• 800 MB for 199.99 Monthly Charge.  
• Once you exceed the data by 1MB, you will be billed $10 for an additional 10MB 

• Note:  The only way to keep your iPhone from automatically transmitting data is to keep both the "Data Roaming" and the "Fetch New Data" settings to OFF. Even if you change these settings to the OFF position, you will still be able to use your phone for voice and text. You also have the option of using wifi when available. To turn off data roaming please select Settings-General-Network-Data Roaming. To turn off data fetch Settings, Mail-Contacts-Calenders, Fetch New Data, Change push to off and select to Fetch Manually. 
  
  Note:  The monthly plans for discounted rates per minute on voice calls and plans for data downloads can be added or removed at any time and do not involve a cancellation fee.  
     
  You are able to add and remove international features by accessing your online account or calling AT&T International Care at 1-800-335-4685. or if you are out of country you can dial 001-916-843-4685. 
  
  Note: 
  
  If you need to speak to an International Care Representative you can always chat with one online at the AT&T site. You can also send us an email by logging onto your online account at att.com/mywireless>contact us. Or you can reach a representative by dialing +1-916-843-4685 while you are outside of the country.
  
  
  To reduce costs while overseas consider using wifi when available, using Skype or FaceTime type apps when wifi is available to make your calls, emailing or texting while using wifi.  If you need navigation, see if your current handheld GPS devices are up-to-date with maps of the regions you plan to visit and use instead of incurring charges for downloading maps while using 3G or edge connection on your iPhone.  Yes, Google Maps can be expensive to use while on data roaming charges are incurring for large data downloads of maps.  I often download maps and use with GoodReader in the form of pdf file.  That way, I can zoom in on city maps much like we did when we used paper maps.  This can also be done by storing your pdf maps in your iBooks and can be accessed without using wifi or expensive data roaming plans.
  
  
  Happy traveling.  Remember with a little pre-planning you can enjoy your trip and avoid any unexpected expenses or surprises when you get home.
  
  
  
  
  
  

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A StarTrek Transporting of Photos/Videos using PhotoSync App

Some iPad 2 users are looking for ways to transfer their videos captured with their iPhones to iMovie app loaded on their new iPad 2.  One solution is to sync the video to iTunes from their iPhone and then resync to their iPad 2.  Another solution requires the purchase of the camera connection cable.  With the cable one can connect the iPhone to the iPad and transfer the videos directly. 

I decided to try out using an app called PhotoSync as it is advertised to wirelessly transfer photos and videos between the two devices, as well as your computer.

The user can easily transfer from the devices to their computer over Wi-Fi.   You can download selected videos and photos to and from your Mac using the FREE companion PhotoSync app available for Mac OSX . (A Windows Companion is also available for Windows XP SP2 or higher).   I am always amazed at how these wireless transfers seem to be magic and feel as though I have witnessed a StarTrek transporting.   PhotoSync preserves the Exif data, GPS data and file data for photos and videos, as well as support for RAW images and photos/videos. 

Using PhotoSync with Bluetooth or WiFi if available, one can also transfer photos and videos directly from device to device.  I was able to transfer video and photos from iPad to iPad and iPhone to iPad and iPad to iPhone in a snap.  The transfer rate is 2.5MB/sec depending on your network and device.  Also supports DropBox and Flickr accounts and transfer to iPhoto and Aperture.

If you are looking for an easy and fast way to transfer instantly to your devices and computer without using iTunes or cables, I highly recommend getting the PhotoSync app from the iTunes App Store.  You only need purchase once and use for all your devices.  Click here to access PhotoSync website Tweet

How to Connect to Your Disklavier via Yamaha iPhone Controller App

In an effort to help others who might be having trouble using the new Yamaha iPhone Controller App with their Disklavier, I am posting another HOW TO here.  Hopefully, this will help some who might be having trouble connecting their iPhone app to control their Disklavier piano.

Last night when we returned from dinner, the lights on our Apple Express and Apple Extreme devices were flashing yellow. This was basically an indication that something was awry with the wifi home network and the bridge from this network to our Disklavier piano (possibly caused by a small power outage). After disconnecting these devices from the wall sockets and power, we recycled the modem and devices and eventually they all connected and the lights were green again. However, when this happens this seems to reset the IP Address for the Apple Express device and then our various devices that control the piano do not automatically connect again, unless we set them to the correct IP address so that the piano might be found. In the previous post, I discussed the means to connect to the Disklavier with the Virtual PRC.

Today,  I will discuss how to connect the Disklavier with the Yamaha iPhone Controller app. I was able to connect by the following steps without a problem:

Part I - Steps to connecting using PianoSearch on Yamaha iPhone Controller App.
Run the Yamaha Controller iPhone app from your iPhone.   If it does not connect you will see a spinning with the message 'Connecting'.

Below the spinning you will see the button 'PianoSearch'. Tap on the PianoSearch button. Another screen should appear as illustrated below:

The name and ID for your Disklavier should appear in the box in the middle of the app screen. Tap on this selecting your piano. This should bring up a screen of the last played song and a slider along the bottom that indicates the piano is in 'Standby' and that you need to slide this slider to turn on the piano and to be able to access the play and volume buttons, as well as to be able to change to another album, source and song or playlist.

After sliding the bar across, you can then select a new source, album, song or playlist.  Once the song is selected tap on the center of the screen and you will see the play, volume controls for that song.

You should now be connected to your piano and able to control the piano, as well as access the Yamaha Radio and store from your iPhone.

Part II:  Another Message Appears while trying to Connect your iPhone App to Disklavier
As sometimes happens in our household, my iPhone connects without a hitch and my husband has a problem.  This morning he tried connecting using the steps above with the Yamaha iPhone Controller app but in doing so, received the following messages:

45 seconds after starting the Controller app the following message appeared on his iPhone:

After a minute or so more the 'Message Box' disappeared and instantly reappeared.  After another minute or so, the 'Message Box' went away and everything worked correctly until it needed to reconnect.  It then hung up, when trying to reconnect (as shown below):

Possible Solution:
This morning he illustrated the sequence of events that had ocurred on his iPhone and to no avail he was not able to connect to the piano and the iPhone app seemed to be in an endless loop trying to continually 'Connect'.   He tried deleting the app, reinstalling the app, rebooting the iPhone, rebooting the Disklavier piano and nothing seemed to change the 'connecting' status of the Yamaha Controller app.

In an effort to find a solution, I went into the living room, where the Disklavier piano resides and noticed that the physical PRC (Piano Remote Control) did not have a light on the top of the controller indicating that it was linked to the piano.  Sometimes, this remote seems to unseat itself from the charging cradle.  So I unplugged it from the charging cradle, reseated it into its charging cradle and allowed it time to connect to the piano.   

At that point the Yamaha iPhone Controller app started to respond and a connection was made to the piano, and was working again to control the piano.   I am not sure why this was an important step in the process of connecting the iPhone app on his iPhone to the piano.  It didn't seem to be a problem with my iPhone or my Ipad connecting, but for some reason it seemed to be a factor for his iPhone app to work properly.

Note:  The message box that he was receiving on his iPhone app screen, was indicating that the PRC needs to be uptodate with the latest 4.0 system software.    If you have installed the system 4.0 to your Disklavier and have not also updated the PRC remote in the system update process, this may also be a reason that you cannot connect the Yamaha iPhone app to your piano. Tweet

Testing Stealth Mode for Wifi Network on Mac

Note: A solution for my vunerable wifi network connected to Disklavier piano without password protection.

Sometimes it is necessary to have an insecure wifi network to connect to other devices in your home. This leaves your network for your computers vunerable for others to use as a free wifi hotspot in your neighborhood. I have been testing the 'stealth mode' option available on my Mac as a means to run my wifi network, but make it 'invisible' to others nearby.

It seems to be working. My wifi network is NOT showing up as an option on my iPhone or iPad. However, I am able to connect to this so called invisible or stealth network as I know the exact name that I have assigned to that network. I merely go into the system preferences on my iPhone or iPad and select wifi network and 'Other' and type in the exact name of the network to connect.

Here are the steps to setting up or creating a closed network:

To set up your wifi network on your Mac to 'invisible' or stealth mode it is necessary to run the application called 'Airport Utility'.

Select the network from the left hand column that you wish to put into stealth mode or to make invisible to others. Select 'Manual Setup'.


Select the 'Wireless' tab and click on 'Wireless Network Options'



A dialog box will appear, click on 'Create a closed network' and 'Done'


Select 'Update' to save changes.

At this point I also rebooted my Mac to make sure that all the changes took effect, not sure if that was necessary. When I checked my iPhone and iPad the network was NOT visible. I selected Other and typed in the exact name and was able to connect without a problem.

Next notify the members of your family that you have made some changes to the network, so that they don't panic when they are unable to connect via wifi using their iphones, ipads and computers in your home. Tweet