mirroring

This one was just a matter of time.

I've not yet performed a hands-on test on the clumsily named CTMD43 from Intraphex, but it places a 4.3-inch smartphone-like touch-screen on the left half of the mirror; it fades away when you don't need it for full-mirror use. You can see it in action here; as of this writing it was not posted to the Intraphex site yet.

When it's on, you see a touch- and voice-controlled nav system that is largely the same as in some current Subaru cars: functional, if not state of the art. … Read more

Apple has once again hit the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office with some patent applications.

First up is AirPlay Mirroring: Called "Gesture visualization and sharing between electronic devices and remote displays," the patent application describes a method by which onscreen information is sent wirelessly to another display. Apple's patent application, which was first discovered by Patently Apple, assumes that the first device, which will send the onscreen visuals to the second display, comes with a touch screen, seemingly limiting the patented technology to its iPhone or iPad.

"Size and resource limitations may prevent users of … Read more

Apple has once again been cleared of infringing on patents held by Mirror Worlds.

In a ruling posted today by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, the court upheld (PDF) a lower court decision from April 2011, which sided with Apple.

Mirror Worlds originally accused Apple of infringing on its patents with features included in its Mac OS X operating systems going back to 10.4 "Tiger," as well as in its iOS devices including the iPhone, iPod, and iPad. The company, which was founded by Yale University computer-science professor David Gelernter, … Read more

Longtime Android users who are familiar with the old-school Motorola Droid will remember its Car Home app that presented users with a simplified interface for interacting with apps designed for use in the car. Samsung continues that tradition today with the announcement and launch of its new Drive Link app for the Samsung Galaxy S3.

The app's welcome screen displays large, easy-to-read weather conditions and date and time information along the top edge. Occupying the center of this screen is a summary of the next scheduled appointment in the phone's calendar with a trio of links to set … Read more

In graphics software, sometimes less is more, and what you really need is a simple, fast, lightweight tool that can do the most common jobs quickly and neatly. Zeta Centauri's PixelSwapper is just such an app. With basic commands like Rotate, Resize, Crop, and Grayscale, it can manipulate your images in less time than it takes to learn which menu to use on those feature-packed Photoshop clones. PixelSwapper can also convert images between several image formats.

PixelSwapper has one of the simplest user interfaces we've seen for any kind of tool, let alone a graphics editor -- even … Read more

Whether you have been using Apple's latest operating system for the Mac, OS X Mountain Lion, for a while now, or you are just installing it, you'll benefit from reading through some of the tips below. Some of them are ways to improve on the overall experience, while others will bring back past functionality. Let's get started, shall we?

Preparing your Mac When upgrading the operating system, no matter your platform of choice, it's always a great idea to not go into it blindly. Be prepared, and more importantly, make sure you computer is prepared. Some … Read more

One of the new features in OS X Mountain Lion is the new AirPlay Mirroring feature. AirPlay Mirroring makes it easy to give presentations, watch Flash videos (Hulu, anyone?) or show off photos from your recent vacation on a TV. If you want to see AirPlay Mirroring on OS X in action, make sure to check out Jason Parker's video demonstration.

One thing that isn't really advertised about the new AirPlay feature on your Mac is the capability to send only the audio from your Mac to any AirPlay compatible device. Meaning, you don't have to mirror … Read more

AirParrot lets you mirror your desktop, specific apps, and even lets you extend your screen on to a big screen via Apple TV, but it isn't perfect.

Particularly compelling just after the release of Mountain Lion, AirParrot lets Mac users with machines running Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard or later mirror their desktops (Mountain Lion's AirPlay Mirroring only works on Macs made after 2011). The app creates a Menubar item where you'll be able to mirror your desktop on a big screen via a second- or third-generation Apple TV. Once you're on the same … Read more

If you've managed to get your hands on Mountain Lion for Mac, there's a really cool feature called AirPlay Mirroring where you can show your desktop and more on a big screen hooked up to an Apple TV. AirPlay Mirroring is something you might use when you want to show your work at a meeting, show your photos to your family, watch video, and so on, but on an Apple TV-connected big screen. Here's how to do it.

Editors' note:Unfortunately, AirPlay Mirroring only works on Macs made in 2011 or later. For those on older machines … Read more