Terry White's Tech Blog

CloudFTP Lets You Share a Hard Drive Wirelessly with Your Devices, even your iPad

Terry White — Tue, 15 May 2012 08:48:28 +0000

I ordered this little gadget before heading out on my current tour and got a chance to try it out in the hotel lounge with one of my colleagues. CloudFTP for all intents and purposes is a little adhoc access point with a USB port on it. Technically you should be able to hook up just about any storage device to it and share the content on that device wirelessly with your devices (computers and iOS/Android devices).

I figured I’d give it a real world test and time for a CloudFTP review. I took it out of the box, read the little manual that comes with it (so I could figure out how to access it), plugged in my LaCie Rugged Firewire 800/USB 2 backup drive into and fired it up. After a few moments it was up and ready to go. I then went to the web browser on my iPhone, keyed in the URL and there it was!

My hard drives directory structure. I could access any file and if the file was iOS compatible such as a PDF or movie I could see it right then and there. Speaking of movies, I get asked all the time about plugging in hard drives or other external drives into an iPad or iPhone to carry movies around and up until now I never really had a good answer. This would do the trick nicely. The first movie I tried wasn’t in a format that iOS liked (it was an AVI file) and therefore it copied the movie to the iPhone and then I was able to open it in the VLC App and it played just fine.

The movie playing above is streaming wirelessly from my LaCie hard drive to my iPhone 4s via the CloudFTP

I tested another movie that was in the proper .MP4 format and it streamed. However, I will note that about halfway through the movie the video froze and the sound kept going. Not sure if that will be an ongoing issue or not. I was also impress that the built-in USB port had enough power to run the drive without the drive or the CloudFTP being plugged into a power source. The second thing that impressed me even more was that it didn’t seem to matter what format the drive was in. My hard drive was Mac formatted and it still showed up as the “C” drive with all the directories (folders) showing.

Battery life is up to five hours and you can share documents, music or photos with up to 8 users at a time or movies with up to three users. It creates a WiFi network for your devices to join but keep in mind it’s not a WiFi Internet Router and therefore there is not internet connectivity while you’re connected to it. However, you can configure it to join your existing network if you like.

The Bottom Line

I don’t know how much use I will get out of this. I primarily got it as a method to quickly share files between computers and multiple users. I don’t run into those situations often, but when I do this device should come in real handy. The small size is also a plus as I can just keep it in the ThinkTank Cable Management 30 accessory bag that I carry in my laptop bag. The only thing I don’t really like about it is that while it does charge via USB, it comes with it’s own proprietary charging cable and that means having to keep up with more more cable as opposed to using a standard USB micro cable to charge. Other than that it works as advertised.

You can check out CloudFTP here for $99.95 and it comes in either Black or White

Adobe CS6 Creative Cloud World Tour – Thank You Helsinki & Stockholm

Terry White — Mon, 14 May 2012 04:11:39 +0000

Wow! What a way to end the week. We presented Creative Suite 6 and Creative Cloud to over 1,200 people in Helsinki Finland and Stockholm Sweden while touring on the Adobe CS6 Creative Cloud World Tour. It’s always a treat for me to get out and see real users of our products and to see those users get excited about the new features of Creative Suite and the new options in Creative Cloud!

Now that Creative Cloud is available as well as the new Adobe Touch Apps we can show even more in the cities to come. Today we’ll be in Oslo Norway! Looking forward to seeing you this week and in the weeks to come.

Jason Levine once again put together a great clip with some customer testimonials….

I also got to spend a little down time off the grid in Sweden over the weekend thanks to my colleagues Fredrik and Jason!

Adobe Creative Cloud is Now Available

Terry White — Fri, 11 May 2012 06:32:48 +0000

Although Adobe Creative Suite 6 shipped earlier this week, many were waiting on Creative Cloud as a way of upgrading to Creative Suite 6 for a low monthly cost with access to just about “everything!” That day has arrived as Creative Cloud is now available. Here’s a nice one page chart of the costs and what you get: Even if you don’t plan to go with a paid membership to Creative Cloud, you can still sign in and access your free Creative Cloud services here.

Adobe Lightroom 4 Now Available in the Mac App Store

Terry White — Thu, 10 May 2012 06:25:38 +0000

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 is now available in the Mac App Store! This is good news for those of you who haven’t bought Lightroom yet. As with most things there are some pluses and minuses:

This is a single platform license for Mac only. (The boxed version and the ESD offering on Adobe.com can be installed on Mac or Windows)
Updates will take place through the Mac App Store, not via Adobe.com for this version of Lightroom. When we update Lightroom for new camera support(about 4 times per year), the Mac App Store version may be released at a different time than the update on Adobe.com
There is no upgrade pricing available on the Mac App Store for Lightroom customers who own Lightroom 1, 2 or 3.
Because there is no upgrade pricing or upgrade validation currently available on the Mac App Store, there is no guarantee that upgrade pricing will be available to Mac App Store Lightroom 4 customers when Lightroom 5 and future versions of Lightroom are released.
Lightroom 4 is available on the Mac App Store in North America only

However, like all Mac App Store purchases you can install this version of Lightroom on as many Macs as you own.

Adobe CS6 Tour: Copenhagen – Thank You

Terry White — Wed, 09 May 2012 07:14:06 +0000

We’re on tour here in Europe and I wanted to take a quick break to thank Copenhagen for coming out to our event yesterday! We had a great crowd of over 750 people and they were quite pumped up about Adobe Creative Suite 6 and Creative Cloud. My colleague Jason Levin put together this video (yes using Premiere Pro CS6, Audition CS6, SpeedGrade CS6 and After Effects CS6 <-yeah he’s crazy that way):

Today we’re in Helsinki Finland and once again showing CS6 & Creative Cloud to a packed house! Looking forward to Stockholm tomorrow!

Adobe Creative Suite 6 Ships Today! Let me show it to you…

Terry White — Mon, 07 May 2012 04:11:33 +0000

It is with great pleasure that I announce the shipping of Adobe Creative Suite 6 today! We’ve talked about it, we’ve sneaked it, we’ve announced it and now we’ve finally shipped it! That’s right, if you are upgrading to Creative Suite 6 you can download your copy today.

If you missed my webinar “Adobe Creative Cloud and CS6 for Designer”, where I showed the new CS6 versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Muse and Photoshop Touch you can check out the replay right here:

I look forward to seeing many of you in person on the Adobe Creative Suite 6 World Tour!

Join Me on the Adobe CS6 and Creative Cloud World Tour

Terry White — Thu, 03 May 2012 04:11:46 +0000

Now that Adobe Creative Suite 6 and Creative Cloud are here it’s time to hit the road, tour the world and show our customers and fans all about our new tools and services. We’ll be showing Creative Cloud, as well as the new CS6 Design, Web and Video Tools. Last week I had the pleasure of presenting in Brazil and Mexico, now it’s time to head to Europe and South Africa.

Join me!

8 May 2012 Copenhagen @ CineMaxx

9 May 2012 Helsinki @ Finnkino

10 May 2012 Stockholm @ Rigoletto

14 May 2012 Oslo @ Main Stage/Aker Brygge

15 May 2012 Prague @ Broadway Theatre

16 May 2012 Warsaw @ Cinema Golden Terraces, ul. Gold

18 May 2012 Istanbul @ Kanyon AVM

22 May 2012 Buenos Aires @Hilton Hotel

24 May 2012 Santiago @ Hotel W

6 June 2012 Lima, Peru

19 June 2012 Johannesburg @ The Forum

21 June 2012 Cape Town @ International Convention Center

26 June 2012 New York

28 June 2012 Los Angeles

Watch the Replay of my Adobe CS6 & Creative Cloud for Designers Seminar in My App

Terry White — Wed, 02 May 2012 15:00:06 +0000

As a way of saying Thank You and as an added perk for those of you using my “Learn the Adobe Creative Suite with Terry White” app, I’ve made the recording of my Adobe Creative Cloud and CS6 for Designers Webinar yesterday, available to you ahead of the rest of the world.

Watch Terry White, Adobe Worldwide Design Evangelist, to see Adobe Creative Cloud and the new features in Creative Suite 6 in action. Learn how you can create at lightning speed thanks to new performance engines in Photoshop Extended and Illustrator. See how to quickly create multiple layouts from a single set of content in Adobe InDesign CS6. And discover Adobe Muse, for designing HTML websites without writing code including 400+ web fonts served by Typekit that make it a breeze to include distinctive typography in your site design.

This presentation will go live on my podcast, YouTube and Adobe TV sometime next week for everyone else.

See more of my Adobe Creative Suite Videos on my Adobe Creative Suite Podcast and get the App here. It features EXCLUSIVE CONTENT that no one else gets to see. My iOS App is a Universal App for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. I also have an Android version:

Join Me for a LIVE Online Webcast: Adobe Creative Cloud For Designers

Terry White — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:35:18 +0000

Tomorrow (May 1st, 2012), I will be hosting two LIVE online sessions: Adobe Creative Cloud For Designers:

Tuesday May 1, 2012 at 10am Pacific and 5pm Pacific (GMT -7), 1PM and 8PM Eastern (GMT -4)

Join Terry White, Adobe Worldwide Design Evangelist, to see Adobe Creative Cloud and the new features in Creative Suite 6 in action. Learn how you can create at lightning speed thanks to new performance engines in Photoshop Extended and Illustrator. See how to quickly create multiple layouts from a single set of content in Adobe InDesign CS6. And discover Adobe Muse, for designing HTML websites without writing code including 400+ web fonts served by Typekit that make it a breeze to include distinctive typography in your site design.

It’s FREE, Register Here

Best App Site Gets a Make Over

Terry White — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 04:11:57 +0000

Along with reviewing technology and gadgets, I also review mobile apps. When the App Store came out a few years ago I started doing an “App of the Week” here on my blog. However, I realized that one iOS App per week just wouldn’t cut it seeing how there there hundreds if not thousands of Apps being released every week. So I decided to setup a dedicated site Best App Site so that App reviews could happen more regularly and also not tie up space here for reviews that some may have no interest in. One of Best App Site’s co-authors and web designer Erik Bernskiold just overhauled the site with a new look and feel. Aside from making the site more appealing to the eye, Erik also did quite a bit a work on the backend to make it easier for us to post reviews and to make it easier for visitors to find the reviews they want. The New Best App Site also is even more mobile friendly with a fluid design that quickly adapts to tablets and smartphones.

A big thanks to Erik and I hope that all of you enjoy the new site as much as I do! Head over to bestappsite.com and check it out.

Wow (aka ¡¡moM) Gracias Ciudad de México

Terry White — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:59:55 +0000

Although I’m on the go again, I had to take a moment to thank the great people of México City for coming out to our Adobe CS6 and Creative Cloud launch event!

On behalf of Greg Rewis, Paul Trani and myself, you made us feel very welcomed and we had a great time showing off Adobe CS6 and Creative Cloud. México City came out in full force and filled the venue. Although the event was several hours in length, practically everyone stayed till the end!

It was also a nice surprise to see Adobe Mexico go all out and get into the theme of CS6 with their very own CS6 Models

No matter how much time we have to present there are always things that we don’t get a chance to show. Therefore be sure to check out my Adobe Creative Suite Video Podcast and Adobe TV.

Imagine my surprise when someone handed me this sketch by @rayacosta! I was both flattered and honored. Thanks Ray!

This was a great start to the CS6 Tour, Thanks both São Paulo and México City! Home for a couple of days and then off to Europe, Argentina, Chile and South Africa! Stay tuned to the events section on the sidebar of my blog for details.

Thank You Sau Paulo Brazil!

Terry White — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:24:38 +0000

photo by Greg Rewis

Photo by Denise Sammarone

Photo by Luciana Vecchi

Wow! What an amazing event we had here in Brazil last night. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of you who came out to our event. I had a blast showing Adobe Creative Suite 6 and Creative Cloud.

Both Greg Rewis and I always have a great time presenting to the Brazil audiences.

A packed house!

It’s always good to see my young friend Breno!

The crowd was really excited to see Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Muse and our new Web technologies. I had fun showing off the many of he new features including a live PS Touch demo with Creative Cloud.

It’s bright and early as we head to the airport and on to Mexico City!

Adobe Announces Creative Suite 6 and Creative Cloud

Terry White — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 04:11:03 +0000

Today Adobe announces Creative Suite 6 and Creative Cloud. Watch the LIVE WEBCAST here TODAY (4/23/2012) at 10AM PT (GMT -7)!

There’s a lot to talk about and I’m sure we’ll spend the next few months here on my blog, on my Adobe Creative Suite Podcast and social media talking about all that’s new. I thought I would kick things off with my Top 6 Favorite Features in InDesign CS6, Illustrator CS6 and of course Photoshop CS6.

Adobe Illustrator CS6 – My Top 6 Favorite Features

Adobe InDesign CS6 – My Top 6 Favorite Features

Adobe Photoshop CS6 – My Top 6 Favorite Features (repeat)

Sneak Peek: Adobe Illustrator CS6 – Gradient Strokes

Terry White — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 04:11:18 +0000

Review: Jambox Portable Bluetooth Speaker

Terry White — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 04:11:14 +0000

It seems that I’m always on the look out for the ultimate portable travel speaker and I’ve reviewed quite a few here. With each one I think I’ve found the right one, that is until I find the next one. The Jambox is not a new product. However, for some reason I resisted it until recently. I was in my local Apple Store picking up something else and I saw the Jambox on the rack. I was immediately drawn in by the compact size. It’s much smaller than I thought it would be. Next thing you know I was doing the self check out using the Apple Store App on my iPhone and I was out the door.

I got back to my office and charged it up. One thing I appreciated right off the bat over previous speakers that I’ve reviewed here was the minimal amount of cords/cables. Other speakers that I’ve tried that separate and have a cable attached between them kinda bother me. The Jambox comes with a thin stereo cable to attach to your computer, mobile device or other music source. However, since this is a Bluetooth speaker that cable is totally optional. The only other cable is the standard micro USB cable for charging. Once you charge it up and disconnect the USB cable there are no other cables required to listen to your tunes wirelessly.

How does it sound?

I expected the sound to be good and it was. However, the bass was better than I expected for such a small box. I had no problem pairing it with my iPhone and iPad and the music playback from the Music app and Pandora app was flawless. No skips or drop outs.

Speaker phone bonus

If you do pair it with your smartphone you can also use it as a bluetooth speakerphone. There’s a dedicated answer call button right on the top of the Jambox. My iPhone 4s rang while the music was playing. It paused the music and I just tapped the button on top to answer the call via the built-in speaker phone. Nice!

The Bottom Line

I know I’ve said this before, but this time I really mean it (until I find a better one ), this is hands down my favorite portable speaker for travel. It’s small, sounds good, charges via USB, works wirelessly, and can be used for my conference calls.

You can get the Jambox here in Black, Red, Blue or Grey for $179.43 ($199.99 list price)

Terry White's Tech Blog

CloudFTP Lets You Share a Hard Drive Wirelessly with Your Devices, even your iPad

The Bottom Line

Adobe CS6 Creative Cloud World Tour – Thank You Helsinki & Stockholm

Adobe Creative Cloud is Now Available

Adobe Lightroom 4 Now Available in the Mac App Store

Adobe CS6 Tour: Copenhagen – Thank You

Adobe Creative Suite 6 Ships Today! Let me show it to you…

Join Me on the Adobe CS6 and Creative Cloud World Tour

Related show

Watch the Replay of my Adobe CS6 & Creative Cloud for Designers Seminar in My App

Join Me for a LIVE Online Webcast: Adobe Creative Cloud For Designers

Best App Site Gets a Make Over

Wow (aka ¡¡moM) Gracias Ciudad de México

Thank You Sau Paulo Brazil!

photo by Greg Rewis

Photo by Denise Sammarone

Photo by Luciana Vecchi

Adobe Announces Creative Suite 6 and Creative Cloud

Adobe Illustrator CS6 – My Top 6 Favorite Features

Adobe InDesign CS6 – My Top 6 Favorite Features

Adobe Photoshop CS6 – My Top 6 Favorite Features (repeat)

Sneak Peek: Adobe Illustrator CS6 – Gradient Strokes

Review: Jambox Portable Bluetooth Speaker

How does it sound?

Speaker phone bonus

The Bottom Line