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Updated Jul 16, 2007 by jnj
Labels: Featured, Phase-Deploy
MediaStreaming  
Media streaming with telekinesis

Streaming video and audio

If you store movie or music files on your computer, you can watch and listen to them on your iPhone using telekinesis after enabling the feature in the preference pane. This feature is off by default for security reasons, please see below.

The files you play have to be supported by the iPhone:

Over EDGE you stream media in real time up to 160kbits (in practice 80-100 however.)

To play a media file, simply touch it in the file browser mode. The CoreMedia (Quicktime plugin) player will launch and start to buffer the media. You can use other applications (Mail, Phone, etc) while the media is playing but you cannot navigate to other MobileSafari pages.

As of now there is no way to stream playlists or queue multiple files.

If you have any problems or improvements, please let us know at the discussion group:

http://groups.google.com/group/telekinesis-discuss

Caveats of media streaming

The iPhone doesn't appear to accept media encrypted with a self signed certificate. To enable streaming, iPhone Remote needs to send it insecurely.

If you choose to enable this feature, anyone can connect to your machine to access m4b, m4v, m4a, mov, and mp3 files if they can access your computer and know the full path to the file

Do not enable this unless you are sure your network is secure.

You can enable this feature in the preference pane. Hit "Restart Server" after checking the box.


Comment by r...@widstrand.com, Jul 16, 2007

"enabling the featue in the prefs pane" ... Do you think you could be a bit more specific? Iphone? Desktop? Sytem prefs? Where and how. Thanks russ

Comment by r...@widstrand.com, Jul 16, 2007

"enabling the featue in the prefs pane" ... Do you think you could be a bit more specific? Iphone? Desktop? Sytem prefs? Where and how. Thanks russ

Comment by r...@widstrand.com, Jul 16, 2007

"enabling the featue in the prefs pane" ... Do you think you could be a bit more specific? Iphone? Desktop? Sytem prefs? Where and how. Thanks russ

Comment by r...@widstrand.com, Jul 16, 2007

"enabling the featue in the prefs pane" ... Do you think you could be a bit more specific? Iphone? Desktop? Sytem prefs? Where and how. Thanks russ

Comment by wakkoroti, Jul 17, 2007

In the iPhone Remote preferences click on "Share Media Insecurely."

Comment by wakkoroti, Jul 17, 2007

In the iPhone Remote preferences click on "Share Media Insecurely."

Comment by ckornell, Jul 21, 2007

This is pretty cool, do you guys have any idea how you will make it secure?

Comment by wenreagan, Jul 22, 2007

any chance of getting a PC client up and running... simply to work with the PC version of itunes? though I have a macbook pro, my entire music library is on my desktop PC. or, alternatively, can telekenesis stream music from a mac (macbook pro) that is then pulling music (via itunes shared library over LAN) from a PC?

thanks!

Comment by wenreagan, Jul 22, 2007

any chance of getting a PC client up and running... simply to work with the PC version of itunes? though I have a macbook pro, my entire music library is on my desktop PC. or, alternatively, can telekenesis stream music from a mac (macbook pro) that is then pulling music (via itunes shared library over LAN) from a PC?

thanks!

Comment by john.g.muehlhausen, Jul 24, 2007

We need to be able to turn on and off streaming from the iPhone interface in a secure section. That way the media can become available when we want it to be (and not when not) from a remote location.

Comment by iPhoneAppCreator, Jul 26, 2007

actually, to make it more secure, what i did was make an applescript that launches iphone remote (and my ip address updating application so i can access it over edge). then i made a rule in Mail so when i send an email to myself with the subject saying "Run Telekinesis" (or whatever i set it to), it will launch iphone remote. when i am finished, i can send another email saying "exit iphone remote", telling it to quit. to make an apple script like this, you need to open applescript, and type, "tell application "iphone remote" to run". then compile it, then save it. set a rule in mail preferences, and set it to run iphone remote when an email comes from you that says "run iphone remote" or whatever. the applescript exit it would be "tell application "iphone remote" to quit". do the same thing, and this way you can choose when you want iphone remote on and off

Comment by iPhoneAppCreator, Jul 26, 2007

actually, to make it more secure, what i did was make an applescript that launches iphone remote (and my ip address updating application so i can access it over edge). then i made a rule in Mail so when i send an email to myself with the subject saying "Run Telekinesis" (or whatever i set it to), it will launch iphone remote. when i am finished, i can send another email saying "exit iphone remote", telling it to quit. to make an apple script like this, you need to open applescript, and type, "tell application "iphone remote" to run". then compile it, then save it. set a rule in mail preferences, and set it to run iphone remote when an email comes from you that says "run iphone remote" or whatever. the applescript exit it would be "tell application "iphone remote" to quit". do the same thing, and this way you can choose when you want iphone remote on and off

Comment by iPhoneAppCreator, Jul 26, 2007

actually, to make it more secure, what i did was make an applescript that launches iphone remote (and my ip address updating application so i can access it over edge). then i made a rule in Mail so when i send an email to myself with the subject saying "Run Telekinesis" (or whatever i set it to), it will launch iphone remote. when i am finished, i can send another email saying "exit iphone remote", telling it to quit. to make an apple script like this, you need to open applescript, and type, "tell application "iphone remote" to run". then compile it, then save it. set a rule in mail preferences, and set it to run iphone remote when an email comes from you that says "run iphone remote" or whatever. the applescript exit it would be "tell application "iphone remote" to quit". do the same thing, and this way you can choose when you want iphone remote on and off

Comment by rocknvrdie, Jul 26, 2007

I am not sure how to make it insecure so I can get the media files. Maybe some step by step for us non savvy people.

Comment by klaus.lovgreen, Jul 26, 2007

I can't browse to my machine - are there any specific settings on the Mac firewall?

Comment by klaus.lovgreen, Jul 26, 2007

I can't browse to my machine - are there any specific settings on the Mac firewall?

Comment by klaus.lovgreen, Jul 26, 2007

I can't browse to my machine - are there any specific settings on the Mac firewall?

Comment by klaus.lovgreen, Jul 26, 2007

I can't browse to my machine - are there any specific settings on the Mac firewall?

Comment by mike.mcwhorter, Jul 29, 2007

klaus,

You have to unblock port 5010. Open up System Preferences, click "Sharing", then "Firewall". Add a new firewall rule to allow TCP connections to port 5010. Do the same for port 5012 if you want to stream audio insecurely.

If you're using an airport or other router, you also have to configure port forwarding so that requests will be forwarded to the correct internal address.

Comment by mike.mcwhorter, Jul 29, 2007

Here's an idea... Since the iPhone doesn't accept self-signed certs for streaming media, is there a way to import a certificate that's been signed by a certificate authority? It's a bit more work, but would be MUCH safer than giving the entire world unrestricted access to your PC.

BTW... hat tip to the developers. You guys have done an outstanding job.

Comment by superhightechjetfighter, Jul 29, 2007

Great app! Can't wait to see were this goes.

Can you post your Applescript files for your run and quit mail rules?

Keep up the great work!

Comment by superhightechjetfighter, Jul 29, 2007

Great app! Can't wait to see were this goes.

Can you post your Applescript files for your run and quit mail rules?

Keep up the great work!

Comment by superhightechjetfighter, Jul 29, 2007

Great app! Can't wait to see were this goes.

Can you post your Applescript files for your run and quit mail rules?

Keep up the great work!

Comment by superhightechjetfighter, Jul 29, 2007

Great app! Can't wait to see were this goes.

Can you post your Applescript files for your run and quit mail rules?

Keep up the great work!

Comment by scottrowe, Jul 30, 2007

Wow, amazing...

Comment by chadsteruw, Aug 02, 2007

Hey iPhoneAppCreator...

I'm trying to follow your instructions on automating iPhone Remote, but i'm stuck after running iphone remote with applescript, how do you get it to Start Remote? there's no scripts to run that..

Thanks

Comment by chadsteruw, Aug 02, 2007

Hey iPhoneAppCreator...

I'm trying to follow your instructions on automating iPhone Remote, but i'm stuck after running iphone remote with applescript, how do you get it to Start Remote? there's no scripts to run that..

Thanks

Comment by chadsteruw, Aug 02, 2007

Hey iPhoneAppCreator...

I'm trying to follow your instructions on automating iPhone Remote, but i'm stuck after running iphone remote with applescript, how do you get it to Start Remote? there's no scripts to run that..

Thanks

Comment by cjp767, Aug 02, 2007

fantastic program. I am able to stream movies to the iphone, but they must be in the home folder or startup disk. Is there a way to stream from an external drive? I keep most of my movies on a firewire drive and cannot access them remotely. I have tried creating an alias, but that does not seem to work remotely, but works when sitting at the computer.

Comment by cjp767, Aug 03, 2007

in answer to my previous post, a workaround exists. Click "issues" at the top of this page, and look at item #74 in the Issues list.

Comment by cariocakev, Aug 08, 2007

Hi developers and users. I added the following strings to info.plist to hide the (well-designed) icon from the dock when running. This way it's more compelling to run the iPhone Remote app as a startup item:

<key>LSUIElement</key> <string>1</string>

To do this, right (or ctrl) click the iPhone Remote app icon and select "Show Package Contents." Inside the Contents folder is a file called Info.plist. Open it in a text editor and paste the two lines shown above at the end of the list, but before these two lines:

</dict> </plist>

Save and close the file. For the change to take effect, temporarily put the app on the desktop and open it. You shouldn't see the icon in the dock. To double check that it's running you can run the "top" command in Terminal or open Activity Monitor (in the Utilities folder) and ask it to show "My Processes" from the drop-down menu at top. If you see it running you can then put the app file anywhere you like.

Yes, there is a minor security issue with leaving the app running all the time wile the port is open. So be sure to use a nicely complex password for access at least. And set the login item only when needed.

If you need to quit iPhone Remote before shutting down, open Activity Monitor, pull the drop-down to My Processes and find iPhone Remote from the list (or use the search box at top). Select the app from the list and click the Quit Process button on the window's top left.

Happy remote access!

Comment by ybahman, Aug 14, 2007

Hi, im having some trouble with this if anyone could help i would really appreciate it i want to take part in this, its going to go far. anyway when i try and connect to my computer "https://myIP:5010" i am unable to actually connect with it and i get the error "safari could not open the page becaue the server stopped responding" after it tries to load it for about five minutes the thing is that i can actually get it on my computer though after numerous attempts. i dont know maybe my ports are closed but my firewall isnt active. if it still might be affecting it what should i put for my portname/type TCP and UDP Thank you! -Yashar

oh ps im running 10.4.8 jas with an alienware if that affects it

Comment by canno...@comcast.net, Aug 24, 2007

Pretty cool app, saw your utube video too.

Would you like to see ours.

Http://mooncatventures.blogspot.com

Comment by canno...@comcast.net, Aug 24, 2007

Pretty cool app, saw your utube video too.

Would you like to see ours.

Http://mooncatventures.blogspot.com

Comment by canno...@comcast.net, Aug 24, 2007

Pretty cool app, saw your utube video too.

Would you like to see ours.

Http://mooncatventures.blogspot.com

Comment by beeryce, Sep 15, 2007

Maybe i'm a little slow, but i can't figure out how to get the media to stream on my iPhone. I can see the files, but when i click on them it says it can't connect to the server. When i click the open button, it just opens them on my actual computer rather than the iPhone. Halp plz?

Comment by beeryce, Sep 15, 2007

Maybe i'm a little slow, but i can't figure out how to get the media to stream on my iPhone. I can see the files, but when i click on them it says it can't connect to the server. When i click the open button, it just opens them on my actual computer rather than the iPhone. Halp plz?

Comment by beeryce, Sep 15, 2007

Maybe i'm a little slow, but i can't figure out how to get the media to stream on my iPhone. I can see the files, but when i click on them it says it can't connect to the server. When i click the open button, it just opens them on my actual computer rather than the iPhone. Halp plz?

Comment by AndrewVPetrov, Sep 16, 2007

To browse files on another hard drive: 1. Open telekinesis, connect iPhone to your comp, click on the "files" icon. 2. Select the URL bar. Replace whatever follows "dir=" with "/Volumes" 3. Open media files on any drive.

Comment by AndrewVPetrov, Sep 16, 2007

To browse files on another hard drive: 1. Open telekinesis, connect iPhone to your comp, click on the "files" icon. 2. Select the URL bar. Replace whatever follows "dir=" with "/Volumes" 3. Open media files on any drive.

Comment by evilremy...@yahoo.com, Oct 02, 2007

ok can someone provide a step by step process to enabling this app after downloading the zip. I have created access to the two ports put still cant connect im using the new airport extreme base station if that makes a difference

Comment by evilremy...@yahoo.com, Oct 02, 2007

ok can someone provide a step by step process to enabling this app after downloading the zip. I have created access to the two ports put still cant connect im using the new airport extreme base station if that makes a difference

Comment by magicseth, Oct 11, 2007

Do you think it would be possible to turn media sharing on or off from the secure part of the server. That way it would only be insecure while I was using it?

Comment by anansi123, Oct 12, 2007

magicseth, yeah follow iPhoneAppCreators suggestion and activate thru mail with applescripts. I wrote a script for it. but where do i upload it?

Comment by geordi...@aol.com, Nov 04, 2007

Well, nothing works since I installed leopard.

Comment by j...@netmac.net, Nov 09, 2007

I am using it on Leopard and the only thing I see that is broken for sure is running applications app.. I suspect it is something changed in the assistave devices part of Universal Access.

Comment by j...@netmac.net, Nov 09, 2007

What I need help with is getting a handler application running that USUALLY get placed into an httpd.config file in the form of an action and add handler:

Action xxx /cgi-bin/nph-xhelper AddHandler? xxx .xxx

where xxx is the app name and .xxx is its filetype (extension)

what is the best way to do this.

Comment by opticwebdesign, Nov 21, 2007

Any chance of steaming live images from the isight cam??

Comment by brendan.buchanan, Dec 02, 2007

Hi I have accessed my imac locally but not tried away from home yet. Only problems I can't get the media to stream to me iphone. I can open and view on the remote desktop but can't play itunes via streaming to iphone. Please help. I have both 5010 and 5012 ports opened to my computer.

I must be turning simple in my old age so please take it setp by step.

Comment by brendan.buchanan, Dec 02, 2007

I have individual mp3/aac playing now by navigating through folders is this the only/correct way to steam to iphone?

Can I create a playlist to play more than 1 track?

Comment by kaiser.ik, Dec 03, 2007

Hi,

Same as brendan.buchanan

Works with everything except streaming medias... Any idea ?

Comment by ericpe...@hotmail.com, Dec 04, 2007

wow, remote streaming is really great! very kewl app!

thanks! ~Eric

Comment by d.dvir10, Dec 18, 2007

i'm having trouble accessing away from my home network, i run airport express and i'm not sure exactly what it doesnt seem to be working when i put in my ip... i'm not sure what the problem is, works perfectly when i'm at home though, and i use my local address

Comment by ssuk08, Jan 02, 2008

this is amazing. i love that i can spy on the people in my office when i am out ( i have 4 computers hooked up all with isight)

( i dont leave the software on when i am not using it though!!)

Comment by nick146, Jan 05, 2008

Works really well-great job!

Comment by randydarabosh, Jan 07, 2008

It's not often that something really rocks my world. You did it today though. Great job.!!!!!!!! THX

Comment by nathan.schindler, Jan 23, 2008

I spent the last ten minute wondering why everything worked except for the isight. I eventually remembered that I am testing this on a G5 iMac that doesn't have a camera. Oh well you can't win them all. Great App

Comment by dutchbassoonduo, Jan 26, 2008

Given that ports are no longer set in the Leopard System Preferences, how do you set this up and no which port is being used? The step by step listed before no longer seems like it applies. Could someone smart type a step-by-step procedure assuming the use of a router, maybe with a dynamic IP address, and pointing to a specific mac on a network? I've seen this work and it's great. I want it, too. Thanks and keep up the great work!

Comment by crelli...@earthlink.net, Jan 27, 2008

I've set up a new DYNDNS forwarding Accout, hoping to use it with my iPhone Remote. I've successfully used this procedure with my EyeTV remote viewing but I'm lacking some info on the iPhone Remote setup.

1. Can anyone tell me what the URL would be? Something along the lines of http://[my account from DynDns?]:5010/???? .

2. Also, I added "iPhone Remote" to the 10.5 firewall. Is this correct or do I need to do something else? Since individual ports can no longer be opened, I don't know what else to do.

Would appreciate any help to get through from outside my local network.

Please: A relatively detailed explanation would help.

Thanks,

Charles Elliott

Comment by namjam105, Feb 07, 2008

Add Source installer : http://iphonebaidu.com/app/ Test iPhone - iPhone Simulator : http://iphonebaidu.com/test/ All Software for Apple MAC : http://iphonebaidu.com/mac-iphone/ All Software for Apple iPhone : http://iphonebaidu.com/mac-iphone/iphone.html

Install iTransformy (.swf) view for iPhone : http://iphonebaidu.com/beta/ Forum iPhone : http://iphonebaidu.com/forum/

Copyright © 2008 iPhone Baidu! Inc. All rights reserved

Comment by olidads1, Feb 08, 2008

I am loving this app but I would really love to get hold of the script allowing me to open/close the app via email - as mentioned by IphoneAppCreator?. Has anyone got one they can share with me. I might try to write my own but right now it seems a bit too complicated for my brain. Thanks guys

Comment by Lomllover, Feb 21, 2008

I have a Netgear router and I've opened up the ports done all it says and still can't access my mac away from my local network, does anyone have any idea why? It works just fine inside my house, but when I get outside it wont connect. Any tips?

Comment by ChrisTall109, Mar 08, 2008

Hey Man,

GREAT APP I LOVE IT SO MUCH!

Now that the SDK for the iPhone is out, do you think you will create a native telekinesis app? It would be awsome. Just some how make it native to enhance it, like the screen sharing could be better with this.

Again great app.

Comment by ludeman1, Mar 25, 2008

Hi, This is a great app! Since getting my iPhone the day it was released in the UK it just keeps getting better. Anyway, on to my problem. I have got everything working and it is streaming all my media (using dyna dns) except for all of the 3gp movies that i converted for streaming over edge. The phone keeps saying "Forbidden, you do not have permission to access .3gp on this server". I know the files are o.k. as i was streaming using a service called WeBot?. Thank you for all the work you have done with this app and any advice you may have.

Comment by kelvinky.ho, Jun 16, 2008

@wenreagan...

You can always mount your PC desktop's volume on your mac when connecting it with lan...

Comment by adam.wulf, Jul 01 (5 days ago)

I talked with JNJ, and I've begun development on this project (under a different name) at http://code.google.com/p/welcometoyourmac/

I've made some fairly significant changes to the PHP front-end, so thought it best to fork the project into a new one. Suggestions/Input/Help wanted. thanks!

Comment by CologneLaw, Jul 03 (3 days ago)

If you wouldn`t need to run your mac (to save some energy while you are absent) an implementation of the afp protocol to access AirDisc? (HDD on APE BS) would be great.


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