screensharing

Whether you're looking for an easy solution to fix a relatives' computer half the world away, or you need to collaborate with a colleague for your latest project, there are several strong screen-sharing programs that can meet your needs.

First off is a familiar name: Skype. The latest beta of the world-famous VoIP app supports screen-sharing, and if you've ever been in a Internet cafe, you know that this could be a big deal. Skype is already heavily used in a multitude of countries to connect friends, family, and business partners via voice and text. Screen-sharing would simply … Read more

Yuuguu's approach to screen-sharing goes straight through your instant messaging clients, although they're not required to run the program. It's a multiprotocol messaging program that supports the biggest IM services--Yahoo, MSN, Google, AIM, ICQ, and Skype--in the hopes that rolling the services into one package will appeal to resource-conscience users.

When you want to initiate a sharing session, you click on the users' name and share the provided code. As with its competitors, both sides must agree to the share before it can begin. Unfortunately, Yuuguu doesn't support file-sharing, although you can transfer files via IM. … Read more

In its latest beta release last week, Skype received a much more ambitious feature than it did in its most recent major Windows update, Skype 4.0. In addition to bringing back birthday reminders, Skype 4.1 beta introduced screen sharing.

While choppy transmission and the limitations of broadcasting your screen to one contact at a time makes the feature best for casual desktop demonstrations rather than for serious collaboration or intense troubleshooting, screen sharing in Skype's free VoIP application is nevertheless one more engaging way to connect to friends and colleagues across the miles. Since the application is … Read more

CrossLoop is a smooth, free, and lightweight screen- and file-sharing program, formerly available only for Windows users. Earlier this month, a Mac beta version debuted offering the same features. Besides extending the feature set to Macs, the PC and Mac versions can talk to each other and share across platforms.

For those unfamiliar with the program, which uses 128-bit encryption, you're given a unique and random 12-digit access code each time you start the program. You can then share your username and code to allow somebody else to access your computer, or input another user's info to access … Read more

Webex's core product MeetMeNow was quietly updated last night with some new features. New on the list is support for Webcams (both PC and Mac), which will automatically be detected and let the conference host know who's got video-conferencing capabilities. They've also condensed all video into one area of the interface, where the host can choose which cameras get broadcasted to others in the meeting. It's a quirky system, and not nearly as advanced as some of the collaborative services that offer up multiple user Webcams at the same time like Octopz (review), or even chat … Read more

What makes a cell phone more than a phone? What it can do. Software can elevate your plastic slider, candy bar, or PDA above its earthly mechanics and turn it into the kind of dream machine that entertains you and organizes your life.

Consider, for example, ListPro (for Pocket PC, Palm, and Smartphone), a handy organizer with a slew of built-in, customizable list templates for managing everything from your shopping to your calendar to the sudden surge of brilliance that will eventually lead to that multimillion-dollar idea. No really, it can do that.… Read more