Access Your Mac from Anywhere

Today is the day that I started [took over] my first open source project: WelcomeToYourMac (formerlyTelekinesis). The goal of the project is to give you secure remote access to your Mac from any web-browser. Install this app on your Mac, and you can remotely browse your files, control your screen, and stream your media! Basically, a poor man’s GoToMyPC for a Mac 🙂 And the best part of all, it works great on your iPhone!

“How does it work?” you ask? Pretty simple: it just sets up an Apache/PHP server on your mac and installs a fancy web front-end to your computer. You get a https://youripaddress:someport/ type URL that you can access from anywhere, and it’s all password protected over SSL.

Other fun features: it’s extensible, so it’s easy to add in new functionality with minimal programming. My goal is to provide some solid basic functionality and provide an API and documentation for 3rd party integration. While the core functionality is essentially already there from the Telekinesis project, I’m spending my first chunk of time fancying it up and tidying up the code to provide a standard API.

“Great, Adam, why would I ever use this?” I’m glad you asked!

1. Problem: You arrive at work and realize you left your presentation file on your home computer
   Solution: Just log in and download it!
2. Problem: You want to send a large file to a friend, but it’s too big for email
   Solution: Use WelcomeToYouMac to generate a secure temporary download URL to send to your friend
3. Problem: You forgot to sync your favorite movies to your iPod/Laptop before leaving on vacation/trip
   Solution: Stream your favorite movies straight to your laptop
4. Problem: You’re away on vacation for a few weeks, and forgot to turn the lights out
   Solution: Remotely turn off lights and appliances with [coming soon? 😉 ] X10 plugin built with the API
5. Problem: You want access to all of your stuff in the palm of your hand no matter where you are – all of the time
   Solution: WelcomeToYourMac!