10.3: Share digital devices via Image Capture

Oct 28, '03 09:42:00AM

Contributed by: robg

Eric K. submitted this one to me via email, and it's pretty amazing. I hadn't heard a thing about it prior to receiving his email, which I found surprising.

Launch Image Capture and go into Preferences and click on the Sharing tab, and you'll see any connected digital devices, as seen in the screenshot (click the image for a larger version). Check the 'Share my devices' box, then check the box next to each device, then finally check the 'Enable Web-Sharing' box at the bottom of the page. Create a shared name, add a password, and click OK.

At this point, you should quit Image Capture on the current machine (otherwise the devices will appear busy on other Macs). Go to a second machine, and you can do some pretty cool stuff.

As seen at right, you can browse, download, and delete images from a digital camera via a web browser. If your camera has a power source and the ability to take images at regular intervals, you could probably create a simple webcam using this technology!

Sharing a scanner is even more interesting when you consider a multi-Mac home or a small office. Instead of having to give up the machine you're working on so someone can scan, just enable sharing of the scanner. The other user then loads the printwork in the scanner, launches Image Capture, and uses the device as if it were directly connected. I tested this at home via AirPort on our PowerBook, and it worked perfectly! Each user who wishes to use the shared scanner must enable the "Look for shared devices" checkbox in Image Capture's prefs, and then select Devices -> Browse Shared Devices to use the scanner. You can even (again, in the Prefs) enable a password to prevent unauthorized use.

Pretty amazing to find that this was included in Panther and yet not publicized...

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