News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

August 7, 2008

software

Searchlight is Spotlight from a distance

Posted Aug. 7, ’08, 9:36 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Software

searchlight.jpgWe’ve covered a number of handy add-ons for Spotlight that let you do things like search Google Docs, but Gravity Software’s $100 Searchlight goes in the opposite direction—it lets you perform a Spotlight search of files on your Mac from anywhere—wait for it…wait for it—in the world (presumably).

Here’s how it works: when you activate Searchlight, it starts a webserver that’s accessible on your local network via Bonjour (or, if you set up your network correctly, the Internet at large). Go to the server address, and you’ll be asked to login with your user ID and password, at which point you’ll be provided with a web-based interface for searching your files. Upon retrieving your results, you’ll have the option to preview a file, get information about it, or download it—Searchlight even gives them snazzy thumbnail images that look like what you might see in the Finder.

Searchlight’s a pretty cool idea, but I have some reservations. For one thing, it looks like your username and password are transmitted unencrypted, which is a bit worrying, especially when it’s also the information for your Mac’s account. Performance isn’t too bad, though if you’re searching through a bunch of movie files, be prepared for the thumbnails to take a while to show up. Also, at $100, the price is a bit steep, especially when Leopard allows you to search Macs on your local network via Spotlight anyway. But if you’re in a mixed environment, or you want to search your files from a separate location, Searchlight might be useful.


1 Comments

Smoking Chimpanzees! said:

While this is super cool n all, I would much prefer the Back-to-my-Mac thing. At least with that you don't have to remember IP addresses and all that. Although, that again needs to be configured properly to work.

August 7, 2008 11:15 AM

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