Teleprompter Mode

Using Air Display with a Teleprompter

With Air Display 3.4, you can use an iPad with a teleprompter. The point of a teleprompter is to let you look right into your screen while recording a video or engaging in a video conference. It’s so much more personal than looking down away from the camera to see the screen. Teleprompters typically employ a two-way mirror, which lets a camera see through the mirror while reflecting a display image.

An example of a teleprompter

Now as you know, a mirror reflection flips your image. There are two flavors of teleprompters. One flips vertically (as shown above), the other horizontally. So if you have text on your teleprompter, it’s unreadable to those of us without bizarre visual inversion skills.

How can Air Display help?

As it turns out, lots of people have been using Air Display with a teleprompter. Some use it in Zoom video conferences so they can look directly into the eyes of the other participants, and some use it to record podcasts, and others to record professional video talking heads. The trouble has been that the image appears flipped on their screen. So we’ve decided to solve that problem.

As of Air Display 3.4, we’ve added a new Teleprompter Mode feature to make Air Display a simple but powerful tool for teleprompter users.

Now you can look straight into the eyes of your audience, and no longer look inattentive or dull-witted.

Wow. Where can I get a teleprompter?

You can buy a decent, solid teleprompter for under $200, You can make your own for about $4 with parts from the Dollar Store. (Or of course you can spend ungodly sums at pro gear shops that sell $100,000 camera heads.)

Here are some of our favorites teleprompters:

How do people use this?

Here are a couple of photos of Martin Renaud, Founder and CEO of Live Video Events in Queensland, Australia, using a teleprompter in a professional setting.

Martin says: As a live streaming specialist, we’ve been using AirDisplay 3 at Live Video Events as a confidence monitor with our production cameras for ZOOM, Meet, Teams, Skype and other similar services. The main advantage of this setup is that you can keep constant eye contact with your viewers while looking directly into the barrel of the camera through the teleprompter glass. No more wondering eyes and odd stares…

We are using a Prompt Box teleprompter with a legacy iPad Mini 4 (which is not supported by Apple Sidecar) but any device that can accept an iPad or an iPhone will do the trick! You simply need to connect Airdisplay and move the display screen of your software to the iPad teleprompter; select Teleprompter Mode in AirDisplay Host. Et voilà!

For those who create video content through those platforms we also offer a fast and reliable editing service where we cut up, title and reformat up to 20 social media clips per hour of your content for Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and LinkedIn. Contact us at info@livevideoevents.com.au for details and pricing. 🙂

Which client apps does this work with?

At the moment, this feature is only functional in the iOS client app. It requires the latest Mac host software, version 3.4 or later. If you are interested in seeing screen flipping added to Air Display’s Android, Windows, or macOS client apps, please let us know.

Pro Tips

What to watch for when shopping for a teleprompter:

  • Check if it supports your camera. Some work with smartphones; some require tripod-mounted digital cameras.
  • Make sure you get a tripod if you need one.

Other ways to improve your video conference and podcast quality:

  • Lighting. Don’t forget lighting! Just put a soft lamp or two behind and to the side of your camera.
  • Backdrops. For $20 you can buy a backdrop with a classical library or a simple gradient. Your audience doesn’t want to see your bedroom (unless your podcast is fairly specialized).
  • Audio. AirPods Pro are nice but a desktop USB mic or lavalier is better.

Air Display update available with critical bug fix

AirDisplay

A couple of days ago we introduced version 3.3.3 of Air Display for iOS. It had improvements aplenty, but unfortunately it also introduced a crash bug. We scrambled to fix that, and last night version 3.3.4 went live. If you are seeing a crash bug, please update Air Display 3 in the App Store.

If you are using Air Display for Mac, please update that as well, to version 3.3.3 in the Mac App Store.

And there’s a new version 3.3.3 of the Air Display Host software for your main Mac. Download Air Display Host.

Air Display on Catalina

 

UPDATE: This post is no longer accurate. We fixed this installer bug in April 2020. The latest Air Display host software works fine on Catalina.

 

The Air Display host software works great on Catalina once it’s installed. But unfortunately there’s an issue with our installer on Catalina. When you try to install Air Display, Catalina will block our installer, claiming it’s incompatible.

We are working on resolving this installer issue, but at this moment, it requires a workaround. We are very close to releasing this new version of the installer [UPDATE: As of April 9, we thought we had it done today but found a show-stopper bug.] So if you can, I would recommend just waiting a couple of days. And when we will release a new Air Display Host Software installer, we will send out a newsletter with more details. If you haven’t already, please consider signing up for our newsletter at the bottom of the Avatron home page. (Don’t worry; we don’t send out newsletters very often.)

If you really don’t want to wait, then in the meantime, you can install the Air Display Host with this workaround:

INSTALLER WORKAROUND

  1. Restart in recovery mode: Hold down ⌘R during startup.
  2. Launch Terminal: In the MacOS Utilities screen, pull down the Utilities menu from the top of the screen and choose Terminal.
  3. Enter this command (followed by the Return key), to temporarily disable SIP (System Integrity Protection):
    • csrutil disable
  4. Restart Catalina.
  5. Launch Terminal, this time from the Applications ▸ Utilities folder.
  6. Enter this command to unmount the installer volume:
    • sudo mount -uw /
  7. When prompted, enter your Mac password. You will not see it on the screen.
  8. Install Air Display host and ignore the error message that Air Display Host is not suitable for this MacOS.
  9. Restart. (Now you can use Air Display host on Catalina. Not just for now, but even after the following steps.)
  10. Restart once more in recovery mode: Hold down ⌘R during startup.
  11. Use Terminal a final time to execute this command, to reenable SIP (you really do want SIP enabled, generally):
    • csrutil disable
  12. Retart.

One more thing: After installing, normally all will be well, but on some Macs you will only see the desktop image on the Air Display screen, onto which you can drag the cursor but no windows or Finder icons. If this is the case, there’s one more step. To get the Air Display screen to update properly, you will just need to enable Screen Recording in the privacy settings. Apple has locked this down a bit recently. Please go to System Preferences ▸ Security & Privacy ▸ Privacy ▸ Screen Recording. You should see Air Display Host listed in a box at the right. Just enable its checkbox to allow it to “record the contents of your screen, even when using other apps.” (You may need to click the little padlock and enter your password to allow the change.)

EXPLANATION

Why do we have to do all of this on Catalina? Well, years ago, Apple had driver developers install kernel extensions (like Air Display’s video drivers) in the System ▸ Library ▸ Extensions folder. Then they locked down the System folder and had us install into Library ▸ Extensions.

When we made this transition, we needed to remove our old drivers, if you had them, from your System folder, before installing the new ones into the Library folder. We put that cleanup operation in the Air Display host installer. That worked fine until Catalina. Now, when you run our installer, macOS scans our installer code and says, “Hey, these guys are trying to access the System folder! That’s not allowed!” and they block us. We are in the process of modifying our installer so that it no longer does that cleanup. We will send out a newsletter when it’s ready. Thanks for your patience!

 

A new app and a special offer

Happy Holidays!

We have lots of news since our last newsletter.

Air Display sale

Starting right now, Air Display 3 is on sale in the iTunes App Store. The regular price is $14.99 (US). But you can Get Air Display 3  Now for just $4.99, while the sale price lasts.

Air Display turns your iPad into an extra monitor for your Mac. And you can use an Apple Pencil to draw into your favorite pressure-sensitive Mac app.

The current iOS version of Air Display is Air Display 3. Air Display 2 is no longer available in the App Store. Consequently neither is the Air Display 3 Upgrade app bundle. Air Display 3 only connects to a macOS host. So for now anyway, sorry Windows users; we don’t have an iOS app that can connect to your PC. Supporting the myriad PC configurations was just more complicated and expensive than we could justify.

That said, we have some exciting new directions for Air Display! Watch for more news on that in the months to come. We’re embarrassingly giddy about this. It’s going to be fantastic.

Muphos

Air Connect

Apps for musicians, by musicians

Our founder, Dave Howell, has launched a new company called Muphos. Muphos is dedicated to making music apps. Watch this space; we’ll keep you posted about Muphos’s adventure. Please subscribe to the Muphos newsletter separately for more in-depth news about its apps.

 

The first Muphos app is called “Christmas Carol Book.” Submitted to iTunes today, it’s in Apple’s review queue and with any luck will be live before Christmas. Fingers are crossed. Created for singers and pianists, this app lets you select from hundreds of carols, hymns, and piano compositions, and view sheet music on your iPad. You can annotate the music with an Apple Pencil or with your finger, and you can export songs via email, print, or messages, or open the songs in another app.

If you want to play or sing holiday songs this season, and would like to be notified when Christmas Carol Book goes live in the App Store, again, please sign up for the Muphos newsletter today.

Retiring Air Login & Air Connect

Air Connect

In order to better focus on our core apps and exciting future directions, we’ve retired Air Login and Air Connect. We had huge hopes for this service, which allowed you to connect back to your computer from anywhere, to access its files, control its screen, and use the command line, among other things. But sales were slow and we were spending more on the server than we were making in subscriptions, so we have removed Air Connect from our website and Air Login from the App Store. We pushed them gently to sea and wished them a fond godspeed.
Thank you for your support over the years if you contributed to our Everydisk project on Kickstarter or purchased the Air Login app. It was an ambitious experiment and we couldn’t have done it without your help.
As always, if you have any questions please write to us at support@avatron.com. We love hearing from you!

Big Air Display sale, some app updates

Hi!

It has been months—way too long—since our last Avatron Newsletter. Now we have a whole mess of announcements:

Big Air Display Sale

We are running our first ever sale on Air Display in the iOS App Store. For a limited time starting right now, the sale prices (in US$) are:
Air Display 3:  $9.99
Air Display 2:  $7.99
Air Display 3 Upgrade: $4.99*
*Assuming you purchased Air Display 2 for the regular price of $9.99.

Get it now, while the sale lasts!

App Updates

Air Display 2

Air Display 2

Air Display 2 is live again in the App Store. For Windows users, Air Display 2 is the latest compatible version of Air Display.

Air Display 3 Upgrade Bundle

Air Display 3 Upgrade Bundle

The Air Display 3 Upgrade app bundle is back in the App Store too. Now Mac users can upgrade from Air Display 2 to Air Display 3 for $5 US. Windows users: if you accidentally bought Air Display 3, you can get this app bundle to downgrade to Air Display 2 for free too.

Air Display 3

Air Display 3

The latest version of Air Display 3 (version 3.0.3) is live now. Update now to get these new features:

  • IPAD PRO: Now the biggest iPad device ever is a wicked fast HiDPI Mac monitor. We added the new 12.9″ iPad Pro resolutions (Normal, Retina, & HiDPI).
  • APPLE PENCIL: This stylus is just the coolest thing. Now you can draw in your favorite Mac OS X app with your shiny new Apple Pencil.
  • PRESSURE: Pressure sensitivity was broken on iOS 9. We fixed it!
  • iOS 7: Version 3.0.2 had a nasty habit of crashing on iOS 7. We found that bug and squished it dead.

Air Sharing

After eight years in the App Store, with some nostalgic sadness we finally retired our first app, the venerable Air Sharing. Sales were slow, and there were free alternatives. And it was just a godawful amount of gnarly old code to maintain. Air Sharing users, thank you so much for your support over the years! We love you.

Air Connect

Air Connect

Air Connect is free again. We charged for it for a while, but decided that it’s cleaner to just give away the free app and charge for remote access. If you have multiple Mac computers, you really should get a copy of Air Connect so you can connect them and access your files and screens remotely. Just visit getairconnect.com to download Air Connect.

As always, if you have any questions please write to us at support@34.221.205.203. We love hearing from you!

Air Connect [was] offline

UPDATE: we neglected to update this post, but the outage was fixed a few days later. All has been good since then.

Our Air Connect servers have been offline for several days and will be offline for several more. Our sincere apologies to to Air Login users and Everydisk backers.

Here’s what’s going on. First, some background: Like our Air Login app, Everydisk uses the Air Connect server as a gateway to connect your local devices with your remote devices. For the Everydisk beta, we had planned to have a separate Air Connect server running in parallel with the regular Air Connect. In retrospect, that’s what we should have done. But when we got to the end, we thought it would be trivial to combine the two and avoid an annoying extra transition for our beta testers. (Seriously, “It will be trivial” must have its own chapter in the Famous Last Words book, just after “Hey Mom, watch this!”) Anyway we did the integration and thought we were just flipping a switch and making the Everydisk beta go live, but we discovered upon doing so that the current Air Login app was still pointing to the old server. So we just needed to quickly change the Air Connect URL in Air Login to point to the new one, and we’d be good. (“It will be trivial.”) But what we had forgotten that Air Login was built with an older Apple SDK, and we needed to bring it up to the latest. But it didn’t build anymore. And so on. But meanwhile the Air Connect server is still down.

Anyway. Some days later, we have now finished the Air Login app and are testing and preparing to upload to Apple. The server is ready to go as soon as the new Air Login is approved by Apple and available for sale in the App Store. At that point, we will flip a whole mess of switches and release the new Air Login app, the new Air Connect server, and the Everydisk beta.

So that’s all embarrassing and we apologize profusely. We plan to give some free time to all of the Air Connect subscribers when this is all behind us.

But there’s some good news: the new version of Air Connect will give all of the Everydisk features to all Air Login users. That means that if you have installed Air Connect on two Macs, you will be able connect from one to the other to do remote file sharing, screen sharing (VNC), and command-line (SSH) access. Even if your other Mac is behind a corporate firewall or has a dynamic IP address, and without using a VPN. Hopefully it will all have been worth the wait because it will significantly ease the headaches of working on more than one computer.

Thank you all for your patience! We’re almost there.

Dave

Pressure-sensitive Pens in Air Display 3

It’s awesome that there are so many excellent pressure-sensitive pens available now. Air Display 3 supports the latest from Wacom, Adonit, Adobe, Ten One, and Fifty-three.

Pressure-sensitive Pens

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Early Press Reviews for Air Display 3

Air Display 3 has been out for three whole days now, and we have already seen some rave reviews in different languages around the world. Here’s a sampling:

ZDNetFeb 26, 2015
Hands on with Air Display 3: Using iPad as second monitor over USB
“Summary:There’s a new app in town that lets you use an iPad as a second monitor for a Mac. It connects over USB for smooth operation good enough for the enterprise.”

AppleWorld.Today, Feb 27, 2015
A first look at Avatron Software’s Air Display 3.0
“For artists or graphics designers, this is a wonderful and inexpensive way to get a pressure-sensitive graphics tablet.”

MacRumorsFeb 26, 2015
Avatron Launches ‘Air Display 3’ for iOS With New USB Connection Option

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Introducing Air Display 3

AD1-180x180  Air-Display-iOS-260px-180x180  AD3-180x180

It came as a bit of a surprise to us in December 2014 when a new app arrived in the App Store, purporting to do some of what Air Display does, but over USB instead of Wi-Fi. Until then, the Word On The Street was that Apple was rejecting apps that communicate over USB. Apparently the policy had changed.

We took that lesson to heart. I’m thrilled to announce that we have launched a new iOS app: Air Display 3. For Air Display 3, we’ve combined the old features of Air Display you know and love, with the pressure-sensitivity features of Air Stylus, and added a rock-solid USB connection for wicked fast screen response.

Read more