Sunday, December 05, 2010

New iOS Update: Brings No-Cost WiFi Printing to iPad and iPhone
Just install this little hack on your Mac, follow these steps, and print directly from your device to any printer...

Source: How-To Wired Blog

Apple's latest mobile-operating-system update introduces a much-demanded feature: wireless printing. Problem is, it will only officially print from printers labeled "AirPrint-compatible," which you likely don't own. However, if you want to print from just about any printer, there's a mod for that.

AirPrint Hacktivator offers a solution for Macs to set up wireless printing with iOS 4.2 with any printer shared on your network. Here's how to set it up, with instructions courtesy of the hack's maker, Netputing.

You will need:

* Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.5

* iTunes 10.1 (if you have neither, select the Apple icon in the upper-left corner of your screen and click "Software Updates" to download the latest software.

* AirPrint Hacktivator [.zip] (Get it here.)

How to proceed

1. Copy the AirPrint Hacktivator software into your Applications folder, then launch the app.

2. Toggle the switch to "On."

3. Enter your admin password.

4. A window *MAY* prompt you to add the printer you want to use with AirPrint.

5. The hack will launch the Print & Fax utility in your Settings folder, and you'll be able to perform the add-printer task here.

6. And you should be ready to start printing!

If at step 4 the "add printer" box for AirPrint doesn't pop up (didn't for me!) follow the steps in this video:



Once you go through steps 1-3, you'll need to go to System Preferences, click on Print and Fax, remove the printer you wish to print to from your iDevice, then re-add it and enable sharing.

I had to do this in order for my local printer to show up on my iPad as a destination. Printing right now, all for free!

Apple, you should put this in your next iOS release, with a Mac and Windows client. Thanks, Steve!

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