I can’t tell you how many hours I’ve blown at meetings for the first few minutes fiddling with cables, or apps and projection settings so I can start. There’s no shortage of ways of getting your screen displayed on a boardroom display or a projector but they’re generally tied to a specific platform like Chrome, or Apple etc.
Enter Airtame – it works with Mac, Windows, Linux, Chromebook, Android, and iOS on any screen or projector with an HDMI. It’s also aimed firmly at business and education users and not at people wanting to stream video.
The Airtame is small but wide and sometimes you can’t plug it straight into a HDMI port but it’s supplied with a short HDMI extender in the box to cover that. Plus you need a USB port with enough grunt to power the Airtame via its Micro-USB connector – that’s the one complaint I have about Airtame as it would be awesome if they could engineer a way to power it without this additional requirement – but I won’t hold my breath.
It’s easy to use as when it’s plugged in, it displays where to download the Airtime app for your device and its own network name – just click to name and setup the Airtame, and it auto downloads updates if they’re needed. To connect choose the device from the Airtame app and click Start to share your screen. By default graphics are streamed while audio comes from your computer – if you want to output audio to the screen you’re streaming too then there’s a one-second buffer to both audio and video.
A quirky feature is using a background screen to be shown by your Airtame when you’re not presenting – this could be your log, contact information or even a Call To Action offer that you have. Just don’t make it a picture of your family .. OK?!?!
Airtame is built for business – aka presentations – and not for video streaming. This is apparent with YouTube for instance. It’s also apparent with its connectivity and management standing out.
I wouldn’t pick Airtame as a cheap solution but the simplicity and manageability works for business users like me. It provides simple screen mirroring for lots of different devices with good-quality, along with flexible settings.
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