Connect360 - iLife Meets XBox 360
January 10, 2008 | Leave a Comment
I knew you could connect a Windows Media Center PC to your XBox 360 to extend the available content, but my primary machine at home is a Mac running OS X. This means all the fun media (movies, music, and pictures) is all on there. So after a bit of searching I turned up the absolutely amazing Connect360 by Nullriver Software.
So how exactly does it work and what does it do?
The iTunes integration allows you to browse and play your iTunes music by song, artist, album, genre or playlist. As expected, this allows support for listening to your iTunes songs while playing a game. It even updates your iTunes play count and play date for songs played on your Xbox 360.
In addition, Connect360 supports streaming of live Internet radio broadcasts by simply addind any station to a playlist
As for iPhoto, you can view your photo library, browse by photo album or watch a slideshow.
Any movies in your movie folder become available for viewing in full screen.
Connect360 supports the following formats:
MP3, AAC, WAV, AIFF and Apple Lossless for Music. For Photos, Connect360 supports: JPEG, RAW, GIF, PNG, BMP and TIFF. For video streaming, currently only WMV+WMA, AVI (DIVX/XVID), H.264 and MPEG4 files are supported (in MP4 and MOV containers).
On top of all this sweetness, it also does “automagic transcoding”. With this feature, it can do on-the-fly automatic transcoding of many formats so that you can enjoy even more content on you Xbox 360.
As for setup, you drop a new control panel on your Mac and this Connect360 software will automatically detect your Xbox 360 and in turn your 360 will automatically detect your Mac and the media made available to it.
The demo is free, and the full version is merely $20, so if you have this setup, try it out, you won’t be sorry.
Tags: aac, avi, connect360, divx, h.264, iLife, mac, media center, media center pc, media pc, microsoft, mp3, music, osx, pictures, video, xbox, xvid
Mac OS X Start Up Keys
November 28, 2007 | 97 Comments
I often search around trying to find the various ways to boot OSX in a special sort of way. I’ve especially needed these sort of things lately, as I had a brand new hard drive die on me.
You can hold any of the following to access any of these special boot modes:
C - Boot from the internal optical drive (CD or DVD)
D - Boot the diagnostic volume of the install DVD
N - Start from the Network (NetBoot)
R - Force PowerBook screen reset
T - Boot into Firewire target disk mode
X - Reset startup disk selection and boot into Mac OS X Server
Shift - Boot into “Safe Boot” mode, which runs Disk First Aid. A reboot will be required afterward.
Option - Boot into “Startup Manager”
Mouse Button - Eject (internal) removable media
Command-S - Boot into Single User Mode (command line)
Command-V - Boot using “Verbose” mode (shows all kernel and startup console messages)
Command-Option-Shift-Delete - Bypass internal hard drive on boot and seek a different startup volume (such as a CD or external disk)
Command-Option-P-R - Reset Parameter RAM (PRAM) and non-volatile RAM (NVRAM)
Command-Option-O-F - Boot into “Open Firmware”
Rumor has it, firmware password protection can be removed by intalling or removing a stick of RAM, then zapping the PRAM three times in a row.
These bootup options were compiled from Apple and this blog.
Tags: apple, boot, boot cd, bootup, command, diagnostic, firmware, mac, macos, net boot, open firmware, option, os x, osx, parameter ram, pram, ram, single user, startup, target disk, verbose
Why Safari 3 on PC? For the iPhone!
June 12, 2007 | 2 Comments
I love Safari on my Mac. It outperforms Firefox for me, the built in RSS support is wonderful, the tabs work better than any of the other browsers, and private browsing (better known as porn mode) can’t be beat. However… it’s really no competition for Firefox or Internet Explorer on the PC platform as an overall browser.
So.. why Safari on the PC? Does Apple truly believe they can compete with Mozilla and Microsoft? I’d say they are not that misguided…
Safari is now available on PC purely to test iPhone applications.
There are a lot of web developers who will be able to develop small applications to deliver through Safari on the iPhone starting on June 29th. Yet, a large majority of the developers will not have iPhones and don’t have Macs. This means Safari needs to be made available for testing on PC for those developers to add value to the iPhone. Although this would be made better if Apple cloned Firebug and rolled that in out of the box…
As far as actual browser usage, I would be shocked to see the web adoption pass 6% for Safari (Apple claims they currently get 4.9%). This may sell a couple more people on Macs, but Safari is not iTunes. It does not stand head and shoulders above competitor software. If they do expand market share in Safari and get a few more people onto a Mac, this is a bonus.
In conclusion… I’m glad to see Safari on PC. Hopefully more web applications will get tested with it… but don’t be fooled this is a move to bolster the iPhone, nothing more.
Tags: apple, browser, explorer, firebug, firefox, internet explorer, iphone, mac, macs, mozilla, osx, pc, safari, web, web application
Wiimote Meets Computer
December 11, 2006 | 1 Comment
Jon sent me along an article about Darwiin Remote. This sweet little OSX application allows you to take advantage of the inherent Bluetooth that the Wii-motes use to wirelessly connect to the Nintendo Wii. I love standard technologies…
You launch the application, then make your Wii-mote Bluetooth discoverable by pushing (1) and (2) simultaneously. Once the app connects, you can use the IR ability to take over mouse control. The developer has also mapped the (A) button to be the left click and the D-pad to arrow keys.
The other mappings are all fairly specific for Frontrow, which is annoying for me (I have a G5 without Frontrow). Listed as a desired future feature is customizable key mappings which I look forward to.
At the moment the IR sensing mouse movement is a bit too twitchy. It would be nice if the sensitivity could be turned down. As it is now, double clicking is nearly impossible.
I think this application has great potential, especially considering it is only version 0.3. Check out the developer’s blog or the Sourceforge Project. I’m hoping this matures to the point where I can regularly use my Wii controller to control video and music. This would be convenient as my Mac is currently attached to my receiver and 42″ Samsung DLP TV.
With a bit more complication, you can use the Wii-mote in Windows as well. This “how to” is written by LiquidIce, who is playing with all kinds of potential Wii hacks. There is also an interesting project that is focused on attempting to port Linux to the Wii, WiiLi.org. All kinds of fun is likely to come out of this exploration.
Tags: bluetooth, darwiin, darwiinremote, hack, hacks, liquidice, mac, macintosh, Nintendo, nintendo wii, osx, remote, wii, wii controller, wii hack, wii-mote, wiili, wiimote
Audio/Video Cables - STSI
September 25, 2006 | 3 Comments
Recently I decided it was time to hook my Power Mac up to my 42″ DLP projection TV and receiver. I decided I would use the second DVI output on the video card and the fiber optic out for audio. I needed about 25′ of wire, both DVI and fiber optic. (I wish Apple would add an HDMI out so one wire would suffice).
After much searching for the most affordable solution, I found STSI. Their prices are fairly cheap and they had everything I needed in the appropriate lengths. Since the TV has HDMI inputs, I got a 25′ DVI/HDMI cable ($29.99) that allows me to run the video signal loss-less without the need for an adapter. The fiber optic cable I got was a 25′ pro-series optical cable ($17.99). To round out the order I also picked up a 6′ HDMI cable ($14.99) for my DVD player, a 6′ gold plated component video cable ($7.99) for my cable box, a 3′ optical cable ($4.99), and a 6′ optical cable ($5.99). I had no intended purpose for those, but at the price they seemed good to have on hand.
Due to the low prices, I was not expecting to get the best quality cables, but rather just good enough. When the cables arrived I was pleasantly surprised. The quality of these cables rivals Monster cables for 1/10th the price in some cases. As a quick comparison, Best Buy sells 8′ HDMI cables for $119.99, 35′ for $249.99, and 6′ optical for $29.99.
I highly recommend STSI for all your A/V cable needs.
Tags: audio, cables, component, dvd, dvi, fiber optic, hdmi, mac, monster cables, optic, optical, power mac, stsi, video, wires
Big Apple Announcement Today At 1PM EST
September 12, 2006 | 4 Comments
I love big Apple announcement days! All the predictions and conjecture are often more entertaining than whatever they announce. We know that Jobs is announcing the new movie plan he has negotiated, including two price points at $9.99 and $14.99. Possible additional contenders to be announced today include:
- iTunes version 7
- airVideo (airTunes equivalent for video)
- new bigger screen iPods
- a Mac Media (similar to media PCs)
Personally, I think we’ll get the first two. A new iTunes version seems natural to go with the delivery of movies. Jobs has also talked extensively about how people are not going to watch feature length movies on tiny iPod screens. This is why I think an “airVideo” would enable playing video on your regular TV, thus accomplishing the goal of putting downloadable video content on a bigger screen.
A new series of iPods seems a bit odd to me. People are still happy with the current ones and if a bigger screen means a bigger form factor, most people won’t be impressed. Other options seem more approopriate right now.
A Mac for your entertainment center has always seemed natural since the initial release of the Mac Minis. Apple has repeatedly been surrounded with rumors related to this, but they have never been true. This has always been a long shot, I don’t think the odds have changed. Especially since they retooled the Mac Minis for Intel Core Duo so recently…
Whatever happens, I’m sure Apple will have new fun toys to covet!
Tags: airvideo, apple, core duo, digital movies, intel, ipod, itunes, mac, mac media, steve jobs
Battery Replacement: Apple vs Dell
August 30, 2006 | 50 Comments
In the last few weeks Apple and Dell have both been placed in the inconvenient position of having to recall a pile of bad Sony batteries. Side note: how come Sony laptops haven’t had a similar recall, is their market share too small to justify it, or did they save good batteries for themselves? Back on topic, I have been in the unique position of personally being involved in both recalls. My Dell D810 has one of the bad batteries, I filled out the online form to get it replaced on Tuesday 8/15/06. There is also an Apple Mac Book Pro in my house which was affected, the online form to replace this one was filled out on Sunday 8/27/06.
The Apple replacement arrived yesterday, 8/29/06. This was a turn around of less than 3 days, especially impressive when considering one of those day, the request day, was a Sunday.
My Dell, however, is still patiently waiting for it’s replacement. Today is 16 days past when it was requested, so far that makes it more than 5x slower and counting…
Unrelated but furthering potential arguments, my Dell cost >$2300 and the Mac Book Pro cost <$2300. Both had 3 year warranties with educational discounts. Which computer, warranty, and commitment do you think was worth more?
Update:
Dell support contacted me related to this issue, after hours, because they had read this post. In response they have shipped me a new battery as opposed to the refurbs they are sending others. The support representative said my slow replacement was likely do to our institution being handled as a group. I appreciated this follow up and was able to understand their perspective.
As a quick note to Digg’rs and other people leaving comments, this is just a comparison of my experience with getting batteries replaced by two different companies in a short time period. Clearly experience for others may vary. Those who want to condemn me for speaking positively about Apple and negatively about Dell, realize I have both Macs and PCs represented in my life. I appreciate what both do for me.
Tags: apple, battery, battery recall, battery replacement, dell, laptop, mac, recall, sony