Osx | Glenn Ward

Media Streaming, MacBook Pro, PS3, Xbox 360, MediaLink, iTunes Part 2

Ok, I didn’t manage to get this to work completely but as I think it might be down to the network I am going to post it anyway. I almost managed to stream the music from my MacBook Pro (iTunes) through the Xbox 360. The idea of this is to have all music in one central location to avoid duplication of songs and double handling when it comes to updates.

Also, if you don’t have your mac set up to run a Windows environment or need to improve your Bootcamp set up follow my blog post that talked about an easy installation of VM Fusion using your Bootcamp partitioned drive. I did need to import the Bootcamp Partition in order to mirror the music folder in OSX and Windows.

I didn’t use the medialink streaming server software, instead I opened up VMFusion and loaded Windows Media Player. In the VMFusion Setting found under Virtual Machine I then turned on folder sharing and mirrored the music folder where the iTunes Media folder resides. By doing this I was able to use the Add to Media Library under File In Windows media player in order list all my music without actually copying anything over into this environment.

Next, make sure all you media sharing is turned on in the windows environment (I’m using Vista) you can do this via Library > Media Sharing > Share my media to: in Windows Media Player, the Xbox 360 icon should appear in the box below, or choose Control Panel > Classic View > Networking and sharing > Media Sharing > Change.

With everything on, turn on your XBox 360. Go to My Xbox > Music Library and select your computer, you should see your playlists…. problem is, mine won’t play!!

If anyone can get ths working please expand in the comments area?

See how I got this to work on the PS3

Apple Mac Keyboard Twitter #hashtag bug – The key facts

As if it wasn’t annoying enough that on the Apple Mac Keyboard sometimes the @ sign and ” are sometimes not as displayed on the keys (mine is right in the Mac OS and wrong in my Windows XP environment) but just wait until you write your next Tweet and need to emphasis a word with a hashtag, where is it? this was only brought to my attention in the past week and reminded me that there were a few other characters I have been meaning to find without having to google it and then paste it into my work. Here’s a few useful symbols and characters.

# = Alt + 3
€ = Alt + 2
© = Alt + G
• = Alt + 8
And one just for fun
 = Alt + Shift + K

Thanks Nick Buckley for raising the #hashtag issue

Duplicating DVD’s and CD’s using Mac OSX’s Disk Utility

Just a quick one as people are always asking me what software they need to copy DVD’s or CD’s, when all you really need is access to an apple mac.

Insert your DVD into your drive and open disc utility, click one on the drive (not the drives content) as detailed below.

Disk Utility Select DVD / CD

Next click File > New > Disk Image from (content of your drive) choose desktop and be sure to choose DVD/CD Master from the Image Format drop down.

disk_utilty_2

disk_utility_3

Disk utility will create a disk image or .dmg of the drives content on your desktop. Once complete click once on the dmg in the disc utility window, eject the master DVD, Insert a blank DVD and click burn.

disk_utility_4

Let the mac do it’s stuff and there you have it a perfect duplication of your original disc. Alternativly fork out a few hundred quid for a disc duplicator.

Setting up yahoo pop mail account in Apple Macs Mail program

If I ever figure something out that took me a while to google, I’ll write a short blog and hopefully save someone some time.

I recently bought an iPhone and for convenience, as the phone is set up to function better with A Yahoo mail account, I decided to move away from my old hotmail account. Probably best as over time the amount of junk it built up was getting annoying.

So I still wanted to pick up my mail on my MacBook pro but am not a fan setting up multiple mail programs on one machine so I went about setting up the yahoo account. Even using the automatic settings I was still recieving an error during connection. I wasted a few hours googling and changng settings but still no luck. Before I go through my working settings, go to your Yahoo mail online choose options then … Check the box that reads enable pop mail and bingo! Half the battle is won.

My working settings are -

mail_pop_settings

And outgoing settings -

mail_smtp_settings

Introduction to Apple Mac OSX

Finding Files and Programs
OSX does not have the regular start menu you see in Windows. We navigate the file system and programs using the Finder. Finder is the equivalent of Windows Explorer, by double clicking on the Macintosh HD on the top right corner of the desktop you open a finder window. Here you will find all files and folders including all programs. By clicking on the apple in the top left corner you will see your recent documents and files. Programs are opened using the Dock across the bottom of the screen or in the application (Finder) folder.

Using the Dock
6-dock To quickly launch your programs the Dock can be set up to include “shortcuts” or using Mac’s naming convention “aliases”. It is possible to drag and drop your applications from the application folder to the dock in order to create these aliases. 6-dock-remove

To remove an item from the Dock, merely drag and drop it away.

The Trashcan
The trashcan is located on the right hand side of the Dock and can be used in much the same way as the Recycle Bin in Windows. To empty either right click the can or follow Finder > Empty Trash eject1

Eject using the Trashcan
The Trashcan is also used to eject CDs, DVDs and External Drive by dragging and dropping to the trashcan location. You can also use the eject key on the keyboard. Please see the keyboard navigation later in this document.

Closing windows and closing applications
Close (Red) – Closing the window only closes the window and not the program. The program will still be running in the background. Programs that are running are shown with a highlighted with dot under the application icon on the dock.

Minimise (Amber) – Minimised programs programmes are held in the dock. To maximise the window click on the icon in the dock.

Maximise (Green) – The maximise button will maximise the window based on the space available on your screen.

To close a program completely click File > Quit.

Expose
It is really easy to switch between programs and windows on an apple mac. The expose key (F3)

expose-key

Alt + Tab in windows = Apple + Tab on a Mac
As you may tab between programs on your PC you can also do this on a Mac to speed up your workflow. Apple + Tab has the exact same effect as Alt + Tab.

The Apple Key serves a similar function as the Windows control key

The Apple Mouse
Mighty Mouse Right Click (lack of physical right click button)
Although you can’t see a right click button on the Mighty Mouse the function does exist. By clicking the area of the mouse where you would usually right click you will discover the drop down menu. Also ctrl + click has the same desired effect.

Scroller Ball
The Mighty Mouse also has a scrollball unlike the PC version that provides the capability to not only scroll pages but also scroll left and right particularly useful for scrolling timelines.

The Apple Keyboard

apple_keyboard
Sound inputs and settings
The sound settings control sound for most Mac programmes.

Apple > System Preferences > Sound

However, Premiere Pro has its sound control settings.

Premiere Pro > Preferences > Audio

While editing you may need to switch between your sound outputs.
There is a headphone socket on the front and back of the computer and one microphone socket on the back. Note if you are using the external speaker and you plug in the headphones the sound output will automatically switch to headphones. If you intend to use the external speakers you will need to change the sound settings in system preferences and if you are using Premiere Pro change the Audio setting as shown above.

Input Devices
Most USB and Firewire devices will run automatically when plugged into the Mac. There are ports on the front and back of the unit.

The different ports you may come across are as follows

On / Off Button

Headphones

USB
USB

Firewire 400

Firewire 800

mac-pro-connections-back

USB

Firewire 400 – Firewire 800

Optical

Line in – Headphones

Ethernet

The Firewire connection is the most frequently used for video and camera connections. An explanation of the different types follows.

Firewire 400 (6 pin)
In relation to filming the firewire 400 lead is the most popular way of connecting the camera to the computer. Usually this cable will have a 6 pin male (connects to the computer) and 4 pin male (connects to the camera. This cable also allows for device control which allows you to control the camera using buttons or programs on your desktop rather than the device.

Firewire 800
Firewire 800 is an even faster connection and often used for hard drives and is capable of very fast data transfer speed.

Firewire 400 (4 pin)

The camera end of the firewire 400 lead. Although most cameras have USB connections the firewire lead allows for faster data transfers capable of real time playback on the computer as you view and capture footage.