August 2007

Check a System Profile

Mac Tip #304/29-August-2007
Check a System Profile

Apple recently released updated versions of several applications: iMovie, iDVD, iPhoto, iTunes, GarageBand — all part of the iLife 08 suite — and Keynote, Pages and the new Numbers — all part of the iWork 08 suite.

These are powerful sets of applications. While the current iLife applications come free on any new Mac, you must buy iWork separately. But the cost is very reasonable: US$79 (NZ$109). If you have older versions of iLife you can buy the new 08 versions, again at a similar cost.

There is a bit of a problem though: the specifications for iMovie, in particular, are pretty stringent. I was rather taken aback after buying a Family Pack of each suite to find that iMovie would install on only two of the four Macs in our household.

System Requirements for iMovie include: a Mac with an Intel processor, a Power Mac G5 (dual 2.0GHz or faster), or an iMac G5 (1.9GHz or faster).

FBAMac Tip #27/31-Oct-2001, About this Computer and subsequent Tips explained for users of Mac OS 9 how to find crucial information about your Mac, but it’s no longer so useful for those with Mac OS X.

To find out details about your modern Mac go to the blue Apple menu and choose About This Mac. An information window appears.

It’s easy to spot the information about the version of Mac OS X you have installed, along with details of the processor and RAM installed in your machine. That should be enough to tell you if your Mac will run iMovie 08.

For more extensive details about all your Mac’s hardware and software click the More Info… button. A System Profiler window appears with a list of items down the left, and details on the right. Click on an item in the Contents column to see information about it.

Check the View menu to switch between Profiles: Mini, Basic and Full. This changes exactly what information is displayed.

If you want, you can print all the information or Save it to a text file. Visit the File menu to Print and to Save As…. Note that you can also Send the Profile to Apple — a Helpdesk technician may ask you to do this for some problems.

If you choose Save As… you can choose from several formats: XML, RTF and plain text.

Saving a Profile as text is one handy way to obtain an instant list of all your software, with version numbers, as well as fonts and other things. Try it and see.

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Mac Tip #303/22-August-2007
Synchronise the Apple TV

The Apple TV can synchronise with one computer in your network, though it can play items on behalf of other computers too. I have my Apple TV synchronised with my main machine: my MacBook Pro.

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I have quite a lot of media files on my Mac. As I write I have:

• 16 GB of iTunes Music (includes 500 Mb of movies)
• 15.6 GB of Photos

All of these are copied across to the Apple TV. Then when I add or remove items in iTunes the files are added to or deleted from the Apple TV.

I have a lot of control though, as I can set preferences for how the Apple TV and my Mac should interact. You do it like this:

• make sure the Apple TV is connected up and ‘paired’ with your Mac.
• open iTunes and wait a few moments.
• click on the Apple TV item under Devices in the Source column. The main area of the window shows a Summary of information about your Apple TV.
• click on each tab in turn across the top of the iTunes window: Movies, TV Shows, Music, Podcasts and Photos.
• in each tab select the settings you prefer.

Once you’ve made all your choices, click the Sync button in the bottom right-hand corner of the window.

If you make major changes, or if this is the first sync, you’d be well-advised to either connect your Mac to the Apple TV with an ethernet cable or to leave it to sync overnight. Remember to set your Mac not to go to sleep. My Apple TV now contains about 35 GB of files and it took hours for the first transfer of data over the wireless network.

By the way: the multi-coloured strip across the bottom of the Apple TV window in iTunes responds to clicks. Click on the bar to rotate display between GB, number of items and media duration (eg hours or days of music). The screenshot shows the same bar three times — each one showing different information.

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Mac Tip #302/15-August-2007
Introducing the Apple TV.

Some time ago Apple introduced a tiny new product called the Apple TV. That’s a somewhat confusing name as it’s not a television tuner in the sense of a box that can handle cable, satellite or terrestrial TV signals.

The photo here shows my Apple TV and remote stacked in amongst my other TV-related gear.

In fact, it’s more like an iPod, which is why you’ll find it in the iPod + iTunes section of the Apple website.

It works like this: you connect the Apple TV to your television screen, and to the Internet. Load up iTunes on your computer with music, videos, podcasts, audio books and so on, then synchronise these with the Apple TV.

At some point you turn on your TV screen and the Apple TV and play the music, videos or other tracks. Use the included Apple Remote to control playback (but not volume).

You can also watch your iPhoto library and iPhoto albums on the TV screen.

Some content comes straight from the Internet: there are thousands of YouTube videos available, for example, as well as movie trailers.

Now I need to pause for a moment and explain to my International readers that here in New Zealand we don’t have access to movies or TV programmes via iTunes, so for the next part I’m not speaking from personal experience.

The Apple TV can play movies or TV programmes you’ve bought via the iTunes Store. Pay for and download the programme, synchronise it with the Apple TV and watch at your leisure.

I’ll write more about the Apple TV in future Tips, but for now I want to share the bad news: you need reasonably good equipment to use the Apple TV. Your 20, 10 or even 5 year old television set is unlikely to be up to the task.

What you need (according to the Apple website):

• Widescreen TV
• Mac or PC
• iTunes 7.1
• Wired or wireless network
• HDMI cable or
• Component video cables and analog audio cables or optical audio cable.

Apple TV works with widescreen, enhanced-definition or high-definition TVs capable of 1080i, 720p, 576p, or 480p resolutions.

I find I watch less broadcast television these days and more video podcasts. The Apple TV makes it easy to view these on the TV screen, and they look great! Here are a few I recommend. Search for them in the iTunes Store:

• Apple Quick Tip of the Week — generally about 30 seconds each.
• NASACast video — generally about 3 minutes each.
• Rocketboom — generally about 4 minutes each.
• WebbAlert — generally about 4 minutes each.
• GeekBrief.TV — generally about 5 minutes each.
• National Geographic Video Shorts — generally about 5 minutes each.
• ScreenCastsOnline (affiliate link) — generally about 30 minutes each.

You don’t have to have an Apple TV: you can watch these video podcasts on your computer screen, but you will need a broadband connection.

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