We’ve discussed in previous articles about how we wanted a little more from AppleTV and mentioned how to create a more powerful media center. One item that adds some additional enjoyment to your media center is the Nintendo Wii.
We also mentioned ways to sync up your wiimote to your Mac and use it as a mouse. If you combine these two ideas and add in an HDTV you get one impressive media center that you can control with point and click technology. Lets face it, although bigger, the wiimote is just a lot more impressive than the mac remotes.
While the Macmini is the cheapest Mac you can buy to sync up to your HDTV, any Apple notebook would work great for this situation. I personally hooked up my Macbook Air to my HDTV using the microDV to VGA converter that came with it.
You may need to find a converter from the miniDV or microDV video out from your Mac to what ever video inputs your HDTV receives. I know many will HDTVs have either a VGA in or a DV connector. The Macbook Air comes with converters for both.
After you connect your computer to the TV with the cable and correct converters, just tune your television into that video input and power up your mac.
While you don’t have to actually connect your Wii to your TV, be sure to place the IR Sensor bar is above your TV and connected to your Nintendo Wii. The next steps include connected your Wii to your Mac.
To do this you’ll need to download Darwiinremote. Its a free application still in beta that allows you to use your bluetooth technology on your Mac to connect the wiiremote to the computer. After downloading the file to your Mac connected to your HDTV, launch darwiinremote and follow these steps:
- Be sure that Bluetooth on your Mac is turned on and in discovery mode.
- Click the Find Wiimote button
- The system will prompt you to click the 1 & 2 buttons on your wiimote, click them simultaneously.
- Darwiinremote should find your Wiimote and sync it to your mac.
- Click the IR Sensor Button
- Power up your Wii so that the IR bar receives power.
- Select Mouse Mode On on Darwiinremote
- Minimize Darwiinremote
You should now be able to point your wiimote around the HDTV and the pointer on your Mac will follow your movements. Click the home button to pull up front row and start accessing your media content. Download movies to rent through iTunes or stick in a DVD and enjoy it on your HDTV.
You can customize the various button functions on your wiimote through the preferences on darwiinremote to differen’t mouse clicks, or keyboard shortcuts.
One great advantage of your MacWiiTV is that you can still enjoy all the functionality that you get from a normal Mac computer in addition to custom mouse controls using the Wiimote. If you want to browse the web you can pull up Safari and use a bluetooth keyboard to help navigate to different websites or pull up the onscreen keyboard.
- Click the apple icon on the menu bar
- Select System Preferences
- Select International
- Click The Input Menu Tab
- Select Keyboard Viewer
- Click the Flag on the Menu Bar
- Click Show Keyboard viewer
- Click the maximize button to increase the size of the keyboard.
The addition of the Wiimote to your new home media center adds some unique ways to interact with your television without the need for a mouse and keyboard. Additionally it allows you to take full advantage of your Mac media center and still use the complete features of OS X while sitting on your couch.
If you’ve enjoyed this article, please subscribe to our RSS feed to stay up to date with new and interesting tips on how to get the most out of your Apple computers.
![[del.icio.us]](http://images.del.icio.us/static/img/delicious.small.gif){kind=small}
If you were planning on using your Macbook Air to watch DVDs by using the shared DVD feature with another computer in your home, think again. Because of DVD encryption technology DVD Player on OSX does not allow for streaming video over a network. This eliminates the ability to insert your DVD into your iMac or other computer and share that DVD with your Air.We’ll be looking at some different ways to approach this problem, but if you have a solution please let us know!
Although we mentioned all the articles that reviewed the Macbook Air shortly after its original release date, the amazing design was too much for us to pass up and we had to get our hands on one our-self.
After securing the funds in our budget, we ventured out and picked up our own version of the $1799 Macbook Air
UN-BOXING THE AIR
When the store clerk brought me the Macbook Air box I was amazed. I had grown so accustom to larger boxes for notebook computers that it didn’t hit me that the Air really does fit into a manila envelope…
Like all Apple products, the box was well organized and everything included with the Macbook Air fit in nice and securely.After pulling the notebook out of the box I compared its size to my wife’s cell phone.
At its thinnest point, the Macbook Air is actually thinner than the Samsung cell phone. Despite all this, the Air still includes a full keyboard and 13inch monitor.
Well done Apple engineers!
SETUP
After powering up the laptop I started moving through the setup process that comes with all new macs. I decided that I wanted to try out the migration assistant and see how the system would work over the network.
After linking the Macbook Air to my iMac I realized that doing this with a wireless connection wasn’t a usable approach.
It took almost an hour for the system to just calculate how big everything was going to be for me to move my iMac settings to my Macbook Air.
When it finally calculated this it showed me it would take at least 6 hours just to move over all my applications. It would take me less time to download the same applications from the Internet and install them again.
The complete migration was registering at almost 14 hours. I didn’t want to let the new notebook sit around and wait to get my hands on the system.
The rest of the setup process was quick and simple. My first few touches with the Macbook Air have been great. I’m still amazed that the notebook is really this thin and this light.
I’ll follow up with some additional details about the Macbook Air’s performance and functionality in future posts.
Subscribe to our RSS feed to get the latest on our Macbook Air and other Apple products hints, tips, reviews and more.
As the first Macbook Air’s started making their way to early purchasers the reviews around the internet seem to be popping up. After reviewing most of them it becomes clear that the Macbook is what most people expected it to be after the announcement at Macworld 2008.
HOW THIN?
The notebook is thin. Extremely thin! Everyone seems impressed with the engineering behind the Macbook Air and Ars Technica provides visual evidence of how thin the Macbook Air is when compared to other Apple Notebooks. With its thinest parts being .16 of an inch the Thin is even described as an impressive iPod:
“One way to look at the MacBook Air is as the largest and most capable iPod in Apple’s line—think of it as an iPod touch Extreme with a built-in keyboard.”- Jacqui Cheng Ars Technica
I personally love my iPod touch, and can imagine how much I’d enjoy having the Macbook Air as a travel companion.
WHAT ABOUT PORTS?
Again, early assumptions were accurate and the lack of multiple USB ports, Firewire, and most other communication points may be a breaking point for many people. Engadget points out that the USB port is even more limiting than originally expected as 
many external USB devices won’t fit into the space available to insert your USB cable.
While converting cables or extension cables will provide you with a way to hook up your USB devices, it is a bit disappointing that a few extra dollars will need to be spent to get some hardware to work.
WHAT ELSE MAY BUG ME?
Other issues the reviews have with the Macbook Air include a less than expected battery life, difficulty migrating from other Macs without Firewire, and slower speed than other Notebooks. These are all issues for anyone looking to use this as their main computer but something that may be looked over if you’re planning on using it more as a mobile computing device. This fits into line with most reviews conclusions.
Macbook AIR FOR YOU?
Gizmodo explains that the Macbook Air would fit into your life as “secondary” computer, but that role shouldn’t be underestimated.
“It’ll never be my primary, that’s obvious. And while I usually use my old machines as secondaries, I find myself every day more and more unable to resist buying one of these first, and figuring out where it fits into my life second.” - BRIAN LAM GIZMODO
The Macbook Air may be the perfect device to push us towards a complete mobile computing market. With its thin form factor and light weight it is a perfect fit for a secondary computer for quick and simple computing tasks. So if you’re looking for just such a device and its lack of ports and battery options don’t bother you, this may be the perfect notebook.
Like many of the previous Macworlds, 2008 was filled with anticipation, excitement, and rumors. But after everything was said and done Apple and Mr. Steve Jobs delivered again on many of our expectations.
Apple announced essentially 2 new products with significant updates to their other product offerings.
THE NEW PRODUCTS
Time Capsule is apples latest addition to Time Machine, the backup software included in OS X 10.5 Leopard. It is a wireless approach to allow multiple computers in a home to backup their data to one location using Time Machine. Time Capsule comes in either 500 gb or 1tb sizes and includes wireless access. The drive is a great compliment to their other new product, the Macbook Air.
Macbook Air is the thinnest notebook ever. It literally fits into the size of a business envelope and supports a 13.3 inch monitor. Its thickness ranges from .16 to .76 inches. Apple requested a custom chip form intel for the notebook and they delivered a 1.6ghz and 1.8ghz Core 2 duo chip that is a bit slower than the Macbook and Macbook Pro notebook lines. Intel integrated graphics provides the video capabilities and with micro-DVI you can connect the notebook to external monitors.
Some things to consider before picking up the Macbook Air for yourself is some of the features it lacks:
- No optical Drive (But with the Included Remote Disk Software you can access your desktop CD/DVD drive). This may not be the best bet if you’re constantly swapping dvds on your notebook.
- 1 USB port and No Firewire port. The Macbook Air does include Bluetooth for peripherals devices but don’t plan on connecting a number of USB devices without first picking up a USB hub.
- Lack of Swappable Battery. Like the iPod and iPhone the Battery is built into the notebook itself. If you feel like you’ll need to use more than 5 hours of battery at a time, this new ultra mobile computer may not be for you.
Despite some of the things the notebook lacks, its seems to be a very impressive mobile computer. I also noticed that it comes with 2gb of RAM standard. Looks like Apple learned from the lack of performance on the standard Macbook line. Great for business travelers or students who plan on using them in their class studies. Priced at $1799. Complete System Specs can be found at the Macbook Air specification site.
PRODUCT UPDATES
Although these products have been part of the Apple line the updates make them feel new again.
iPhone received an update to version 1.1.3. This update includes some added Google Map features, the ability to send one sms messages to multiple people, adjustment of the home page, and clips of webpages you visit. These updates will quickly be used by all individuals already sporting an iPhone
iPod Touch is now literally an iPhone without the phone. Current Touch owners can upgrade to the latest software for $20 while new purchasers will find the software already part of the touch. The $20 to upgrade is pretty weak considering new purchasers won’t have to pay anything extra for the added features. Mail, Maps, and additional widgets will be great compliments to the mobile media player. Additionally it will make each iPod Touch owner that much more comfortable with upgrading their phone to iPhone the next time they plan on picking up a new product.
Apple TV now supports rentals from all major motion picture studios! This is wonderful news for us end users. Not only can you now rent movies through iTunes but you can do it with Apple TV and without the need of downloading it to your computer. I imagined that such an update would be included after the mobile iTunes purchase was so successful for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Additionally, the Apple TV will support HD content, including the new Rental services. Renting a movie will cost between $2.99 and $4.99 depending on how new the movie is and what quality of video and sound you select. It will be interesting to see how Netflix and Blockbuster rental services respond to the new product offering. Movies will be available for 30 days from purchase or 24 hours after you start watching the rental. And like other video content you can take the movies with you on your iPhone or iPod. All these features will be available via a software update to the Apple TV
Overall the Macworld Keynote event was great. It included some great new products and some wonderful updates to the current line of products that we already love. Additionally its positioned the Apple TV to really compete in the living room this year. Check back here at maciverse.com for new tutorials and reviews about these new products.
