How My Mac Helps Me

[Eluon]

With all these questions about Mac technical issues and problems, I thought it would be cool to have a thread about not just WHY we love our Mac's (besides the usual Windows sucks, viruses, etc) but how they help our day.

Every morning at 7 am, my iMac G5 will turn itself on. It will then say: "Good Morning, Curtis. It is 7am." After that, it will launch and start playing iTunes, followed by opening Mail and checking my mail. This makes it where when I do finally roll out of bed about 7:15-7:30, my mail is already checked, iTunes has slowly woken me up with my favorite tunes, and my computer has greeted me!

Then, I'll take my iBook G4 to work in the computer lab and sit there for an hour while browsing the web. It will then be used for an entire school day without ever being charged. I won't even know it is in my backpack as I ride my bike around campus because it is so small, and I know it is sturdy. I will use Word to record my lectures and then export to iTunes for my iPod.

After class, I usually get to chill using my G5 to do some video editing, photoshop work and just web browsing. If I need to do homework (yea, right), my iMac is always faithful, often times being used as a back up machine for my 3 roommates.

These are several reasons why I have mad love for the Apple.

How does your Mac help you during the day?

[WeeShoo]

How do you get it to wake up at 7:00am?

[Eluon]

Well, I used Energy Saver options in the System Pref's to wake the computer up at 7 am. I then created a work flow in Automator to speak certain text, then launch iTunes and play it, then open mail and check it. I saved it as an application and put it in my Log In Items under my Account info in System Prefs....

Curtis

[macEfan]

Cool, that is neat. I still turn my mac on and off. U R right about the ibook battery. 4.25hours!! :)

[tvguru]

Well, I used Energy Saver options in the System Pref's to wake the computer up at 7 am. I then created a work flow in Automator to speak certain text, then launch iTunes and play it, then open mail and check it. I saved it as an application and put it in my Log In Items under my Account info in System Prefs....

Curtis

That's a great idea. Would you mind posting the workflow so that we/I have a basis to start from?

[Verto]

EDIT

[Eluon]

That's a great idea. Would you mind posting the workflow so that we/I have a basis to start from?

Not a problem my friend. Here are the instructions:

Open Automator.

1. Text Edit: Get Specified Text.
Type the text you want spoken.

MAKE SURE THE OPTION TO CARRY THE INFORMATION FROM THE PREVIOUS FLOW IS CARRIED TO PART 2.

2. Text Edit: Speak Text

MAKE SURE THE OPTION TO CARRY THE INFORMATION FROM THE PREVIOUS FLOW IS NOT CARRIED TO PART 3.

3. iTunes: Start iTunes Playing

MAKE SURE THE OPTION TO CARRY THE INFORMATION FROM THE PREVIOUS FLOW IS NOT CARRIED TO PART 4.

4. Mail: Get New Mail


Save it and then put it in your log in items under your system preferences. A screen shot of it is this:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/eluon/ScreenShot.jpg

[mduser63]

I have two Macs, my PowerBook and my Power Mac G5 (see sig). They get used for different things. My PowerBook is my everyday computer. I take it to school with me every day and use it for several hours at school and several hours when I get back home. It gets used for Matlab, Word, Dreamweaver, MI-SUGAR, and a bunch of other stuff. To be honest, I can't imagine not having it with me at school anymore. It just works 99% of the time. Doesn't crash, easily connects to wired and wireless networks everywhere, gets really good battery life, and it's ready as soon as I need without having to wait for it to boot up like Windows.

My Power Mac is my video editing and DVD authoring workstation. I use it to make money, so that's obviously a huge help to me. Same as the PowerBook, it just works. I certainly can't say the same about the PC it replaced.

[Phat_Pat]

I use my Powermac for various things, from surfing the web to some heavy video editing. I love it :)

[bursty]

Sorry to hijack the thread into an automator help session, but how do you get it to run every day at 7am?

Edit: Sorry, I didnt see the part where you put it under login items. Sorry! :o

[DaftUnion]

That's awesome! Everyday I seem to learn something new about what I can do with my mac. I really need to get out of the habit of just turning it off and putting it in standby instead.

[shadowmoses]

Thanks alot for that, very cool post......The guided workflow with screenshot has inspired me to give automater a go after ignoring it for months...

Shadow

[Deepdale]

Every morning at 7 am, my iMac G5 will turn itself on. It will then say: "Good Morning, Curtis. It is 7am." After that, it will launch and start playing iTunes, followed by opening Mail and checking my mail.

If only your quote continued ... "The dishwasher will be activated at 7:20 and the washing machine started at 7:30. Your usual breakfast of buttered toast and coffee shall be waiting for you at 7:45 and the shower water will start to run at 8:00. Enjoy your day."

[barneygumble]

Thanks alot for that, very cool post......The guided workflow with screenshot has inspired me to give automater a go after ignoring it for months...

Shadow

Me too i had dismissed it as a gimmick
:o

[chaosbunny]

Now if only my powerbook could open its lid all by itself. :)

[tvguru]

Not a problem my friend. Here are the instructions:
snip


Thanks I got it all working and it woke me up this morining. :D
Only problem with that though is that now I'm going to be mad at my mac everymorning :eek:

Only thing I'd like it to do ontop of that is tell me the new time every 5-10min.

Thanks

[robcts]

Nice story :) Makes me want to hurry up and purchase my G5 soon.

[dcv]

That's really neat.

If only your quote continued ... "The dishwasher will be activated at 7:20 and the washing machine started at 7:30. Your usual breakfast of buttered toast and coffee shall be waiting for you at 7:45 and the shower water will start to run at 8:00. Enjoy your day."

^ have to agree with this!! If only my mac would make my morning coffee for me and deliver it to my bedside table...

[Mac_Freak]

That's really neat.



^ have to agree with this!! If only my mac would make my morning coffee for me and deliver it to my bedside table...


Yeah, with British accent too, "Would you like some tea sir?"

Cool workflow man, I am going to try it out some day.

[CoMpX]

Not a problem my friend. Here are the instructions:

Open Automator.

1. Text Edit: Get Specified Text.
Type the text you want spoken.

MAKE SURE THE OPTION TO CARRY THE INFORMATION FROM THE PREVIOUS FLOW IS CARRIED TO PART 2.

2. Text Edit: Speak Text

MAKE SURE THE OPTION TO CARRY THE INFORMATION FROM THE PREVIOUS FLOW IS NOT CARRIED TO PART 3.

3. iTunes: Start iTunes Playing

MAKE SURE THE OPTION TO CARRY THE INFORMATION FROM THE PREVIOUS FLOW IS NOT CARRIED TO PART 4.

4. Mail: Get New Mail


Save it and then put it in your log in items under your system preferences. A screen shot of it is this:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/eluon/ScreenShot.jpg

Is there a way that I can only make this workflow happen on weekdays? When I turn my Mac on on weekends, I dont want it to do all this. I no can can make the Mac only turn on on weekdays, but when I turn it on on weekends the workflow will still happen. Help please!

[dcv]

Is there a way that I can only make this workflow happen on weekdays? When I turn my Mac on on weekends, I dont want it to do all this. I no can can make the Mac only turn on on weekdays, but when I turn it on on weekends the workflow will still happen. Help please!

I haven't really looked at Automator or any of this stuff in much detail but i think you could probably write a little AppleScript to control execution, or you could have an alarm in iCal (on weekdays only) that triggers the script.

[Eastend]

Just to stay on topic, I'll add, the mac gets the job finished and it's kind of neat just to play around with.

Brian

[paulypants]

Awesome man! Thanks for that, I got it working great, try it tomorrow morning...

[Eluon]

Awesome! I am glad many of you have given my work flow a shot! I, like many of you, had written off Automator. But, I have always wanted my computer to greet me when I turn it on. So, one night, while I should have been doing homework, I decided to see if I could get it to work.