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Surprising things you do with your computer

altaprod

altaprod

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 1, 2006
126
0
California
Please share the surprisingly cool (especially automated) things that you do with your computer. :cool: Don't be stingy now.

I'll start. I use a freeware program called Proxi to talk to my computer and start Skype and iTunes, etc. For details visit this thread. Since I don't know programming or how to use automator it's really simple.

I can't wait to hear more ideas.
 
cool blog

i like the chair video. I wonder how you created the blog using your Mac. What software did you use?
 
Delicious library

Recently I've been obsessively using "Delicious" Library. This program has really entertained the organizational-side of me which comes out of hiding every so often.

Living in Japan, my boyfriend and I, have been building a fairly large library of movies and tv shows. Before getting "Delicious" we were constantly forgetting what we had. So with very little effort and only a few hours I catalogued every single DVD and/or movie file we have. Finding the DVD information is very easy with a direct connection to Amazon.

Our library is up to 241 entries and growing daily. Soon I'm going to number the actual DVD's and add that number to the library which will make finding the physical DVD even faster.

One side benefit that has come is that we are able to find shows that we both want to watch much faster.

Anyone else having fun using "Delicious" library?
 
altaprod said:
Anyone else having fun using "Delicious" library?
Click to expand...

Not with the same application, but with DVDpedia. My favourite thing about it, is so far being able to link movies catalogued to my encoded files on my hardrive. A one click play feature, much more advanced than iTunes in my opinion.

Hopefully one day I will have all my movies locally networked :D

I wrote a mini review about DVDpedia if any one is interested.

Link
 
spam?

likeavaliant,
Hello, forgive my ignorance since I'm so new to the forums here. this is actually only the first or second thread I've started and i certainly didn't want it to turn negative with spammers.

I'm confused though, I thought spam was an email. did i do something wrong in starting this thread which attracted spammers?

I really just wanted people to respond with surprising things that they've done using their Macintosh computers that maybe the rest of us don't know about.

:confused:
 
DeSnousa said:
Not with the same application, but with DVDpedia. My favourite thing about it, is so far being able to link movies catalogued to my encoded files on my hardrive. A one click play feature, much more advanced than iTunes in my opinion.

Hopefully one day I will have all my movies locally networked :D

I wrote a mini review about DVDpedia if any one is interested.

Link
Click to expand...

Not sure if I got the idea from this thread or not but I downloaded and bought (3 fer package) within about 10 minutes of trying it.
Love It !!!
Delicious Library to me had a silly interface and is too expensive.
 
altaprod said:
likeavaliant,
Hello, forgive my ignorance since I'm so new to the forums here. this is actually only the first or second thread I've started and i certainly didn't want it to turn negative with spammers.

I'm confused though, I thought spam was an email. did i do something wrong in starting this thread which attracted spammers?

I really just wanted people to respond with surprising things that they've done using their Macintosh computers that maybe the rest of us don't know about.

:confused:
Click to expand...

Don't worry, I have no idea where likeavaliant is coming from
 
likeavaliant said:
this thread reeks of subtle spamming.
Click to expand...

You've just shown us a perfect example.

altaprod said:
I'm confused though, I thought spam was an email.
Click to expand...

"spam" on these forums are messages without much meaning, posts just to inflate post count. See here for the official forum rules on spam.

As for thing I don with my mac, I have it set so anytime I connect a memory card with pics, it downloads them to a folder :p High tech, huh? I'm still working on learning to use automator to transfer these images to a new created folder on my external HD based on date, but I'm a bit lazy ;)
 
This is topic is kind of getting...off topic. I pretty much use my Macbook for everything I can. Notes, Chatting...everything unless I can't do it on my Macbook. =]
 
No, the spam label sticks to the original post. The OP's fervent love of Proxi (seen in other threads too) and lengthy writings on its merits--accompanied by screenshots even!--suggests that the OP has something to gain from people adopting (purchasing) Proxi. Perhaps he's the developer, or perhaps he gets a cut? It's just a little suspicious. And I gave him the benefit of the doubt before, but I have my doubts after that silly "I thought spam is email?" comment. Not so much for the ignorance but for the affected poor grammar, because his other posts are fairly well written and do not betray such simpleness.

I do actually think that Ken is legit here. I looked up Proxi and it appears to be a Griffin product. That doesn't concretely settle the issue, but good enough for me. My point is that the spam label was aimed at the suspiciously zealous endorsement by the OP.
 
flailing to failing . . .

dllavaneras, thanks for actually offering an idea that corresponds with the theme of the thread. If you have time to explain your work-flow that would be even better.

Georgie, actually your response (NOT continuing with the theme) was enlightening. Your assumptions are a little insulting although you did offer some back-handed compliments, which was nice of you.

Some conclusions and thoughts of my flailing thread:
1) I like the concept of Proxi (triggers for tasks) and it's very SIMPLE to use. And Freeware.
2) I only added Proxi to get the ball rolling on the thread because it's one of the few things that I do on my computer that truly "surprises" people.
3) One reason I started this thread was to find if there was something better than Proxi that was more robust AND/OR some automated work-flows that people (who are much more computer-savvy) could share with the rest of us.
4) I want to be surprised by the "cool" things that others are doing and maybe they can share "HOW" they do it.
5) OP stands for "orignial poster" not "Ocean Pacific." And I am the OP. Such a powerful sounding title for just starting a thread.
6) I haven't been surprised yet.

Maybe I should start a thread about how to know when a thread has FAILED. :(
 
DVDpedia

DeSnousa,

Since using "Delicious Library" I've often said "wouldn't it be cool if I could just click the movie and it would play?" Seems DVDpedia can do it. The feature of being able to create a link to the actual video file in order to play from the library is awesome.

After reading your review I'm going to look into DVDpedia.
 
Georgie said:
No, the spam label sticks to the original post. The OP's fervent love of Proxi (seen in other threads too) and lengthy writings on its merits--accompanied by screenshots even!--suggests that the OP has something to gain from people adopting (purchasing) Proxi.
<snip> blah blah <snip>.
Click to expand...

Come on, if you look at my own posts you'll see that I'm a huge fan of God of War and will recommend it in any PS2 thread there is. Same for (in music discussions) Apocalyptica, and I will always say that Soundgarden and Audioslave suck and Rage Against the Machine rocks big time. Do I get a "cut" for saying that? No. I simply express what I like and hope it will get other people to try and give whatever it is I'm talking about a try. I don't see a difference in this case.

altaprod said:
dllavaneras, thanks for actually offering an idea that corresponds with the theme of the thread. If you have time to explain your work-flow that would be even better.
Click to expand...

Sure. I have Image Capture set up so it launches every time one of my memory cards is inserted, downloads all the pics to a specific folder, embedding a color profile and adding a preview icon. I'm still working on an automator task or an applescript to move all the files in that folder to my external HD and separate the pictures into folders, one folder for each day, in my photos folder. Once I do that, I'll be a happy man :)

Another thing I do with my Mac (Photoshop, actually) is grab all the images in a folder, apply noise ninja at a specific setting (depending on the ISO speed I was shooting at), resize them to a specific percentage (mostly 50 or 75%), sharpen them and "save for web" to a specific folder. Great for uploading them to my site, Come to think of it, this gave me a great idea: using folder actions to have all those files uploaded directly with FTP to my account. From there, it's one-click publishing!
 
altaprod said:
Maybe I should start a thread about how to know when a thread has FAILED. :(
Click to expand...

Well given that your thread now has 20 posts and it's still up on the front page, I'd say it's doing pretty well. True, it hasn't stayed on your topic, but that's the way these things are. Most threads get just a response or two and then whither and die. Like our media, you never know what's going to catch the public's fancy. And anyway, I like the idea of the original post.

Maybe this thread will catch on if you could offer a few more neat examples. I've downloaded a lot of shareware and tried a lot of different programs (to the point that I'm looking forward to Leopard primarily for the excuse to do a clean install), but at the end of the day I keep coming back to the same apps, and they all seem to start with Apple: Apple Mail, Apple Aperture, Apple Safari, Apple iTunes. I use Parallels too, and PTGui w/enblend, and Microsoft Office (but only when I have to because I prefer iWork). I just haven't found much that's really special because the Mac experience is so fantastic to start with.
 
rosie where are you?

Georgie, I wish I had more surprising things to share but I really don't. At least not about my Macintosh. Hopefully others will offer their secrets AND offer explanations of HOW to do them OR links to other MacRumors threads.

Since I can avoid embarrassement with the anonymity of this forum let me tell you a couple of scenarios for where I would like to see this thread go:

a few scenarios and wishes:
a) Someone shares a cool AI software which is capable of not only carrying on a reasonable conversation with real answers to real questions, i.e. "is it going to rain today?" "Yes, this afternoon there is a 80% chance of light showers."

In addition (since I am dreaming) this AI software would be smart enough to launch applications from the dialogue. So in my weather example maybe the software would open Safari to the weather page. And all of this is manipulated with a user-friendly interfrace, i.e. PROXI, a program which I've learned I have a fervent love for. ;)

b) Someone who has been able to create a gps-roaming robot in their house that doesn't bump into walls because it's in communication with their Macintosh which has the schematics of the house and is constantly guiding it on it's journey.

Actually there are neat robots on the market already so it seems the only thing needed is to drop a gps device on the robot and then have software that can guide the robot using the schematics.

c) A user-friendly "Front-End" to automator that allows average people like me to create complex automator workflows. I'm not sure I'm using the term "Front-End" correctly. What I mean is some type of program which makes automator even more easy by offering simple screens and scripts which I drag and drop.

Maybe automator is easy enough and I just haven't got my head around it yet.

d) A way to visually organize applications.

I currently use my dashboard as a launchpad for my applications using multidash. In just a quick mouse-move to my screen-corner I can see all of the icons of my applications in categories and double-click what I want. I prefer it to a crowded dock. While this is great it slows down my computer because I have 7 instances of the widget running to categorize my applications. I wish I could create a completely different page(s) for my actual widgets. Maybe Apple will add that in the future with Leopard.

I've tried the little program called Todos which is almost what I want but doesn't allow me to organize them into categories.

The OP :cool:
 
SLINGBOX surprises me

I just downloaded the free beta of the slingplayer and I am surprised. :eek:
I was watching (and changing channels) from my friends cable box (in America) from Japan. I had no idea this was possible.

As a foreigner living in Japan I often feel disconnected from my homeland. And I'm going to buy a slingbox immediately and will be able to enjoy commercial television in all it's glory.

On my trial run I saw the usual infomercials and re-runs because it was 4am in the morning, so I'll have to tweak my viewing times to coincide with being on the other side of the planet. The downloaded signal really wasn't too bad at all. For casual sitcom watching it will be fine. For blockbuster movies like Star Wars and LOTR's I'll stick to the DVD. I'm loving this.

Anyone else seen or used the slingbox?
 
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