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What can I do with my iMac?

A

apple1865

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 4, 2011
23
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In the past 4 months, I have bought an iPhone 4, an iPad 2, and an iMac. These are all firsts for me. My question is, what kind of cool things can I do when they are linked together? I want to get the most functionality out of them as possible. Thanks.

Sorry if this is the wrong place for this thread.
 
I think you can use your iPad or iPhone as a controller when you are playing video games or as a remote to play music/videos. I don't have my iMac yet, though, so I haven't tried it out.
 
I think your question might be a bit too vague - "What can I do with my computer" is not a simple question!

A good place to start would be the Mac App Store - they've got a section at the moment that features apps which join the various devices.

Perhaps it would help if you told us what you'd like to do? What are your interests?
 
Steamrunner said:
I think your question might be a bit too vague - "What can I do with my computer" is not a simple question!

A good place to start would be the Mac App Store - they've got a section at the moment that features apps which join the various devices.

Perhaps it would help if you told us what you'd like to do? What are your interests?
Click to expand...
Basic things like gaming, music, browsing the internet, photos, etc.

Thanks for the tip on the app store section. I'll check that out right now.
 
I purchased AirServer for my imac which allows me to display pictures, videos, etc from my iphone 4 to my imac via airplay on my iphone. Also download airprint activator on your imac and be able to print to your wireless printer from your iphone or ipad.
 
I've got 2 of the 3. Haven't got the iPad yet.
But I have a couple Airport Express' hook to my stereo systems. One inside the house & one out.
Apple Remote app!
I can be out on the back patio and control my music via Wifi. Can even purchase music from iTunes and play it. Goes great with beer in hand!
 
Yeah, kinda like saying I have a saw, hammer and level: what can I build?

Answer: darn near anything.

But I assume you're sort of asking about connectivity and how to make the best use of them together.

The first thing you want to do is connect them all up so you can use them when you're away from the iMac, which you'll be treating as your server. I have come to really like several apps that connect up to your Mac: Goodreader, Remote Viewer, Remoter VNC, SplashTop, iStat and Air Video. EyeTV is also great, but of little use unless you have the hardware to connect to an antenna. TouchPad, which works with SplashPad, allows you to use the iPhone as a, well, touch pad. And Printopia, to print to any printer connected to the iMac, and Phoneview, which gives you more control over connecting to your phone. To make best use of this stuff you've got to make your iMac accessible over the internet as well.

And try Telekinesis/iPhone Remote; it's in Google code or somesuch. It's free, and will give you an intro to various ways to connect and control your iMac from the other two.

Rob
 
apple1865 said:
Basic things like gaming, music, browsing the internet, photos, etc.

Thanks for the tip on the app store section. I'll check that out right now.
Click to expand...

Ok, well if you like gaming (and I assume tv/movies) how about having a look at the "iCollect" range of apps - if you've got lots of DVDs, games, books etc then you can use your iPhone to scan the barcodes of them and build up a database of what you've got, which you can also access on your Mac and iPad. You can also create your own databases with Bento and sync them between the devices.

Another cool thing is to remote control your Mac from your iPhone/iPad using a VNC app like Screens - great for checking the progress of a DVD encode while in another room.

For photos - the obvious thing here is take photos with your iPhone and import them into iPhoto, then sync them with your iPad and use it as a photo frame while it's charging in a dock.

Music - use the iPhone or ipad as a remote for your itunes library, and stream from itunes to each device.

There's some really cool stuff coming in iOS 5 and Lion (wireless sync/backup, location-based reminders, iCloud) but for now there's some ideas.
 
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