Mac Toys: 12 Cool Projects for Home, Office, and Entertainment
Wiley Publishers
Price: $29.99
Pros: An awesome source of ideas for getting the most out of your Mac
Cons: No recent updates for exciting new possibilities
by Gerrit Dalman
Macintoshes are known around the world to be friendlier and more fun than their Windows counterparts, but the average user is often at a loss as to how they can take advantage of Apple's flexibility and ease of use to make their home computers do truly amazing things. Fortunately there's a good book out there that can give you a few ideas and jumpstart your creativity.
"Mac Toys," by Martin Fuhrer, is nothing more than a step-by-step guide to making your Mac do even more than it says on the label. Apple's iApps are just the beginning. Out of the box you can use iPhoto to create stunning linen-bound books, iMovie to share professional looking DVDs, and GarageBand to compose your own musical masterpieces. But go a little bit further, as this thorough guide directs, and you can be doing a lot more than that.
The author presents twelve projects that transform your Mac into a lot more than just a word-processor and a web browser. In summary, it includes the following:
Controlling household appliances and lights
Hosting your own internet radio show
Using your Mac as a digital video recorder
Getting the most out of your iPod
Turning an old Mac into a programmable picture frame
Setting up your home AirPort (WiFi) network
Making your own music
Setting your Mac up as a dedicated video arcade machine
Converting old music from tapes and records for use in iTunes
Converting home movies and other video into DVDs
Making your own movies
Creating a wireless jukebox out of a Mac
Some of the chapters are really nothing more than in-depth guides to iLife apps, but that's awesome too. For example, Chapter 11: Make a Killer Video, is a pretty straightforward guide to iMovie. That's not a downer though, because it's quite thorough and provides a plethora of not so obvious but oh-so useful tips about lighting, camera movement, and subject position.
Others, however, make integrating some pretty complex ideas very simple. The internet broadcasting chapter covers a variety of services and softwares, the legality of transmitting copyrighted material, and the potential hardware requirements while presenting thorough how-to material for each combination. Likewise, the guide to turning a Mac into an arcade machine doesn't just describe how to install and configure the popular MacMAME software, but provides useful tips and examples for adding joysticks and even building a custom arcade-style case for the machine.
Still other chapters will hold your hand through expanding existing parts of your digital lifestyle. The wireless networking chapter will walk you through the installation and setup of Apple-branded or third-party WiFi in your home and the iPod chapter shows lots of ways that you can do more better with the worlds most popular digital music player.
Though most of the tips are timeless, this book is already starting to show a little age. It was published before the release of GarageBand, so there is no coverage of that awesome app in the music-making section. New features in upgrades to other apps also change things a bit, but the guide is full of links to online references and sidebars that are still useful to users of the newest products. Still, it would be nice if there were an associated web site with regular updates or even a second edition.
Ultimately this book exists to help you take your digital life style that extra mile. Some of the projects presented have additional costs, but most can be tackled with your current equipment and a little determination. Just remember that "Mac Toys" is only the beginning. Let the ideas presented in this book fuel your imagination and there's no telling where you can go with your own digital hub!