A video-equipped Airport Express to make the Powerbook a Media Centre would be a great "One More Thing" (and other thoughts)

Home > Technology > A video-equipped Airport Express to make the Powerbook a Media Centre would be a great "One More Thing" (and other thoughts)

A video-equipped Airport Express to make the Powerbook a Media Centre would be a great "One More Thing" (and other thoughts)

Date Created: 07 Oct, 2005, 01:51 PM

My presentation at last week's Australian Psychological Society's conference in Melbourne went down well.

A number of people came up to me after and asked for a copy of my Keynote presentation, which I duly converted into Powerpoint for them, albeit with the loss of some of the Keynote transitions and effects. I also noted when I transferred the file to them on their USB thumbdrives (good to see my colleagues keeping up with current storage technologies) that two folders appeared. One was the Keynote slides, and the other contained the media files I used. These were .mov and .avi files.

I'll upload the presentation soon, and you can see for yourself what I did (as a Quicktime movie) and what I said, as I accidentally left Aquaminds' Notetaker software running in voice memo mode.

I've imported the Quicktime movie of the Keynote, and the mp3 from Aquaminds into iMovie and I'll edit it this weekend. Then I'll convert it to a QT7 Movie and you can watch it at your leisure.

Let's just say that the audience (about 70) had probably never seen a Keynote show before (and were clearly over the use of Powerpoint big-time), and were just a tad blown away. The fact that I employ a lot of graphics and one-word slides was also refreshing for them. As one said, at the end, psychologists more than most should know how to convey complex ideas simply, and yet we seem not to ... maybe next year I'll do a workshop on presentation skills.

Reviewing what I did - and I'm still tinkering with the Keynote on the assumption that I'll use it again soon - I connected my Powerbook to my TV and placed Keynote into presentation mode to check how it all worked.

Presentation mode allows you to see two slides side by side on the Powerbook. The one on the left is what the audience currently sees on the video projector or TV. The second slide shows what is coming up next, so you can cue yourself in. Only you get to see that. Down the bottom is room for text to be added just in case you need further memory aids. (See the graphic at the top).

The arrangement can be altered in Keynote's preferences, such that you can change screen slide size, remove the notes area, and change the timers of which there are two: one that shows real time, and one that is a countdown or countup timer. You can set this timer to count downards so you have time left from say, 20 minutes, or you can have it let you know time elapsed since you started the presentation, which is my preferred method.

Because TV is not 1024 x 768 which is one of the standard Keynote resolutions, one has to be careful of dimensions so as not to cut off items or have them improperly displayed. Which is why I sometime also use a 17" IBM CRT to test as well. But the TV is also good for others to see, and I use Griffin's iMic to take the audio out into the hi-fi so I can also hear the Keynote since I almost always use movies or sound.

So, out of the Powerbook comes an S-video/RCA cable (using the supplied adaptor) into the AV2 on my Panasonic VCR, as well as the stereo leads connected to the iMic plugged into a USB port on the Powerbook. This is also how I watch my Bit Torrented files like Lost, Desperate Housewives and Commander in Chief (and, yes, the Daily Show) on my own time, not when the commercial TV networks tell me I can. Another story of course.

Now to the point: Rumours of what is behind the red curtain in Apple's media-only invite next week have been quite expansive. Following the surprise/disappointment of the iPod Nano/Motorola ROKR show a month ago, mainstream media are very interested in what Steve Jobs will reveal as "one more thing".

That phrase, so often looked to expectedly at the end of each MacWorld Keynote, suggests something big is on the way, and possibly connected to last month's announcements.

Rumour sites, as well as the BBC, have suggested video iPods. I don't think this is the case, as there is still insufficient compelling desire to watch mainstream media on small screens, nor do music videos really add up to compelling entertainment either.

Others have suggested new 5G iPods with enhanced video features, including linking to a video-enabled version of Airport Express. While Steve Jobs might show new Powerbooks and Powermacs, I think it's the Airport Express which would interest me the most.

How nice it would be to stream my Bit Torrented files, as well as Keynote into my stereo/TV setup using an Airport to receive all the AV material with no wires, from anywhere in the house. That would enable me to place the Powerbook as my media centre as is, without any special setups. Combine it with an Elgato-type recording device to digitise content from TV sources, and the system is complete.

It would also mean that when I attend conferences, I don't need to connect my Powerbook directly to the projector - the Airport Express would do it for me. Of course, should Apple ever introduce a tablet which would be wirelessly equipped, it would be perfect as a portable white board to take notes during the presentation, as well as display a Keynote show.

Whatever the case, it's great to see Apple keep itself the focus of attention due to mainstream media's appreciation of its capacity to innovate and excite.