Mat on Macs

The Different District. Lots of great Apple ads, conveniently arranged. A fun time-waster.

Most of the time when I’m playing videos I’m also futzing around with other stuff at the same time so I often do not use Frontrow (as I’m typing this post I’ve got a movie going). Anyways, I’m playing a DVD full screen on my main monitor with DVD Player and it occurs to me: I wonder if the iMac remote works with DVD player. Well, hot damn, it does! Play/pause, chapter forward/back, 4x fast forward/back (hold buttons down) all work. In fact, the play/pause button works on the DVD Player app even if some other program like Safari is in the foreground. (The menu button, however, does not bring up the DVD menu, but Frontrow). What about Quicktime Player? Yep, that one works too (play/pause, scan forward/back). When something besides Frontrow is running, the volume up/down buttons on the remote adjust the system volume. In short, this thing does more than I realized, but exactly what one would expect–isn’t that more or less what makes the Mac different? Well done Apple!

[update: TUAW has linked to this post (Thanks!) and in the comments there you find out that the remote does even more things–control iTunes, put the machine to sleep, etc. Cool!]

I was recently looking for some Macintosh posters to decorate my office and perhaps one of the sort of mousepads that you see in Apple showrooms, but I’ve had a heck of a time finding any. I’ve never understood Apple’s unwillingness to sell officially licensed accessories. While you can find a few Apple memorabilia type items at places like The Missing Byte, it is quite hard to find any number of things one might like to have. Apple tends to engender the kind of loyalty that would lead to a lot of sales of mousepads, shirts, etc. Apple owns one of the most valuable brands in the world, and while I can understand their desire to keep it somewhat exclusive, it seems patently foolish to forgo a lucrative market which is pure profit. Other exclusive brands don’t seem to mind. So what gives? Why doesn’t Apple what my money?

It’s true that the world is not wanting for Mac blogs, many written by much more knowledgeable folks than I. Nonetheless, I thought it’s be worth doing this, partly for my own enjoyment, but also to track the beginning of the Intel Mac era, because I am indeed writing this post on a 17″ Intel iMac. I’ll be posting about my experiences with my new iMac, including the pitfalls that come with being an early-adopter. I hope I might also be a source of information for others looking to get going on a new Intel Mac.