Book Review - CNET Do-It-Yourself Mac Projects by Joli Ballew and Andrew Shalat
Category Book Reviews
So you just got a new Mac for Christmas and you're ready to explore some of the cooler things you could do with your new toy? Check out CNET Do-It-Yourself Mac Projects by Joli Ballew and Andrew Shalat. It will take you beyond the regular uses you may normally think of...
Contents:
Part 1 - Easy: Turn Your Mac into a Fax Machine; Turn Your Mac into a Jukebox; Keep a Backup of Your Mac's Hard Drive with Disk Utility; Stream Music Wirelessly Throughout Your Home; Put Your Favorite Photo on a T-Shirt, Apron, or Quilting Square; Fine-Tune Your Music Library; Download Free, Fun, Useful, and Crazy Widgets to Personalize Your Mac; Use Your Mac as an Information Portal with RSS Feeds and Downloadable E-Magazines; Prepare Your Used Mac and Sell It on eBay
Part 2 - Challenging: Convert Your VHS Home Movies to Digital Format; Use Your USB Webcam to Establish Video and Voice Communications with PC Users; Transfer Data from Your Old PC to Your Mac; Create Your Own Radio Broadcast; Use Automator Actions to Perform Repetitive Tasks; Control Your Mac with Your Voice; Send and Receive SMS Messages to and from Cell Phones; Connect to a Windows PC from Your Mac Using Remote Desktop Connection Client Software
Part 3 - Advanced: Create a Movie with QuickTime Pro and E-mail It to Friends and Family; Create Your Own Video Podcast; Turn Your Mac or Mac Mini into a DVD Media Center; Create a Slideshow of Your Favorite Photos and Burn It to DVD to Show on TV; Make a Mac Network that Is Friendly to PCs; Make a Copy of Your Kid's Favorite DVD Before They Destroy It; Convert Digital Movies, Videos, and DVDs for Viewing on a Video iPod
Index
If you're a die-hard Mac user, you've probably done a number of these already. But for those who are making the switch from PC to Mac, there's a world of possibilities out there that are just waiting to be explored. Ballew and Shalat have compiled a number of interesting projects you can try out, and the instructions are extremely easy to follow. Each project starts out with a list of what you'll need as well as what it will cost. That certainly beats getting halfway into something, only to find out that you don't have the critical component (and don't want to spend the money for it, either). From there, the work is divided up into a number of discrete steps, such as gather up the hardware, make the connection, install additional software, etc. Each step has a number of substeps that walk you through what's needed to complete everything. Very easy to follow, and even a basic understanding of computers should be enough to get through most of these... You can even head over to the CNET site on-line and see video versions of the same projects. So they have both the "show me" and "tell me" learners covered... :)
A nice gift choice for someone you know who just got a Mac, or for yourself with that check from Aunt Mary...
So you just got a new Mac for Christmas and you're ready to explore some of the cooler things you could do with your new toy? Check out CNET Do-It-Yourself Mac Projects by Joli Ballew and Andrew Shalat. It will take you beyond the regular uses you may normally think of...
Contents:
Part 1 - Easy: Turn Your Mac into a Fax Machine; Turn Your Mac into a Jukebox; Keep a Backup of Your Mac's Hard Drive with Disk Utility; Stream Music Wirelessly Throughout Your Home; Put Your Favorite Photo on a T-Shirt, Apron, or Quilting Square; Fine-Tune Your Music Library; Download Free, Fun, Useful, and Crazy Widgets to Personalize Your Mac; Use Your Mac as an Information Portal with RSS Feeds and Downloadable E-Magazines; Prepare Your Used Mac and Sell It on eBay
Part 2 - Challenging: Convert Your VHS Home Movies to Digital Format; Use Your USB Webcam to Establish Video and Voice Communications with PC Users; Transfer Data from Your Old PC to Your Mac; Create Your Own Radio Broadcast; Use Automator Actions to Perform Repetitive Tasks; Control Your Mac with Your Voice; Send and Receive SMS Messages to and from Cell Phones; Connect to a Windows PC from Your Mac Using Remote Desktop Connection Client Software
Part 3 - Advanced: Create a Movie with QuickTime Pro and E-mail It to Friends and Family; Create Your Own Video Podcast; Turn Your Mac or Mac Mini into a DVD Media Center; Create a Slideshow of Your Favorite Photos and Burn It to DVD to Show on TV; Make a Mac Network that Is Friendly to PCs; Make a Copy of Your Kid's Favorite DVD Before They Destroy It; Convert Digital Movies, Videos, and DVDs for Viewing on a Video iPod
Index
If you're a die-hard Mac user, you've probably done a number of these already. But for those who are making the switch from PC to Mac, there's a world of possibilities out there that are just waiting to be explored. Ballew and Shalat have compiled a number of interesting projects you can try out, and the instructions are extremely easy to follow. Each project starts out with a list of what you'll need as well as what it will cost. That certainly beats getting halfway into something, only to find out that you don't have the critical component (and don't want to spend the money for it, either). From there, the work is divided up into a number of discrete steps, such as gather up the hardware, make the connection, install additional software, etc. Each step has a number of substeps that walk you through what's needed to complete everything. Very easy to follow, and even a basic understanding of computers should be enough to get through most of these... You can even head over to the CNET site on-line and see video versions of the same projects. So they have both the "show me" and "tell me" learners covered... :)
A nice gift choice for someone you know who just got a Mac, or for yourself with that check from Aunt Mary...
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