No Long Days

It has now been about 9 months since I have been using an iMac as my home PC. I originally bought it to learn something new and it has been quite a fun journey. There are many things about that Mac which I absolutely love. Of course, as someone who used Windows for years there are some things that are a bit frustrating at first. Of course, once you get used to them it is not a big deal.

One of the best "tools" that I purchased for my Mac was a subscription to ScreenCastsOnline. This is a weekly video podcast about using the Mac and Mac software. Believe it or not there is ALOT of software available for the Mac. A big advantage of Mac software is that you can find a lot of high quality software at very reasonable prices. So, while the Mac hardware is more than a similar PC package (usually, no flames here please) most of the software is much less expensive and much higher quality.

But, how do you find out what's out there? Frankly, I don't have time to go trying and testing dozens of software packages for my Mac. So, I let Don McAllister do that for me. Then every week he creates a high quality, high definition screen cast giving a good over view of that product and many times provides a discount code to boot. Just for me of course.

But, ScreenCastsOnline is not just an external application demo show. Don has many videos on using the built in Mac software and utilities. I have learned much from him about Safari, iChat, iCal, iTunes, iPhoto, Finder, Disk Utility, Activity Monitor. These are things I probably wouldn't have found myself since I'm not big on reading docs. Oh, and I think Apple is not big on writing docs. There is also the online forums with a topic to discuss each show.

Some of the best tips...

• Setting up smart playlists in iTunes for podcasts
• Encrypting content on my USB drive
• Getting me to try out Tweetie
• How to setup remote access to my Mac
• Tons more stuff I do every day that I'm forgetting

Some apps I've learned about from him that I use all the time now...

• 1Password
• Google Reader
• TextExpander

I have also been wanting to digitize all of my DVD movies and make them available in some way to my HDTV and his most recent show on using a Mac Mini as a media center to store and view them is very compelling. I can't wait to see part 2.

I highly recommend you try out his podcast. There is a free feed for you to wet your appetite. But, soon you will realize you want the full shows in HD and subscribe. When you subscribe you get access to the full back catalog as well. I am happy I did and will certainly be extending my membership when it comes due.