simply stunning stories

[kermit64]

so being apple fans, and given the fact that we read this board, we can all agree that we are more familiar than most with apple and its products. this thread is for all the things that are simply stunning that we didn't expect.

my story.
so i'm using address book (i finally got around to inputing all my phone numbers) and i just start putting in my friends aim names because there is a space for it. first of all, i thought it was really cool that whenever i was done with one person's card their name in ichat would change to their real name, and this was surprising. but then i was blown away when i came upon one of my friends that had 4 screen names and i put them all in address book, and then i watched as all four screen names in ichat were condensed into one real person name, and as i pull up the get info window for that person. there is a pull down menu for all the screen names, so i can check profiles to my hearts content.

another story that is particularly stunning, i was showing off expose to a friend, trying to push him to buy panther. i start with all windows, then by application, then the desktop. and then i went back to by application, and he starts command tabbing through applications in expose and sure enough, the windows start flying as each application is brought into focus. i had to admit to him, that i didn't even know it could do that.


please share

 

[Arden]

Not a "stunning story" per se, but I love being able to pop something onto my scanner, scan it into Photoshop, save it as a JPG, and FTP or transfer it within the space of a few minutes. And simply waking up my computer, going online, Googling something, and finding the information I was looking for in 2 minutes—ah, long live the digital age.

 

[adambyte]

Here's something a beginner taught me... and I felt so incredibly stupid. I had always pressed the eject key on my PowerBook, and... sometimes it would work, and unmount and eject the CD... other times, it wouldn't, and nothing would happen... and then my friend said, "dude, you have to hold it down for a second." And I felt so incredibly stupid.

 

[solrac]

another story that is particularly stunning, i was showing off expose to a friend, trying to push him to buy panther. i start with all windows, then by application, then the desktop. and then i went back to by application, and he starts command tabbing through applications in expose and sure enough, the windows start flying as each application is brought into focus. i had to admit to him, that i didn't even know it could do that.

OH MY GOD I WAS JUST ABOUT TO POST THIS!!!!
That cmd-tab while in expose is awesome. It loads up all apps under an F10 command as you switch. You can also use the arrow keys to select different windows.

 

[Randman]

I don't use it that much, but speech does impress the heck out of many people. Even the "tell me a joke" line. It also impresses people when I type something out and can have the computer read it back to me.

 

[iMan]

Randman, I know and it's been around for a looong time. I hate the feature, annoys the out of me when the computer starts speaking at random.. I always have it turned off

Viktor

 

[symphonix]

I just bought a digital camera (an Olympus C-150), took it out of the box, snapped off a few test shots, plugged in the USB lead ... and iPhoto opened automatically and downloaded the shots into the library, without me needing to press a single key. The driver software CD is still sitting unopened in the box. :-D

The other thing that really impresses is how easily I can jump onto a network. I plug into an ADSL router at home, to the network at the university, and directly to a friend's PC, and get network access in under 5 seconds ... and I've never changed the Network preferences, ever.

 

[octane]

I just bought a digital camera (an Olympus C-150), took it out of the box, snapped off a few test shots, plugged in the USB lead ... and iPhoto opened automatically and downloaded the shots into the library, without me needing to press a single key. The driver software CD is still sitting unopened in the box. :-D

I have a similar story to tell. Some months ago, I went to meet with a photographer guy whose looking to have his own web site.

I'm sat there in his living room, staring into his kit bag. Big cameras, lots of cameras.

I've got my iBook and I've not even once opened iPhoto, at that time, I didn't even have a camera myself.

So, out of interest, I asked if I could try out the big ugly-looking camera with all of the nasty big buttons and dials.

He said: 'yeah, go for it!'

I popped the USB lead into the camera and then into my iBook. Seconds later, I was pulling in the images.

He scratches his head and asks: 'how did you do that? I've been trying like mad to get my pc to see my camera.'

He laments: 'I've been on their web site for a week trying to get their support people to fix it.'

'You want my advice? Get a mac...'

Another meeting, some weeks later and I'm with one of my biggest clients, a _huge_ multi-national glass manufacturer. There I am in one of their innumerable boardrooms, watching the IT guys shuffle about on hands and knees trying to get the projection system to see the two company laptops; an IBM ThinkPad and some other slab of crap I've never heard of before.

The problem was compounded by Citrix acting up and not letting them get outside the internal network.

So I chimed in: 'Look, I've got all of the files on my iBook.'

The IT guys turn to look at me, the client looks at me.

'It can't hurt!'

So, I pop in the video converter cable that comes with my iBook and then plug the VGA end into the cable from the projector.

'You're going to have to press [some convoluted pc key combination which I've since forgot]', one the IT guys advices.

A second or two later .. without having to press any keys at all, the screen on my iBook appears as large as life on their projector screen.

Better still, my iBook had managed to negotiate a decent screen geometry so that image was in the middle and not all over the place like that of the pc's.

The effort to subdue my desire to laugh out loud and give the finger to the smug IT guys deserves an Oscar...

 

[kainjow]

I don't use it that much, but speech does impress the heck out of many people. Even the "tell me a joke" line. It also impresses people when I type something out and can have the computer read it back to me.

Speech is one of the things that many people at my college were so into. One time they sat for literally hours in front of my computer talking to it.

They did love the Expose effects and minimize window effects too, along with the IM sounds in iChat.

 

[mindbend]

Speech has always been pretty cool, but it's sounded the same for years now. You'd think it would have advanced a bit more by now. Still, there's nothing quite as funny as typing in some sophomoric filth and hearing an old woman read it back to you.

I know it's old news now, but Exposé is still the most visually and work-flow stunning enhancements to come along in a while. A+

I've got a high school kid doing intern work for me these days. Unfortunately, he's working on an old PII PC and occasionally on our sluggish 400 MHZ iMac. He considers Macs a joke, but is coming around slowly but surely. After some fun with custom icons, a few folder actions, Label organization, simple network access, Exposé and inline searching he quickly found things that Windows simply doesn't currently have. Now if that iMac could just plow thru OS X a bit faster, he'd be sold.

 

[Arden]

Great post, Octane!

I've always thought Speech was a cool part of the OS. When I first got my iMac (and, consequently, OS X—came installed, iMac was used), I started playing around with Speech, trying to control the computer by speaking to it. I realized that it's quicker and easier to do stuff the conventional way, but I still have iChat speak the name of whomever is getting on and offline.

 

[octane]

Great post, Octane!

I've always thought Speech was a cool part of the OS. When I first got my iMac (and, consequently, OS X—came installed, iMac was used), I started playing around with Speech, trying to control the computer by speaking to it. I realized that it's quicker and easier to do stuff the conventional way, but I still have iChat speak the name of whomever is getting on and offline.

Thanks for that, Arden!

I use Mail, and I used some shareware speech application to save out the spoken names of some of my clients and contacts -- as an aside, this process can be accomplished with AppleScript:

say "This is cool" using "Kathy" saving to "someText.aiff"

-- and then attach that sound to a filter set up in Mail.

Now, when I get an known email, the message is first filtered to the correct folder and then the name is announced through my stereo; which, incidentally is connected to my G4...

 

[Arden]

Thanks for that, Arden!

No problem.

as an aside, this process can be accomplished with AppleScript:

say "This is cool" using "Kathy" saving to "someText.aiff"

That reminds me... I read about this in a magazine long ago. You could make your Mac read Shakespeare with different voices if you really, really wanted to.

 

[Mike Adams]

Whenever we get a new piece of equipment in the lab I shoot a 'How to use this' movie. I can shoot, edit and have it on the web site within an afternoon

 

[nb3004]

That reminds me... I read about this in a magazine long ago. You could make your Mac read Shakespeare with different voices if you really, really wanted to.

There is a Radiohead song,"Fitter Happier", that uses the the "fred" voice the first time i heard it on my computer i thought it was talking back to me haha. I guess the lead singer used a powerbook in the studio one night. hmmmm i should post this in the thread about macs in society too

 

[octane]

There is a Radiohead song,"Fitter Happier", that uses the the "fred" voice the first time i heard it on my computer i thought it was talking back to me haha. I guess the lead singer used a powerbook in the studio one night. hmmmm i should post this in the thread about macs in society too

There's been a rash of songs over the past few years featuring the dulcet tones of MC Fred, otherwise leading me to suspect that professor Stephen Hawkins has been moonlighting as a master mixer in the clubs up and down the UK.

Anyway, what was the topic of this thread, again? ;-)