Mac Toys: 12 Cool Projects for Home, Office, and Entertainment (ExtremeTech) [Paperback]

John Rizzo (Author), Scott Knaster (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0764543512 | ISBN-13: 978-0764543517 | Publication Date: March 5, 2004 | Edition: 1

How many cool things can you do with your Mac? Well, add 12 more to that list.

If you're one of the millions of Mac owners who like to tinker with their machines and do what their PC brethren can only dream about, this is the book for you.

Mac gurus John Rizzo and Scott Knaster will open your eyes to a dozen cool new tricks you can do with your Mac. Create a Harry Potter style picture frame that puts on a continuous slide show; teach your house to turn on the lights, adjust the thermostat, and water the lawn by itself; edit and record live TV while you watch; and more.

With a dozen new things to do with your Mac, your PC pals are going to envy you more than ever.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Remember when they said your Mac was just a toy? It's payback time

Your PC pals who made fun of your Mac back in the old days will sing a different tune when they see what you’re playing with now. Create a Harry Potter style picture frame that puts on a continuous slide show; teach your house to turn on the lights, adjust the thermostat, and water the lawn by itself; edit and record live TV while you watch; and more. Or invite those who derided your choice of computers to blast some bad guys on your classic video game Mac–if they’re big enough to play with your toys.

The Toys

Each project includes detailed, illustrated instructions

1. Light and appliance control
2. Internet radio station
3. Mac TV–watch, edit, record
4. The beefed-up iPod^TM 
5. Digital picture frame
6. Wireless Mac networking
7. The music-making Mac
8. Classic video game machine
9. CDs from LPs
10. DVDs from video and film
11. Video-making with "wow"
12. Mac, the wireless jukebox

About the Author

John Rizzo began his love affair with the Mac in 1984. A former staff editor for MacUser magazine, John now covers the Mac front for CNET.com. His Web site, MacWindows.com, is devoted to helping Mac users survive in a Windows world.
Scott Knaster is the author of How to Write Macintosh Software and Macintosh Programming Secrets, long required reading for Mac programmers. Scott owns every issue of Mad Magazine, which offers some insight into his personal philosophy.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (March 5, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764543512
• ISBN-13: 978-0764543517
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,225,091 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #34 in Books > Computers & Technology > Apple > Office Mac

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great practical advice for fun Mac projects, April 1, 2004

By 

Owen W. Linzmayer (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mac Toys: 12 Cool Projects for Home, Office, and Entertainment (ExtremeTech) (Paperback)

Not only does this book tell you a dozen different cool things you can do with your Mac (control appliances, broadcast Internet radio, emulate arcade games, etc.), it goes into detail explaining the nitty-gritty of _how_ to pull off these projects. Mac Toys is full of practical information with specific product recommendations and step-by-step software instructions anyone can follow. I also appreciate the handy references to useful freeware and shareware that might otherwise escape your notice, as well as the coverage of obscure hardware products that are off the radar of most Mac stores. The book is a little pricey, but worth every penny.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A bunch of projects. a lot of fun, March 19, 2004

By 

Avid Reader "amazon289" (Western PA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mac Toys: 12 Cool Projects for Home, Office, and Entertainment (ExtremeTech) (Paperback)

I've been a fan of Scott's work for a long time, and was looking forward to this book. I'm not disappointed. For each project is a clear description of what the goals of the project are (like why you'd want to automate your house with X10, or why you'd want an electronic picture frame), a description of the best pieces of hardware and software out there (both free and for-pay), and then step-by-step on how to do the project. The writing is fun and easy-going, and the projects are really cool.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I LOVE THIS BOOK, October 1, 2004

By 

Computer Nut "cnut" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mac Toys: 12 Cool Projects for Home, Office, and Entertainment (ExtremeTech) (Paperback)

Frankly, I'm not too impressed by most of the Mac OS X-centric books out there, and when I bought this, I wasn't sure that my mindset would change. Was I ever wrong... Thanks to the knowledge acquired from this book, my Macs now do far more than what Windows could ever hope to do. Don't get me wrong, for I earn my living with Windows, but thanks to this book, the Macs prove how uniquely strong they are. This is a fantastic book. Keep 'em coming.