My new Mac came with a nifty little remote control that works with the Mac’s “FrontRow” software to play DVDs, music, slideshows, etc on the computer. That’s nice for home stuff, but I found myself wishing I could also use the remote for business applications—specifically, for PowerPoint presentations that I use in class and at conferences. I was jealous of people like Larry Lessig and Dick Hardt who didn’t have to hunch over their keyboard while they clicked through lots and lots of one-word slides.
Then last week I saw an article about Mira, a Mac software tool that allows you to use the “Front Row” remote bundled with new Macs for a variety of other applications. For $16, it seemed worth trying, so I bought a copy.
And it works! It adds a little control panel to the system preferences pane, and allows me to configure what each remote control button does for any given application. It comes preinstalled with a huge number of defaults, including some for PowerPoint, so I didn’t actually need to configure a thing…just point and click and it works.
Well worth the price, and it will make it easier for me to do the kind of presentations I’d like to in class and at conferences.
I haven’t done much traveling since I’ve been back in Rochester, but the fall conference season is heating up, and I’m headed out of town on Sunday (which also happens to be my 4-year blogiversary!).
First stop is Monterey, one of my favorite places, where I’ll be doing the closing keynote at Internet Librarian—a conference where I always end up learning a ton of new stuff, and seeing a lot of old friends.
From there I head to Seattle, where I’m on a panel at the Blog Business Summit—unfortunately I’ll only be in Seattle for a scant day and a half, arriving Thursday evening and leaving again on Saturday morning. But it will give me a quick fix for my reverse homesickness, and whet my appetite for a return trip in early December. Part of me would love to stay longer, but I’ll have been away for a week at that point, and I know I’ll be missing my family (and they’ll be missing me).
As usual, I expect my blogging output will increase temporarily—travel and conferences both tend to give me a lot to write about.
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