Tech Problem Solving

We are gathered at a cabin for the holiday break and presently are snowed in. We have great wifi and plenty of ways to entertain ourselves. Last evening we engaged in some recreational problem solving.

We decided we wanted to watch “Dark Knight” using the projector we brought with us to play Wii games. Son Todd had downloaded the movie to the iTunes application on his new Mac, but then discovered that the new machine used a different “AV out” than was required by the projector. What to do?

We could have watched the movie on the computer, but what fun is that. We considered downloading the movie to an iPod and then found that we did not have the proper adapter for that device either. Target driving Todd’s machine and moving the movie to another of our Macs was considered, but then we would have had to subvert the DRM. Be illegal only as a last resort.

The final solution worked like this. Share the screen on the machine with the movie. Hook an older computer to the projector and via wifi to the computer playing the movie. We could have stopped there, but there ended up being more. It turns out Todd controls his Mac with an iPhone app and we decided to run the audio through the cabin’s surround sound system.

cabingeeks

It was great fun, but took a while to accomplish. Cindy had to be awakened several times to make it to the end of the movie.

Hope your own holiday brings you whatever experiences you enjoy.

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