Originally published December 29 2005
All-in-one iMac G5 computer with remote control debuts
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The iMac G5 computer has a remote control and a program called Front Row, which lets users listen to music, play DVDs, watch videos and display photos from a distance. Front Row does not display live TV.
When asked a few years ago if they might some day offer a Mac that works like a Microsoft entertainment PC, Apple executives joked that they were instead focusing on the convergence of computers and toasters.
Fast forward to 2005, and Apple Computer Inc. still hasn't released a better toaster.
But it has updated its all-in-one iMac G5 computer with a remote control and a program that shares many of the features of Microsoft's Media Center operating system.
The program, called Front Row, lets you listen to music, watch videos, play DVDs and display photos from a distance with a few clicks of a lighter-sized, six-button remote control.
Front Row doesn't display live TV and, more significantly, it can't output anything --- videos or pictures --- to an external display such as a big-screen plasma.
There's still plenty here that, as it evolves in future releases, could end up sending the designers of Microsoft's Media Center back to the drawing boards.
Once Front Row is launched by pressing the "Menu" button on the remote, four options are available: play a DVD, listen to music, watch a video or view photos.
The entire program is actually just a shell that makes it easier to control the Mac's underlying programs from a distance with the remote.
Each option opens up an underlying library from iTunes (music and video downloads), iPhoto (pictures) or iMovie (home movies).
Throughout, the display is both simpler and more pleasing to the eye than the Media Center shell.
The one thing that you can't do is actually make a purchase through Front Row.
Unlike a Windows Media Center PC, however, Front Row never dumped me in a position where I had to leave the couch and pick up the keyboard.
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