Filed under: Accessories, Hardware, Software
Put your Mac to sleep using an Apple Remote
Here's a tip for all you folks out there that have a Front Row enabled Mac (and I mean one that Apple
recognizes as having Front Row on it, sorry hackers). Let's say you're curled up on your bed watching a DVD on your
iMac via Front Row. The movie ends and you want to go to sleep. You have to get up and put your Mac to sleep, so that
the bright screen doesn't keep you up, right?Wrong. You can put your Mac to sleep using the included Apple Remote Control. Simply hold down the Play button for a few seconds and the screen will dim an show you the icon pictured in this post (which has been edited for size). The snoring Apple Remote Control icon lets you know that your Mac is about to go to sleep. Keep on pressing the play button if you want this to happen, or release it if you want your Mac to stay awake.
Nifty, huh?
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Chris said 11:30AM on 3-03-2006
SA-LICK!
Very good tip!
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geepee said 11:32AM on 3-03-2006
There's also a button combo to bind the remote to a certain device...volume up and menu at the same maybe? I don't remember....
Also, while on the topic of sleep mode, I wish there was a way to just turn the monitor off on my iMac Core Duo instead of putting the machine to sleep. This is the one thing that annoys me to no end.
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Harm said 11:33AM on 3-03-2006
..and you can wake her up with the menu button on the remote!
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Scott McNulty said 11:33AM on 3-03-2006
Hey geepee, you can set the engery settings to turn off just the monitor after a certain amount of time. Not exactly what you were looking for, but it is close. :)
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John P. said 11:56AM on 3-03-2006
What I want is the ability to turn off the mac. That way, I wouldn't ever have to attach a keyboard/mouse to the mini if I wanted to set it up to play DVD's etc...
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geepee said 12:44PM on 3-03-2006
@ Scott McNulty
That's how I have it setup now, but I hate having to wait 5 minutes while I try to sleep before it shuts off. Why can't they just make it so if you tap the power, it shuts off the display, and if you hold it for 5 seconds, it shuts it down?
Just thinking about it while sitting here at work is angering me. :/
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Doug said 1:42PM on 3-03-2006
Can the IR port be disabled? What's to prevent me from walking up behind you in Starbucks with a remote and put your mac to sleep, start FrontRow, or perhaps something really bad?
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geepee said 1:51PM on 3-03-2006
@ Doug
System Prefs > Security > Disable remote control infared receiver
Or you can just enable pairing. Point the remote at the IR port, press and hold NEXT and MENU for 5 seconds. Makes it so the computer only works with the remote it's paired with.
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Reg said 6:00PM on 3-03-2006
Another tip which I haven't seen mentioned on the blogs yet (they've been too busy bitching over how Apple has wrecked their life by not announcing a video iPod tablet with nVidia 7800GTX graphics, blah, blah):
The new Front Row remembers your position in a video.
So, if you watch half of an episode Desperate Housewives, then go and watch an episode of Battlestar Galactica, and later come back to Desperate Housewives, it will remember where you were up to.
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geepee said 6:12PM on 3-03-2006
I'm having a few issues with Front Row on my 17" Core Duo since the update.
FIrst off, if I have "Play Front Row sound effects" turned on in System Prefs, then the sound when I move up/down, etc doesn't play properly. Sometimes when I move the selection, it makes the sound, sometimes it doesn't. This annoyed me, so I turned off the menu sounds.
Secondly, if I bring up Front Row, then exit it and try to go back into it, it either comes up, or doesn't come up at all and I have to reboot.
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