Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Apple
3 ways to enjoy your vacation with your Mac
It's time to toss the kids into the back of the family truckster and drive to the shore, acquire a debilitating sunburn on the first day and pay $19 for a hamburger and a soda (not to mention the $100 you spent on gas in the first 24 hours). Summer vacation ... I'm lovin' it!We hope you brought your Apple goodies. Aside from providing a much-needed geek-out at the end of the day, your Mac can actually make your vacation more enjoyable. And nothing says "That week we spent at Clearwater Beach" like the sand you can't extract from your iPhone's headphone jack.
Read on for our Mac vacation tips!
1. Photos
You can't go on vacation without a camera. What better way to preserve the precious memory of the police officer who arrested Jr. for mooning tourists on the boardwalk? Your Mac brings it together. However, it goes beyond simple iPhoto Events. Here are a few tips to make everything even more fun.
Make a "Life Poster"
In 2005, Mike Matas got iPhoto users all excited with his Life Poster hack. Essentially, it was a trick of sorts that produced a poster-sized print of nearly 100 photos. I made one of our daughter's first year with us and it hangs in my office to this day.
Since then, Zykloid Software has released Posterino, which lets you produce Life Posters easily. A framed montage of your trip will be a great keepsake, gift for your host, etc.
Transfer photos to your Mac at home
During the lulls in your vacation, you studiously tagged, keyworded and otherwise categorized your photos. Back at home, you'll want to transfer everything to your desktop Mac, with all of that data intact. A simple drag-and-drop won't do it.
Grab iPhoto Library Manager from Fat Cat Software. First, connect the two Macs so iPhoto Library Manager can access both libraries (they both must be the same version). Then you can simply copy events or albums and keep the keywords, titles and comments intact.
Share with family and friends
You didn't bring the whole family, did you? Keep Aunt Shirley and Uncle Joe up-to-date with .Mac Galleries (soon to be MobileMe Galleries) iWeb sites and more. Best of all, you can give them the ability to download photos right to their own computers.
Keep Shootin'
If you've got a 5G iPod, you might want to pick up the iPod Camera Connector. This little doohickey will let you upload photos from your camera's memory card to your iPod and let you fill it up all over again. Once you're back at the hotel, just connect the iPod to your Mac. iPhoto will launch and treat it like a digital camera.
2. Traveling
iPhone / iPod touch maps
A year ago I traveled to Buffalo, New York. Before I left, I added relevant bookmarks to the Google Maps application on my iPhone, like my hotel, local coffee shop, car rental place and points of interest. That way, I didn't have to waste time fiddling around after I arrived.
Sure, you can use the iPhone's locator button (or GPS if you're leaving next week), but I've found that to be hit-or-miss.
You can also use iPhoneTravel, a web-based iPhone application that lets you search for hotels, flights, rental cars, and cruises right from your phone.
Foreign plugs
If you're traveling abroad, you probably know that their wall sockets don't play nicely with our products. Pick up an Apple World Travel Kit and you'll be covered.
Fly the wired skies
Stay juiced with the Magsafe Airline Adapter and watch your DVDs to the very end.
An iPhone or iPod packed with kids' shows from the iTunes Store will keep toddlers occupied during a long plane ride. Just remember to put your iPhone in Airplane Mode should you choose to use it while in the air, or you could get arrested.
3. Stay in touch
Perhaps you've left someone behind (intentionally, not "Home Alone" style). Here are a couple ways to stay in touch.
iChat video calls
Nothing says "I miss you" like a pixelated, jumpy video chat from a hotel's Wi-Fi network. Seriously, though, I recently had to spend a few days out-of-town and the nightly video chats with my kids were priceless. We got to talk face-to-face and I was able to see all of the things they were doing while I was gone. Barring that, try....
Quick videos in iWeb
Fire up your video camera and shoot a quick, 30-second video of yourself talking to loved ones at home. Edit it quickly with iMovie and publish to an iWeb site. Then, send a link to let everyone know it's ready. It's fast, simple and lets everyone at home know that they're on your mind.
Now you're all set for an enjoyable vacation with your favorite traveling companion ... your Mac.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jr0 said 4:11PM on 7-09-2008
And forget to pack your external modem (if you have one) - it might come in handy on "the other side".
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Brandon Martinez said 4:13PM on 7-09-2008
Neat.
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mentalsticks said 4:16PM on 7-09-2008
Not just to you, but to each and every American everywhere on the internet: STOP complaining about high gas prices ALREADY! Here in Holland I pay 1.69 Euros PER LITRE, which comes to bloody US$9.82 a gallon - it's been around $8 for years. And do you hear us whine? Yes, a little, but not ALL THE TIME and in EVERY (UN)IMAGINABLE context! Instead, we got ourselves smaller cars years ago, little Daewoos that aren't even for sale Stateside, with 800cc, i.e. 48 cu.in engines. And we get along fine. We even take the train sometimes, and then we read a book or watch a movie on our 5.5G iPod.
/eurorant
/offtopic
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BJ Nemeth said 5:15PM on 7-09-2008
Regardless of the reasons, any time a standard cost-of-living product (like gasoline for most Americans) doubles in price in about a year, you're going to hear complaining. Especially when that one product affects the price of many other products (including food), and also the economy in general. It's human nature to complain under such circumstances, and it's understandable.
Yes, Americans will adapt to the higher prices, just as you have in Holland. But that takes time. Not weeks or months, but years.
If you find it so infuriating that there is a one-line comment about high gas prices in a post about holiday travel, then you might want to take a break from the internet.
Jack said 6:06PM on 7-09-2008
@mentalsticks
consider that higher gas prices are on the verge of pushing us into recession and wrecking our economy. I agree, some of us do complain a bit too often instead of acting and creating a solution. One line shouldn't be that big of a deal to you in an article about enjoying vacation. Focus more on the topic at hand, tell us about how you do things on vacation on your mac... after all, this is The Unofficial Apple Weblog, not The Unofficial American Gas Crisis Weblog. lol anyways, I use my mac for reminders, but sometimes I leave it behind... my iPhone, my MacBook, all of it. It helps me relax.
michael t said 5:36PM on 7-09-2008
His point is not about americans realizing it over night... more so that every one of us knew it was coming YEARS ago. But americans kept buying SUVs which guzzled gas, ignoring the problem. When Europeans buckled down, they shut up for the most part, and got with the program.
That is what he was saying. No one expects america to do anything overnight. Heck, even simple tasks (not just government oriented) in the US takes weeks, sometimes months.
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Phraktyl said 6:14PM on 7-09-2008
I would also add that Knapsack is a fantastic way to keep track of all your travel details:
http://tinyplanetsoftware.com/
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Scott said 7:59PM on 7-09-2008
I just came back from a week long vacation traveling the length of the Owens Valley in California, to Reno, and Lake Tahoe. (Yes, it was hot. Yes, it was smoky.) I would add DVD-Rs (or a whole mess of CD-Rs) to the list if you're taking digital photos (especially if you use the RAW format). They're more immune to magnetic (or otherwise) damage than HDs in transit. You can also have your phone messages (from your land line) forwarded to you via email (to a gmail or .mac account, for example) while you're on the road if you use something like PhoneValet (very handy). (Obviously, you'll need a laptop too ;). )
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Rick said 8:34PM on 7-09-2008
honestly though, i take vacations to get "unplugged." i'm not about to spend all my time tagging photos, charging gadgets, and video chatting with people back home. nothing would upset my family more than spending my "vacation" doing those things.
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