Mac users who have wanted to share audio, video, and pictures with their Xbox 360s have had to depend on Connect360 from Nullriver Software. Now, however, there's a new option: Rivet from Cynical Peak Software. Frankly, it does about the same thing as Connect360, running in your menu bar and allowing you to share media to your Xbox 360, though it does add a few convenient features.
According to the developer, Rivet allows you to "supply multiple search paths for your media" and display your folder media folder hierarchies properly (instead of in a long, flat list). So if you've been frustrated by those limitations, Rivet is worth a look. In my brief testing it worked just about as well as Connect360.
Rivet is $18.95 and a demo is available from Cynical Peak Software.
As we found out this past year, gamers have Macs, too. When you think of gaming gifts, you don't usually think of getting suggestions from a Mac blog-- most of (if not all of) the best games this year aren't playable on a Mac at all. But nevertheless, we're out there-- people who love gaming and Macs, living in two worlds both aimed at the same thing: having a great and beautiful user experience.
If you're shopping for one of us this holiday season, here's a quick guide to a few good gift ideas.
We've posted on Connect360 from nullriver severaltimes before. This handy Preference Pane application allows you to stream media (music, pictures, and video) from your Mac to your Xbox 360 (by emulating a Windows machine). Well the Fall 2007 Dashboard update for Xbox 360 just dropped this week and, among other things, added DivX and Xvid codec support. So nullriver has updated Connect360 to version 3.2 with support for these video codecs.
Connect360 remains $20 and a demo is available. Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
A while back in our TUAW Guide to Xbox 360 and Mac we mentioned the forthcoming Spring Dashboard update on the 360 was to bring updated video codec support. Well that update dropped last week and Nullriver has correspondingly updated their Connect360 software (which we've mentioned before) that allows streaming video (and audio) files from a Mac straight to a Xbox 360. The newly supported codecs include full HD (1920x1080) H.264 in both the MPEG-4 and QuickTime containers (in addition to the previous WMV). This, of course, is substantially higher than Apple TV's support for 720p video, making the Xbox 360 likely the best full HD video extender available (though the Xbox is disappointingly loud compared to the Apple TV).
This week's Ask TUAW takes us into questions about printing Finder window contents, assigning programs to the corner of your screen, bringing up the Finder with a HotKey, integrating Apple productivity programs, recording TV on your Mac and editing AVIs . Remember new Mac users and Switchers who are enjoying our Mac 101 series should feel very welcome to post questions for Ask TUAW; we're happy to take questions from all levels. As always, please submit your questions by commenting to this post or using our tip form.
In many of the recent reviews of the Apple TV, the Xbox 360 was often mentioned as a competing Media Extender product. Having recently bought a 360, I thought it would be good to discover the ways in which my two pretty white boxes can work together. In this TUAW Guide to Xbox 360 and the Mac, I'm going to discuss some of both the hardware and software compatibilities between the machines. If you've ever been curious about the Xbox 360 read on, and if you're an old hand my Gamertag is matonmacs, send a friend request my way; maybe we can get a TUAW clan going!
If you're
one of the Crazy Ones who fought their way through hordes of game-addicted line-dwellers at Best Buy to get their hands
on one of those swanky new Xbox 360s, this may interest you: Nullriver -- the same company that brought you Amaryllis and PSPWare -- has developed an app called Connect360 that actually lets you stream music and photos
from your Mac to your Xbox 360. It automatically indexes your media, which you can then access over the network via your
Xbox Dashboard. (But while it does index your iTunes library, I don't think it will play music purchased from the
iTMS.)
You can download a trial of Connect360 from Nullriver's website -- or you could purchase it for a measely $10.
Give it a try and let us know how it works, ok?
Mac users who have wanted to share audio, video, and pictures with their Xbox 360s have had to depend on Connect360 from Nullriver Software. Now, however, there's a new option: Rivet from Cynical Peak Software. Frankly, it does about the same thing as Connect360, running in your menu bar and allowing you to share media to your Xbox 360, though it does add a few convenient features. 
We've posted on 
A while back in our 
This week's 
In many of the recent reviews of the Apple TV, the Xbox 360 was often mentioned as a competing Media Extender product. Having recently bought a 360, I thought it would be good to discover the ways in which my two pretty white boxes can work together. In this TUAW Guide to Xbox 360 and the Mac, I'm going to discuss some of both the hardware and software compatibilities between the machines. If you've ever been curious about the Xbox 360 read on, and if you're an old hand my Gamertag is matonmacs, send a friend request my way; maybe we can get a TUAW clan going!
If you're
one of the Crazy Ones who fought their way through hordes of game-addicted line-dwellers at Best Buy to get their hands
on one of those swanky new Xbox 360s, this may interest you: Nullriver -- the same company that brought you 
