My latest post at The Apple Blog:
For about 8 months now I’ve been a proud owner of a Mac Mini thats sole purpose in life is to reside underneath my TV. Of course it functions as a media server, but it is a full blown mac after all so can do pretty much anything you want. Here’s the rundown of what mine gets used for:
- iTunes Library Sharing
- Serving downloaded and personal video via airport
- PVR (for Freeview Digital TV here in the UK) via EyeTV for DTT, recording both TV and Radio
- Spam Filter for 2 email accounts (using Spamsieve)
- Downloading torrents using Transmission
- Watching/Downloading Video podcasts with Democracy
- Front Row/Media Central playback via the TV (of course)
- Quick, accessible backup server for important files from other computers in the household or at work via FTP
I guess what I’m trying to point out that having a machine that is reliable and always on, doing things in the background for you so you don’t have to is just plain cool. On any given day you can expect Mail, Spamsieve, EyeTV, iTunes, Transmission and Democracy to be open, all doing their thing in the background.
So how are Apple going to sell me one?
Read on for more…