Culture How to control Google Music with keyboard shortcuts. Google Music, like most of Google's services, supports keyboard shortcuts. We'll show you what you can do with them in Google Music. Instead of the friendly ⌃, ⌥, and ⌘ keys, I was presented with Control, Windows, and Alt keys. All of the modifier keys on a Windows keyboard map 1:1 with the keys on a Mac from a.

1. Music App For Android
2. Keyboard App For Laptop

I looked on you tube yesterday and saw somebody that was using their new mac mini as an entertainment hub in his home theater. In the video he showed using an app called 'remote hd' to use his iPad to control the mac mini. That did it for me so I downloaded the app for $8 and headed to best buy to buy a mac mini.

I had to pull out an old mouse and keyboard to do the initial set up. After that you can do what you need to do with the iPad.

I attached an external 500gb western digital portable drive to the mini. The drive has several movies on it which play beautifully. I loaded my entire iTunes library from the external drive to the mini (42 gb) and it worked like a charm.

$8 sure beats buying a wireless keyboard, mouse, and trackpad. Remote hd has virtuals of all three of those. It's not as elegant as the apple wireless keyboard etc but it's a fraction of the cost and you can see everything on your iPad

I have the mini hooked up to a 50 inch Panasonic viera via hdmi. Seamless and very easy..I disconnected my apple tv that I had hooked up to that tv and moved the atv2 to another tv in the house.

I also set up my MacBook pro so that I can run it from the ipad with remote hd as well. It works just as easily.

Music App For Android

I can't speak about other apps but remote had does a pretty good job of covering the bases and much more. Look on you tube for mac mini with iPad and you will see what I'm taliking about..

Good luck.

Mo.

Nov 26, 2011 8:35 PM

Over the last few days I’ve been finding myself using a keyboard designed for Windows users on my Mac. The reason behind such a change was that my MacBook Pro’s keyboard was causing wrist pain. The shallow key travel of the MacBook’s keyboard is partly to blame.

I just so happened to have an AmazonBasics wired keyboard available thanks to my recent Hackintosh build, so I decided to use it with my Mac. Immediately, I could sense relief in my wrists, but because this was a keyboard designed for Windows and not for Mac, the switch presented a whole new problem.

Instead of the friendly ⌃, ⌥, and ⌘ keys, I was presented with Control, Windows, and Alt keys. All of the modifier keys on a Windows keyboard map 1:1 with the keys on a Mac from a functionality standpoint. For example, the Control (⌃) key does the same thing on a Mac that it does on Windows, the Option (⌥) key on Mac does the same thing as the Alt key on Windows, and the Command (⌘) key on Mac does the same thing as the Windows key.

It’s the order not the function

The problem isn’t the function of the keys, because as we discussed, from a pure functionality standpoint, the modifier keys (Control, Option, Command) all map 1:1. The problem stems from their arrangement on the keyboard.

Modifier key arrangement differences between Mac and Windows:

Macintosh: ⌃ | ⌥ | ⌘

Windows: ⌃ | ⌘ | ⌥

Such a little thing, the swapping of the Command and Option keys, can cause trouble for someone who’s been typing on a Mac for years. Fortunately, there is a dead-simple fix for this issue.

Video walkthrough

How to remap modifier keys in OS X

Step 1: Open System Preferences → Keyboard → Modifier Keys.

Step 2: Select your third-party Windows keyboard via the Select keyboard drop down box.

Step 3: For the Option (⌥) Key setting, select ⌘ Command.

Step 4: For the Command (⌘) Key setting, select (⌥) Option.

Step 5: Click OK and close System Preferences.

The bottom line is that there are plenty of great keyboards out there that are designed to be used on Windows machines. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to use a great keyboard just because it was originally designed for Windows. Take advantage of the provision to remap modifier keys inside of OS X’s System Preferences. In the end, it’ll save time, frustration, and keep you from having to retrain what may be years of muscle memory.

Keyboard recommendations

The AmazonBasics wired keyboard is decent for how much it costs, but I’m a fan of mechanical keyboards with Cherry MX Brown switches. These switches produce a tactile “clicky” effect without being too loud. My favorite Cherry MX Brown keyboard is from Das Keyboard. Thankfully, Das Keyboard makes versions of its keyboards for both Windows and Mac users.

Keyboard App For Laptop

For more on keyboards, be sure to have a look at Jeremy’s keyboard roundup. What type of keyboard do you use with your Mac?