Lion on older systems
Just in case you were wondering about running Lion on any of your older machine, you can forget about it. On many previous system updates, you could do an end run around the issue by installing onto an external drive and then using that disk to boot the older system. Assuming of course that you were running the same processor technology.
But I just tried this out with a 15” MacBook Pro Core Duo (the model before the Core 2 Duo) and it gives me a simple grey screen with a barred circle. Which is a bit of a pain since that’s the machine that runs OS X Server at the house and I’m very interested at seeing the new stuff in Lion Server once it hits the streets.
Nice iTunes trick
I tend use the iTunes DJ function constantly with the ability to do pseudo genius type stuff based on selecting different dynamic playlists and when I have nothing in particular in mind a simple playlist that selects songs rated 3 stars or more and that haven’t been played in the last two months so that I avoid over repeating songs.
One of the nice features about iTunes DJ is that in iTunes you can drop any other song into the DJ playlist. This ability is also available on the iOS Remote app which is really handy when the need for a song pops into my head I can quickly pop it to the top of the playlist. The neat part is that the iTunes DJ can also handle video files in the same manner.
So when we sit down to watch a couple of TV episodes that are in iTunes, I just add them using the Remote app, and as the song fades out, iTunes goes to full screen to play the selected video file. Once the video is over, it switches to full screen animation mode and seamlessly continues along with the music.
This is an awesome way to queue up an evening’s worth of entertainment: pop in a couple of episodes of your favorite TV series into iTunes DJ, a couple of songs in between for the bathroom breaks