Archive for the 'Apple' Category

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How not to fix an iPod Shuffle!

Published on Monday, June 19, 2006 in Apple, Noteworthy and Technology. 2 Comments

This is an unusual and unlucky story about the fate of an iPod Shuffle. The story goes like this; Francis’ friend had a buggered Shuffle. It was out of warranty and he looked around the good old interweb for guides to disassemble it. He first checked to make sure it was ‘dead’ by plugging it into the laptop. He got right into trying to take it apart and never left the battery and various components to ‘discharge’. This was the most likely error which caused the iPod to go kaboom. He used a knife to pry out the bottom, and started to hack his way in and must have hit a capacitor as he started to swear and run around the room. The iPod “basically exploded in his face and caught fire, sparks flying and thick black smoke“.
So this is a meaningful story for those who want to venture out and fix your iPod. If you don’t know what you’re doing, then find someone who does. And be carefull when doing these types of things, as electronic devices can be somewhat dangerous. Always follow guides carfully and never just ‘hack’ your way through if things don’t work out as they are supposed to!

Links for June 14

Published on Wednesday, June 14, 2006 in Apple, Shorts, Software and Technology. Closed

Today’s short links are:

Green fliud found oozing from the backside of a number of G5′s (above) [link]
600 PowerMac G5′s used to digitally re-encode and master the Ultimate DVD Collection of James Bond [link]
Hilarious recording of an AOL user trying to cancel the account which he doesn’t use, but the rep tries to say that he used yesterday [link] [mirror] [mp3 mirror]

White MacBook turning yellow? (seriously)

Published on Tuesday, June 13, 2006 in Apple, Noteworthy and Technology. 4 Comments

This is a very interesting story, and the first of the sort that I’ve heard of. Some pictures on Flickr really clear the point up so rest assured, this is not because of greasy fingers. Apparently this has been reported by quite a few users, so it maybe a batch problem, or worse (eg, total ‘infection’ of all MacBooks).

The spots don’t wash off, I’ve only had the MacBook for two weeks. Genius at Apple Store told me to call Apple about it, as he’s never seen anything like it. My iBook didn’t discolor in the 3 years I had it — can’t be my hands. I don’t smoke, don’t use latex, etc. And for those who worry about my hygiene habits, thanks. I wash my hands.

Other people have also tried cleaning solutions, such as the famed iKlear which removed scratches and other defects from the PowerBook and iBooks and even magic markers. But these did not work for the MacBook. So I think this is most likely the cause of the heat dissipating from the MacBook combined with the type of paint / plastic that Apple covered the MacBook with. This is very interesting and I think it is most likely the paint / plastic that Apple used has not been coating or is not strong enough for general/heavy use of the MacBook. And the heat also helped speed this up. I hope Apple fixes this, because knowing all the Apple bashers and those who like to make fun of Apple when a product goes slightly awry (they totally over-cover these things), this will not be let off lightly. I love Apple and all, but its things like these which you don’t expect that sometimes annoy me.

Installing Windows Vista Beta 2 on a MacBook Pro

Published on Thursday, June 8, 2006 in Apple, Microsoft, Noteworthy, Software and Technology. 2 Comments

Microsoft has announced that Windows Vista Beta 2 is available for the public to download and test. The traffic was so overwhelming that Microsoft closed the download. It was only available for a number of hours. Hans Verbeeck managed to download his copy and he went to install it onto a MacBook Pro.
So how did he do? Well he succeded. At first he downloaded the x64 version of Vista, but then later realised this at an error screen. So he downloaded the right copy and things started to go smoothly. He installed Vista but an error screen came up saying that Vista had not installed correctly. However he said that this was not a problem and you just need to return to the install screen and us the ‘Repair’ link on the bottom left hand corner. That was the end, and he started to mess with the settings to get Vista looking good. Note: To get the Vista DVD working he had to go through a number of steps, which can be found on his blog.

Apple admits to MacBook vent blocking

Published on Tuesday, June 6, 2006 in Apple, Noteworthy and Technology. Closed

I don’t think I talked about this, but one blogger had noticed that their was a small plastic sheet covering the heat vents of the MacBook. A few other people began to notice this as well, but it didn’t happen to everyone. Now Apple have come clean and made a KnowledgeBase article on it saying that some MacBooks “may have left the factory with a thin piece of clear plastic covering the rear vent“. This is in relation to the MacBook running a bit hot, with the fans on a lot. Interestingly it points to another article if you say that your MacBook is still running ‘warm’ and you have no piece of plastic in your MacBook. But the reason this is interesting is because the article it links to explains that the MacBooks aren’t hot, that’s just their normal operating temperature!

Apple named “Harware Company of the Year”

Published on Saturday, June 3, 2006 in Apple, Noteworthy, PC, Software and Technology. Closed

PC World has released it’s top list of 100 products in 2006, and also their 4 awards to various companies. Apple has won the ‘Best Hardware Company of the Year’ for introducing “products that made everyone else look bad. iPods (#36) that play video have created a new market for reruns, Core Duo-based Macs (#35) have expanded the market for Intel chips, and Boot Camp software (#10) has opened the door to running Windows on the Mac hardware.” Apple had five of its products in the list; the iPod nano (#4), Boot Camp (#10), the Mac mini (#35), the iPod (#36), and iTunes (#43).

The number one product was Intel’s Core Duo processor chip which is now being utilised in the new Mac Minis, MacBooks and MacBook Pros as well as the Intel iMac. They are also being introduced into other laptops and desktops by other companies such as Dell, however they aren’t as widely publicised and talked about as Apple’s products. AMD’s Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core processor came in second; Craigslist, Segate’s 160GB portable hard drive, Google Earth, Adobe Premiere Elements 2.0, Canon’s EOS 30D digital SLR camera, and YouTube.com finished in the top ten.

Yahoo earned the ‘Web Company of the Year’ for their ability to move “far beyond being a mere search engine” and even though “Google may get a lot more attention, but Yahoo has been getting more things accomplished” the editors said.
Adobe was Software Company of the Year, for their ability to ship “stellar US$100 apps that regular folks can use,” such as its Adobe Photoshop Elements and Adobe Premier Elements which bring cheap photo and video editing to consumers for a fraction of the cost of the pro level apps.
Finally, Sony merited Worst Company of the Year. “We get the feeling that Sony doesn’t trust people,” the editors wrote, mentioning the rootkit fiasco on their music CD’s as well as the PlayStation 3 and Blu-ray delays “due to difficulties implementing a second copy protection scheme … All this from the company that virtually pioneered copying with the Betamax.”

I think they produced a very fair list, with the awards being given to the companies that really did stand out. Click on the link to see the whole list, with links to PC World reviews of the products.

Mac OS Drivers on Dell’s Support Site!

Published on Tuesday, May 30, 2006 in Apple, Internet, Noteworthy, PC and Technology. Closed

Click on the image for a bigger picture!

I was so amazed when I saw this. I honestly thought it was photoshopped, so I headed over to Dell’s support site, and sure enough, I selected a random Dell laptop (Latitude D610), it was there! This has been reported to work with other Dell models, but it is probably nothing more than a small glitch. All the downloads listed under ‘Apple Mac OS’ are non Mac versions, they are in a ‘.exe’ – Windows Executable format.
I don’t think Michael Dell understands. He has previously stated that he would like to offer OS X on their machines, but Jobs declined. Here they go again, trying to ‘win’ Apple over – It’s not working Dell! Apple will not be offering OS X on non-Apple boxes. It is just against their ethics. Besides, running OS X on a non-Apple box just takes all the fun of using OS X out of it, believe me I tried it on my Sony VAIO. It was nice, but not as nice as using a real Mac. It will be one of those things, where anyone using OS X on a PC, just can’t afford to buy a Mac so they install it on a grey box – Pretenders .

MacBook Disassembly Guide

Published on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 in Apple, Shorts, Technology and Wireless. Closed

Over at iFixit (previously called PBFixit) have now expanded their guides, which offer detailed images and notes to take apart various Macs, to include the MacBook. Lots of info on how to take it apart, and on how to replace individual components such as the logic board, the RAM, Optical drive and more.

Official: No 12-inch MacBook Pro

Published on Monday, May 22, 2006 in Apple and Technology. 2 Comments

12inch powerbook Julio, from ‘Your Tech Blog‘ has answered the question whether Apple would release a 12-inch MacBook Pro. The wording on Apple’s website has eluded to him to that there won’t be one: “Meet the family, now complete“. This sentence shows that Apple has completed the MacBook line of products, and it is full. However, Apple has been known to play tricks and add/change things when people don’t expect it. This may not seem difinitive, so he phoned up Apple:

If you have any lingering doubt, [Apple] just told me on the telephone that a 12-inch MacBook Pro ain’t gonna happen.

It’s a real shame to see the 12-inch go, because I know a lot of people that really would have liked an Intel version of it, because it is so small and portable. I think Apple should make a 12-inch MacBook Pro, because there is still a huge mass of people that would buy it, and some people just find that 15-incher way too big. I personally wouldn’t mind the 15-inch, but it still seems rather ginormous (I know the 17-inch is even bigger – who on earth could carry such a beast!). Because of the widescreen display, the 15-inch MacBook Pro, and even the 13.3-inch MacBook is quite big, well bigger than their pre-decessors. Please bring it back Steve, please?

Apple has NOT closed the Intel-based Darwin Kernel

Published on Monday, May 22, 2006 in Apple, Noteworthy, PC, Software and Technology. Closed

os x unix based logo

It has been reported that Apple is closing down the Intel version of the Darwin Kernel so that hackers won’t have such an easy job to make OS X work on normal Windows boxes. Ernest Prabhakar, Apple’s Open Source and Open Standards product manager, has stated in the Fed-Talk mailing that they have not closed down the Darwin kernel, they just haven’t released it yet. People were speculating that because the PowerPC version of Darwin was released, and the Intel version hasn’t, that Apple won’t be distributing it anymore. But people got wind of this story and the didn’t mention the fact that it was, and still is, a rumour!
This is a sigh of relief for the hardcore geeks that love to tweak the kernel and re-compile it for their benefits. It is also good for OS X in general, because it raises its status above Linux as the kernel is open-source and people can fiddle with it, but the OS is a lot better in its design and functionality (though this is debated). If the kernel was closed down, then it would only be above Windows, which is not open source in any way.