If you've got a MacBook Air SuperDrive and you've been hankering to use it with other computers (Mac or PC), tnkgrl over at tnkgrl Mobile has a solution. With a $9 part and some intestinal fortitude, you too can make your MBA Superdrive universally compatible.

Using the drive with other computers has been a desire from its inception. After some experimentation, tnkgrl found that simply replacing the IDE to USB bridge within the drive did the trick. Of course, that means removing the daughter-board and relocating the 12 MHz crystal. For an experienced hardware hacker, no sweat. For the average Joe, well, it's quite obviously an at-your-own-risk situation.

Check out the post at tnkgrl Mobile for the details.

Welcome to another Mac 101 here at TUAW. Mac 101 is our recurring feature where we point out some tips and tricks for folks new to the Mac. Remember, if you're a Mac expert this post isn't for you.

Have you ever tried to unmount a disc in Mac OS X, but it simply wouldn't come out of your Mac's drive? Here are three ways of removing discs from your Mac's drive. If your Mac is currently using the disc you won't be able to eject it, so make sure that isn't the case first. If the disc isn't in use and you still can't eject it, give these a try.

Step 1: Drag the disc to the trash can
Find the disc on the desktop and drag its icon to the Mac OS X trash can. As you start dragging it towards the trash, the icon will change to an eject button, release the mouse button when the disc's icon is directly over the eject button.

Step 2: Try some command line goodness
If you have tried to eject the disc by dragging its icon over the trash bin, then why not try a simple Terminal command to eject the disc. Open Terminal.app (found in /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app; or use Command + Shift + U to in any Finder window to move to the Utilities folder).

Once you have Terminal opened, type (or copy/paste) the following command: drutil eject

Step 3: Restart your Mac while holding mouse button down
If you've tried the other steps to no avail, then why not reboot your Mac while holding down the mouse button. Upon loading the Apple boot screen, your disc should be ejected.

Please note that if you have a disc that is actually physically stuck in the drive, this will not help. Stuck discs may need the assistance of an Apple Genius or certified Apple repair professional.

It's not uncommon for computer manufacturers to swap and switch out various components for similar or near-identical parts during a production run, and Apple has been known to partake in this practice in the past. That being said, occasionally a manufacturer will use a part which has a slightly higher build quality or performance than its counterpart in other machines and simply throttle down the performance of the superior part through firmware.

Although some of the new Mac Pro towers ship with the familiar Pioneer DVR-111D optical drive, the majority of the systems contain the apparently non-existent Sony DW-D150A. I say non-existent because the ubergeeks over at HardMac noticed that DW-D150A isn't a recognized Sony model number. After some more thorough research, it came to light that the drives billed as Sony DW-D150A are in actuality NEC 4570 mechanisms. You're probably asking yourself right about now why on earth I'm going on about something as innocuous as differing model numbers, and in most cases, you'd be right to question my sanity. However, in this rare instance, I have reached through the haze of confusion that normally clouds my mind, and at least for now I have a firm grip on the real world. The significance is this:

The NEC 4570 kicks the pants off the Sony DW-D150A in almost all aspects of reading and writing, and has some extra features to boot.

Sony:
- DVD -/+R 16x
- DVD+R DL 8x
- DVD+RW 8x
- DVD-RW 6x
- CD-RW 32X
- CD-R 32X

NEC:
- DVD -/+R 16x
- DVD-R/ DL 8x
- DVD+RW 8x
- DVD-RW 6x
- DVD-RAM 5x
- CD-RW 32x
- CD-R 48x

Naturally, Apple has locked down the specifications of the NEC 4570 to keep things fair, but that doesn't mean we can't do a bit of hacking and regain all that sweet sweet performance. A few simple commands in the terminal, some pixie dust, and a little bit of luck, and you've got yourself one speedy optical drive.

Disclaimer, Disclaimer, Disclaimer: Needless to say (but I'll say it anyway) this hack is totally unsupported by Apple, and there is no guarantee you won't brick your SuperDrive. Attempt at your own risk.

Apple has released a firmware update for SuperDrives in a variety of PowerPC-based Macs, including:

• PowerBook G4 (12 -inch 1.5GHz)
• PowerBook G4 (15-inch 1.33GHz, 1.5GHz, or 1.67GHz)
• PowerBook G4 (17-inch 1.67GHz)
• iMac G5 (17-inch 1.6GHz or 1.8GHz)
• iMac G5 (20-inch 1.8GHz)
• Mac mini G4

The update "fixes burning speeds when writing to certain recordable DVD media". Check out Apple's support document and download page for details and instructions on installing the update.

At least the Apple Store wasn't down this time for too long: today, Apple introduced the 17" MacBook Pro with an Intel Core Duo processor. It's lost .1 lb, now weighing a mere 6.8 lb, and also features a built-in iSight, Front Row and MagSafe - just like its 15" little brother.

The new 17" MacBook Pro comes with a 2.16 Intel Core Duo processor, a 667 MHz front-side bus, a 36% brighter display, 1 GB of DDR2 RAM, a 120 GB 5400-rpm SATA drive (standard), a 256 MB ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 card and - get this: an 8x double-layer SuperDrive, one FireWire 400, one FireWire 800, and three USB 2.0 ports. I guess they had some extra room to work with in the 17" to fit in those extra features that the 15" MacBook Pro lost.

The 17" MacBook Pro sells for $2799 and will begin shipping next week.