FastMac announced a new line of Mac notebook chargers today. FastMac found a work around for Apple not licensing the MagSafe chargers. TruePower U-Charge allows you to charge your notebook's batteries externally. Note that this does not power the Mac, it only charges batteries.
This charger will charge iBook G3/G4 12", PowerBook, MacBook, and MacBook Pro batteries without skipping a beat. FastMac also has plans for a 14.4V charger that would charge batteries for the clamshell iBook, iBook G4 14", and Ti PowerBook 15".
The TruePower U-Charge comes in 2 different colors (black and white) to match your machine better. The prices for these chargers start at $69.95. You can purchase the U-Charge on the FastMac website.
Want to install a game that makes you look as crazy as the poor woman in the video above? Look no further than Tilt Scream Pong, a game that utilizes both the Sudden Motion Sensor and the built in microphone in your Powerbook, iBook, MacBook or MacBook Pro. The basic game is really a solitaire pong game (like Breakout without the blocks), but the ball apparently moves faster and faster. Oh, and your paddle grows in size the more noise you make-- that's why this woman is screaming at her computer while flailing it around awkwardly.
Anyway, it seems a lot like Wii Sports in that you look like a dork while playing it, but it's actually fun to play. The game and source are available for free, and future plans hint at maybe eventually a two player game, or even two player network play. Check it out-- but do it behind closed doors or risk people thinking you're strange.
It seems like Apple's Johnathan Ive does two things: design great products, and win awards for designing said products. So today's Ive news is of the second order-- at the National Design Awards in Washington on Wednesday, Ive picked up the product design award. According to the Washington Post, Ive was recognized for his work on the iMac, the iBook, and the iPod, but we can't help but think having the iPhone now under his belt didn't hurt either.
Awards also went to Adobe for creating Photoshop, the "gold standard" of photo manipulation software, and a few other architects and designers from various places around the country. The awards were handed out by First Lady Laura Bush, who said Ive's work "...has made it more fun to go back in time and play oldies on our iPods." She's still listening to oldies? Someone show this woman the podcast page on iTunes!
How we love enterprising geeks. "This machine isn't dead," they say, "it's prepped for re-purposing!"
Thus was Jonas' thought process (maybe not verbatim) when he came across this 500mhz G3 ibook with a busted display. Other than the screen, the computer functioned perfectly, making it a good server candidate.
He removed the display, optical drive and battery. Next he whittled the case down to the bare minimum that would contain the remaining parts. Finally, he went to a used book store and found a hardcover book that was slightly larger than the resized laptop and cut out all of the pages.
He then used some plastic and velcro to secure the 'book in the book, put it on the shelf and the iBooklet server was born. He claims that there have been no heat issues. Still, I wouldn't go to sleep with that thing running.
Mark at Geek Technique received a 700mhz G3 iBook with video issues. The machine would boot, but produce no image on the display or when connected to an outside source. In fact, the issue he was experiencing has been documented by Apple, and a repair program was put in place. However, the program had expired by the time Mark received his 'book. What's he to do? Set that sucker on fire, that's what.
Mark found an article that describes how the video chip becomes detached from the logic board, and how it can be re-soldered back in place. Lacking the proper tools, he tried a tea light, which didn't reach the required temperature. Finally, he burned some alcohol and White Spirit on the board, rebooted the machine and it worked! The video chip had been re-attached, and the iBook was functioning perfectly.
Unfortunately, he started by testing a Mac Mini with only 512M RAM rather than a better equipped unit and ran into a lot of swapping slow-downs. The inability of the OS X hardware to run all his Windows peripherals and the minimal support for X11 also disappointed. Further, he was unhappy with the lack of quality freeware (italics are his). New Mac users, he writes will probably have to shell out for Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop--NeoOffice and OpenOffice didn't offer the full functionality he needed.
It's always easy to second-guess unhappy switcher reviews though in this case Boyko did a pretty thorough job, which he documents in his 11-page review.
Remember when Apple ditched the clamshell iBooks and created the sleeker "icebook" form factor? My wife calls them Chiclets. Well we have 3 of them: a 500 MHz G3 from 2001 with a 10GB drive, a 800MHz G4 with a 60GB drive but a busted optical drive, and a 1.2GHz G4 with a 30GB drive but working CDR/DVD drive. The 800MHz machine is still my old personal machine, although between hacks and apps and data overload it is very slow. The other two have found new life.
The oldest iBook actually has the best build quality, I think. The keyboard feels good, and none of the keys have rubbed off. It is fast and solid. However, since it is so old, I decided to use OS 9 as the primary OS. We inherited a bunch of old educational CD's from the 90's and the iBook plays almost all of them better than the PPC-based Mac mini in the den. Perhaps the biggest drawback? The smell of burning plastic that is emitted from the possibly-not-covered-by-recall motherboard. Oops.
The newest iBook is zippy enough to handle video from apps like VLC (for the playlists) without a hitch, so we're using it as a video jukebox of sorts. Connected to the network I can either stream or move videos to it for the kids, plus it runs all the OS X educational software we've got. Oh, and TuxPaint, which also runs on my personal machine in case they both want to draw at the same time. The working optical drive on the 1.2GHz came in handy at the beach recently, when the TV in the kids room didn't work. So we used the iBook as a DVD player.
Of course, if you work in primary education this is probably a snoozefest to you. Apple sold quite a few (though not nearly enough) iBooks to the educational markets back in the day. So it should come as no surprise that my wife and I recycle our old work machines as kid machines. What makes the iBook so special is the ability to run OS 9 natively and the form factor. Sure, iMacs are great, but you can't take them on vacation. The old clamshells are OK as well, but a little bulky. Then again, maybe I just can't bear to throw anything away.
Just when you think Apple's financial woes have begun to recede, Forbes.com alerts us to a slew of recently filed class action lawsuits that all have the big fruit in their sights. First up is yet another complaint alleging that Apple has created a monopoly by tying iTS purchases to the iPod and only the iPod. Even though suits like this have come and gone, the court has interestingly denied Apple's motion to dismiss.
Next in line is a suit over the MacBook's iBook G4's "abnormally high rate" of logic board failure. This suit was filed Nov. 7th, and Apple still has time to respond.
A third suit is coming from PhatRat Technology LLC, who is calling patent infringement on the Nike+iPod product. A response from Apple is still pending here as well.
Last (though possibly not least?) is a securities class action suit against the company and "certain current and former officers and directors" over all this backdated stock option grant business.
That's about everything Forbes has on the Apple lawsuit list for now. Think it's still worth it to wish Apple a happy new year?
Alternate title (and moral of the story): A good backup saves the day.
When I'm not gleefully blogging for TUAW in our secret, undisclosed location (Scott's livingroom), I'm working as the "Computer Guy" for a large, Mac-friendly company (yes, I'm essentially Nick Burns). On Sunday I received an urgent email regarding an iBook that would not boot. It held mission-critical files that would be needed on Monday (today). So, its owner dropped it off to me and I checked it out.
Ok, so we're a day late, but seven years ago yesterday Apple introduced their fabulous Airport technology. Check out the press release (Apple worked with Lucent on the Airport technology) and this article in CNN describing both the new Airport technology and the iBook, 'the first computer designed for wireless networking from the start.'
My how time flies.
Here's my question: when did you first setup a wireless network in your home? Winter 2001 is when my apartment had wireless for the very first time.
We hear about the occasional battery recall, and there are always the complaints that computers are getting too hot, but things went to a whole new level for a family in Minnesota. As WCCO in the Twin Cities reports, an 11 year-old boy set a running iBook down on the carpet and left the room. His mother states that they heard a popping noise, saw that the iBook had started melting the carpet and the room was filling with smoke. They quickly carried the iBook outside and remembered to bring their camera along for the show as the iBook, you can see, literally caught fire (WCCO has a video and more images).
Of course, the news outlet is making sure to pull out all the sensationalizing tricks with such quotes from the mother like "It doesn't seem real that you would have a fire in a computer. We all could have died, and the house could have burned down".
The moral of the story? Apple burns houses down. Buy a typewriter from your local office supply store. Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
The Maine Learning Technology Initiative has 30,000 iBooks that the state has mostly paid off, and they are looking
to get rid of them. That's why they are
selling them to the schools that they are in for $8 a pop (that's the difference in what the state has paid and what is
left over). Now, keep in mind that these iBooks have been in the hands of schoolchildren for 4 years so they are
probably not in the best of shape (in general), but that is still a pretty good deal.
Luckily they aren't
giving the public a chance to snag any, so there won't be any stampedes this time around.
The results are in
from our most recent, highly unscientific poll. The question was based on rumors that the forthcoming MacBook would be
available in white, black and one other "mystery color." We asked: What color MacBook would you be likely to
buy? Here's how you answered:
Black: 42%
White: 17%
Blue:
10%
Green: 9%
Red: 7%
None of the above: 4%
Finally, a full 11%
of you thought this was our silliest poll ever. I'm sure we'll top it eventually.
Black was the clear
winner, followed by white and then blue. If the color rumor is true, perhaps Apple will go with more subtle tones this
time, as opposed to the candy colors of the original iBooks (though I loved Tangerine). Time will tell.
I'm still
scratching my head on this app, but I figured I'd post it and maybe you guys could help make sense of how an app like
this would be useful. UnPlugged is a one-trick pony with
the sole purpose of (drum roll please) notifying you when your Mac's power cable is unplugged. It can use Growl to
notify you, or a simple alert window in case Growl isn't your cup of tea.
Now, how is this useful? To
double-check: If a desktop Mac's power cable comes unplugged either from the wall or the Mac itself, it just shuts off,
right? As far as I know, Apple hasn't built any whiz-bang UPS technology into their recent desktops. So that leaves
iBooks and PowerBooks. Is there some kind of an environment or fairly typical situations people are getting themselves
into where they wouldn't know if a power cable became unplugged, given that it attaches right on the side of the
machine they're working on? Sound off, if you could, and help make sense of this peculiar little app.
UnPlugged is donationware, requires 10.3.9 or higher and is available from brik software.
Remember
"Middle Seat," the ad that featured an iBook-wielding airline passenger? For some inexplicable reason, he
decides he's just got to work on his iMovie project during the flight, and he commandeers the dining
trays of the poor people sitting on his left and right, which he immediately fills with his computer, camera, Palm (why
he needs this is a mystery) and stacks of CDs. Finally, he blasts his music and wakes the sleeping passengers.
"Middle Seat" indeed. I've always thought of this ad as "Obnoxious Jerk." I like to think that, in
the moments just after the story ended, the guy in the tie gave this kid a pounding.
FastMac announced a new line of Mac notebook chargers today. FastMac found a work around for Apple not licensing the MagSafe chargers. TruePower U-Charge allows you to charge your notebook's batteries externally. Note that this does not power the Mac, it only charges batteries.
It seems like 
How we love enterprising geeks. "This machine isn't dead," they say, "it's prepped for re-purposing!"
Mark at Geek Technique 
Bryan Boyko spent 30 days using 
Remember when Apple 
Just when you think Apple's financial woes have begun to 
Alternate title (and moral of the story): A good backup saves the day.
Ok, so we're a day late, but seven years ago yesterday Apple introduced their fabulous Airport technology. Check out the 
We hear about the occasional battery recall, and there are always the complaints that computers are getting too hot, but things went to a whole new level for a family in Minnesota. As WCCO in the Twin Cities 
The Maine Learning Technology Initiative has 30,000 iBooks that the state has mostly paid off, and they are looking
to 
I'm still
scratching my head on this app, but I figured I'd post it and maybe you guys could help make sense of how an app like
this would be useful. 
Remember
"Middle Seat," the ad that featured an iBook-wielding airline passenger? For some inexplicable reason, he
decides he's just got to work on his iMovie project during the flight, and he commandeers the dining
trays of the poor people sitting on his left and right, which he immediately fills with his computer, camera, Palm (why
he needs this is a mystery) and stacks of CDs. Finally, he blasts his music and wakes the sleeping passengers.
"Middle Seat" indeed. I've always thought of this ad as "Obnoxious Jerk." I like to think that, in
the moments just after the story ended, the guy in the tie gave this kid a pounding.
