Author Archives: lagreca

Apple’s proprietary hard drives in iMacs

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In case you were NOT aware (most people are NOT), Apple began using
proprietary hard drives in their late 2009 iMacs and newer.  You can
read about it here:

http://blog.macsales.com/2751-proprietary-cable-can-put-the-brakes-on-upgrading-late-09-imacs

OWC has links to drives for sale that MAY be able to help you.  I say
MAY because, not only do these drives NOT contain the proprietary
firmware that is on the Apple manufactured hard drives, but they also
do NOT have the proprietary thermal sensing port on the drive.  On top
of that, you MUST run this piece of $30 software:
http://www.hddfancontrol.com/  in order to prevent the internal fans
from spinning at full speed.  However I was warned by OWC technical
support, that even doing all of this, it STILL may NOT work.

OWC offers their “Turnkey Upgrade Program” for select newer iMacs:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/turnkey/iMac  For this upgrade, you
MUST ship them your iMac.  They have a proprietary piece of hardware
they can install to replace your factory hard drive.

Another option if you live in San Diego, is to take the computer to
Apple specialist, Crywolf:

Crywolf
7634 Clairemont Mesa Boulevard, San Diego, CA
(858) 277-9653
crywolf.com

They claim to have a proprietary cable which will allow your iMac to
use any standard off the shelf SATA hard drive.  However, they will
NOT sell you this cable directly.  You must have them replace your
failing hard drive.  Here is a list of their current prices as of
10/10/12:

$99 for labor
Drive prices as follows:
500GB $100
1TB $120
2TB $160
3TB $230

I have searched high and low for this elusive proprietary cable, and
only found one manufacturer in germany:
http://www.gravis.de/services/technik-service/aufruestungen/gravis-cbreeze/


HOWEVER, they will NOT sell it to individuals.  The last reason I
heard, is because they already have an “authorized reseller” in the
USA with exclusive rights to their adapter.

Update 1/30/13:  

I have found another possible custom cable to help:

http://www.thebookyard.com/product.php?products_id=10085

but it is $78!

Unlock your iPhone…for a fee

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EFF clarifies somewhat legality of unlocking and jailbreaking in the U.S. | 9to5Mac.

I see many iPhone unlock services on the web. What method do you use to accomplish this?

Our method itself is confidential, but we take pride in the fact that instead going the ‘cheap’ route like some of our competitors (such as illegally buying access to hacked cell carrier logins!) which are sketchy and easily traceable (risking re-lock of your phone), our method gets the IMEI of your iPhone into the database of your carrier (as well as Apple) in a legitimate and secure way.

Here:  www.chronicunlocks.com

Auto Logon to Windows XP

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You can configure Windows XP to automate the logon process if your computer is not part of a domain.

1.

Click Start, click Run, and type control userpasswords2.

2.

Clear the Users must enter a username and password to use this computer check box.

3.

Click Apply.

4.

Enter the user name and password you wish to automatically log on with, and then click OK.

5.

Click OK again and you’re all done.

Source:  http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/learnmore/tips/knox2.mspx

RSS screensaver found in Snow Leopard 10.6!

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When I upgraded to Snow Leopard 10.6, I thought I had lost the ability to display picture RSS feeds as a screensaver.  I even posted in the apple forums with no answer.  Turns out Apple just changed how you do it.

To set it up, go to System Preferences, Desktop & Screen Saver.  Under the list of available screen savers, click the plus icon and select “add RSS feed”.

Screen shot 2009-10-08 at 10-8-09, 1.02.00 PM

Paste in your RSS feed and click OK.

The pictures at that RSS feed should now show up as your screen saver (provided you gave a valid picture RSS feed).

NOTE:  I have had a few problems with this process.  Sometimes when you paste the RSS feed in, and click ok, it gets stuck validating the feed.  I tried again, and it worked, so I’m not really sure what the problem is.

How to activate iPhone tethering and MMS

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These instructions are for those of you who wish to tether your iPhone to your Mac.  This only works on iPhone OS 3.0 and 3.01 (NOT 3.1, yet).  Jailbreak or extra fees to AT&T are NOT necessary to make this work!

How to enable tethering:

  • Run Safari mobile web browser on the iPhone.
  • Visit the following Mobileconfigs website:  http://help.benm.at/tethering.php
  • Select your country.
  • Select your mobile service provider.
  • Tap Install to install new profile.
  • Select Install Now to download and install new profile.
  • On iPhone interface, go to Settings -> General -> Network -> Internet Tethering.
  • Set Internet Tethering to On.
  • If prompted that Bluetooth is off, select Turn on Bluetooth or USB Only according to your preference.
  • Internet tethering is now enabled, connect your iPhone to your Mac via USB or Bluetooth to start connecting to Internet through the iPhone as tethered Internet gateway modem.  While using this feature the top of your iPhone screen will glow blue to notify you tethering is active.

How to enable MMS:

  • Visit the following Mobileconfigs website:  http://help.benm.at/mms.php
    • Its best to visit on your computers browser, so you can reference the settings while entering them into your iPhone.
  • Select your country.
  • On your iPhone go to Settings -> General -> Network -> Cellular Data Network
  • Scroll down to the MMS section.
  • Enter the data from the Mobileconfigs website in the appropriate fields.
  • Restart your phone.

To verify MMS is active, go to the Messages application, create a new message.  Next to text entry box, you should have a little camera button, where you can select a picture to attach to your message.  If not, something went wrong with your setup.

My visual voicemail stopped working after I enabled tethering.  Here are the instructions to fix visual voicemail:

  • Go to Settings -> General -> Reset -> Reset Network Settings.
    • NOTE:  Do NOT use the Settings -> General -> Network -> Cellular Data Network -> Reset Settings.  If you do this your tethering will stop working and have to be setup all over again.
  • After the short reset, iPhone should be able to be used for MMS, Voicemail and Internet tethering.

Sync your Facebook Fan Page to Twitter

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If you are a Facebook Fan Page administrator, here is a very easy way to sync your updates to Twitter.  Facebook-to-Twitter

  • Sign into your Facebook account
  • Go to http://www.facebook.com/twitter
  • Click on “Link a Page to Twitter”
  • Select the Facebook Fan Page you want to link to your Twitter account
  • You will be redirected to Twitter to authorize Facebook access (you may need to sign into Twitter)
  • Next you will configure the settings for what information gets sync’ed to Twitter
  • Your done!

Source:  http://www.theinternetjourney.com/social-networks/twitter-social-networks/facebook-twitter-fan-page/

iPhone MMS coming soon, whats the big deal?

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With all the hype about MMS finally coming to the iPhone, I finally have to rant…

I’m sure most of you are familiar with SMS, a technology that allows you to send 160 characters at a time, that was first introduced in 1992.  MMS was the next evolutionary step, that allowed people to send not only text, but also pictures and/or audio, and is generally limited to 100-300 KB’s.  Email, on the other hand, allows you to send messages FAR GREATER in size and content.  Typically limited to 20-30 MB’s!

So why is it that people are so into TXT’ing and sending MMS’s?  Can you all see you are playing into the pocket books of the carriers?  They charge on both ends of the messages, sending and receiving.  SMS is typically 20 cents and MMS is typically 50 cents.  That means carriers get 40 cents per SMS and $1 for each MMS!  Outrageous!  Yet everyone can’t wait to be able to send them.

Whats even worse, are “smart phone” users who have unlimited data and email access, who STILL send SMS and MMS message!

I don’t think most people realize they CAN do email on their phone without a data plan.  Just about every carrier has what is known as a SMS or MMS to email gateway.  This means you can send a SMS to an email address, or receive email to your SMS capable device.  Here is a list of addresses to do this on the major carriers in the USA (number = your 10 digit mobile number):

AT&T:
SMS:  [email protected]
MMS:  [email protected]

Verizon:
SMS:  [email protected]
MMS:  [email protected]

T-Mobile:
SMS:  [email protected]

Sprint PCS:
SMS:  [email protected]
MMS:  [email protected]

Sprint Nextel:
SMS:  [email protected]
MMS:  [email protected]

A comprehensive list can be found here.

My Snow Leopard problems

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The transition to Apples newest operating system, Snow Leopard has been mostly good, but there has been a few bumps along the way.

My first problem is that the contextual menus sometimes disappear without clicking.  At first I thought it was a botched upgrade, so I did a clean install with a newly formatted hard drive, but the problem was still there.  I posted on the apple forums, and found that others were having the same or similar problems.  So far there is no solution.

My second problem is with my NAS (Network Attached Storage) device, a ReadyNAS.  It won’t let me copy some files to it, even though I have the correct permissions to do so.  A quick google search showed on their forum that others were having similar problems.

The screen sharing hack that once works great in Leopard no longer works with Snow Leopard.

mobileme and rss screensaverFinally, the RSS screensaver that I LOVED is missing in Snow Leopard.  Here is a picture of it in Leopard, but if you go to screensavers in Snow Leopard, its just not there.  It was great because I had a subscription to my online photo gallery on all my machines.  Whenever the screensaver would fire up, I would see all of our latest pictures around the house.  I can’t figure out why Apple would remove such functionality.

With all of these problems, I’m still quite happy with the upgrade.