AppleComputer

Twentieth anniversary of January 10, 1986 (a date which has no particular significance)

But speaking of twentieth anniversaries, I thought I’d let you all know that I’ve successfully installed and booted OS 9.0.4 on the Twentieth Anniversary Mac at my office. I made a brief search through my disgustingly well organized software archive at home, and came up with my old version of iTunes (version 2) that plays nicely with OS 9 (sans OS 8 hack). I was positively glowing with…
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AppleComputer

Turn the heck around and run the other way

In the context of a computer repair manual, a procedure is described as “pretty difficult,” you should pretty much assume that this procedure is not for you – unless you make a living doing this kind of thing. I’ve cracked the case on a computer or two in my day, but I’m strictly a novice. That’s why I had no business pulling the innards out of my recently…
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AppleComputer

Cheryl does an about-face

About 38 hours ago my wife wanted nothing to do with another old computer. In fact, I had to agree to dispose of my vintage, 1994 Macintosh Performa 577, to make room for my prized new addition to our little Mac Museum. About 17 hours ago my wife walked into our family room and noticed the TV was on… on the computer screen. “How did you do that?” she asked. “Elementary, my…
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AppleComputer

Twentieth Century Mac

My wife thinks I’ve finally lost my mind. My wife’s friend since high school agrees. Me? My heart is pitter-pattering like freshman invited to the senior prom. I got my hands on a piece of Macintosh Lore… a genuine Twentieth Anniversary Mac. To the average layperson the Twentieth Anniversary Mac (TAM) is nothing but an eight-year-old computer. Weighing in with a 250MHz, 603e PPC…
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AppleGoing for Broke

Gloria in Excelsis Deo

No, I’m not over doing it. My little buddy made it out of surgery this afternoon and sped right through recovery. In fact, he’s out playing right now. If you really must know, he’s playing INXS. That’s right, this is another iPod post. I can’t tell you how crushed I was when I thought he was dead. It makes it all the more joyous to see him resurrected. I’m so…
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AppleGoing for Broke

The times, they are a changin’

If your iPod is out of warranty, and nothing on the Apple support web site helps (to fix your iPod), try the following… 1. Open you iPod. This is tricky, and it voids your warranty, so I won’t explain it here (it’s a liability thing). 2. Disconnect the battery and hard drive. 3. Reconnect your hard drive and battery. 4. Reassemble your iPod. 5. Reformat your (iPod) hard drive and…
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AppleGoing for Broke

iFailed

Things break. It can be disappointing, but it’s a fact of high-tech life. What really hurts is when the occasional breakage points to a painful truth, I’m an idiot. Two months ago my iPod started acting funny. My keen diagnostic senses deduced that it was a software problem. However, my honed procrastinating tendencies put off any attempt to fix the problem. After all, the odd behavior…
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AppleGoing for Broke

Well and truly f,.. by warranties

Palm Handheld, 90 day warranty. Apple iPod, 365 day warranty. Broken, 383 day old iPod, bundled with a broken, 496 day old Palm handheld, worthless. According to the Apple web site, I could send in my iPod for “out of warranty” service, cost: $249 (plus $6.95 shipping and handling), warranty: 90 days. According to the Apple web site, I could purchase a new iPod, cost: $299, warranty: 1…
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AppleBeth

iPod, and you should too

Beth finally got her iPod on Friday. We ordered it early last week and tracked in it from China (with a little help from the FedEx web site). It’s hot pink, has Beth’s name engraved on it, and is everything Beth was hoping for in a portable music player. She totes it around the house like a trophy almost non-stop. No, she hasn’t listened to a whole lot of music on it – but…
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AppleComputer

Sleeping with the enemy

“Cats and dogs, living together, mass-hysteria!” – Bill Murray, Ghostbusters 97.5% of the folks out there who bought a PC this year won’t care one whiff about this – but what do they know anyway? First, there was the Macintosh. Then, there was Wintel. Now (or in 2006 anyway) there is Macintel. This is just like finding out Darth Vader was Luke’s father.
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