Archive for the ‘Apple’ Category

Fixing a MacBook Keyboard. Or not.

Saturday, March 21st, 2009
Been given a MacBook with a duff keyboard to “fix”. Looks like something’s been spilled on it. Thought I might take the keyboard apart, clean it and re-assemble it. [Check out for disassembly instructions]. Bottom line? There’s no way to get at the back of the keyboard from the all-in-one “Upper Case”. I could slice the head of each plastic rivet and bend metal etc, but my experience tells me that I’ll spend two hours doing it, cut myself twice and still end up buying a replacement keyboard anyway. I decided to cut my losses and save the physical injury buy heading off to eBay, searching for “MacBook Upper Case” and ordering one from the States.

keyboard1.jpg

The back of a Macbook keyboard (they call this the “Upper Case”). Not much in the way of “user serviceable parts”, other than a complete replacement!
keyboard2.jpg
Here are the moulded/melted plastic rivets that signal there’s no point in taking this apart — you’ll never get it back together. 

keyboard3.jpg

The front of the Upper Case showing the [escape] key recess. The plus side is that this recess looks like it will keep dust and crumbs away from the circuitry. The minus point is that liquid will get behind it, with no hope of being reached again.
Quick fix: replace keyboard/upper case
Long fix: replace keyboard/upper case

BBC NEWS | Technology | BBC iPlayer comes to the iPhone

Saturday, March 8th, 2008
Well, this was a little surprise. Not days after Apple released the SDK (software developer kit) for the iPhone [developers only] the BBC have released its iPlayer software for the iPhone. I gave it a little try today. Very impressive. Watched a little Top Gear (although Dave (formerly UKTV G2) is giving me a little Top Gear overload). 
It’s only available when you’re connected to a Wi-Fi network, but that’s to be expected. Quality was very good too.
No iPhone yet? Get yours today ;-)

Not many of us about….

Thursday, July 12th, 2007

Podcast LogoYou probably don’t know many certfied “Podcast and Streamed Internet Media Admin” specialists — well, you do now! I had my exam yesterday at a Prometric testing centre in Edinburgh for my Apple Certificate in Podcast and Streamed Internet Media Admininstration. I passed. I’m adding it to my other Apple Certification as a Certified Apple Help Desk Specialist. Ultimately I’m looking to gain my Apple Certified Systems Administrator badge.
Why bother? Well I think that just because we work for the church we shouldn’t be seen as “unqualified amateurs” “doing their best” “in their spare time”. I’d much rather that we were seen as the professionals in our field that we are. Not that anyone has said as much to me I should confess, but I think that nonetheless we should strive towards excellence in all that we do.
I also hope that it will give other churches and organisations more confidence in hiring us and our team to help them with their podcasting and streaming needs :-)
QTSS IconIn case you’re reading this and wondering what benefit this has to the church, then why don’t you take a look online at either 10.30am or 6.30pm each Sunday where you can join us in worship taking advantage of our live internet stream. You’ll need QuickTime 7 from, er, Apple.

iPhone

Friday, July 6th, 2007

iPhoneWell, this object of desire finally launched in USAmerica* this week. Most of the news that I read about it cites how folks are trying to break it. Either:

I just look forward to it being over here. That is, in Europe. Hopefully it’ll be iPhone v2 with all the bugs fixed and with 3G cellular data transmission. The USAmericans* have only “2.5G” versions of the iPhone with speeds only one-tenth that of 3G. I imagine that Apple will announce the 3G version and a European launch date exactly 30 days after the USAmerican* launch last week. Coincidentally 30 days corresponds to the warranty return period of the 2.5G iPhone of which Apple reportedly sold 500,000 in the last week.
Finally, who will be the sole UK provider of the iPhone? Vodafone rumors were rife in the last few weeks, but O2 have apparently come in as a late contender. Either way, it looks like I’m changing networks at Christmas time unless the two fruits can come up with what surely must be the most sought-after campaign for any advertising agency: Apple and Orange.
* Incidentally I notice that America has now become USAmerica in books and periodicals (at least the ones I read). I assume this is at the insistence of other North Americans, say for example, Canadians who want to make sure that a clear distinction is made.