Friday 24 February 2012

No Mountain Lion for old MacBook and Macbook Pro



If you're planning to buy a Used Mac now while also intend to upgrade the operating system to OS X Mountain Lion in the future, you'll have to be cautious.

Like current OS X Lion which cannot be installed onto Mac that runs processor lower than a Core 2 Duo, this Mountain Lion cannot be installed onto Mac with lower-end Intel GMA X3100, GMA 950 and ATI Radeon X1600 graphic card.

This simply means that all pre-Unibody Macbook White or Black will not be able to run Mountain Lion. MacBook Pro 2.33GHz or older will not be able to install Mountain Lion too.

Long story short, if you plan to use OSX Mountain Lion in the future, check your system now.

Thursday 23 February 2012

My iPod Nano Dilemma



I have a iPod Nano 1st generation in perfect physical condition. Totally protected and rarely used. Bought it in 2005 to replace my then sturdy iPod shuffle.

5 years on. Still going strong. I still love it. At just 2GB, its not the best audio machine out in the market now but I'd say serve me well. Recently found out that it has the tendency to heat up quite a bit after over 2 hours of usage (can you believe it.. still can last over 2 hours after 5 years!).

Did some online research and found out that its a Manufacturing defect and that Apple's announced a Replacement Program and further research have found that if I proceed with the program, my iPod Nano 1st Gen will probably be replaced with the current iPod Nano.

Personally, I don't care much for the current iPod Nano. Don't really like it in fact. So easy to say, I don't really want to proceed with the Replacement Program to exchange my iPod Nano 1st Generation to Current iPod Nano. But further reading online prove dangerous to keep using my iPod.

I think I'll probably keep my 1st Generation iPod Nano and just buy a new iPod touch or something.

Mac Video Tutorials



Do you know that other than the already comprehensive documentations and manuals all over the internet, Apple also included lists of Video Tutorials teaching you from how to use iTunes to how to use Windows on Mac. How to use Expose and Stacks to Basic Mail. There are even Videos on how to Install Windows onto Mac using Bootcamp. Here's the link to this Video archive.

Enjoy~

Wednesday 22 February 2012

Mac OSX Mountain Lion Preview


For those who have Mac Developer Program, you can download the OS X Mountain Lion Developer Preview here.

As for those who did not enroll for the $99/year Mac Developer Program, well here's a video of what Mac OSX Mountain Lion can do. click here.

Tested Messages Beta for Mac in OSX Mountain Lion



Just got my hand on the latest Messages for Mac Beta. Tested it. And Loved it! Immensely!
This is why I love Apple in the first place. Where everyone else fail, they break through.

Messages is basically a free messaging system (That Works!) for your Mac with your iPhone, iPad and iPod using the already solid iMessage. It allows sending photos, videos, documents and contacts almost immediately. You can even do FaceTime with it too! Cool right? Free!

Here's what Apple say about Messages:

"Mac keeps the conversation going. Messages does everything iChat does, and so much more. For starters, it comes with iMessage. And just like iMessage in iOS, it lets you send unlimited messages to anyone on a Mac or an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch running iOS 5. Send photos, videos, documents, and contacts — even send messages to a group. You can see when your message has been delivered and when someone’s typing a reply. Turn on read receipts, and they’ll see when you’ve read a message. With end-to-end encryption, your messages stay safe and private. And you can start a conversation on your Mac and pick it up on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. So nothing is left unsaid."

So how can you get this Messages?

All you need to do to get the Messages Beta is update your OSX Lion to the latest 10.7.3 from this link. You'll need to restart your Mac after installation.
Then download Messages for Mac Beta here.
Again, you'll need to restart your Mac after installation.

After restart, basically just register a Message account with your Apple ID or create one using your existing email and viola! You can start iMessaging.

One little thing though, I originally only have 1 Apple ID and its already been used in my iPhone for iMessage. So when I tried to use the same ID in Messages, it won't allow. So I created a New Apple ID for Messages to work in my Mac.

Hope you all enjoyed it. I sure do!

Monday 13 February 2012

6 Ways to help you memorize



More and more things in life and feeling heavy to cope with the memory burden?
Often forget where you last left your keys?
Or simply feeling wanting to memorize things better?

Here are 10 tricks I found in the internet that will help.

1: Break it down.

Most people have trouble remembering long list of things, so instead of remembering the whole chunk, break it down. For example, instead of remembering the whole phone number 0193888879, break it down to sections that are meaningful to you 019-3-4x8-79.

2: Use mental images.

Try to think of an image that link to the things that you're trying to remember. For example, to remember the name like Mr Jack Ford, I would imagine Ford car and Jack from Titanic the movie.

3: Write it down.

Write down the informations that you want to remember. The action of writing helps forming a visual image that helps with memory. Drawing works too.

4: Relate it to yourself

Try to make things that you're trying to remember relate to yourself. This I find at times the most effective for example, 5th July 1996, the first cloning of an animal by scientist was revealed by the Roslin Institute in Scotland when Dolly The Sheep was cloned from tissue taken from a 6 years old ewe's udder. That's also the birthday of my relative.

5: Repetition

This is a bit misleading. What I really meant was to always do the things you do the same way. For example, always parking your car at the same place or putting your keys or coat or the screwdriver the same place you always put. Look at better restaurant kitchen for example, all things in there are always put at the same place even to the order of salt, sugar or pepper. It makes working smoother too.

6: Use your senses

Ever hear a song and it reminds you of someone or some place or some time of your life? Smelling certain perfume remind you of someone? That's your senses working with your memory. Sometimes associating things you want to remember with certain song, sound, smell, touch or feel would be helpful.







Sunday 12 February 2012

Death of a Bright Star : Whitney Houston





Whitney Houston passed Saturday yesterday. The pop icon of my generation, Whitney Houston died in her room on the fourth floor of the Beverly Hilton.


Houston was pronounced dead at 3:55 p.m. in her room on the fourth floor of the hotel. Her body remained there and Beverly Hills detectives were investigating.


She will be remembered. A great star shone ever so brightly gone so abruptly. Rest in peace Whitney. Thank you for all the great songs and memories and love. Thank you.

Simple way to fix a Mighty Mouse Scroll ball



Here's a Youtube I found that help fixing a irresponsive Mighty Mouse scroll ball.
If you found this page, you'd probably know that after some time, the scroll ball usually becomes less and less responsive and sometimes just outright not working altogether. There are multiple ways of fixing it but usually either not effective or require technical skill or need to open the mouse. Above is a way to fixing the Mighty Mouse without having to open the mouse up. Hope it works for you.

KFC i-City Malaysia Employee beat up Customer video clip



The above is the video of recent i-City KFC incident where a customer got punched in the face by KFC's employee.


For KFC, this is not the first time a Negative video about KFC gone viral in Youtube. The previous being a video of a KFC employee adding "Nasty" into the food. (The second video is about this incident) This looks bad. Although both these videos are unlikely to cause so much as a dent in their financial report. It really spoils KFC's image as a family place. McDonald on the other hand is currently way better the place than KFC.

Monday 6 February 2012

Fake Macbook Air Beware



I am speechless after watching this video. This AirBook is so like the Macbook Air I can't see why Apple is wasting their time and resources suing Samsung? Its a shame. An absolute shame.

Saturday 4 February 2012

Visit Malacca..



Malacca is one of the best place to both live in and travel in Malaysia. At least that's what I think.
A small State in Malaysia that is both rich with historical heritage and a shopping paradise.

Historical heritage: There are historical buildings and attractive sights all over Malacca. Colorful and graceful. At times feels like a travel back in time when I was a child in places where my parents would bring me to. The smell of coffee and milo in the air that only Malaccan can make. The old sturdy rows of buildings full with history and marks of time even after years of corrosion, still look as it was.. homey, welcoming and at times to certain extend, simply nostalgic.

Shopping Paradise: Malacca is never short of shopping malls and also streets and places where rare items be it clothes or even rare gems can be found. Only in Malacca. Jonker Street is one of the most famous around where performers would perform on the street, hawkers would sell food and all sorts of attractive items that is uniquely Malacca.

I can't say enough about Malacca except that I'm in love with this town. Never have I walk around Malacca feeling unsafe or not welcomed. Do come meet Malacca. The town I would probably grow old in.

For more information or travel tips, do visit these websites. I find it quite informative. I hope you do too.

http://www.malacca.ws/
http://ccwen08.blogspot.com/2010/09/day-visit-to-historical-city-of-malacca.html



Friday 3 February 2012

OS X 10.7.3 Update launched



Apple officially made OSX Lion 10.7.3 available for download. But.. hold your horses. Don't download it just yet as widespread reports of crashing apps are all over Apple's discussion forums.
However, good news is.. it only effects the update version only. Meaning the Combo updater which is 1.2GB in size is safe to use.
At the moment, I am downloading it.

Here's some description from Apple regarding the update:


About OS X Lion Update 10.7.3 (Client Combo)


The 10.7.3 update is recommended for all OS X Lion users and includes general operating system fixes that improve the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac including fixes that:
  • Add Catalan, Croatian, Greek, Hebrew, Romanian, Slovak, Thai, and Ukrainian language support
  • Address issues when using smart cards to log into OS X
  • Resolve issues authenticating with directory services
  • Address compatibility issues with Windows file sharing
For detailed information on this update, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5048.
For information on the security content of this update, please visit: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222
SHA1= 07dfce300f6801eb63d9ac13e0bec84e1862a16c

Thursday 2 February 2012

Basic Gestures tutorial for Lion OSX and Snow Leopard OSX



One of the more common question my buyers asks me about his new Mac is, "Where can I get tutorials or learn to use the trackpad gestures?"

Well, you can obviously get it everywhere in the net now. Youtube for one have loads of them.

But the most accessible ones is right there in your Mac.


Just go to your System Preferences, choose Trackpad.

Then in there, point your cursor to whichever gesture available and the tutorial will show you briefly how it works.

Cool eh?

Enjoy.

Seagate to sell Thunderbolt adapter



Seagate has begun selling Thunderbolt SATA adapter for portable (2.5") external hard discs.

It allows SATA hard disc to plug into your Thunderbolt port via the GoFlex Thunderbolt Adapter (STAE121). 40% increase in write speed and 13% increase in read speed as compared to FireWire 800 was recorded using a standard SATA hard disc. Higher speed perhaps can be expected if used with SSD.

Its currently for sale in the USA at $99.

I'm eagerly anticipating it in Malaysia. Can't wait to be able to back up my hard drive lots faster. ^_^