With Christmas fast approaching the issue of wish list etiquette often comes up. While some people are quite happy to mail their list to everyone they can think of in the hopes of receiving anything on their list, I find myself reluctant to even tell anyone I even have one.
For a number of years now I've had an Amazon.co.uk wish list, partly as just a way of tracking things I'd like to buy. I have on occasion also passed the link on to people that asked if there was anything specific I would like. While I have no problem with that, or having a link on to your wish list on your site, I'm not sure where I stand on passing it out unsolicited. Does that type of thing mean people with think your begging for gifts or will they be thankful for the suggestions on what to buy that hard to shop for individual?
What's your opinion on wish lists, good or bad?
Thursday, 30 October 2008
Thursday, 23 October 2008
Your earbuds are covered
If you had a problem with the earbuds that you received with your iPhone or iPod what would you do? Would you just throw them out and purchase replacements? If the answer is yes and your iPhone or iPod is still within it’s warranty then this tip may well save you some money.
When your iPhone or iPod earbuds start to not play sound in one ear or your iPhone mic doesn’t seem to pick up your voice anymore simply contact Apple. Just pop into your nearest Apple Store and talk to someone there and explain your issue and as long as your old ones aren’t damaged physically they’ll exchange them right there. What if you don’t have an Apple Store near you, well that’s Ok because you can also exchange your earbuds by filling out a form online. To do this you’ll need your iPhone or iPod serial number and some payment details just in case you don’t return the defective set. Once your fault has been reported Apple will mail you a new set of earbuds in the next couple of days along with an envelope for you to return your non-working set.
So next time your iPhone or iPod earbuds don’t seem to be working, don’t throw them out. Contact Apple and get a replacement sent out.
When your iPhone or iPod earbuds start to not play sound in one ear or your iPhone mic doesn’t seem to pick up your voice anymore simply contact Apple. Just pop into your nearest Apple Store and talk to someone there and explain your issue and as long as your old ones aren’t damaged physically they’ll exchange them right there. What if you don’t have an Apple Store near you, well that’s Ok because you can also exchange your earbuds by filling out a form online. To do this you’ll need your iPhone or iPod serial number and some payment details just in case you don’t return the defective set. Once your fault has been reported Apple will mail you a new set of earbuds in the next couple of days along with an envelope for you to return your non-working set.
So next time your iPhone or iPod earbuds don’t seem to be working, don’t throw them out. Contact Apple and get a replacement sent out.
Sunday, 19 October 2008
Safe Boot your Mac
Ever had problems booting your Mac but didn't know if it was your OS or your third party extensions causing the problem?
Well besides removing everything and seeing if your Mac will boot, you could always try Safe Boot or Safe Mode as it's sometimes known. Safe Boot is a method of booting your Mac without loading up any additional non-Apple start up items and software components. While you can't actually do much work while in safe mode, it's certainly a quick elimination technique that might let you know where your issue might lie.
To start your Mac in safe mode simply restart it, or power it on, while holding down the shift key. As you boot you should see the words Safe Mode or Safe Boot appear in red to confirm that you've successfully entered this reduced running mode. If your Mac starts up without any issues then you know the basic Mac system itself is working correctly and your problem may be your third party apps.
For more information on Safe Mode, or Safe Boot as it's also known, check out this Apple support article on "What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode".
As always this tip cannot replace the troubleshooting ability of a certified repair professional. If you are at all unsure of what you are doing then don't be afraid to contact someone who does.
Well besides removing everything and seeing if your Mac will boot, you could always try Safe Boot or Safe Mode as it's sometimes known. Safe Boot is a method of booting your Mac without loading up any additional non-Apple start up items and software components. While you can't actually do much work while in safe mode, it's certainly a quick elimination technique that might let you know where your issue might lie.
To start your Mac in safe mode simply restart it, or power it on, while holding down the shift key. As you boot you should see the words Safe Mode or Safe Boot appear in red to confirm that you've successfully entered this reduced running mode. If your Mac starts up without any issues then you know the basic Mac system itself is working correctly and your problem may be your third party apps.
For more information on Safe Mode, or Safe Boot as it's also known, check out this Apple support article on "What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode".
As always this tip cannot replace the troubleshooting ability of a certified repair professional. If you are at all unsure of what you are doing then don't be afraid to contact someone who does.
Friday, 17 October 2008
MacBook repairs complete
I received a call this morning from Group 8, are the Apple authorised service provider for AppleCare here in the UK. They called to let me know that the repairs to my MacBook are now complete and they will be sending it back to me to arrive on Monday.
While I haven't received the MacBook back yet, I've already had a great service experience with Group 8. They have kept me informed every step of the way and called me to confirm the issues I was having trouble with as they were testing the system. If they are based in your area and you need a repair performed on your Mac then I'd certainly give them a call.
This coming Monday I'll fully test the MacBook to verify the repairs. Check back early next week for the results.
While I haven't received the MacBook back yet, I've already had a great service experience with Group 8. They have kept me informed every step of the way and called me to confirm the issues I was having trouble with as they were testing the system. If they are based in your area and you need a repair performed on your Mac then I'd certainly give them a call.
This coming Monday I'll fully test the MacBook to verify the repairs. Check back early next week for the results.
Friday, 10 October 2008
Living on just an iPhone
After numerous calls to AppleCare over the last month or so they've finally decided they need to repair my MacBook.
As you know I've been having issues with my MacBook not connecting to an 802.11n network. AppleCare, after having their engineers over at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino look at my system information, decided I must have a faulty Airport Extreme card. So away it went yesterday to have it replaced under warranty. Since they were going to be taking a look at it I also took the opportunity to bring up two more flaws I'd discovered with the MacBook. First up is my iSight camera would occasionally turn itself on when I powered on my MacBook. The second is that the ram door doesn't stay in place because it seems that someone has stripped the screw mounts on the bottom case during a previous repair attempt.
Guess I'll be living on just my iPhone until the MacBook's back.
As you know I've been having issues with my MacBook not connecting to an 802.11n network. AppleCare, after having their engineers over at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino look at my system information, decided I must have a faulty Airport Extreme card. So away it went yesterday to have it replaced under warranty. Since they were going to be taking a look at it I also took the opportunity to bring up two more flaws I'd discovered with the MacBook. First up is my iSight camera would occasionally turn itself on when I powered on my MacBook. The second is that the ram door doesn't stay in place because it seems that someone has stripped the screw mounts on the bottom case during a previous repair attempt.
Guess I'll be living on just my iPhone until the MacBook's back.
Friends don't let friends...
...buy Apple before an event.
Apple have announced that it is now turning it's attention to it's laptop line at an upcoming event. The invite, which went out to select members of the press this week, shows what appears to be the lid of an Apple notebook computer with a spotlight falling on it.
The event is scheduled to take place on October 14th at Apple's Cupertino Campus at 10AM PST.
So if you're in the market for a new laptop, you might want to hold of your buying decision for just a few more days.
Apple have announced that it is now turning it's attention to it's laptop line at an upcoming event. The invite, which went out to select members of the press this week, shows what appears to be the lid of an Apple notebook computer with a spotlight falling on it.
The event is scheduled to take place on October 14th at Apple's Cupertino Campus at 10AM PST.
So if you're in the market for a new laptop, you might want to hold of your buying decision for just a few more days.
Sunday, 5 October 2008
iTunes 8.0.1 makes HD and SD TV shows co-exist
Since the launch of iTunes 8 and the introduction of HD TV shows, some users have been having issues with HD downloads being erased when the SD version of a show has downloaded. In fixing this issue Apple, in iTunes 8.0.1, have added some great new features in the realm of iTunes TV show handling. Now rather than having two listing for a show episode, one for the HD copy and one for your SD copy, the two have been combined into a single listing.
This is great in two ways, first there are now no longer two entries for the same TV show episode. This means you no longer have an episode telling you it's new when you've already watched it on one of the two formats. Secondly this also now means that your episode viewing position is now synced between your HD version on your Mac and your SD version on the iPhone or iPod. Prior to this update the HD and SD version were treated as two separate shows, so if you watched half an episode in HD and then decided to watch the rest on your iPhone on the way to work, you'd first need to first skip to the point you'd already seen to on the SD version and then continue watching. Then once you'd were back home you'd need to reverse the process.
This is a great and most welcome change to iTunes 8. Trust Apple to come up with an entirely better solution to the problem in the first place than to just fix the bug in the simplest and quickest manner.
This is great in two ways, first there are now no longer two entries for the same TV show episode. This means you no longer have an episode telling you it's new when you've already watched it on one of the two formats. Secondly this also now means that your episode viewing position is now synced between your HD version on your Mac and your SD version on the iPhone or iPod. Prior to this update the HD and SD version were treated as two separate shows, so if you watched half an episode in HD and then decided to watch the rest on your iPhone on the way to work, you'd first need to first skip to the point you'd already seen to on the SD version and then continue watching. Then once you'd were back home you'd need to reverse the process.
This is a great and most welcome change to iTunes 8. Trust Apple to come up with an entirely better solution to the problem in the first place than to just fix the bug in the simplest and quickest manner.
Friday, 3 October 2008
iTunes 8.0.1 update introduces iPhone/iPod touch sync error
Since updating to iTunes 8.0.1, which was released yesterday, I've been experiencing an iPhone sync error. Specifically this message will pop up multiple times during an iPhone sync, "The iPhone cannot be synced. An unknown error occurred (13014)". This error also seems to be affecting users of the iPod touch.
While this error is annoying it doesn't seem to affect syncing other than to display the warning dialogue. One way I've discovered of eliminating this message is to quit and then restart iTunes. From taking a look over at Apple's discussion forums it's clear that this is more than just an isolated problem so lets hope that Apple correct this problem soon.
If you've been having any other sync issues, or found other workarounds for this issue, with your iPhone or iPod touch since the 8.0.1 iTunes update then please let me know in the comments below.
Update - After further investigation into this issue it now seems that a reboot after having launched iTunes 8.0.1 is enough to solve this issue. Since that time I've experienced no further error messages. If you've had similar results please post a comment to confirm this resolves the issue.
While this error is annoying it doesn't seem to affect syncing other than to display the warning dialogue. One way I've discovered of eliminating this message is to quit and then restart iTunes. From taking a look over at Apple's discussion forums it's clear that this is more than just an isolated problem so lets hope that Apple correct this problem soon.
If you've been having any other sync issues, or found other workarounds for this issue, with your iPhone or iPod touch since the 8.0.1 iTunes update then please let me know in the comments below.
Update - After further investigation into this issue it now seems that a reboot after having launched iTunes 8.0.1 is enough to solve this issue. Since that time I've experienced no further error messages. If you've had similar results please post a comment to confirm this resolves the issue.
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