The Lazy Brewer » Apple http://lazybrewer.com Homebrewing, technology and other duties as assigned... Thu, 29 Dec 2011 02:45:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Thanks, Steve… http://lazybrewer.com/2011/10/05/thanks-steve/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=thanks-steve http://lazybrewer.com/2011/10/05/thanks-steve/#comments Thu, 06 Oct 2011 00:56:19 +0000 Mark Ranes http://lazybrewer.com/?p=1959 Steve JobsI’m deeply sorrowed by Steve Jobs’ passing,  Like many others, my life was touched in many ways by his innovation and passion.  This blog runs on a Mac mini server sitting in my family room.  That’s what he did best – making the technically difficult elegantly easy.

Cancer is the devil.

Steve – thanks!  You’ll be missed:(

No related posts.

]]> http://lazybrewer.com/2011/10/05/thanks-steve/feed/ 2 Somewhere Over China… http://lazybrewer.com/2008/10/17/somewhere-over-china/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=somewhere-over-china http://lazybrewer.com/2008/10/17/somewhere-over-china/#comments Fri, 17 Oct 2008 22:14:31 +0000 Mark Ranes http://lazybrewer.com/?p=516 …is a new MacBook Pro with my name on it.  My old MacBook Pro failed to fire up Monday afternoon and is exhibiting the symptoms of the Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT failure outlined here and here.  Basically, when you fire it up, you hear the optical drive arm move, the internal fans spin up and get no video.  It was fine when I put it to sleep on Sunday evening and then dead when it woke up (or didn’t wake up) on Monday afternoon.  I called Apple support, mentioned the Tech Note number and discussion thread, and was told that it sounded more like a power issue than the Nvidia issue.  The technician would not send me a shipping box, instead telling me to take it to an authorize repair center to have it diagnosed.  It does match the symptoms described in the discussion thread, and many of those people have now received extended, out of warranty repairs, so I’m confident that once I take it to an Apple Store, it will be repaired at no charge.  The problem with this is that the nearest Apple Store is an hour and a half away (at least until the new Modesto Apple Store opens up:), and I’ll have to take an afternoon off from work to get MBP there.

I try not to be an Apple apologist, and working in the tech field, I know that sometimes shit happens with computer hardware, particularly portables.  My MacBook Pro is 17 months old and has served me well.  It is my primary workstation and has seen many, many hours of web browsing, e-mail, web development and high-end gaming (I’m a World of Warcraft addict:).  I am hoping that it will be repaired under the warranty extension, but I won’t get too pissy if it isn’t.  My Apple products over the years (many, many years and many, many products:) have always performed well and in most cases have outlived their usefulness as web and general computing technologies have progressed.  I’ve never had a hardware failure this early in the life of any of my computers, so maybe I was due.  But still, I’d like to have my MBP repaired so that it can continue to serve my family.  Time will tell and I’ll report on how this goes in the future.

Shiny new MacBook Pro!

Shiny new MacBook Pro!

In the meantime, out of necessity I ordered one of the new 15″ MacBook Pros released on Tuesday.  It is currently on a FedEx plane somewhere over China.  It should arrive Monday or Tuesday.  I bumped up the processor to 2.8 GHz and the hard drive to 320GB at 7200 rpm.  I am always excited to get a new computer, and this one is no exception.  The new dual video card option is a real bonus, particularly for gaming.  Hopefully, I can get my curent MBP into target disk mode one more time (I have been able to get all of my data off the drive) to move everything seamlessly on to the new laptop.  I’ve been a good boy lately, so I’m sure the Computer Gods will look down favorably on me:)

No related posts.

]]> http://lazybrewer.com/2008/10/17/somewhere-over-china/feed/ 1 Six Days and Still No iPhone 3G http://lazybrewer.com/2008/07/17/six-days-and-still-no-iphone-3g/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=six-days-and-still-no-iphone-3g http://lazybrewer.com/2008/07/17/six-days-and-still-no-iphone-3g/#comments Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:19:17 +0000 Mark Ranes http://lazybrewer.com/?p=218 Six days have passed now and AT&T still doesn’t have an iPhone 3G for me.  :(   Availablity is constrained at almost all US Apple Stores and AT&T doesn’t seem to be getting any shipments.  Of course, the model I want is the most popular…

No related posts.

]]> http://lazybrewer.com/2008/07/17/six-days-and-still-no-iphone-3g/feed/ 0 New iPhone 3G – sort of… http://lazybrewer.com/2008/07/12/new-iphone-3g-sort-of/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-iphone-3g-sort-of http://lazybrewer.com/2008/07/12/new-iphone-3g-sort-of/#comments Sat, 12 Jul 2008 21:38:17 +0000 Mark Ranes http://lazybrewer.com/?p=179 iPhone 3GI finally decided to buy an Phone.  Being a big Apple guy, and seeing quite a few people I know who have iPhones, has been really painful.  With all of the noise on the web and TV yesterday about the release of the new iPhone 3G, it got me thinking.  I had just gotten a new phone when the original iPhone came out, and we’ve been Verizon Wireless customers forever.  We like their service and especially their coverage – we are rarely without a signal.  I have a year to go on my contract with Verizon Wireless, but while canceling my Dad’s cellphone yesterday (he rarely used it), I asked what the termination fee would be to get out of my contract a year early and it is only $120.  That kind of sealed the deal:)

I went down to our local AT&T store when it opened this morning, but was disappointed to find out that all of their original stock of iPhone 3Gs were sold out yesterday (big surprise, huh?).  I went ahead and ordered a 16GB black iPhone 3G.  When I asked how long it would take to arrive, they told me “up to 30 days”, but most of the chatter I’ve seen on the Mac web this morning said that the second wave of iPhone 3G stock is supposed to show up in 3-5 days.  My fingers are crossed.

In anticipation of the iPhone’s arrival, I entered all of my contacts from my current cell phone into Mac OS X’s Address Book, to facilitate the population of my contacts once the iPhone arrives.  There is also a WordPress for iPhone app coming that will allow me to post to this blog from the iPhone.  How cool is that?   :)

While I was really disappointed that I couldn’t walk out with a new iPhone 3G this morning, I do like the anticipation of waiting for a new tech toy – as long as it doesn’t take 30 days!

No related posts.

]]> http://lazybrewer.com/2008/07/12/new-iphone-3g-sort-of/feed/ 0