Posts Tagged computer

What’s the stupidest Apple ‘fix’ you’ve ever heard of?

Posted by Cameron in Apple, Technology on June 11th, 2009

Well, it would be hard to beat this one! I found this scouting around the web after the SuperDrive in my 24″ iMac failed. I would put a disc (of any type) in and it would whirr for about 20 seconds and then just spit the disc back out. Rang Applecare and ran through the problem with them and got the usual “reboot, reset pRAM – bring it in for repair”. Sure, thanks to Time Machine and a GREAT local Apple repair agent (The MacDoctors) that isn’t too much of a pain. I’ve always got my MacBook and iPhone to keep me ‘Appled’.

Then I found this ‘fix’ on the web…

open system preferences.
go to international
under languages: drag any of the other languages to the top, then drag english back to the top.
make sure “order for sorted lists” is set to enlish
make sure “work break” is set to english(united states, computer)
then restart.

WTF? That’s got nothing to do with the Superdrive, let alone any hardware at all, how crazy does someone think I am?

Well, it worked… (and I still don’t believe it!)

Apple, computer, imac, repair, superdrive

2 Comments

What the hell is RSS? Here’s an easy explanation…

Posted by Cameron in Apple, Internet, Just for Fun, Technology, Windows on May 29th, 2009

I stumbled over this GREAT and simple explanation to the mystery of RSS. Ok, I know about RSS (Really Simple Syndication) but there are plenty out there who hear about it and see RSS links on websites all the time but have NO IDEA what it is about.

Easy peasy – watch the short video below and learn what RSS is in 3:43!

Ok, now that is finished I’ll point you to a couple of links for what I consider to be the best free newsreaders.

Mac OS | NetNewsWire – http://www.newsgator.com/individuals/netnewswire/default.aspx

iPhone | NetNewsWire – http://www.newsgator.com/individuals/netnewswireiphone/default.aspx

Windows | FeedDemon – http://www.newsgator.com/Individuals/FeedDemon/Default.aspx

Web Based | Google Reader – http://www.google.com.au/reader/view/

I must point out that a great advantage of a web based news reader like Google Reader is that no matter what computer you are on or what platform you are using (Windows, Mac, Linux etc) you will always have instant access to your news feed by just logging into your account. No software to install as it is all web based!

If you are a Mac/iPhone guy like me I would highly recommend NetNewsWire on both your Mac and iPhone, they both sync with a central server so your feed is constantly up to date whether you are on your iPhone or Mac.

The other final alternative is using the RSS feature built into many email clients. While they mostly work quite well I would recommend either a stand alone application or a web alternative like the ones I have listed above.

Now that you have a basic grasp of RSS why not dazzle me with your new found internet mastery and subscribe to my RSS feed by clicking here or…. if you think it is all a bit too geeky for you then there is still an email subscription option here.

computer, email, feed, guide, how-to, internet, mac, news, pc, rss, Windows