Month: November 2015

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Oh Bother!

The evil “Service Battery” is back all the time now. I’m going to have to get the machine in for a battery replacement. It’s not that big a deal, it’s just a matter of time and how long can I be without the computer.

I’ve decided that I want Apple to handle it rather than doing it myself, in part because Apple will warranty the battery and in part because all the online battery suppliers I’ve spoken with, want me to remove the battery to read them the model number.

Apple started building many of their laptops with non-removable batteries after 2009.

The fact that this machine is a 2012 MacBook Air, and the MacBook Air was never manufactured with a removable battery gives me great concern when chatting with a battery supplier who doesn’t know this.

This is especially true when I’m asking them about a battery from their website where I’ve copied their part number into the little chat dialog, and am asking a specific question like:

“Your site says this battery will work in all MacBook airs but then specifically says this product is for a 2014 MacBook Air. Is the product compatible with a 2012 MacBook Air?”

“Please remove the battery from your computer and read me the model number. If your machine in plugged in you can remove the battery and not have the computer turn off.”

“Uh you understand this is a MacBook AIR right?”

“Yes, simply remove the battery and we can get started.“

“Again, you understand this is a MacBook Air, correct?”

“Yes.”

“OK, we’re done!”

For those unfamiliar with the MacBook Air construction. Just to get the bottom panel off requires removal of 10 screws. These particular screws are something called Pentalobe. While I have a Torx screwdriver set, I haven’t had a need to purchase a Pentalobe set. The screwhead looks like the image to the right, obviously not the run of the mill “Computer Tool Kit” from The Dollar store.

How can I trust anything that the representative of a battery manufacturer tells me, if they don’t know the most basic of facts about the product that they’re selling me a replacement battery for? I am after all accessing their consumer website, not their commercial supply site.

The cost to have Apple replace the battery is about $120. Purchasing a replacement on my own is $99, and there’s no warranty.

The difference is insignificant by the time I pay shipping, taxes, buy the proper screwdriver, and then splay my machine across my kitchen counter.

When I get round to needing a Terabyte drive in my machine, everything changes. (I want a TB drive now, but I don’t need a TB drive.) On that day, I’ll buy the proper tools to get into my beloved MacBook and while I’m in there I’ll look at any other upgrades that I might be able to install.

Based on pictures of the main logic board, I doubt there’s much I can do other than upgrade the hard drive, but it’s always worth a look.

I tend to buy maxed out machines right from the get-go so there’s little to add. When I bought this machine, I got the max memory and biggest hard drive available. The only reason that a TB drive is an option now, is because technology has made TB solid state drives available and reasonably affordable.

As an aside, it looks like Apple may be able to replace the battery while I wait. That is IF they have any in stock, so I guess it’s in my best interest to schedule my visit to Apple in advance.

I wonder if I’ll be able to get in and out of an Apple store without making additional purchases?

Hmm, self control? Me?

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Purged some really old blog posts

Mostly the blogs were from my really old blog

I’m still testing the new blooging tool. I still like it mostly, however the media handling is very different.

There are times when I like to use photos that I’ve already uploaded to the blog. In the other package, I fire up the media handler and then browse the library of photos in the blog directory.

In this package, thus far I haven’t found a media handler that performs the same function as the one from the other package, much less a way to access the photos already available in the blog.

I can probably learn to live without it. The photos I reuse are relatively few in number, but I do like being able to browse the library before I go hunting the web for something new.

As I was looking at the older posts, I found a lot of broken links. I’ve fixed those as best I can in the posts that remain, so hopefully you won’t see anymore blank image holders. I make no guarantees.

Besides, why are you going back in time on this blog? You should know by now too much of a good thing will make your eyes bleed.

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This one was simply too good to pass up

Roswellheadline

Reading the Sunday news, and since I like science better than snarky Entertainment or Political news (one in the same in my opinion) I turn to the SciTech section of Google News.

There I find this; 

A crew of astrophysicists on the University of Toronto present in a study that Jupiter might have ejected one other main planet from thephoto voltaic system over 4 million years in the past.

– via Statesman Tribune

That paragraph is messed up in soo many ways. Sadly, it’s also the lead. This article proves that Journalism and English are quite dead. 

So, some number of astrophysicists are somehow riding atop the University of Toronto? I’m not going to touch the ambiguity of “present” in the sentence.

Apparently, we live in a photovoltaic system, instead of a Solar system.

Ok so you’d think that maybe the author was in a hurry while writing the lead, and perhaps he was in a coffee shop finishing the article on an iPad and got distracted…

You give the guy the benefit of the doubt and try to soldier on. Then you encounter these jewels;

Ejections of planets usually happen when one of many planets begins to speed up so quick and so usually that it manages to interrupt free from the Solar’s highly effective gravitational pull. Earlier, Saturn was regarded as the perpetrator, however the brand new analysis has urged that it was Jupiter that booted one other huge planet of the photo voltaic system.

The Photo voltaic System has all the time been recognized to comprise solely 4 large gasoline planets in its roster of worlds: Neptune, Uranus, Saturn and Jupiter. Previous research have instructed this phenomenon is feasible between gasoline giants however failed to have a look at the impact such an occasion would have on the planets’ moons.

So the Canadian astronomers turned their consideration to moons and orbits, growing pc simulations primarily based on the fashionable-day trajectories ofCallisto and Iapetus, the common moons orbiting round Jupiter and Saturn respectively.

– via Statesman Tribune

gasoline giants? fashionable-day??? WTF?

SaganQuote

After your brain reboots multiple times, you realize that this article is appearing on a worldwide distribution system like Google and that’s when I conclude…

Either the guy writing this article had no clue what he was writing about. OR he may have picked up the piece in some language, (perhaps his native language) other than English, then ran it through an online translator relying on the accuracy of a machine to produce a publishable article for him.

The author should be fired.

The content of the rest of the article is so bad, that attempting to read further causes brain damage.

I think I’m going to go back to reading about the “Skull Asteroid” that missed earth last night. Reading the comments about it being a sign of the end times is a lot more amusing and informative.

The Statesman Tribune should be ashamed of itself.

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No Surprise

These guys in Congress have no clue.

 

CISA Security Bill Passes Senate With Privacy Flaws Unfixed

Once again the people making the laws are exactly the wrong people to do it. In addition to them not listening to the professionals that actually know this stuff, they’re doing everything in their power to make sure we have no privacy anymore.

Time to find an EU company that can provide a secure VPN service that I can have online all the time.

I’m sure that even that won’t help for long. The really sad part is that I don’t have anything to hide, but I do value my privacy. A VPN service would also be handy if I’m likely to spend any time in coffee shops or should I end up commuting on a train.

CISA has faced opposition from the security community, which has largely objected to claims that information-sharing effectively stops cyberattacks.

This is yet another situation where congress is just waving their hands over the problem so that they look like they’re actually doing something constructive.