Jason O’Grady’s Apple Core blog has a report about hairline cracks appearing on the the case of various MacBook laptops despite the owners taking care of the units.
The small cracks are appearing around the hinges, vents and back edges of the laptops.
If anyone’s seen this happen on their own MacBook or heard about Apple acknowledging this or taking steps to repair the problem, let us know.

(more…)

The folks over at Macworld News, in collaboration with PC World, have published the first entry of their Apple TV diary. Here, senior editor Chris Breen describes the device itself, the opening the box, setup, the cables needed, connecting the device to a television, turning it on for the first time and the initial user experience in its entirety.
By way of The Unofficial Apple Weblog, TechRestore has published a full take-apart picture gallery of their new Apple TV unit. The gallery details how to pull the lower flap back, get at the screws and disassemble the device almost the same way you would a Mac Mini and where to go from there.
Finally, if you have a new Apple TV and are setting it up, send us your story. This is a cool device that a lot of people are interested in and we’d like to hear your side of it as well as see the pictures. While PowerPage can’t guarantee fame, fortune and the rest, you get your name out there and the chance to tell people whether the Apple TV is everything we hoped it would be or if it somehow makes the PowerBook 5300 series look like a marvel of reliable engineering in comparison.

(more…)

On Wednesday, retailer Best Buy announced that it will begin selling the recently-released Apple TV at all of its 822 locations beginning next week with the device in stock as of Tuesday.
Initial shipments are stated to be limited to 3,000 units according to AppleInsider, which means that each store will only receive about four to five units at first. Best Buy will be given a two week head start on other retailers in selling the media device.
Apple and Best Buy are currently participating in an ongoing pilot program aimed at testing how Apple’s computers sell in various Best Buy locations. The provisions of the agreement state that Apple will sell its products in about 50 retail locations, this number up from the original seven. The program is set to last until September 7th of this year.
The Apple TV retails for US$299 and shipped earlier this week.

(more…)

On a quick note, Apple has just launched a full support page for its recently-launched Apple TV device. The page features troubleshooting tips, how-to guides, service tips and tutorials according to ipodobserver.com.
Users can also snag the product’s PDF version of the manual for download if they want to look things over before buying the US$299 media device.

(more…)

On Wednesday, Google took steps to remove itself from rumors that it had entered the smart phone race by claiming that hardware wasn’t its main concern.

“At this point in time, we are very focused on the software, not the phone,” said Richard Kimber, Google’s director of southeast Asian sales and operations. This comment synched with statements made by Google evangelist Vint Cerf’s comments made earlier this month that the company was more interested in constructing platforms for other firms.

These efforts, stated Kimber, would be demonstrated by integrating Google’s search tools rather than in creating its own device according to AppleInsider. This claim is backed by Google’s recent deals with Samsung and other handset device firms that have agreed to install the company’s search and mapping tools on their units. In addition, Apple has agreed to include Google’s search and map tools on its upcoming iPhone, due out this June.
If you have any opinions or ideas on this, let us know.

(more…)

It may not be the biggest screen in the universe, but Apple had an incredibly good idea when it decided to put out the video iPod. Case in point, nothing else is better for a quick movie or tv show if you’re traveling somewhere with time to kill. Of course, this doesn’t remove the fact that someone else would also like to watch whatever you’re watching.
Via the Crave blog, iStyles has released the iPod Video Privacy Protection Screen, a transparent film that, once applied, reveals the screen of the iPod only when viewed head-on as opposed to angled viewing.
The screen also doubles as an iPod sheathe to protect the device against nicks and scratches. The iPod Video Privacy Protection Screen is available for US$9.99 plus shipping.
If you have any comments or ideas on this or keeping your iPod video content private as you watch it, let us know.

(more…)

The guys over at Engadget have linked to a Google video over at Grynx.com demonstrating how to pull a laptop back from the brink of an inadvertent spill.
Or, in this case, two consecutive spills.
Here a group of technology authors poured both a glass of red wine on the keyboard, followed by a glass of lemonade. The group then acts quickly, draining the excess liquid off into a towel, opening the laptop, washing it under tap water, then rinsing the components under distilled water before leaving them out to dry.
The end result is interesting, even if the beginning of the video kind of makes one cringe as the liquid is poured into the Dell laptop’s keyboard. A soundtrack of “Kung Fu Fighting” only makes it better and it’s a good way to look at a semi-inevitable problem.
If you have comments, ideas or experiences of your own with this, let us know.

(more…)

On Wednesday, Apple officially announced that its online store is now shipping the Apple TV.
The long-awaited media device, which connects a Mac or PC to a television either through an Ethernet or wireless connection, retails at US$299 and supports the 802.11b, g and n wi-fi protocols.
Several users across the Internet had reported receiving e-mails from Apple that their Apple TV units had shipped on Tuesday.
The Apple TV is designed around synching iTunes library content to the unit’s 40 gigabyte internal hard drive and then playing files back via the television. The Apple TV requires a high definition or widescreen with HDMI, DVI and component video inputs.
Cool news and if your unit has arrived, let us know what the experience is like.

(more…)

Firefox, the open source web browser from mozilla.org has been updated to version 2.0.0.3.
The new version, a 17.6 megabyte download, fixes the following bugs:
-Fixed: MFSA 2007-11 FTP PASV port-scanning security issue.
-Fixed various web compatibility regressions.
Firefox requires Mac OS X 10.2 or later to run and is a universal binary that functions at native speeds on both PowerPC and Intel-based hardware.
If you’ve had either a positive or negative experience with the new version, let us know.

(more…)

A quick peek over at Engadget reveals something we probably didn’t want to see again: a battery significantly swelling on a 17″ Core Duo-based MacBook Pro.
Not a pretty sight and given last year’s swollen batteries found on other MacBook Pro models, this is typically the final stage before a battery explodes. In 2006, Apple recalled a number of flawed batteries and offered free replacements.
Still more disconcerting is Engadget’s claim that this is the fourth such reported incident.
If anyone else has experienced this with their 17″ Core 2 Duo-based MacBook Pro, speak up and let us know.

(more…)