O'Grady's PowerPage

Tag: chime

  • Touch Bar-equipped 2016 MacBook Pro notebooks do away with classic startup chime sound

    stop-mac-boot-chime

    The Apple startup chime you know and love has gone the way of the dodo with the new Touch Bar-equipped MacBook Pro.

    Pingie noticed that the new notebook’s NVRAM reset instructions lacked a reference to the startup chime. They later said they were able to confirm the change after getting their hands on a new MacBook Pro.

    It’s thought that the classic chime sound – or lack of it – is part of the MacBook Pro’s new startup feature. The notebook is designed to turn on as soon as you open the laptop cover, or when it’s connected to an external power source while the lid is open.

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  • iFixit programmer drills 60 small holes in MacBook Pro to help resolve overheating issues

    mbpspeedholes

    This is somewhat psychotic.

    And it just might work.

    Per 9to5Mac, a programmer over at iFixit was able to resolve an overheating problem with a MacBook Pro notebook by drilling a ring of holes under each of its fans.

    With a 1/16” bit, the group drilled holes in the bottom case, under the fans (they figured out where the blades of the fan were exposed based on the dust pattern stuck to the inside of the bottom case). The speed holes worked: The boot chime rang. The screen glowed. The fans blew.

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  • Perhaps the Greatest Thing Ever

    It’s unassailably cool, a perfect combination of cats, programmable Arduino circuitry, LEDs, Twitter and the shell from your old eMac. Per creator Samuel Cox, you too can develop an eSleeper, which turned a hollowed-out eMac into a bed for his feline. Inside the shell is an Arduino Ethernet connected to an IR sensor, some LEDs and a sound shield. When the cat breaks the infrared beam it triggers the iconic Mac chime and turns on a series color-shifting LEDs for a little mood lighting. From there the clock starts ticking.



    When your gate decides it’s had enough napping and leaves the white plastic cocoon, tripping the IR sensor again, a random phrase is tweeted, along with the length of the cat’s siesta. Check out the video after the break to see the eSleeper in all its adorable DIY glory.

    Check the link for full instructions as to how to build your own.

    And you should, as it’ll give your cat one less reason to murder you for its own amusement.