MacBook Pro NVIDIA Recall Extended
MacBook Pro: Distorted video or no video issues
In July 2008, NVIDIA publicly acknowledged a higher than normal failure rate for some of their graphics processors due to a packaging defect. At that same time, NVIDIA assured Apple that Mac computers with these graphics processors were not affected. However, after an Apple-led investigation, Apple has determined that some MacBook Pro computers with the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor may be affected.
If the NVIDIA graphics processor in your MacBook Pro has failed, or fails within four years of the original date of purchase, a repair will be done free of charge, even if your MacBook Pro is out of warranty.
Since I have been affected by this issue, I thought I’d throw up a quick post for anyone else who may get bit by it. Apple has extended the NVIDIA 8600M GT graphics processor recall on MacBook Pros manufactured around 2007/2008 to four years from date of purchase.
Update: My son’s machine was in fact covered under the recall, and the local Apple Genius Bar was able to diagnose and replace the motherboard in the unit in a day, no questions asked. One thing to note, your video has to have failed before they will fix it though. If your MacBook Pro from that time period is still running okay, you’ll have to wait for it to fail before you’re covered.
Yasu 2.6.8 Final Released
And on the heels of yesterday’s beta, we have the final Yasu 2.6.8 release thanks to some great beta testers. Not much changed from the beta other than cleaning up some of the code.
But to make it official, here is the complete list of changes:
- Failure to clear all system & browser cache files if there were an overly large number of files to be removed.
- Adding the “-r” (recursive) switch to the reset launch services option for Snow Leopard which was mistakenly omitted.
- Fixed an issue where the maintenance preferences were not being written to disk when Yasu was quit.
- Other minor UI fixes and code factoring.
As always, you can grab the latest from the Yasu page, or fire up your current installed version for an automatic update if you have that option enabled.
Yasu 2.6.8 b2 Available for Download
A new public beta of Yasu is available for download on the Yasu page.
This version addresses the following:
- Failure to clear all system & browser cache files if there were an overly large number of files to be removed.
- Adding the “-r” (recursive) switch to the reset launch services option for Snow Leopard which was mistakenly omitted (Thanks to Gregory Swain for pointing this out).
- Fixed an issue where the maintenance preferences were not being written to disk when Yasu was quit.
Even though it’s a beta release, this version is a recommended update for those who want to live somewhat on the edge. On a test machine that had Yasu 2.6.7 run on it only seven days earlier, version 2.6.8 b2 was able to recover 4.66 GB of disk space…
That’s a lot of files that were being missed…
If no issues are reported, this version will most likely be released as the final version within the next day or two. Please feel free to drop me a line if you try it out and find something wrong.
New AppleScript to Post to Twitter
I’ve hacked together a quick little AppleScript that will let you post quick one-off tweets to Twitter without the hassle of dealing with a full-on client.
I originally created it to fire off quick to-do’s to Remember the Milk. Combined with FastScripts from Red Sweater Software, it takes me 2 seconds to get that to-do reminder out of the way and back to work. It also keeps me from browsing through my Twitter feed, which my ADD nature tends to want to do.
If it sounds like something you could use, go check it out. The code is totally open source, so add to it as you have need. If you come up with something cool, let me know.
MacFixIt ‘General Maintenance’ recommendations
There are many times when in our articles we will mention “General Maintenance” as part of a troubleshooting routine. If you are having software issues, either with third-party applications or the Mac OS itself, giving the computer a virtual scrub-down will many times help, or at least give you a cleaner slate upon which to do more in-depth troubleshooting.
Via MacFixIt.
A good general maintenance article from MacFixIt, which includes a mention of Yasu. Worth a read if you’re at all in the dark about how to maintain that beautiful new Mac you just switched to.
Apple may offer MobileMe for free to fight Google
A tentative new rumor asserts that Apple may turn MobileMe into a free service. The plan would drop the $99 annual fee and let anyone with an iPad, iPod, iPhone or Mac get the online sync service for free. The MDN contact wouldn’t give a launch window but hinted at it coming “sooner than later” with the launch depending on “certain facilities” going live on time.
(Via MacNN.)
I don’t know. Would I give up Google Apps in favor of MobileMe? The service would have to be pretty darned good — and free — if I did.
Bogart WordPress Theme Updated
A very quick post…
A user of my Bogart WordPress theme was kind enough to point out that there was a minor bug in the comments.php file which was causing some page rendering issues when users were required to be logged in to make comments. I quickly tracked the culprit down and squashed the bug with my big size 12…
If you’re a Bogart user, head on over to the theme page and grab a new copy. Or, if you’ve modified the theme in some way, all you really have to replace is the “comments.php” file from the new archive you download, and you’re all set.
Update: Another minor bug was found in the “archive.php” file which has corrected as well, bringing the latest version to 1.0.4.
Clean Up Your WordPress Database Collations
Easily Convert Database Character Sets
If you began using WordPress prior to version 2.2, you may notice that your database has tables with two different character sets and collations. This is because all database tables created prior to WordPress 2.2 use the latin1 character set and the latin1_swedish_ci collation, and all database tables created after WordPress 2.2 use the utf8 character set and the utf8_general_ci collation.
(Via MacManX.com.)
James Huff has written a very handy how-to for fixing your WordPress character sets & collations. I highly recommend preforming the clean up if you’re technically savvy and have access to your MySQL database. I was in bad need of a clean up myself, and this helped tremendously. I was also able to fix some other lingering link and email address issues I’ve caused by serving my WordPress install on 3 different domains over the years.
Individuals involved in sale of Apple’s 4G iPhone prototype revealed
The person who found and sold an Apple iPhone prototype says he regrets not doing more to return the device…
Via MacDailyNews
Funny how regret seems to work these days. Every time I caught one of my kids doing something they shouldn’t have, that’s when they seemed to regret it. I honestly can’t recall one time when they came to me about something I didn’t know about and told me how much they regretted their actions.
The only regret this guy is feeling is getting caught — which for the life of me I can’t see how he thought it would turn out any different.
My Password is Off the Scale
How I’d Hack Your Weak Passwords
If you invited me to try and crack your password, you know the one that you use over and over for like every web page you visit, how many guesses would it take before I got it?
Via: Lifehacker by way of DF
Here’s how I came up with my password…
I first devised two strings of completely random numbers and characters in my head — each a different length — committing them to memory by mentally reciting them to myself over and over during several days until they became so engrained that I could rattle both of them off to myself without thinking. Then, I added a few special characters at logical breaks in the cadence of the strings and combined them — leaving me with a password that’s over 20 characters long consisting of random numbers, upper & lowercase letters, and special characters that I have no trouble remembering or typing quickly.
The key for me was the mental memorization exercise. I’ve never written my password down (not even the smallest bit of it), nor have I ever verbalized any part of it, ever. This string of numbers & letters exists in one place only — my head. And there they shall stay.
Basically, my password is so secure, the sun will burn out before it can be cracked according to the graph in the linked article, and it only took a couple of days of mental gymnastics to accomplish the feat.
