sterlinganderson.net

Well Apple updated their .Mac service this week. They upped storage capacity to 1 GB, which is definitely a nice change. Of course, at last count I have something close to 20 Gigs of personal data on my work PowerBook that I would love to stick on my iDisk but I'm not holding my breath for that much storage. A new feature was added, called Groups. Basically, a mailing list and "group" web site. A very cool idea with one major flaw. You must have a .Mac account to use it. You can sign up for the free 60 day .Mac trial and even after the 60 days are up you can still use that account for iChat and any groups you are in, but it is a bit confusing I think. I think many people will have a hard time realizing they can set their .Mac account to use their regular email address and they will be turned off. Apple has a similar system for non .Mac users for their support services called an Apple ID. .Mac users can use their .Mac ID as their Apple ID, but you cannot use your Apple ID as a .Mac ID. Signing up for an Apple ID is as simple as giving your name and email. A .Mac account requests much more information. People do not want to give so much information for a simple account. It's too bad. I can think of several good uses for the groups feature, but I know the people I would want to join would be turned off by the registration process.

I noticed in my Apache logs that there seem to be quite a few people actually looking for this so I decided to update it and make it available on the new site. Especially since the link most people are going to no longer exists.

I've read a bit about people doing modifications to their iBooks and PowerBooks. I decided a while ago I wanted to do something with my 12" Al PowerBook. So I read up on things and after seeing this thread I finally decided to change the color of the Apple logo on the lid of my laptop.

The pictures should pretty much speak for themselves but I thought I would do a short write up on what I did. First, get your tools. You will need a hex wrench (I didn't really pay attention to the size), and a credit card type device. You need to use your hex wrench to unscrew the 2 screws on the bottom of of the display. The angle is really bad so you may need to us a smaller size hex than the screws use so you can get at them from an angle. The screws are not in very tight but be careful, you don't want to strip them or scratch them up too much.

After the screws are out you need use the credit card to separate the the back of the display. The plastic piece on the display needs to stay attached to the part of the display you are removing. Look at the pictures to see where you need to wedget the credit card. There are tabs holding the cover in place that you need to pop apart. Start from the bottom corners and move your way up. On the top of the display the tabs do not pop apart. Once the bottom and sides are separated you will be able to take the cover off. Be careful when separating the cover. The airport antenna wires are there. So you will not be able to completely separate the cover from the display.

Once the cover is off you will see that the apple logo is a clear piece of plastic with a white sheet taped behind it. The light from the display LCD is what lights the apple. To color you logo just slide a piece of a transparency sheet between the white sheet and the logo. Tape it in place and you are done!

                                                 

A couple notes: Someone asked me how I opened up my display because "Yes, there is glue everywhere. Its all over the damn thing." My PowerBook had absolutely no glue whatsoever on it. This guy has a refurbished PB so I am not sure what the deal is there.

Another person asked how much force you have to use to get the thing open. My response was just slightly less force than you would think would break it. It's difficult. On the same note, you can see in the pics that I colored my apple green then changed it to blue. It was easier to open the display the second time so I am not going to do it again. I really do not want to have to glue the thing back together if the clips wear out.

That's it, if you have any questions or comments feel free to contact me.

I ran across this site this week. Who is this dude? He runs a Windows web site I guess. He also writes for some Windows magazines. Anyway, he is just annoying. If you read some of his posts you may see why I feel this way. He does a good job of sounding pretty neutral, even pointing out he has a couple Macs. What he does though is constantly point out how wonderful Microsoft is and how crappy Apple is in comparison. One example, he has a post from November 11 entitled Let the Patching Begin He states: Apple's latest OS is only two weeks old, but its already coming under fire for a number of problems. Today, Apple released the first major upgrade to Panther, dubbed OS X 10.3.1, which addresses a number of the early teething problems its latest cat foisted on early adopters. Boy, that is terrible right? Already a patch? Never mind that if you keep your Windows machine up to date you will need to install critical updates on a weekly basis. He also constantly pokes at the user interface of OS X, how it is a classic GUI. He makes statements about how Windows has evolved and how the next version of Windows will be amazing for users. First, Windows has not changed much from it's first incarnation and has not changed at all really since Windows 95. Second, and many Windows people do this, he comparing OS X to a version of Windows that will not be available until 2005! Anyway, this guy just annoyed me.