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Sep 1 2010

How to respond to the Service Battery warning

Last weekend, while testing some battery conditioning software for a future story, I noticed a distressing alert in my Battery menu in the Menu Bar. It said “Service Battery” accompanied by that nasty triangle with the exclamation point in it.

Not a happy thing. NOT awesomeness.

Fortunately, I’m spending most of the week creating videos at Mac Station in Abbotsford, so I have access to skilled and certified Apple Specialists who are able to check out my battery and see if it’s really finished.

Fortunately for you, this level of service as not reserved just for friends and family of Apple dealers. If your machine is under warranty1 this service is free and, quite likely, any repair required thereafter.

No Flash? No problem—click here!»


Don’t be afraid of bringing your Apple products in for service—that’s what the warranty is for.

Thanks to Jeremy Wedel ( @az1de ) for running the diagnostic on my battery and talking with me today on camera so that I could share this technological life lesson with you. My battery failed under warranty and before its time, so my replacement will be free of charge.

Awesomeness.

Follow-up video here

  1. and I cannot recommend highly enough that you get AppleCare with your Mac purchase [↩]

By RickMacMerc • Featured, MacMerc.TV, Mini Video, News, tips, troubleshooting • 6 • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Aug 30 2010

Mover Lite …transfer pics and contacts between iPhone, iPad and Mac

Mover Lite is the FREE version of Infinite Labs’ Mover+.1

The app runs on the iPhone, iPad or iPod touch and allows you to transfer contacts and photos between your iDevices over wifi. With a 99¢ add-on to the Lite app, you can also transfer those files to your desktop Mac running Mover Connect.

If you want to be able to transfer files between your devices when they’re not connected to wifi, Mover+ allows for connectivity and transfer over Bluetooth for $1.99.

I’ve found that the app runs very well between two devices, but can get a bit confused when you have three devices, like a Mac, an iPad and an iPhone, all connected as I show in the video. It works, but confusion is a possibility.

Mover has come in handy for me many times when I just wanted to transfer a photo and I don’t want to have to go through the trouble of emailing it to myself or some other such procedure.

No Flash? No problem—click here!»

As mentioned in the video, the iPad stand I’m using is the BookArc for iPad from Twelve South. It’s a nice sturdy metal stand that securely holds the iPad in either landscape or portrait2 orientations. It sells for around $45.

Mover Lite …transfer pics and contacts between iPhone, iPad and Mac
  1. I’m actually using Mover+ in the video, but I’m pushing Mover Lite here since it’s the FREE introductory app [↩]
  2. or even diagonal, if that’s how you roll [↩]

By RickMacMerc • Featured, gadgets, iOS, iPad, iPhone, iPod, MacMerc.TV, Mini Video, productivity • 1 • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Aug 25 2010

Teleport …and a Feat of Geek Strength

If you don’t know about Teleport from Abyssoft, you should. It’s a donationware application that allows you to use one keyboard and mouse to control many Macs—a virtual KVM switch of sorts. In the video below, I show how I am able to drag a single folder from one iMac across the screens of two other Macs to a fourth Mac situated across the room from the mouse I’m using to control it.

You probably have no use for such a Feat of Geek Strength, but one situation where I’ve used Teleport with great success is when I’m sitting at my desk using my iMac for some serious video rendering while my MacBook Pro sits in front of the iMac’s screen. I use the mouse and its built-in keyboard to control the MacBook Pro and also use them to control the iMac. With Teleport configured to let me move my mouse to the top of the MacBook Pro screen as the portal to the bottom of the iMac screen, the interface is slick and seamless.

I have to admit and caution that, when using Teleport to control another iMac to control a MacBook to control another MacBook as I did in the video, it can become very easy to lose your cursor and become confused as to which Mac is in control at any given time. But, hey, that’s why they call them Feats of Geek Strength

Have you accomplished any Feat of Geek Strength? Let me know in the comments. Better yet—challenge me!!

No Flash? No problem—click here!»

By RickMacMerc • Featured, Geek News, hax0r, MacMerc.TV, Mini Video, News, osx, productivity, tips • 2 • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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