tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35734362433452496102012-01-25T09:56:28.930-08:00thoughts of a mac doc in nycDr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.comBlogger381100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-64712781838371022032012-01-17T09:40:00.001-08:002012-01-17T09:41:20.378-08:00

Let me just point to this excellent article: Recover ZIP archives.

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-91082894328968916232011-09-24T08:22:00.000-07:002011-09-24T08:23:04.738-07:00

http://www.soundc.de/blog/2009/01/24/mac-os-x-port-forwarding-with-internet-connection-sharing/

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-75685030230728009712011-08-30T18:32:00.001-07:002011-08-30T18:35:50.440-07:00

There's a complete guide here: Guide to enable calendars on the iPhone but it all boils down to this; enable the calendars here in the google sync control-panel: http://www.google.com/calendar/iphoneselect

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-78613481899566500742011-07-24T00:09:00.000-07:002011-07-24T00:14:51.225-07:00

So TRIM? What the hell is that? Well, it's a technology that enables the operating system in a computer to keep the SSD (instead of a hard-drive) working fast an efficient by cleaning up the mess once in a while ... automatically. I know that makes little sense, but over time SSD's will turn slower and slower, unless the operating system supports TRIM which is like having a cleaning lady tidying

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-10688016242375706702011-04-16T18:14:00.000-07:002011-04-16T18:22:54.002-07:00

In the olden days you could always check a hard drive for bad blocks using the built in tools, but no more since the dawn of Mac OS X, which is about a decade ago. Anyways, a good article here on bad blocks and a Terminal Tool that will actually allow the process of checking a disk gone haywire.Link to article on bad blocksHere's the gist of the articleThe badblocks command will be installed in /

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-19030141678851312762011-02-05T11:44:00.002-08:002011-02-05T11:48:43.895-08:00

Since I booted my DVD drive months and months ago to fit in another hard drive in its place, I have now no means to boot my computer if both hard drives fail. The solution is to create a memory stick with the installation of Snow Leopard for use in emergencies. Instead of me rambling on how to do this, another dude on the internet has a nice little guide on how to perform this operation. Except

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-23559997146217044102011-02-05T11:44:00.001-08:002011-02-05T11:47:56.683-08:00

Since I booted my DVD drive months and months ago to fit in another hard drive in its place, I have now no means to boot my computer if both hard drives fail. The solution is to create a memory stick with the installation of Snow Leopard for use in emergencies. Instead of me rambling on how to do this, another dude on the internet has a nice little guide on how to perform this operation. Except

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-21894819547208950062010-06-07T15:56:00.000-07:002010-06-07T16:12:39.162-07:00

OK. So it can happen to even the best. After some construction workers did some roof stuff and tripped on an internet wire (MY internet wire), I've been struggling to stay on, having to go to the roof and duct tape the cable in. But that was only a temporary solution, and I was counting down to the arrival of the Time Warner guy. He came, fixed (we thought) and left. Unfortunately, now it was

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-46648368728654031722010-05-04T21:35:00.000-07:002010-05-04T21:45:53.313-07:00

I've been promising myself for years, that I would buy my LAST hard drive that year. I've been yearning to get an SSD drive, which for the unenlightened non-tech savvy readers, is a technology that works lightening fast as a storage device, rather than slow and sluggish as normal hard drives do.Finally a couple of weeks ago I caved in, and bought a Crucial 256GB drive at B&H in New York. I

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-43821859385836294962010-03-26T16:14:00.000-07:002010-03-26T16:25:13.292-07:00

I've had this annoying bug that I didn't care to do anything about for the longest time. If I opened up a movie in QuickTime Player 7 on Snow Leopard, and went to the file menu to export, the player would crash immediately. Because of my endless complacency and procrastination I just used my other computer running Snow Leopard through Screen Sharing to export the files I needed. But it was an

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-91669772217060127372010-02-04T18:50:00.001-08:002010-02-04T18:52:06.107-08:00

Seen this happen on your mac lately? I was, as everyone else, extremely bothered with Flash crashing constantly while watching video on the internet. After digging around a little bit, I found out that if your drive is named "Macintosh HD" the Flash plug in will likely crash. If you rename your drive, it won't. That simple.Booo, what a bug!

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-28479695370740396852009-07-09T11:17:00.000-07:002009-07-09T11:29:25.049-07:00

I just got a new iPhone. Good riddance to the old cracked up, patched up and duct taped dying device I had for years. PLUS... the new iphone have the new 3.0 software, with cut and paste and everything.BUT... unfortunately, in texting terms... it hasn't all been bliss. If you ever encounter an error, saying simply that it couldn't sent. And that error keeps happening. And it's driving you nuts?

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-86304222261610711132009-02-27T08:49:00.000-08:002009-02-27T09:05:38.370-08:00

Technology is so fragile and precise like clockwork, that the slightest alteration can make everything go haywire. For some time now, I had the pleasure of trying to diagnose a macbook that would never fall to sleep, or really not wake up either. It was some times impossible to shut down, and once in a blue moon just as hard to start up. Furthermore the cd drive would make weird noises, and the

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-84407309486985006212009-02-07T20:48:00.000-08:002009-02-08T19:12:10.115-08:00

You can always judge a good cook, from the meals he makes for himself. A gourmet cook probably lives off fries and fast food. The mechanic that is highly regarded for his unique skills, drives around in a converted old worn out VW. And I, as a mac doctor, have the crappiest old Macbook that I've taken apart one too many times. Literally. The fan was driving me nuts, as it had become misaligned

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-63154321093438871732009-02-06T14:40:00.000-08:002009-02-08T19:16:14.040-08:00

I like to start all my articles differently, but basically I'm just keeping this blog for my own purposes so I will remember how I finally fixed something. If you who are reading get something out of it too, then I'm only glad to have helped. In this case, I had a client who had purchased the Time Capsule in the belief that it would help him backup. But that was hardly the case, as it hasn't

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-80336308336712878312008-12-28T12:23:00.000-08:002009-02-08T19:16:59.237-08:00

I recently read an article about games that should be ported to the iPhone, and while the list consisted of a good collection of games, most of them had already been released. So that sucked. But as I luckily have had my first iPhone bestowed upon me, by the sheer generosity of a former client, I can now join the club of making silly lists that no one reads. So here goes. The iPhones lack of

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-54805768335347805972008-11-14T22:07:00.000-08:002008-11-14T22:37:27.126-08:00

One of my friends around the bend thought it would be a good idea to show off some slides from his website, on his friends TV connected Mac Mini. Only problem was that he tinkered too much with the resolution settings, and rendered the Mac Mini incapable of displaying anything at all. This can be upsetting, and in this case was mildly more than that. Our common female friend thought it was less

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-18842544502648530032008-09-07T20:32:00.000-07:002008-09-07T20:41:59.894-07:00

Here is the solution. I had a client that just got his brand spanking new iphone. Excited about it, he of course wanted to get all his music over so he could enjoy all the wonderful features of his new acquired gadget. But much to his dismay, the iPhone did not turn up in iTunes upon connection. So he of course called me. I was befuddled, and confused by this. His computer very well stated that

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-76824310127072456152008-08-25T14:33:00.000-07:002008-08-25T14:41:09.538-07:00

Have you ever had a mac that you couldn't remember the password for, and not having the original disks lying around to reset it. Well there is a cool way, to re-enable that setup guide, you see the first time your boot a fresh mac out of the box.By starting up holding down Command (apple) and S key, you enter single user mode, which is very scary for some people. But fret not. It's fine.Then:1.

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-20570169847511227772008-07-19T19:13:00.000-07:002008-07-19T19:19:06.057-07:00

I actually really liked the new iteration of Apples key part of their iLife suite: iMovie 08. For some time I hadn't used it, and gotten complacent with my confidence in it's reliability. Dangerous waters it is to trust your software blindly. As Yoda would say.Well, one day I had a deadline. I needed to edit some video, fast. But I opened up iMovie and nothing would happen. It would just sit

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-30989421223618906602008-06-28T15:49:00.000-07:002008-06-28T17:16:05.940-07:00

Finally, it got down to the root of my problem. I haven't been able to connect to airport networks, or any networks for that matter, for a really long time. First I thought it was a software issue, which it seemed to be in the beginning. But it was a very persistent problem, and finally I gave in, and tried to replace my airport card. This is actually a quite easy procedure, and didn't cause me

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.com170tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-91463396887311955622008-06-23T20:22:00.000-07:002008-06-23T20:28:35.453-07:00

Who would have thought, that an Eddie Murphy movie from before the Macintosh was even introduced, and before Eddie Murphy was a star, would have a plug for Apple. Well, Trading Places from 1983 has half a page of a vintage Apple Ad, on the back of Wall Street Journal, as two of the characters in the movie discuss science and finance.A dollar to the one that can find the rest of the ad somewhere

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-22277449445203141792008-05-25T23:34:00.000-07:002008-05-25T23:46:50.133-07:00

I was tinkering around with my mac, as I have a predilection of doing, and I noticed something odd about my .mac as I was about to upload some files to my idisk. For some reason, the Finder-window told me that I had a truckload more space leftover than would make any sense. I acknowledge the fact that I pretty much suck at math, but having more than 10 GB of space available should be impossible

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-42510977997737098212008-05-08T18:30:00.000-07:002008-05-08T18:31:10.017-07:00

How unexpected is this: The biggest phone company and internet provider, in the smallest country in the world (Denmark), comes up with the innovation and creative thinking to legalize what teenagers around the globe have been craving since the first version of Napster came out over a decade ago: Free legal music downloads!TDC (as they call themselves) launched the new service "Play" earlier this

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-69407828864517076602008-05-04T04:58:00.000-07:002008-05-04T05:04:51.256-07:00

I recently wrote a post, describing my problems getting online with my macbook. And being an addict to the online existence, it's was like going cold turkey for a while. Until I discovered a way to use third party equipment to sustain my daily online fix.But unfortunately the software would instill crashes and odd behavior upon my poor little apple branded laptop, so another solution would be

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-24439217023261460322008-04-27T15:53:00.001-07:002008-04-27T15:55:30.290-07:00

I don't want to tout my own horn, but it seems that the new iMac Air is surely on it's way. Other people are talking about Penryn processors and new graphics cards, but I foresee a new design, that lends and borrows from the newly released MacBook Air.I'm probably wrong about this. It's really hard to do predictions, especially about the future.

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-66310922746405339892008-04-06T18:44:00.000-07:002008-04-06T18:59:10.217-07:00

I'm of course talking about the wireless technology built into most macs, as an option or by default since 1999. I live in the village in new york, and have been so fortunate that my next door neighbor willingly would let me on to his internet. Therefore I save some money, and surf joyfully around to my hearts content. Although I've been having disruptions in my internet-fix recently, which have

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-17287958425117166282008-03-14T15:00:00.000-07:002008-03-14T15:58:22.880-07:00

With the tremendous success bestowed upon Apples latest release with the MacBook Air, one starts to wonder what they might have up their sleeve next. Steve and company has managed to work closely together with Intel to push the boundaries for physical size-shrinking and technological endeavors to the extreme. As the technology developed and created for the iPhone has rubbed off on the new MacBook

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-18006330473905361382008-02-28T21:27:00.000-08:002008-02-28T21:32:12.210-08:00

My friend called the other day, and had this weird problem in his email app. The apple mail, to be precisely. For some reason, all emails had the same date on them. And not only that, they also had the same exact time stamped on them. Weird. First I thought it was a setting, or some specifics with the mail app. Maybe a preference setting, or something underlying in the setup. But no.Then I tried

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-85068464580797435042008-02-19T11:40:00.000-08:002008-02-19T17:44:03.519-08:00

One of the cool things in Leopard, is the new dock that lets you keep items out of sight, but within reach. For instance it is really a relief that all downloads from Safari, and whatever winds up in a stack that you can easily extend to see the contents of. And by that token, you don't clutter your desktop if you download stuff excessively.But what about screenshots?For some reason, they still

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-82560692963691779862008-02-06T16:11:00.000-08:002008-02-06T16:25:33.243-08:00

Recently I had the pleasure of not having the slightest idea about what was going on. That is a rare thing for me, but I was dotting along, and had a chore of installing a new hard drive into a MacBook Pro. I had told my client that a 250 GB would be a good idea, since the prices at that point in time served the best deal. I went for a Samsung 250GB 2.5 inch drive, and everything was dandy after

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-79773978162537140232008-02-03T16:27:00.000-08:002008-02-06T16:34:44.810-08:00

Another of the many great features, especially for me as a mac doc, is the ability to share ones screen with other users over iChat. This means that a client in Hong Kong can get my assistance, even if I'm in New York. I simply take over their screen, and poke around with their computer. Over the internet. But all is not bright and jolly. Sometimes it just doesn't work!The reasons herefore took

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-20593694245814689742008-01-17T10:38:00.000-08:002008-01-17T10:52:24.511-08:00

As expected Apple announced the new sub-ultra-portable mac recently, and now everyone is salivating collectively. Including myself. It has some really nice features, and especially lack thereof. The most noteworthy lack is that, this is the first mac to be sold WITHOUT firewire connection, since 1998.Apple always gives hint to new trends, with their new breed of products. This time around it's

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-88490703691619614192008-01-07T03:51:00.000-08:002008-01-07T07:01:59.608-08:00

Recently I've been touting the greatness and grandeur of the embedded "time machine" feature in the new leopard operation system, as if it was the second coming of christ. But up until now, I haven't had any real life experience with it; except for the odd experiment or two.Then a couple of weeks ago, I accidentally deleted a whole bunch of my emails and synced my Gmail, so if everything went

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-86778574452190810522007-12-10T12:32:00.000-08:002007-12-10T13:51:31.199-08:00

I couldn't help myself from uploading this video, just to show the madness surrounding the opening of the 14Th street Apple Store. And madness it was. Traffic had trouble coming through due to the dense crowd of people standing in line, people watching the people standing in line, or just tourists observing the riot from afar. It was crazy. And numerous times, the "audience" would go into a

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-79026746853756252872007-12-04T22:35:00.000-08:002007-12-04T22:50:18.737-08:00

As I follow the expos and especially Steve Jobs' keynotes manically every 2 or 3 times a year, I thought I would pitch in for this upcoming January's predictions. Before everyone else starts to panic...I'm fairly certain that Apple will fill the gap in the portable lineup, by introducing a REAL sub-notebook computer. Since Apple axed the 12 inch PowerBook, and didn't put anything in it's place, a

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-45836039283891971962007-11-30T12:16:00.000-08:002007-11-30T15:43:51.596-08:00

As I rode my bike around town today, I noticed this posting. Hmm. The meatpacking is gonna be awesome after this.Don't ask about the glow in the apple logo. Don't know how that happened. I just took the picture. Maybe divine intervention...? :)As a neighbor to the upcoming apple store, I can verify that it seems they are working on it day and night. Prob. even more so, now the date is offical.

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3573436243345249610.post-6906644729365707492007-11-24T14:36:00.001-08:002007-12-01T13:01:07.613-08:00

I had the misfortune of buying a first gen. apple product, which is commonly known as a servere mistake. Apple tend to have bugs and more bugs in first gen products, so what did I exspect? Nothing more than what I got. A MacBook with cracks in the top case, yellow stains and a flickering screen. But I learned to live it, especially due to the extremely bad service my native country inhabits. In

Dr. Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500081058619102806noreply@blogger.com0