Anil's Technica

How to connect a network drive at startup easily

noreply@blogger.com (Anil Kumar) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 15:30:00 +0000

Recently I added an Ubuntu server at home so I can wirelessly store my data on a large hard drive. I configured Samba server in Ubuntu and the Mac would connect to it using Finder's "Connect to" menu.

However, once I reboot, the drive is gone, and I have to use the Finder again to connect the drive.

There is a very easy way Macs can connect a network drive at startup, just follow these steps:

Mount the drive
Open "Accounts" in system preferences
Drag the mounted drive's icon from the desktop to the login items.

Done! It's that simple!

Windows XP home does not save network passwords

noreply@blogger.com (Anil Kumar) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 13:34:00 +0000

I can connect to a network drive using Windows XP home edition fine.

But I have to enter a password after each reboot.

However, there is a nifty "Remember Password" option in XP Pro.

Now where did the little checkbox go in XP home?

Apparently M$ didn't include the ability to save network passwords on Windows XP Home edition. They want me to buy XP Pro version so I can save my passwords.

And oh, the official explanation given by M$ is "XP home lacks security features for retained passwords" - therefore they chucked out the "remember password" button altogether.

Great way to build a home OS!

My iPhone dreams are shattered

noreply@blogger.com (Anil Kumar) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:04:00 +0000

Just like the majority of students, I'm poor, but I have dreams.

My latest dream was to get an iPhone.

Why I want iPhone? Because it has many features not found in other commonly available/commonly known phones. It's more like a fashion statement than a machine of need. That makes it hot for any student.

The only thing that was preventing me from buying it was a prohibitive price tag of $400. It's now been taken off, and it's down to $200, though it continues to be advertised as $199 by the respective companies in hopes that many will not feel the pinch by seeing the number start with 1 rather than 2.

But I do feel the pinch, and I have decided not to buy an iPhone despite waiting for it for a long time. Here's why:

I worked out the total yearly cost of ownership of iPhone:

Item

One-time cost

1-year cost

iPhone handset	199	199
Tax	16.4175	16.4175
Minimum monthly rental	69.99	839.88
"Activation" fee	36	36
SMS	5	60
Total		1151.2975

Total cost of ownership of an iPhone is $1151.30.

I'd rather invest that money in books, food, rent, and paying other bills.

I'm sorry Apple and AT&T but you have disappointed me by first showing me a glimpse of reduced cost, but eventually not doing it at all.

No iPhone for me.

Edit: I'm deviating from my usual policy of including pictures in posts, because I don't want to see an iPhone pic now.

The longest Firefox 3 error message!

noreply@blogger.com (Anil Kumar) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:55:00 +0000

Another site that forces users into Internet Explorer, and how to bypass it

noreply@blogger.com (Anil Kumar) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:17:00 +0000

Update: After numerous customer complaints, Airtel's website now works with Safari.

I'm an Indian living in USA, and I use Airtel's calling card service to make phone calls to India. All was well until two weeks back when I ran out of my balance and wanted to fill dollars into my account as usual. I was horrified to see the message "Please use Internet Explorer" when I tried to login to their website using Safari or Firefox 3!

A quick call to their "customer care" tells me the reason:

"Sir we have performed some upgrades to our website and you can use only IE at this time".

I asked:
"There is no IE for Mac users, so does it mean Mac users can't use your service anymore?"

Answer was quick:
"I'm afraid yes sir, you will have to use Internet Explorer from some other computer to recharge your balance".

What a great business idea - the customer wants to give your company his money, but the company has an upgraded website that won't let him login!

Here's how I bypassed the IE enforcement:

1. Launch Safari on your Mac and open its preferences (command and , keys at the same time)
2. Go to the last tab of Preferences and check "Show develop menu in menu bar"
3. Click the Develop menu in the Safari menu bar, and choose Develop -> User Agent -> Internet Explorer 7.0
4. Now you can login to the Airtel website!

Note: If you keep seeing a Verisign image after logging in, check the "remember me" option when logging in, and then go back to their homepage. You'll log right in without any problem!

IE enforcers, I have pwned you!

Getting MacFUSE to work on Leopard: The twists and turns

noreply@blogger.com (Anil Kumar) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 09:18:00 +0000

I finally got MacFUSE working on my Leopard installation. Total time taken = a little more than one hour. I feel like I'm using Windows again :(

I grabbed the dmg of MacFUSE from Amit's page here and installed the kernel extension of MacFUSE. Rebooted.

Installed SSHFS from the same site.

When I ran sshfs.app from Applications folder, it seemed to accept the server address and my username, but whenever I entered my password, it kept asking me to enter password again. I checked using Little Snitch - the app was not trying to make any connection at all to my server!

I spent a good one hour trying to figure out what's wrong and here it is:

First I had to connect to that server using terminal's ssh command. When you do it for the first time, the RSA fingerprint is displayed and you type "yes" to accept it. It is then added to the list of known hosts, which is essential for SSHFS.app to function.

But this was not as simple. Running the ssh command in Terminal gave me a "bus error".

Now go figure!

I spent another 15 minutes trying to find out what's wrong again, and here it is:

Rogue Amoeba's software "Audio Hijack Pro" contains an "extra" called "Instant Hijack". I had earlier enabled this, but this is interfering with ssh. So I disabled the Instant Hijack feature, connected to the server using terminal ssh for the first time, added server RSA fingerprint to the list of known hosts, and finally...

I can now use MacFUSE!

Birth pangs of Firefox 3

noreply@blogger.com (Anil Kumar) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 02:52:00 +0000

The world record that Mozilla foundation is heading towards sounds ambitious, and I am confident they will get it. Firefox is going to become the most popular browser ever, no doubt about it - it's now only a matter of time.

I downloaded Firefox 3 today for Mac, and I'm impressed with many new features. However, after using it for 4 hours, I already see a couple of areas for improvement:

1. Mac specific problems (as always): Websites created with iWeb '08 won't show the photo pages at all! However, websites created with previous versions of iWeb work well. There is a solution from an enthusiastic Apple user, but looks like Mozilla will take some time to listen.

2. 1 Billion people ignored: I'm an Indian, and want to use Firefox in my language. But that's my own selfish demand. Let's say that in another way: "If you make a Hindi language pack for Firefox, you will be able to reach 1 billion people directly". You heard it right, 1 billion - one sixth of world population.

3. Imperfect anti-phishing mechanisms: I also noticed that the anti-phishing system relies on reporting by suspecting users rather than a built-in algorithm. This has two flaws: 1. Not all phishing websites can be reported, 2. Not all can be reported in time - the reporting then just serves as a "damage control" mechanism rather than a method of prevention. I think it'd be great if Firefox can scan a link's text if it's made to look like a link, and alert the user if the link points to some other website. For example:

http://getfirefox.com

But it takes them to www.randomwebsite.com

4. In-browser PDF display: Just like the previous versions, you must download a PDF and open it with a different application - Firefox 3 cannot display PDF files inside the browser. The solution came rather quickly from Google. I haven't tested it, but it's reported to work well.

How to take a screenshot in Mac with mouse pointer included

noreply@blogger.com (Anil Kumar) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 20:03:00 +0000

I am making a few design instruction tutorials these days, and I was looking for a way to include the mouse pointer with my screenshots. I started off with superimposing the picture of a mouse pointer on the screenshot using a graphic editing tool using layers. However, that's not the best way.

The best way is this:

1. Start "Grab" from your "Utilities" folder in "Applications"

2. Open Grab's preferences by pressing command and , together or using the menu item.

3. Select the mouse pointer of your choice to be included when taking screenshots.

4. Use Grab to take as many screenshots as you like - your mouse pointer will always be included as long as you take shots with Grab.

Please note that if you set the preferences in Grab, but take a screenshot by pressing Command+Shift+3 or Command+Shift+4, the mouse pointer will not be included. You must take a shot with Grab itself to include the mouse pointer in your screenshots.

Complex language support in Firefox 3

noreply@blogger.com (Anil Kumar) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 22:12:00 +0000

Hindi is a language spoken by a little less than one billion people worldwide. One out of every six people in the world speak this language. However it is severely neglected in computing so far, despite being very scientific in grammatical structure.

In Firefox 2 for Mac, hindi language display support was entirely lacking so far, and here is what I used to see when I opened a webpage made in Hindi:

To be frank, seeing all question marks in the browser main window is not a pleasant sight. It's a big warning signal for any multilingual person, leading to abandonment of either the browser or the website.

Interestingly enough, the text in title bar of Firefox 2 for Mac displayed correctly!

Clearly, complex language support was build into Firefox, but it was not being implemented well.

Firefox 2 for windows was able to show some support - it showed the hindi glyphs and many of their combinations well, but display of "matras" (vowel symbols) was inconsistent.

However Safari rendered the entire text beautifully, both in browser window as well as title bar:

I am pleased to report that things are looking very well in the new Firefox 3 release candidate:

In fact, I couldn't tell a difference between the text rendering in Safari vs. Firefox 3.

Firefox3 for windows rendered complex text flawlessly too:

However you can see a noticeable difference in font smoothing and anti-aliasing capability of Windows which is inferior to Mac as usual.

A solid build-in Hindi support in major operating systems today will enable the vast majority of population in India to use computers for their daily use - a huge market that no one can ignore.

Firefox listened, but are others listening?

Related: Learn Hindi Podcast

How to change your home directory in Mac OS X easily

noreply@blogger.com (Anil Kumar) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:21:00 +0000

First up, there should be no need for an average user to change their home directory for casual use. This option is only for geeks, please do not try just for the sake of trying.

1. Login as a user with administrator privileges and open System Preferences.

2. Click on "Accounts" under "System" section

3. Make sure the "lock" symbol in the bottom of System Preferences window is open. If not, click the lock, enter your password and it'll open up.

4. Ctrl+click (or right click with mouse) the username whose home directory you wish to change.

5. Click on "Advanced options..."

6. Enter a desired home directory location in the appropriate field and hit OK.

Related post on changing home directory in linux/unix can be found here.

Have you tried the new "group chat" in Gmail?

noreply@blogger.com (Anil Kumar) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:25:00 +0000

Gmail now includes group chat, and few people have noticed.

To use group chat, just start a conversation like usual. To add more people to the chat, click on "options" in the existing chat window and you can then invite other people in the same chat.

Can't see animated buddy profile pics in iChat? Try this!

noreply@blogger.com (Anil Kumar) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 05:12:00 +0000

Sometimes your friend finds a fancy animated gif off the web, and he assigns that as his profile picture in iChat. But you can't see the animation, rather the picture remains static. Here's an easy way to see the animated version:

1. Open iChat

2. Open iChat preferences from menu (or press command and , together)

3. Go to "General" tab

4. Select the checkbox against "Animate buddy pictures".

You can now see the animation in your buddy pictures!

How to play a sound when an iChat buddy comes online

noreply@blogger.com (Anil Kumar) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 04:39:00 +0000

I was thinking if there is a way iChat could play a sound file of my choice when my sister comes online. I thought it'd require some scripting, so I spent an hour searching for some applescript. But eventually I was able to do this without any scripting at all. This is something built right into iChat!

Here's how:

1. Open iChat and locate your buddy that you want to set a sound for. If your buddy is offline right now, you can locate him/her in the offline group.

2. Right click on their name, and select "Show Info"

3. In the next window that comes up, choose "Alerts" tab.

4. In "Event", choose "When buddy becomes available"

5. Choose a sound

6. Set other options in the same screen to your liking. Make sure the last checkbox "Perform alerts only next time this event occurs" is not checked.

Done!

Has Yahoo made POP access free for all?

noreply@blogger.com (Anil Kumar) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 03:07:00 +0000

I heard one can't use Yahoo's free email with POP clients like Outlook, Thunderbird or Apple Mail without upgrading to their premium service. At least this was the case last year when I tried accessing my Yahoo emails with Apple Mail and it simply refused.

Yesterday I tried it again, and now it works.

I have not purchased any Yahoo Premium Services. This is how my "premium services" look like:

All I did was to enter my Yahoo email ID and password when I opened Apple Mail for the first time, and used the "automatic setup" option. It did everything, no need to type in pop or smtp servers.

At first, I thought some software like yahoopops might be built-into OS X, or I may have installed one inadvertently. So I tried sending a mail, and it worked like a charm!

So now I have Yahoo's premium service for free. Do you?

How to test sound in Skype

noreply@blogger.com (Anil Kumar) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:14:00 +0000

One of my friends wanted to test if his microphone is working alright with Skype, but he doesn't have anyone in his contact list as yet. He wanted to know how he can test sound. Here's how:

Simply add a user named echo123 to your address book. Then make a call to this user. This user is actually an automated sound testing service by Skype. When you make a call, a voice will greet you, and you can record your sound after a beep. After 10 seconds, the sound it recorded will play back, so you can make adjustments in your settings accordingly.

Update: Just found out this one while scouring through Skype help pages: If you're having problems with any Skype feature, and you think the "server is down" or the problem is on Skype's side rather than yours, just go to http://heartbeat.skype.com . It'll tell you if all Skype components are working alright on their server side.

How to change iPhoto's default folder location easily

noreply@blogger.com (Anil Kumar) — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 21:55:00 +0000

My iPhoto library is getting bigger and bigger, and it is now consuming 20GB of my 60GB Macbook hard drive. Now is a good time to relocate the photos to an external storage location in such a way that iPhoto is still able to recognize them. There are many ways to change iPhoto's default folder location, but this is the easiest:

1. Make a backup of your current iPhoto library (/Users/yourname/Pictures/iPhoto Library/)

2. Delete the original iPhoto Library folder.

3. Launch iPhoto

4. iPhoto will not be able to find it's library, so it'll present with this dialog box:

5. Using the above dialog box, click "Choose Library" and locate your alternate iPhoto Library location.

Now that was easy!

Top 20 Mario facts

noreply@blogger.com (Anil Kumar) — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 19:24:00 +0000

Okay, I'm on a break from technology days. So let me post something about another of my long time passions - video games! This post is all about top 20 facts about Mario! Hope you enjoy reading it.

1. How old is Mario?
Answer: 26 years now (First game "Donkey Kong" released in 1981). He was then known as "Jumpman".

2. What is Mario's last name (surname)?
Answer: Mario does not have a last name!

3. Where was Mario created?
Answer: Japan

4. Who created Mario?
Answer: Shigeru Miyamoto

5. Where does Mario live?
Answer: Mushroom Kingdom

6. What is Mario's occupation?
Answer: He's a plumber.

7. What is Mario's nationality?
Answer: He is Italian.

8. Why does Mario wear a cap?
Answer: Because his designer found it difficult to draw hair. So he gave Mario a cap to wear. Smart!

9. What happens when Mario loses his cap?
Answer: He is more vulnerable to damage by enemies. Watch a video of Mario losing his cap.

10. Which weapons does Mario use?
Answer: Mario is so powerful that he doesn't need to use any weapons. However, he sometimes uses a hammer. He also throws fireballs after eating a Fire Flower but that's not considered to be a weapon. Rather it's an "ability".

11. Is Mario fat?
Answer: Yes, of course. He was created to be short, fat but agile and kind.

12. What is Mario's favorite food?
Answer: Mario's most favorite food is pasta. He also likes pizza.

13. Who does Mario rescue?
Answer: Princess Peach

14. What reward does Mario receive after rescuing the princess?
Answer: A kiss.

15. Who is Mario's twin brother?
Answer: Luigi

16. Who is Mario's enemy?
Answer: Bowser

17. Who is Mario's lookalike bad guy?
Answer: "Wario"

18. Does the baby Mario have a mustache?
Answer: Yes, Mario has a mustache ever since he was born!

19. Name the only three human inhabitants of the Mushroom Kingdom
Answer: Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach

20. How many Mario games have been sold so far?
Answer: Mario games are THE bestsellers in the history of video games so far. The Super Mario series alone has sold about 70 million copies!

How to backup iCal calendars in OS X

noreply@blogger.com (Anil Kumar) — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 06:36:00 +0000

I was looking for a way to backup and restore iCal calendars on my MacBook running OS X. A quick Google search took me to a page on Apple's website. I tried to follow the instructions but it appears the page is outdated. Here is the correct information:

iCal saves your calendars as .ics files in this folder: ~/Library/Application Support/iCal/Sources/. There should be some folders in the Sources folder - each one corresponds to a particular calendar in your iCal (e.g. home, office etc). I have no idea why their names appear so funny - lots of alphabets just jumbled up together. Anyhow, you can back up your calendars by copying this folder to your backup location (file server, external hard drive, CD-ROM, and so forth).

Quickest way to spell in OS X

noreply@blogger.com (Anil Kumar) — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 20:29:00 +0000

I just discovered this:

If you're typing a word in Mac OS X, and are stuck midway because you don't know how to spell the rest of it, OS X can offer you suggestions based on its built-in dictionary. To evoke the suggestions, just press "escape" key on the keyboard while the cursor is at the end of incomplete word. It's ultra-handy!

Note: The same feature could also be accessed by pressing F5, but I feel escape button is a lot more easy to press. That's why it's called "escape" key :P

Five days without a computer

noreply@blogger.com (Anil Kumar) — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 19:30:00 +0000

My mac was refusing to sleep, and I decided to take it to the Apple store for diagnostics as the 1 year warranty is ending next month. The Apple Genius decided it needs surgery, so he kept it there. He told me I can get my computer back after five days. I said "O.K." and came back.

After coming back, the first thing I did was to rush for my desk and check my email.

But look, there's no computer! Oh stupid me! I just sent it for repairs! How can I forget? A sudden feeling of handicap grasps me. I am restless for half an hour, and then decide to sleep because I can't find a keyboard or a mouse to place my restless fingers! I wake up after two hours and suddenly discover how refreshing a daytime nap can be! I never had any afternoon naps in the last ten years, I think because I had a computer all this while!

Day passes, evening comes. I wasn't finding enough time to study for physician licensing exam over the last month or so. But that evening, I just sit in the living room couch with the book, and I spent five hours there at one stretch! Perhaps that is my longest uninterrupted time with books in the last ten years!

I get fidgety in the night because I want to chat with my sister in India, just like every other day. By now I have understood that I actually do not have any working computer, so I call her on phone. She's very pleasantly surprised to receive my phone call, and we chat for two hours. I just made her day!

Next morning, I have more time for my girlfriend, she's happy as well. I also finish several incomplete tasks in "real world" like fixing the sandwich maker and tidying up the kitchen shelves. After that I take some extra time to cook a delicious Indian curry. Post prandium, I also have the desire to take out that food processor from its box (for the first time ever I bought it last year) and actually place some litchi shake with coconut water. Man that was awesome!

I didn't have any computer for five days straight, and boy, life was fun! I pampered myself so much, like never before!

And damn! My masters' thesis topic is "Determinants of Internet Addiction".

I am sure gonna write my own experience somewhere in the introduction to my thesis!!!

And now that my computer is back, I am rediscovering "how to use a computer". What I know so far - "use it sparingly, like a medicine".

How to change your OS X drive icons to any picture of your choice

noreply@blogger.com (Anil Kumar) — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 20:55:00 +0000

I want to place my picture as my Macintosh hard drive icon. This is pretty easy to do.

Software required:

OS X (obviously)
An advanced image editor like GIMP/GIMPshop or Photoshop

Methodology:

Open the picture you want to convert in your favorite image editor. Make a square selection of what you want to convert into an icon. The length should be exactly equal to the width. (Press Shift key when dragging your selection in GIMPshop)
Crop the picture and save a copy somewhere.
Resize the image to 128x128 pixels.
Adjust the brightness, contrast and colors to your liking. You should adjust these values after resizing the image because some images lose their "shine" when you make them small. You might also want to sharpen the image a bit to compensate for this. Using GIMPshop, I use a sharpness level of 60.

Before -------------- After
When you're done, save the file again, and close GIMPshop.
Now open the same file you saved, with "Preview". Start dragging a rectangle in preview, and make sure you select all of the file.
Now hit "Command+C" to copy the contents of the file.
Click on the drive icon you want to change, and press "Command+I". This will get info for that drive.
In the info pane, there will be a small icon for the drive on the top. Click on this icon, and then press "Command+V".
Viola! You now have the picture you wanted as your drive icon! :)

She lost her job because she used openoffice

noreply@blogger.com (Anil Kumar) — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 21:23:00 +0000

One of my friends (let's call her Alice) got her first computer recently. She had just joined a interior design company, and wanted to make her life easy by learning "office software". I asked her to be specific. She said she wants to learn "Microsoft".

"She wants to learn Microsoft"?

I made some alphabetical calculations in my mind and came up with "Do you mean Microsoft Office? Like Word, PowerPoint, Excel etc?". She promptly nodded in affirmative.

I asked her budget, and quickly came the answer "Can I get it for free?"

Being an open source enthusiast, I said "Well, if you don't mind using office software by another company, you can get it for free".

I wanted to tell her what open source is, and how can she benefit from it. But it appeared that she was just itching to get the download link. I downloaded openoffice.org, and burned a CD for her.

She went back and installed her brand new "office software", and started learning on her own. Smart lady!

After about 10 days, she calls me, crying on the phone "You know what... (sob) these damned people (sob)... they took my job (sob)... I'm fired (sob)... because my presentation didn't open (sob)..."

It took me some time to calm her down, and soon figured out what happened:

She had to work on an important presentation due on Monday. So she thought she'd work on it during the weekend at home. She used openoffice to make the presentation, saved it with her name (alice.odp), and took it along on Monday. She arrives in the office at 9am and everyone is waiting for her to make the presentation. She plugs in her USB drive in the computer confidently, double clicks the file, and the computer says "Windows doesn't know how to open this file. Choose another program from the list".

She chose Microsoft PowerPoint from the list, but the presentation won't open. PowerPoint says it's not a presentation at all! Her technical superviser tried to help, but even he had no idea how to open .odp files. Smarty also tried changing the extension to .ppt but it didn't work.

Her boss was infuriated because it was a very very important business presentation, it wasn't working, and the client left. Alice was fired immediately.

Now I'll think not twice, but thrice before advocating open source software to noobs like Alice.

I still feel confused, shocked, and guilty.

Who is to blame for this?

Myself?
Alice?
Openoffice.org?
Her boss?
Microsoft??

I think all of the above.

When you take your Mac to an Apple Genius

noreply@blogger.com (Anil Kumar) — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 22:08:00 +0000

My MacBook hasn't slept for six months now, and its warranty will be expiring soon. Therefore I thought I should have it checked by an Apple Genius. I took it to the nearest Apple Store, and there are a few things I would like to share with every Mac user.

BEFORE THE VISIT

1. Perform a full system backup
If he finds there is a problem with your Mac and it needs to be fixed in their workshop, you will get your Mac back after 3-5 working days. It is advisable to make a full system backup just in case something goes bad during repair.

2. Print out all the contacts from Address Book
If you're like me, you like to access all your contacts phones, emails and addresses from your Mac's Address Book application. Quicksilver makes things so easy, doesn't it? But now you don't have your Mac because the Apple Genius is taking it apart for repairs, and you need to call or email someone urgently, and you're frantically looking for your paper address book which you stopped updating years back anyway. A printed list of contacts is very handy in such a case.

3. Deauthorize your computer for iTunes account
You can play the items you bought from iTunes online store on upto five computers. If the hard drive dies or is erased during repairs, you lose one of those five golden chances. To prevent this from happening, deauthorize your computer to play iTunes content before every possible hard disk erasure.

4. If you installed third party RAM, also take your original Apple RAM
If the problem is due to third party RAM, the Genius will want to replace that with the original RAM that came with your Mac. In most cases they should have spare RAM to test with (as they did in my case) but I had to wait for 5 minutes before he could find it in his tool box. Therefore it's a good idea to take your original Apple RAM with you to the Apple Genius.

5. Remove any disks in the drive.

6. What if you need an alternative computer to with with as your Mac is out for repairs?
Call Apple beforehand and let them know. There is someone who badly needed to work as his Mac was gone for repairs, and Apple was kind enough to send him another Mac to work with temporarily.

IN THE STORE

7. Look for your name on the screen
In the store, the Apple folks display a neat list of people who are waiting to see the Apple Genius. So you can see your name in the queue on the screen. Also, they'll call out your name when they're ready to see you. So keep your ears alert.

8. Remember to get a printed receipt from the Genius.
The receipt is a proof that your Mac is with them for repairs, and it contains additional information about what kind of repairs might be needed, and if you need to pay anything (if you ran out of warranty or AppleCare protection plan). Do not lose it.

AFTER THE VISIT

9. Check the status of repairs
Click here to check the repair status (sign in with your apple ID - easiest way)

10. Check your phone voicemail.
They'll call you when your Mac is ready to be picked up.

Visual anatomy of Blogger CSS

noreply@blogger.com (Anil Kumar) — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 06:47:00 +0000

Click this image to see an overview of the gross visual anatomy of blogger css code. This image will tell you which code goes where:

What's up with Mac OS X mouse cursor?

noreply@blogger.com (Anil Kumar) — Sun, 27 May 2007 13:48:00 +0000

Almost everyone who owns a Mac believes it's not only the most advanced operating system, it's also graphically superior. The Apple Human Interface Guidelines indeed lay out a comprehensive set of rules to follow. True indeed, I've seen the same program for windows and Mac, and the Mac version looks far superior.

"We made the buttons on the screen look so good you'll want to lick them."

Despite its aesthetic graphic appeal, there is one weak area which Apple remains to work upon.

Let's face it, all Mac users: It's the OS X mouse pointer.

It's primitive, way too small, and looks like a destitute orphan when compared to other parts of OS X interface. In other words, the default pointer in Mac OS X is ugggggggly.

Windows --- |---Ubuntu--- | ---Mac OS X

Not only the graphic appearance is ugly and not user-friendly, also the display is buggy at times. When typing my documents in NeoOffice, sometimes the cursor just vanishes, only to come back after I scribble on the trackpad frantically. Sometimes the cursor is just there, but it's so beautifully camoflauged in its black color that I'm not able to see it at all!

There are ways to make it look bigger, and I tried one of them. I thought that a bigger pointer will be easier to see. But the result was disappointing, it now looks ugggggglier.

What the heck? Reminds me of a 80's arcade blip-blop game.

In my opinion, the default mouse cursor in Mac OS X needs some work - at least make it look like the default one in Windows. That will save my eyes some diopters (- and some money to my pocket because I won't be forced to buy that $10 software to change my default mouse pointer).

For those who do want to spend money to customize the pointer, check these out:

1. Pinpoint

2. Mightymouse

Also see iCursor