Macs aren’t perfect. They’re only computers. Yes they also freeze up, slow down and once in a while they choke on a CD/DVD. I’m not talking about the times it wouldn’t read the CD and therefore you can’t eject with the usual eject key or the icon-drag-to-the-trash-bin method. You can read solutions for that here. I’m talking about the CD that’s mechanically stuck and the Rom making too many sort of gagging popping sounds each time it attempts to spit the CD.

It drove me nuts recently when my iMac had an episode. I loaded a DVD that somehow felt thicker to the touch and later found out was also slightly warped. I heard a loud pop as the Rom loaded it and knew something was wrong. The DVD cannot be read and from then on it continued to gag on the DVD every 30 seconds or so for the next 4 days. Yes for 4 nerve-racking days! The pop and snaps never stopped.

None of the tips in the forums helped nor calling Apple US 1-800-APL-CARE (1-800-275-2273) - Yes the support guy also mentioned about the credit card insertion technique. Not even the loud assault rifles, explosions and sound of mayhem in online Call of Duty 4 did much to mute the Rom’s futile attempts to exorcise the CD. Despite being under warranty, I refused to bring the iMac in for repair since it would be between 3 days to 2 weeks of no COD4 (Call of Duty 4), I mean work on ‘time is of the essence’ web projects until they fix or replace the DVD Rom.

The enlightenment came when I saw this video. It uses not one but two credit cards. So here were my tools.

It’s best to use cards that are smooth without the embosed characters to avoid scratching any internal surface of the DVD-Rom. Notice each card is bent three-fourths of the way? The idea is to use them together as a tweezer to pull that darn CD out as you may already figured out in the video. However it seems that the old iMac’s Rom has a different loading mechanism judging by how the cards were inserted. In the new iMac, you cannot just insert the second card, the one to be positioned underneath the CD, since there’s a mechanism blocking it. Timing is the key. Read further for detailed steps.

I was tempted to recreate the procedure in full HD surround sound video but I just wouldn’t risk it, Ha!

So Step 1:

Insert card 1 - work your way into the slot’s left edge to position it on the top of the CD (CD’s face/label). You can check if you’ve inserted it correctly by putting a slight pressure against the CD and sliding the card out. The card, if positioned correctly, would snap against the edge of the CD. It’s like feeling the CD with the card.

Step 2:

Insert card 2 - insert the card, this time into the right edge of the slot to position it under the CD (the side that is read). You will feel something that’s blocking the card. As I peered in the slot with a flashlight while the 2 cards created a slight opening, I noticed a metal mechanism. This is the one blocking card 2 and it seems that it is the mechanisms that holds the CD in place.

While card 1 is inserted/positioned and card 2 inserted halfway, either you hit the eject key (keyboard) or wait for the Rom’s attempt to eject. As soon as the blocking mechanism moves up, gently insert card 2 all the way in (up to the fold) to position it under the CD.

Step 3: When you’re certain each card is positioned correctly, apply pressure against each card to tighten their grip on the CD and PULL OUT!

Step 4:

Voila, CD out! If not, rinse then repeat.

Step 5: Test the Rom. Play DVD, Audio CD, Burn. Mine worked perfectly, Haha!

Here’s the moral of the story: Do not load thicker-than-normal or warped CDs. Even be cautious of those that have paper labels.  Lastly, never load those mini CD/DVDs. They will surely get stuck and it would even be more difficult to take those out.  The Mac’s Rom isn’t designed for them.

Hope this helps and you’re very welcome.

Genius site wasn’t helpful so don’t bother… see.

Google came to the rescue as usual and showed me a post of MacDaddy (who happens to be my kid brother), TechThought and InsanelyMac about installing TWAIN SANE to keep you sane.

So I got all these files from the SANE site.

Installed it in this order. Don’t ask me why just install.

1. libusb
2. sane-backends
3. sane-preference
4. sane-interface

Then you should be able to run an image capture by going to Devices > Browse Devices.

Unfortunately for me, the scanner still won’t be detected despite going through the SANE FAQ. This is very reminiscent to Windows OS were you go hunt for drivers and play the russian roulette to see if the driver will work or not. Then after spending almost a couple of hours with the hope to finish a 5 minute scanning task, I opted to plug the scanner to my trusty laptop on Win XP. Yes they harmoniously worked well as expected!

No wonder I cringe when I hear or read people say the worn-out cliche, “once you go mac you never go back.” Uuugh! Why did I even type that.

Ok so for those wishing to hook up a scanner into OS X hope this helps… or not.

So why am I attending if I don’t blog avidly? It’s because I do a lot of Wordpress as CMS gigs that require quite a lot of hacking to present content in a non-blog fashion kind of way.

That being said, in lieu of a fee, I’m suppose to post the information below to get in and so I can grab my Camper badge and kits.

This event is organized by the good folks of WordCamp Philippines 2008 and Mindanao Bloggers. Clap clap clap!

And the sponsors are:

• i.PH: the Domain for Individuals
• Free Online Flash Games
• Wazzup Manila Philippines
• Real Estate CRM
• Real Estate Website Designers
• Orange County Real Estate
• Auto Insurance Quotes
• Lane Systems Inc.
• RedMedia

Ok let’s watch that again, in English this time. “Ninja Shirt Folding for Dum Dums.”

If this doesn’t blow you away, I don’t know what would.

Their called kinetic sculptures designed and engineered by Theo Jansen. They’ve been shown in BMW commercials. Go you critters!

In the recently concluded Live Earth Concert, for a Climate in Crisis, nothing can be more appropriate than the last song sung by Sting (The Police) - Message in a Bottle.

The 24-hour, 7-continent simultaneous massive concert done last 7.7.07 is over. However, it is just the start of a multi-year massive global campaign to solve Climate Crisis and the looming Energy Crisis. Participated by over 100 musicians and 2 billion people worldwide.

Here’s Sting with a Message In a Bottle

It was still great despite Kayne ranting on the background.

Other Performances I liked:

• Dave Matthews Band
• Foo Fighters
• Metallica
• Red Hot Chilli Peppers
• Smashing Pumpkins
• Phil Collins

But you have no one to share the glory of the moment with. No one cheering. No one patting your back. If you think that sucks, GeeVee.com is all about to change that.

Think YouTube for gamers. I checked them out after seeing them as one of the sponsors on the 104th episode of Diggnation. Everyone can upload all their brag-worthy game-play videos for everyone to see. And like any online video sites, you can embed GeeVee video anywhere on the web. Especially on your brag-blog. Haha.

Kinda like this captured video of FlatOut, Ultimate Carnage below.

Wooohoooo!
That wasn’t mine. But I’ll surely get myself that game.

The next question is - how can one capture game play videos? There are actually softwares used to do that and I’ve seen a few. They are:

1. Fraps - Real-time video capture
2. FastCap Pro
3. GameCam - less talk, more show.

I haven’t captured any of my game plays just yet. Watching videos at GeeVee is much more fun. For now.

I’m officially launching my spanking new blog - Technoverde, a Green Technology Blog. Green technology are earth-friendly technologies that optimize the use of natural resources while minimizing, even eliminating, environmental and ecological impact. In short, these are technologies for a “greener planet.”

Inspirations for Technoverde
My inspiration came when I read a Newsweek edition on Green Technology and How America is Going Green. Then I was gripped watching Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth while at the same time, Benj Arriola was winning the Global Warming Awareness 2007 SEO World Championship. And then Will Ferrel, my favorite comedian, had a series of hilarious skits on global warming. Lastly and this was the straw that broke the camel’s back, Lori Harfenist, ‘The Resident,’ featured climate change in her show.

Technoverde’s Rationale
Indeed technology has propelled our progress as a race and has allowed billions of people worldwide a very comfortable, almost pampered, standard of living. However more people living better lives will demand more. More food, shelter, clothing, energy, clean water - more of everything.

The current global demand for resources is unsustainable. It means that the manner of how our population is meeting our needs is threatening the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Global Predicament
Every minute, 65 acres of forest are cleared.
Every day, 137 species become extinct.
Every day, 70 million metric tons of global warming pollution from fossil fuels are dumped into the atmosphere.
The world consumes an olympic size swimming pool full of oil every 15 sec.
World supply of oil will reach it’s peak by 2015 creating a global economic meltdown.
Every year 75 million people are added to the world’s population.
Global Warming is melting the polar ice caps at a much faster rate. This will increase future sea levels to up to 20 feet, causing massive flooding, loss of shelter, and millions of refugees worldwide.

Solution: Sustainable Development Through Green Technology
We as a civilization need to change the way we interact with the earth if we want future generations to enjoy the same quality of life we’re enjoying today. The same technology that led us to this global predicament must now be used wisely, more than ever, to discover cleaner, healthier and much more efficient means to produce resources to support our progress. Technology innovations that can meet our and future generations’ needs while making our planet a place of eden.

Technoverde
Learn more about Green Technology at Technoverde.com.

It’s always good to meet fellow bloggers. Especially when it’s a Blogger Food Fest!

Me, Chel my wife, plus Tiana our daughter (the gate crasher, just kidding) were one of the first 150+ bloggers who registered for this blogger’s-meet-up as organized by Aileen Apolo. Sumptuous food, courtesy of Taste Asia, was the big bonus of the gathering.

As you would guess, Asian (including Filipino) cuisine was served in the buffet area and drinks from Frutas, Coca Cola, Nestea, Viva and San Miguel overflowed. While most lined-up at the buffet area, we scurried to the chocolate fountain. Pure yumness! I was actually ready to go home after helping myself with those creme puffs dipped in warm Belgian chocolate goodness.

Fellow Bloggers
I was greeted by the warm reception of SEO PH people who came in earlier than me. Jedi Dancel (who informed me of this event), Elymar Apao, Abe Olandres, and Jenny Trinidad. A bit later I greeted J Angelo Racoma, Aileen Apolo, Marc Macalua, and Riz Sanchez.

New ones I met were Mark, Jayvee Fernandez, Rain Contreras, and some more others who, pardon me, I can’t remember (no blogging cards hehe).

Now that’s a whole lot of link love .

Some Blogger Food Fest Pictures

Chel & Tiana

With SM Hypermart’s Josie Gan

SEO PH Gang

SEO PH Boys

Aileen & Janet

Giveaways

Of course, we managed to bring home giveaways, a lot of them. Coke glasses, a bunch of socks from Gold Toe, T-Shirt and notebooks from Walker, Clutch bag from Yacht Club, and best of all we got a lot of photo prints from Cliquebooth. I commend Mimi and Karl for coming up with this innovative, blue ocean type business model in line with their photography business. It’s a crowd favorite, cheers to you!

Priced at about US$650,000, it’s 6.0 Liter V12 engine that zips 0-100 mph (160 kph) then brakes to a full stop in 10.9 seconds. So here it is.