Tag: Apple

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MacBook Pro Repair Extension Program for Video Issues

2011 MacBook Pro Video Issue

Apple has just announced MacBook Pro Repair Extension Program for Video Issues on Thursday, February 19, 2015.

Apple has determined that a small percentage of MacBook Pro systems may exhibit distorted video, no video, or unexpected system restarts. These MacBook Pro systems were sold between February 2011 and December 2013.

Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider will repair affected MacBook Pro systems, free of charge. See below for details on affected models and service options.

As of February 20, 2015, the repair process will be available in the U.S. and Canada. In other countries, it will be available as of February 27, 2015.

I have encountered numerous 2011 MacBook Pro with the video issues. Two of them were repaired out-of-warranty in the past 3 months. I spoke to an AppleCare representative and was informed that Apple will reimburse the repair costs.

Affected Models

  • MacBook Pro (15-inch Early 2011)
  • MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2011)
  • MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2012)
  • MacBook Pro (17-inch Early 2011)
  • MacBook Pro (17-inch Late 2011)
  • MacBook Pro (Retina, 15 inch, Early 2013)

My personal MacBook Pros are 2010 and 2014 models which do not have the video issues.

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OS X 10.10.2 Update

OS X Update 10.10.2

Apple releases OS X 10.10.2 Update build 14C109.

About the update

  • This update includes the following improvements:
  • Resolves an issue that might cause Wi-Fi to disconnect
  • Resolves an issue that might cause web pages to load slowly
  • Fixes an issue that could cause Spotlight to load remote email content when this preference is disabled in Mail
  • Improves audio and video sync when using Bluetooth headphones
  • Adds the ability to browse iCloud Drive in Time Machine
  • Improves VoiceOver speech performance
  • Resolves an issue that could cause VoiceOver to echo characters when entering text on a web page
  • Addresses an issue that could cause the input method to switch languages unexpectedly
  • Improves stability and security in Safari

Enterprise content

For enterprise customers, this update:

  • Improves performance for browsing DFS shares in the Finder
  • Fixes an issue where certain Calendar invitations could be displayed at the incorrect time
  • Fixes an issue for Microsoft Exchange accounts where the organizer of a meeting might not be notified when someone accepts an invitation using Calendar
  • Addresses an issue where Safari could continually prompt for credentials when accessing a site protected by NTLM authentication
  • Adds the ability to set “Out of Office” reply dates for Microsoft Exchange accounts in Mail

Security Content

This update is said to include fix against “Thunderstrike” (via iMore).

One thing I noticed with the pre-release build, the computer was no longer incremented. The last time it happened my MacBook Pro was named “Deus ex Macintosh (13)”.

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Desperate and Delusional BlackBerry CEO

Desperate and Delusional BlackBerry CEO

BlackBerry CEO, John Chen:

Unfortunately, not all content and applications providers have embraced openness and neutrality. Unlike BlackBerry, which allows iPhone users to download and use our BBM service, Apple does not allow BlackBerry or Android users to download Apple’s iMessage messaging service. Netflix, which has forcefully advocated for carrier neutrality, has discriminated against BlackBerry customers by refusing to make its streaming movie service available to them. Many other applications providers similarly offer service only to iPhone and Android users. This dynamic has created a two-tiered wireless broadband ecosystem, in which iPhone and Android users are able to access far more content and applications than customers using devices running other operating systems. These are precisely the sort of discriminatory practices that neutrality advocates have criticized at the carrier level.

I wonder if John Chen realized how ridiculously wrong he is. The chief reason BlackBerry “allows” iPhone and Android users to download and use BBM service is that an overwhelming majority of users do not want BlackBerry phone. Thus, less and less people using BlackBerry BBM service.

BlackBerry, formerly Research In Motion, dismissed the threat of the iPhone back in 2007. That’s one of their first mistakes.

BlackBerry would never care to release BBM on other platform if they were the most popular platform.  Right now they are just desperate to keep the company afloat. John Chen is just delusional. Apple and Netflix do not have the obligations to make any of their services available on each and every single platform out there.

P.S.
One of my associates is still a BlackBerry user; she just acquired a BlackBerry classic. Yet, she prefers using SMS on the phone and iMessage on her iPad.
My relatives are still using BBM on their Android phones, that’s because they were BlackBerry users. They were.

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The Cult of the Dumb

Cult-of-Dumbass

File this one on the “Stupidity Knows No Bound” file.

Cult of Mac (cached version, no direct link.)

7 things Steve Jobs would have hated about Apple today
Luke Dormehl (5:00 am PDT, Jan 7th)

Unless Cult of Mac’s Luke Dormehl performed a seance and spoke to the ghost of Steve Jobs, who passed away on October 5, 2011, only then this post would make any sense whatsoever.

No surprise from a “publication” that hires Mike Elgan.