MacBook Pro Screen Flicker

MacBook Pro Screen Flicker from Mike Petrucci on Vimeo.


This flicker happens out of no where whether the laptop is sitting by itself not being used or even on my lap.

It always starts at the top and sometimes the flicker covers the whole screen.

I'll try to get more video of it, but I can't replicate it, I just have to wait for it to happen.

It's very strange! Has anyone else seen this?!

Computer Info:

MacBook Pro 15 inch
OS X 10.5.3
2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB Ram

You have mail!

This is a great email from Bill Gates.  I don't want to ruin it for you, enjoy.  Jump for source.

    ---- Original Message ----

    From: Bill Gates

    Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2003 10:05 AM

    To: Jim Allchin

    Cc: Chris Jones (WINDOWS); Bharat Shah (NT); Joe Peterson; Will Poole; Brian Valentine; Anoop Gupta (RESEARCH)

    Subject: Windows Usability Systematic degradation flame

    I am quite disappointed at how Windows Usability has been going backwards and the program management groups don't drive usability issues.

    Let me give you my experience from yesterday.

    I decided to download (Moviemaker) and buy the Digital Plus pack ... so I went to Microsoft.com. They have a download place so I went there.

    The first 5 times I used the site it timed out while trying to bring up the download page. Then after an 8 second delay I got it to come up.

    This site is so slow it is unusable.

    It wasn't in the top 5 so I expanded the other 45.

    These 45 names are totally confusing. These names make stuff like: C:\Documents and Settings\billg\My Documents\My Pictures seem clear.

    They are not filtered by the system ... and so many of the things are strange.

    I tried scoping to Media stuff. Still no moviemaker. I typed in movie. Nothing. I typed in movie maker. Nothing.

    So I gave up and sent mail to Amir saying - where is this Moviemaker download? Does it exist?

    So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated.

    They told me to go to the main page search button and type movie maker (not moviemaker!).

    I tried that. The site was pathetically slow but after 6 seconds of waiting up it came.

    I thought for sure now I would see a button to just go do the download.

    In fact it is more like a puzzle that you get to solve. It told me to go to Windows Update and do a bunch of incantations.

    This struck me as completely odd. Why should I have to go somewhere else and do a scan to download moviemaker?

    So I went to Windows update. Windows Update decides I need to download a bunch of controls. (Not) just once but multiple times where I get to see weird dialog boxes.

    Doesn't Windows update know some key to talk to Windows?

    Then I did the scan. This took quite some time and I was told it was critical for me to download 17megs of stuff.

    This is after I was told we were doing delta patches to things but instead just to get 6 things that are labeled in the SCARIEST possible way I had to download 17meg.

    So I did the download. That part was fast. Then it wanted to do an install. This took 6 minutes and the machine was so slow I couldn't use it for anything else during this time.

    What the heck is going on during those 6 minutes? That is crazy. This is after the download was finished.

    Then it told me to reboot my machine. Why should I do that? I reboot every night -- why should I reboot at that time?

    So I did the reboot because it INSISTED on it. Of course that meant completely getting rid of all my Outlook state.

    So I got back up and running and went to Windows Updale again. I forgot why I was in Windows Update at all since all I wanted was to get Moviemaker.

    So I went back to Microsoft.com and looked at the instructions. I have to click on a folder called WindowsXP. Why should I do that? Windows Update knows I am on Windows XP.

    What does it mean to have to click on that folder? So I get a bunch of confusing stuff but sure enough one of them is Moviemaker.

    So I do the download. The download is fast but the Install takes many minutes. Amazing how slow this thing is.

    At some point I get told I need to go get Windows Media Series 9 to download.

    So I decide I will go do that. This time I get dialogs saying things like "Open" or "Save". No guidance in the instructions which to do. I have no clue which to do.

    The download is fast and the install takes 7 minutes for this thing.

    So now I think I am going to have Moviemaker. I go to my add/remove programs place to make sure it is there.

    It is not there.

    What is there? The following garbage is there. Microsoft Autoupdate Exclusive test package, Microsoft Autoupdate Reboot test package, Microsoft Autoupdate testpackage1. Microsoft AUtoupdate testpackage2, Microsoft Autoupdate Test package3.

    Someone decided to trash the one part of Windows that was usable? The file system is no longer usable. The registry is not usable. This program listing was one sane place but now it is all crapped up.

    But that is just the start of the crap. Later I have listed things like Windows XP Hotfix see Q329048 for more information. What is Q329048? Why are these series of patches listed here? Some of the patches just things like Q810655 instead of saying see Q329048 for more information.

    What an absolute mess.

    Moviemaker is just not there at all.

    So I give up on Moviemaker and decide to download the Digital Plus Package.

    I get told I need to go enter a bunch of information about myself.

    I enter it all in and because it decides I have mistyped something I have to try again. Of course it has cleared out most of what I typed.

    I try (typing) the right stuff in 5 times and it just keeps clearing things out for me to type them in again.

    So after more than an hour of craziness and making my programs list garbage and being scared and seeing that Microsoft.com is a terrible website I haven't run Moviemaker and I haven't got the plus package.

    The lack of attention to usability represented by these experiences blows my mind. I thought we had reached a low with Windows Network places or the messages I get when I try to use 802.11. (don't you just love that root certificate message?)

    When I really get to use the stuff I am sure I will have more feedback.

iPhone Carrier Option Video

iPhone Carrier Option Vid 3 from Mike Petrucci on Vimeo.

iPhone Carrier Option

I received an email late tonight (5/4) from one of my buddies. Well, he also happens to be an iPhone user. Some interesting things happened on his iPhone. I'll copy/paste his story below. I'll let him explain.  Oh, and pics and video are coming soon.  Uploading as I type.

_____

Tonight my phone froze. And when powered back on some interesting results were there.

The photos tell it all.

[Jump for pics]

[Jump for pics]

Description of what happened.
A hard restart was applied.
I powered back on my phone and went to system preferences.
An item appeared just below wifi that read "carrier." The label read AT&T.
Each time I clicked it, it would bring up the thinking wheel and then it would give an error. I wish I would have got a photo of that.
I then proceeded to look for any other new stuff, but found nothing. When I finally went back to system preferences it was gone. Poof!

_____

Update: I was able to recreate what happened, several times. The second time I got options under the carrier. There were two options, but they both read AT&T. At random I chose one of them and the phone gave an error message which then took away my service until another hard restart was applied.

I have no idea if this is news in new of if anyone has experienced this.
Speculate all you want but this is clearly some sort of testing.

7 Confessions Of An Apple Macintosh Specialist (from Consumerist)

Great info.  Some of my suspicions were confirmed and I think this gives great insight into the inner workings of this company.  One on one training, maybe I should sign up for that...

7. iPods have two fixes. Resetting and Restoring.
If both of those features do not work, your iPod is trash. Unless it's under warranty or you purchased AppleCare, then they will give you two options. First is to trade in your iPod for 10% off any model (except shuffle), or they will give you out of warranty replacement, Which usually means that you will pay around $100-$250 depending on the model you purchased.

6. We have 4 things that we will try to sell you when you purchase a computer.
AppleCare, of course, is your extended 3 year warranty, we are told to sell it as a service plan, but it does not do ANYTHING extra, but extend your warranty, and does not cover anything extra. .Mac is a ripoff unless you use the web site hosting. ProCare has to be the biggest ripoff. All this does is upgrade your AppleCare for one year. It has a little perk for business uses, but otherwise useless. Lastly, One-to-One training, which is the best deal in the store.

5. If you have a return outside of the return policy we will most likely take care of you.
If it's sealed we'll take it back, and open, if you speak to a manager and plead your case, they will most likely take care of you no matter what.

4. We do not know ANYTHING about when some product will come out.
And we aren't allowed to speculate on anything that isn't on apple.com. We can get fired if we even tell a customer that a 3G iPhone might come out.

3. Apple Employment: If you want full-time, do not get into this company.
To be full-time, it is a recommendation that you be with the company for a year or more. The shifts are horrible, and they typically have more than 100 people working in a single mall store. For part-time you can get anywhere to 4-20 hours in one week, very very unreliable."

2. Why we will ask you for your e-mail at checkout.
This is for two reasons. One, we will send your receipt to your email, and two there is a survey at the bottom of the email. This leads to the store being ranked on what is called detractors and promoters. The company takes an average from the surveys and ranks us. 10-9 is a promoter, 8-7 is a "passive" and 6 below is a detractor. Which leads to the next confession.

1. If you fill out the survey and rank us 6 or lower, a manager will call you the same day or the next, corporate policy.
They usually will ask why you had a bad experience, and offer to make it better, usually by discounting something or another for you. These are directly related to the salesperson who checked you out, so we get our asses reamed when we make a detractor. Also, If you complain to a manager, nothing usually gets done, it goes in one ear and out the other. Buy something very small, have them email your receipt, and fill out the survey. The management will wait on you hand and foot. Oh, and return the product.

Jump.

Interesting.

Steve Ballmer's Presentation Computer?

Jump.

Final Cut Server

Wow. You have to check out Final Cut Server. Avid Unity does the "same" thing but FC's is so much better and cheaper!

That's just like Apple. Do it better and cheaper; well, at least for the software, the hardware is still up there, but well worth it!

Anyway, I'm still learning FCP so bear with me. Slowly but surely, or is it shirley?

So if you use Final Cut Pro and want to use Final Cut Pro with other people around you, check this out.

Mac Noob out.

How addicted to Mac are you?

81%How Addicted to Apple Are You?

Flash coming to iPhone!

I don't care much for the iPhone, and I'll explain someday, but I do care about the Touch, and if it works for the phone I'm sure it will work for the Touch!

Apparently, with the new iPhone software development kit, that opened new possibilites to work on getting Flash on the iPhone.  Adobe was saying that Flash is a part of the Internet experience.

I agree!  There are a ton of sites that are either all Flash or have some Flash elements, that if you are on any phone or the iPod touch, not display at all.

Jump to read the article.

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

In a nutshell... I need this.  Not want, need.

I thought about getting the time capsule, but I can't print (actually you can) and play music through my speakers with the time capsule.

It's also really small and portable!

I couldn't believe that it's only $99 too!  I thought it was more than that.  Did it drop in price?  Maybe I missed something...

I'll have to post a picture of my apartment setup at home soon so you can see how this would benefit me.  The desk is in the living room, sounds weird but it works, as well as the printer.  

And the speakers are on the desk as well.

So everything is right near each other and all I have to do is plug in the modem, printer, and speakers, and bam!  I'm surfin and printin in no time!

Has anyone purchased this yet?  Do you like it?  There probably isn't much to review because it just works, but who knows!

Really, it's just one step closer to a tighter integration of Apple products, which work best when paired!

MacBook Air

I'm sure that by now, you've seen the MacBook Air. If you haven't, wow.

Next time Apple does some conference, check out macrumorslive.com for live blogging. They had an auto upater and pics and I think it was better than Gizmodo or Engadget.... sorry guys!

But anyway, here is what I think about the MacBook Air (you may have seen these before)

Pros
- Portable (super duper portable)
- Awesome trackpad
- Smooth
- No disc drive

Cons
- No replaceable (by user) battery
- Only 1 USB
- No disc drive
- Mono audio output

I know the whole deal with the optical drive. And I know you can use someone elses drive, but from what I understand, you have to have some special disc to put in their machine to setup the remote assistance...

Also, then 1 USB. Yeah, that's not going to work for me unless I'm careful. Plus, my mac has eSata (card), DVI out (full size), 2 USB but firewire 400 and 800.

Overall, very cool. I still want one, but as an extra, not primary. For most people, it may be enough as a primary, and that's cool.

My friend and I were talking about the lack of the optical drive. Long story short, people flipped when Apple pulled the floppy drive from their computers and they believed there would not be much more use for floppies.

So, when was the last time you backed something up to a floppy? Yeah.

And with the release of Time Capsule (which I love!), you can totally tell or guess at least that Apple is investing in the internet as a way to store/send/transfer/access data.

Even though they are on the board for Blu Ray, I bet that deep down inside, Steve Jobs doesn't have much faith in discs anymore.

What do you think?!

You have 2 new emails!

I got these emails yesterday. I thought it was interesting...

Obviously, one is very clean, the other, cluttered.

I really like how you have to start protecting your new PC right after you buy it and download crazy updates, but don't worry, I'm not naive in thinking that when you get your new Mac, you have to software update, it's just funny to me.

Oh, I made a hybrid too. Using Seashore, I'll review it once I get over how mad I am at it...

App Review #2

Comic Life (1.3.4)

I thought Comic Life came on all new Macs, but a friend of mine just got a new iMac and doesn't have it.  I'll have to get to the bottom of that...

But if you have Comic Life, I totally recommend that you check it out.  It's really easy, and a quick Google search will show a ton of people that have made their own comics.  Some good... some not so good.  

But it's fun! 

Being a Halo fan (for the XBOX), I thought it would be a lot of fun to make a Halo comic using some of Halo 3's new features (the Theatre mode).

It's pretty much this... after you play a game in Halo, you can go back and watch the replay, and pause, move the camera around and take pictures and video...

Then I upload the pics and download them to my Mac and put them in Comic Life.

My friend sent me a video with himself and another friend of mine and called it "Comeback" so I made a comic for them.

So you bring your pictures in, create the page layout (drag and drop templates) then add "word bubbles" and you're pretty much done!

It's very simple and you can get a pretty decent looking end product!

Do you have any comics you've made that you want to share?  Leave a comment and well get in touch so I can post it!

Check out the whole Halo comic I made: "Comeback"

Protection. What did your parents always tell you?

Yeah, you have to use protection... for your Mac.

When I first got my MacBook Pro, I got the classic In Case black neoprene case.  I like it.  It won't protect from hard falls but for in my Timbuk2 messenger bag, it's protected from those little jolts and bumps.

But for Christmas I got a new Timbuk2 backpack that has a built in laptop sleeve.  That way I don't have to use the In Case case.

Either way, it's really important to protect your investment.  I mean, even I like that "used" look but excessive scratches are not always fun.

I also recommend iKlear and some sort of keyboard cover so your keys don't rub into your screen.  That iKlear stuff works wonders, no lie!  I'll do a review on that later on maybe.

Do you use anything special for protecting your Mac?

App Review #1

Application: SMC Fan Control

If you have an Intel powered Mac, then I highly suggest this (sorry everyone else OS X 10.4 and higher only!).

This is especially handy if you have a MacBook or MacBook Pro.  They have been known to get pretty gosh darn warm on your lap.  So instead of burning your legs, download this.

It tells you the temp of the processor/s and the fan rpm at a glance and it's very easy to setup different profiles such as: Max RPM, Fast Quiet... or whatever!  That's what I've named some of mine.

Some may find the fan noise slightly annoying, but you get used to it and I'll just put it on Fast Quiet (5210 rpm) when I'm doing an audio or video chat so the fan won't disrupt the audio.

But the fans won't usually go into the max rpm on their own unless they really, really, really need to but if you are doing editing or ripping a dvd or just want to keep things cooler, crank that fan soulja boy!

This is certainly a must in my mind.  Do you have it?  What do you think of it?  

Here's the link again.