For those of you that don’t already know; I spilt a large cup of tea all over my MacBook Pro, about three or four weeks ago. As soon as it happened, I lifted up the 6.8-pound beast, turned it off and then turned it upside down. I quickly got some paper towels, and wiped off any visible moisture.

Most of the tea was spilt on the laptops keyboard. I wasn’t sure how far the tea had gone, so I decided to take off one of the keys, just to see how moist it was underneath. The lucky key was the “K” key. I carefully unsnapped the key from the two white latches it was holding onto, and then shortly afterwards, tried reattaching it, with no luck. I took out the two white latches and the key and set them both aside, until I was comfortable turning my computer back on, which was a day and a half later.

When everything was fine and running (thank god), I made a thread on MacRumors, asking for advice on how I should go about putting in this key. I got a few responses and guides, which I read thoroughly. It was my time to shine; instructions in hand, pictures on the monitor and the pieces right in front of me. I tried to put the pieces in the little space provided, but it just wouldn’t go in. I tried numerous times, and still nothing. After about thirty minutes of trying, I decided to use some force, which wasn’t the greatest idea. After using force, the key still wouldn’t go into place, but while trying to force it in, one of the pegs on the latches broke, making any further attempts useless.

Undiscouraged, I figured I would take my computer along with the key and latches to my local Apple store. I told them my situation, and that one of the pegs from the latches broke. The Apple service rep. cringed his teeth and took a deep breath in. He told me I would have to leave my computer in for 48 hours, so that they could replace the whole keyboard. I was pretty startled, and asked him “why does it take so long to replace one simple key?” The rep. responded with “We don’t stock keys or latches, and Apple doesn’t either – we have to order a whole new MacBook Pro keyboard, and replace it with your current one.”

So, I basically have to leave my computer in for two days, because my K key needs to be replaced. As of right now, I’m pushing this repair back for a while, because I just don’t have the time for my computer to be away for that long. If it were a broken hard drive or logic board, I could understand, and I pretty much wouldn’t have an option, but I just can’t understand why it takes so long for them to do such a simple job.

If anyone knows of a place where I can just pick up a new latch, or something, that would be a great help and time saver.

Applecare is normally really great, fast and painless, but I’ve found this situation to be a real pain. So, enough of me and my story – let’s hear some of your good and bad Applecare experiences.

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I took your advice guys, and signed up for a Tumblr account. The link is up on the menu bar, so that you guys can access it quickly. The Tumbelog will probably be something I update everyday, or even up to twice a day. It won’t be for long, detailed posts, but more of a sharing of links, photos and videos type of thing.

Anyway, I just thought I would let you guys know that it’s up and running, with the first post already up. Wallpaper Wednesday will be up in a few hours. Take it easy until then.

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Hey guys, I’m wondering if anyone knows how or where I can get a Tumblelog from. For those who don’t know; a Tumbelog is like a second blog, but, it would be where I put all of my personal related updates, where I could post links, video and pictures that aren’t mac related. I would really like to set one up, because I want to keep you guys up-to-date with things going on in my life, and I want to be able to share other things with you guys, but I can’t really do that, because I want to keep this page for Mac and tech things.

So, if anyone knows a way that I can install one, so that it’s linked to a sperate page (with the same theme I’m currently using) I’ll greatly appreciate it, and I’ll post your link up with a little thank you once I get it installed and working.

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Unfortunately, today I found out that Alex Killpatrick will not be able to join us in future MacFocus episodes. Fortunately for you guys, that means that you have a chance to be part of the team. We’re looking for someone who is knowledgeable in technology, and shows great interest in discussing his or her views with others. You can be male or female, from anywhere in the world. It would be beneficial that you own a Mac, but you can be a Windows user (just as long as you know a lot about macs).

If you feel you want to be part of the MacFocus teams, which currently includes myself, Glenn Wolsey and Nick Danforth, and know for sure that you’ll be able to put aside one hour to record each week, than feel free to apply for the position. This isn’t a paying job, but if we get sponsored, the money will first be spent on expenses (hosting), and the remains will then be split four ways between the four of us.

To have a shot at the position, send an e-mail to MacFocusPodcast@gmail.com and include your name, age, link to your site (if any) and a 100-150 word paragraph on why you think you would make a great MacFocus member.

Hopefully we’ll find someone qualified and commented before the end of the week, so that we can include him or her into Episode 5.

Incase you don’t get picked to be part of the team, you can still be part of the show by e-mailing in any ideas, questions or suggestions you may have. We’ll gladly answer and discuss the things you have to say on the show. So, don’t hesitate to send things in!

Digg MacFocus.

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So, it appears that the Apple Students Facebook Group is giving away 5 free Wilco songs, to all of it’s members. Unfortunately, these are only redeemable to members of the USA iTunes Music Store. So, rather than them going to waste, I figured I would share them with one of you readers. If you want these songs, leave a comment on this post saying “Pick me”, and if you’re the first person to comment, you’ll get the code. *Please enter your real e-mail address when commenting.

If you’re not the 1st to post, don’t worry. You can still get the code by joining this group.

Simple instructions for redeeming the songs.
1. Open iTunes and click iTunes Store.
2. Click Redeem.
3. Enter the code below. Your download will begin immediately.

The code expires December 31th, 2007.

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Every week, I pick an album that I enjoy, and want to share with you. I try to change the style and genre from week to week, so that you can listen to and discover new artists. Some of the music is mainstream, and some of it is independent.

Last week, Kanye West released his third studio album; “Graduation”. If you didn’t already know; 50 Cents and Kanye Wests albums were released on the same day, and both artists were competing for the most record sales. 50 Cent had made a bet, that if Kanye were to outsell him, he would stop making music. It’s this reason that I’m picking “Graduation” for this week; I support Kanye 100%.

Although this album doesn’t stand as tall as Collage Dropout or Late Registration, it’s still a genius album by Kanye. Some songs however, like “Drunken Hot Girls” featuring Mos Def, are a huge disappointment. You would think that teaming up with such a great MC like Mos Def, would have a great outcome, but “Drunken Hot Girls” is just trashy. But songs like Stronger, I Wonder & Homecoming make up for it.

You can listen to a good portion of the album, if not all of it, on Kanye’s website.

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I just wanted to let you guys know that I’m still here and still alive. I haven’t had the chance to write posts, because I’m getting settled into school, and I’ve just been really tired lately. I started WYendrys.com in July, and wrote a post every day since then, after a while of doing this, it gets hard, and I’ve noticed that my posts have been more quantity, than quality. So, starting now, I’m not going to write a post everyday because I have to, instead, I’m going to try and do at least 4 a week (including a wallpaper Wednesday and an album of the week). This will insure that I’m writing quality posts, instead of writing short, lazy posts because I feel the need to write one everyday.

Another reason that I’m going to be writing less frequently, is because I have MacFocus to do once a week, and I may also be writing for another site, but it’s not confirmed yet; as soon as it is, I’ll let you guys know.

So yeah, I’m still alive and well, but I’ve just been tired lately, and couldn’t keep up with this daily post thing. Hope you guys understand!

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Each week, I find and share a wallpaper which I personally enjoy and use. I try and find wallpapers that are HD quality, so that people with larger displays can enjoy them just as much.

This week’s wallpaper is “Sunday” brought to you by Manicho. This is the second wallpaper I’ve posted by Manicho. I could post tons of his, as they’re all great. He’s currently doing a month long project, where he posts a wallpaper for each day of the week. He’s currently finished two weeks out of the four.

I picked ‘Sunday’, because I personally like it a lot, but all of his latest wallpapers are fantastic. You can find more of his stuff here.

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I don’t really have a lot of widgets on my dashboard. I only have about 10. 6 of which are 3rd party. I thought I would share the widgets I personally find useful, with you guys.

1. iStat Pro: This handy thing monitors most of my computers activity. It lets me know my CPU and RAM usage, my computers temperature and fan speed, and amount of hard drive space used and free. Overall, iSlayer has done an excellent job with this widget, and it my most used one.

2. Dugg: This little widget keeps me up to date with some of the latest duff stories on Digg. I’m not a huge “digger”, but I enjoy reading some of the stories and keeping up to date.

3. Dashalytics: I use this to track all the traffic on my site. It makes it a lot easier than logging into an account each time, and going into the back end of stuff. It’s pretty accurate and again; the interface is nice.

4. Countdown: I have 3 or 4 of these open at once counting down to events or concerts or something. They’re really useful, and have a decent interface. Although, they make time seem like it’s going by a lot slower than it really is.

5. Plasma Tube: This isn’t really a useful widget, but it’s a fun thing to watch. It’s much cooler than “I Love Lamp” by iSlayer.

So, those are my top five. What are some of yours, and why.

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After only being on the market for about two months, Apple has managed to sell over 1,000,000 iPhones in the USA alone. Making at least $500,000,000 worth of sales, along with a percentage of money from each AT&T contract.

This is a great milestone for Apple, and proves that they can sell almost anything to anyone. This phone as meant to compete with the Blackberrys and Treos, which are used by people wearing, suits and ties in business. However, Apple has managed to get quite a large number of these devices into the hands of regular phone users, that don’t need to get their e-mail on the road or need Internet.

If you make a shiny toy, with an Apple logo on it, it’s bound to sell. With the recent price drop of $200, the recent news of software hacks and upcoming releases in other countries, it looks like Apple will be having a great holiday season. The 16GB iPod Touch is of equal price to that of the 8GB iPhone.

I’ve gotten questions on which is the better deal, and which one I would get. My answer to this is; the iPod Touch. The iPod Touch is pretty much the same thing as the iPhone, minus the phone and built in camera. Although the iPod Touch can’t get e-mails and stuff right now, I’m sure within a few months, someone will figure out a way to do so. Not only that, but the iPod Touch is twice the amount of space of the iPhone, and the Internet is free. A huge downside to the iPhone, is the outrageous phone bills that are attached to it. You’re looking at paying over $100 a month on phone calls and laggy Internet.

I wanted an iPhone, because of its touch screen interface, sleek design and overall coolness. With the iPod Touch, I can pretty much get all of those features, without worrying about getting huge phone bill in the mail.

Anyway, great job Apple. I’m looking forward to seeing Q3 and Q4 sales results.

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I just wanna’ make a quick post regarding MacFocus.

The show is going great. We’ve done four episodes with over 300 downloads. So, for that, we would like to say thank you. If you have an questions, ideas, comments, suggestions or just want to say something on the show, e-mail us at MacFocusPodcast@gmail.com. Don’t hesitate to send an e-mail.

Right now, we’re trying to keep our shows at around 30 minutes each, so we don’t put you to sleep, but if you guys want longer, let us know and we’ll be glad to extend the show each week.

If you don’t want to e-mail us, you can leave a message on this post, or contact me via the contact form. All questions and comments count.

You can download and subscribe the show via iTunes here.

That’s all for now. Enjoy the show!

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With the recent $200 price drop of the iPhone, early iPhone adopters were not happy. Furious at the fact they they had spent an extra $200 on a device that’s just two months old, iPhone owners made it apparent that they were enraged.

Steve Jobs said it best “being in technology for 30+ years I can attest to the fact that the technology road is bumpy. There is always change and improvement, and there is always someone who bought a product before a particular cutoff date and misses the new price or the new operating system or the new whatever. This is life in the technology lane. If you always wait for the next price cut or to buy the new improved model, you’ll never buy any technology product because there is always something better and less expensive on the horizon. The good news is that if you buy products from companies that support them well, like Apple tries to do, you will receive years of useful and satisfying service from them even as newer models are introduced.”

I agree 100% with this statement. Whenever you’re going to spend a few hundred dollars on technology, you have to understand that something newer, better and cheaper will be right around the corner. If you keep waiting for that newer, better and cheaper device, you’re never going to end up buying anything.

Apple has generously offered a $100 store credit for anyone with an iPhone purchased before September 5th, and a $200 refund for anyone who bought an iPhone 14 days before September 5th. This is an unnecessary and kind act by Apple. Companies like this have no obligation to refund money just because the price has dropped. This just goes to show you how much Apple cares about their customers, and how great their customer service is.

Update: For some reason, I couldn’t post yesterday or today, but everything is fixed and back to normal now.

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Every week, I pick an album that I enjoy, and want to share with you. I try to change the style and genre from week to week, so that you can listen to and discover new artists. Some of the music is mainstream, and some of it is independent.

John Mayer’s “Continuum” is my pick for the week. I saw him live when he was promoting this album, and he was great. Continuum has a large array of different styles, including blues, pop and rock. The blues guitar and piano playing makes this album a pleasure to listen to. John Mayer is a great musician, who’s had the pleasure to work with and play with some legends.

If you’re not familiar with John Mayer’s work, I highly suggest you check him out. He’s one of the most underrated guitarists in my opinion. Which is a shame, because I think he makes music that anyone and everyone can enjoy.

Here are links to some of John Mayers songs.
• Your Body is a Wonderland
• Waiting on the World to Change
• Daughters
• Neon
• No Such Thing
• Gravity
• Out of My Mind

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I’m not going to make this a long post, as people are still processing yesterdays event and the goodies that came out of it.

If you’d like to watch yesterdays keynote presentation put on by Apple C.E.O. Steve Jobs, you can get off of the Apple website, or by clicking here. When Steve Jobs does these keynotes, he either pleases or disappoints people with the announcements made. We can safely say that this keynote pleased the majority of people. Not only did he deliver well, but he knew what he was talking about, which you can’t say about some past keynotes. We knew coming into this event, that it would strictly be music and iPod based, so the lack of Mac and OS X discussion isn’t a big deal.

The one thing I am disappointed about, is that John Mayer didn’t play at this years Paris event. Mayer is one of my favorites, and he’s been playing at these things for the past few years. I’m sure the reason for this is because he teamed up with Blackberry to promote their new phone, which I guess Apple disapproved of.

Other than that, this event was a success and Apple will be seeing huge sales for the holidays. Up next for release: Mac OS X Leopard.

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The rumors and predictions have proven to be correct. Earlier today, Apple released and updated their whole iPod line. Before I move onto talking about individual iPods and updates, let me just say that I’m thrilled and excited about these new toys. I think it’s going to be a great holiday season for Apple and that they did a great job with these updates.

Let’s start with the iPod shuffle. The only difference between this shuffle, and the pervious one, is the colors and it’s now part of the (PRODUCT)RED family. These new colors are toned down, and aren’t as bright and colorful as the old one. We’ll have to wait and see what people think about these new shuffles.

The new iPod nano looks great. The Engadget rendering isn’t nearly as nice as the real thing. The fact that Apple added video support for these tiny gadgets was a smart move. Again, like the shuffles, these nanos received an updated color scheme, a larger and brighter display and a new enhanced interface, which includes Cover Flow. At only 0.26″ thin, this iPod can fit just about anywhere.

Besides the Mini, the nano is the most popular iPod out there, so it should be a hit this holiday season, especially with the added video support, new interface and smaller profile.

The “iPod” or “Video iPod” as some people call it, is now known as the iPod Classic, and features an aluminum casing, just like that of the nano or the shuffle. You can purchase a 80Gb for $249 or a 160GB version for $349, which gives more than enough space for the average MP3 user. This iPod no longer comes in a black and white variety; instead Apple now offers them in black and silver.

The long awaited, and highly anticipated iPod Touch has been announced, and is set to ship later this month. The iPod Touch shares a lot of features with the iPhone, such as finger pinching to increasing or deceasing the size of a photo, a similar UI, a full web browser and more.

The most excited thing about this iPod, is the ability to connect to the internet via WiFi. This allows you to use any wireless network near by, for free (as long as it’s an open network, or if you know the security code). Having WiFi access, also allows you to connect to the iTunes Music Store, which means you can download songs on the go. The unfortunate thing about this iPod, is the hard drive space. Because it’s flash based, it only comes in 8GB and 16GBs, which is disappointing, as it would have been nice to see a touch screen iPod with a hard drive of over 80GBs. $299 for the 8GB version and $399 for the 16GB.

Apple has come together with Starbucks, to add a feature to the iPod Touch, which allows you to find out the name and artist of the last 10 songs played in that particular Starbucks. This is a neat feature, allowing people to discover new music at the tip of the fingers.

Overall, this event was successful, and brought all the rumors and speculation to rest. I’m pleased with everything, except the fact that I can’t purchase an iPod Touch with more than 16GBs of space. Other than that, I’m surprised there was no real iPhone announcement for other countries. Next up for Apple: Leopard.

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