Do you use Google's web services (gmail, gapps, etc)? A recent email to all Google users of those web apps received an email stating on March 1, 2010 with Google apps onward to the end of 2010 with Gmail and other Google web services will need to upgrade. A message will be shown when you connect to Google's apps when they are upgraded.

Supported by Google:
Google Apps will continue to support Internet Explorer 7.0 and above, Firefox 3.0 and above, Google Chrome 4.0 and above, and Safari 3.0 and above.

Macintosh Browser list:
Camino 2.0, OS X 10.4 and later; http://caminobrowser.org/
Camino 1.6 supports OS X 10.3.9; http://caminobrowser.org/download/
Classilla supports Mac OS 9; http://classilla.org/
Firefox 3.6, OS X 10.4 and later; http://www.mozilla.com/
Flock, OS X 10.4 and later; http://www.flock.com/
Google Chrome, Intel only, OS X 10.5 and later, http://www.google.com/chrome?platform=mac
Opera 10, OS X 10.3 and later; http://www.opera.com/
SeaMonkey 2.0, OS X 10.4 and later; http://www.seamonkey-project.org/
Shiira 2.0, OS X 10.4 and later; http://shiira.jp/en

I use this external hard drive adapter to recover any files from any IDE or SATA internal hard drive with my MacBook Pro over USB 2.0. This unit is made from Sabrent and it works out great. Many times have I rescued the data from my friends Windows hard drives when Windows decided to go into the "black screen / white writing reboot loop" problem. If Windows cannot fix itself and does not Blue screen this "loop of death" is just as bad as Windows is corrupt and needs to be reloaded or recovered from a Recovery Disc.

Thank goodness that Apple includes a Mac OS X disc in every Macintosh sold as many of my Windows friends did not create their Recovery Discs and are forced to pay their computer manafacturer $35-$50 for a set. You get what you pay for and with my Macs I get the recovery disc with reliable hardware that lasts. Just ask my Macintosh 128K from 1984, he still runs!

This tip can be added to any Macintosh (or any other computer) that has an USB port. This fan is made from Ativa and cost me about $5 at Office Depot. I added both an Ethernet card and a FireWire/USB card to my Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh which blocked the internal fan. Adding on the fat back only made matters worse since it trapped the hot air inside.

The USB fan is a bit noisy but not as noisy as a full larger fan.
+ Upside: You can position the fan anywhere with the flexible metal cord.
- Downside: You need to keep part of your computer case off. This lets heat disapate faster since the heat won't be trapped in the case.
- Downside: Extra dust can collect on the electronic parts. Make sure you swiffer that dust off perodically.

Keeping your Mac cooler is one important step to make sure that your Macintosh lasts and lasts. Because I added a fan to the top of my Mac 128K (from 1984), this Mac is still working stong (and cool).

The USB fan that I can position anywhere I want to cool down with the adjustable metal cord:

Today (1/18/2010), Apple sent out an invitation for January 27th for a special announcement of their new product release in San Francisco. Could it be the much hyped and anticipated Mac Tablet? Looking at the invitation is special as it indicates something creative. Perhaps a new iWork with MacPaint and MacDraw being reintroduced for the next generation? Knowing how much people love their Watcom Bamboo tablet having a Mac Tablet with that capability of touch gestures and pen input/drawing would be something special indeed.

MacPaint and MacDraw had subsequent versions that had color, yet here at The Mac 512 we remember the impact of the original versions. These original versions brought out the Mac 128K's power and capability. The ability back in 1984 to create vector-based drawings in MacDraw or pixel perfect paintings in MacPaint was able to be merged with MacWrite meant that anything you could create could be merged together and printed out.

The Mac 512 cannot wait to see if the MacTablet with possible handwritting recognition software from the Newton will appear?

Here is a copy of the invitation Apple sent out:


A sample of the original Mac Print and Mac Draw:

A new year means a new way of looking how can you be more productive with your Macintosh.

Macintosh Keyboard shortcuts I use a lot:
Option key = During startup lets you choose the boot volume
C key - During startup lets you boot from the CD/DVD drive
Command+Tab = Cycle through open Applications
Command+I = Get info (in the Finder only)
Command+W = Close active window
Option+Eject = Eject 2nd CD/DVD drive
Option+Command+Eject = Puts Mac to sleep
Command+Shift+3 = Print screen to the Clipboard
Command+Shift+4= Print screen Range to the Clipboard

If you are forced to use Windows (like I am for my favorite online game and a few Graduate course requrements like MS Access, Visio, and Project) knowing a few shortcuts helps. Some of the Windows 7 shortcuts I use include (Windows Logo Key (aka WK)):
WK+D = See the Desktop/Again to hide the Desktop
WK+Left/Right = Move the windows to either the left or right side of the monitor
WK+(+/-) = Zoom in or out
WK+Up/Down = Maximize or Minimize the active window
WK+Tab = Cycle between open windows
WK+E = Open Computer
CTRL + Tab = cycle through tabs in a window
Alt-Tab = Cycle between open applications

My favorite Windows shortcut is - quickly getting back into my beloved Mac OS X through Boot Camp's Applet (right click).

After trying out a few other discussion forums that were attacked with lots of bogus accounts or bogus messages. The Mac 512 has decided to host a fan page on Facebook. We are simply The Mac 512 (if you search), or click on this link http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Mac-512/269196500863. We are excited to provide an area that you the discriminating Macintosh collector can use to find your next gem or simply share pictures or discuss problems or your favorite Macintosh.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Here in the U.S. this is a big celebration that we Americans give thanks for our blessings and heritage.

If you are using Windows 7 on your Mac sometimes it is a need instead of a want. For my graduate school studies I needed to make sure I had the necessary software to complete my studies with Access, Visio, and Project (all from Microsoft). Microsoft Office 2008 for the Mac worked flawlessly for Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. I bit the bullet and put Vista 32-bit on it's own partition using the BootCamp helper to get the maximum speed from that slow OS called Vista. Virtualization is another option that we will talk about later (which I use too).

So if you are using a Mac and need more updated drivers over what is included with the Snow Leopard install DVD here you go. Keep in mind I am using Windows 7 on a MacBook Pro (June 2009) edition. So if your Mac has different video or sound hardware than me the two following tips won't help you.

NVIDIA graphic drivers - download the most updated drivers for your 9400M or 9400GT video card from http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us Use the GeForce, GeForce 9M Series (Notebooks), WIndows 7 64-bit options (or 32-bit if you need it). The version is 186.81 from 2009.08.27.

My Windows Experience Index in Windows 7 before the updated graphic driver - 4.2

My Windows Experience Index in Windows 7 AFTER the updated graphic driver - 5.1


Sound drivers - With the Bootcamp Snow Leopard drivers the vo
lume is lower than normal. Use these drivers to boost your volume louder from http://www.sussex.tec.nj.us/files/CirrusAudio.10.6.1.zip (The download is from a friend of mine who attends Sussex County Technical School.) This seems to also fix any microphone issues (I did not test this).

Access Time Machine Hard Drive share - Use this procedure to change Windows' behavior and you will be able to use the TIme Capsule share.
I needed to open the Local Security Policy program. Navigate to Local Policies, then Security Options, then Network Security: LAN Manager Authentication Level. Select the option "Send LM & NTLM - Use NTLMv2 session security if negotiated". Click Apply then OK. You can then enter in the device password with no errors to mount the hard drive.

Windows XP and Vista SP2 - If you are using either of these versions of Windows consider Apple's official update dated November 19, 2009 at http://support.apple.com/kb/DL967

To get Bonjour working in Win 7 64-bit with Time Capsule (Dual-band version):

Printer - Download the Bonjour for Windows 1.0.6 64-bit update program from apple.com. Install the program and no more problems with not finding the printer.

Hard Drive: I needed to open the Local Security Policy program. Navigate to Local Policies, then Security Options, then Network Security: LAN Manager Authentication Level. Select the option "Send LM & NTLM - Use NTLMv2 session security if negotiated". Click Apply then OK. You can then enter in the device password with no errors to mount the hard drive.

Knowing that the most recent updates of the MacBook Pro from June 2009 supported Vista 64-bit, Windows 7 64-bit would work I expected.

Inside of Snow Leopard I used the BootCamp installer to remove my Vista 32-bit Bootcamp partition. Created a new Bootcamp partition, popped in the Windows 7 disc and started the install. As I cannot launch the Windows 7 64-bit installer from Vista 32-bit I needed to create a new partition for Windows 7.

I installed everything and did not put in my CD key into Windows 7 and continued on. It rebooted about 4 times during the install. Once I got to the Windows 7 desktop I proceeded to install Windows 7 again. Why? Because I needed to get my Windows 7 CD key in there so I could register it.

After the second install of Windows 7 (over the top of previous Windows 7 install) I entered my CD key and everything else installed and I was left at the Windows desktop.

I removed the Windows 7 DVD and put in the Snow Leopard DVD and installed the BootCamp drivers. Rebooted Windows 7 and everything was working (sound, multi-touch pad, network, Superdrive, etc).

I am now researching on how to get Bonjour working so I can access my Time Machine's hard disk and printer in 64-bit land.

The strengths of using the MacBook Air is the light weight, large 13.3" screen, and using it for a few tasks at a time. The strengths of the MacBook Pro is the processing power, large 13.3" screen, and using the 10 programs I use all the time at the same time due to the larger RAM limit available. Overall both MacBooks are useful for any of the Macintosh or Windows programs. There is one Windows game that I need to run called Ultima Online.

If it was not for Ultima Online Windows compatibility for me would only be document compatibility that Microsoft Office for Mac 2008 does flawlessly. I do have from my grad college days Microsoft Project, Access and Visio I have available. These applications are not used much as my work provides me the same applications on my work laptop. So if the need arises I can use these three applications at work or now at home.

The performance of the MacBook Pro 2.26 GHz is very good. I know this is not the fastest (and the lowest speed available for this line) yet I don't ever see it when I am working on the laptop. My MacBook Air 1.8 GHz is definitely a bit slower. Not at the point where the Air is not useful. I can do everything on the Air as I can on my Pro, except only in smaller batches. Meaning, a lower amount of applications can be open at any one time.

Conclusion: Both run Snow Leopard quickly with the MacBook Pro being able to run Snow Leopard in true 64-bit kernel mode. Both are lightweight (with the Air having the edge in weight) enough to carry around anywhere. Any laptop over 4.5 pounds will be felt sooner as your body will be able to tell the difference. I could tell the difference between the Air's 3 pounds and the Pro's 4.5 pounds after walking around. So if you are looking for a portable laptop either will be a good choice - MacBook Air or the MacBook Pro 13.3" models.