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December 16th through 23rd Archives

Friday, December 23rd 2002 00:01 CST

10.2.3 with PowerBooks?

After having a weekend to digest the update, we'd like to know if any readers are having PowerBook-specific issues with the Mac OS X 10.2.3 update that was released late last week. Send in your comments to info@pbzone.com.

Infrared Options with New Powerbooks?

Reader Alex writes:

I really enjoy reading your pbzone.org page as part of my daily Mac-Info allowance but the recent article about all the bluetooth options leave me feeling a little unsatisfied.

While i agree bluetooth is cool and all, I am disappointed that slightly older technology is being forgotten when it's still necessary. I referring to infrared. I purchased a new powerbook and to my disappointment, the infrared port is gone! There's nothing in its place, but it worked very well on my older powerbook.

I've been looking for a few months for an infrared adapter and have been unable to find one that works with OS X. Do you guys know of any infrared adapters on the market that actually works? I purchased a USB IrDA one off eBay and it does not seem to work (or i don't know how to get it to work).

If you guys don't know, do you think you can make an addition to your adapter article to ask your readers if they have any knowledge of infrared adapters?

By the way, the thing I need infrared for is to go online via my cell phone.

That said, is there a way to get a USB infrared receiver to work with a PowerBook G4? What about with OS X? This isn't exactly our speciality, so we'd like to hear from users who have had success with infrared on PowerBooks without built-in capability, in addition to reports from users who have used infrared for something other than the three main uses we noted above. Send comments to info@pbzone.com.

Apple Files SEC Form 10K

MacNN has some excellent analysis of the interesting parts of the 10K form Apple is required to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Check it out here.

Thursday , December 19th 2002 13:54 CST

Bluetooth Adapters

There are now four Bluetooth adapters that are confirmed to work with Mac OS X. Any adapter that is Bluetooth 1.1 compatible should work. There's a brand called "Windigo" that can be had for about $37 shipped on eBay. Here are four quick brands/models that are known to absolutely work with Macs:

• MSI PC2PC
• Belkin Bluetooth USB Adapter (F8T001)
• Mitsumi (WIF-0402C model)
• TDK

Also, here's a list of all the Bluetooth options out there. Note that all the 1.1 compatible ones are known to work with the Linux Bluetooth package that the page is primarily concerned with. It's not much of a stretch to assume that any 1.1 compatible adapter will work with Mac OS X too. Thanks to Accelerate Your Mac! for this information.

And speaking of Bluetooth, a reader sent this link to us. It's a bizarre mod to a PowerBook G4 that installs Bluetooth internally. Give it a look!

Region-free DVD Modifications for PowerBooks

Way back in the day, we had an application for Wallstreet DVD drives that would allow them to be "region free." In fact, it was just a modified DVD Player application from back when Apple used hardware decoding for DVD playback. Every week or so, we get someone who has Googled and found a reference to the application, but we don't have it anymore and very few people realize it was for Wallstreet anyway.

That said, it appears there's quite a lot of resources out there for PowerBook (and all Macs with DVD, really) owners looking to make their DVD drives "region free," that is to say, able to play DVDs from around the world without worrying about the restrictions that are normally placed by geographical region.

Peruse this page, but be sure to be careful, some of these modifications will void your warranty and may mess up your machine. Don't blame us. Read their FAQ to get started .

5 GB iPods for $180

MicroCenter has refurbished 5GB iPods for $180. It might make a great last-minute holiday present at that price, $20 less than available anywhere previously, according to dealmac.

Wednesday , December 18th 2002 14:55 CST

PBZone.com Combo Drive Project

Quite some time ago, around 16 months ago, we thought we were going to be able to put together a Combo DVD/CDRW drive upgrade program for Pismo and Lombard owners together. Fifty eight people put down $10 deposits, so there was fairly good interest in the program.

Now we think we've got a similar opportunity available. We've found a supply of new Combo DVD/CDRW drive that fit perfectly in Pismo machines (but aren't perfect for Lombard, yet). The Matshushita mechanism reads DVDs at 8x, reads CD-ROMs at 24x and writes CD-R and CD-RWs at 8x.

Because of the scarcity of the "caddies" that PowerBook optical drives use, the program would be a mail-in of your current DVD drive from your Pismo. In about a week total, you'd get back the Combo drive in the original caddy with matching faceplate, as well as your old DVD drive mechanism. The total cost of the upgrade is $280. This would include the drive, documentation, and a modified driver for iTunes. There'd be a one year warranty on the upgrade.

Right now, we'd just like to gauge the interest in such an upgrade. There is substantial investment involved at the start, so we'd like to know if there'd be a pool of at least 10 interested parties. Additionally, if you're a Lombard customer and would be interested in the upgrade, we'd like to hear from you too; we're working on getting that solved as well. If you'd be interested, send an email to info@pbzone.com. Please be sure to include any questions we didn't answer or concerns you'd have before you buy.