Your Personal Mac Guide - Tips & Live Help http://basics4mac.com/links/index.php/ 2012-05-14T22:12:01-04:00 Basics4Mac cj_burnham@mac.com tag:basics4mac.com,2012-05-14:/links/portal.php/link/20120514221152854 2012-05-14T22:12:01-04:00 2012-05-14T22:12:01-04:00 chrisb Does it seem like every TV show or movie you've watched recently has a MacBook, iPad, or iPhone in it? There's a reason for that; the cool factor of Apple's product line is resulting in more placements of its products on the big and little screens. Bloomberg Businessweek reports that Apple product placements increased by 45 percent between 2009 and 2011, and that the familiar fruit logo showed up in 40 percent of movies atop the weekly box-office charts. tag:basics4mac.com,2012-05-14:/links/portal.php/link/20120514212018991 2012-05-14T21:20:26-04:00 2012-05-14T21:20:26-04:00 chrisb Pedestrians in Fort Lee, New Jersey will have to stop to text, following the passage of a new law that imposes $85 fines on walkers caught texting. Fort Lee Police Chief Thomas Ripoli cited numbers of pedestrian crashes to support the ban: Last year there were 74 crashes involving pedestrians; three pedestrians were killed this year, according to The Record's NorthJersey.com. tag:basics4mac.com,2012-05-14:/links/portal.php/link/20120514211834124 2012-05-14T21:18:54-04:00 2012-05-14T21:18:54-04:00 chrisb Pixar's Oren Jacob and Galyn Susman recount how the files for Toy Story 2 were almost lost due to an accidental Linux command and bad backup. It's probably a little over-dramatized from what actually happened, but is a good reminder to back up your important files! tag:basics4mac.com,2012-05-13:/links/portal.php/link/20120513194016705 2012-05-13T19:40:26-04:00 2012-05-13T19:40:26-04:00 chrisb Textbooks are a thing of the past, says the common wisdom. Well, the common wisdom of the Technorati maybe. The problem with that thinking is that the number one publisher in the world is Pearson, a textbook publisher, who brought in $7.75 billion in 2009. tag:basics4mac.com,2012-05-13:/links/portal.php/link/20120513132005288 2012-05-13T13:20:15-04:00 2012-05-13T13:20:15-04:00 chrisb Nine months ago, a tremendous controversy began with a simple e-mail: "Gentlemen, The BART Police require the M-Line wireless from the Trans Bay Tube Portal to the Balboa Park Station, to be shut down today between 4 pm & 8," wrote Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) construction supervisor Dirk Peter on August 11, 2011. (The Transbay Tube runs beneath the Bay, moving people to and from San Francisco; Balboa Park is a residential city neighborhood.) "Steve," the note continued, "please help to notify all carriers." tag:basics4mac.com,2012-05-13:/links/portal.php/link/20120513131816923 2012-05-13T13:18:27-04:00 2012-05-13T13:18:27-04:00 chrisb On Monday, the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles approved Google’s license application to test autonomous vehicles on the state’s roads. The state had approved such laws back in February, and has now begun issuing licenses based on those regulations. tag:basics4mac.com,2012-05-13:/links/portal.php/link/20120513131736905 2012-05-13T13:17:44-04:00 2012-05-13T13:17:44-04:00 chrisb West Virginia's Charleston Gazette has been hopping mad this week as one of its reporters learned that the state has been sticking 1,064 high-end $22,600 routers into “little public institutions as small as rural libraries with just one computer terminal.” When reporter Eric Eyre actually called up Cisco posing as a customer, he was told by a rep that the company's 3945 series routers were "our router solution for campus and large enterprises, so this is overkill for your network." Instead, the rep recommended a far cheaper commercial grade router for $500. tag:basics4mac.com,2012-05-10:/links/portal.php/link/20120510223118500 2012-05-10T22:31:31-04:00 2012-05-10T22:31:31-04:00 chrisb SpaceX and Bigelow Aerospace have announced a new marketing alliance for SpaceX transportation to Bigelow private space stations. SpaceX will take customers to orbit using its Dragon reusable space capsule; Bigelow will host them using its BA330 inflatable space habitats, which will presumably be launched on a larger rocket. tag:basics4mac.com,2012-05-09:/links/portal.php/link/20120509182341431 2012-05-09T18:23:49-04:00 2012-05-09T18:23:49-04:00 chrisb Twitter is contesting a court order requiring it to turn over private data on a user charged with disorderly conduct during the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York last year. tag:basics4mac.com,2012-05-06:/links/portal.php/link/20120506151214229 2012-05-06T15:12:23-04:00 2012-05-06T15:12:23-04:00 chrisb According to a Twitter account that is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company (@DisneyProjects), Walt Disney World is testing a new iPad-based FastPass ticketing system. The system would use RFID technology and an iPad-based scanner to let visitors schedule ride passes before their visit. If visitors wanted to ride Space Mountain in the morning and Splash Mountain in the afternoon, they could schedule their time in advance and not have to wait in long lines. When they enter the park, visitors would be given an RFID-enabled wrist band that they will scan at the entrance to each attraction. Their information would then be sent to a nearby Disney employee who is equipped with the iPad.