One of the new refinements released with Snow Leopard, was Chinese character input. This does come standard with any install of Snow Leopard, but isn’t enabled – you need to take a couple further steps to have it functioning and ready.
First, you’ll need to make sure you have one of Apple’s laptops that is equipped with the glass trackpad (the one without any buttons), and running 10.6 or later.
Second, open your system preferences, and choose Language & Text option under ‘Personal’.
Under Language & Text, choose the ‘Input Sources’ tab, then on the list on the left hand side, scroll down and choose either Chinese – Simplified or Chinese – Traditional. You’ll notice that when you do this, the right hand side of the preferences window will show “Show/Hide Trackpad Handwriting Control + Shift + Space” no longer greyed out. This is the key combination you’ll use to toggle the handwriting input dialog.
It’s not secret that a popular company like Apple has hundreds of people applying daily for work. If you’re one of those people, and happen to have that extra drive to be one of the few selected to join the team, this guide will serve you greatly. I was hired in September of 2009 as a ‘Specialist’ (essentially a glorified salesman) in one of their retail stores, and want to share the experience that it was, to go from nothing to hired.
First thing you need to do is create an Apple ID. You can go to myinfo.apple.com to do so. Once you’ve entered all relevant information (the more complete your profile, the better) you can login and search the job listings that are currently posted. Login with your Apple ID to cooljobs.apple.com. From here, you’ll be able to search through corporate, as well as retail positions that have been put up. Since I haven’t gone through the corporate process, I won’t touch on that, and will just stick to retail.
Apple Retail
Once you’ve clicked the “Search Retail Jobs”, you’ll get a return of a long list, with all the job titles prefixed by a country code; CAN for Canada, US for the United States, GER for Germany, etc. Choose each position you think you’d be suited for, one by one, and go through the process. You’ll choose a state/province where you’d like to apply, and either apply for current or future openings. Once this is all done, you’ll be formally submitted as a candidate, and if by some miracle you get chosen out of the bunch, good for you, you lucked out.
Once you’ve finished all the applications, I would encourage you to drop into the store, and meet some of the managers; it’s usually very occupied in the Apple Store, so it’s a good idea to go early in the morning (I would call 11am the deadline to go in). Let them know that you’ve applied formally online, and are very interested in a job with Apple. Tell them why you want to work for Apple, why you’d be good at the positions you’ve applied for, and why they might want you on the team. You want to make sure you’re being cordial at all times, and not coming off too strongly. Let them know that you’re aware that they’re hiring (if they are) and if they’re not, let them know that you’ll be checking back, and that you’re serious about applying. Ask if there’s anything you can do (every store is different, every manager is different) that will sweeten your chances at an interview.
I recently had a friend message me asking how to change the default font, and I had to explain it to her quickly. Wouldn’t it be nice if all I had to do was link her to a post on my website showing her detailed descriptions and images, which would in turn save me time, and make the process easier and clearer for her?
Recently I was looking to delete some files off my Mac, that were albeit being difficult to find. It was a little challenging, so I thought I’d put together the solution for you all to take advantage of.
As usual, I’ll explain Apple’s Mac OS X platform first. The two functions (searching system files and showing hidden ones) are independent.
Terminal Application within the Utilities folder (Mac OS X)
When I first got my iPhone 3GS, it was a little bit of a mystery to me, all the voice commands that were available. I knew “call”, and “play music”. Some other random ones would swipe across the screen, but still, I didn’t have a complete list, and I wanted one; It took me a little more effort than I wanted it to, so I thought I’d post it here for future use, so it could be easily found.
To activate the voice control screen, simply hold your home button for 3 seconds or tap the middle button on your headphones. Whether it’s on the standby screen ‘locked’, or in use in any app that you’re currently running, it’ll pop up (like you see on the right). Once you hear a tone, the phone is ready to accept commands; be sure to wait for it, or it’ll only listen to a part of what you’ve said, and may misinterpret your command.
Telephone Commands
“Call Marc Cizravi” will look up the name ‘Marc Cizravi’ and dial the number you have listed on that contact profile. The phone will prompt you back by speaking “Calling Marc Cizravi”. Remember that pronunciation is a little robotic. I know how to pronounce my name, but the iPhone mangles it when repeats it back to me – if you sometimes have trouble calling someone with a strange name, try listening to the pronunciation that the phone uses, and mimic that. If you happen to have multiple numbers for ‘Marc Cizravi’, it will tell you that. “Marc Cizravi – Home? Mobile? School?” to which you’ll respond (after the tone) “Home” – and it will repeat back to you “Calling Marc Cizravi, mobile“.
If you purchased a MacBook between the time it was released in 2006, and the latest refresh in November of 2009, you’ve most likely experienced the cracking case. It’s an unfortunate defect that leaves the interior of the computer vulnerable. Liquid, dust and dirt, and even moisture is more likely to sneak it’s way in if you’re not careful. This is something that is uncharacteristic of Apple, but it can’t be anticipated because it’s a result of many months of usage.
The cracking case can occur on the top or the bottom of the interior casing. It’s caused by closing the top of the computer too quickly; repeated attempts will start cracking the case slowly, on top or bottom… or both.
When this started happening, numerous complaints were made about lesser quality and poor craftsmanship to be held responsible, and maybe that was the case. However, after copious amounts of people started coming in to get the repair made (for free if they were still under their limited warranty, or had purchase the AppleCare protection plan), they issued a statement telling all MacBook customers, that they were eligible for the replacement, regardless of their warranty or AppleCare status.
This is the western digital smartware logo you may see on your computer when connecting your external drive.
If you’ve purchased a Western DigitalPassport or MyBook drive in the past little while (I’ve recently bought 3), you’ve no doubt run into the Western Digital Smartware. This is a virtual drive that is setup with the hard-drive that mounts every time you plug it in. It would seem that at first it’s permanent, and the only way to get it to disappear is to install the software that comes with the drive. However, there is a fix that Western Digital provides on their website. Don’t ask me why a simple ‘delete’ function or ‘eject permanently’ isn’t more readily available.
You can view the instructions from Western Digital on this link, or on this page below! Note that these instructions may change in the future; If newer editions of the drive come out, then I’ll be making an update to the page. This should work for the next year at least:
Mac instructions will come first, and Windows users look further down the page.
IMPORTANT
The following precautions must be performed before installing the firmware update:
All AntiVirus software MUST be disabled.
All Anti-Spyware software MUST be disabled.
ANY and ALL programs that would require drive access during the update MUST be disabled.
Failure to perform these precautions may cause data corruption/loss and/or drive failure.
AppleCare Protection Plan – Extended Coverage for your Apple Products
note: If you don’t want a funny story, then check your AppleCare Status: https://selfsolve.apple.com/GetWarranty.do. Otherwise, read on.
During my time at Apple, I would often run into customers who would come into the store with malfunctioning equipment (either because they’ve caused a problem, or hardware was defective). [...]
I’m always hearing friends, family, randoms, saying they wish they knew how to download movies or television shows off the internet (for free). While there are some pretty good sites for streaming – and many television networks actually upload new episodes to their website after airing the night of, or soon after – it’s not the same as having a large library of all your favorite shows and movies available at your finger tips. The added disadvantage to all of these streaming sites (legal and illegal alike) is that they usually sacrifice quality; that, and the added loading period makes this quite the arduous process. As such, the following guide should set you in the right direction to start downloading to your hearts content.
Try to follow these steps as best you can; at the end of this article you will find video tutorials which will guide you through this process, from beginning to end.
Step 1: Downloading your Bit-Torrent client.
To download torrents, you’ll need a client (you) program that is used in conjunction with these files to download your content. www.utorrent.com (UTorrent) is the most popular Windows XP/Vista (PC) application, but if you’re a Mac OS X user, you’ll want to download www.transmissionbt.com (Transmission). For utorrent, click download and run the installation file, once everything is finished, you’ll find the shortcut on your desktop. For Transmission, download the *.dmg file, once it’s open, copy Transmission to your applications folder, and run it from that location.
The following videos are part one & two of setting up and using the bit-torrent client Tranmission. These video guides should be viewed after having read through the written tutorial that I’ve put together here. It’s a supplement, not a replacement, so make sure you’ve taken a look before viewing the following:
