Tag Archive for 'Apple'

Push For All Email Accounts on iPhone

Here’s the deal: you can use push email from MobileMe, Yahoo or a Microsoft exchange account. This is kind of limiting, seeing as most of the world doesn’t want to drop $100 on MobileMe (see my older post), doesn’t use Yahoo mail and isn’t a corporate email junkie. The good news is that someone has been thinking about the rest of us and that entity is Google. They are offering a free service called Google Sync, which is essentially a personal Exchange account that you can use with your iPhone and other mobile devices.

I have four email accounts that I want pushed to my iPhone. 1 Gmail, 2 Google Apps, and 1 external account. Since you can only use 1 Exchange account (Google Sync) on your iPhone I had to come up with a crafty solution.

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Incase Hardshell for MacBook Pro

TV326Why must Apple build products that are easy on the eyes, but even easier to mar? Not even the aluminum of the MacBook Pro is immune to scuffs and scratches.

So when I got my 15″ Unibody MacBook Pro I decided to get a hardshell case along with it. I travelled to a few local Mac resellers, the Apple Store and various websites, considering what options were available along the way. I asked a couple questions that helped me make a decision:

  1. How well does this fit and will it make use difficult?
  2. How effective is it at actually protecting my Mac?
  3. What’s it going to cost me?
  4. Will it make my sleek computer look dorky?

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Gmail IMAP Problems on Snow Leopard

You’ve probably reading this page because you too are experiencing issues with your Gmail + IMAP + Snow Leopard/Mail.app setup. At the time of this post there has been no official word from Apple or Google, but I’ll share with you what I’ve been able to determine myself.

Something in has changed in Snow Leopard that causes problems on some Gmail and Google Apps accounts. I’m not completely sure whats going on behind the scenes, but a problem has arisen where Gmail complains the “Account exceeded bandwidth limits.” This means that too much data has travelled between Mail.app on your Mac and Gmail, and Google automatically cuts your account off to maintain service for other users.

If you’ve already been blocked, don’t worry, you can still get your mail online. The block should be removed within a day. I also changed this setting that seems to have prevented me from getting blocked again. In the menubar, click Mail > Preferences > Accounts > select your account > Advanced and change the “Keep copies of messages for offline viewing” to “All messages, but omit attachments”.

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ZoomOut on OS X

ZoomOutUPDATE: I’m happy to report that the Zoom + Screen Sharing issue has been resolved in Snow Leopard. The remote Mac will now zoom out when using the normal keyboard commands.

Using the built-in zoom and screen sharing capabilities (or any VNC) together on OS X can be a real pain in the posterior. If you leave your screen zoomed it becomes virtually unusable via screen sharing or VNC. That’s because there is no way to effectively move the cursor (and therefore the screen position) or turn off zoom (since you can’t easily access System Preferences, and the keyboard shortcut isn’t applied to the remote machine).

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Refurbished iMac: Overall Experience

Comparison of new and refurb iMac.

New and refurb iMac.

Some of you know that I ordered a refurbished 24″ aluminum iMac last August. The ordeal proved to be an exercise is in my patience and sanity, but now that the dust has settled I can make a few conclusions. The biggest problem was the faulty displays that shipped in my first two iMacs. I explained the problem in detail when I got the first machine. The second was slightly better, but had more or less the same problem. Since I was a month behind on some work, I decided to keep the second machine until I was back on track. Generally that means giving up any hope of getting a replacement (within 14 days of purchase). Service was supposed to be my only option. I figured that didn’t matter, since a new refurb unit would probably have the exact same problem. 

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