Today we’ve added one more video to our Mac Repair guide site, with the iPod Classic Repair Video.
This video guide shows you how to completely disassemble the iPod Classic. With this video, we have a pdf guide or video for almost every model and type of iPod Repair.
You can view the video directly at the link below.
The iPhone is a smartphone made by Apple Inc and was released in June of 2007. The iPhone is so advanced it’s more like a small personal computer with mobile phone capabilities than vice versa. Some of the iPhone’s many useful features include visual voice mail, text messaging, web browsing, email capabilities, a media player, camera, and much more. But due to the abundance of the iPhone’s advanced functions, you may not be getting everything possible out of your iPhone. Below are a few tips and tricks that may help you learn about every nice feature your iPhone has to offer.
Tip: To save on battery life, turn off the Wifi and Bluetooth functions if you won’t be needing them for a while. Also covering the light sensor above the ear piece when unlocking your iPhone will cause it think you’re in a dark room and the screen will lower brightness and thus save energy.
Tip: When setting up an email account with your iPhone, try to choose an IMAP based email system. With IMAP versions, your email will be stored on a server and when a message is read using your iPhone it will automatically be marked on the server as having been read. Later if you check your email with a computer, you won’t waste time determining which emails you’ve already seen. Also if you delete an email on your iPhone, the IMAP server will delete it there as well.
Tip: Give your iPhone its own password to ensure all of your information is kept private. With a password, every time your iPhone wakes from sleep mode it will prompt you for a four-digit password to make sure you are indeed its rightful owner. To set up this feature, from the Home screen tap on Settings, then go to the General tab and look for ‘Passcode Lock.’ Enter four digits which will serve as your password. If by chance you forget your password, the iPhone can be unlocked by syncing it with your computer and then you can give it a new one.
Trick: While traveling, it can be hard to find a good free wireless connection. Use your iPhone to find free Wi-Fi locations by going to the Home screen and choosing “Maps,” then type “wifi” and a comma along with your city and state, for example: (wifi, Tulsa, OK) and soon your iPhone will list all the locations of free Wi-Fi service near you.
Tip: If your iPhone Display is cracked or you need iPhone Repair PowerbookMedic.com offers both iPhone Parts and Send-In repair service.
Tip: When using Safari to browse the web, double tapping on a picture, word, or column will cause its full width to fit your screen.
Trick: If you’re musically inclined, you can set up your own music as a ringtone with your iPhone. Just use the Garageband program that comes with all new Macs and make a custom ringtone by simply mixing your own song with instruments pre-loaded on GarageBand, or connect your own instrument if you play one and record your song. Loops and samples are also available. Or if you have any pre-recorded songs at your disposal, import one into GarageBand and cut it down to 30 seconds, then set it to Loop. Next, using the Share menu, send your Ringtone to iTunes and it will show up in the Ringtones Library where you can sync it up for immediate use.
Tip: If you’ve lost the .com, .org, .net, or .edu buttons, simply tap and hold down the period button in your Mail application and a range of choices will pop up.
Trick: If you want to see exactly how fast your iPhone is running (for example, you could determine if EDGE is faster than 3G), run a speed test by going to bandwidthplace.com and it will instantly tell you how many kilobits per second you are getting.
Tip: For fast scrolling to the top of a page, tap on the very top bar where the current time and battery information is displayed and you will zoom back to the top.
Tip: When browsing the web in Safari, if you notice a phone number you would like to dial, just tap on the number and it will immediately be dialed for you instead of having to go over to the phone component.
Trick: If you have movies on DVD that you would like to watch on your iPhone, first convert the movie to Quicktime format (“Handbrake” is a good application for doing this and it’s free – however you should make sure the video is for personal use only and also check the laws and license agreements in your state since some conversions are not legal). After conversion, import the file into iTunes where you’ll have to perform another conversion to iPhone format by doing “create iPod version” in the Advanced menu. And if you have any home movies stored on DVD, this method will also work for them (but again, check the laws and license agreements in your area and only use the videos privately).
Tip: When writing notes, don’t bother hunting for a period, instead simply tap the space bar twice and a period will be placed at the end of your sentence.
Trick: If you need to take a screen shot for any reason, the iPhone already has a built-in feature for this. Simply press and hold the Home button, then press down the Sleep/Wake button and a flash will be produced for a moment. After that, whatever was on your screen will be captured and saved to your regular Camera Roll in the form of a .png file.
After about 10 minutes of frantically playing with my iPad, I set it down on the table to catch my breath. When I did that, I noticed that there were hundreds of unsightly fingerprints all over my new baby. Yes, my iPhone gets fingerprints, but to nowhere near the same degree as my iPad.
The iPad supposedly has an oleophobic coating similiar to the iPhone 3GS, but it doesn’t seem to be nearly as effective. ( An oleophobic coating helps to repel oil and smudges.)
How to clean the iPad LCD Display (The iPad Glass Digitizer)
First off, the fingerprints you see are on the iPad glass digitizer, and that digitizer has the oleophobic coating. This is important because if you try to use typical household cleaners, it can damage that coating.
Since the iPad has an oleophobic coating, you should be able to use a microfiber cloth to simply wipe away any fingerprints from the iPad Glass whenever they occur. You can also use a barely damp lint free cloth. If you do this however, be sure to be very careful around the home button and edges to make sure no moisture enters the iPad.
I don’t want to clean my iPad after every use! What do I do?
Cleaning the iPad constantly gets pretty old. The best way to prevent against fingerprints and smudges is to get a protective shield that covers the screen. We sell one such product that both protects against fingerprints and also doubles as an anti-glare shield. The iPad Fingerprints Shield is available for $19.95. Another nice advantage of the shield is that it helps to prevent scratches on the glass.
This is by no means the only product out there, but it’s one we’ve used and trust. There are several products available in the market that will work, and there will be many more released in the weeks to come since the iPad was just released on April 3rd.
Lusting for an iPhone, but avoiding an AT&T contract like the plague? Well, satisfaction may be just around the corner if rumors of a Verizon iPhone releasing soon are true. No official news has come from the Apple or the Verizon camp, and rumors about a Verizon iPhone release aren’t new, but here are just a few of the reasons why, this time, they may actually be true:
1. It’s about time. Not only because non-AT&T consumers have been waiting for an opportunity to join the iPhone experience, but also AT&T’s exclusive contract with Apple was only for three years, which ends this summer. Coincidentally, this is also the speculated time period for the Verizon iPhone release date.
2. The Wall Street Journal is reporting it. Next to Apple actually fessing up, a WSJ story that has triggered the curious reporting of other reputable news outlets, is a good indication that the buzz is true. Investors appear to be following this line of thinking, too. At the market’s closing on March 30th, Apple’s stock experienced a record high closing and Verizon stocks closed at an advantage, too. On the same day’s closing, AT&T’s stock appeared to have dropped since the WSJ and other news outlets began reporting that a Verizon iPhone release date may be announced soon.
3. Timing, again. While each spring, rumors of an iPhone freedom march surface like clockwork, the timing on this one appears to hold more credibility with die hard smartphone users than any of the others. Aside from the reasons cited above, Apple has a history of introducing iPhone upgrades each summer. This year’s upgrade could actually come in the form of a new device with a new provider. Verizon is also rumored to be scrambling for an early unveiling of LTE technology, which we’ll talk more about in a minute, but for now know that an early release would beat AT&T to the punch and give the iPhone data speeds its never known on its current network.
Why Verizon?
The Wall Street Journal buzz reports that the new iPhone will utilize CDMA technology, which is a strong selling point for both Verizon and Sprint. CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) is used with 3rd Generation (3G) technology, which offers users the fastest data speeds short of wi-fi. Currently, 4G technology is offered in limited markets by Sprint and some believe that both 3G and 4G speeds are actually faster for data transfers and web surfing than wi-fi.
In the past, Apple has been rather vocal in that it is not a fan of CDMA technology. However, consumers don’t appear to share Apple’s low opinion of CDMA, nor are many of them enthusiastic about AT&T’s service, in general. Complaints about AT&T’s shoddy voice service are pretty commonplace. Add to this the fact that Google’s Android platform for smartphones is regarded to be a top-contender for the iPhone and the fact that Sprint has plans to to offer 4G speeds on its HTC EVO Android phone this summer, and Apple may finally be listening to consumers. If so, Apple is clearly preparing to make a very strategic, competitive move in order to maintain its market position. In doing so, Apple would not only be positioned to compete with the fastest Android on the market offered by Sprint, but it would attract approximately 80 million more Verizon customers in the process.
Verizon is also set to unveil its own LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology, which is a step closer to 4G technology and is currently doing well in Scandinavian markets. Although, AT&T also has plans to offer LTE, it’s not slated to do so until 2011. Verizon, on the other hand, has gone back and forth on release times for LTE enabled devices, but the recent buzz is that it may be set to begin offering LTE to its customers any day now. This leaves millions questioning whether the iPhone could actually be Verizon’s first LTE device.
The Bad News
Unfortunately, because of different technologies used, current iPhone users who are out of contract with AT&T will have to purchase a new Verizon iPhone if they plan on changing carriers.
With new technologies like 3G, 4G and LTE cropping up with lightening fast speed, it is highly possible that Apple intends to capitalize on this trend by finally opening the iPhone up to carriers that can actually take its device to the next level. Although AT&T promises to stay up to speed by using LTE technology, they may be too late in doing so by 2011. An exact Verizon iPhone release date has yet to be announced, but with Apple’s agreement with AT&T expiring long before their LTE launch, it appears that consumers aren’t the only ones looking forward to a new iPhone carrier.
Today we added a cool little product to our Mac Parts store. The product is an external enclosure for a 1.8″ ZIF hard drive. This enclosure will house the hard drives from a Macbook Air or iPod Video externally and connect them to your computer via USB.
What would you mainly use this for?
1.) A really small portable drive.
2.) A way to get your music and files off of a dead iPod Video or Macbook Air. Just take the drive out of your iPod using our Mac Repair Guides and then put it into this enclosure.
In the trend of filling in the gaps in our Mac Repair Guide site, today we’re releasing our iMac G5 Repair Guide.
This video guide shows you how to completely disassemble the iMac G5 to replace the LCD, Hard Drive, Power Supply, etc… The guide is broken down into the following sections:
1.) Introduction
2.) iMac G5 Front Bezel Removal
3.) iMac G5 LCD
4.) Speaker Removal
5.) Removing the iMac G5 Logic Board
6.) Fan Assembly
7.) iMac G5 Hard Drive Removal
8.) Removing the Inverter Board
9.) iMac G5 Power Supply
You can view the video directly at the link below.
It was bound to happen…It just happened sooner than even we thought it would. Between the iPad release Saturday morning and Monday morning we’ve gotten three reports of customers who broke their iPad and need repair. All the damage reports so far are the result of users dropping their iPads and cracking the glass digitizer panel.
The good news for these guys is that we’re already offering iPad Parts for self repair as well as well as already have our iPad Repair guide page up as well.
We are also offering our send-in repair service for the iPad. The cost for an iPad Repair is $30 flat labor + part cost. That includes free ground shipping and us sending you a box. You can also drop off your iPad at The UPS Store, and they’ll box it up and send it to us on our dime. (You have to schedule the repair and get a work order from us first to do this.)
The bad news is that the iPad parts supply is pretty constrained right now. So, if these reports keep coming in you may end up having to wait a little bit to have your iPad repaired.
We’ve got our iPad Parts store up and running. Check out all of our iPad Parts at the link below.All of these parts are in stock and ready for purchase today!
