Last night, I decided to replace my hard drive. I had recently done it on my wife’s 13″ MacBook and it was super simple so I figured that my 17″ (late 2006 model) would be easy as well. Boy, was I surprised when I downloaded the how-to guide. It was minor surgery and a bit unnerving to say the least. Nevertheless with extreme care and meticulous attention to detail, the deed was done and I now have a brand new 500gb hard drive in my machine. I wouldn’t recommend doing this yourself if your macbook is still in warranty because I have heard this will void it. Mine is just out of warranty and been operated on several times by the Apple care crew so I figured I would take the risk. If yours is as well and you have the intestinal fortitude to operate on your Mac, it’s not too bad. Just make sure you have the right tools, follow the guide and it doesn’t hurt to pray. Happy tinkering!

One of the things I refer to all the time is the special character shortcuts available in OS X and their HTML equivalents. I love that there’s a keyboard shortcut for just about any one I want to use. The problem is remembering them from time to time (especially the HTML codes). So, I decided to whip out a table with all that I could find online and put it up here at iBAM so I could have quick reference to it and so could you. If there’s something that I missed, feel free to add it in via the comments. We all would love to share in your juicy knowledge. I hope this list proves helpful. Happy characterizing!

I also use this site a lot: CopyPasteCharacter [Continued]

A major disadvantage to the iPhone, so far, has been the lack of ability to watch TV. What’s worse is that online TV sources, such as Hulu, have been based on Flash programming, which isn’t available on the iPhone. The few sources available so far have been less than satisfying. Now, CBS is coming into the ring with their own TV.com app.

CBS claims that TV.com will allow you to “catch full episodes of some of your favorite shows”. It should be noted that the“some” is a more of a majority. For most of the shows that I watch on CBS, either very few or no full episodes are available. Most web-only content from CBS properties like CNET are fully available, but the major shows are lacking. Instead of offering full episodes, short 1 to 2 minute clips are available.

The interface for finding shows and episodes isn’t drop-dead stellar, but it’s usable. One of the notable features being promoted with the TV.com app is the “My Feed” tab. “My Feed” aims to create and promote other content that they think you will like, based on shows and clips that you add to a list. After adding many shows and clips to the list, my personal feed didn’t update. After repeatedly attempting to get the feature to work, I continued to have no luck.

While it’s an okay start, the TV.com app has a long way to go. Navigation needs to be easier, and more shows need to be added. If you want to try it out, it is free and available in the app store.

This has turned out to be a help post as well as a help me post. I’ll deal with the help part first since it’s the easiest.

Have you tried to update your OS X to the latest version (10.5.6) through system update and found yourself staring at a non-moving progress bar forever? Many have had the same issue, me being one of them. There’s an easy fix (for most). Just download the Combo Pack and run it locally. Works like a charm (again, like I said… for most).

This brings me to the second part of this post…

After performing the previously mentioned task (twice, in one attempt to fix the issue below), I find myself with a fully updated MBP that has convinced itself that I have seven (7) displays attached. Now, not only do I not have any connected nor did I have any at the time of upgrade, but I can’t even think of how I would attach 7 displays to this thing. As cool as this looks, it’s not the case and I want it to go away. My system is creepy slow now. There’s gotta be something I can do. Any help? Everyone I have connected with tonight says a resounding “wow, I’ve never even heard of that before” … Well, now you have. What do I do?

Thanks in advance,

Brent

Sarah asks:

Hi! I just bought an Imac and am having difficulty transferring my itunes
library from my pc to my mac. I am transferring from Itunes to an external
hard drive using the add to library link in itunes and dragging to
applications. I am copying the library using the export function from the
pc. I seem to only be copying empty folders so no music is being transferred
although the process takes a long time. HELP!!
Also can I use yahoo as the server for mail on my mac. I seem to be having
trouble with the outgoing mail server.

Thank you, Sarah

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