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Hey there!

We hope you had a great week - we are putting the wraps on a huge week of repairs and our techs are getting ready for a long weekend with family and friends, celebrating the 4th of July Independence Day.

We have a Restored Mac laptop special going out to our newsletter subscribers in just a few minutes. If you are missing our newsletters, you are missing some great discounts on our services and products. Get signed up here.

Today we had a client call in about a supposedly "new" 320 Gigabyte hard drive upgrade for classic PowerBook and iBook systems. The client chuckled as we informed him we had already performed hundreds of these upgrades to 320 GB for our long time PowerBook and iBook clients. We began performing this upgrade back in February, to rave reviews and we got some nice press throughout the Mac community when we first started the service. The client commented that it was nice to know we had more experience with this drive than the "press hungry" other repair center. Great way to end the week. :-)

Here's a $20 off coupon to get your own 320 Gigabyte upgrade for your PowerBook G4 or iBook...from the experts that invented the concept of overnight repairs - you guessed it, TechRestore.

Overnight 320 Gigabyte PowerBook & iBook Hard Drive Upgrade with Data Transfer & Free Shipping. Regular price $249 including Free Shipping - take $20 off when you use coupon code "EXPERIENCE" with your order.

The low $229 price includes a brand new drive, installation, data transfer and cloning of your old drive onto the new system.

Greetings!

Summer is fully upon us and I'm reminded of how much things have changed since I was a school kid, eager for 3-months of freedom. I'm pretty sure, actually I know for a fact that the main activity that I engaged in during summertime was keeping out of my parents way, being outside with friends, riding my bike to wherever it would take me. There was not much structure, lots of dirt, creeks, frogs, a turtle or two, big bags of crawdads, fishing poles, bag lunches, cut-off jeans, early morning paper routes, more dirt and lots of sun.

Now, my kids still have a little dirt and they are both enjoying their bike rides around the neighborhood, but there's way more structure in their lives - their activities are more managed, with summer camps and other activities taking up most of their time. And I'm not sure either way is better, my "huck fin" style summer or their activity-filled summer of 2009 - they are just so different. Is it the constant blast of the media that wants us to keep our kids closer to us, to be able to keep a closer eye on them to be sure their ok? Or is there just so much more for them to do then when we were kids? I'm not sure, but it's a big change and I'm constantly trying to bring back the simple pleasures of just hanging out with the neighbor kids, using your imagination to make up games and blowing out the "structured-play" that is so easy to fall into nowadays.

Two summers ago our kid project was building a clubhouse in the backyard and I'm please to report that the entire neighborhood enjoys it - especially after we installed a ladder from the front yard, over the fence and directly up to the clubhouse. I love hearing all the kids up there, making up games and creating their own fun. This spring I added a zip-line from the clubhouse out to a big tree in our front yard, which made our house even more popular with all the kids. It's just a 50 foot cable run, but the kids love it and it's one more way to get them outside the house.

When I was a kid, summer lasted about a year - at least that's what it felt like as I packed in as much fun as possible into roughly 90-days. Now, I watch the weeks go by quickly and think "Boy, it will be great once the kids are back in school!" I hope you have some great plans for your summer, some of which involve doing absolutely nothing - often the best type of "activity". :-)

Future Shock

Introducing TechRestore Downloads!

l've been wanting to add this feature to our site for years and now it's finally here - free screensavers, desktop images, PSP wallpapers and videos, in both iPod (640x360) and HD formats (1280x720). Our most popular videos are available for download now, and I'll be posting the rest soon. In the future, I'll also be adding other cool stuff as well, like iPhone apps, iTunes visualizers, etc.

No longer do you have to sift through our whole blog archive to glean the goodies, or wait for our videos to load on YouTube - everything that we feature here will be added to our new download section, for easy access and enjoyment. Our iPod videos are encoded in high-quality with stereo sound and are ready to be played on iPods, iPhones, Apple TVs or computers. The HD versions are 720p - better than DVD, blue-ray quality and are stunning on a big screen. Tip: even if your internet connection is too slow to watch one of our videos live, you can probably download it in an hour or so and then watch it, at full speed, on your computer, whenever you like!

Adding to these downloads, I have a new desktop background for ya. This image combines the classic, relaxing beach photo, with the geeky satisfaction of an x-ray view into a unibody MacBook Pro (x-ray courtesy of Jason de Villa, of Pasig City, Philippines). If you look closely, you'll even notice that we've upgraded this puppy to a matte-finish screen! In case you're wondering where that amazingly beautiful beach is, it's Pfeiffer State Beach, right here in California. Click here for the full size image, then right-click and select 'Save,' to get your copy.

Speaking of beaches, I just heard some good sunblock tech-tips from a former president of the National Dermatologists Association on the radio:

• Higher SPF is better, since application is rarely ever correct and products are actually tested at a level so thick that you'd be covered in a white film, if you used it that way.


• SPF rating only measures UV-B but UV-A also contributes to aging and cancer risk.


• Even high SPF products may not offer UV-A protection.


• A sunscreen is an organic substance that absorbs UV rays and a sunblock is a synthetic that reflects UV.

The big take-away from this seems to be that it's wise to limit sun exposure during the hottest part of the day and use your computer instead. (c;

Have fun & enjoy!
Brian Northway
brian@techrestore.com

iPhone 3GS Lands and Conquers


So, the new, speedier iPhone 3GS hit stores on Friday and Apple sold about a gazillion of them over the weekend. Well, OK, it was only a million, but it's still a huge number of phones sold in just two days. One cool thing that AT&T did last week was announce an expansion of the number of existing iPhone customers who would be eligible for a discounted price when upgrading to the 3GS.

On Tuesday, when I checked my price to upgrade to the iPhone 3GS from the plain 'ol 3G, here's what greeted me:

*You are eligible to purchase an iPhone at the full retail price. After 12/15/09, you may be eligible for a discounted upgrade price. Current prices:

$499 - 8GB iPhone 3G (black)
$599 - 16GB iPhone 3GS (black or white)
$699 - 32GB iPhone 3GS (black or white)

Well, that's no good, I thought. So on Thursday, I heard about AT&T's new policy, logged back in and saw these prices:

$99 - 8GB iPhone 3G (black)
$199 - 16GB iPhone 3GS (black or white)
$299 - 32GB iPhone 3GS (black or white)

Much better! My new iPhone 3GS is in hand and in pieces as I type these words. We have begun working on our version of the take apart video that have become so popular on the web. As you know, we do our take apart videos a bit different (better?) than everyone else, so it takes a bit more time for us to put them together - but we think they are worth the wait.

Here's a quick rundown on some of the new features of the iPhone 3GS:

3MP Camera with Auto-focus, tap to focus and Video (w00t!)

2x Speed increase

Voice Control

Compass

Cut, Copy and Paste (part of the iPhone OS 3.0 upgrade available for all iPhone users at no charge)

MMS

Voice Memos

Up to 12-hours talk time

Up to 9-hours WiFi Internet use

Up to 10-hours of video playback time

Apple has posted a nice video guided tour of the 3GS here. Have a gander and let me know if you think it's worth the upgrade price.

Speaking of Videos...

The folks at Slate.com called our recent Nintendo DSi take apart video a "Stop-Motion Masterpiece."

The CrunchGear.com editors had this to say about the DSi video :

"We've seen [other] teardowns of the DSi , but this one from TechRestore should be the new standard by which teardowns should happen."

Gizmodo.com finishes up the praise with this gem:

"New rule: All teardowns must be recorded in seamless stop motion, synchronized with music and give the impression that the gadget is actually dancing itself into pieces. TechRestore has used this technique before, and we've already glanced the DSi's innards, but the combination of a gratuitous teardown with Tim Burton-style animation is kind of perfect."

Click the photo below to watch the DSi Disassembly video in case you missed it. Our resident video Guru, Brian Northway will get working on the 3GS video and a few more surprises that we will announce in the coming weeks. Be sure to click the "HD" button to see the HD version of the video.

Weekly Specials

Onward to the deals! We are streamlining the way we present the specials this week, we hope you like the new format - I welcome your feedback. The coupons are valid through July 2, at Midnight Pacific time - you can use the links below or call 1-888-572-7372 to schedule your service or order a product. We are here to help M-F from 8am-5pm Pacific. Meet me in a few minutes after you check out the deals and I'll share a cool website pick with you this week.

Labels: 3gs, downloads, DSi, specials

Greetings!

We're up in the mountains this week, trying to unplug from the Grid, spending some quality time with the kids, cousins, brothers and Grandma's. I'm coming to you from high up on the deck, overlooking the hillside that is filled with pine, oak, manzanita and other native shrubs. My first task upon arriving was to get a WiFi network up and running - since I really can't get that far off the Grid, you know? Once the Airport network was setup, it was time to setup the 2nd most important part of the trip. Of course, I am referring to the BB Gun range. I brought the kid's Daisy BB guns with us, since the cabin we stay at is built into the side of a hill, presenting the perfect spot to string up some targets for the kids. After a short safety refresher, Skylar, Ethan and their cousins Colton and Chloe were able to commence firing from the deck, filling the targets with holes and pelting the soda cans that I had added to the lineup. I think it took about 10 minutes for the adults to come over to practice their aim.

Yesterday we hit the beach, enjoying the sun while the kids swam out to the floating trampoline, jumping to their hearts content. I'm not sure if the best part of the day was relaxing on the beach, eating the giant soft-serve Ice-Cream cone (OK, it was Ethan's but I stole about 5 bites), the ice cold beer or watching our kids and their cousins enjoying the water, the sand and the sun. Best thing is, I don't have to pick.

Today we made our way to Yosemite, landing down on the valley floor with our first stop at the meadows below Yosemite falls. This favorite spot is where we have taken family pictures each time we make our way to this incredible venue. We typically don't get here until later in the summer, so we enjoyed the massive amounts of spring run-off making its way down one waterfall after another. There was so much water pounding down Yosemite falls that about halfway down it's vertical drop, it began spreading out, sheeting hundreds of yards of the granite cliff in water - it is quite a site. After the meadow we hit the museums, spent some time learning about John Muir and then made our way to the Indian Village where the kids ran from one bark covered structure to another. We finished up with a few more treks around the valley floor before we headed up the hill back to our cabin.

On the way back home, we made two stops, finding two hidden GeoCache's (see this week's Website pick below for more info about this cool game) along the way, one named Rim of the World that Ethan found within about 2 minutes of arriving at the site and the second named Mary Had a Little Lamb that I stumbled upon after digging through the brush for about 30 minutes. I'll fill you in more at the end of the newsletter.

Right now I'm sitting out on the deck, listening to a symphony of crickets, my MacBook Pro keeping me warm while the bugs dive bomb my screen every few minutes. Life is good and it's times like these that I am reminded how fortunate I am to be able to work from just about anywhere, anytime, on something that I pretty much enjoy talking about 24/7. Scary, I know.

Alright, before we jump into the Specials, Brian has some exciting news to share with you about a brand new website we are launching to celebrate one of life's shared experiences. Read on for more....

Future Shock

Introducing Gadget Gore, the place where gadgets come to die!

The inspiration for this site came from the repairs we get in. Every once in a while there's something so strange or extreme, that the techs will say, "you gotta see this!" It might be an iPhone with a completely shattered screen, or it might be an iBook that was accidentally left on an electric stove burner. Somehow, these things are just fascinating to see. Now you can see them too, and even upload your own photos to be posted on Gadget Gore and included in the Gadget Gore FaceBook Application!

Upload Now and be among the first to immortalize your tragedy and share your pain with the world!

This week's screen saver is - you guessed it - inspired by our new website. Ghosts of dead gadgets fly mournfully through the night in the Gadget Gore graveyard. It's never too early for Halloween, right?!

Download and installation instruction link

Don't forget that our screensavers will play in QuickTime or Safari, without ever being installed, if you just want to appreciate the show. You can even use them as iChat or Photo Booth backgrounds!

Continuing on this week's theme, I've got a Gadget Gore "I see dead things" desktop image for ya. Made to fit even the largest monitor, this image will shrink perfectly to fit any display or resolution. Click here for the full size image, then right-click and select 'Save,' to make it your own.

Onward to the deals! With Shannon away, I'll be writing up the specials. How 'bout we cut to the chase today and just list the essential info? (c;

The coupons are valid through June 24th, at Midnight Pacific time - you can use the links or call 1-888-572-7372 to schedule your service or order a product. We are here to help M-F from 8am-5pm Pacific. I'll see you at the bottom of the Newsletter with a very cool Web Pick.

Enjoy!

Labels: desktop image, news, screensaver, specials

This has to be the best visual pun I've seen in a very long time. Rob, from cockeyed.com had the Kindle image laser cut onto a piece of wood the same size as the real thing. Read about the process and see it being used to start a fire here.

Labels: Amazon, Kindle, wood

Greetings!

Indulge me for a few minutes as I lament the loss of the American car. About the time I was 14, I had developed this fascination with Jeeps. As a teenager, pretty much all I could think about was how I was going to get my hands on a car by the time I turned 16 - I was convinced I had to have something in place BEFORE I got my drivers license, so I could be driving on day 1. I scrimped and scrounged, worked fast food, dug ditches, pretty much anything I could to earn enough cash to make the dream a reality. Right about this time, my parents decided to sell their sporty little Datsun (yes, they were not known as Nissan yet) 280z. One evening as I was getting home from working at our local Hallmark store (master box un-packer), I came around the corner of our street to view a bright red masterpiece sitting in our driveway.

I slowed my bike and cruised into our garage, watching my Dad walk what I assumed was a prospective buyer for the sports car around the Z. Sure enough, I soon learned that not only did this guy want to buy the Datsun, he was looking to sell his Jeep. Inside my scheming teen brain, I was already 10 steps ahead of everyone else, picturing myself driving down the street in said Bright Red Jeep by the end of the day. The fact that I didn't have enough money to buy the thing didn't enter my mind. As things turned out, a little of my cash, a loan from my parents (making your kids by their own car was a big deal back then) and some late night negotiating on my part put my rear end into the drivers seat of that bright red Jeep within 48-hours. And love at first site it surely was.

The great thing about a Jeep as a first car is that the thing could have been made by Lego - all the pieces came off easily and went back on with a little more work. So, here I am, 15-years old, Bright Red Jeep sitting in the driveway - no drivers license to enjoy her with. I spent the summer of my 15th year scouring every magazine I could about Jeeps, learning about all the fantastic modifications that could be performed and all the incredible places that I could be transported to. It was hell. Like being stuck in the desert, with a canteen just out of reach. My birthday could not arrive soon enough.

I woke up on that 16th day of August, running myself down to the local DMV to take the test . Back then, there were no restrictions on under 18 drivers, so within about an hour of passing my drivers test, I had a Jeep loaded with my buddies and we were digging through the mud and rocks up along Shell Ridge, learning about what that Bright Red Jeep could handle.

Thus began my love affair with Jeeps, trucks and American iron and four wheel drive vehicles in general. Now, as I see the American auto industry crumbling before my eyes, I am lamenting the loss and am dumbfounded as to how we got to this place. Yes, Chrysler had to be rescued by the taxpayers back in the 80's, but who would have ever believed that GM and it's 463 subsidiary companies would ever be walking into bankruptcy court with their heads hung in shame? There's plenty of blame to go around, disconnected management building boring cars that people don't want to buy, overpaid executives and a union that has squeezed the golden goose dry - take your pick.

And now, we all own a piece of Chrysler and GM - nice. Do I have to claim that on my tax returns next year? Unfortunately, it seems to me that we get all the downside exposure with little chance of reward if things turn around for these companies. Here's hoping that these folks can learn from these mistakes and jump start their companies so we can fall in love with our cars again. In the meantime, there's this bright red Jeep (with four doors no less) sitting in the Jeep dealership down the street that has been flirting with me as I drive buy each day on the way to work...

Apple WWDC Next Week!

If you're nuts about the Mac and the iPhone like we are, next week is a big week for all of us. Apple is holding their Worldwide Developer Conference June 8-12 in San Francisco and we should here some good news from the Mothership about the new iPhone 3.0 operating system, possibly a new iPhone and heck, they may even talk about Macs.

Here's a quick rumor roundup about next week's event for your enjoyment:

Apple WWDC Official site (but that's no fun)

Jobs sighted, reality distortion field primed for WWDC?

WWDC Banner Revealed: One Year Later, Light-Years Ahead

New iPhone, OS 3.0 and Push Notifications Ready for WWDC 2009?

moconews - iphone 3G Shortages Hint At New Devices Coming Soon

Apple WWDC rumors: MacBook speed bumps, pro application upgrades (but where’s the netbook?)

AppleInsider | 1 Infinite Cantina: WWDC Rumors Fly

Here's a great image of all the possible iPhone enhancements coming our way.

We'll have all the WWDC actual news and announcements for you here next week.

Follow us and Win and win a 160 Gigabyte iPod Classic

This morning we rolled over the 500 mark on our Twitter followers! Thanks for your support and for your help getting us to our goal this week! Your reward is a special Twitter only coupon code that will go out to our followers tomorrow in the morning - you will not want to miss it.

So, the coupon is reason number one to follow us on Twitter.

Reason number two is that when you follow, you'll be automatically entered to win a 160GB iPod Classic in June!

Reason number three is that you might actually enjoy it and find it useful from time to time. We can only hope. ;-)

Mini Exploded T

Our Shirt of the Week is for all you Mac mini owners out there that want to show the guts of your machine to the world. Wear it proudly, mini owner! And for just $14.40, how can you resist?

Check out this shirt and our entire selection here: http://techrestore.com/shirts

Future Shock

Hello there - it's great to be back! I wrote a little bit about my vacation in Georgia and Florida, in the News Blog, but I have to tell you that Panama City Beach was certainly the highlight of our trip. On the left, you can see the view from our 22nd floor, beach-front condo and, in case you're wondering, there was endless beach in both directions. Since my vacations usually involve some kind of culture and/or wilderness, the resort experience was new to me. With no gear to haul, no schedules and no language barrier to negotiate, the only sweating that we did was from the sun on the beach. Even then, a cold beer or refreshing swim was never more than a few steps away. Walking from our room down to the water took so little time and effort that I'm pretty sure I burn more calories going downstairs to use the bathroom at home each day.

Lounging aside, the food was also amazing. Most memorable were the grouper with crawfish sauce that I had, at Pineapple Willie's, and the conch fritters, at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville.

This week, I have a screen saver inspired by the warm Gulf waters of Panama City Beach. Bring some summer to your screen with the TechRestore Bubbles Screensaver, and enjoy swirls of bubbles as the TechRestore logo swims endlessly through the clear, blue, digital sea:

Download and installation instruction link

Don't forget that our screensavers will play in QuickTime or Safari, without ever being installed, if you just want to appreciate the show. You can even use them as iChat or Photo Booth backgrounds!

Continuing the fun, this week's desktop background will turn your computer screen into a Lite Brite! Digging through some old files, I ran across this photo of a classic CRT iMac screen that I converted into a Lite Brite display, a few years back. Since the holes aren't arranged in a standard grid, making letters was tricky, but I think it turned out well. Big enough to fill a 30" monitor, without being zoomed, this image will shrink to fit any display or resolution perfectly! Click here for the full size image, then right-click and select 'Save,' to make it your own.

Please e-mail me any comments or suggestions that you may have for screen savers, desktop images, videos or anything else, at brian@techrestore.com

Enjoy!
Brian Northway

It's time to announce another iPod Touch winner!

If your name is Maged Ibrahim, you have just won the latest iPod Touch contest! We certainly appreciate the time all of our clients have spent completing surveys in our quest to provide all of you with superior service.

I must address the fact that many of you received duplicate survey emails this last week. The duplicate emails were an error, of course. I know that getting multiple emails is an annoying waste of time, and I certainly apologize for the inconvenience. To be honest, I spent the weekend cringing each time I received another email from you regarding your receipt of two or more surveys. If I had my webcam on, you would see a very red face! Again, I apologize from the tips of my fingers to the bottom of my heart. Thank you to all of you who completed our survey, and thank you to those of you who alerted me to the annoying duplicate emails. We at Techrestore continue to take your survey answers very seriously. We look forward to the compliments as well as the criticisms, as we learn from both. Your feedback allows every department in our company to come together and discuss and improve our service. Thank you for your time; it would be impossible to find our way to superior service without you.

Thank you,
Stacey Kronmal

Check out this week's deals in the Special News! The coupons are valid through June 11, at Midnight Pacific time - you can use the links or call 1-888-572-7372 to schedule your service or order a product. We are here to help M-F from 8am-5pm Pacific. I'll see you back at the bottom of the Newsletter with a very cool Web Pick.

Labels: desktop image, news, screensaver, specials

Here's the insider scoop on the new PSP Go:

• No UMD Optical Drive
• Wicked Graphics
• Weak Controls
• iPod Sized
• No USB
  

Maybe having the graphics power of a PS3 in your pocket will make up for the tiny buttons and analog stick. Only time will tell.

One thing is for sure: with 16GB of on built-in memory and a Memory Stick Micro expansion slot, there'll be plenty of room for music, movies and PSN games. This little puppy is gonna give the iPod touch some tough competition for pocket space!

Labels: games, PSP Go, Sony

If you own a MacBook Pro manufactured between May 2007 and September 2008 and you are experiencing a video problem, we have some good news for you. If your LCD display is showing distorted video, or no video at all (on the LCD or external display), you may be eligible for an extended warranty repair from Apple at no charge.

It seems that NVidia, the supplier of the GeForce 8600MT graphics chip on your MacBook Pros motherboard, had some problems with their chips due to a packaging defect. Due to this, Apple will repair your MacBook Pro for up to 3-years after the date of purchase, even if your MacBook Pro is out of warranty. Be sure to KEEP YOUR ORIGINAL SALES RECEIPT, since you will need this to show the date of purchase - if you don't have your receipt, you will only get the warranty coverage for 3-years from the date of manufacture, not from the date you purchased your Mac. You can check your manufacture date of your MacBook Pro here.

To check to see if you have the GeForce 8600MT on your MacBook Pro, just select "About this Mac" from the Apple menu, then click the "More Info" button. Then select the "Graphics/Displays" from the list on the left side of the window. Of course, this is assuming you can still see video on your screen.

If you are having the described video problems, visit the Apple Support website for instructions on getting your MacBook Pro repaired. If your MacBook Pro has a video problem (or any other problem, for that matter) and you don't qualify for the extended repair coverage, be sure to contact TechRestore for help - we're saving the planet, one Mac at a time!

This is Brian, saying hello from Georgia. The weather is beautiful here at the moment, though last weekend it was unbearably humid, with the warmest thunder storms I've ever experienced. We had a taste of local food today, at a place called the Golden Corral - so named for the way throngs of people are herded through the buffet, I suspect. However, the wait staff was amazingly nice and the food was equally impressive. Among the local delicacies that we tried were boiled peanuts, fried okra, fried chicken giblets (I passed on the fried chicken liver). All were great, believe it or not.

We enjoyed the facts and artifacts in the Gone With The Wind museum, here in Jonesboro, and had a few solemn moments at the cemetery called "Confederate Dead," surrounded by a hundred unmarked graves of those killed in the "War of Northern Aggression," as the Civil War is sometimes referred to down here. The oak trees, dripping with Spanish moss, added eerily appropriate ambiance, as we considered how far the nation had come, since being divided by war.

Under the endless rows of buildingless, concrete, roofs at the daily Farmer's Market, the locals seemed amused at my California accent, as well as my purple shoe-laces. Oh and, in case you're wondering, people in Georgia really do say "y'all come back now, ya hear?"


Our side trip to Panama City Beach, Florida was just awesome, with weather in the high 70s to low 80s and just the slightest, warm breeze. The endless beach was so white that it looked like snow and the water was a clear shade of teal, carried up from the Caribbean, on the currents of the Gulf stream. Warmer than the pool, but just cool enough to refresh, the ocean was amazing (though my girlfriend, Cynthia, might not agree, since she was knocked off her feet by the surf more than once). Best of all, we got an amazing deal on our room since, this time of year, it could just as likely be windy and rainy - gotta love internet 'gambling!'

That's all for now. I'll post some photos and videos when I return, next week.

Y'all come back now, ya hear?!

Labels: Florida, Georgia, Travel

Greetings!

Summer reared it's hot head over the weekend around here, with triple digit temps reminding us of what is in store during the next few months. As the heat set in on Friday, Ethan and I attending the annual school overnighter while Renee and Skylar headed out to Briones for the Girl Scout Camparee. The Cub Scouts host an annual overnight "camping" trip out in the field on campus each spring where the boys and families can hang out, do some woodworking and leather crafts, eat Pizza, pitch a tent, watch a movie and generally go nuts with their buddies. We started the event at around 5PM and with Ethan's help, I got our "tent" unpacked and we started to set things up. After a few minutes, I realized we had a problem. The "tent" had way to much mesh, you know, the screens they use for windows. Well, this thing seemed to be ALL window. That's when I looked a little closer and realized that I had packed our big screen house thing that is great to put up when you have a million yellow-jackets trying to attack your "bacon and eggs Sunday morning camping breakfast." But, you can't sleep in the thing. So, I left E at school and headed back home to find one of our three tents - good thing we weren't up in the mountains...

Back at school, we got about 30-40 tents setup and the boys were busy building with wood scraps and creating pretty much whatever type of "weapon" they could with the bits of wood and nails. Before long, there were raging battles going on across the school field, with the tents being used as bunkers and forts. Then we broke out the water rockets and spent the next 30 minutes shooting soda bottles into the air while the "Launch Team" below got soaked with water.

Once the sun went down, the boys did skits, told jokes and generally made fools of themselves before it got completely dark - good stuff. I then turned on the fans to blow up our big outdoor movie screen, fired up my MacBook Pro and plugged in the projector to enjoy Bolt for the next 90 minutes. I used our iPod Hi-Fi speaker to blast the sound out into the crowd of 60 people and it worked great. Too bad they discontinued the Hi-Fi speaker, it really is a performer and has made many a movie, camping trip and party more enjoyable. By around 10PM, the boys we're in their tents and with only 10-15 minutes of giggles and jokes, everyone shut down for the evening.

Scene 5: Lord of the Flies. Around 6AM, I heard groups of footsteps running by our tent, over and over. The sounds of running feet were followed by whispers that I'm sure contained attack plans, coded messages and other assorted mayhem. I gave Ethan a nudge, since I didn't want him to miss out on the fun with his buddies. It didn't take long for the entire camp to come awake and for the battles to start raging once again. With a large helping of Coffee, the adults cleared their fuzzy heads and by 8AM we had pretty much packed up the "camp" and were headed home for Ethan's early morning Baseball game. All in all, a great time and a great way to start Summer off.

Mac OS 10.5.7 Update

We're all for the latest Mac OS X updates - typical security updates, bug fixes and application updates are great. However, if you're not careful, a system update can wreak havoc with your Mac. Since the 10.5.7 update was released, we have had a number of systems come in for repair with related problems. I'm sorry to say that I even got stung with this one and have spend a few hours cleaning up from the 10.5.7 debacle on my MacBook Pro. Thus, we are not recommending the Mac OS 10.5.7 update UNLESS you follow these steps:

1. Don't use Software Update. Instead, download the standalone "Combo" updater.
2. Reboot into Safe Mode.
3. Run the Apple Disk Utility application and perform a Permissions fix and hard drive repair.
4. Run the Combo 10.5.7 updater.
5. Immediately repair permissions again using Apple Disk Utility.

Thanks to our friends at MacFixit.com for these tips - be careful with this update, we are seeing a lot of machines coming in with problems related to 10.5.7.

Thanks for Following!

WOW, what a great response to last week's mention of our Twitter feed! We've quickly gotten over 400 followers, and more and more past, current and future TechRestore customers are following us each day. Help us get over 500 followers and I'll tweet out a special coupon code for you that you won't want to miss!

If you are using Twitter, click over to our page to follow us and we will follow you (no stalking, we promise). We look forward to integrating Twitter updates more and more into our daily workflow. Follow us here: twitter.com/techrestore

PSP Explosion Shirt

Save this week on our very popular Exploding PSP shirt! Show your gamer pride and show off the inner workings of the Sony PSP for just $16.99 ($3 off) when you order by 5/31/09

Check out this shirt and our entire selection here: techrestore.com/shirts

Future Shock

This just in: the TechRestore News is now available on the Kindle! Subscriptions are only $1.99 a month. Although we'd make it cheaper if we had any control over the price, for a mere 50¢ a week, you can enjoy us anywhere your Kindle gets a singnal - even if there's no internet access!

Unless you're a gamer or a 3D animator, few things show off your computer's capabilities, in such a fun way, as a screen saver. Since we've gotten such an awesome response to our last few screen-savers, I'm going to keep the ball rolling with another way to amaze and amuse. This screen saver draws three-dimensional trails, like a skywriting airplane, and then spins them around, for viewing from different angles. I call it the TechRestore Moleclues Screensaver, since it reminds me of a lab display in some sci-fi movie or show, but it could be bubbles or balloon animals or any number of things, depending on how you look at it:

Download and installation instruction link

Again, don't forget that our screensavers are actually .qtz (quarts composer) files, which will play in QuickTime or Safari, without ever being installed. You can even use them as iChat or Photo Booth video backgrounds! If you really want to show off, you can use a freeware program, called Quartz Desktop to make a .qtz file, like the one above, your animated desktop image. Since Macs have quartz extreme core-animation built-in, this is an effortless task that won't even slow down your other applications - let's see a PC do that without crashing! If I could see my desktop, through all of these icons and windows, I'd totally use it.

Speaking of desktops...for those of you who desperately tried to get a clear shot of the Back To The Future DeLorean, but were unable to take an unobstructed photo, through the masses mobbing our booth at Macworld Expo, here's one I took, just before we drove in to the depths of Moscone Center. It makes a great desktop image and, at 2560 x 1600, it fills a 30" Cinema Display at it's highest resolution, without being zoomed! Click here for the full size image, then right-click and select 'save.'

If you don't have a Mac, do yourself a favor and join the club. If you can't view my screensaver/graphics because your operating system is older than Tiger, see what you've been missing and upgrade to Leopard.

I'll be on vacation next week, so these will have to hold you over until then. One of our destinations is Panama City Beach, Florida - home of the MTV spring break and the world's largest nightclub. Ahh, but I'll be thinking of you all, as I'm lounging on the beach, surrounded by well oiled hotties wearing bathing suits as as small and colorful as iPod nanos. (c;

Enjoy!

Brian

The Specials

And now, here come the Specials! As usual, you can use the links below each product to schedule service or feel free to call 1-888-572-7372 to speak to one of our handy-dandy customer service folks. The coupons are valid through May 31st, at Midnight, Pacific time. Meet me at the bottom of the Newsletter for this week's website pick.

Labels: Amazon, desktop image, Kindle, screensaver, specials

I had assumed that the whole world had already seen the MacBook Wheel announcement, back when it came out back in January, so I was shocked to discover that some avid Mac fans actually missed it! If you are one of these sad few, you have to check out the MacBook Wheel launch video, from the Onion. You may even need to watch it a second or third time, to read the 'predictive sentences,' and the news feed scrolling across the bottom.


Stay tuned for this week's news - it's almost done!

Labels: macbook, onion, video, wheel