Powerbook
”Apple's Sparking Power Supply Lawsuit Settled (Verdict: They're Paying)
The class action lawsuit brought against Apple for PowerBook and iBook power bricks with the potential to spark has been settled. If the final approval for the settlement goes through, Apple will pay $25 to $79 to customers who "bought an adapter made by Apple or another company to replace a failed one." [LA Times, photo from Don Ramsey]Laptop Accelerometers Used to Study Earthquakes, Desk "Bumping"
Seismologists at Stanford are learning from their roommates over in the biology department and rigging up a distributed computing system to gather quake data from laptops with accelerometers. It's used to save resources for scientists by using assets (your laptops) that are already deployed in a widespread area. They're rolling this out primarily in quake-heavy areas like SF and LA, but should be spreading to other zones later. More »Old, Beaten PowerBook Reborn as Shiny, New Desktop
If your otherwise perfectly functional PowerBook has fallen apart from rough handling, many would either pay big bucks for a new screen or just replace the computer outright. But one modder had a better idea: gut the components to create a sleek desktop system. More »Traveling Apple Users Cheer "The Continental" With a Glass of Champagna
World travelers will undoubtedly be thrilled with "The Continental Companion" and its ability to help Apple users utilize different power outlets without having to carry around a bulky power brick. The set includes four AC plugs (with a 12" whip) and it requires the portable power adapter that ships with the MacBook Air, MacBook, MacBook Pro, iBook and PowerBook G4. You can also use it with the iPod and iPhone USB adapter as well as the iPod FireWire Power Adapter. The Continental is available for $34.95. [incipio via Crunchgear]
How Fast is Apple OS X Leopard On Old Macs?
The minimum requirements for Apple's OS X Leopard are an 866Mhz G4 processor and 512MB of RAM. I happen to have an aging but still nice 1Ghz Powerbook with 768MB of RAM. Loading Leopard on it should tell us just how accurate those minimum specs are.
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Letterman's Producer Survives Sparky, Smelly, Smoky Powerbook
Justin Stangel, Head Writer/Producer of CBS's Late Show with David Letterman was innocently writing hilarious comedy in his New York office, when an ominous odor wafted from the adaptor of his Powerbook. You can actually see sparks and smoke coming out of it. Thank goodness cooler heads prevailed! Somebody opened a window.
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