at&t’s Global Text Plan; Good For The Comments Left Only.

at&t’s price gouging is only interesting for the comments left after the article…

Airport Network Not Recognizing A Time Capsule Hard Drive.

Symptom:
The Airport Network is not finding a Time Capsule Disk.


Possible Cause:
The base station is misconfigured, or corrupt.


Possible Cure:
Reset the Base Station, Softly:
Reset the Base Station, Brutally.


Reconfigure the darn thing.



1.) To reset the Base Station [either way], follow Apple’s instructions Here.  [<- Click]
A good article describing the location of the reset button for your model, how to perform a soft or hard reset, and what the ramifications of the said reset would be.


2.) Assuming the above didn’t work; Please deposit twenty-five cents for the next half-hour.

IF; The base station is the only wireless access point:
The Airport Utility located in  /Applications/Utilities  may ask you to restore your previous base station settings. Click ‘Restore’ to automatically re-enter those settings; after the base station reboots, try the wireless connection again. If all else fails, reconfigure the base station from scratch.


IF; The base station is part of a network (multiple router / gateways):
Consider these potential issues;


• A newer “dual-band” base station has two ‘networks', one for older [WiFi B, and WiFi G (faster) access], and a separate one for newer [WiFi N (even faster, and with greater distance potential) access].
If older (non-N) devices aren’t a consideration, then the router / gateway placement isn’t a problem. However, if older devices which can only connect to older (B, or G) networks are present, they can slow the entire network down to B or G speeds.

• The more networks present, especially for B and G networks [neighbours, and possibly other devices such as wireless phones, or microwaves], the greater the chance of conflict [11 channels or frequencies available; N networks have 149], resulting in slower speeds, and / or connectivity issues.

• The environment plays a part in the distance of a network; distances are quoted as "line-of-sight" [unobstructed]; variations such as buildings [their construction; vent work location, steel surroundings, wiring placement], and airwave congestion may restrict the access to a network.

• Current Comcast / Xfinity ‘Dory’ gateways [SMCD3GNV] cannot have their wireless network deactivated and, as such, always occupy a frequency.


That being read, you may need to consider the placement of the routers / gateways to compliment one another without conflict.

Do you wish to extend the network, like a Wireless Distribution System (WDS)? Several links to help configuring exist for different configurations:
[with Thanks to ddavel]

Airport Utility Help

Apple BaseStation Help

Airport Express for wired connection

Airport Express help

Apple Support Communities

Apple WDS B and G networks

Designing Airport Networks (Manual)

Advanced help
TechyV website
Various other issues examine here.

Sluggish Mac OS X Lion (10.7) Issue

Symptom: 
Mac sluggish [spinning color wheel, slow overall performance] after Lion (Mac OSX 10.7) installation.


Possible Cause:
A problem with or an incomplete OSX installation.


Possible Cure:
Please, as always, backup your hard drive before preforming the following.


1.) Close all applications, Reboot the computer; hold down the shift key after the reboot (bong) sound.   [Enters Macintosh Safe Boot]

2.) Run ‘Disk Utility’ located in the  /Applications/Utilities  folder.

3.) Select the “First Aid” tab in the top of the center window:

4.) Click on the 'child'  primary [boot] hard drive usually called “Macintosh HD” as seen in the above screenshot.

5.) Click “Verify Permissions”.
After completion, and if issues are found, Click “Repair Permissions”

6.) Next, click on the Main Volume (parent to the primary hard drive) as seen in the next screenshot below:

7.) Again, select the “First Aid” tab in the top of the center window, then click “Verify Disk”; and if errors are found, click “Repair Disk”.

8.) Reboot the computer, hopefully, the issues should be resolved.*



* If upon rebooting you are prompted the complete the Lion installation, do so as directed.

Mac OS X (10.7) Lion WiFi Not Connecting:

Symptom:
Airport shows connected to a network, the computer has an IP address, but has no connectivity.

Possible cure:
Open 'System Preferences’.

Click ‘Network’.
    -If the padlock icon (lower left of window) is locked, click it to enter your password.

Click ‘Location: ‘ and select ‘Edit Locations’.

Click the little plus sign to add a new location to the list.
    -name the location (for example: Default).

Insure the new location is selected (currently in use).

Optional: You can further set the connection priority by clicking the gear icon, and setting the service order.



The issue should be resolved.

Avatron Air Display driver issue under Mac OSX: Lion.

As mentioned at the bottom of the Avatron site

The Air Display host software runs well on Lion, but has this limitation: the built-in video driver on certain 2008 and 2009 Macs is incompatible with third-party video drivers. You can still install the Air Display host software, but until Apple fixes the issue, the Air Display drivers will disable themselves on Lion on these specific machines.

Affected machines include:

• 13" MacBook (aluminum late 2008, early, mid, and late 2009)
• 13" MacBook Air (late 2008, mid 2009)
• 13" MacBook Pro (mid 2009)
• 15" MacBook Pro (late 2008, 2.53 GHz mid 2009, mid 2009)
• 17" MacBook Pro (early and mid 2009).
• 20" iMac (early or mid 2009)
• 24" iMac (early 2009)
• 21.5" iMac (late 2009)
• Mac mini (early or late 2009, Server late 2009)
• Mac mini Mac OS X Server (late 2009)

Apple is aware of the bug. We are hopeful that they will release a fix soon.

Comcast / Xfinity Captive Portal Loop

Symptom: The browser will continue to display something to the effect of “Oops! You cannot surf yet.” even though you successfully completed the Comcast / Xfinity HSI activation procedure.

Cause: Most probably, you are running windows vista with an old router.

Possible cures:
• Reboot the computer.

• Reboot the modem and router.

• Kindly upgrade your router firmware.
Example:
Goto linksys.com, search for model WRT54G Version 3, click ‘Downloads’, download the firmware file to your desktop, enter 192.168.1.1, enter ‘user’ and ‘user’, click ‘advanced’, click 'Firmware Upgrade', click ‘Browse File’, locate the firmware file on the desktop, click ‘Upgrade’, wait 10 mins for router reboot, hold breath, depending on how long you’ve been waiting; cross legs, then click your homepage browser button.*


*YMMV(**), Please don’t follow the example to the letter unless you actually *have* the Linksys WRT54G Version 3.


**Your Mileage May Vary.

Steve Jobs assumes a lesser role at Apple.

Steve?!?

Apple’s fine.
God Bless Steve.


[From MacWorld]
"I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.

I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.

As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.

I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.

I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.

Steve"

AT&T’s New Text Plan Overcharges You by 10,000,000 Percent. Literally.

From Sam Biddle over at Gizmodo:
AT&T’s New Text Plan Overcharges You by 10,000,000 Percent. Literally.

Free SMS for iPhones? Yes, and No.

Quoting Dan Moren from MacWorld.com, the goldmine that is Short Message Service [a tiny amount of bandwidth with a huge price tag] will be free from iPhone 5 users to other iPhone 5 users through Apple’s servers. Moreover, it will likely cause a shift within the industry.

"Once iMessage rolls out, users of many of Apple’s more than 200 million iOS devices will be able to exchange text, picture, and video messages with each other for free. And, best of all, it’s completely transparent to users; iOS can figure out whether it needs to send an SMS or an iMessage, depending on the intended recipient. Apple’s legendary ease of use may deal the most significant blow yet to the existing text messaging model.”

Link:
at&t texting “streamlining” points to SMS’s slow decline.

Cepstral Voices and Mac OS X Lion:

The Cepstral voices will work with Lion (Mac OS 10.7).

Just re-install the voices.