Replace your iPhone 3G battery for $6

Need help with your Mac, iPod or iPhone? Contact Victor Orly!
(310) 891-6820 x101 or email vicblog@orly.com

It's a sad fact of life: iPhone batteries wear out. Most users learn this about 18 months after they buy one, when the phone can barely last a day without running out of juice. Sadder still: With iPhones sealed up tighter than an astronaut's flight suit, there's no easy way to replace a worn-out battery.
But there is a way. In fact, if your iPhone is out of warranty anyway (and at 18 months it undoubtedly is, unless you extended it) and you're reasonably handy with small tools, you can swap in a fresh, longer-lasting new battery. Your cost: As little as $6.
Start with the battery itself. Meritline sells a iPhone 3G-compatible 1600mAh battery for $5.99 shipped. The standard 3G battery has a capacity of 1150mAh, so in theory the replacement should give you about 50 percent more runtime.
Now it's time for some surgery. The iPhone may look airtight, but a little careful prying with an X-Acto knife (or similar tool) will get the case open.
To see how, check the nicely illustrated iPhone 3G Repair Guide at Rapid Repair. Once you hit Step 10, just swap in the new battery and close everything up. That's really all there is to it.
Well, almost. I've got a few caveats, starting with that warranty thing again: Opening up your iPhone will void your warranty. So will installing a third-party battery. This isn't a big deal if the warranty's already expired, but if it hasn't, take your iPhone to Apple. I understand they're good about dealing with battery issues.
The real caveat is that unless you're comfortable with tiny tools and electronics, you may want to hire a professional for this. It just so happens that Rapid Repair can do the job.
In fact, they have a pretty nice deal: $39.99 buys you a "lifetime battery," meaning Rapid Repair will replace it for you every 12 months. You'll also have to pay a one-time installation fee of $29.99 and cover shipping costs. Still, it's way cheaper than a new iPhone--and a bum battery is a chief reason people buy replacements.
Given that my 3G hasn't had its first birthday yet (it's a mere seven months old), I've yet to attempt a battery replacement myself. But when the time comes, I'll almost certainly rise to the challenge.
I've replaced iPod and Zune batteries before, and both times were a piece of cake. I've got to assume this isn't much tougher. If you've tried this option, let me know how it went!

New Apple Patent Points at Next-Gen iPhone Video Chat Again

Need help with your Mac, iPod or iPhone? Contact Victor Orly!
(310) 891-6820 x101 or email vicblog@orly.com

A new Apple patent on a motion-aware iPhone user interface points again at the possibility of a front-facing video camera for video chat in next generation iPhones. One that won't require the 3G videoconferencing kit.

The new patent describes a morphing interface that will adapt to the motion of the user. For example, if you are in a shaky bus, the elements on a list will get bigger so you can target them better with your fingers. In the patent, the drawings depict a front-facing video camera that—if implemented—will enable the possibility of having face-to-face real-time communications between two iPhone users or—hopefully—one iPhone user and a desktop iChat user. And yes, with "face-to-face real-time communications" we really mean video sex.

More Math, New vs. Old

Need help with your Mac, iPod or iPhone? Contact Victor Orly!
(310) 891-6820 x101 or email vicblog@orly.com

More math on the new systems....

Exclude the differences in hard drives (retail difference less than $50) and RAM (retail difference, less than $200.00)....

Old model prices:
8- core 2.8 GHz / 2 GB RAM/ 320 GB HD / ATI 2600XT Bang: 18,245 Bucks: $2,799.00 Bang / Bucks = 6.518 per $
8- core 3.2 GHz / 2 GB RAM/ 320 GB HD / ATI 2600XT Bang: 20.851 Bucks: $3,999.00 Bang / Bucks = 5.214 per $

New model prices:
8- core 2.26 GHz / 6 GB RAM/ 640 GB HD / 512 MB Nvidia GeForce GT 120 Bang: 18.088 Bucks: $3,299.00 Bang / Bucks = 5.483 per $
8- core 2.66 GHz / 6 GB RAM/ 320 GB HD / 512 MB Nvidia GeForce GT 120 Bang: 23.281 Bucks: $4,699.00 Bang / Bucks = 4.954 per $
8- core 2.93 GHz / 6 GB RAM/ 640 GB HD / 512 MB Nvidia GeForce GT 120 Bang: 25,644 Bucks: $5,899.00 Bang / Bucks = 4.347 per $

So basically the new models are a wallet ass kicking. Old models better bang for buck. The new low end 2.26 GHz system is just a little better in value than the old high end.

For the new high end bang / buck to be equivalent to the old high end (ignoring differences in hard drive, RAM and video card), it would have to be priced at $4,918.10 ((4.347 / 5.214) * $5,899) ... New 2.93 is 19.44% too expensive.


Rats.

Doing some math with the new "Nehalem" powered Mac Pro's

Need help with your Mac, iPod or iPhone? Contact Victor Orly!
(310) 891-6820 x101 or email vicblog@orly.com

OK so a buddy of mine at a local Los Angeles advertising agency sent me a link with benchmarks of the new "Nehalem" powered Mac Pro towers. People are scratching their heads about the higher priced & slower clocked Mac Pro's.

MacRumors.com Benchmarks

This is very reminiscent of the old "Megahertz Myth" days.

So Vic & his aerospace engineering degree did some math and is playing Devil's Advocate.

The previous generation "low end" 2.8 GHz 8 core got a score of 18,245 on high end render work, and the current "low end" 2.26 GHz got a score of 18,088 on multi-render operations.

Old 2.8 GHz 8-core: 18,245.
New 2.26 GHz 8-core: 18,088

18,245 / 18,088 = 1.008679787705, so the old low end was less than 1% faster. So if they made the new one 2.28 GHz, it would be faster than it, ho hum.

Yeah the new 2.93 smokes the old one (it would have been nice if they had benchmarks for the old 3.0 GHz and 3.2 GHz 8-core systems, but I did more math to address that below).

My only concern is the public perception that the old ones are slower, but I think pro users can see the pure benchmarks. Mom & Dad buying iMacs would scratch their heads if they released a slower clock speed machine for a higher price.

What I'm going to look for are the prices of the just discontinued systems, as the new ones cost more ... would like to compare bang-for-the-buck old vs. new.

And while these new ones are clocked lower, it just means that the new Nehalem processors are faster at a lower clock speed, and that'll give them more room to speed up for the .... ahem ... next generation.

If the old 3.0 and 3.2 GHz 8-cores increased speed linearly over the old 2.8, their scores would have been:

3.0 GHz 8-Core: 19,548
3.2 GHz 8-Core: 20,851

Thank makes the new 2.93 GHz 8-core 1.2298x as fast as the old 3.2 GHz 8-core. (25644 / 20851 = 1.229869071028), so a 23% improvement.

Scaling the new Nehalem to 3.2 GHz would give it a score of 28007, so...

28007 (Nehalem scaled to 3.2 GHz) / 20851 (Old 3.2 GHz 8-core) = 1.343 - so, at the same clock speed, the Nehalem is 34.3% faster than the previous generation.

So who has the previous generation price list for me?

Vic

The 17-Inch MacBook Pro (Unibody) Gets Lovingly Gutted

Need help with your Mac, iPod or iPhone? Contact Victor Orly!
(310) 891-6820 x101 or email vicblog@orly.com

Check out this take-apart of the new 17" MacBook Pro.

Apple launches unibody 17-inch MacBook Pro

Need help with your Mac, iPod or iPhone? Contact Victor Orly!
(310) 891-6820 x101 or email vicblog@orly.com

Apple at Macworld introduced a new version of the 17-inch MacBook Pro. The new model uses the same unibody aluminum construction of the 15-inch version and is just 0.98 inches thick -- enough to make it the thinnest 17-inch notebook ever, the company boasts. It now revolves around a 17-inch, LED-backlit 1920x1200 standard display that is much more accurate than in the previous generation: it claims a 60 percent larger color gamut, a clearer 700:1 contrast ratio and wider 140-degree horizontal and 120-degree vertical viewing angles.
The extra space is also used to ramp up performance and gives the system up to a 2.93GHz Core 2 Duo as well as room for up to 8GB of DDR3 memory. Battery life has also been dramatically improved, Apple claims: the stock model now lasts for up to eight hours of wireless use on a charge and has a lifecycle of up to 1,000 charges, making it more environmentally friendly than past notebook batteries. The feat is accomplished through a new intelligent system that adjusts the current to each battery cell on the fly to maximize the charge.

Expansion ports include a single FireWire 800 port, three USB ports, Ethernet, ExpressCard/34 and a Mini DisplayPort connector.

A single stock configuration at $2,799 is available and comes with a 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB of memory, 320GB of hard drive space and a 512MB GeForce 9600M GT for video. Users can custom-order the system to swap the hard disk for a new 256GB solid-state drive and to pick a new, $50 anti-glare display option for professionals who need to stress absolute accuracy. The system should be available today from the online Apple Store.

Strong Mac sales lead Apple earnings growth

Need help with your Mac, iPod or iPhone? Contact Victor Orly!
(310) 891-6820 x101 or email vicblog@orly.com

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Apple Inc. shares bounced back from a weak start Thursday as investors got behind the company following its second-quarter report in which strong sales of Macintosh PCs helped drive Apple's earnings up 36% from a year ago.

Apple rose $6.05 a share or 3.7%, to close at $168.94 after the company reported earnings of $1.05 billion, or $1.16 a share, on $7.51 billion in revenue for the quarter ended March 31.

During the same period a year ago, Apple earned $770 million, or 87 cents a share, on sales of $5.26 billion.

The results topped Apple's forecast for a profit of 94 cents a share and $6.8 billion in revenue. Analysts surveyed by FactSet
Research had estimated Apple would earn $1.05 a share on sales of $7 billion.

The highlight of the quarter was 2.29 million Macintosh computers sold, a 51% increase over the past year's second quarter. Barry Jaruzelski, a managing partner with Booz, Allen, Hamilton, said the results show that the Mac is now the driving the Apple machine.

"The Mac is on a tear," Jaruzelski said. "The halo effect of the iPod has resulted in a broader product portfolio, and now the Mac can pull the boat along for a while."

While the Mac has picked up steam, iPod sales showed some signs of reaching the plateau that had long been anticipated. Apple said it sold 10.6 million iPods during the quarter, just a 1% rise from the same period a year ago.
Gross margins as a percentage of revenue were 32.9%, down from 35.1% a year ago.

"The revenue and unit (sales) were very strong," said Shaw Wu, of American Technology Research. "However, the margins were lighter than expected." Wu cut his rating on Apple's stock to hold from buy on Tuesday. Complete technology coverage.
Apple also said it sold 1.7 million iPhones during the quarter. Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook said, "We're confident in hitting the 10 million (sales target) for the year."

In recent weeks, questions were raised about iPhone shortages at Apple retail stores, with speculation rising that the company was working through its inventories in order to prepare for the release of a third-generation, or 3G iPhone.
However, Cook said he believed the main reason for the lower stock of iPhones was because, "there are more phones being bought there with the intention of unlocking (the phone), which remains a significant number."
Guidance.

The upbeat earnings report had been tempered somewhat by one of Apple's typically conservative third-quarter outlooks, which came in shy of Wall Street analysts' estimates.

For its fiscal third-quarter, Apple expects to earn $1 a share on revenue of $7.2 billion. Analysts had previously forecast Apple would earn $1.09 a share on $7.23 billion in sales.

But Apple has a history of lowering quarterly estimates and then turning in results that are higher than expected.
BMO Capital Markets analyst Keith Bachman said in a research note that for the past three years, Apple has given a fiscal third-quarter outlook for earnings that would be below its second-quarter results, and then exceeded both numbers.

For example, last year, Apple reported second-quarter earnings of 87 cents a share, then forecast a third quarter profit of 66 cents a share. Apple ended up earning 92 cents a share for the quarter.

Bachman holds an outperform rating on Apple's stock. He also raised his current fiscal year earnings estimate for Apple to $5.13 a share from $5.10 a share.

Prior to the earnings call, Apple said it had acquired P.A. Semi, a privately held chipmaker based in Santa Clara, Calif. which makes power-efficient chips that are mostly used in networking and telecom equipment.
Apple didn't disclose terms of the deal, but reports said Apple paid $278 million.