Hasta La Gadget!

MacBook Pro owner Ken Brinkman has been having some trouble with his notebook. After the Unibody MBP managed to trash not one but two magsafe power supplies, the logic board and fan died and the Mac had to take a trip to the Apple Store. Ken, quite sensibly, decided to run an immediate backup and went to bed, leaving the machine to send over 100GB of data to his Time Capsule.

A few hours later he woke up to the smell of burning plastic:

There was smoke coming out of the keyboard, around the edges and out the ports on the left side. It wasn’t a black smoke really, it seemed like a lighter, grayer smoke. The magsafe, though, was completely engulfed. There were green flames coming off of it. I had a folder underneath the computer too and that burned as well.

Ken’s local Apple Store says that it will replace the machine free of charge. Good news, especially as it had apparently just “fixed” it. But it doesn’t make the inferno any less scary. I actually unplug my MacBook most nights, but that’s because the glowing green “charged” light annoys the Lady. Now, though, I will make sure I unplug it every night, instead of just tossing my underwear at my desk to cover the light up.

MacBook Pro – Unibody MacBook Pro Fire! [Mac Forums via TUAW]

Photos: Ken Brinkman

Zoe Keating makes entrancing, hauntingly beautiful music using a traditional French cello, a MacBook, and an arsenal of audio-crunching software and scripts.

“My music is the fusion of information architecture and classical music,” Keating says in this Wired.com video. “The way that you problem-solve in the world of technology … really lends itself to problem-solving with the kind of music that I do.”

She’s one of a growing group of musicians who use computers to record snippets of music as they play. The computer records these snippets and then plays them back in loops, allowing Keating to create complex, layered compositions.

Keating, who was an information architect during the dot-com boom, sees work of making her music as similar to that of planning and building websites: In both cases, she says, she’s building large structures out of simple building blocks.

“It’s really neat when you build up all these little, small things, you can make something that is otherworldly,” Keating says.

A Keating performance is the audio equivalent of watching a bricklayer build a house: Her compositions start out simply, but as they progress, she adds successive layers of sound, stacking and removing them to create music that without computers would require a dozen musicians or more.

She makes it all happen using a MacBook Pro running Ableton Live and SooperLooper. She controls the computer primarily with her feet, tapping on a bank of 10 MIDI foot pedals near her chair. The pedals activate custom AppleScripts she has created, which in turn control the audio software, enabling her to create and play back sometimes dozens of simultaneous loops.

Wired.com visited Keating’s Bay Area studio to find out how she makes her music, what technology she uses, and whether becoming super-popular on Twitter (where she posts as @zoecello) has changed her life.

If you want to know more, you can watch the longer, director’s cut version of Wired.com’s Zoe Keating interview (playing time: 10 minutes 15 seconds). We also have a bonus video below: Zoe Keating performing a new composition, “Escape Artist.”

Sure, Apple just posted a record quarter of earnings, but it’s been taking a beating lately on the price issue — not only have cheap netbooks become the hottest category in the market, Microsoft’s Laptop Hunters commercials have reignited the Apple tax debate. That appears to have the wheels in motion in Cupertino: AppleInsider says the MacBook and iMac lines are soon to be bolstered with lower-cost options that should take some of the bite out of Redmond’s marketing. That’s certainly interesting, but here’s the real noise: according to AI, the low-cost machines are just an interim solution while Apple preps a new tablet line to take on netbooks directly without making any of the design sacrifices Steve Jobs has repeatedly pooh-poohed. Wild — but it jibes with those recent whispers about a Verizon / Apple meetup and those reports that Quanta’s busy building something with a 10-inch display. So — cheaper Macs in the short term, crazy-insane iPhone tablet / MID thing riding a unicorn sometime later. You believe any of that?

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Apple mulling price cuts, developing netbook competitor? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 20:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you, like many, lurved the secondary LCD MacBook mod then why not give it a go? Eddie Zarick has posted a tutorial listing everything you need including the $200 Century Plus One sub-monitor. The instructions are by no means exhaustive, but if your deftness with a soldering iron is equaled only by your Apple fanaticism then this is the job for you.

Filed under: Laptops

MacBook secondary LCD mod instructions available, napkin not included originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Apr 2009 06:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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By now you’ve probably seen Microsoft’s latest ad featuring Lauren, a woman who claims to be neither cool nor rich enough for a MacBook. Well Lauren, one of our readers has a gift for you.

Mitch Gewirtz of Michigan would like to give you his 17-inch PowerBook. For free. From Mitch:

Subject: I AM UP FOR THE CHALLENGE!

To whom it may concern,

I recently watched the new PC ad on television the other night about “Lauren” purchasing a laptop for under $1000.00. It was a great advertisement targeting everyday PC users. My only concern is that I feel the computer “Lauren” chose will not provide an overall positive experience. I am asking for your assistance to help me locate “Lauren”. I am willing to give her my 17″ Mac laptop “FOR FREE” so she can decide which laptop is superior without putting a price tag on it.

I do believe everyone on this planet is “cool enough to be a Mac person”.

Sincerely,
Mitch Gewirtz

We of course wrote back to Mitch to gauge his level of seriousness in this matter. His response:

Absolutely! I am serious!

I believe my 17″ G4 powerbook is still more advanced than any PC out there today. It is a very healthy laptop that has given me a wonderful experience the last couple of years. I truly believe if “Lauren” had a chance to use this laptop she would change her mind.

Can you help me locate her?

While Apple fanboys are a dime a dozen, we like Mitch’s attitude, a guy willing to put his money where his mouth is (even if that money is invested in an older machine he may be planning to replace). So Mitch, Gizmodo would like to support you on your quest to gift Lauren your PowerBook. We’ve got your back, buddy.

Lauren, where are you? Drop us a line (you can find my email on the side of the page). Let’s make this love connection happen.