Problem 4: Defective Battery

Problem: The MacBook's or MacBook Pro's battery goes down to around 5%~80% (varies for each battery, mine goes to around 35%) then shutdown with no warning. When rebooted (if able to) there is no window saying that the computer shutdown unexpectedly.

Cause of Problem: Defective Battery

Time needed: 2 minutes ~ 10 days

Model: Battery/Computer bought between February 2006 and April 2007 for MacBook or MacBook Pro

First noticed on: My MacBook

Solution:
1. Download the battery update. If it doesn't work go to step 2.
2. If your computer has been bought less than 1 year ago, go to step 4. If not go to step 3.

3. If your computer has an Intel Core Duo Processor and has been bought less than 2 years ago go to step 4. If not go to step 5.

4. Call apple and demand for a replacement. Get your computer and battery serial number out before you call them. If they reject at first, tell them that according to this page, you are covered (supposing that you bought your computer/battery between February 2007 and April 2007).

5. Go to a Retail Store to get it fixed. You will get 90 days of warranty for you battery. 

Or, you can buy a new battery for a more expensive price with 1 year of warranty.

Result: Your battery shouldn't have any problems.

Other: According to this page, Intel Core Duo MacBooks and MacBook Pros that are bought between 2007 February and April are covered for 2 years, even though the battery originally has a warranty of 1 year (including those with Apple Care). This can be a key tipping point for you to get that replacement.

Project 9: Introducing iPhones for Education

Project Description: To successfully introduce iPhones for educational purposes.

Cause of Project: To advance the school in to a "21st Century Environment"

Difficulty: Hard due to the complexity of many considerations

What I did: I was involved in a meeting today with Yoshi, a representative from Apple with accompany from his boss. Our main topic was to discuss the possibility of having iPhones used in our school. We started off by showing my blog, then moved on to discuss my current, main project. I also explained to Yoshi my role in the MS Student Tech Team, and what we have done, as well as future plans. When we started to discuss about iPhones, Yoshi said that the iPhone will bring a "21st Century Environment", which is definitely true. I then asked a series of questions to Yoshi:

Q1: Is it possible to restrict what the user can do with their iPhone? I mean, for the Mac there is Parental Controls, and Apple Remote Desktop, but what about the iPhone?

A: At this point, it is not possible to do so without hacking the iPhone itself.

Q2: Is it possible to be able to have a constantly updating digital list of all the school's iPhones and how much they are spending, as well as how they are being spent?

A: Softbank's package is a fixed price which includes internet access, mail and phone calls.

Q3: How about phone calls to other providers, like Docomo?

A: That's not included in the package. You should talk to some one from Softbank for more details.

Q4: Is it possible that apple can modify the iPhone so that it can't make any calls.

A: Well, the iPhone is a phone, so if you can't make calls that defeats the purpose.

Q5: Is there a way to remove the 5 people limit on iTunes U, since this is for education?

A: We can not change this, since apple has already placed specific copyright laws.

Q6: Can one application be installed on all of the iPhones?

A: This is similar to iTunes U, because you can only install one application per 5 iPhones.

Q7: So if I had 50 iPhones, I would have to buy the application 10 times to provide it to all the iPhones?

A: Yes.

Q8: The next version of Mac OS X, Snow Leopard is focused on reducing the size of files. Because of this, will iPhones be compatible with it?

A: There may be a newer version of the iPhone that will be compatible with it, or just an update. However, Apple is very strict on releasing information like this, so I personally do not know.

We also had Mr. Lockwood bargain with Yoshi for a Data Package at a cheaper price, instead of a package that includes phone calls. He then continued to talk about the possibility of apple creating a NetBook (but with it's own original name).

My opinion: I was not disappointed by Yoshi's answers, simply because I already knew that my requests were probably not going to be available at this point. Because of this, I disagree with having the iPhone used in the school at this point, since there is no way to restrict users or to even monitor what they are doing. And the fact that it can make phone calls, is some thing I see that isn't going end up as "educational" but more of "personal use". The only thing I think why this school should provide it, is because of it's "Cool Factor". Okay, not only that of course - it has wireless internet, a camera, downloads education podcasts, and offers applications like a Graphing Calculator (which would usually cost 10,000 yen to purchase). However, I personally do not think that students should have such flexibility with the iPhones, and I think that lending them is going to be a ticking time bomb. If you do not understand what I mean when I say a ticking time bomb, i'm talking about students watching the latest episode of Heroes, girls talking on them for hours with other service providers, or even worse, students throwing iPhones accidentally while playing iBowl. Before you know it, students grades will fall, while the bills never seem to stop going up. All is not lost for the iPhone though, since Yoshi will do some "homework" and it is only a matter of time before my requests becme true.

The Next Step: I think that we should start some heavy bargaining with Softbank for a data plan as well as other things.

Other: Questions and Answers were summarized

Project 8: Vimeo

Project Description: To get teachers to start using Vimeo to share videos

Cause of Project: Due to large (video) files on the school website, there is only 10% space left. Also, because of this it causes the website to upload slower.

What Vimeo is: A website that allows people to upload their videos and share them (like youtube). There is a maximum of 500MB per week and there is a range of privacy settings to protect your videos from unwanted guests, one being password-protect. You can also add contacts and subscribe to other people's groups or channels. In addition to that, you can also embed your video on to your website.

Estimated Difficulty: Easy

Estimated Length of Project: 1 week

What I did: Still yet to be done

Challenges: Still yet to be done

Status: Still yet to be done

Problem 3: Kernel Panic

Problem: The mac got a Kernel Panic

Cause of Problem: An "internal fatal error"

Time needed: 30 seconds ~ 2 minutes (Depends on speed of Mac)

Model: Any type of mac.

First noticed on: My MacBook (happened twice)

Solution: Follow the instructions telling you to shutdown/restart your Mac. You can not do anything else with your Mac including saving.

Result: Your Mac should work fine after you restarted it.

Other: If a Kernel Panic repeatedly occurs in a sequence, contact Apple.

Project 7: Starting up a Wiki

Project Description: To create a Wiki for the Middle School Tech Team using PBwiki

Cause of Project: Middle School Tech Team needed a Wiki

Difficulty: As easy as making a peanut butter sandwich (note the name PBwiki)

Length of Project: 1 lunch time

What I did: Used PBwiki to create a Wiki for the Middle School Tech Team. I organized the entries into categories/folders and used Glogster to create a "visual navigation tool" that is shown on the Front Page.

Challenges: None

Status: Completed

Other: To see how easy it is to set up a Wiki using PBwiki, go here.