Power Mac Center September 2007 Training Calender

The Power Mac Center Flagship Store is located at Level 2, Greenbelt 3 Ayala Center, Makati City.

Tel: 729-7087 / 88
Email: training [at] powermaccenter [dot] com

Disclaimer: PinoyMacLovers is not affiliated with the Power Mac Center. Please contact them directly for any questions regarding these seminars.

NJ Wizkid Unlocks iPhone

This is last week's news (which in the blogging sense makes it ancient), but in case you haven't heard this story yet, let me tell you about George Hotz. He is a very smart 17-year old from New Jersey who was able to unlock his iPhone via a rather complicated hardware unlocking method (as in taking the phone apart and doing stuff with it that is beyond the understanding of common folk such as myself). He has a step-by-step guide posted on his blog.

George devoted his summer trying to unlock the iPhone, and succeeded with the help of his online hacking friends and some generous donors. He is now in RIT where he plans to major in Neuroscience. He has also been interviewed by CNN, and has traded one of his unlocked iPhones for a Nissan 350Z (for himself) and 3 8GB iPhones (which he gave to three of the people who've helped him on his journey to unlocking it).

In a world that bombards us with images of dimwitted super sweet sixteeners and coked up young celebrities, once in a while it's nice to be reminded that there are teenagers out there with highly developed brains.

iPhone Unlocked

Engadget made an announcement a couple of days ago saying that a full SIM unlocking software solution has been developed for the iPhone. A team of programmers from iPhoneSimFree.com claims that they have finally cracked the iPhone's SIM lock making it functional using "any SIM card from any network provider in any country". According to their website, per unit licenses of their unlocking software will be made available to the public starting next week. Oh how much money they will make!

For those who are doubtful, Engadget has a video that shows their iPhone being used with a T-Mobile account.

[UPDATE 29-August-2007]
iPhoneSimFree has put up an FAQ section, which states that they "are hoping to release [the software] in the next 48-72 hours"

Free DVD Ripper For Mac OS X

A DVD ripper is an application that extracts the contents of a DVD-Video disc onto your hard drive. Here's one free DVD ripping app that you might want to try (still FREE as of this post):

Handbrake

Handbrake is an open-source video transcoder available for MacOS X, Linux and Windows.

It can capture from DVD-like sources such as VIDEO_TS folders, DVD images and some .VOB and .TS files.

It outputs to the ff formats: MP4 and MKV file formats, MPEG-4, H.264, or Theora video formats, and AAC, CoreAudio AAC (OS X Only), MP3, or Vorbis. AC-3 pass-through, DTS pass-through (MKV only) audio formats.

Oh and remember, ripping DVDs that you do not own the rights to and redistributing them is illegal.

Free FLV Player For Mac OS X - How To Play FLV On A Mac

How to play FLV files on a Mac...

If you want to play FLV (Flash Video) files on your Mac, you'll need to use a player that can handle FLV files. Here are a few recommendations (and all of them are FREE as of this posting):

1. Standalone Desktop FLV Players

Wimpy Desktop FLV Player by Wimpy - a Mac Flash video player that lets you watch FLV and SWF files from your desktop.

flvThing by Automagic Software - lets you watch FLV files from your desktop.

2. Perian

Perian is a free, open source QuickTime component that adds native support for many popular media formats including FLV, MKV, AVI, DivX, 3ivX, FLV1, FSV1, Flash ADPCM and many more.

3. VLC Media Player

The VLC Media Player is a free, cross-platform media player that supports a large number of multimedia formats, without the need for additional codecs. It can handle FLV, WMV and VOB files to name a few.

My picks:

I'd go with either Perian or the VLC Media Player since they will allow me to play not only FLV files, but other media formats as well. A plus for the VLC Media Player would be its ability to play videos in full screen. QuickTime won't let you do that unless you buy the PRO version.


Related articles:
Downloading Videos From YouTube And Playing FLV Files On Your Mac

Dusty iMac G5 Vent

I looked at the back of my iMac G5 the other day to plug something in one of the USB ports and realized that I've never really taken a good look at the back of my Mac since I got it about a year and a half ago. I came to this realization because when I looked slightly up, this is what I saw:

It was actually even a lot dirtier than it looks in the picture. The flash from the camera somehow made it look a little less dusty. In case you're wondering, that round thing is the vent where air is sucked in as part of the iMac G5's (the older versions have it placed somewhere else, if I'm not mistaken) cooling system. And I don't think having it covered in dust is a good thing. So do check those vents once in awhile and give them a good cleaning (using a dry cloth or tissue) to prevent dust build-up. Just a friendly reminder from PinoyMacLovers. :)