Apple's current MacBook Pro specifications still list Bluetooth 2.1

There are a lot of rumors about an upcoming refresh for the MacBook Pro lineup, estimated improvements include the processor and not a major design overhaul.

Some authors have suggested that Apple will put Bluetooth 4 technology into the rumored MacBook Pros, like Apple recently did for the MacBook Air and Mac Mini, as well as the iPhone 4S. Having received a replacement MacBook Pro from Apple UK in late September (shipped form the US), I can verify that Bluetooth 4.0.1f4 is already present on my MacBook Pro.

Bluetooth 4.0.1f4 on my MacBook Pro (Early 2011)

The question is — has this been a quiet update in recent weeks, or has it been in the MacBook Pro (Early 2011) all along? Or did Apple mistakenly ship an updated model to me? The other specs (of the 2.2 GHz entry level version) are unchanged. More specifications of the reported Bluetooth 4 are below.

The Bluetooth 4 firmware version is: v37 c739, vendor ID: 0x5ac, and product ID: 0x821a

It happened to me, I left my MacBook Pro for a minutes, came back, and was surprised that my password didn’t work. I tried again, again, again… you get the picture. I was 100% sure my password was right, and I had not changed it. What was going on? Had I been hacked? No, the answer was simple.

Here’s how I solved it:

It turns out that since I had been doing some web development work for a foreign client, I had changed my Mac’s input source language to Czech to be able to use their accented characters (such as š, í, and ě) for a website).

Different input sources on a Mac.

Let’s move on. I don’t keep it a secret that my password has some numbers in it, and on a default Czech keyboard, the number buttons are primarily the characters I mentioned above — to get a number, you have to hold down Shift.

The Czech language keyboard layout on a Mac.

Luckily, I was able to remember which input source language I had switched to before I left my Mac and it went into sleep. The solution is simple: try to remember what input source you changed to, and find out what keyboard layout it has. Then type your password as it would be in that language, and hopefully it should work.

How do you avoid something like this happening again? For example, if the input source would have been Russian, there’s no way I could have logged in (with nothing but letters like з, п, р, ц, д, and я at my disposal).

Note: click any of the thumbnails below to see a larger version of the screenshot.

1. Open up System Preferences:

   

2. When it opens, click on Users & Groups:

   

3. Once you’re there, on the bottom-left of the screen click Login Options, and when that opens, click the lock icon and enter your password to make changes:

   

4. When all the greyed-out fields become active, make sure to check the box next to “Show Input menu in login window”:

   

5. Next time, when you try login or wake your computer from sleep, you’ll see a flag in the top-right corner of the screen, where you change the input source to suit that of your password… you’ll need that until Apple fixes this.

Users who did a clean install of OS X Lion, and backed-up their Skype conversation history folder will find that… well, they won’t find where to put it.

But fear not, here is how to restore your Skype chat history from Snow Leopard (Leopard and Tiger too, probably) to OS X Lion.

N.B. To see any of the screenshots in a bigger format, simply click them, and once you’re done, click your browser’s back button.

1. Quit Skype (press Command+Q or look in Skype’s menu bar):
2. Open Finder (go to your Dock and click it):
3. In the menu bar, click Go and then Go to Folder… (alternatively, you can press Shift+Command+G):
4. In the space that appears, type ~/Library/ and click Go (or press enter; alternatively, you could have typed /Users/Example/Library/ and replaced ‘Example’ with your Mac user):
5. Your library folder has now become temporarily visible to you. Navigate to the folder Library > Application Support > Skype and you’ll see a folder there with your Skype username (alternatively, in the Go function of Step 3, type ~/Library/Application Support/Skype and do the same):
6. Replace the folder with your Skype username that appears there with the one you backed upfrom your previous OS X and Skype; if a dialog asks you, click to Replace everything:
7. Give yourself a round of applause, because you are done — Start Skype and enjoy! Now you have all your conversation history from your previous Skype in your new Lion OS X.

As I mentioned in Step 5, these steps make the Library in your home folder visible only temporarily. For a permanent solution — have the Library folder visible forever, follow these steps:

1. Open Terminal (search in Spotlight or go to your Applications folder).
2. Copy and paste the following text and press enter:
   chflags nohidden ~/Library/
   
3. Start from Step 5 in the previous instructions as normal.

Leave a comment if this worked for you, or if you’re having any problems and have suggestions for anyone else.

By going to www.facebook.com/username we see a message saying:

Before you can set your username, you need to confirm your email address. Don’t see the confirmation email? Click the button below to resend.

You are not alone! To many others, it is a common sight:

Currently on Facebook's 'Username' page.

The problem is that when you click the button to “Resend Email”, then you’re simply told “An error has occurred”.

Without any guidance or explanation from Facebook’s part, this can be very frustrating for users that have recently accumulated the 25 ‘Likes’ required to set a username for their Facebook Page:

Error message when clicking "Resend Email" on Facebook's 'Username' page.

Many users assumed it was due to their internet connection, or a different problem on their side – browser incompatibility, errors with their Facebook account, problems with their email client, an unverified account, etc. But in reality, it seems that there is an error with Facebook. So hang on in there.

We will post the solution as soon as we find out, so to get the updates ASAP click here to subscribe (via RSS feed). (Or go to the very bottom of our website for easy-subscribing!)

Also, other users may have noticed that if you click on the “Resend Email” button too much, you will eventually get a message saying: “Block! You are engaging in behavior that may be considered annoying or abusive by other users.”

Facebook Block on 'Username' page when confirming email (too much).

So don’t click repeatedly! It won’t help. It will just delay your chances of getting your desired Facebook Page vanity URL, as you could be blocked for several days:

You have been blocked from confirming your email because you repeatedly misused this feature. This block will last anywhere from a few hours to a few days. When you are allowed to reuse this feature, please proceed with caution. Further misuse may result in your account being permanently disabled. For further information, please visit our FAQ page.

So stay tuned with BaumDesign!

Update: The problem has been solved! Simply go to www.facebook.com/username and proceed normally.

New iTunes 10.0.01 update Ping dropdown (Mac OS X Snow Leopard)

It shows even if you don’t have a Ping profile, and when you click it—it shows options to “Like”, “Post”, “Show Artist Profile”, “Show in iTunes Store”, etc. This new menu is similar to the iTunes Store arrows (which it seems to have replaced). There’s no option in the iTunes Preferences to remove this functionality.

So, how do I hide the Ping drop-down? Easy. As reported by a user on Apple Discussions, all you have to do is:

1. Open Terminal (search in Spotlight or go to your Applications folder)
2. Copy and paste the following, and press enter:
   defaults write com.apple.iTunes hide-ping-dropdown -bool TRUE
   
3. Restart iTunes, and the Ping drop-down in your library will be gone!

To undo this (make it come back), simply do the same, but instead use:
defaults write com.apple.iTunes hide-ping-dropdown -bool FALSE

That’s all folks. Now tell your Mac-user friends!

Actually, since WP itself is a very easy CMS to use for designers and programmers alike—dare we call it basic! Nonetheless, it’s very powerful and keeps with the times—continually supporting new themes, plugins, social networks, media, etc. However, everyone has different reasons for liking WordPress.

What are yours? Leave a comment.

Nowadays, where what comes out of people’s mouths has largely moved over to the internet—we’ve decided to gain a presence here, and perhaps find some interesting clients. We’re still continuing our word-of-mouth outreach, and actually keeping it separate from this—to observe the differences.

The BaumDesign Logo. Actually, it's not—we never had a logo before as there was no need for it. If you click on it, you can see where this great vector came from!

Although this is a free blog on WordPress, it’s a great service nonetheless. There’s actually nothing wrong with it. It’s a little difficult to overcome the initial hump of Google assuming that it may be used for spam, but after that, it’ll be a breeze. To add to our “big” cost-savings, we’re using a trusty Gmail address (just because it’s grown on all of us), which you can find on the BaumDesign contact page. We have also started a Twitter account, where we may, or may not post updates.

Yours,
Team BaumDesign

P.S. This nice WordPress theme was made by Jeff Ngan, we send our thanks, and of course appreciation for the intuitive layout and great color-scheme!