Ask TUAW: This week's answers; Call for Questions renewed

Last week we issued the first call for questions for the Ask TUAW weekly help column and now it's time to take a shot at some answers. Thanks to everyone who submitted a question. And since we'll be back next Wednesday, we want to renew the call for questions. Please submit your question via the comments page (put Ask TUAW in the subject), or just by leaving a comment to this post. Although we will try to be as helpful as possible, we may not be able to answer all questions. And naturally we invite our other readers to pitch in with suggestions as well.

Read on for this week's questions.

CuriousMac asks:

Is the discoloration still an issue with the white macbook or is it safe to go out and buy one without any fear of yellow stains?

As the owner of a discolored MacBook I have some experience with this. According some some reports on the web this was caused by a manufacturing defect involving the original case plastics. Apple reportedly changed the case plastics quite some time ago and any MacBooks now being sold should be okay (from personal experience I know of a friend with a MacBook bought in August showing no discoloration).

Apple Insider claims that Apple will repair any computer affected that falls within a certain range of serial numbers. If you have a problem you should contact AppleCare or bring the machine to a genius bar at an Apple Store. If you have any trouble reference the AppleCare Knowledge Base document 304058


Magnus asks:

HOW do I get rid of the region code on the DVD-player in my MBP?

I just want to watch my DVD:s, some of them have different region code than the one we use here (region 2, Swe). It's really annoying, especially since I can watch them on any regular DVD player (all sold in Sweden are region free). Is there something to do, to make this silly region coding go away?

TUAW reader Julian suggests that VLC may be able to play discs from out of region. However, according to this thread over at MacNN, Apple switched to Matshita RPC-2 drives in the Intel Macs so the region code is held in the firmware of the drive itself and no software solution will fix the problem (you would need a region-free firmware from a third party, but it appears that that won't be coming any time soon). If you're really serious about it you might consider replacing your Matshita drive with a Pioneer drive that is flashable with DVRFlash.

Workarounds: (1) a poster on the MacNN thread, mattfaulds, claimed that you could play a disc with VLC if you ignored the out of region warning. Since I have no out of region discs I cannot confirm this. (2) Several people have reported success using the MacTheRipper or Handbrake to rip the disc to your hard drive and playing it with VLC from there (I also cannot confirm this). (3) A kind of lame work around is to get an external USB or Firewire drive that you could flash.


Alex asks:

How do you do startup commands (ie zap PRAM, Open Firmware) with only a wireless keyboard and mouse?

According to Answer #6 on the AppleCare Knowledge Base document 86651 you should have no problem using an Apple Bluetooth wireless keyboard to get into Open Firmware, however if you are having problems you may need to update your Bluetooth firmware.


John asks:

Hi, I have been preparing to make the full switch-over to Apple for a few months now... My question is this: what is TUAW's favorite bluetooth mouse (and keyboard if you have a favorite) for the Mac OTHER than the mighty mouse. The mighty mouse's side buttons are difficult for me to press and I want something that conforms to my hand (I'm right-handed. Also, a dedicated right-click button would be nice. Thanks!

One last thing...Any recommendation for bluetooth headphones to listen to music around my room?

First of all, welcome to the light side John! I personally like my wireless Mighty Mouse, but I know many (including our fearless leader) do not. Just about any Bluetooth compliant mouse should be usable on your new Mac (though you may not have access to all the buttons until Overdrive supports Bluetooth). Unless you're on a MacBook (Pro) and need a notebook mouse I'd probably second Scott's recommendation of a Logitech Revolution (even though it is not Bluetooth), as it comes with Logitech's Control Center software.

Regarding your second question, that's unfortunately a bit of a soft spot in the Mac's Bluetooth support. Although the Mac supports wireless voice headsets (like those used with cell phones) just fine, as of yet Tiger seems not to support the A2DP profile which is needed for stereo music. The profile is apparently built into Leopard (OS X 10.5), but that won't be shipping until sometime in "Spring."


Jeremy asks:

How do I keep my MacbookPro from going to sleep when I close the screen? I want it to be nice and portable and less battery-hogging while still encoding videos in my bag.

I am not sure this is a good idea, as there are some serious concerns about overheating. Nonetheless, if you insist you can run your MacBook Pro in clamshell mode by plugging in a USB keyboard or mouse with the lid closed. If you're running a MacBook or don't want to plug in a USB peripheral, you might try one of the following: Insomnia X (incompatible with 10.4.8), Doze, and SleepLess (also broken by 10.4.8, but there is a beta that is supposed to work). Please note, however, that people have reported problem using these sorts of utilities and I cannot endorse any of them from personal experience


Okay, that will do it for this week. Feel free to leave comments on my answers as well as more questions for next week.


All of this information is provided for your entertainment. Neither TUAW nor this author can be held responsible for any problems arising from the use of the information provided here.