I’ve been lucky enough, so far, to avoid most of the typical issues that seem to plague the Macbook. Unfortunately, I have recently experienced a small, but annoying, issue that I can’t seem to find a solution to. When I put the ‘book to sleep for a while (an hour or more usually), it will occasionally wake up with a faint screen flicker for about 1-2 minutes, almost as if it has to warm up before it can produce full, consistent brightness.

The flicker is slow. The brightness is decreased a couple levels, remains there for a couple seconds, and then increases back to normal. Every time this happens it’s only a period of a minute or two, although there was one time that the screen went dim again for a few seconds about 15 minutes after waking up.

It has not happened in the past couple of days, but I have had the power adapter connected constantly, so I’m curious if it might only happen when running on battery. Apparently a few people have the same problem, and one had Apple fix it and tell them it was the inverter for the backlight, so at least I know what it may be for now.

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You basically need a quarter and a screwdriver to replace your ram and hard drive, but what if you have an intimate desire to explore the anatomy of your Macbook? What if you have an uncontrollable urge to convert your ironing board into an operating table so you can delicately remove the LCD screen and lubricate the joints of that squeaky hinge? Maybe your new found love is suffering from RSS (Random Shutdown Syndrome) and diagnosing it yourself (by checking if the cables from the thermal sensors were melted in the heat sink) is something that appeals to your inner-surgeon!?

Do you need a PHD? That would help! However, you could try these two simple steps to get you started in the right direction:

1. Connect to the Internet (which you seem to have already accomplished)
2. Read the iFixit Macbook Guide!

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If you’re looking for the ability to see more than just the temperature of your Mac at a glance, then you might want to have a mini version of your Mac on your dashboard that gives you accurate, real time results on a number of statistics including your processor, memory, storage, battery, and more!

MiniStat2 has all the stats you want in one easy to use, powerful, compact widget that has very low CPU usage. Also, in addition to the computer analysis, there’s a fun aspect to having it as well:

• Choose from 22 customizable skins ? make the widget look like your own Mac (the pic above is my black mac!)
• Navigate using a little dock that works just like the “real thing” (so cool!)
• View 6 different panels of more detailed stats like windows on your real computer!
• Ability to change “desktop” background picture inside the widget

These are just a few of the highlights that you might find amusing when you download the widget, but there are also many useful statistics options that you might want to take advantage of such as monitoring your internet traffic usage, viewing your wireless mouse and keyboard batteries charge, or your Airport signal strength, just to name a few.

The developer has a free version available that gives you basic stats and some customization options, but for $4.95, you can register and get a full featured version if you feel you need more.

Direct Download Of MiniStat2

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If Apple made everything and ruled the world, our existence would be quite different. In an attempt to provide a visual on what iLife would be like on iEarth, a b3ta challenge was presented to their readers asking them to submit their ideas on how it would affect our iCulture. There was a number of entries beyond the popular ones, and worth taking a look at them all, starting at page one.

Besides the Apple Made Windows image to the left made by w33b, there was no shortage of creative ideas such as PacMan drawn as the Apple logo (maybe it could be named MacMan?), Apple Paint (in about 15 humorous shades of white), a member of iQaeda strapped with iPods, and many more.

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Aside from a screwdriver, all you need is a couple sheets of red transparency (available at Kinko’s) and the courage to remove the plastic that surrounds the face of the lcd. Apparently, there’s already a white filter in behind the lcd screen that helps illuminate the Apple logo, and once you have access to it, you can slip in your own color!

The guy who applied this magic to his own Macbook claims that, after removing the screws from the inside of the lcd and resting it gently on the keyboard, you can basically remove the white filter and replace it with your own color transparency cut outs (two red sheets are needed unless you are looking for a feminine, pinkish tint).

Although it seems simple, this mod does not come without words of warning to the kids, and he outlines a couple things to look out for:

There’s a magnet on the left of the screen which isn’t attached to anything really. There’s a spot in the display housing for it. Make sure it doesn’t fall out and you lose it. I looked online and it’s the magnet that activates the lcd off/sleep function when you close the lcd.

The plastic surrounding the lcd is attached with double stick foam on the bottom left and right corners, and also where the mic is located. Just slowly peel it away and it’ll come off.

The screws are soft so you don’t need to use much torque or you will strip them.The right size screwdriver is key.

In the forum, where I originally saw the post, a couple of the members were also quick to point out that there might be warranty issues if you remove the lcd screen and add a pretty light. I wonder if it’d be possible to simply remove the filter before you sent it in for repair to avoid a hassle? Well, I would never suggest such a thing, but damn, that’s a sweet looking red apple!

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