Some would call it an unhealthy obsession – I would prefer to refer to it as a hobby.

LEGO isn’t for some. Those who cannot accommodate bricks must continue to put up with people like me (who, by the way, are not responsible for gigantic minifigs washing up on Florida shorelines). We need some kind of creative outlet, and at least this activity is more interactive than outmoded options like zoning out in front of a radio or television for hours on end.

Building LEGO sets has been my zen. Combine that with the crazy possibility of someone eventually producing an Apple Store model constructed entirely of… it happened. Oliver Burridge from our community asked if he could create a “Day in the Life of Chris Pirillo” for our YouTube Channel and I happily agreed to support the endeavor. Part of the “plot” will be spent within an Apple Store, apparently – and this scene has already been recorded:

I believe that LEGO is increasingly embracing the idea of allowing their community to control the destiny of various sets. In light of the LEGO trademark falling to the wayside, perhaps we’ll see better pricing for these custom constructions?

So, maybe we’ll inspire a passionate brick enthusiast to upload a DesignByMe set for any of us not-so-Master builders to buy one day?

I’m running out of room around here; without a dedicated LEGO space somewhere in my home, I’ll soon be swimming in bricks (and they’re quite sharp around the edges if you hadn’t already noticed). Perhaps it’s better that I stick to collecting minifigs and disassembling the sets once I’ve done ‘em?

Is There a LEGO Apple Store Set? Kinda.

I wanted an iPad before I knew I wanted an iPad. It was probably the first product from Apple that I purchased without hesitation – not because I needed one, but because the iPad was so radically different from anything else in the industry that I was drawn to it (magnetically, perhaps).

Years later, I’m sitting on top of hundreds of installed iPad applications. I get many of them for free not because I’m reviewing them, but because I watch for iPad software discounts to float across my social media radar. I tend to share and reshare the good ones, too.

The community constantly asks me: what are my favorite iPad apps? I don’t even know if I have a favorite iPad app (singular)! There are just so many of ‘em out there, and each one of those applications does a great job independent of any other iPad app. That’s what makes the iPad work, ya know? It’s not some kind of complex computing tool that allows you to see dozens of open programs at any given time. No, instead, the iPad excels at providing a near-perfect platform for today’s various needs.

Each iPad app has the potential of being my favorite app – depending on what it is that I’m wanting to do. In many cases, I can likely find an app that will do what I’d like to have done. Doesn’t that make it a favorite for the task at hand? I believe so.

Mind you, I don’t use every single iPad app every single day. I don’t even use a single app regularly (beyond the web browser and email clients)! I know: you still want to know what I’m using on my own iPad this year. It’s for that reason we decided to do a live walkthrough via YouTube earlier this week (in conjunction with an iPad 2 giveaway, courtesy of a sponsor):

By the time the third-generation iPad rolls off the assembly lines and into my hands, I’m sure I’ll have hundreds more apps to show you. Maybe we’ll do this again next year? If you have the patience to sit through this hour-long video iPad tour and you noticed I have a few missing apps, please make your Favorite recommendations in the comments thread.

Favorite iPad Apps?

OS X Lion came with quite a few changes that adjusted the visual aspects of the operating system including how its built-in Mail client looks and feels. While their attempt to make the client look more like it does on the iPad, many users (including myself) have grown fond of a more traditional experience. The good news is that you can adjust the settings of the mail client so it better meets your needs.

First and foremost, the animations are a bit much. While I can understand the need to add a little gloss to the product to make it seem shiny and new – this change can be pretty annoying. As a result, I posed the question to the community of how to turn these things off. Thankfully, Adrian and @_Motor12345_ responded and a write-up on how to turn these distracting animations off was posted on LockerGnome.

Animations aside, you’re probably reading this post because you’re interested in changing the layout the Mail client back to how it appeared in previous versions of OS X. All you need to do here is hold command and , which brings up the preferences pane for Mail. At this point, you just need to click on the Viewing icon on the top of that window and select the Use Classic Layout option. This will take away the left-right view made popular by the iPad client and bring back a more traditional layout.

If you like the new look and just want to add photos or an indication as to whether or not a message was sent directly to you or as a CC to the sidebar, those options are available just below classic layout in that menu.

If you’re wondering where the sidebar went, all you need to do is find the Show icon on the far-left portion of the toolbar.

Hiding your Favorites Bar or Toolbar can be done by selecting these options through the View menu located on menu at the top of your screen.

If you have any tips or tricks in relation to OS X Lion’s Mail client, please feel free to leave a comment below and let us know.

How to Change the Look of the Mail App on OS X Lion

I’ve been a Mac user since my experience with Windows Vista left me seeking a more reliable primary operating system to run on. After discovering OS X and experiencing how intuitive and easy so many things were, I was convinced that making the switch was the right move. Don’t get me wrong, I still use Windows every day on numerous computers around the house and enjoy my experience with Windows 7.

When Apple announced the newest edition of OS X (Lion), I became intrigued as to whether or not they would be able to deliver on the promises made during the keynote and maintain the overall user experience I have become accustomed to over the past few years.

Once Lion came out, I immediately upgraded and began working through the various changes that were made and took note of some of the ones I liked (or disliked). While many of these adjustments are under the hood and unnoticeable by anyone that isn’t seriously paying attention, some of them are more obvious. Over-the-top animations and reversed scrolling didn’t make my top ten list, but here are a few features I enjoy quite a bit:

• Autocorrect Blue – Typos and misspellings are the bane of any writer’s existence. This feature corrects misspelled words as you type and marks the corrected word with little blue dots.
• Rounded Window Corners – In a move that makes windows look cleaner, rounded corners have been added to each application window.
• Emoji – Bringing tons of fun graphics to your OS X experience is a fun addition that allows you to be a little more creative. Currently, only applications native to the OS or designed with the Emoji character set in mind will work with them.
• About This Mac – The system profile area of About This Mac has improved drastically. I’m able to pull up important information and take a quick screenshot faster and easier than before. Data is accompanied with graphic charts that make learning about the system easier.
• WebKit 2 – Page rendering is noticeably faster through Safari on Lion.
• Border Animations when Overscrolling – In much the same way that the window appears to bounce as you reach the bottom of a web page on iOS, Lion now supports this functionality natively. One can hope software makers (like Google) begin supporting this feature as future versions of their software begin to surface.
• Invisible Scrollbars – I love invisible scrollbars. Having them invisible just makes windows look better. This is my personal preference, but it’s a feature I really like.
• Resize a Window from Any Side – Having to grab a window from a specific corner is annoying, and being able to do so from any side is a welcome change.
• “Keep Both Files” when Copying / Moving – Moving a file from one place to another when it shares the same name as one already present in the destination now prompts the Mac to ask you if you’d like to keep both files, allowing you to have them both in the same directory. This is a feature that has been present on Windows for some time, and it’s good to finally see it on the Mac.
• Better Memory Management - By default, if you have an application open and you’re not using it for an extended period of time, it will actually take steps to free up the memory. This is visually represented by the little glowing blue dot under the app in your dock disappearing once the memory has been freed and it no longer acts as a significant burden on your system.

Those are my top ten Lion features, what are yours? Please leave a comment below and let me know what your favorite features of Lion are.

Top Ten Features of OS X 10.7 Lion

Making the decision to upgrade from Snow Leopard to OS X 10.7 Lion at this point means a little more than spending $30 on a few new features. You’re making the decision to accept changes to how you interact with your computer, and in some cases how your software works. Here are a few reasons to wait on upgrading to OS X 10.7 Lion:

Believe it or not, some developers are slower than others when it comes up updating their apps to work with the new operating system. One of the most widely noted incompatibilities came from some installations of earlier versions of Microsoft Office for the Mac, which failed to load under Lion. Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac appears to be working just fine, according to reports form the LockerGnome community.

This is the same problem PC users face when they move from one version of Windows or Linux to another and some resources programs tap in to change enough to break functionality. Make sure your software is ready for the upgrade by checking the developer’s site or an online app compatibility table like the one provided by RoaringApps.

Before considering the upgrade, you also want to make sure your Mac is physically ready for the new version of OS X. While the core requirements haven’t changed all that much, it’s worth taking a look before dropping the $30.

Here are some of the system requirements listed by Apple:

• Mac computer with an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, or Xeon processor
• 2GB of memory
• OS X v10.6.6 or later (v10.6.8 recommended)
• 7GB of available space

With the software and hardware both ready for the upgrade, are you? Touch-pad users will notice an immediate change in how OS X interprets gestures. For most users, the new gestures will be pretty natural and easy to figure out while others may find themselves pulling their hair out at how frustrating things like natural scrolling can be. Thankfully, you can reverse many of these changes.

If you’re a fan of Front Row or Rosetta, you will need to say goodbye to these apps as they are no longer present in OS X Lion. AirPrint also appears to be missing from Lion leaving some users needing to seek out third-party solutions.

There is also the industry-wide rule that early adopters face every time they jump on board something new. If you don’t want to deal with bugs and security issues, it’s probably a good idea to hold off on a major upgrade for at least a few weeks as Apple and third-party developers get the kinks worked out in their software. Let the early adopters step on the land mines so you can enjoy a smooth experience from day one.

If you use your Mac for work, the decision to upgrade early can affect your productivity. It’s best to make sure your hardware, software, and needs are covered before taking the leap. OS X Lion has a lot to love and the improvements made to several key programs (like Mail) will make it a worthwhile upgrade for anyone that decides to take the leap. It just makes things more fun when there’s a net waiting.

Reasons to Hold Off on Upgrading to OS X 10.7 Lion

Apple’s new version of their flagship operating system, OS X 10.7 Lion, has been released and users are already discovering some of the 250 new features available in this long-awaited update. Among these changes are Launchpad, Mission Control, full-screen apps, new multi-touch gestures, Resume, auto save, Versions, AirDrop, a new version of their included Mail program, and more. When it comes to the Finder, several of these changes are hardly noticeable – but one in particular was hard to miss.

The Finder hasn’t changed all that much in Lion, but there was one glaring change to the size of the font inside the sidebar in the Finder window. The icon/font size appeared to be different, and I immediately began searching for a way to change it back to where it once was. Thankfully, I found it nestled in the General preference pane, also known as the Appearance pane.

Here are the steps I took to set things back in order:

• Open System Preferences and select General (or Appearance)
• Adjust the size setting using the drop-down menu next to Sidebar icon size

You can navigate to this menu using Spotlight or any other app that helps you manage your system preferences. I found the small setting to be the closest to the original appearance of the sidebar as it appeared in Snow Leopard.

Overall, Mac OS X Lion is one of the larger updates to Apple’s flagship operating system. Unlike Snow Leopard, Lion brings forth some significant changes while giving users the ability to keep some of the settings that they have become accustomed to over the years (an ability to reverse the suddenly inverted mouse being one example). For users that have enjoyed the interface introduced with iOS, this update is sure to bring some consistency to your experience as an Apple customer.

How to Adjust the Finder Sidebar Font Size in OS X 10.7 Lion

Mac OSX Lion is out, and one of the most obvious changes new users are experiencing is a reversal in the direction their mouse scrolls. Up is down, down is up. This can be quite annoying if you (like most people) are used to the idea of moving your finger down to scroll down and up to go up. Apple, on the other hand, believes that it’s more natural to invert this as people begin to become accustomed to the way scrolling is handled on iOS devices such as the iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad.

Out of the 250 new features Apple is boasting with the new version OS X, this one seems most likely to drive people nuts as they attempt to navigate around Lion for the first time. This change isn’t entirely unexpected considering the direction Apple’s flagship operating system appears to be heading after the massive success of iOS.

Two of Lion’s biggest features (Multi-Touch Gestures and Launchpad) appear to be in direct response to the warm reception this interface style received by consumers on their iOS devices. In Launchpad, programs can be sorted in to folders and displayed in a grid pattern almost exactly as they do on the iPad.

There is a way to fix this, and thankfully it’s fairly simple. Just follow these steps:

• Open System Preferences
• Click Mouse
• Take the checkmark out of the space next to the space that says Move content in the direction of finger movement when scrolling or navigating. (Scroll direction: natural if you’re using a Magic Mouse)

You can also access this menu through Spotlight, Alfred, or any other app that brings you to the preference pane related to the mouse.

The reversed scroll direction is fine for touch-based applications found on the iPad, iPod Touch, and iPhone but not so much for a desktop being controlled by a mouse and keyboard. Users of the touchpad on a MacBook or MacBook Air might find this shift in direction useful, but it will be an adjustment for seasoned users, for sure.

You can pick up OS X Lion here.

How to Fix Scroll Direction in Mac OS X 10.7 Lion

Apple’s new iOS 5 is expected to bring a lot of new features in, many of them inspired at least partially by their competition. From Android’s notifications to Blackberry’s messaging system, the latest version of iOS appears to bridge the gap between iOS and their biggest competitor, Android. But does it, really?

First, I’m a strong believer in experience over everything else. I’ve been extremely happy with Apple and the iOS since prior to the App Store and so many other developments throughout its history. Android has never appealed to me as much as iOS in terms of being something I would see myself using as my primary mobile platform. As with many things, there are some obvious pros and cons to it and any operating system that make it more appealing. iOS 5 has made great strides towards bridging the gap between it and its biggest competition, and several of the key features that bring many users to Android and Blackberry are finding their way to the iOS – at least in a similar form, function, and purpose.

One feature that remains virtually exclusive to Android phones (some of which have it on by default) is Swype. Through Swype, users are able to type in entire words using a single touch gesture. For some Android users, this is a must-have feature that makes sending out quick messages a snap. While there is a learning curve, several members of the community have commented at one point or another how easy it makes typing things out on the go, especially on such a small surface. iOS 5 doesn’t include this functionality, at least not yet. For now though, you are able to take advantage of Swype-like input if you have a jailbroken device through apps like iSwype.

Another feature Android has that isn’t currently present on the iPhone are widgets. Widgets allow you to see a limited display of information from apps without having to actually enter the app and make it fill the screen. For some applications such as search, weather, and Twitter, this can certainly serve a useful purpose. This experience can be hampered a bit by the combined processing power used to power these widgets. Where you might otherwise enjoy a fluid and fast transition between pages and/or apps, a screen leaded with widgets has the potential of bogging down the experience. Again, this depends entirely on what exactly those widgets do and how well they’re optimized for the operating system.

Admittedly, Android users still have a more open development environment allowing their developers the freedom to create apps that bend the rules of the OS. This can be an advantage or disadvantage depending on how you look at it. While one person might say this environment inspires creativity and ignites the passions of their development community, another might say it opens the door for 100 bad apps for every 1 good one.

Apple’s new iOS 5 is on its way and ultimately it’s up to the consumers to decide if the changes made are enough to drive more people to (or back to) iOS devices from the alternatives. It’s been said time and time again on this blog and others that competition drives innovation. I’m curious to see where this will take the industry, moving forward.

Does iOS 5 Bridge the Gap Between Android and the iPhone?

Parallels is a popular virtual machine software for the Mac that allows you to operate a virtual Windows, Linux, or in this case Chrome OS system within your primary operating system. In the case of Windows, many tools are available to allow you cohesion between the two operating systems to create a more seamless experience for the user. In this instance, I decided to install Chrome OS using Parallels.

The first thing you’re going to need to do is pick up a copy of Parallels Desktop 6.

While you could install Chromium OS (the open source project behind Google’s Chrome OS) through Boot Camp, having such a trimmed down operating system running in the sandbox environment Parallels (or other virtual machine software such as VMWare Fusion or VirtualBox) provides can make removing or reinstalling Chrome OS much easier should something go wrong.

There are also features in Chrome OS that aren’t available in most builds of Chromium as the open source project is primarily geared towards developers that risk having their work lost from automatic updates on reboot.

Alright, so you have a Mac and Parallels is installed. Here is what you need to do to install Chrome OS in a virtual machine:

• Launch Parallels.
• Open the Virtual Machines List form the window menu.
• Click on the drop-down arrow next to the plus sign at the bottom of the window.
• Select “Download Chrome OS” from the menu.

That’s it, you’re done. Chrome OS will download and install automatically. All you need at that point is a Google login and password. Once set, you should be ready to browse the web on a sandboxed Chrome OS machine. This is one way to safely browse the web without worry of malicious malware or other problems to affect the rest of your system. If you’re satisfied with your experience on Parallels, you can seamlessly transfer over to a Chromebook or other Chrome OS device through sync.

How to Install Chrome OS Using Parallels

How do you know your product has failed?

When it’s sitting at the top of Woot – after Not Selling anywhere else. [EDIT: for the sake of Varun's sanity, a very spirited commenter in the thread below, I amended this paragraph to help him better understand.]

I don’t know about you, but I hate buying something (new or used) only to know that it’s not going to be around (or supported) for much longer. Not to say that the Motorola Xoom tablet is a failure, but… normally, you wouldn’t find successes sitting in the digital equivalent of a bargain bin.

If you would still love to get your hands on this tablet computer, you’re better off looking for people who are more-than-willing to sell their remorse to you. I’m guessing you can get a Xoom for even less than what this web site is selling it for.

I might also mention that I’ve never touched a Motorola Xoom – but why would I? Why would you? Five years ago, the Xoom may have made for one interesting portable device. Five years ago.

And, for clarification’s sake: I have absolutely nothing against the Motorola Xoom for what it is! Unfortunately, it fell short of expectations in just about every way – and when you’re trying to compete with the iPad, you’d better have one amazing story to tell at a no-brainer price point.

Some people hate Apple so much that they’re trying to prove a point by buying something else. Stupid, but I guess it’s admirable. If you’re really itching to spend money on anything that isn’t an iPad at this point, you’re better off looking at HP’s TouchPad – if only because you know a single company is controlling the experience (hardware AND software).

I think it’s fair to say that the Xoom lost – but it didn’t go down without a fight!

Motorola Xoom vs iPad: Which one Lost?

Are you a classic gamer? Do you own an iPad? You might be surprised how easy it is to build an arcade cabinet for you iPad so you can play your favorite classic arcade games in their original and intended form.

The iCADE started as an April Fool’s joke by ThinkGeek that caught on. The demand for this product was overwhelming, so they partnered with ION to make it come to life. Now available for $99 on ThinkGeek, the iCADE makes it possible for you to play classic games on your iPad as they were originally played at an arcade.

The cabinet itself takes very little time to assemble. It takes about 15-20 minutes and once you’re finished you have a very handsome table-top arcade cabinet. The first and second generation iPads are both supported, and any future version of the iPad should work as well so long as the form factor doesn’t change dramatically.

The one downside to the iCADE is the relatively small number of games that current support it. Thought you have 100 titles through the Atari’s Greatest Hits app, more game developers should jump on board and create apps that allow this kind of bluetooth control. In order for the iCADE to be anything more than a decorative iPad stand, you need to purchase Atari’s Greatest Hits for the iOS and install it on your iPad.

The cabinet itself looks great, and would no-doubt add a touch of nostalgia to any room where it resides. The joystick and buttons have the same classic look and feel you would find in any larger cabinet and they really work. A lit coin slot is a nice touch that lets you know the iPad is bluetooth connected and ready to go.

Overall, the iCADE is a fun accessory if you’re serious about classic gaming. You are required to purchase Atari’s Greatest Hits through the iTunes App Store for your iPad, which adds roughly $15 to the $99 cost if you decide to grab all 100 games.

iPad Arcade Cabinet

If there is one question that I get asked every day through my email and various social network channels (aside from Mac vs. PC), it’s whether or not a 13 or 15 inch MacBook Pro is better. Each has their own set of pros and cons, and in the end it comes down to which machine meets the needs of the user better.

When Robert decided to make the switch and go with a MacBook Pro, he found himself facing the same question, “Which MacBook Pro shout I buy?” So, we decided to make a video.

The 13-inch MacBook Pro comes with a significant price drop compared to its slightly larger 15-inch sibling. Part of the reason for this difference in price is the processing power. The 15-inch MacBook Pro allows for a quad-core i7 processor while the 13 is only upgradable to a 2.7GHz dual-core i7. The differences in performance between the two are notable, but only in cases where you’re actually causing some strain on the cores. For basic tasks like web browsing, light gaming, and listening to music – this may not present enough incentive to go with the 15-inch model.

Another difference between the 13 and 15-inch Macbooks can be found in how they handle graphics. Gamers especially will appreciate the AMD Radeon 6490M or 6750M and the potential they have for delivering high-quality graphics to the screen. The 13-inch MacBook Pro relies on the graphics provided by the Intel HD 3000.

Both models support solid-state drives, which currently provide the best performance over traditional platter-driven options. If you need more storage space for less, the 13-inch tops out at 500GB while the 15-inch offers a 750GB 5400-rpm option.

The most noticeable difference between the two is overall screen size and resolution. The 13.3-inch LED-backlit glossy display will give you portability while sacrificing resolution at 1280×800 compared to the 15.4-inch at 1440×900. The 15.4-inch also offers a high-resolution glossy and antiglare options which increase the pixel count up to 1680×1050.

Overall, the two notebooks are very similar. They share the same build quality, operating system, options and many accessories. The decision between them comes down to cost and portability vs. performance. If you really need a high-performance laptop and portability isn’t as big of a factor to you, the 15-inch would likely be your better choice. For Robert, who takes his notebook with him to school every day, the portability and lower price mades the 13-inch MacBook the best option.

Which MacBook Pro Should I Buy?

Thunderbolt was announced by Apple some time ago. New Apple computers are featuring the port in their design. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a big rush for manufacturers to produce products that support the platform.

Storage devices including the LaCie Little Big Disk and the Sonnet Fusion RAID have joined the slow-growing list of devices that support Thunderbolt. At up to 864 MB/s, the data transfer rate offered by Thunderbolt is lightyears ahead of other standard currently on the market.

Even so, it appears manufacturers are opting once again to support the latest USB standard with its backwards compatibility over a faster technology. This is almost directly reminiscent of the competition between FireWire and USB that resulted in a divide between convenience and performance.

I brought this question to the community to get their take on why Thunderbolt seems to be taking so long to get off the ground. Here is what they said:

Sean Cooper – I might also note that Thunderbolt is the new Firewire. Give it two years, somebody will come out with a cheaper faster standard.

Blake Sabatinelli – On Apple’s enterprise RAID servers, where they belong. Does the average user really need 10 Gbps?

John Thompson – Thunderbolt devices will come much quicker when more companies adopt the technology. It’s a numbers game; USB 2.0 was/is more popular than Firewire 800 not because it’s the better technology but because it’s in every consumer laptop out there, so companies are bound to target the market where they can have the most impact.

There’s no doubt that Thunderbolt is great technology, but if it isn’t adopted by more manufacturers apart from Apple and Sony, then it will only lead to (i) less adoption by manufacturers of peripherals such as external hard drives and (ii) higher prices of those products when they hit the market.

Speaking of higher prices, $50 for a Thunderbolt cable from Apple is not going to win many fans, either. Just my two cents!

Max Huijgen – Thunderbolt is the Firewire of the future. Limited to Apple only environments where there is a need for high throughput otherwise know as the lower grade video editing world.

The masses will live with USB 3.0 which serve their needs for a lot less money and the serious people and the Linux and Windows world will go for the External PCI solution because it will be an open standard. No licenses to be paid, no manufacturer tie-in and a clear future. Check for instance this, or one of the many other sources of info.

Thunderbolt and PCI External will both need to wait for optical cables to deliver a revolution in speed instead of an incremental upgrade over USB or external SATA which is already available. The good news is that Intel already integrated PCI external in their newer chipsets so even they didn’t fully commit to Thunderbolt so it will go the Firewire way: a limited number of external devices with the connector mostly targeted at the smaller sized video editing studios.

In addition to my earlier comment I agree with +John Thompson that there needs to be a killer application to reach critical masses. USB 3.0 will find its way as it´s already on your new PC/notebook/tablet and is backwards compatible. PCI External´s killer application will be the gamers market.

The PCI-E connector is smaller than the Thunderbolt so will fit in the new generation of Thinbooks and tablets. It will enable external graphic cards to be connected to every laptop. No longer being restricted to a PC box just because you are into serious gaming. Getting rid of the super heavy weight Alienware notebooks which get hot, eat batteries for lunch and are a nuisance to carry around.

No, the future is a thin and slick portable, be it a thin book, a netbook or a tablet with keyboard with an external box which only leaves home for a gaming party connected by PCI-E. The bandwidth is sufficient, the market is for grabs and people will happily buy the latest and greatest video card in a box which can be upgraded separately. Gamers have an above average spending pattern so there are your numbers to warrant implementation of a new standard connection.

Where are the Thunderbolt Devices?

I’ve been having USB issues with my MacPro3,1. I’ve had the Mac Pro for about four years, but it’s otherwise been running like a champ.

A while back, I started having issues with a USB hub that was plugged into the back of the Mac. I replaced the cable, and things seemed to be fine. Until a while later, when the cable seemed to fail – then I replaced the hub, and all seemed fine.

Then the new hub was starting to have issues. So, I replaced that hub with another hub and new cable and things have been working swimmingly for a few months.

Then, this morning, all the USB ports on the back of the Mac seemed to go wonky – including one port which can recognize a device but always not power it properly. The front ports on the Mac, however, seem fine – sometimes.

I’ve zapped PRAM, I’ve booted into Safe Mode, and I’ve run USB Prober (from the Developer’s Tools) but… the prober tool doesn’t always recognize the device, either – but leads me to believe that every port is running as it should be running.

How could I, without introducing any new USB devices to the chain, be over-runing the system – especially when I’ve removed all USB devices and am still having issues with individual ones (like the wired Mac keyboard, but only sometimes in some ports but not at all in others)?

• I can plug something like a USB flash drive into a port on the back and it might seem fine – it illuminates, but doesn’t always show a mounted drive (but always does on reboot, irrespective of port).
• I can also plug Apple’s wired keyboard into a front port and it sometimes works, and sometimes doesn’t. It doesn’t seem to work at all in any of the rear USB ports.
• I can see a Logitech webcam via USB Prober in one port, and its face illuminates when I open Photo Booth – then its face goes dark and Photo Booth doesn’t show an image.
• If I plug that same Logitech USB webcam into just about any other USB port, the system doesn’t recognize it at all.
• I tried reinstalling KEXT files, and that just forced me to reinstall Snow Leopard (which was painless, for whatever it’s worth). No go.
• Someone in the comments suggested plugging my iPhone into ports to see if power was passing through them – and it was for all but the inner most rear USB port. Ouch.

I can’t imagine that it’s a failing power supply, but can’t help but wonder if I’m missing a software step after going through all of that. I’d hesitate to reinstall the OS only to find out the hardware was still the root cause. Who knows? Maybe Lion will fix the problem (and, at this point, I’m willing to wait a few more weeks for that install before either taking ‘er in or finding a Seattle-area Mac professional to help troubleshoot this on-site).

I believe it’s a hardware issue, but short of replacing the motherboard… ouch. “Repairs and Service Coverage: Expired.” Worse yet? Blake (from our community) sent me this link suggesting that this problem is known throughout my Mac Pro revision / line.

Mac USB Problems

Apple has announced the features users can expect to see when iOS 5 launches in the Fall. Though they say over 200 new features will be included in the update, there are a few that stand out as being likely selling points for the iOS platform after the update. One of these new features is Notification Center, a new method of relaying and displaying notices that will replace the old system currently in place on the platform.

Undoubtedly borrowing from Android’s notification system, Notification Center for iOS is a new take on how its users are informed of various happenings including new email, calls, messages, and app notifications. In the past, a notification would interrupt whatever you’re doing and pull up a blue message area in the middle of the screen which you could either dismiss or elect to head directly to the app and see what all the fuss is about. In many cases, this is more of a nuisance than it’s worth, interrupting anything and everything that was going on for often trivial events. On the new notification system, notices don’t interrupt what you’re doing as much. A small message is displayed across the top of the screen that you don’t have to stop what you’re doing to close.

In addition, your notices are collected and made available through a drop-down pane that looks and acts similarly to Android’s equivalent. With a swipe of the screen, you can glance at any new information and determine what you feel is important enough to take a closer look at.

Another interesting aspect of Notification Center is how it displays your updates while the screen is locked. Instead of having to go through the trouble of unlocking your phone to see why it beeped or vibrated, you can simply glance at the lock screen and see any events that occurred during the current locked session.

With iOS 5, Apple appears to have provided answers to several key features most of their competition held over Apple’s platform. With the new iMessage system, integrated Twitter, and Notification Center, Apple appears to be taking giant steps forward towards giving their competition more reason to innovate in order to stay in the game.

How Notification Center Works on iOS 5