Apple

look at this: https://moto360.motorola.com

Ok guys. I've got a 5-year-old macbook that's on it's way out. It's pretty run down with age and my wife bought me a new (non-mac) laptop for xmas. Since then, we've been using the mac for the kids to watch DVDs on, with the idea that we'd soon backup our data (I have been GARBAGE about this btw and haven't backed up since earlier this year).

So the other night, while my kids were watching a DVD (from Redbox no less), the thing starts losing battery power, despite being plugged in. It eventually goes kaput without them ejecting the disc.

I'd be happy to just let the poor thing die, except for the DVD and the data, which I really can't let go.

It's been a few years since my Applecare expired. Should I still take this thing to the genius bar, or would it be cheaper/better to look into outside repair options.

dunno what's best but I had a dead macbook and I put the hd in an external enclosure to save the data, one of these: http://www.amazon.co.uk/StarTech-inch-External-Drive-Enclosure/dp/B000PKC102
obviously it won't work if it's ssd

Getting DVD back - at one time you could literally shake Macbooks upside down until the thing fell out?

Getting the HD out shouldn't be too hard particularly if it's 5 yo

Feeling

Yeah, I took it up to the genius bar and they weren't able to do anything with it. They recommended either sending it out to get repaired for $400+, taking it to a data recovery place near us that specializes in Macs (haven't called them to find out how much that would cost yet), or buying something called a "hard-drive sled" and doing it myself. Looking over likely search results on Amazon, maybe she meant a "hard-drive docking station" or maybe she meant the "External Drive Enclosure" mentioned above? I'm not at all experienced with taking computers apart and working on their innards, but this doesn't seem like it would be too difficult. Should I give it a go?

I've successfully taken the HD out of a similar-vintage MacBook Pro and that was the first time I ever opened a computer. You need to obtain some special screwdrivers iirc. I think this is what I used to connect the HD to another computer: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Anker-Converter-Adapter-Cable-included/dp/B006J2L0ZM/

Is it OK to buy Applecare from eBay these days? Would love to save a few bucks there.

If this is the wrong place to pose this question let me know, but I figure that some of you are tech-saavy and can answer this one.

On Apple devices, what is the difference between texts in green and texts in blue? Why does such a difference exist? (This is something I've always wondered and which has become more important this last week or two, as I'm experiencing weird data plan issues that are making it hard to communicate with people period, not just when I'm out of range of my home wi-fi.)

Green is for ones sent/received as SMS. Blue is for ones sent by iMessage. So people on Apple devices can circumvent the whole mobile carrier and just use the internet to send messages, making them free of any carrier charges and also able to be sent when you have WiFi but not mobile signal.

They can turn the iMessage functionality off in Settings if they want.

And, conversely, if you're communicating with another Apple phone and they have iMessage switched off, or don't have any 3G/4G access, then your intended iMessages will be sent as SMS - which is not great if it happens to be a photo, for example. Most people would be charged out-of-plan for that. I've unwittingly racked up charges in the past for sending a bunch of images to my daughter, who had turned her data off. WhatsApp is the solution there, of course.

Thanks, Michael and Alba!

And, conversely, if you're communicating with another Apple phone and they have iMessage switched off, or don't have any 3G/4G access, then your intended iMessages will be sent as SMS - which is not great if it happens to be a photo, for example.

Ah, didn't know I could independently suppress MMS! I've done that now.

If I add a new user to the macbook any folder that user creates is readable to any other user on the computer! Unless it is inside Downloads, Documents, Library, Desktop etc. As far as I can tell this is default behaviour? Should I change this or is it this way for a reason?

unless it’s in documents..
Where else would it be ?
All of the folders in the user folder should be protected from snooping eyes

I thought so too but

lamia@kawa:~ ➜ mkdir Crepes
lamia@kawa:~ ➜ ls -l
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 2 lamia staff 64 23 Jan 03:55 Crepes
drwx------+ 25 lamia staff 800 22 Jan 17:41 Desktop
drwx------+ 16 lamia staff 512 22 Jan 08:31 Documents

flutter@kawa:~ ➜ ls /Users/lamia/Desktop
ls: /Users/lamia/Desktop: Permission denied
flutter@kawa:~ ➜ ls /Users/lamia/Crepes
flutter@kawa:~ ➜

anything in that users profile folder (~/lamia) is generally protected, i thought? isn't that why there's a public share folder?

I think the public share folder is for other computers on the same network, not for other users on the same computer!