optics

There's some rough news for Topeka, Kan., the city that courted Google's ultra-high-speed municipal broadband project by changing its name to Google. The Mountain View, Calif., tech giant announced Wednesday that the lucky city that gets to be its broadband guinea pig not only isn't Topeka, but it's Kansas City, Kansas--just an hour's drive away. Ouch.

More than 1,100 communities had applied since the call for applicants was announced about a year ago. Kansas City will first see the new developments next year, and Google is already looking for additional communities to join the … Read more

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which we answer questions e-mailed from our readers. This week we have questions on the OS X keychain not saving passwords, internal speakers no longer working on a MacBook Pro, an external optical drive not reading some discs, and Apple's FaceTime application not running. We continually answer e-mail questions, and though we present a few here, we certainly welcome alternative approaches and views from readers and encourage you to post your suggestions in the comments.

Question: OS X Keychain not saving passwords

MacFixIt reader "Raul" asks:

My OS X Keychain does … Read more

When a blank CD or DVD is handled by the Finder, a special burn folder is created for that disc which appears on the Desktop or in the Finder sidebar. Burn folders in OS X usually are static folders that remain until you remove them, but the ones representing optical discs should be created when the disc is inserted, and then destroyed when the disc is either ejected or burned. Despite this, some people may find that after managing a number of blank CDs or DVDs, the Finder will retain a few burn folders in the sidebar that are labeled &… Read more

The 13-inch version of Apple's revamped MacBook Air doubles the USB ports (to two) and adds an SD card slot, but it still lacks an optical drive. And it's not alone--other recent DVD-free 13-inch systems include Toshiba Satellite T235D and the Asus U35JC.

In smaller 11- and 12-inch laptops, we're used to not having an optical drive, although they do occasionally turn up. But to some, the optical drive is becoming like the telephone modem jack that used to be standard on every laptop--a bit of legacy hardware that rarely gets used.

The main reasons we used … Read more

Most consumer level Canon printers use optical character recognition (OCR) to translate scanned images of printer or handwritten documents to editable electronic text, but the latest version of Uniflow, the company's corporate document management system, uses OCR to prevent people from printing or copying documents that contain specific words.

Uniflow is a central management system that allows administrators to keep track of copies and prints for billing and requires an accompanying Uniflow server and Uniflow-ready Canon devices. The latest version, Uniflow 5, can also block documents containing prohibited keywords--sensitive information like passwords and account numbers.

Admins can also configure … Read more

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which we answer questions e-mailed from our readers. This week we have questions on SUID file errors when fixing permissions, options for ejecting optical drives, problems with optical drives immediately ejecting, and the lack of a track joining option for audio books in iTunes 10. While we continually answer e-mail questions and present a few here, we certainly welcome alternative approaches and views from readers and encourage you to post your suggestions in the comments.

Question: SUID File errors when fixing permissions

MacFixIt reader "Ian" asks:

When I do a Permissions Repair … Read more

On Tuesday, Hitachi-LG Data Storage announced a hybrid optical drive that can obviate the need for a traditional hard disk drive in thin laptop designs.

Hitachi-LG Data Storage (HLDS) disclosed a second-generation Serial-ATA (SATA) 6.0-gigabit-per-second (Gbps)-based "hybrid drive" at Ceatec 2010, held this week in Makuhari Messe, Japan. The drive is meant to eliminate the need for a separate traditional (spinning) hard disk drive in laptops, allowing PC makers to bring out optical-drive-equipped systems with only one drive.

Boise, Idaho-based Micron Technology also announced today that it is supplying 25-nanometer NAND flash chips for the drive. … Read more

Most optical discs are a standard 12cm in diameter, are round, and besides some potential manufacturing incompatibilities with certain optical drives, are expected to load and be recognized in most systems. Despite this, some companies will distribute device drivers or other content on mini or oddly shaped optical discs.

While the novelty of nonstandard discs is fun, it does pose a problem for many systems that cannot read them. While there is no difference in the way the discs are read, the odd shapes will get them stuck in many slot-loading drives seen in MacBooks, MacBook Pros, Mac Minis, and … Read more

Australia's dead-heat election over the weekend has left both the Labor and Coalition parties scrambling to try to form a government. Meanwhile, the National Broadband Network Co. suggests it may stop the early-stage roll-out of a fiber optic network across the country until it knows who will be heading the next government.

Labor backs the fiber-optic plan, while the Coalition party has pledged to ax the government-owned National Broadband Network and instead pursue a more austere network investment plan based on rolling out competitive backhaul, fixing ADSL2+ blackspots, and connecting underserved areas with wireless broadband.

Read more of "… Read more