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At Vancouver Olympics, straw battles sun, rain

With snow at a premium, Olympics organizers at one Vancouver, B.C., venue are using bales of straw to augment the white stuff as they construct runs for snowboarding, freestyle skiing, and other events.

Although there is plenty of powder at Whistler, B.C., where many of the skiing and sledding events take place, a combination of rain and unseasonably warm temperatures have left Cypress Mountain with less snow had been anticipated.

Olympics officials have taken a number of steps to preserve snow on the mountain and ensure that they have enough powder to make it through the games. Earlier … Read more

Snow chopper made from junk--in Antarctica

Let's say you're stationed in Antarctica at the McMurdo Station research center. And let's say your job is to help maintain the fleet of snowmobiles the U.S. uses down there. And let's say your former job skilled you in parts fabrication.

And let's say you've got a lot of junk that's being thrown away. And finally let's say you're into motorcycles. If this is you, then you're probably Bob Sawicki or Toby Weisser, two mechanics who put their heads together and used their know-how to build the snow chopper shown above. … Read more

Apple seeds 10.6.3 to developers; Crash and bug fixes

The forthcoming update to Mac OS X Snow Leopard, 10.6.3, will incorporate over 90 components including several bug fixes and solutions for crashes. The update will focus primarily on stability and maintenance with special attention, as AppleInsider reports, to "AppKit, CoreMedia, Desktop Services, FileSync, Fonts, HIToolbox, iCal, Mail, MobileMe, and QuickTime Player X."… Read more

MacBook and MacBook Pro battery issues with Snow Leopard upgrade

Since installing Snow Leopard, a large number of MacBook and MacBook Pro owners have noticed a problem with the computer frequently displaying a "Service Battery" warning in the battery system menu. This also seems to be coupled with relatively short battery life, either with the battery discharging rapidly or with the computer going to sleep but still reporting high percentage of charge left in the battery. As of OS 10.6.2, affected users are still experiencing the problem.… Read more

Apple update supports new Canon, Nikon raw files

Apple released one of its routine Mac OS X updates on Wednesday to let its computers handle raw images from a handful of new Nikon and Canon SLRs as well as from Canon's newer high-end PowerShot G11 compact camera.

The update lets Mac OS X 10.6 as well as Apple's iPhoto and Aperture software handle the raw image files taken directly from the camera's sensors without in-camera processing. Raw photo formats offer more quality and flexibility at the cost of convenience and file size.

The update supports Canon's new professional EOS-1D Mark IV and high-end … Read more

Tweak your Mac OS to perfection

If you're not already a pro at using the command line, OnyX is a solid choice for conducting routine maintenance and tweaking the interface on your Mac. This free utility shares much of the functionality of applications like Cocktail (which its help files suspiciously resemble), and it can help you with everything from checking SMART status on your disks to configuring the Dock, Finder, and Dashboard and Expose to your liking.

OnyX can even help you run Unix utilities, change your desktop to an animated background, and unlock hidden functions in apps like Safari and iTunes. As with all … Read more

Input or gestures stop working; HID Error enqueuing memory (0xe00002e8)

A number of people have found the use of some multi-touch gestures on their MacBook and MacBook Pro computers have stopped working. While two finger gestures such as pinch and scroll may still work, those that use three and four fingers may not anymore. Additionally, others have had instances where the computer refuses input of any kind.… Read more

UPDATED: Finder not opening files when double-clicked

Matt Neuburg at TidBits explains that Apple has officially documented that Snow Leopard's Launch Services no longer considers a document's embedded Creator Code when determining which application to launch when the file is opened in Finder. This change is new to Mac OS X 10.6 and greater and signals a fundamental change in a long-standing Mac programming code.… Read more