screws

Keep your Mac's screws from bolting

To upgrade your MacBook's RAM or hard drive, or otherwise work on its interior, you'll need to remove the bottom of the case. This is fairly simple to do with the appropriate screwdriver, but when you reassemble the system, even if you do so with expert precision, you may find that a screw is loose or even missing after a while.

The screws holding the bottom case together are fairly small, and while you can tighten them significantly, slight flexing of the bottom cover and chassis (unavoidable on portable systems) may work them loose over time. Additionally, since … Read more

ScrewMats make for easy DIY iPhone repairs

Most of the editors here won't hesitate to crack open their electronics, and that can probably be said for a lot of our readers, too. However, if you're timid about loosening the screws on your iPhone to do a repair (and understandably so), a ScrewMat might give you the confidence you need.

Available for the iPhone 3G/3GS and both CDMA and GSM versions of the iPhone 4, the plastic mat is magnetic so you can keep all your screws and other small iPhone parts organized for easy reassembly.

Perhaps more importantly, though, the top of the mat features an illustrated guide for finding all the impossibly small screws that hold things together. It tells you the stuff not to touch, too.

The mats will set you back $19.99 each through iFixit.com, so you can pick up a mat and your replacement parts in one order. Or you can pick up all three from the manufacturer for $49.99 and start your own repair service. … Read more

Friday Poll: Do you feel screwed over by Apple?

Yesterday, we reported on a bit of a brouhaha over Apple adding tamper-resistant screws to its products, most recently the iPhone 4.

Some critics say the company switched from standard Phillips and Torx screws to proprietary pentalobe screws to thwart DIY fixes and keep consumers relying on Apple repair services.

iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens went so far as to title a blog post on the matter "Apple's Diabolical Plan to Screw Your iPhone." "Apple chose this fastener specifically because it was new, guaranteeing repair tools would be both rare and expensive. Shame on them," he wrote.

Granted, a good number of gadgeteers--likely including many Crave readers--feel strongly about having the right to open up gear at will to remove and replace batteries, memory, and drivers (or just have a good look at the inner workings).

But as one tech service rep who posted on ipodnn pointed out, a surprising number of people open up their gadgets before bringing them in for warranty service, leading to more damage than the problem that led them to open up the machine in the first place. … Read more

iFixit throws an iFit over iPhone screws

Tamper-resistant screws are popping up in another Apple product, the iPhone 4, and some users say they're feeling screwed by the change.

Among the most outraged, it seems, is iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens, who sent out an e-mail today blasting the tech giant for its change to a proprietary, tamper-resistant screw called a pentalobe on later shipments of the iPhone 4. Wiens believes Apple stopped using standard Phillips and Torx screws on the iPhone 4 and other products to "keep you out of your own hardware."

Apple has not yet responded to CNET's request for comment.

But while some are annoyed by the change, not everyone thinks it's a bad idea. "As a service tech, you would be surprised to see how many people open up their machines to try and fix them before bringing them in for warranty service. And in doing so [they] cause more damage than the original problem was," wrote a commenter on iPodnn.

Some consumers feel strongly that users should have the ability to open up their devices to remove and replace batteries, memory, and drives.

Then again, notes another commenter to iPodnn, "Apple is selling an 'appliance experience.' If you don't like that, don't buy these products. When's the last time you tried to open up your cell phone, clock radio, or car stereo? Or your TV? These aren't user-serviceable devices and neither are iPhones, iPods, or iPads. Factor that into your buying decision." … Read more

@ScrewYouSXSW vents at absent husband

AUSTIN, Texas--What's the phrase? "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned?" Well, now there's a Twitter feed for finding out just what that woman's thinking.

During the day Friday at the South by Southwest (SXSWi) festival here, the word started spreading across Twitter about @ScrewYouSXSW, a feed that purports to be written by a wife left alone on a particularly special weekend by a husband seemingly more interested in the goings-on at this geek-heavy confab.

Identifying herself as a Californian who is "One pissed-off wife," her bio says it all: "My … Read more

New surgical bone screw biodegrades in two years

For years, people with broken bones have had to suffer through not only the pain of the break, but also the long process of healing, often with the help of titanium screws. Typically, patients must then undergo more surgery to remove the titanium.

When my mom broke her knee in the '90s, they rigged her with so many screws and bars that her X-rays looked more robot than human. She predicted rain with eerie accuracy.

This month, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Applied Materials Research (IFAM) in Bremen, Germany, are unveiling a new type of screw … Read more

Google News snafu leads to airline stock plunge

What was the unlikely culprit behind a 75 percent drop in United Airlines' stock on Monday? An erroneous Google News search, that's what.

The problem was that an investor news service, the South Florida-based Income Securities Advisors, found a Chicago Tribune article from 2002 via Google News and consequently included it in that day's news digest--which wound up on Bloomberg's news wire. The content of the story wasn't the sort you want to be publishing if it isn't true: that United Airlines had filed for bankruptcy. Considering the state of the airline industry today, it … Read more

Virgin Mobile flubs up ads in NYC

Advertisements are part of the landscape here in New York City (hello, Times Square) and us locals generally like to ignore them. Which is why plenty of companies are willing to bend over backwards to get New Yorkers to stop walking really fast while blasting music into their iPod headphones and, well, notice some advertisements. Virgin Mobile's one of the recent ones, having introduced a "You Rule" campaign that addresses specific groups of New Yorkers. It's been placing them in specific neighborhoods, too, in an attempt to gain buzz by delivering personalized shout-outs.

Kind of a … Read more