Cleaning the Apple Mighty Mouse
By admin | November 3, 2007
Out of the box the Apple Mighty Mouse is a beautiful thing. However, if you are like many others you will notice that your once “Mighty” rodent stops performing as well as it did when it was new. After a while the way cool fingertip scrolling feature looses its effectiveness. Pretty soon you have to actually move your mouse all over the desk again. Using your arm to scroll through documents is so 1997.
So what’s the problem? The short answer is nasty gunk from your hands. All kinds of human skin, pizza grease and other foreign substances get stuck between the rollers and the trackball. Unlike previous Apple mice there is no real great way of cleaning the ball and the rollers. Its just not part of the “improved design.” I read all kinds of advice on the web: swabbing with alcohol, squirting in Windex, rubbing the trackball with the mouse upside down, compressed air, the vacuum cleaner etc, etc. I tried them all and still could not get my once mighty rodent to scroll nicely.
Fully realizing I could DESTROY my Apple Mouse I went about opening the shell. This is not a prescribed procedure. Using a set of jewelers screwdrivers I forced the the two bottom oval containing rings off. I then carefully pried open the two halves. Be careful if you try this. You have to pull two of the circuit wires out their snap connector thingies. The housing that holds the trackball has three screws. Undo these carefully. Inside will be a white ring that holds the ball in place. Carefully remove this ring. The ball can then be popped out. Like me I bet you will find all kinds of yucky stuff in the trackball housing. There are four tiny magnets that look like little miniature dumbbells. These are the cause of all of your scrolling problems. Remove the magnets and carefully clean them. The magnets are attached to little white ribbed rollers. Clean them well and pop the magnets back into place. The magnetic part goes next to tiny little metal plates. Reverse the dismantle procedure and your once grungy rodent will be scrolling like new again.
A word of caution: you will be removing tiny little pieces so do this operation on a good desk with a dish to hold all the parts. And do not attempt this anywhere near shag carpeting!
Max
Topics: Apple Computers | No Comments »
Finally Live!
By admin | November 2, 2007
Well, after months of fiddling this site is finally live!
There are still some issues to be worked out: the inevitable stupid typos and some cleaning up. Not to mention the annoying inconsistencies that are apparent with Internet Explorer 6.
I have been meaning to split my main photography site into two different sites for some time now. This is a reflection on the different directions my business and interests are moving in. Having a separate site for my photography and design endeavors just seemed to make sense. Doing so also made me finally address another major issue: completing the content of the main photography site. So now there is a site for Balmain PHOTOGRAPHY and a site for Balmain DESIGN.
The photography site is improved and updated as well: better code, streamlined CSS, bigger images, improved navigation, etc . The unfinished areas like the travel section were also finally completed. But the work is never done. I am sure there will be some more editing needed.
The photography site is not meant to be a focused, businesslike “hire me” site. Rather, it is meant to dig a little deeper. Throughout my career as a photographer I have avoided being a specialist. Simply put: I like doing it all. Some might find the site too large and unfocused. I like to think of it as a visual sample of where I have been and what I can do. Oh, I would still like it if folks would hire me…
Thanks for visiting!
Max
Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »