Macbook Power Brick Faulty

My Macbook Pro Power Brick is faulty and blown the fuse in the extension cord. Since it is protected under the Apple Care warranty, Apple do offer a replacement for the power brick and extension cord.

Update: So I went to replace my faulty power brick at Eserv Wheelock Place. They did replace the 85W Magsafe Power Brick, but did not replace my 3-pin extension cord with the blown fuse. Maybe it is stated in the Apple Care Terms and Conditions that the extension cord was not part of the warranty, but I find it interesting that why Apple did not give me a new fuse so that I can have my complete set of the charger kit. Nevertheless, I managed to salvage a fuse and get the power brick up and running.

Brightness Control issues on the Thunderbolt Display

An issue I faced with the Thunderbolt Display hooked up to my Macbook Pro when running bootcamp on Windows 8/8.1 was that I had no control of the Brightness of the Thunderbolt Display. It will set to the default of full brightness which is extremely bright and literally unusable. It seems that many users faced this issue on Apple forums but Apple have yet to give a proper solution to the problem. I strongly feel that this issue could be done with a software update to the bootcamp drivers. Currently, the brightness control can only control the brightness of my Macbook Pro display and does not do anything to the Thunderbolt Display. Hope that Apple come out with a software update to tackle the problem as soon as possible.

Update: Actually I was pretty much in the dark about this function that is available in the BootCamp Control Panel that actually solved my problem. I think that Apple had already implemented this function to control the Thunderbolt Display brightness, but they did not specify publicly in the Q&A forums. To control the brightness, go to the task bar of your Windows and on the far-right, you should see a black colour diamond icon that represents the Boot Camp Utility. You need to have the BootCamp drivers for this to work. Right-click on the icon and select BootCamp Control panel. You should see the Brightness tab prompting you to adjust your brightness. Adjust the slider and you will see your Thunderbolt Display changing its brightness.

If this page worked for you and you have friends that experience the same issue with their Thunderbolt Display running Windows, do share this post by clicking the Facebook or Twitter icons to share on your Facebook page and Twitter Feed respectively. Thank You!

Beginning Android Tablet Application Development

Interested in writing Android Applications for your Android Tablet? I am selling a couple of "Beginning Android Tablet Application Development" books by Wei-Meng Lee. On Amazon, it is USD$34.99, but if you buy it from me, you can get it at an incredible price of SGD $5!. The book is absolutely brand new! Once the book is sold, no exchange or refund is allowed. Only in Singapore! If you are interested, please visit my Carousell link down below. Thanks!

https://carousell.com/p/15415101/

Area and Perimeter for Kids!

Hi viewers! I just created an app on the Microsoft Store for kids to do easy area and perimeter calculation with easy to remember formula on the go! This post will constantly be updated and it serves as a status indicator for app users! Any updates to the app will be posted here! If you find any bugs or crashes, please do send an email to my support email. If you think this app is good and beneficial for your kids or even yourself, do leave a comment down below and let me know! If you have any suggestions for improvement, do let me know too!

App Link : http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/app/perimeter-and-area-calculator/0c766298-7fa3-497b-89e1-b4763a184edd

Support email : support@clarencechng.com

Status - Undergoing Review As of 19/9/13
             Up and Running on Windows Store! Release 1 As of 20/9/13
             Updated and Transferred to new Windows Store account As of 6/10/14

Dear viewers, I've transferred the app over to another account and I've written a new post to redirect you to my download link. The new app contains major bug fixes, improvements and updates that will result in greater calculation precision. Head over to my new post to find out more!

Redirect Link: http://www.clarencechng.com/2014/10/easy-area-and-perimeter-calculator-for.html

Adding a SSD to your existing 2012 Mac Mini

Want to turn your existing Mac Mini to a Fusion Drive Mac Mini? With a simple cable known as a Data Doubler, you can do so! I actually wanted to film a video to show the process of installing an SSD using a data doubler, but it turns out that the camera shuts off in the midst of filming, which I realised it at the end of my installation. However, there are tons of video on Youtube that shows you how to install an additional drive. Instead, I will talk about how your Mac Mini recognises it as a Fusion drive. Typically, the Fusion Drive Mac Mini configuration is available for you to choose during checkout at Apple's online store, which is only available to the high-end 2.3GHz quad-core i7 Mac Mini. Interestingly, when you install it to a low-end 2.5GHz dual-core i5 Mac Mini, the OS recognises two separate drives initially, but when you boot using Internet Recovery, they will specify that there is a problem with both of the drives, requesting you to reformat the drives, after which the two drives combine into a single volume, now known as a Fusion Drive. The build that I am currently using is the low end 2.5GHz dual-core i5 Mac Mini, with an additional 128GB Samsung 840 series SSD and the existing 5400rpm 500GB HD. The computer shows it as 620 GB Fusion Drive.

Updates on my Website (New Domain!)

Hello everyone! Just to have a quick update on my blog, which I have been quite inactive for months. I recently created a custom domain for my website http://www.clarencechng.net/, and by clicking it, it will redirect you to my current blog page. I might create a new website from scratch in the near future, but that depends on factors like costly web hosting and fiddling with HTML/CSS codes. *which apparently I don't know anything about web designs* But, I will try my very best to create my own website and probably a personal web server. School has been pretty much busy for me, writing Java programs and taking exams, but I enjoyed what I am learning right now! I am having my holidays over a span of 9 weeks and I plan not to let this 9 weeks go to waste. Instead, I plan to take up PHP and HTML programming within the short period of time and see what I can do with this new skill. Programming is never boring to me, except for times when little errors causes your program to crash. I have uploaded some videos on Youtube regarding Arduinos which I have been playing with the computer board for quite some time, and I aslo plan to give some tips and tricks for programming your Arduino in the near future. So stay tuned to my blog for more updates. Oh yes, on September 10th, Apple might be launching the new iPhone 5S with 128GB options and champagne gold colour, as well as the new iPhone 5C, a "cheaper" alternative for the existing iPhone. Will be thrilled to see the iPhone 5C this coming launch.

WWDC 2013!

So apparently I have not been blogging for the past few months as school have just started since April and there is not much time for me to blog. Quite a few events have taken place like WWDC, E3 and Google IO and there are tons of new releases which I will try to cover it here. Firstly, the WWDC brings updates to a new Operating System to the Mac, known as Mac OS X Mavericks (10.9). Cool features like multiple tabs in the Finder window as well as better support for multiple windows. However the star of the show for this year's WWDC is iOS 7. It has an all new User-Interface with Jony's "thin" design and easy access menu for users. It brings Air Drop support to the iOS devices making it similar to what the Mac does making iOS stand out from the previous versions.

Keynote for iPad courses

Really excited for the launch of the Keynote for iPad course by Developer Learning Solutions. This course gets you started with the basics of Keynote for iOS and allows you to explore some of the useful tools available in Keynote and apply it in your office presentation. A great tool to have to show stunning slides to your customers or audience! If you're interested, please go to http://learn2develop.net or click on the Developer Learning Solution Link above.

Getting Started with Raspberry Pi

I recently got my Raspberry Pi (Model B) which I am in love with this ultra small computer. It sounds impossible to have a computer that is of the size of a credit card, but it is really amazing to be using it. There are a ton of projects that can be created with the Raspberry Pi, like building a remote-control car with the Raspberry Pi doing the computing and controlling of the car. This fantastic machine also allows programming in a language known as Python which you can do tons of interesting programs with it.

Cheat Sheets on iPad and iPhone

I recently written some slides together with Developer Learning Solutions on these topics:

Clicking on the titles will initiate the download

Ways to Connect your iPhone and iPad to your TV

Ways to Import your Photos and Videos into your iPad