What do you need to get the student pricing on Apple products?

I bought my MacBook at an Apple Retail Store (the cool looking Apple operated stores) and when I asked for the student discount, the store employee asked if they could see a student ID. I was admitted but did not have a student ID yet, so I told them that and they asked me if I could prove that I have access to a campus website/resource that is only available to current students.

I was going to log into the class registration website, I opened the page and was entering my credentials when the employee said that that was enough. So they are not trying to investigate, they just need to know you are student (sometimes they may not even want that).

Other resources that could prove student status would be – acceptance email, my.university.edu website.

Of course you could just go to the online store and go to the Apple (for Education) Store and buy from there.

That beep sound made by the Terminal app on Mac OS X can get really annoying, here is how to disable it

1. Open the Terminal app

It’s located in /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app. Or you could search for Terminal by bringing up the Spotlight search, click on the magnifying glass at the top right corner.

2. Open Preferences for the Terminal App

Once you have the Terminal app open, click on the Terminal menu and launch preferences or use the shortcut Command+comma(,).

3. Choose Settings in the preferences window and switch to the Advanced tab

4. Uncheck the Audible Bell setting

5. Done

The Mac App Store that Apple announced is now live, it’s not a separate download, if you want to get it, you should run Software Update from the Apple Menu at the top corner and install the 10.6.6 version of Mac OS X.

When I read about the news I went straight to the Apple website to get the Mac App Store, assuming it would be a separate download but it isn’t and I don’t think they did a good job of conveying this. In the case of iTunes and Safari, which are part of the OS, they have separate pages that will take you to a download page.

If you haven’t noticed pretty much every Apple product page has a blue button that will either take you to the download page or to the Apple Online Store so you can buy it but the Mac App Store didn’t.

But they did mention that the Mac App Store is part of the new OS update, as you can see in the screenshot below but it’s a little less prominent.

This one is for the PC-to-Mac switcers. Incase you have made the transition or have to use the Mac ocassionally, you will see that the Mac is not as friendly as it is supposed to be. Its because you are not used to the way things are on the Mac.

One such nuance that can cause a bit of frustration is the arrows on the scrollbar. On a Windows computer, the corresponding arrows are at the ends of the scrollbar but on a Mac the arrows are together. Luckily there is a way to change this to the way it looks in Windows, open System Preferences (there should be an icon in the Dock) and click on Appearance. In the Appearance pane, you will see the option to change the arrow position

For good or bad, there are no Ok | Cancel | Apply buttons as in windows, so once you change it, the change will be applied.

Firefox 3, the latest version of the web browser Firefox is out today. The developers and the Firefox community is trying to set a world record for the highest number of downloads in a day. So go get your copy and help them make the record. And its free.

There is only one way for something to be better and still be free – Open Source. Want to participate in the Firefox revolution, one way you can help is by spreading awareness. Most users end up using the browser that comes with their OS (Internet Explorer / Safari). There are many reasons for this and one of them is that they are unaware of the fact that there are better and free things out there. Educate people about Firefox, explain the advantages and help them make the switch.

If you were already a Firefox user, then there are lots of improvements that make this a must try upgrade. Missed the download day? No problem, make up for it by spreading the word. Grab one of these Firefox buttons or buy some Firefox gear.