We’ve checked with our friends at Apple and MacMedics has learned that Apple will replace a water damaged iPhone at the Apple store for $199. Customers will most likely end up with a refurbished replacement unit and best of all, your current ATT contract will not get extended in order to obtain a working iPhone.

Our advice on ANY Mac repair is always free, and we love to talk shop! Pick up that iPhone, and give us a call toll free at 1-866-MAC-MEDICS.

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If you’re a loyal Apple hardware buyer, you most likely know about AppleCare. Chances are you’re like me and after plunking down $2000 on a new MacBook Pro, maybe you held off on also buying AppleCare. What you might not know is that you can buy AppleCare anytime within the first year of ownership and get an extra two years of Apple warranty coverage. AppleCare also entitles you to free phone support from Apple for more than just the first 90 days of ownership.

AppleCare is also available for iPods. You can double the Apple factory warranty to two years by enrolling. Considering that AppleCare is $59 for all of the more expensive iPods, it’s a good bet. Any iPod repair needed within 2 years will make your $59 investment totally worthwhile.

We commonly see MacMedics customers (and other folks from all over) who bought their Mac elsewhere, and either opted to buy AppleCare at a later date or were never informed it was an option at the time of purchase. So as long as you’ve not hit your 1-year purchase anniversary yet, you can can still enroll your computer in AppleCare. You could rush to the Apple Store or buy on-line and fuss with getting retroactively enrolled after your paperwork comes in the mail, or you can call MacMedics (or e-mail us) for the same price as Apple, we’ll enroll your Mac in AppleCare instantly and e-mail you the paperwork that contains your AppleCare number. Once you go past the 1-year warranty, there is no way to retroactively buy AppleCare. If you never registered your computer, or did so late, it’s possible that Apple has the wrong info on when you actually bought your computer. If you can prove your computer was purchased less than one year ago, you can still buy AppleCare. Apple’s serial number information uses the Mac’s “Born on date” to give pretty good guess on the Mac’s warranty. It’s very likely that your purchase date could be as mcsh as a month after this date if your Mac was in the channel for a long time, or sat on the shelf for a while before you bought it. Check your paperwork to be sure, and do so quickly before you give up on buying the extended warranty.

I recommend AppleCare for all Apple computers, Especially laptops, where the service parts are more expensive and you also have a power adaptor that can fail. If you have ANY hardware repair performed under the AppleCare warranty it’s totally worth the investment. We have it on all of our computers here at MacMedics, and it’s been worthwhile for us.

Pay on-line right here, and we’ll e-mail you to get your computer’s serial number as soon as your order reaches us. Use the coupon code “AppleCare” on Google Checkout and we’ll take $10 off your AppleCare purchase over $149.

If you’re right at the deadline to buy, please also call us at 1-866-MAC-MEDICS if you don’t hear from us via e-mail within a few minutes of your order. We’re also happy to handle your enrollment via a phone call, if you’d rather not buy on-line. Just give us a call and we’ll take care of it right on the spot.

Don’t forget that MacMedics can also honor your AppleCare warranty or your Apple factory 1-year warranty. We can offer some distinct advantages versus visiting the Apple Store.

1. No appointment is needed when you bring your computer in. Just drop it off anytime.
2. Both of our walk-in service locations (MacMedics in Lanham, MD & MacMedics in Millersville, MD) are less then 10 steps from your parking spot. This means no lugging your iMac, G5 or Mac Pro through the mall, in fact if you’ve got something that’s a bit heavy or awkward, just come get us and we’ll carry it in for you!
3. MacMedics is fast! We try to have any needed warranty parts on order the same day you check in. We also have many commonly used service parts in stock (like laptop power ports, top cases, keyboards, Superdrives, power adaptors, and all types of hard drives and memory).
4. We’re absolutely fanatical about ensuring your unit is correctly repaired and properly reassembled. See our blog post regarding service obtained elsewhere.
5. Not located near an Apple Authorized Service Provider? You can ship us your unit yourself, or get in touch with us on details on how we can pick it up from you.

1/18/09 UPDATE: We’d like to thank the hundreds of of people who have taken action based on this blog post. MacMedics recommends AppleCare for all Macs, and our new web page and instant enrollment has been super successful. If you’re still on the sidelines wondering when you should buy AppleCare, take action now! Macs are super reliable, but you never know what could happen. With logic boards and many other major parts costing hundreds of dollars, AppleCare could cover it all for you. Use it one time, and you’ve made your investment back. See our post about an $800 logic board repair. As we mentioned above, MacMedics buys AppleCare for all of our loaner, rental, and support equipment. With a laptop where you have an external power supply, you are very likely to have to replace your adaptor within three years. If you end up doing so, that’s $80 back on your investment. Wanna’ talk about AppleCare and why we recommend it more? Just give us call at 1-866-MAC-MEDICS we can enroll your Mac(s) on the spot. Again, don’t wait until your 1-year factory warranty runs out!

It’s nice that AT&T is again offering free WiFi to iPhone users via any AT&T WiFi Hotspot. Many Starbucks have this service. They sent me this nice text message with a link to their web page to explain it all.

See a full size image here:

Apple has released iTunes 8.0.1

iTunes 8.0.1 improves stability and performance and provides a number of important bug fixes, including:

• Seamlessly plays the current song when creating a new Genius playlist.
• Improves syncing spoken menus to iPod nano.
• Addresses an issue of deleting HD TV episodes when downloading.
• Improves checking for updates from the App Store
• Improves accessibility with VoiceOver.
• Addresses problems syncing Genius results to iPod.

Today Apple announced the Apple Ultracompact USB Power Adapter Exchange program. This small adapter came with the new 3G iPhones.

Apple has determined that under certain conditions the new ultracompact Apple USB power adapter’s metal prongs can break off and remain in a power outlet, creating a risk of electric shock. Apple has received reports of detached blades involving a very small percentage of the adapters sold, but no injuries have been reported.

Here’s a picture of what it looks like:

Apple's iPhone 3G Ultracompact USB Power Adapter

See Apple’s website for more info:

http://www.apple.com/support/usbadapter/exchangeprogram/

If you have questions, feel free to get in touch with your local MacMedics office or give us a call at 1-866-MAC-MEDICS

iPhone Software version 2.1 was released by Apple today via iTunes. It adds the Genius playlist feature that is also available in the iPod touch. This software update was released to address connection issues by reducing call drops and set-up failures. Changes also include some improvements to the 3G signal strength meter and some tweaks related to text messaging that allow for an option for repeating an alert on an incoming message up to tow times.

The new firmware also addresses some improvements in battery life, contact searching, and has reduced the amount of time needed to make a back up of the iPhone

Here is the complete list of items addressed in this update from Apple:

1. Decrease in call set-up failures and call drops.
2. Significantly improved battery life for most users.
3. Improved email reliability, notably fetching email from POP and Exchange accounts.
4. Faster installation of 3rd party applications
5. Fixed bugs causing hangs and crashes if you have lots of 3rd party applications.
6. Improved performance in text messaging.
7. Faster loading and searching of contacts
8. Improved accuracy of the 3G signal strength display.
9. Repeat alert up to two additional times for incoming text messages.
10. Option to wipe data after 10 failed passcode attempts.
11. Genius playlist creation.

My update went well, and so far so good for other MacMedics staffers as well. We are especially anxious to see if this update really improves call reception and reduces dropped calls for those of us who one the new 3G iPhone.

I will post more on this topic, if we uncover anything that our clients need to know about. Are you on e-mail newsletter list? If not sign up here. Also, you can follow us on Twitter.

At MacWorld in San Francisco, Apple introduced the New MacBook Air. This $1800 super lightweight and thin laptop is the world’s thinnest. A new AirPort base station called Time Capsule that contains a 500 GB (for $299) or 1 TB (for $499) hard drive to allow you to back up your laptop wirelessly was also announced. Apple TV’s price was dropped $70, and now has the ability to rent movies from iTunes from your TV. Deals were struck with all major movie studios to rent movies via the device for $2.99 to $4.99. Major software updates for the iPhone and iTouch were also released.