Amazon FireTV is on sale. $84 instead of $99. FYI.

A friend's niece is on a trip to Hawaii, and her MacBook died. This is not good, particularly since she's missing the first week of school because of an apparent inability to read a calendar. Anyway, she took it to an Apple store, along with copies of the receipt and the AppleCare agreement that my friend e-mailed her. The niece is a flake, but my friend is not. She bought the computer for said niece, watched the store person scan the box in setting up the AppleCare agreement and kept up with the paperwork.

The Apple store said the serial number on the computer doesn't match the serial number on the AppleCare agreement, and the warranty is probably void anyway because there are screws missing on the bottom that make it look tampered with. (The niece is not the sort of person who would tamper with a computer or, for that matter, even think about the fact that a computer has insides.) This is a computer that was purchased about 18 months ago.

Has anyone dealt with something like this?

Can someone click on this link to see if the Naomi Klein blurb appears on the top. I'm not seeing it, but I think may just be caching issue.

[link]

see if the Naomi Klein blurb appears on the top

I see it.

Thanks. I thought that was it. I can see it on my local copy but not over the web , not even on another computer. So I'm guess I have to reboot my router to clear that cache. And if thats not it. I have to wait for my isp to refresh its cache.

Can your phone be GPS tracked if you'te turned the location functions off? If you remove the battery? If you remove the SIM card?

Not if you removed the battery. Dunno about the rest. In terms of turning off gps I speculate that if phone is on software could turn gps back on without your knowledge. If you turn phone off, can software keep phone from really being turned off, so that you only think it is off? Also if your phone is physically altered that could make a difference, though nothing can be done if it is not powered. so unless a 2nd battery has been installed I think pulling the battery works in all cases. But I don't think phones really have room for hidden xtra battery at least not one that will last very long.

Though if this is for a fic, a hearing aid sized 2nd hidden battery that let the phone be tracked for 20 minutes after the main battery was removed could be a plot point.

I seem to remember privacy experts saying software that turns your gps back on when you turn it off, provided your phone is still on definitely exists and is used by police and intelligence agencies. Don't remember about the rest.

If you turn off your GPS does your phone still use GPS to give your location when you call 911?

eta: Phones are required to have GPS to assist the 911 folks in finding you.