I wonder how long it will be before people ask what a CD or DVD is? What with Apple eliminating optical drives from new Macs, and the availability of most audio and video content as digital downloads or via streaming, CDs and DVDs are going the way of the dinosaur.

Nevertheless, the majority of Macs and PCs currently in use still have optical drives, which is why, after being asked earlier this week to assist in un-sticking a DVD from a Mac's optical drive, I thought I would share the three easiest methods with you.

Use Terminal to Eject a Stuck CD/DVD

Use OS X Boot Manager to Eject a Stuck CD/DVD

Use Your Mouse or Trackpad to Eject Stuck Media When Booting

The Mercury Accelsior E2 is a PCIe expansion card for the Mac Pro that provides a pair of SSD blades configured in a RAID 0 array. This internal storage provides a huge performance boost for Mac Pro users who have been using the older, slower SATA II drive bays.

Courtesy of Other World Computing

But the Accelsior E2 doesn't stop there. With its Marvel-based SATA controller, the card also offers two 6G eSATA ports for external storage.

That's a pretty nifty card configuration. We put it to the test, looking to see how well it performs on our bench tests, and how well it operates in a Mac Pro as well as a Thunderbolt-based expansion chassis.

Find out if the Accelsior E2 is right for you.

OWC Mercury Accelsior E2 Review - SSD RAID and eSATA in One PCIe Card

Apple today posted details about a number of data requests made by federal, state, and local government agencies. Apple, along with Microsoft, Facebook, Google, and others, sent requests to the NSA for permission to release some details regarding the number and type of requests the government made for user data.

"From December 1, 2012 to May 31, 2013, Apple received between 4,000 and 5,000 requests from U.S. law enforcement for customer data. Between 9,000 and 10,000 accounts or devices were specified in those requests, which came from federal, state and local authorities and included both criminal investigations and national security matters. The most common form of request comes from police investigating robberies and other crimes, searching for missing children, trying to locate a patient with Alzheimer's disease, or hoping to prevent a suicide."

Apple went on to say that not all requests were granted. In many cases, the scope of information that Apple provided was greatly reduced from what was originally requested.

In addition, Apple made it very clear that neither the U.S. government nor any law enforcement group has any type of direct access to Apple data or servers, and that all requests for information were handled by Apple's legal department, which required court orders before providing any information.

Apple also pointed out that conversations, text, and other data sent via iMessages, Messages, and FaceTime are encrypted end-to-end, and that Apple isn't able to decrypt the information. Apple also doesn't save location information, map searches, or Siri requests in any form that could be identified by user.

You can read the full text in the "Apple's Commitment to Customer Privacy" press release.

The Apple refurb store is my go-to place for finding discounts on Apple products, from Macs to iPhones, iPods to iPads. Just about every product that Apple makes will eventually end up in the refurb store. I check the refurb store every week and post the best deals that I find. I tend to focus on recent generation products, but once in a while an older item is available for a price that's just too good to pass up. If you're looking for a deal on an Apple product, check this blog every Sunday.

Screen shot courtesy of Coyote Moon, Inc.

MacBook Airs saw a nice price cut this week after the introduction of 2013 models. You can pick up a 2012 MacBook Air for a very reasonable price, but you'll have to act fast. Stock of the 13-inch models is already depleted, and the 11.6-inch models won't hang around long either.

But don't worry if the MacBook Air you're looking for isn't in stock today; there will always be more.

The refurb store is also well stocked with 2010 and 2012 Mac Pros. I still recommend holding off on purchasing an older Mac Pro, unless you have an immediate need. When the new 2013 Mac Pros become available in the fall, there may be a slight price drop in refurbs of the older model.

Apple Refurbished Store

Quantities are limited, so if any of these tickle your fancy, be fast on the trigger to make a purchase.

MacBook Air

2012 11.6-inch MacBook Air 1.7 GHz Dual-Core i5 with 128 GB SSD and Intel HD Graphics 4000: $799.00

2012 11.6-inch MacBook Air 2.0 GHz Dual-Core i7 with 128 GB SSD and Intel HD Graphics 4000: $929.00

MacBook Pro

2012 13.3-inch MacBook Pro (Review) 2.5 GHz Intel Dual-Core i5 with 500 GB drive and Intel HD Graphics 4000: $1,019.00

2012 13.3-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display (Review) 2.5 GHz Dual-Core i5 with 128 GB SSD and Intel HD Graphics 4000: $1,269.00

2012 15-inch MacBook Pro (Review) 2.3 GHz Intel Quad-Core i7 with 500 GB drive and NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M graphics: $1,449.00

2012 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display (Review) 2.3 GHz Intel Quad-Core i7 with 256 GB SSD and NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M graphics: $1,599.00

2011 17-inch MacBook Pro (Review) 2.4 GHz Intel Quad-Core i7 with 750 GB drive and AMD Radeon HD 6770M and standard glossy screen: $1,899.00

Mac mini

2011 Mac mini (Review) 2.0 GHz Quad-Core i7 with dual 500 GB drive, and Intel HD Graphics 3000, outfitted with OS X Server: $759.00

iMac

2012 21.5-inch iMac (Review) 2.7 GHz Quad-Core i5 with 1 TB hard drive and NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M graphics: $1,099.00

2012 21.5-inch iMac (Review) 2.9 GHz Quad-Core i5 with 1 TB hard drive and NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M graphics: $1,269.00

2012 27-inch iMac (Review) 2.9 GHz, Quad-Core i5 with 1 TB hard drive and Nvidia GeForce GTX 660M: $1,529.00

2012 27-inch iMac (Review) 3.2 GHz, Quad-Core i5 with 1 TB hard drive and Nvidia GeForce GTX 660M: $1,699.00

Mac Pro

Mac Pro (Review) 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon with ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics: $1,819.00

Displays

27-inch LED Thunderbolt Display 2560x1440 resolution: $799.00

27-inch LED Cinema Display 2560x1440 resolution: $799.00

Mac Accessories

2012 AirPort Express with simultaneous dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi. Includes support for attaching a printer as well as using Apple's AirPlay to send audio to any attached speakers: $85.00

iPad - Fourth Generation (Review)

16 GB Wi-Fi iPad 4 $419.00

32 GB Wi-Fi iPad 4 $499.00

64 GB Wi-Fi iPad 4 $579.00

16 GB Wi-Fi + Cellular iPad 4 $529.00

32 GB Wi-Fi + Cellular iPad 4 $609.00

64 GB Wi-Fi + Cellular iPad 4 $689.00

iPad mini (Review)

16 GB Wi-Fi iPad mini $279.00

32 GB Wi-Fi iPad mini $359.00

64 GB Wi-Fi iPad mini $439.00

16 GB Wi-Fi + Cellular iPad mini $389.00

32 GB Wi-Fi + Cellular iPad mini $469.00

64 GB Wi-Fi + Cellular iPad mini $549.00

Want to find out more about Apple refurbished Macs? Take a look at the process my wife and I experienced when we took the Apple refurbished store for a spin.