05/10, 8:30pm
More repairs for damaged iPhones, phone support extended, more
According to leaked reports from an Apple "town hall" meeting, some significant changes are coming to AppleCare and AppleCare+ policies starting this fall -- however, unlike most news of this nature, the changes should benefit consumers while still cutting some costs. Among the bigger changes will be a new policy to repair, rather than replace, damaged iPhones when possible; an extension of telephone support; more remote hardware fault diagnosis, and a change to tie an AppleCare policy to a customer rather than a specific device.
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05/10, 2:26pm
Bluetooth keyboard typing issues with iPad and more
Earlier this week in the MacNN forums, Mac Elite "abbaZaba" was trying to figure out why the Apple Bluetooth keyboard that they have paired with an iPad 4 will stutter the first letter when typing. After making a digital copy of a 20-year-old VHS home movie, one Fresh-Faced Recruit turned to the forums looking for any advice on ways to make the imported footage look a little less faded.
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05/09, 4:36pm
Apple issues minor patch
Apple has posted a new support download for Macs, Thunderbolt Firmware Update 1.2. The patch appears to deal solely with stability problems related to Target Disk Mode. The file is 1.22MB, and requires OS X 10.8.3 or later.
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05/07, 3:25pm
Dead pixels, blown usb ports and more
Yesterday in the MacNN forums, members tried to help one concerned Fresh-Faced Recruit figure out reasons why white and black lines might show up across the screen of their iPhone 3GS. Also yesterday, one Forum Regular was having some trouble with a flickering external monitor attached to their 15-inch rMBP with a mini-display port cable, and they turned to the forums for some advice.
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05/07, 12:04am
Trojan horse points to non-functional webpage, part of sound file
A bit of malware -- a Trojan horse file that tries to redirect to a website -- has been found inside an iOS app, but the code has turned out to be harmless. The app in question is called Simply Find It ($2) and comes from a legitimate developer that has produced a number of legitimate games -- suggesting that the malware was probably inserted into the app accidentally. The bigger issue (since there is no direct threat posed by the bad code) is how Apple's testing procedure missed it -- and how two well-known anti-malware scanners couldn't pick up on it either.
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05/03, 3:16pm
Intel's new graphics with eDRAM finally gets a name
Yesterday in the MacNN forums, Moderator "P" started a discussion about Intel's new graphics processors, focusing on the specs of the various models as well as the newly-announced naming scheme. Also yesterday, Professional Poster "shifuimam" was looking for a way to speed up a recently-purchased 20-inch (first-generation) iMac G5.
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05/02, 9:00pm
Says always-on Location Services didn't show issues during testing
Google has issued a written denial of claims that its new-to-iOS "Google Now" feature, which relies heavily on Location Services, is causing unusual battery drains for iPhone users. The company recently added the feature -- which attempts to predict what the user will ask based on location, direction and other factors and presents some useful information without user input -- to its Google search app already available for iOS devices. In the statement, Google says both that reports of battery drain are "incorrect" but then asks for users to contact them if they are having a battery problem.
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05/02, 1:31pm
Continues trend of targeted iOS updates
In an unexpected move, Apple has released a new version of iOS exclusively for iPhone 5 owners. iOS 6.1.4 upgrades the audio profile for the device's speakerphone, and so far doesn't appear to make any other changes. The update applies to both GSM- and CDMA- equipped iPhones.
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04/30, 3:15pm
Adobe Flash update and more
This week in the MacNN forums, members discuss the most recent Flash update in the thread titled "Adobe Flash 11.7.7 update requires download?" which was started by "Hawkeye_a" who found it strange, especially after the recent malware scares. Yesterday "ibook_steve" reported that his Finder is showing that he has more free space on their hard drive than he does in reality.
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04/26, 3:58pm
Building a USB charging station and more
Today in the MacNN forums, Grizzled Veteran "PeterParker" was wondering if it would be a good idea to build their own USB charging station that could be used to charge Apple devices among other things. Mac Elite "CIA" started a thread earlier this week trying to find out if the maxed out Mac Pro setup that they are using will fry the power supply.
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04/24, 7:30pm
Study shows clean install of Windows is best for stability
A new study by a cloud-based PC admin software maker, Soluto, concludes that bloatware included on most Windows PC notebooks by the manufacturers is harming the Windows experience to such an extent that the best portable on which to run Windows is now Apple's MacBook Pro. In part this is because, like the other PC models judged to be the most reliable, the Mac requires a "clean" copy of Windows. The company gathered boot-up times, crash or hang incidents, background process logs and BSOD reports from 150,000 notebook PCs to come up with the rankings.
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04/23, 3:48pm
MBA mouse clicks not registering and more
Yesterday in the MacNN forums, Professional Poster "Paco500" was looking for assistance with a trackpad that was not registering clicks on a MacBook Air. In the thread titled "21.5-inch iMac" Professional Poster "mattyb" was trying to decide between purchasing two different iMac models, but was looking for some advice from other forum-goers before taking the plunge.
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04/23, 10:40am
Apple online services continue string of difficulties
Apple's online services are again suffering outages, their official system status page indicates. Between 7:20 and 9:32AM Eastern, some people may have been unable to access the iTunes Store or make purchases there. Still ongoing however are problems preventing people from creating Apple IDs or signing into Game Center, as well as authentication errors when trying to use iCloud. The latter may also prevent people from setting up a new iCloud account.
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04/23, 9:54am
Case reaches conclusion
iPhone 4 owners are beginning to receive $15 checks as their part of the settlement in a class action lawsuit against Apple, notes 9to5Mac. The payouts mark the end of the dispute, which merged 18 different cases involving the iPhone 4's alleged "death grip" issue. Holding the phone in the wrong way without a case would effectively kill its cellular reception.
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04/19, 7:10pm
All issues now cleared, but service interruptions a hassle for many
Apple has reported some brief but widespread slowdowns and unavailability of Game Center -- starting in the wee hours of Thursday and again later that morning -- coupled with a prolonged mail issue that only affected a fraction of one percent of users on iCloud.com for half a day over Thursday and Friday. The disruption comes on the heels of scattered reports of brief iTunes Store outages and a more serious iMessage and FaceTime problem ten days ago, the latter of which lasted over five hours. All services are back to normal operation now.
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04/19, 1:53pm
Who's to blame, Safari or Java?
Yesterday in the MacNN forums, "cgc" was trying to figure out why they were having problems with certain websites after updating Safari and Java. Also yesterday, Professional Poster "badidea" was having a problem with the cursor remaining on screen while the iTunes visualizer is playing.
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04/16, 1:05pm
Research on migrating to Entourage and more
Yesterday in the MacNN forums Fresh-Faced Recruit "Rex963" was doing some research on migrating back to Entourage from MS Outlook and turned to the forums for some advice. After weighing the options, Mac Elite "bbales" still isn't sure which direction to go with a new MacBook Pro purchase -- Retina or not.
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04/12, 5:12pm
Which MacBook Pro is faster?
Yesterday in the MacNN forums, a discussion was started about which MacBook is faster, the 13-inch Retina model or the non-Retina model -- with many stating they would prefer a Retina model regardless of speed. Earlier this week, Forum Regular "fritzair" started the thread titled "A7 chip: is Apple the locomotive on this train?" which started a discussion about the future of processors.
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04/12, 1:11pm
New downtime shorter than previous
Apple's iMessage and FaceTime services experienced another outage earlier today, according to the company's system status page. The outage is listed as having affected "some users" between 10:45AM and 12:07PM Eastern time. As of this writing, all of Apple's online services are once again operating normally.
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04/12, 11:02am
Pushes localization for App Store, iBookstore titles
Apple has sent out a memo to developers this week, urging them to localize Mac and iOS apps as well as titles on the iBookstore, notes AppleInsider. The message is being delivered through iTunes Connect, and points out that both the iOS and Mac App Stores are accessible in 155 countries and 40 languages. "In addition, the App Store editorial team is always looking for great apps that are localized," Apple writes.
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04/10, 6:10pm
Dealing with fallout from state-run smear campaign
According to a Chinese web site, Apple Senior VP for Operations Jeff Williams is currently in China as part of an effort to carry out warranty and training reforms promised by Tim Cook. Reacting to a badly-coordinated propaganda campaign against the company and other foreign presences in China, the Apple CEO issued an open letter reassuring customers that Apple treats Chinese warranty issues largely the same way it does in other countries, but promised more consistency and quality of service.
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04/10, 1:03am
Release includes no new notes, but indicates new hardware on the way
[Updated with discovery of code for 802.11ac support] Apple is now seeding a second beta of OS X 10.8.4 to developers, reports say. The build is labelled 12E30, and as before comes with no known issues. Developers are also once again being asked to focus on Wi-Fi, Safari, and graphics drivers.
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04/09, 2:45pm
Automator workflow question and more
Today "angelmb" had an automator workflow question, so they turned to the forums looking for some advice, a solution has yet to be found. Yesterday one Junior Member was looking for a reason why their Apple Bluetooth keyboard and mouse won't connect to their iMac until after they log in when they don't display this behavior while being used with other devices.
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04/05, 3:21pm
Future Macbooks and RAM limits - rumor discussion
This week in the MacNN forums rumors about future MacBook Pro RAM limits caught the attention of many members who discussed what the future may hold for Apple. Administrator "ghporter" finally upgraded to Mountain Lion and noticed that the gestures are different when using the Magic Mouse, but they were wondering if there are ways to change the built-in behaviors.
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04/04, 4:57pm
Update downloads to remain live until 19th
Microsoft will end support for Office 2008 for Mac on April 9, according to an official blog post. After that deadline, the company will no longer release any new updates for the software. People will, however, be able to download existing updates until April 19. It's unknown if Microsoft will post one final patch before the 9th.
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04/02, 4:07pm
SCSI drive for an old Mac IIcx
Yesterday in the MacNN forums, Mac Elite "Doc HM" was looking for a SCSI drive for a Macintosh IIcx, but has yet to find a solution. Junior Member "Harvey" is having trouble syncing his iPad 2 with his iPhone 5 even though both are running iOS 6.
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04/01, 1:17pm
Complaints about iPhone replacements force response
Apple CEO Tim Cook has posted an open letter to Chinese customers, announcing changes to the company's warranty policies in the country. He explains that in the past couple of weeks the company has received a number of complaints, particularly in relation to the iPhone 4 and 4S. The people charged that while customers elsewhere were getting full replacements for faulty hardware, Chinese customers were only getting repairs using replacement parts.
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03/29, 9:45pm
Jailbreak devs targeted, reveals flaw in Messages app
A flaw in the Messages application used widely on iOS devices has been revealed through a denial-of-service (DoS) attack on a group of jailbreak app developers. The program is subject to simple "flood" type attacks in which an attacker automatically sends messages incredibly rapidly, effectively rendering an account useless. Grant Paul, who goes by "chpwn" on Twitter and was one of the half-dozen victims in the attacks, said that the problem is that "Apple doesn't limit how fast messages can be sent," thus filling up the inbox and requiring the user to clear notifications and text in order to use the app.
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03/28, 3:10pm
Motion, Compressor get maintenance updates
[Updated with info on updated QuickTime codecs] Apple has released Final Cut Pro X 10.0.8, an update to its video editing suite. The code adds several minor features, such as support for Sony's XAVC codec up to 4K resolution, and the ability to display ProRes Log C files from ARRI ALEXA cameras with standard Rec 709 color and contrast levels. Time-reverse clips can now render in the background, and editors can use key commands for adjusting Clip Appearance settings in the timeline, and view reel number metadata in a file's timecode track.
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03/28, 1:03pm
Now offers web access, automated refunds
Apple has begun deploying a new version of the "Report a Problem" option at the iTunes Store. The feature was previously limited to people using the OS X or Windows iTunes apps. Now, though, it can be accessed via the web, whether on a computer or a mobile device.
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03/26, 1:18pm
Linux on a Mac could be hazardous
Yesterday in the MacNN forums, Grizzled Veteran "abbaZaba" questioned the veracity of a technician's report that Linux on Apple hardware could permanently damage the CPU. "Do I need Adobe Flash Player?" asks one Forum Regular who is trying to avoid a plague of pesky popups and other such annoyances.
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03/22, 1:57pm
Adware trojan targeting Macs and more
Moderator "Thorzdad" warns MacNN forum goers today of a report of a new adware trojan targeting Mac users called Yontoo, find out more here. Also today Forum Regular "raygol" was looking for a way to add words in the dictionary in Mac OS X so that the spell check recognizes them, a solution has yet to be found.
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03/19, 1:43pm
Help with kernel panics
Forum goers continue to play "The AT&T Sucks Game" which was started by "subego" and mainly consists of showing screenshots of just how low your internet speedtest can go, read more and join in here. Earlier today one distraught iMac owner turned to the forums looking for some ways to speed up their 5-year old machine so they don't have to replace it.
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03/19, 1:06pm
Japanese users get additional Maps improvements
(Updated with Apple TV 5.2.1 info) Apple has released the final version of iOS 6.1.3 to the public as an over-the-air update, with an iTunes distribution likely to arrive later today. The firmware is a minor update, mainly solving a lockscreen bypass made possible via a glitch in the iPhone's Emergency Call function. When used, the bypass would give people access to private data like contacts and voicemail messages.
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03/19, 11:38am
Says Apple breaking law in 21 European countries
Apple is still failing to tell consumers about their warranty rights in many European Union countries, says EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding. Last September Reding sent a letter to various governments encouraging them to take action against Apple to make sure it obeyed EU warranty laws. But the case and the responses to her letter "have highlighted rather clearly just why the Commission cannot sit on the side-lines on enforcement issues," Reding said in a speech today, as reported by Dow Jones. "The approaches to enforcement in these types of cases turn out to be very diversified and inconsistent at a national level. In at least 21 EU Member States Apple is not informing consumers correctly about the legal warranty rights they have. This is simply not good enough."
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03/18, 11:40am
Some Apple workers allegedly told not to talk about new rights
Apple has extended the default warranty on its products in Australia from one year to two years, but retail staff are being told not to advertise that fact, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. In January 2011 a new Australian Consumer Law came into force, mandating that many products come with a warranty of "reasonable" length, even if a manufacturer's stated warranty has expired. What constitutes a reasonable length has been left flexible, but the country's Competition and Consumer Commission recommends that for a product like an expensive TV, the period can be up to two years.
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03/15, 2:14pm
Java 6 security issue, audio problems, more
This week in the MacNN forums, Senior User "Sosa" was worried that their iMac may have been compromised by the security issue in Java 6, read more about this and provide input here. Today, Grizzled Veteran "all2ofme" was trying to find out if anyone else has been having similar audio issues with Mac Pro running 10.8, click here to read more and join in.
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03/14, 7:51pm
Problems with ghosting, burn-in on some Retina displays
A Retina MacBook Pro owner is launching a class-action lawsuit alleging that Apple has not acknowledged, fixed or warned users that displays in the Retina unit made by LG (one of two primary suppliers) have problems with "ghosting," retaining an after-image for a time. Beau Hodges has filed suit in California, complaining that users have no way of knowing until after purchase whether they have an LG display version and that "none of Apple's ... representations disclose that it [has RMBPs] with different levels of performance and quality."
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03/14, 5:26pm
Makes Boot Camp upgrades, adds gift card scanning for Mac App Store
Following an unusually long development cycle, Apple has finally released the completed version of OS X 10.8.3. The software is mostly a maintenance update -- for instance fixing problems with stuttering sound on 2011 iMacs, Logic Pro freezing when using some plugins, and apps crashing when opening file URLs. It makes several enhancements as well however, such as adding Safari 6.0.3 and upgraded Boot Camp features. The latter now supports Windows 8, and can run on Macs with 3TB hard drives.
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03/14, 3:49pm
Also copes with sleep, fan bugs
Apple has posted a new Mac software update, MacBook Pro Retina SMC Update 1.1. The code deals with multiple glitches in the 15-inch Retina Pro, including one causing slow framerates for graphics-intensive games. Other bugfixes deal with issues involving fan control, waking from sleep, and Power Nap.
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03/12, 2:32pm
New Mac malware bypasses Gatekeeper
Today in the MacNN forums, Moderator "Thorzdad" sounded the alarms about a recent malware outbreak that is able to bypass the OS X Gatekeeper protection, click here to read more and join in. Junior Member "MacBook" took to the forums yesterday to find some help with their brand new Mac mini that they fear might have a faulty logic board.
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03/12, 2:31pm
Unusually long testing period continues
Apple is seeding another beta of OS X 10.8.3 to developers. The build is listed as 12D78, and appears to have no known issues. As with past builds, Apple is asking developers to focus testing on AirPlay, AirPort, Game Center, graphics drivers, and Safari.
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03/08, 4:38pm
2011 and 2012 models affected, seemingly no SSD commonality
Reports have surfaced that some users who purchased a Retina MacBook Pro are experiencing mostly unexplained bursts of system cooling fans shifting to fast speed. A 27 page thread on the Apple support forums is collecting user data on the phenomenon, with no user fix apparent. Apple has yet to issue a formal response on the matter.
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03/08, 2:02pm
Why did Andy Ihnatko switch from iPhone to Android
Yesterday in the MacNN forums, Clinically Insane member "subego" posted a link to a story about why long-time Apple user and Chicago Sun-Times columnist Andy Ihnatko jumped ship and traded in his iPhone for an Android, read more and join in the conversation here. Also yesterday, one Fresh-Faced Recruit started a thread looking for some help figuring out why their Finder is lagging so much -- a solution has yet to be found.
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03/07, 4:14pm
Apps last updated in December
Apple has posted minor updates to the iOS versions of its iWork apps. In this case Pages, Numbers, and Keynote all share the same release notes, indicating that they make "stability improvements and bug fixes." Apple hasn't identified what particular bugs have been solved.
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03/05, 8:13pm
A year after support thread started no solution on the horizon
Some owners of early 2009 model iMacs that have upgraded to later versions of Snow Leopard, Lion or Mountain Lion have been reporting issues with the included Nvidia GeForce GT 130 video card without a response from Apple, according to a year-long support thread on the company's support website. The issue appears to center around a faulty kernel extension released late in the Snow Leopard updates that remains unfixed, and causes graphic glitches, crashes and even kernel panics when the graphics card is stressed, such as during games.
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03/05, 2:31pm
The debate continues.
The MacNN forums have been fairly quiet so far this week, with very few new threads started -- however the war wages on in the thread titled "Windows 8 vs. Mountain Lion" where forum-goers debate the differences between the two operating systems. A recent discussion about how to copy a piece of text to Notes without copying the original style can be found in this thread.
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03/04, 6:15pm
Firefox, older 32-bit browsers may avoid worst effects
On the heels of more problems with browser plug-ins such as Java and Flash, a newly-discovered flaw in HTML5 -- used throughout the web and a fundamental part of all modern browsers -- can be used maliciously to fill hard drives to capacity with junk data. The exploit can be demonstrated on a website set up to document the flaw, called Filldisk. All browsers are susceptible to it -- though Mozilla's Firefox features a hard cap of 5MB of such data and thus mitigates the effect, while some older 32-bit browsers may crash rather than fill up the drive.
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03/01, 1:57pm
Selling iMac, how to install brand new OS
Today, Grizzled Veteran "jmiddel" announced that they are selling their iMac, but they are looking for a way to install a copy of Mountain Lion that can be transferred to the new owner along with the computer. Also today, Mac Elite "euphras" was looking for a way to determine what capacity their VRAM sticks that they have lying around are, from a machine that was built in the early '90s.
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03/01, 1:42am
Emails with key phrase were being inexplicably deleted
A bizarre glitch has revealed the existence of "pre-filtering" spam deletion algorithms being used by Apple for its iCloud email. The company acknowledged the issue and has since fixed it, but when an iCloud user would attempt to send an email with the phrase "barely legal teens" in the subject, body or title of some kinds of attachments to another iCloud user, the email would not be delivered. Replies to emails with the phrase, or messages sent to non-iCloud users with the phrase, were successfully sent. Unusually, offending messages were deleted rather than simply flagged as spam.
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