Yesterday in the MacNN forums one Professional Poster shared an amusing link to a parody about Siri in the thread titled "The horror! Siri goes Psycho!" Today Forum Regular gregfripp was concerned about a rogue program that has found its way onto their system and has turned to the forums for some answers.
Mac recovery specialist SubRosaSoft has updated its entire line of data recovery software, including FileSalvage, CameraSalvage and PodSalvage to version 7.5, now featuring improved search and recovery functions that improve the chances of recovering lost files. The company has also updated the packages to fully support Lion and additional foreign languages. SubRosaSoft offers a risk-free trial version to show if files are recoverable before buying.
FileMaker-based solution developers have often debugged and optimized their products mainly by intuition -- looking at a bit of code and trying out alternative ways to accomplish the same thing until it works better, particularly when they are revising solutions that have been developed for clients over several years. A new product by 24U called FM Bench promises to introduce optimization through code analysis and bottleneck identification, saving time.
Beginning February 7th, several Mac and Windows games will be become temporarily unplayable, publisher Ubisoft has announced. These include Tom Clancy’s HAWX 2, Might & Magic: Heroes VI, and The Settlers 7 for Windows, and the Mac ports of Assassin's Creed, Splinter Cell: Conviction, and The Settlers. The company is moving servers out of a third-party data center into a new building, and promises that the end result will "improve the maintenance of our infrastructure and deliver better uptime and greatly improved services for our customers."
Apple has temporarily solved problems with the CUI bug in the Mac OS X 10.7.3 update by changing the download users get. Anyone who checks Software Update, along with seeking the usual download, now gets the combo update to Lion (1.3GB, link may not work) instead. The full installer is known to work properly at the expense of a much larger file size.
This week 10.7.3 was released, and MacNN forum goers were quick to start discussing this latest update to the Mac operating system. Yesterday Moderator OreoCookie started a thread looking for some advice on what kind of Solid State Drive to get for their MacBook Pro, click here to read more.
The separate Security Update 2012-001 download for Snow Leopard users is breaking apps that depend on Rosetta, according to complaints. Rosetta allows PowerPC-based apps to operate within Snow Leopard. Programs such as Eudora 6, Acrobat Pro 7, Quicken 2007, and Office 2004 will reportedly crash, freeze, or exhibit other unexpected behavior, such as failing to print documents.
A flaw in iTunes Match may inadvertently replace "explicit" tracks with "clean" versions for some users, according to reports by Cult of Mac reporters and corroborated by users elsewhere. A later update on 9to5Mac indicates that at least one user has heard back from Internet Software and Services head Eddy Cue's office that acknowledged the issue and said the company is working on on a fix.
Some OS X 10.7.3 users are reportedly suffering from an odd application crash bug. Affected people will see apps crash often, with the unusual twist of error messages that feature the word "CUI" stamped over them. A 9to5Mac source claims that the company has already sent out an email to a v10.7.3 test group, asking them if they've run into the problem and requesting bug reports if so.
Today in the MacNN forums members discussed what Mac models can run OS X 10.6, click here to read more. Also today Forum Regular Nergol was looking for hard drive recommendations in the thread titled "1TB Drive: Samsung SpinPoint or WD Caviar Blue?"
A blogger who has had ongoing difficulty with an AppleCare transfer on a replacement monitor received a rare admission from the company that it suffered some form of system failure in its AppleCare database recently. Upon reporting this and urging readers to revisit their own AppleCare profiles, writer David Boles now claims to have received a warning letter from Apple.
Nokia has acknowledged that the second large Lumia 800 update itself doesn't touch on every issue. The focus was on the most common battery issues with under-reported battery capacities and not audio and camera quality issues that others were having. Those were coming in a subsequent fix, Nokia said, although it wouldn't say when these were coming.
Today in the MacNN forums Grizzled Veteran sdilley14 asks other members for good reasons to purchase an Apple TV since they already have a PS3 and a XBox 360. One Posting Junkie has had a "troubling amount of pageouts in Snow Leopard" and has turned to the forums for some guidance.
Apple has posted a link on its Italian web store, acknowledging its legal dispute with the local government over AppleCare warranties. The link -- simply titled "Communication to protect consumers" -- takes visitors to a PDF file, detailing the government's decision, which resulted in a €900,000 fine. Apple normally only provides a one-year AppleCare warranty for free, but Italian law grants shoppers a minimum of two years of coverage, which Apple is being asked to guarantee by March.
ASUS technical marketing overseer Gary Key has responded to complaints from Transformer Prime owners for another flaw. Responding to some reports on XDA-Developers' forums that the tablet freezes randomly after loading up the Android 4.0 update, Key anticipated a fix in early February. He hadn't pinpointed the cause, which didn't appeared to be tied to running any specific app or using the Prime for certain periods.
A number of Apple TV owners are finding it impossible to view YouTube videos, according to complaints on Apple's support forums. Affected people will see an error message: "No content was found. There is a problem communicating with YouTube. Try again later." The issue appears to be affecting countries worldwide, including Argentina, Australia, Japan, Canada, the US, the UK, and at least parts of continental Europe such as Spain and Denmark.
Apple has opened up a new iTunes U support section on its website. The content is mostly aimed at educators, for instance guiding people through publishing, the Course Manager, and the Public Site Manager. Both students and faculty have access to forums, and instructions for dealing with settings and common problems.
The makers of the Absinthe jailbreak for the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S have released a minor update, v0.2. The code does, however, fix two important glitches, including one in which devices would fail to reboot properly after the exploit was pushed. The other involved icons appearing white on devices' homescreens.
Stellar Data Recovery, makers of Stellar Phoenix and other utility tools for Mac, has updated its Stellar Drive Toolbox to version 2.0, offering 12 "vastly improved utilities that have been made 30 percent more efficient, as well as a new bonus tool, says the company. The various tools in the kit include utilities to handle disk defragmenting, drive cloning, a raw data editor and others, now including a bonus "Data Encryptor" that lets users secure selected files.
Yesterday in the MacNN forums Fresh-Faced Recruit CaptainKirk asks if there is another way to install OS9 in the thread titled "how to reinstall OS9 on Graphite iMac DV SE 400?" One forum goer with a new MacBook Pro is having some trouble with AirPlay and hopes other members have some advice, read more here.
Apple last night released a driver update for Brother printers, v2.8.1. As with most such updates, Apple isn't identifying exact changes; the code does, however, include the latest Brother printing and scanning software. The download requires OS X 10.6.1 or later, and measures 149.61MB, making it comparatively small for a printer update package.
Apple seeded a sixth OS X 10.7.3 beta to developers last night, build 11D46, reports note. The code is arriving roughly a week after 11D42, and contains no known issues. Because of this and the number of builds released already, 11D46 may be the last beta before v10.7.3 is released to the public.
As of today Apple has put a stop to a $100 printer rebate offered alongside new Macs, says 9to5Mac. The information comes from a leaked internal support document. The memo does note, though, that people still have up to 90 days after their original date of purchase -- the last eligible date being January 16th -- to submit a rebate. "An additional 30 days will be given to correct invalid claims," Apple offers.
Today in the MacNN forums members continue to to discuss rumors that the iPad 3 will be delayed, click here to join in. One forum goer asks about AirPlay in the thread titled "AirPlay won't work on one Mac."
Sony has reportedly released yet another firmware update for its PlayStation Vita handheld game console. The company did not provide full details surrounding the download, which brings the firmware up to version 1.52, however it is believed to address a problem involving compatibility with some 3G SIM cards.
Today in the MacNN forums members discuss what the best bitrate is for encoding stereo tracks for iTunes, click here to join in. Today one Fresh-Faced Recruit was looking for some answers as to why a Facebook fan site takes longer to browse, read more here.
Apple yesterday began seeding a fifth build of OS X 10.7.3 to developers, reports note. Listed as build 11D42, the code is arriving about three weeks after the distribution of the last beta. Developers are being asked to concentrate testing on five key components: Address Book, iCal, Mail, Spotlight, and Safari. A delta version of the update currently measures 989.75MB.
Yesterday in the MacNN forums NobleMatt started a thread looking for a way to cahnge the name of the iCal account from which an invite is coming from, and has yet to find a solution. Forum members discuss RedSnow in this thread started by besson3c earlier this week.
Microsoft has detailed a Windows 8 feature that will allow users to 'refresh' the operating system or reset their computer to original factory settings. The reset option will wipe all personal data, apps and settings before reinstalling Windows, while the refresh capability will keep personal data, apps and settings while reinstalling the operating system.
This week in the MacNN forums one confused Fresh-Faced Recruit has turned to the forums looking for advice on what to do about a disappearing desktop picture. Another forum member is having trouble with documents in Pages disappearing, click here to read more.
The Apple Support Communities forum has begun seeing widespread reports of intermittent audio failure on calls using the iPhone 4S, an issue where recipient can hear the caller but he cannot hear them. The problem is not consistent but happens often enough to be a source of irritation with users. While some have found workarounds, there is no indication in current developer builds of iOS 5 that any fix is in the works in the near-term.
A problem with iOS alarms breaking on January 1st or the 2nd appears to been solved by Apple, at least in part, reports suggest. In 2011 the glitch caused some iOS devices to stay silent despite alarms being toggled on in the Clock app. Most iOS 5 devices have been working normally in 2012, according to posts at Engadget and TUAW, as well as some MacNN experience.
Yesterday in the MacNN forums, Forum Regular scip was looking for a way to do a clean install of Lion on a mid 2011 Mac model without having the internet. Mac Enthusiast mkral has been having trouble with appointments in Outlook disappearing and has turned to the forums for some advice.
Apple will appeal a €900,000 fine levied by the Italian government, a PR representative tells The Register. The spokesperson insists that the company is complying with Italian law. Under local regulations, businesses are required to give two years of free warranty support. Apple, though, only provides a one-year warranty by default, requiring buyers to buy an AppleCare package for anything extra.
Toshiba's Canvio-series USB 3.0 hard drives are failing to connect properly with the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro, according to PhoneNews. The site says it tested five Canvio drives with a new 2011 Air; none of them mounted, and in most cases, the drives are said to have failed to even spin up. The issue appears to be Mac-centric, since it was otherwise reproduced only on a Sony VAIO notebook and a current-generation MacBook Pro.
Today in the MacNN forums one Fresh-Faced Recruit is running a Mac mini server with Lion at the office and has a few questions in the thread titled "adding badge notification to a folder." Senior User MacNNUK is looking for a way to record every site they download from, click here to read more.
Microsoft has confirmed the existence of a bug with the fall 2011 Xbox 360 Dashboard that has been kicking gamers from Xbox Live. Surfacing as either Error Code 801540B7 or 80070571, the flaw both stops them from getting online and from accessing any content that hasn't been cleared to run offline. The bug tries to have users re-download their profiles and ask for help but is ultimately out of users' control.
Today in the MacNN forums vinodkalpaka has a question about using Mac mini with Lion Server with computers running Windows, read more and join in here. Yesterday one Fresh-Faced Recruit started a thread looking for advice on a printer problem in the thread titled "USB to Centronics adapter not working??" click here to join in.
People still using versions of iOS 3.1.x on an iPhone or iPod touch have begun encountering problems with the App Store, according to threads (1, 2) on Apple's support forums. On a basic level, pages on the store may contain broken layouts and missing content. More serious are problems with actually downloading apps, such as having to use the Update All command, instead of having the flexibility of updating apps individually.
Apple's mystery updated iOS 5.0.1 build is now known to fix a problem with iPhone 4S hardware claiming the SIM card is missing or invalid. A support document shows that those reporting the issue are being asked to restore the phone to force downloading the new build. It's not apparent why Apple hasn't made the update available without having to restore the phone, although it might have wanted to avoid encouraging large follow-up downloads.
Rumors that Apple is to launch a MacBook Pro with a Retina display have surfaced, and MacNN forum goers were quick to jump on the topic, click here to read more or join in. Earlier this week one Fresh-Faced Recruit started a thread looking for some help with MacBook Air iSight problems.
Apple is temporarily freezing access to new iTunes Match subscriptions in some of the recently-added countries, reports say. At least some people clicking on the option in iTunes are being greeted with a pop-up message. "iTunes Match is temporarily not accepting new subscribers. Check back later," the window states.
A number of people trying to log into iTunes and/or iCloud accounts overnight were met with error messages, reports note. "The Apple ID you entered couldn't be found or your password was incorrect. Please try again," one message read. Attempting to change the password simply generated a "fatal internal error" at Apple's support site.
Apple has released two minor firmware updates for iOS devices. The first is v4.4.4 for the Apple TV, which implements unspecified bugfixes. The update can be installed automatically via an Apple TV's normal update functions, or manually by technically savvy users with access to the IPSW file.
Apple is refunding a number of iTunes Match subscriptions, according to posts on the company's support forums and elsewhere. On Wednesday Match appeared to become available in a number of new regions, such as Canada, the UK, New Zealand and Australia. The additional options have since vanished however, and Apple is said to be contacting accidental subscribers to assure them a refund is coming.
Apple on late Tuesday released a trio of software updates. Among these is Logic Express 9.1.6, a patch for the company's mid-range audio editor. The code brings Express up to par with Logic Pro, which recently migrated to the Mac App Store. Numerous compatibility, performance, control, and instrumentation problems have been fixed. The update measures 140.58MB, and requires OS X 10.6.8 or later.
Today in the MacNN forums one Fresh-Faced recruit turned to the forums for some MacBook Air buying advice, click here to join in. One Senior User has been having some possible graphics card issues and is asking other forum goers for their advice in this thread.
Microsoft has released two new Office for Mac updates. The first, Office for Mac 2011 14.1.4, deals with security vulnerabilities, as well as as some "extremely important" stability and reliability issues. It should in fact allow some copies of Office to finally update properly, since earlier patches would potentially fail if they were installed simultaneously, through SSH, or to a system where the home directory contains a space.
Adobe has posted final-release versions of Lightroom 3.6 and Camera Raw 6.6, which add RAW file format support for nine new cameras and an additional 30 lens profiles for correcting distortion and chromatic aberrations. The free downloads update the RAW support in Adobe's various photo programs. The Lightroom update fixes numerous bugs, while the Camera Raw update makes a few enhancements to existing features.
Some emails sent to me.com or .mac addresses are going missing, according to complaints on Apple's support forums. In particular messages sent from Comcast but predominantly RoadRunner domains are either arriving as much as a day late, or disappearing entirely. The affected domains are also scattered across the country rather than located in a particular region. Unexpectedly, forwarding a message from one account to another may work without issues.
