Maintain has launched a new update to its maintenance utility, releasing Cocktail 4.6. The software runs maintenance scripts, such as Unix, with a user-friendly interface. It can run daily, weekly and monthly scripts, repair permissions, set journaling for disks and force empty the trash, among other features. Users can also clean cache files and clear Trojan horses.
Apple has at last released Mac OS X 10.6.2, a key update to Snow Leopard. The patch addresses a variety of technical problems, most notably one which would permanently delete data when logging into a main account after having just used a guest one. The bug has been known since at least early October. Other resolved account problems include unexpected logouts, and difficulty authenticating as an administrator.
Gigabyte has released a new beta BIOS for its GA-P55-UD4P motherboard, addressing problems with iPhone sync on certain Windows 7 systems. Issues are said to remain with ASUS and MSI motherboards, for which no patched software is available. People may nevertheless be able to solve errors by upgrading to the latest available BIOS and chipset drivers, or running Windows in Vista SP2 compatibility mode.
In spite of the relative newness of the Magic Mouse, some complaints have begun emerging on Apple's support forums. Anticipated drag and swipe functions are sometimes said to be failing, leaving only regular click commands available. When the special wireless mouse software is applied, a Mac may still fail to detect a Magic Mouse.
The flip from daylight savings to standard time has created unusual problems for Snow Leopard owners, Apple's support forums indicate. Some Mac users note that nearing the point of the official changeover, 2AM on November 1st, their CPU usage peaked as high as 100 percent for no apparent reason. Aside from rendering software unusable, such spikes also run the risk of overheating a computer.
Several owners of the new iMacs have reported problems when attempting to play Flash videos, according to several posts on Apple's Support pages. Forum poster Subcide first noticed the issue with a 27-inch iMac and the latest Flash player. YouTube playback appeared "really jerky" with distorted sound, while the Activity Monitor indicated the CPU usage was spiking to 105 percent every few seconds.
Apple on Wednesday released a Bluetooth firmware update designed for users running Windows via Boot Camp. The download is said to improve the wireless performance with Vista and XP on the latest 21.5- and 27-inch iMacs released earlier this month, although specific details have not been provided.
Accessory maker Belkin has issued a special product recall, addressing some of the company's TuneBase car docks. Specifically affected are the TuneBase FM with ClearScan, the TuneBase FM with Hands-Free, and the TuneBase Direct with Hands-Free. As a result of a problem with washers, versions of the docks bought on or after April 1st may produce smoke or fire when plugged into a car's power port.
iFixit has already dissected the new polycarbonate-unibody MacBook, exposing several minor changes to the internals. Externally, the redesigned housing features curved surfaces similar to the MacBook Pro models with aluminum unibodies. The device also adopts the multi-touch glass trackpad and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics components.
In brief: An issue with the integration of the iPhoto and Flickr libraries has developed, which can result in users being able to accidentally wipe out entire sets of photos on Flickr. comiXology has meanwhile announced a change in the price of its Comics by comiXology iPhone app, a consequence of Apple now allowing in-app purchases for free iPhone apps.
Apple on Wednesday released performance updates for both its Leopard and Snow Leopard operating systems. The downloads address intermittent stalls caused by hard drives, an issue reported by a a small number of users. The updates do not appear to include any other bug fixes.
Apple on Monday admitted that a serious bug in Snow Leopard could cause permanent data loss and said that it is working to find a fix for the problem. The company, responding to a growing number of posts on its discussions forums, confirmed that users can lose data when logging into the guest account on their Mac first and then logging into their regular account. Although the problem is not widespread, the consequences -- especially for those without backups -- could be disastrous: some users are finding all their data to be missing and their accounts completely reset.
Distributing through iTunes, Apple has released a new iPhone firmware update, v3.1.2. The code adds no new features, and instead fixes bugs, such as one preventing sleeping iPhones from waking. Also targeted are crashes during video streaming, and a bug which interrupts cellular connections until a phone is rebooted.
In brief: Residents of Brazil can now purchase Apple merchandise directly from Apple through a local online store. To celebrate the grand opening of the Brazilian store, Apple is currently offering a free gift bag to any customer who purchases an iPod or Mac before October 20th. Meanwhile, GadgetGuard has announced that it is now offering an extended iPhone warranty. The warranty has two tiers, and covers things left out from Apple's own terms, such as water damage and cracked screens.
Apple's Time Capsule network drives are still suffering from power failures, complaints on official support forums indicate. The failures are allegedly occurring without warning, and are thought to be attributable to faulty power supplies, though some owners have suggested problems with chips or connectors. Most at risk are older drives, as a number of the dead units are said to have been bought in early 2008. Apple last refreshed its Time Capsule line in July.
A number of reports on Apple's Support pages suggest the latest QuickTime update, v7.6.4, has been causing problems on Windows machines. Many users attempting to play embedded videos can only hear the sound, while the video content is left blank.
Apple's Israeli reseller, iDigital, is instituting a discriminatory campaign against imported Apple products, a local protest group claims. Macs sold in the region are said to cost up to twice as much as in the US, prompting some Israelis to buy computers while traveling abroad. In theory, the international warranties provided with Macs should get users repair coverage from any authorized repair site.
MacNN reader Robert-Anthony Bunoan has voiced frustration with Apple after the battery in his 17-inch MacBook Pro reportedly swelled to the point of rupturing the case. The notebook was approximately two years old, with a removable battery instead of the integrated lithium-polymer design featured in the latest aluminum-unibody models.
Apple is currently probing recent problems with Mac SuperDrives, according to a developer in contact with the company's support and developer staff. Several drive models have been experiencing trouble mounting discs, in some cases blocking people from upgrading to the newly-launched Mac OS X Snow Leopard. The word of Apple investigating drive failures comes by way of a representative in the company's Developer Relations team.
Apple has posted a new cumulative driver update for Mac OS X Snow Leopard, supporting printers by HP. The v2.2 HP update includes software for both scanning and printing, and ensures compatibility with a broad selection of HP hardware. Numerous product lines are covered, including Business Inkjets, LaserJets, Color LaserJets, DesignJets, DeskJets, OfficeJets, Photosmarts and PSCs.
Apple is now contacting some iPhone owners individually in a bid to resolve iPhone 3.1 battery problems, reports say. The firmware -- which has been available since September 9th -- has allegedly been responsible for instances of rapid battery drain, even when phones have been placed on standby and had Wi-Fi and Bluetooth disabled. Apple is said to be investigating the issue by talking to posters on the company's support forums.
The recently-launched iTunes 9 update is causing a variety of problems for iPod classic owners, comments on Apple's support forums suggest. Issues primarily revolve around sync, to the extent that a number of people complain they are unable to to sync media at all. Some Classics may be ejected automatically when connected via USB, while others may cause crashes, or fail to be detected by iTunes, preventing any form of interaction including firmware updates.
Apple's latest iPhone, the 3GS, ranks almost squarely in the middle of smartphones in terms of radiation output, a non-profit activist organization says. The Environmental Working Group notes that according to compiled data, the 3GS produces approximately 1.19W/kg of radiation. The figure is substantially lower than the worst-case examples, the T-Mobile myTouch 3G and the Kyocera Jax S1300, which each produce 1.55W/kg.
Apple has issued a clarification regarding the iPhone 3.1 firmware's anti-phishing capabilities. Released September 9th, the update includes a promised ability to detect phishing and malware sites while using Safari. Early accounts have shown inconsistent performance however, with some phones recognizing hazards, and others missing them completely. The behavior may create the impression that the feature is broken.
Following the recent iTunes 9 update, many users have begun reporting problems establishing AirTunes connections. In a post on Apple's Support forums, Ryan Brucks claimed to have received an error dialogue stating that "the software required for communication with this iPod is not installed correctly..." Another user reported a different error involving a broken connection to the AirPort Express speaker.
Apple is distributing a collection of v2.2 updates for Xsan, its SAN (storage-area network) management software. These include patches for the administrative component, in both Leopard and Snow Leopard varieties. Each corrects similar flaws, in areas such as listing computers connected to a SAN, or displaying when LUNs have been truncated.
Mac OS X Snow Leopard is preventing some users from installing any further software, posts on Apple's support forums indicate. After upgrading to the OS, users may find that Installer is incapable of completing any kind of installation, whether in terms of first- or third-party programs. Because of Installer's deep integration into Snow Leopard, it is even preventing minor upgrades of existing applications, such as Aperture.
Downloaders of the iPhone 3.1 firmware are experiencing a variety of problems, according to talk on Apple's support forums. Perhaps the most serious involves occasional total shutdowns, which occur without warning. Affected iPhones can be revived, but only after a manual reboot.
Apple has posted two new firmware updates, addressing separate pieces of hardware. The iMac Graphics FW Update 1.0.2 fixes stability problems on iMacs running an ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro video card, or else the Radeon HD 2400 XT. Systems must also be operating on Mac OS X 10.5.2 or later.
In tandem with iTunes 9, Apple has released QuickTime 7.6.4, a minor update to its signature AV playback software. The patch primarily fixes problems with H.264 and/or MPEG-4 playback, which exposed systems to crashes or arbitrary code execution. H.264 vulnerabilities were connected to memory corruption and heap buffer overflows, while an MPEG-4 flaw involved conventional buffer overflows.
(Updated with Snow Leopard Server info) Apple has seeded a new build of Mac OS X 10.6.1 to developers, sources say. Titled 10B504, the build is notably only one increment number over that of the initial seed, released approximately a week ago. The turnaround could indicate a short development track, in contrast with some v10.5.x updates, which took several weeks to reach the public.
Several Owners of Apple's latest MacBook Pro offerings in the 13- and 15-inch screen sizes have reported speaker failures when running Windows via Boot Camp. The problems have affected many gamers who use Mac OS X for daily computing, then switch to Windows to play games. The problem appears to have begun with Boot Camp v2.1, which was launched in June, while the recent v3.0 release, designed for Snow Leopard, has not alleviated the widespread issues.
Following the recent Mac OS X Snow Leopard release, users have reported a variety of problems upgrading their systems. A number of forum posts on Apple's Support page point to problems with printers. One user reports incompatibility with Canon's Multifunction Laser printers, while several others cannot print to select HP devices.
A continuing problem with the optical drives in Mac notebooks is now preventing people from installing Snow Leopard, according to discussions on Apple's support forums. Affected systems may initially accept a disc, only to eject it without mounting. Within the problem group machines may reject all discs, only DVDs, or only some particular DVDs. The Snow Leopard upgrade is sold only on DVDs.
The unfinished Mac OS X 10.6.1 update -- now in distribution to a small number of developers -- so far only makes a minor number of fixes, accounts say. These include improvements to compatibility, stability and security, such as better support for Sierra Wireless 3G modems, and the proper display of printer compatibility drivers in the Add Printer dialog. A more critical fix prevents freezing in Motion 4.
UK carrier O2 has once again encountered severe data interruptions, significantly impacting iPhone owners, multiple sources say. The most recent outages began during the region's Bank Holiday weekend, and O2 has confirmed a problem that "lasted for around two hours on Saturday." According to PC Advisor and comments posted on O2 and Register forums however, outages have extended well past Saturday, running into Wednesday morning.
Adobe has spotted yet more compatibility problems created in transitioning its software to Snow Leopard, according to the company's principal product manager, John Nack. In particular, Photoshop is currently said to crash when switching to the Menlo font; the only solution at present is to avoid using the font entirely. The editing software may also crash when using the Open and Save commands, and dragging images to the program's Dock icon may not open them, as intended.
ProteMac has released ProteMac Meter 3.0, updating the network activity monitor with a new interface, featuring real-time traffic summaries. The tool watches activity passing through all applications on a Mac, and keeps tabs on network connections, host availability, remote host names, timestamps and the amount of traffic. It presents views of total and app-specific traffic, and can send out user-tailored notifications.
Hewlett Packard has announced it will be providing real-time support throughout the HP forums for users who have recently upgraded to the new Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. HP has scheduled a time from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on September 9th where its Mac-connection team will be monitoring the HP Mac printing and scanning board on the company’s forums, in order to help customers with support issues for their HP products such as scanners and printers.
Apple on Monday released an EFI firmware update for the Mac mini, along with SuperDrive firmware updates for the iMac and Mac mini. The EFI download, v1.2, is designed to improve compatibility with the company's latest memory kits installed on Mini systems running OS X 10.5.7 or higher.
With the release of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard (Build 10A432, full review) on Friday, software developers continue to provide updated software for compatibility while other outlets are offering documentation on Apple's new operating system. Early reports indicate that there were short lines outside Apple Stores and that the OS actually sold out in places around the world, including Israel where it went on sale in Israel at 9:00 a.m. Israel Daylight-Savings Time (IDT) at the iDigital Store (local distributors) and promptly sold out. Apple on Friday posted a few Snow Leopard application compatibility lists and provided updated printer drivers from many major manufacturers, but other vendors have yet to deliver compatibility updates, including DYMO who says that it expects to release an update for Snow Leopard compatibility in "early Fall 2009". We have a brief roundup of other compatibility and update notes.
Although the operating system has only just been released, Apple has already posted two networking-related updates for Mac OS X Snow Leopard. The first, Network Registration Update 1.0, is specifically intended for Snow Leopard Server. It is a 24.8MB download, and fixes a problem with duplicate serial number alerts on servers using multiple interfaces.
Apple has published a series of official support documents for Mac OS X Snow Leopard, which ships today. These cover Finder and the desktop, the printing process, and more crucially a number of incompatible applications. A specific set of programs may be automatically moved to an "Incompatible Software" folder on a Mac, and/or blocked from being opened.
A regional commercial director for Apple will meet with France's consumer affairs minister on Friday, Reuters reports. The pair are set to discuss a series of incidents, in which the touchscreens on several iPhones allegedly shattered with no obvious cause. At least two such cases have been confirmed, which in both circumstances injured device owners with flying glass.
Adobe will not offer any form of support for Creative Suite 3 when it comes to Mac OS X Snow Leopard, says the company's Photoshop product manager, John Nack. None of the earlier versions of the Creative Suite have been tested with Snow Leopard, Nack comments, and the company has no plans to fix potential compatibility issues. Only the latest suite, CS4, is being officially supported.
A second confirmed iPhone explosion has occurred in France, Agence France-Presse reports. A supermarket security guard, Yassine Bouhadi, says he was typing out a text message on Monday afternoon, when his phone's touchscreen suddenly blew out. A glass shard is then claimed to have hit his eye; while Bouhadi says he is consulting a doctor, his main concern is filing a lawsuit for damage compensation.
Apple has posted a minor software update for the fourth-generation iPod nano, bringing its firmware up to v1.0.4. The patch mainly addresses a problem with resulted in bad daylight savings settings, as well another which would cause Thai song information to be poorly displayed during disk-mode syncs. Other bugfixes are described as minor. The software is at present available only through iTunes' Update function.
LairWare has launched new iTunes support software, Song Sergeant 1.0. The app finds duplicate or missing files, and fixes inconsistently-named material. As necessary files can be merged together, keeping play counts, the best song information and the best audio quality. Missing songs are replaced in playlists; the program also attempts to preserve last-played data, and find orphaned files in a music library that are not seen by iTunes.
An issue with Wi-Fi connections is affecting iPhone 3G owners, according to forum discussions. Those with the problem cannot connect to Wi-Fi networks, regardless of signal strength. The originator of the forum topic notes that Wi-Fi may only work after a phone has been freshly rebooted. Alternately, multiple people have commented that while a connection may technically persist after a phone has been put to sleep and awakened, users may suddenly find themselves unable to receive data.
Apple has posted a minor Bluetooth firmware update for Macs, bringing support up to v2.0.1. The patch is described as implementing bugfixes, as well as "better compatibility" with the Wireless Mighty Mouse and Wireless Keyboard. A 1.78MB download, the update requires Mac OS X 10.5.7 and a Mac using a Broadcom Bluetooth chipset.
