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iPhone owners suddenly locked out of their third-party apps by a crash bug on startup will have a solution next month, Apple chief Steve Jobs has revealed. -- AppleInsider.
After instances where first-generation iPod nanos' power has triggered minor but device-killing fires, Apple has agreed to replace for free any more of the music players that suffer the same problem -- AppleInsider.
The Internet is running out of addresses. To get around this problem and a host of others not addressed in the existing Internet Protocol (IPv4), a new revision has been in development for years, called IPv6. Uptake has been slow; it requires upgrading all the routers and devices that make up the Internet. Apple has a few tricks up its sleeve for pushing IPv6 adoption, and many Mac users are already chin deep in the technology without even knowing it. Here's why, and what it means for users on every platform. -- AppleInsider.
Apple Magsafe power adapters have apparently failed at high enough rates the company is now offering to replace them free of charge, whether your MacBook (13-inch Late 2006), MacBook (13-inch), MacBook Pro (15-inch Glossy) or MacBook Pro (17-inch) is out-of-warranty or not.
Any Apple-Authorized Service Provider can make the switch for you, or you can take the adapter to the Genius bar at any Apple retail store. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
We first reported on issues with iPhone 3G signal and reception just five days after the release of the iPhone 3G on July 16, 2008. Since that time the topic has been covered both by us and by many other bloggers and news agencies. The issue regarding 3G reception is definitely at the top of most users list of complaints about the new iPhone 3G. -- iPhone Atlas.
Corsaire, an organization devoted to securing information systems, has published a white paper on how to harden Mac OS X Leopard. The guide includes security guidelines, monitoring with Common Criteria Tools, managing users, system security settings and more. The 57 page PDF document includes references for hardening Leopard, open firmware, Apple's firewall, the file system, and network services.
The paper is, unfortunately, weak on using the Common Criteria Tools, and more complete hardening tutorials can be found elsewhere. On the other hand, the paper is much stronger at showing how to use the security features of Mac OS X to harden the system. A good knowledge of the UNIX command line will be required.
By default when viewing a Spotlight "all results" window or a Smart Folder or Search, the view is set to "icon view" and the file names are truncated, making it very hard to find the exact file you want.
You can switch the search results to "list view" but you may find that the setting doesn't stick. Well, there's good news. Under Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, there's a way to make the view settings for all Smart Folders and the "All Results" search window stick. -- Mac OS X Hints.
Apple patent involves media players that can determine if they support accessories
Your iPhone and iPod may get smarter. An Apple patent (number 7415563) for a method and apparatus for allowing a media player to determine if it supports the capabilities of an accessory has appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. The invention relates generally to electrical devices and more particularly to electrical devices such as media players that communicate with accessory devices.
Apple patent involves listening for incoming calls on multiple port/socket combinations
An Apple patent (number 7415499) for a method and apparatus for listening for incoming calls on multiple port/socket combinations has appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. The invention relates to the field of use of teleconferencing systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to the dynamic launching of teleconferencing applications upon receipt of a call.
Apple patent is for dynamic link driver configuration
An Apple patent (number 7415545) for a method and apparatus for dynamic link driver configuration has appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. The invention pertains generally to link driver configuration for IEEE Standard 1394 nodes. More particularly, the invention is a method for dynamic link driver configuration of link driver architecture for IEEE Standard 1394 modules.
Apple granted patents for media devices, docking station
Apple has been granted patents for media devices and a docking station by the US Patent & Trademark Office. They involve the black iPod, iPod nano and iPod docking station.
Apple puts a lot of effort into being opaque, especially lately. Recent software updates, such as iPhone 2.0.2, provide only "Bug fixes" as their release notes, and problems with the MobileMe launch and extended email problems were either not acknowledged or done so half-heartedly.
Perhaps that's why it's so surprising that a helpful back-channel of communication has emerged, one which provides straight answers that Apple's spokespersons can't offer: Apple CEO Steve Jobs. -- TidBITS.
Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux kernel, has expressed the feelings I suspect are akin to those of many Mac users. He says he's fed up with what he sees as a "security circus" surrounding software vulnerabilities and how they're hyped by security people, according to an InfoWorld report. -- Macsimum News.
Online chocolate company TCHO has standardized on the Macintosh but still needs to run a variety of Windows applications. -- InformationWeek.
SSH is the de facto way to establish a secure connection with a command line interface. It is an essential too for people who regularly manage Unix servers, networking gear, and a variety of other devices.
There are now three SSH clients that will work on any iPhone or iPod Touch with access to the iPhone App Store. Currently, there is no clear winner as each SSH client has its own tradeoffs and none are ideal. -- On Message with Ben Gross.
I wanted to install a free (Open Source if possible) image editor on my MacBook. After looking around, I returned to look at GIMP whose multi-window interface always bothered me. Here's what I found about GIMP for Mac OS X 10.5. -- O'Reilly Digital Media.
Apple has offered an additional two month free extension for all MobileMe subscribers with active accounts as of August 19, 2008, on top of the original 30-day extension granted a month ago, shortly after the MobileMe launch. -- AppleInsider.
In a quick turnaround from 2.0.1, Apple on Monday evening released version 2.0.2 firmware for iPhone and iPod touch. -- AppleInsider.
Experts and analysts of all stripes are trying to explain what's wrong with the iPhone 3G, but their answers are frequently supported by bad science, outlandish claims, and pure speculation. Here's what's wrong in the reports, and why a simple firmware update is likely to solve the current issues.-- AppleInsider.
Apple extended its lead over the rest of the PC industry on the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index, the fifth straight year it has led the scoring. Apple blew away its PC industry peers in this year's American Customer Satisfaction Index, perhaps because it was the only company that didn't release a Windows Vista PC.
The ACSI scores measure a consumer's overall satisfaction with a company, which includes product quality, value, customer service, and essentially anything else that impresses or annoys a customer of a particular company. Apple scored an 85 on the index, its highest score ever and a full ten points higher than second place finisher Dell.
This document discusses troubleshooting steps that should be followed if you experience any issues with your display. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
This is less of a hint than a cautionary tale, and a clue for troubleshooting certain types of problems. -- Mac OS X Hints.
Some Time Machine users are noticing that their backups are not including new files. While the backups run every hour, and no apparent problems seem to occur during the backup process, when users check the backups for recent created files, the items are not there.
Users affected by this problem are able to otherwise normally access and restore the files that are backed up.
Time Machine usually creates hard links for files in previous backups (essentially duplicating them to the new backup folders without using up disk space), then updates the backup with new files from the source disk, creating a fully updated backups that are a complete snapshot of the system. For affected users, the first step seems to be working fine, but new files on the source disk are not catalogued for inclusion in the backup.
Fix: Boot into safe mode Time Machine will periodically do what's known as a "deep traversal" of the hard drive to check every file on the disk in a specific directory, ensuring all files on the source disk are catalogued and accounted for. To get Time Machine to do a deep traversal, boot into safe mode by holding the shift key at startup. This run some background maintenance scripts that will have Time Machine run a deep traversal on the second. While it shouldn't matter, users may wish to run Disk Utility's maintenance scripts on the hard drive (permissions fix and drive repair) when in safe mode to ensure proper operation. After the computer has fully booted in Safe Mode, reboot normally and the next time Time Machine runs, it will do a deep traversal. -- MacFixIt.
In recent months, you have to wonder whether Apple is losing its golden touch. I mean there are rampant reports of dropped call issues with the iPhone 3G, the rollout of .Mac's successor, MobileMe, was particularly troublesome, and, add to all this, the press has only recent stopped talking about the health of Steve Jobs. -- Mac Night Owl.
Sure, we've all wanted to stop the pesky "Disk Image Verification" process that starts when you want to open that .iso, .dmg, or other disk image. While this process is a precaution against possibly installing/using corrupt files, sometimes it is completely unnecessary. To stop disk image verification forever, just open Terminal and type:
defaults write com.apple.frameworks.diskimages skip-verify TRUE
If you want verification enabled again, type the same command, replacing the "TRUE" with "FALSE." While verification is off, we recommend only using disk images from trusted sources.
Every time I bring my laptop in Apple employees ask me the same question: 'What is your administrator password?' ... This is official Apple policy and it needs to stop. Consumers should never be asked for their passwords. It is a practice that defies logic to anyone that is trained in security. -- DNet Blogs: Zero Day.
You begin a Spotlight search via the Find window (accessed by the Command-F command). You select to limit your search to a specific folder and to just "File Name." After typing only two letters in the Spotlight text box, the results window surprisingly claims there are already no matches. This is surprising because you know that there are at least a dozen files that match the two letters you have typed. Clearly, something has gone awry.
In most cases, the cause is a corrupt Spotlight Index. The fix is easy: Rebuild the Index files.
One way to do this is to launch Terminal and type:
sudo mdutil -E /
Enter your administrator's password, when requested.
After deleting the Index, Spotlight will shortly begin re-indexing your volume. This could take up to an hour or more, depending upon the size of your drive. After the reindexing is complete, searches should work properly again.
MobileMe isn't just for iPhone users. It also expands upon the simple web apps delivered as part of .Mac using a cohesive Mac OS X inspired interface that behaves more like a desktop app than a web page, providing easy access to data from anywhere you have Internet access. Here's a look at how web apps have developed, how Apple's new online apps work, and the future potential of MobileMe's tightly integrated mobile, web, and desktop apps. -- AppleInsider.
At first glance, there's not much difference between Acrobat 9 and its predecessor, Acrobat 8. The program maintains its DGI format, meaning each document carries all of Acrobat's controls--independently. I protested this actively after the last release, but I apparently was a voice in the wilderness, and all my angst was for naught. I must move on. Fortunately, Acrobat 9 Pro has a lot to offer. -- Applelinks.
Looks like there's trouble in (non)paradise for Apple and the iPhone OS 2.1 beta. While the company has been testing push notifications--a compromise for background processes--in these OS betas, a new seed for developers has reportedly removed the feature altogether. -- Ars Technica.
One of the great strengths of the Internet as a communication and entertainment medium has always been its lack of security, a fact that seems to pass over the heads of many "experts" today. Bob Kahn and Vint Cerf could easily have added robust security to TCP/IP, but they deliberately chose not to with the idea that innovation would be encouraged by making the Internet a wide-open space. It wasn't that they prohibited security, but pushed it up the stack, effectively making it other people's business. If your application required security, there was nothing keeping you from adding it, but on the other hand there were few, if any, hints about how best to do that. We were on our own and to a great extent we still are, which means there is a lot of bad stuff happening and probably always will be. -- I, Cringely.
Linux clustering is very popular for RenderMan customers. And while the software is "certainly used extensively on OS X workstations...very few people run RenderMan on OS X clusters," according to the source. -- ComputerWorld.
For international travelers who cross many times zones each day, such as those in aviation and those in the military, it is common to live by Coordinated Universal Time (also known as UTC, Z or Zulu, and GMT or Greenwich Mean Time). An earlier hint noted that the iPhone can display UTC in the World Clock, but you can also set your iPhone to stay on UTC. -- Mac OS X Hints.
SPSS, Inc. announced SPSS 17.0, a major update of its statistical analysis package, scheduled for release in the fall. The new version will add automatic codebook creation, an improved syntax editor, multiple imputation for missing values, nearest neighbor analysis, improved visualization capabilities with Graphboard, SPSS EZ RFM add-on for easier recency, frequency and monetary analysis, a custom dialog builder, additional multi-threaded algorithms, and much more. SPSS is priced starting at $1,699 (commercial license) for Mac OS X 10.4 and up, Linux, or Windows.
Basic protection offered by free software may suffice if everyone with access to the computer follows security-minded practices, including never downloading software from unfamiliar websites and never opening links in e-mail to access personal accounts. Apple computers are much less vulnerable to viruses and spyware than PCs, and the spam filter built into Mac OS X version 10.5 worked well in CR's tests. -- Consumer Reports.
Over at missingmanuals.com, David Pogue shares some of his favorite tips for both the original iPhone or the iPhone 2E.
Complaints of dropped calls, weak signals and slow data speeds reach critical mass. -- ComputerWorld.
