Archives for September, 2008

Mac OS X 10.5.5 is now available via Software Update in the Apple menu and via direct download from Apple’s servers. The list of bug fixes is fairly long and includes: Address Book, Disk Utility, Directory Utility, iCal, Mail, MobileMe and Time Machine:

• About the Mac OS X 10.5.5 Update

It is available via Software Update in the Apple menu at the left end of the menu bar, or you can download the Combo Updater that also includes all previous Leopard updates and which have, in the past, proven to be somewhat more reliable in terms of avoiding problems. It’s probably also not a bad idea to launch Disk Utility (in the Utilities folder in Applications) and run both Verify Disk and Repair Permissions on your boot disk before applying the update.

• Mac OS X 10.5.5 Combo Update (approx 600MB)

Also released today is Security Update 2008-006 for Mac OS X 10.4.11, also available via Software Update or by direct download:

• Security Update 2008-006 Client (Intel)
• Security Update 2008-006 Client (PPC)

No word yet on people’s experiences installing the update but I am downloading it and will post if I experience any problems.

iPhone owners: if you plug your phone into its cradle, launch iTunes, select the iPhone device and click the Update button you should see that the promised 2.1 update is available. It adds support for the new Genius list feature and Apple says it fixes the bulk of the annoyances introduced in the 2.0 software.

I’m downloading it now and will post details once I’ve completed installation. [Update performed, so far so good. Sync after updating to get the Genius feature after you've activated it in iTunes.]

-The iPhone 2.1 Software Update

READ MORE …

Topic

RapidWeaver web site editor

Who

Bob Applegate

When

Friday September 12th 2008, 7:30pm – 10pm

Where

Room M129, Building M, ACCC Mays Landing Campus

Bob ran his own ISP for several years, and incidentally hosted ACAMUG’s web site in its early days, so he knows more than a little bit about writing and maintaining web pages. After his recent Switch to the Mac he needed an editor to help maintain his personal web sites and after looking at several possibilities, including Apple’s own iWeb, he chose RapidWeaver as his web site editor of choice. At this meeting he’ll tell us why and show it to us in action.

The raffle item for this meeting will be a full registration for RapidWeaver, an $80 value!

Related Sites

• Real Mac Software
• Your Head
• Blueball Design
• Sandvox

Presentation topics may change so be sure to verify on the day of the meeting. Got questions you’d like to have answered? Feel free to post them as comments before the meeting so the presenters have a chance to prepare.

Apple’s “Let’s Rock” event is just wrapping up. No new MacBook or MacBook Pro announcements as some were speculating, not surprising since the event’s title make it pretty clear it was all about music. Here’s a quick summary:

• New iTunes 8 (available today) adds HD TV shows and “genius” music recommendations
• NBC’s TV programming is back on the iTunes Store
• 120GB iPod classic available
• New thinner, curvier iPod nano has the accelerometer from the iPhone and iPod touch (microphone on the headphones)
• New headphones and earbuds (hope they fit better)
• New iPod touch: thinner, built-in speaker, built-in Nike shoe support
• iPhone & iPod touch OS version 2.1 will be available Friday!
• Significantly improved battery life, fewer call drops, fixed a lot of bugs (yea!)

Here is the link to the QuickTime stream of today’s event:

• Apple Special Event – September 2008

You’ll find more details on Apple’s site and here:

• Macworld: Live Update: Apple’s ‘Let’s Rock’ Event
• Let’s Rock: Ars Technica’s live Apple event coverage
• engadget: Live from Apple’s ‘Let’s Rock’ event in San Francisco
• NYT: Live Blogging the Apple Announcement

P.S.: To the millions of other people also setting up their Genius info in iTunes 8, can you just give me 3 minutes and I’ll be done. Seriously, 3 minutes and it’s all yours. I’m –>this<– close to having my “Genius results Delivered”.

The fine folks at Telestream have updated the free version of Flip4Mac to version 2.2.1. You can download it here:

• Flip4Mac WMV Download Center

(the page mentioned a trial download however the actual download should be WM Components 2.2.1.11.dmg which contains the free playback components.)

This plug-in is the Microsoft sanctioned (and supported) replacement for the old (and buggy) Windows Media Player for the Mac. Installing it allows you to watch most non-DRM (Digital Rights Managed) Windows videos you might bump into on your travels through the Net.

Note that the free version permits playback only, you’ll have to upgrade to one of the paid versions if you want to create WMV format videos or transcode them into other formats using QuickTime Player (in which case you’ll probably also need to get QuickTime Pro for $30.) If playback is all you need then you do not need to pay!

Those looking for support for additional non-Windows video and audio formats should check out:

• Perian – “The swiss-army knife for QuickTime™”

a free, open source QuickTime plug-in that provides support for many other formats.