Archives for Category : Apple

The latest update to Mac OS X “Leopard”, version 10.5.4, is now available via Software Update in the Apple menu or by direct download. Main areas of change include: Airport, iCal, Safari, Spaces and Exposé. Details are available here:

• About the Mac OS X 10.5.4 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 potential 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 10.5.4 Combo Update

I’ve just successfully applied the combo updater on two machines: a G5 tower and a MacBook Pro. Report your experiences in the comments section for this post.

NOTE: If you use an Apple Airport Extreme, Express or Time Capsule base station be sure to launch Airport Utility in the Utilities folder after performing this update so it can upgrade the base station firmware.

Steve Jobs just finished the 2008 World Wide Developers Conference keynote and, other than a confirmation of the rumor that the next Mac OS X version will be nicknamed “Snow Leopard”, it was all about the iPhone. A very brief summary:

New iPhone

The next generation iPhone will be called iPhone 3G and ship next month worldwide. Major new features: 3G communications (duh) for much faster Net access; built-in GPS; plastic back versus current metal; available in white; cheaper! 8GB will sell for $199, 16GB for $299. Available July 11th worldwide.

OS X iPhone 2.0

The first major update to the iPhone software will be available next month and will be a free update for existing iPhone users (iPod touch users will have to pay $10 for it.) Main feature is support for third party iPhone applications but there are other goodies as well such as contact list searching. It will also provide support for Microsoft Exchange servers which is very important for business iPhone users.

Third Party iPhone Applications

Lots of demos of third party applications, especially games. Again, the standard method for people to acquire these applications will be via a new iTunes iPhone Applications store however Apple also announced that corporations will have a mechanism to distribute their own applications internally without using the iTunes Store at all. Also, small developers will be able to distribute their applications without the iTMS with a limit of 100 authorized iPhones.

.Mac will be MobileMe

The current .Mac will soon be transformed into Mobile Me. Similar features except the emphasis will be on seamless synchronization of contacts, bookmarks, photos and now email across your different devices. Same price, $99/year, and current .Mac accounts will be automatically converted to Mobile Me. More details are available at the .Mac web site.

Mac OS X “Snow Leopard”

Some details are emerging about the next major update to Mac OS X. Code-named “Snow Leopard” it will emphasize improving the performance and stability of existing features over adding new ones. Not a whole lot of details yet but Apple has posted some basic information:

• Mac OS X Leopard - Snow Leopard
• Server - Mac OS X Leopard - Snow Leopard

Not a lot of glamorous stuff there but the under-the-hood changes discussed should substantially improve the overall experience which beats new eye candy any day.

Apple now has an official podcast for their keynote presentations:

• Apple Keynotes Podcast

It currently lists the last two MacWorld San Francisco keynotes as well as the iPhone software roadmap from this past March. If past keynotes are any indication then Monday’s WWDC keynote will appear within a few hours of it’s conclusion.

via iLounge

I probably should have known this before but Apple has an actual web site dedicated to free online seminars!

• Seminars Online

Here, for example, is a new 30 minute seminar on iWork 08:

• iWork for Business Online Seminar

Lots of other topics as well.

Apple has released another bug-fix update to Mac OS X 10.5, a.k.a. “Leopard”. Version 10.5.3 has been in development for several months and fixes literally hundreds of “issues” in such areas as Airport, iCal, Mail, Time machine and others.

The update is available via Software Update in the Apple menu at the left end of the menu bar, or you can download the Combo Updaters that also include all previous Leopard updates and which have, in the past, proven to be somewhat more reliable in terms of avoiding potential 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.

• About the Mac OS X 10.5.3 Update
• Mac OS X 10.5.3 Combo Update Download

I haven’t applied this update to any of machines yet, having just now discovered it was available, but I will do so soon and update this post with my results. Feel free to post your experiences in the comments section.

UPDATE 1: I’ve successfully installed the combo updater on a Dual G5 Tower and MacBook Pro. It is normal to see an extra Restart when the install has finished on PowerPC based Macs so don’t panic if that occurs.