Apple Thoughts - News & Reviews on all things Apple

"App updates for iOS 4.2 have began appearing on the App Store."

Well, I just checked (02:54 am my time) and the update still isn't there, but with signs like this out there, it can't be far behind!

"The first interesting tidbit to surface from the iOS 4.2 GM firmware release today yesterday is the fact that there is a new multitasking bar on the iPad."

Quick access to the brightness and volume controls, as well as a button for Airplay on the left side. And according to this story from MacNN, it will also allow sign in to MobileMe via your Apple ID. I'm just excited about the printing ability personally. Since the Gold Master of iOS 4.2 was released to developers yesterday, it normally doesn't take long at all for it to be released to all of us.

"Apple has released a pair of firmware updates that fix some charging issues for previous generations of the MacBook and MacBook Pro.

Apple has found some customers that own either a MacBook or MacBook Pro are having charging problems, mainly the models from 2007-2008. So they have released MacBook SMC Firmware Update 1.4 and MacBook Pro SMC Firmware Update 1.4. You can also get them via Software Update on your Mac.

"Apple issued an update late Monday that supposedly fixes issues with the company's 27-inch iMac display. According to notes provided with the update, the fix 'updates the display firmware on 27-inch iMac systems to address issues that may cause intermittent display flickering.'"

You can get details at Apple on this update, but it's basically firmware update for the display in hopes that it will fix the flickering issues. No mention about the fix for the yellowing screen issues.

"MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.7 addresses an issue reported by a small number of customers using drives based on the SATA 3Gbps specification with the June 2009 MacBook Pro. While this update allows drives to use transfer rates greater than 1.5Gbps, Apple has not qualified or offered these drives for Mac notebooks and their use is unsupported."

It may have been reported by a small number of users, but it affects every single purchaser of the new MacBook Pro! Come on Apple, don't minimize this one. It's a biggie.

I also like how they CYA'ed with the "unsupported" bit in the description for the download. When did Apple become Microsoft?

Let's face it. One of the harsh realities of having a Mac is that sometimes some dopey companies make decisions that, to say the least, defy all semblances of logic. Take for instance, Sony. A friend of mine has a Sony BDP-S300 Blu Ray player. Of course it won’t play some newer movies, and since he doesn’t have an ethernet jack on his, that means he has to burn a disc with the firmware update, drop it in the player, and let it roll. He had some issues with burning the disc, and he tweeted that he needed a Windows PC to do it. No problem, I have Parallels, so I decided I would see if I could help out. I went to Sony’s page for the firmware update and was surprised to see the downloads were only for Windows-based PC’s.

Since I have parallels, this isn't really an issue for me, so I grabbed the file, and extracted it, and lo and behold what do I see? An ISO file! That's right, Sony packed an industry standard ISO file inside a Windows self-extractor. For what reason? Darned if I know, they just decided that only Windows users should be able to update their Blu-Ray players, I guess. Linux and Mac users? Well, despite the fact that the firmware is inside an industry-standard ISO, you can't play because you didn't succumb to the Redmond Kool-Aid.

I'm sorry, but does this really make sense to anyone?

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Apple has released EFI and SMC updates for the new MacBooks that were introduced in October. The updates apply to the new aluminum MacBook, the new MacBook Pro, and the revised MacBook Air and increase stability, fix the infamous sleeping issues, and do all kinds of other fun stuff including fixing the charging light on the Magsafe adapter.

All of your necessary updates are available in Software Update for your downloading, installing, and updating pleasure. If you're one of the lucky ones who snagged a new machine recently, let us know how the updates went for you. Be aware that the updates will download separately. Software Update will show you the first update. Do it. Then run Software Update again and you'll be presented with the second.

Apple has released an update for the Apple TV that adds some interesting new functionality. The updates include:

• The ability to stream to Airport Express and other Apple TV units on your network;
• The ability for the Apple TV to "learn" the functions of other remotes so you no longer have to use the Apple Remote to control the unit;
• Playlists that mix music and video are now supported;
• The plus and minus key now raises and lowers the volume during music playback.

Honestly, nothing in this update is earth shattering or as big as the 2.0 update was originally, but the multi-room streaming and the ability to use third party remotes seems like something I'll get a lot of use out of. Anyone do the update yet? Any feedback so far?

"The new iTunes Store screenshots confirm that Apple will be delivering over-the-air downloads for both video and audio podcasts. According to Schimanke, podcast downloads will be limited to episodes less than 10MB in size when using the cellular network. The screenshots also show off the new App Store category view with icons embedded. Additional 2.2 features previously revealed include the addition of Google Street View and Japanese Emoji icons."

Welcome news? Most definitely. If this rumor turns out to be true, one of the biggest knocks against the iPhone will have been remedied internally and officially. It's also nice, if this screenshot is true, that you don't have to be hooked up via WiFi to use the feature. Me? I don't really care one way or the other. Honestly, I've long since become disenchanted with a lot of podcasts I used to love and only listen to / watch a few of them, but it would be nice to not have to hook up my iPhone to grab the latest episodes. Any of you out there excited about this? Have you been holding out on the iPhone because it didn't do podcast downloading natively?