Thursday, February 4. 2010
iPhone 3.1.3 Firmware Update Released
| Apple has released version 3.1.3 Firmware of it's iPhone firmware to address 3GS battery accuracy levels as well as issues with 3rd party apps launching. The Apple support site also has full details of what is included. Note: it is a 291MB download. Just finished getting my iPhone updated.  |  |
Saturday, July 18. 2009
iTunes 8.2.1 Released
iTunes 8.2.1 has been released. All that the official Apple release notes state is:iTunes 8.2.1 provides a number of important bug fixes and addresses an issue with verification of Apple devices. Unfortunately, it seems that it also breaks the ability of the Palm Pre to sync with iTunes. According to the official Apple release: "iTunes 8.2.1 is a free software update that provides a number of important bug fixes," says Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris. "It also disables devices falsely pretending to be iPods, including the Palm Pre. As we've said before, newer versions of Apple's iTunes software may no longer provide syncing functionality with unsupported digital media players." Palm's response has been to encourage users to use iTunes 8.2 without upgrading to 8.2.1. Palm will apparently also consider other options for syncing music to the Pre. (For Mac users, there are a couple of options [none of them free however]) Let the tug-of-war between Palm and Apple commence.  Update (7/24/09): According to TUAW, it looks like the Palm Pre has managed to circumvent the latest iTunes update by reporting that it's USB chipset is made by Apple. |  |
Friday, June 26. 2009
One week with the new iPhone 3GS!
| After a great deal of wrestling with AT&T (namely over the hardware upgrade timeline) and being able to find a buyer for my old iPhone 3G, I was able to get the cost of the new iPhone 3GS covered. After a week with it, I must say that the combined memory and CPU improvements made for a much more smoother user experience - faster application startup (and less application crashing) as well as faster Safari browsing. The hardware improvements: Faster CPU (600Mhz vs 450 Mhz) More RAM (256 vs 128) Larger SSD drive (32GB) OMD Coating (supposed to help eradicate fingerprints spots) Louder Speaker Improved camera Combined with the improvements of the iPhone 3.0 software, I am running out of wish list items.  Here are the more detailed specs (compliments of AnandTech) on the new iPhone. | |
Wednesday, June 17. 2009
iPhone 3.0 Released
| Apple has released iPhone software update 3.0. Among the promised improvements are: Cut-n-Paste (at last!) Landscape keyboard in certain apps (Mail, Safari, Messages, Notes) MMS (not available yet - thanks AT&T  ) Tethering (not available yet - thanks AT&T ) Spotlight Search Voice Memos Of course, this doesn't take the sting out of not being able to get the new iPhone 3GS at the discounted price, but oh well. (minor note: AT&T has slightly revised their position on the eligibility for the upgrade at the discounted price.) Update (6/18/09): There are some pretty cool hidden features in the latest firmware update, detailed in this PC World Article. |  |
Tuesday, April 7. 2009
iTunes 8.1.1 Released
iTunes 8.1.1 has been released. According to the official Apple Release: iTunes 8.1.1 adds support for renting HD movies and provides a number of bug fixes, including addressing issues with VoiceOver and syncing with iPhone or iPod touch. | |
Sunday, March 22. 2009
iPhone update 3.0 rundown
| After Apple's March 17th preview of the upcoming iPhone 3.0 OS - here is a quick roundup of the promised features: MMS Tethering via USB ).Update (3/13/09): Ok, since more rumors are flying regarding the impending 3.0 firmware announcement, here is the latest list from the iPhoneBlog (ignore the fact that it sounds suspiciously like the current iPhone wishlist ): Cut-n-Paste New Springboard Push Notification (or Background Tasks) | |
Friday, March 13. 2009
iPhone update 3.0 coming?
| There are rumors that Apple is set to announce the June release iPhone update 3.0 on March 17th. Some of the promised features are: MMS Tethering via USB ).Update (3/13/09): Ok, since more rumors are flying regarding the impending 3.0 firmware announcement, here is the latest list from the iPhoneBlog (ignore the fact that it sounds suspiciously like the current iPhone wishlist ): Cut-n-Paste New Springboard Push Notification (or Background Tasks) | |
Thursday, March 12. 2009
iTunes 8.1 Released
iTunes 8.1 has been released as a 65MB update. According to the official Apple Release: iTunes 8.1 is now faster and more responsive. Noticeable improvements when working with large libraries, browsing the iTunes Store, preparing to sync with iPod or iPhone, and optimizing photos for syncing are also claimed. Small changes include: Allows friends to request songs for iTunes DJ.Adds Genius sidebar for your Movies and TV Shows.. Improves performance when downloading iTunes Plus songs. Provides AutoFill for manually managed iPods. Allows CDs to be imported at the same sound quality as iTunes Plus. Includes many accessibility improvements. Allows iTunes U and the iTunes Store to be disabled separately using Parental Controls. Another interesting note from the The Mac Security Blog is: This version includes a security fix for an issue where subscribing to a malicious podcast could lead to the disclosure of a users iTunes username and password. There is also a Windows-only fix for a potential denial of service issue. More information can be found here. | |
Monday, January 5. 2009
Happy New Year!!
Friday, November 21. 2008
iPhone 2.2 Released
| Apple has released iPhone software update 2.2 (246MB download). Among the promised improvements are: Google Street View (doesn't appear to be available in the iPodTouch yet) Improve formatting of HTML email Improve Stability of Safari Podcasts are now available for download in iTunes application (over Wi-Fi and cellular) Pressing the Home button from any Home screen takes you to the first Home screen Preferences to turn on/off auto-correction in Keyboard settings After 45+ minutes (a large percentage of that on the backup process ), my iPhone update to 2.2 is complete. Will be putting the various new features through the paces throughout the day today. | |
Thursday, November 20. 2008
iTunes 8.0.2 Released
iTunes 8.0.2 has been released as a 60MB update. According to the official Apple Release: iTunes 8.0.2 improves stability and performance and provides a number of important bug fixes, including: | |
Monday, November 17. 2008
Google Voice Search: Finally Available!
| After a fair amount of anticipation (and snafus), it appears that the Google Voice search update is finally available in the iTunes App store. Thanks to TechCrunch who had the link available, I was able to download it. Been playing with it for a little bit and pretty impressed so far. I tried searching for Ferraris, MythTV, "Downloading Knoppix" and it was able to recognize all of the search terms just fine, including "MacBookPro and not store" (it sounds like CNet concurs ). Of course, I am running my tests in a fairly quiet house; it will be interesting to see how well it works with some background noise (i.e. traffic, wind, etc). |  |
Sunday, November 9. 2008
SimplifyMedia and Remote up and running ;-)
| Since I was working a ton of hours anyway this week, I decided to get both SimplifyMedia and (iPhone) Remote apps up and running. My Mac (of course ) was very easy to get up and running for both applications, but my WindowsXP machine was slightly more of a challenge (mainly due to cascading problems stemming from updating ServicePacks and having obscure issues due to the motherboard BIOS being very old). After flashing the BIOS and upgrading the chipset drivers, I was able to get the needed ServicePack installed successfully this time and get both of the applications running properly.SimplifyMedia allows one to stream their iTunes library over the internet from their iPhone. You can also use this app to share with your iTunes library with up to 30 friends. Remote allows one's iPhone to control (via wireless connection) iTunes library on any computer on the same network (Note: You must have at least iTunes 7.7 or greater installed). (Note: At LifeHacker, there is a good article on several options for controlling your computer over the Internet via your iPhone). I &hearts my iPhone! |  |
Thursday, October 2. 2008
iTunes 8.0.1 Released
iTunes 8.0.1 has been released. According to the official Apple Release: iTunes 8.0.1 improves stability and performance and provides a number of important bug fixes, including: Seamlessly plays the current song when creating a new Genius playlist. Improves syncing spoken menus to iPod nano. Addresses an issue of deleting HD TV episodes when downloading. Improves checking for updates from the App Store Improves accessibility with VoiceOver. Addresses problems syncing Genius results to iPod. Evidently there were some video problems with iTunes 8.0 (which I haven't experienced) which were also fixed with this release. However, it seems that some people are now having problems with streaming media with this latest update. | |
Friday, September 12. 2008
iPhone 2.1 Released
| Apple has released iPhone software update 2.1. Among the promised improvements are: Significantly better battery life Fewer call drops Bug fixes Faster backups to iTunes No App crashes (maybe should read: less frequent app crashes ). I have just managed to upgrade it, so we'll see. As a side note, some users (on both the iPhone and the iPodTouch) have been getting sync errors after the upgrade - here is the solution to that issue. | |
