Stan's List

When your eight year old Mac screeches to a stop, what is one to do? More …

Computerworld’s Tom Yager MacBook Pro did die and Yager was heard to say “this would never have happened with PowerPC!”. The reason is that EFI does not contain the code to boot from an external drive (even a flash drive) or boot into target disk mode. The Intel Mac OS must be up and running to do either. The PPC Mac has a ROM which contains all the boot procedures, and would require a great deal more damage to shut this down. Intel and Apple should include such routines in EFI. More …

While the court issued a temporary restraining order against T-Mobile selling iPhones with a contract, the net effect is to stop the sale of iPhones. Vodafone’s official statement is they only want an examination of the required contract process. As T-Mobile’s contract with Apple requires a contract, this could halt all sales, according to Dow Jones. More …

WebKit is the open source web engine that is the bases for Safari, Dashboard, Mail, other applications. This open source project begin as part of KHTML, who provided Apple the original source code for Safari 1.0.

In an blog posting entitled Ten new things in WebKit 3, the WebKit Open-Source Project details the features in this latest Safari release:

01. Enhanced rich-text editing
02. Faster JavaScript and DOM
03. Faster page loading
04. Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)
05. XPath
06. New and improved XML technologies
07. Styleable form controls
08. Advanced CSS Styling
09. Reduced memory use
10. Web developer tools

This KB article explains what to do if your Home folder disappears in Mac OS X 10.5. First thing, “don’t worry”.

To resolve this issue:

chflags nohidden ~/

Much easier, copy and paste this into the terminal window and avoid typos.

A MacFixIt reader states they also experienced this in Tiger.

This update is for 20-inch and 24-inch aluminum iMac computers with the ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO graphics processor, running Mac OS X 10.4.10 with iMac Software Update 1.2.1 for Tiger, or Mac OS X 10.5 with iMac Software Update 1.3 for Leopard.

Apple released an update for Mac OS X Server 10.5

What was addressed

Server Preferences

* Addresses an issue which could block adding external users to a newly-created group.

NetBoot

* Addresses an issue in which 10.5.x-based software images could lead to an unresponsive NetBoot client.

Open Directory

* Addresses an issue blocking control of client application access when usernames contain non-ASCII characters.
* Addresses intermittent Password Server errors.

SMB File Service

* Addresses an issue in which Microsoft Windows clients may misinterpret shared folders’ ACL settings.

Mac OS X 10.5.1 includes a number of fixes, including the command-drag bug.

The update is available via Software Update or standalone installer.

Here is what was addressed:

AirPort

* Allows password-protected accounts on AirPort Disks to show up on in the Finder’s Shared Sidebar.
* Resolves an issue with saved passwords for wireless networks.

Back to My Mac

* Improves the reliability of Back to My Mac-enabled Macs appearing in the Finder’s Shared Sidebar.
* Improves compatibility with D-Link NAT gateways.

Disk utilities

* Restores the functionality of the progress bar during permission repairs in Disk Utility.
* Addresses an issue that could produce an alert when creating disk images using Disk Utility or Terminal.
* Improves disk partitioning when multiple RAID sets are created on the same disk.

iCal

* iCal alarms are now more reliably delivered via email.
* Resolves an issue when inviting attendees via a CalDAV account.

Mail

* Improves stability when resizing columns in the message viewer or switching between Stationery templates in email messages.
* Addresses an issue in which attachments enclosed inside an HTML link may not be clickable in email messages.
* Fixes an issue with email accounts added using the “Simple Setup” feature in which messages cannot be sent due to an SMTP connection failure.
* Improves Smart Mailboxes compatibility with .Mac Sync, and addresses an issue with To Do’s disappearing when using Smart Mailboxes.
* Resolves an issue with syncing Mail accounts with .Mac in which multiple On My Mac folders appear in the Mailbox pane.
Networking
* Addresses an issue in which Microsoft Windows shared folders may be read-only when connected via SMB.

Printing

* Resolves an issue in which user-selected values on Paper Feed PDE are reset to default while saving a custom preset.

Security, Firewall

* Addresses a code signing issue; third-party applications can now run when included in the Application Firewall or when whitelisted in Parental Controls.
* In Security preferences’ Firewall tab, the “Block All” option is now called “Allow Only essential services”
* Includes recent Apple security updates.

System and Finder

* Addresses a potential data loss issue when moving files across partitions in the Finder.
* Resolves an issue with login after turning off FileVault for a specific user account.
* Improves compatibility with Adobe Flash-based uploaders used by .Mac Web Gallery and certain other websites and applications.
* Resolves a potential text drawing issue with certain Adobe Flash-based websites and applications.

Time Machine

* Addresses formatting issues with certain drives used with Time Machine (specifically, single-partition MBR drives greater than 512 GB in size as well as NTFS drives of any size and partition scheme).
* Resolves an issue in which files restored in Time Machine may be restored to the backup hierarchy rather than the folders to which they belong.

All the updates can be accessed via Software Update or by direct download  from one download page.

Mac OS X 10.4.11 Update (PPC or Intel; Update or Combo)

Mac OS X Server 10.4.11 Update (Universal or PPC; Update or Combo)

Security Update 2007-008 (10.3.9 Client and Server versions)

Soundtrack Pro 2.0.2

Server Admin Tools 10.4.11

Final Cut Pro 6.0.2

DVD Studio Pro 4.2.1

Motion 3.0.2

Color 1.0.2

Cinema Tools 4.0.1

Compressor 3.0.2

Pro Applications Update 2007-02

iPhoto 7.1.1

Business Computer News (translated by BabelFish) reports that in the six days after Leopard’s Oct 26 launch, combined single-user license (46 percent) and family pack (7.9) sales accounted for 53.9 percent of the Japanese packaged OS market. More …