News Archive for: Thursday April 10, 2008 (later added items first)
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MacBook Air Bluetooth Firmware Update 1.0
I don't have a MacBook Air but spotted this at apple's site tonight. (Deja-Vu - again Apple changed the name and page link from the one they posted originally)

"About MacBook Air Bluetooth Firmware Update 1.0
The MacBook Air Bluetooth Firmware Update 1.0 should be installed on all MacBook Air Systems.
The updater application will be installed in the /Applications/Utilities folder.
To complete the bluetooth firmware update process, please follow the instructions in the updater application(/Applications/Utilities/MacBook Air Bluetooth Firmware Update.app). The updater will launch automatically.

For more information about firmware updates for Intel-based Macs, please visit: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1504"

Actually that link is a doc with details About MacBook Air Bluetooth Firmware Update 1.0, not their page with general info on Intel-based Mac firmware updates (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303364).

BTW - Tonight I saw another totally corrupted display on the AL iMac after waking it from sleep. (More than a dozen wakes OK today, just like yesterday (seen later in the day) - but this is 2nd time in two days I've seen this since applying the recent AL iMac EFI firmware update 1.3.)

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Apple Pro Applications Update 2008-01
(from a reader mail today - no pro apps installed here so it doesn't show in SU and can't find a link at Apple's site for it)

"Hi Mike, This appeared running Software Update just now....
    Pro Applications Update 2008-01 Version 1.0 (59.4MB)
    This update improves reliability for Apple's professional applications and is recommended for all users of Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Server, Logic Studio, and Shake.
    For more information about this software update, see the Release Notes.

Couldn't find it at Apple.com yet...
Regards, Stewart"

When I first posted this at appx 5PM Eastern there was no Apple website/download page on this update but now there is - Pro Applications Update 2008-01.

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Playing Toast 9 created HD-DVD disc images with OS X DVD Player
About a year ago IIRC there were some notes here on the OS X DVD Player prefs having a "High Definition" item (I hadn't noticed it before and don't recall the first DVD Player version to have that feature) - I'd about forgotten about that until this recent reader mail:

"Mike, I was recording video from my Eye-TV 500 and used Toast 9 to create a HD-DVD image to a DVD disk, but saved to the hard drive. When I mounted the image Apple's DVD player came up and started to play the video in HD format (1080i). It was not perfect it hung a few times (the video) but the audio kept playing. When you pressed the menu button the HD-DVD menu did display and was selectable. Look like Apple has (beta) code in the player. I then tried to see if I could play a commercial HD-DVD, No Joy ;-{. Looks like encryption is not supported yet. Hope this is a sign of things to come.

(Rumor last fall was that after the Windows player (HD/BR) got cracked so quickly they're trying to ensure that doesn't happen again. Has anyone with Toast 9.x and a BR burner tried creating a (unprotected) movie disc for playback? If so let me know. (So far no reports this works to date at least.) I wrote Robert to ask if he had a BR burner to try this. He later replied:)

I have the LG Drive that will read/write BR and read HD-DVD. I'm unable to burn a HD-DVD disk as my drive will only read them. I then created a BR disk image (with toast 9) mounted it and Apple's player does not know how to deal with it. I don't have a BR (stand alone) player to test a BD-RE disk. I have created a HD-DVD disk on a DVD and it played fine on the Toshiba HD-DVD player I have. Output was HD 1080i to the Panasonic TV via HDMI connection.
-Robert"

I was hoping for some BR/player announcement (BR drive options w/new Macs etc.) at MWSF 08 back in January, but didn't happen.

BTW - I thought it was odd Apple never mentioned (to date that I've seen) that OS X Leopard has some built-in Blu-Ray (data) disc Burn support (noted by BR drive owners here since 10.5 shipped - Finder burns worked for instance). I was told by a Software Dev. that the reason it wasn't listed in the Leopard features is there were some bugs and it's not perfect. (I guess after the class action lawsuits in the past over OS X feature "Support" (i.e. lawsuit over the first OS X release and support for the Beige G3 onboard graphics w/DVD player, etc. for instance) Apple is being very cautious.)

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Price cuts on Mac Pro RAM, Notebook Hard Drives, NT 802.11N Router
(Price cuts on the OWC site specials page today)

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Other News/Articles, Mac Software Updates

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Recent Articles and Reviews
Listing/links to recent articles and reviews you may have missed.
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