A developer Friday told AppleInsider the drive on his Mac mini was only used a handful of times before the attempted install of Snow Leopard. After he inserted the installation disc for Mac OS X 10.6, the drive would not mount any other optical discs. Now, he said, the drive will not read or write any CD or DVD.
“Unfortunately, I have not been able to get Apple’s cooperation on resolving this,” the developer said. “For now, I am advising all my Mac clients not to upgrade and I am not guaranteeing that any solution I build will run on Snow Leopard.”
Category: Apple
iPhones Overloading AT&T’s Network
“It’s been a challenging year for us,” said John Donovan, the chief technology officer of AT&T. “Overnight we’re seeing a radical shift in how people are using their phones,” he said. “There’s just no parallel for the demand.”
No kidding.
10.6 Using Older Version of Flash
So, lets explain what’s going on here. Imagine you have a Mac. Imagine you have been really diligent about keeping your copy of Adobe Flash up-to-date (Adobe is commonly targeted by the bad guys, and so Adobe has been releasing regular security updates for Flash and PDF Reader)
Now, imagine (like me) you got your copy of Snow Leopard on Friday, and have now updated your computers.
Unfortunately during the course of that update (and unknown to you) Apple downgraded your installation of Flash to an earlier version (version 10.0.23.1), which is known not to be secure and is not patched against various security vulnerabilities.
MacFixIt Absorbed into C|Net
We’re moving! We’re currently migrating all MacFixIt articles to our new home in CNET. We’ll be redirecting all traffic to the new site this afternoon, but if you want to get a sneak peak you can visit the site now at http://reviews.cnet.com/macfixit.
It’s kinda sad to see it go.
Merlin Mann on Snow Leopard
Mann’s had some issues, it seems:
Yes, I will update my apps on five computers. Yes, I will buy or borrow as many rubber chickens as I need to return all my preferences that have magically albeit subtly disappeared. Yes, the new Dock is pretty. Yes, I can’t wait to see all the cool apps people build using the extra gigawatts afforded by the 64-bit flux capacitor.
But, fucking A, guys. I realize you’re having a big, beardy lemon party about all these homeopathically non-obvious new features, but come on.
The 10.6 Review We’ve Been Waiting For
John Siracusa of Ars Technica has written incredible reviews of each OS X release for years — 10.5 Leopard, 10.4 Tiger, 10.3 Panther, 10.2 Jaguar, 10.1 Puma, the original release of OS X, and even the public beta.
His take on Snow Leopard is no different. All 23 pages of it are great. He covers the installation process, the 32- vs. 64-bit debate, QuickTime X, new development tools, various tweaks throughout the OS, performance increases and more.
The Box
![The Box Has Shrunk [243/365; 08/31/2009]](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3510/3876989182_82237baba6_b.jpg)
Loads and Loads of Snow Leopard Tricks
Mac|Life has discovered 100 tweaks on Snow Leopard — including some very obscure ones. It really shows the level of detail Apple went to on this release.
Apple Event on Sept. 9
Apple Inc said on Monday that it would host a media event next week, when the company is widely expected to unveil an updated line of iPod media players.
Apple declined to say what products would be featured at the September 9 event, which was announced in an invitation emailed to members of the media.
The invitation featured an iPod and the tagline: “It’s only rock and roll, but we like it.”
Apple Reverses Air Hinge Repair Strategy
Apple support article #ts2948:
Learn what you can do if you experience one or more of these issues with the hinges on your MacBook Air.
• Unable to close lid completely.
• Broken or cracked plastic near one or both of the hinges.
• More than one inch (2.54cm) of free play while opening or closing the lid.
• Lid falls freely into closed position from a 30-degree open position. (From a closed position, open the lid approximately 30 degrees and let go.)
More on Snow Leopard’s Kernel
CNET:
Apple’s Snow Leopard operating system, released Friday, by default loads with a 32-bit kernel, despite running 64-bit applications.
While Mac OS X version 10.6 ships with a number of 64-bit native applications, the kernel itself defaults to 32-bit, unless the user holds down the “6” and “4” keys during boot time, at which point the 64-bit kernel is loaded. Only Apple’s X-Serve products, using Snow Leopard Server, boot into a 64-bit kernel by default.
Additional Services
Mac OS X Automation has quite a collection of downloadable services available. Nice stuff.