Mac OS X 10.5.2 Leopard patch released
Apple just released the much-anticipated
10.5.2 update to Leopard. You are not advised to upgrade a working system but if you are having serious issues with Leopard that the patch fixes, you have nothing to lose by trying it.
I personally am waiting for 10.5.4 or so to come out before upgrading because it is usually around the .4 mark that new operating systems become stable and serious compatibility and stability issues have been ironed out.
Changelog:Active Directory * Addresses issues which could hinder or prevent binding Mac OS X 10.5.x clients to Active Directory domains.
AirPort * Improves connection reliability and stability
* Includes 802.1X improvements.
* Resolves certain kernel panics.
Back to my Mac * Adds support for more third-party routers.
Dashboard * Improves performance of certain Apple Dashboard widgets (such as Dictionary).
* Addresses an issue in which Dashboard widgets may no longer be accessible after switching to or from an account that has Parental Controls enabled.
Dock * Updates Stacks with a List view option, a Folder view option, and an updated background for Grid view.
Desktop * Addresses legibility issues with the menu bar with an option to turn off transparency in Desktop & Screen Saver preferences.
* Adjusts menus to be slightly-less translucent overall.
iCal * Improves iCal so that it accurately reflects responses to recurring meetings.
* Addresses an issue in which a meeting may remain on the calendar after being cancelled.
* Addresses stability issues related to .Mac syncing of iCal calendars.
* Resolves an intermittent issue in which editing an event with attendees would cause the event to shrink and not register that the event was updated.
iChat * Addresses an issue with simultaneously-logged in accounts in which iChat sounds generated from one account might be heard in another account.
* Fixes an issue in which iChat idle time is affected by Time Machine backups.
* Improves connectivity when running iChat behind a router that doesn't preserve ports.
* Enables logged chats from previous versions of iChat to open faster and more reliably.
* Addresses an issue with text chats in which users may be unable to receive messages from the sender.
* Addresses an issue that may prevent rejoining an AIM chat room without reopening iChat.
* Addresses video chat compatibility issues with AIM 6 and third-party routers.
* Fixes an issue with case-sensitivity of AIM handles.
iSync * Adds support for Samsung D600E and D900i phones.
Finder * Addresses an issue in which Finder could unexpectedly quit when displaying folder contents in Column view.
* Addresses an issue in which Finder could unexpectedly quit when accessing Users and Groups in a Get Info pane.
* Resolves an issue that prevented setting permissions on a folder alias.
* Resolves an issue in which the Eject command could write to a disc in the optical drive.
* Fixes an issue in which the scroll bar might disappear when deleting a file within a folder that includes files that are out of view.
* Fixes an issue in the Sharing & Permissions section of Get Info windows, in which the gear icon appears to be gray/disabled after authentication.
* Addresses an issue in which the Show Icon Preview preference might not be not saved when turning it off.
* Fixes an issue that could occur when trying to print an image from the Finder.
Mail * Addresses an issue with Message menu's Mark > As Read choice.
* Fixes an issue in which duplicate On My Mac folders may appear in the sidebar after upgrading to Leopard.
* Improves the accuracy of the Data Detectors feature.
* Resolves an issue with scrolling through a Note that is displayed using the split view in the message window.
* Fixes an issue with deleting messages located in the Drafts folder.
* Fixes an issue in which dragging the icon in the Safari URL field into a Mail message creates an attachment instead of a link.
* Addresses an issue found when opening a item in the Notes folder that is not a Note.
* Fixes an issue that may prevent RSS feeds from being delivered in Mail.
* Resolves an issue in which a selected message could "flash" from blue to gray when in Organize by Thread mode.
* Fixes an issue with scrolling between multiple To Dos in an email message.
* Fixes an issue in which the body of email messages with certain MIME structures may not be displayed.
* Improves performance with America Online (AOL) account-based messages in Mail.
* Addresses issues with some ISPs during automatic set-up in Mail.
* Addresses an issue in which Mail might not send mail on some networks to some SMTP servers.
* Mail now automatically disables the (unsupported) third-party plugin GrowlMail version 1.1.2 or earlier to avoid issues.
* Adds an option to view large icons in the Mailbox list.
Networking * Addresses a hanging issue that may occur when connecting to an AFP network volume.
Parental Controls * Improves stability when opening the Parental Controls System Preferences pane.
* Fixes an issue that may prevent changes to the email address for permission requests.
* Addresses an issue with printer administration for a guest account enabled with Parental Controls.
* Addresses an issue with setting printer administration privileges from another Mac on the local network.
* Fixes an issue that could prevent certain applications from being allowed.
* Addresses accuracy issues with the web content filter.
Preview * Improves stability when scrolling through a PDF document.
* Fixes an issue that prevents tabbing within a PDF document after clicking on the PDF.
* Improves the Mail Document feature so that email attachments are more reliably created from Print Preview.
Printing * Addresses an issue in which remote printers may be deleted when the computer is put to sleep.
* Improves printing performance when using some Microsoft Office applications.
* Resolves an issue with some printing options, such as landscape orientation, number of copies, two-sided printing, and so forth that may not have functioned with some printers shared by Microsoft Windows.
* Adds support for certain printers connected to the USB port of an AirPort Extreme or AirPort Express base station.
* Resolves a stalling issue that could occur when installing certain Canon printing software from a disc.
RAW Image * Adds RAW image support for several cameras.
Safari * Addresses issues with Safari reliably resolving certain domains.
Login and Setup Assistant * Addresses an issue in which Setup Assistant could unexpectedly appear each time Mac OS X 10.5 starts up.
* Improves stability and performance during log in.
System * Improves the accuracy of the grammar checker.
* The computer will now shut down if an automatic disk repair does not succeed during startup.
Time Machine * Adds a menu bar option for accessing Time Machine features (the menu extra can be enabled in Time Machine preferences).
* Improves backup reliability when computer name contains slash or non-ASCII characters.
* Fixes an issue in which the backup disk displayed in the Finder may be out of sync with the disk chosen for Time Machine.
* Addresses issues in which some external drives are not recognized by Time Machine.
* The status menu now appears by default.
Other *
Improves general stability when running third-party applications. - Interesting...
* Addresses an issue in which the incorrect search results may be displayed for certain Automator Find/Filter actions.
* Addresses an issue with the Latvian and Russian keyboard layouts.
* Addresses an issue in which the backlight could turn off before Energy Saver's backlight setting.
Posted by Jon Chappell on Feb 11 2008 to
Apple,
SoftwarePermalinkMacBook Air: Solid-state vs regular hard disk
AppleInsider
pitted a solid-state MacBook Air against one with a regular hard disk. They found that with large amounts of data, the read speeds of these drives were up to 18 times faster than regular hard disks. Write speeds were lower, at around 70% but when you compare a 30% loss in write speed to an 1800% gain in read speed, I'd gladly take that performance hit.
SSDs have other advantages:
* They are more reliable because they have no moving parts
* They are great for situations where data is littered all over the hard drive because they do not have heads that need to physically move from one area to another
* No noise
* Lower power consumption and less heat generated
Now, can you think of an application where reliability is important, you are transferring a lot of data that may be all over the place, where reading is more common than writing, and where noise and heat is undesirable?
I can't wait to throw out my Xserve RAIDs and replace them with SSD ones. They are noisy, they generate a ton of heat, I constantly worry about them failing on me, and they are really heavy and bulky. I would love to have a 1U SSD Xserve RAID that is lightweight, fast and quiet.
Unfortunately, price is the limiting factor right now. However, the proliferation of the iPhone and iPod Touch, and the increasing demand for SSD storage in compact notebooks will bring the price down with time. We're at a turning point right now because for the first time, SSDs have reached a size and price point that makes them viable for consumer laptops. There is no way they could have offered a 32 GB SSD with the Air. Ok, $999 is a lot for a 64 GB disk but it is within reach. It will probably be half that in 12 months' time anyway.
When the size and price becomes viable though, these will be great for editors.
Posted by Jon Chappell on Feb 11 2008 to
Analysis,
Apple,
HardwarePermalinkEssential tools: Perian
Perian's icon is a swiss-army knife and that couldn't be a better description. It is a
codec pack for QuickTime that allows you to play back a whole host of formats including AVI, DivX and 3ivX. These are PC formats that we editors get given from time to time and it is incredibly useful to have a free Mac component to view them with.
Some people have reported
problems with it but I personally have experienced none so far.
The brand new version 1.1 (just came out today) features the following changes:
* Major performance improvements
* TrueAudio, MP1, and DTS audio support
* Slice-based multithreaded decoding for MPEG-1/2/H.264
* Apple H.264 now handles AVCHD/interlaced video
* Compatibility fixes for QuickTime 7.4 and Leopard
* Objective-C GC compatibility
* Fixed a crash in Toast
* Better subtitle rendering
* Subtitles play during MKV loading
* Snow support
* Miscellaneous bug fixes
Perian can be downloaded
here for free.
ProKit 4.5 update
Apple has just updated
ProKit to version 4.5.
ProKit, as far as I am aware, contains only UI elements such as button images for professional applications such as Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Express, Logic Studio, etc. There is unlikely to be anything exciting in it I'm afraid.
Apple's release notes are, as always, rather vague:
This update improves reliability for Apple's professional applications and is recommended for all users of Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Express, Aperture, Logic Studio and Logic Express.
As always, don't update a working system unless you are experiencing a major problem that this update may fix. And when you do it, make sure to clone your drive with something like
Carbon Copy Cloner first.
Update: Some people are
reporting that Motion 3 instabilities with the Ozone plugin are a thing of the past with the new ProKit update.
Update 2: Others are
reporting that the DVD Studio Pro menu that had disappeared is now back, while others are
reporting that it causes their Logic 8 installation to crash.
I know people have been experiencing issues with Compressor windows not opening, so I would advise them to give this patch a go and see if it fixes it for them.
Posted by Jon Chappell on Feb 5 2008 to
Apple,
Video Editing,
Final Cut StudioPermalink
Kollaborate
Pro Maintenance Tools
Pro Media Tools
CinePlay
Post Haste
Preference Manager
FCS Remover
Cut Notes
CinePlay
Aspect Ratio Matte Generator
Video Space Calculator