HKMacs

• iOS 4.1 will be out next week, featuring fixes for the proximity sensor, Bluetooth, and iPhone 3G issues. There will also be support for HDR (High Dynamic Range) photos, the ability to upload HD video to other devices (Apple TV) over WiFi (this is known as AirPlay), 99¢ TV show rentals, and GameCenter. The latter will bring a new level of interactive gaming to the platform.
• In November, we’ll see iOS 4.2 for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. This adds printing support, AirPlay, multi-tasking, and folders (among other features) to the iPad.

• The iPod nano is now coming out in a new version — it gets rid of the video playback and capture in the 4th generation model, but adds a touch screen and… iOS. Like the shuffle, it has a built-in clip, so you no longer need a special case for running or time at the gym. The new nano gets 24 hours of music playback time per charge, has a built-in FM tuner, and also includes a special clock function. The nano will come in an even larger variety of colors than the shuffle, adding black and red to the spectrum. Pricing starts at $149 for the 8GB model, going to $179 for 16GB.
• The most popular iPod is the iPod touch, which is now even more slim, has a Retina Display, an A4 chip, the 3-axis gyro found in the iPhone 4, and front and back facing cameras. FaceTime is now possible with the iPod touch. The device gets a whopping 40 hours of battery life. There’s an 8GB model for US$229, 32GB for US$299, and 64GB for US$399.
• iTunes 10 should be out in the next few hours. It sports a new logo and a new social networking feature called Ping. Ping provides social music discovery, allowing you to learn what your friends are listening to and vice versa. Ping will also be available on iOS devices.
• The Apple TV finally got an update. The new version is tiny, about a quarter of the dimensions of the old box. It runs on an A4 chip, has HDMI out, micro-USB, Digiial Audio, and Ethernet ports, and will sell for US$99. It has little or no storage; all content will be streamed to the device from your computer, iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. First run HD movies will rent for $4.99, TV shows will be available for 99¢. ABC and Fox have signed up to provide content, and Netflix is on the device as well. If you like Rotten Tomatoes as a source of movie reviews, they’ll be available on Apple TV. The device will be available in the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, and Australia in September. It also appears you will no longer be able to “own”/save TV shows or movies. I’m sure this will be a nice boost for bittorrenting/illegal downloading.
• Steve Jobs announced iTunes 10 today, complete with a new logo. The core interface does not receive much tweaking, however in the list view there is a hybrid view where if you have more than 5 songs from the same album, it will show you the album artwork.

  Most of the new release’s focus is on Ping, a social network for music. “It’s like Facebook and Twitter meets iTunes,” Jobs said. Jobs is right; it looks almost, but not quite Facebook. It’s much like that service where you can follow friends, have a circle of friends and share what music you’re listening to through the network. When following an artist, you can be alerted to their concert listings.

  Ping will be available for 160 million iTunes users in 23 countries right off the bat. It will also be available in the iTunes Store on the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Just to let all my clients know that I recently completed the OS X Snow Leopard Server Essentials 10.6  course and passed the exam (9L0-403) and now will be offering setup of Snow Leopard Server. Records may be viewed at the Apple Certified Professional Registry (Please note – it may take a couple of weeks to be updated).

For OS X Server Setup enquiries please contact me, Vince Loden at: (852) 93486884 or by email on this page.

One of my favourite troubleshooting utilities has just been released for OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.

AppleJack 1.6 for Snow Leopard – Mac OS X Hints.

Several sites are reporting that Apple has issued a Knowledge Base article in the Support Forums that notes that some Time Capsules sold between February and June of 2008 are subject to a recall due to the problems described. Should you have a Time Capsule with a serial number in the range XX807XXXXXX – XX814XXXXXX that’s experiencing the dreaded “shutdown and never power up” problem, it’s time to either go to your local Apple Store with the device (after making an appointment at the Genius Bar, of course), visit a local Apple Authorized Service Provider, or to call the Apple Contact Center for your country to find out what to do.

Early users of the iPhone 4 are reporting that holding the new iPhone 4 in their left hand results in significant signal drop on WiFi and cellular calls. One user sent an email to Steve Jobs about this issue and reportedly received a reply from the man himself saying: “Gripping any mobile phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance, with certain places being worse than others depending on the placement of the antennas. If you ever experience this on your iPhone 4, avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many available cases.”

Some reports are even going as far as to suggest this is discrimination against lefties. However this is where I disagree – it actually affects more right-handed people than one might realise. Although I’m right-handed I hold my phone in my left hand as I use my right hand for tapping, typing, gestures etc. More importantly I hold my phone in my left hand so as to be able to take notes with my right hand. Isn’t that what everyone does? Which hand do you hold your phone in? Let us know in the comments section.

There are rumours that there will be a software fix through an update coming soon.

Apple has updated MobileMe with a new look Mail application and super-sized icons for other services. FindMyPhone is now available on the iPhone* and updated with a full-screen map.

“All-new Mail at me.com
MobileMe Mail on the web (now out of beta) has been completely redesigned with powerful new features such as widescreen view for reading email with less scrolling, rules to keep your email organized everywhere, and faster performance. For more details on these and other new Mail features, please read this news post.

Find My iPhone app and more
You can now download the free Find My iPhone app, enabling you to locate a misplaced device directly from iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch while on the go. After installing it from the App Store, just launch the app and sign in to quickly locate your devices on a map and access the other Find My iPhone features — Display a Message or Play a Sound, Remote Lock, and Remote Wipe.*

The Find My iPhone web application on me.com has also been updated with a full-screen map view. Clicking your missing device on the map lets you access all the Find My iPhone actions to help you recover your device and protect the information on it.

Learn more about improvements to Find My iPhone here.”

*Not available in the Hong Kong App store??

Yesterday I bought a Moshi MiniDisplay Port to HDMI adapter from Sunion in Wanchai, which as far as I know is the only MiniDisplay Port to HDMI adapter that supports audio passthrough from the new MacBook and MacBook Pros. The only problem I have now is that the “underscan” option in the Monitors Control Panel is disabled. I’m pretty sure it was there last week with OS X 10.6.3. Anyone else with the same problem?

Apple announced a surprise update to the Mac mini today and as usual it comes with two specifications:

2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

2 GB RAM

320 GB hard drive

HK$5,588

or the “server class” Mac Mini:

2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4 GB RAM
Dual 500 GB hard drive
HK$7,988

Both models of Mac Mini have been updated with NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics, the same integrated GPU present in the MacBook and MacBook Pro.

The Mac Mini has received far more than a simple spec bump, however. The enclosure itself has been updated to a unibody aluminum construction similar to the MacBook Pro, and the “server” Mac Mini omits an optical drive entirely in favor of dual hard drives [as was the case for the previous server model]. Perhaps more important than that, the Mac Mini is now the first Mac ever to include built-in HDMI. You read that right: the Mac Mini has HDMI. The Mac Mini also has an SD card slot in the back.

Apple has also addressed the well-known difficulty of upgrading the Mac Mini’s RAM. There’s now a removable twist-off panel on the Mac Mini’s bottom that allows for easy access to the Mini’s RAM slots. I doubt if the hard drive will be as easy to upgrade, but at the very least, a RAM upgrade looks like it’ll take less than a minute with this new model.

Imagine that – a server that virtually fits in your back pocket – it looks very tempting!

I refer you to this article in The Unofficial Weblog:

What’s new in Safari 5.

I have noticed the SplashId plugin doesn’t work and must be disabled in /Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins.

New Features

• GPU and DSP decoding, depending on the platform
• Faster and more stable
• New codecs and HD codecs enhancements
• Webm and VP8 support
• MKV, mp4 and avi improvements
• Extensions
• Important code cleanup and rewrite
• Interface and playlist reworked
• Completely Free

Download here.