Appletell

As we reported earlier, Apple released Mac OS X 10.5.4 today, an update which fixes several issues with iCal, AirPort, Safari, and Spaces & Exposé. We’ve now got some additional details, coming to you after the break.

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The problem that has plagued me personally, and seemingly evaporated, has finally been acknowledged by Apple. Graphical “tearing” when scrolling webpages and flickering when watching video seems to be rather common place on new MacBooks and MacBook Pros. Apple has said that they know about it and are looking into it.

The issue does not render the computer unusable, just annoying for watching videos. Scrolling through webpages or emails in Apple Mail gets you distorted pages as seen above. YouTube video especially shows large white bands that flash up for less than a second, then flash again, making for an annoying experience.

One user got back a reply: “Apple has received reports similar to the behavior you are describing and we are investigating those reports. Further information will come in the form of a Knowledge Base article, Software Update, or Software Release.” The fix may come in Mac OS X 10.5.3, seemingly coming soon.

Via [Ars Technica]

Okay, so maybe you’ve never had a problem with an Apple product but I know that I’ve had many issues and so has Xavier from Notebooks.com. Xavier has dealt with dead iMacs, dead batteries, and countless iPhone issues. It seems he isn’t cut out to be an Apple product user.

Apple is like any other company out there and is far from perfect, even though a lot of die-hard fanboys/girls will say otherwise. I think a lot of people are lying to themselves when it comes to Apple products, saying a product ‘just works’ isn’t true, saying it never crashes is yet another lie. Sure, there will be the exception where someone will have absolutely no issues, but overall, every product is flawed in some way (sometimes they even blow up).

I have dealt with dead iPods a few months after buying them, and an Airport Extreme that refuses to work when I need it most. But we’re interested to hear your experiences, what Apple products have you had fail on you?

Read [Notebooks.com]

A new update has just been released from Apple. AirPort Base Station Update 2008-001 was released midday Tuesday and as of this time is not available on Apple’s website.

According to Apple, the update “includes general fixes and compatibility updates for the following applications: AirPort Utility, AirPort Disk Utility, [and] AirPort Base Station Agent.”

With luck, this will fix the Airport issues many have been having with Leopard, but it does not appear to be the update hinted at by an Apple representative yesterday.

Download for Windows, Leopard, or Tiger.

This week, Apple released a new software update, weighing in at about 551kb, to the MacBook Air’s system management control (SMC) in hopes that it will finally put an end to frequent and annoying freezing and overheating issues that have troubled some early adopters of Apple’s newest line of notebooks.

The new update specifically fixes the speed and operation of the MacBook Air’s internal fan, which is responsible for cooling the notebook and preventing overheating issues. The fan has failed to perform properly before the update was released, which resulted in random intervals of freezing that left the MacBook Air unresponsive for 10 to 15 second periods (if not longer) at a time, according to several users who have posted on Apple’s support forums (see here and here).

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Mac OS X 10.5.2 had a long list of fixes and additions, but one that wasn’t mentioned was the ability to remotely install OS X on a MacBook Air without installing from the MacBook Air disc. The program tells you to insert an Apple Install disc and then walks you through installing it.

In other 10.5.2 related news, there have been many complaints of problems, thought personally I have not experienced any. Common problems seem to be the dock and Finder freezing up, Login not working at times, and the update not even finishing. The new stacks background seems to make the animations a lot choppier as well.

What’s your experience with 10.5.2 so far? Sound off in the comments below!

As always, early adopters will find issues that Apple needs to fix - especially with new hardware. The 2008 Mac Pros were an unexpected release, as they came before the Macworld keynote. The new Mac Pros didn’t have a new casing - in fact, they look exactly the same as 2007 Mac Pros from the outside. The difference is on the inside: All the models are 8-core, and new upgrades were introduced. Everyone was pleased to see higher-end video cards like the NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT. This was a necessary move by Apple, and is the only way they are going to be able to push gaming on their platform.

The entry level card of the new Mac Pro is the ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT, the same card that higher model iMacs use. A MacUser reader states: ”I called Apple and they claimed to have no reports on this, even though people already have had their machines replaced over this. This is also affecting me with a brand new 2.8 model. Users are also widely reporting problems with waking from sleep mode.” On the Apple support forums, people are complaining about this issue too. Hopefully Apple will come out with a fix for this soon. Let us know if you have a 2008 Mac Pro and are experiencing these problems by commenting.

Via [MacUser]

If you have recently updated your iPhone to 1.1.3, and are experiencing some minor SMS issues, you are note alone. Apparently, many UK-based iPhone users are reporting on Apple’s own Discussion forums that SMS updates are appearing out of order. The topic has grown quite large with 200 responses and over 11 000 views. Most of the people that appear to be having the problem are O2, UK iPhone users. Apple has published a knowledge base article acknowledging this problem. They wrote:

When sending or receiving text messages on the iPhone, the SMS messages may be displayed out of sequence. This can occur if the iPhone is not displaying the same date and time setting as the carrier network time.”

A potential fix for the issue is to check in the iPhone Settings to see if the “Set Time Automatically” option is on. This may not be ideal for those in different time zones, and may not be accessible to everyone. Apple is clearly aware of the problem and is working on it. Most likely the bug will be addressed in the next iPhone firmware update.

Via [MacNN]

When Jobs introduced the new iMacs two weeks ago, he also introduced the aluminum keyboards, which apparently managed to wow the entire world (well, some of it, anyway). I really liked them; as a MacBook user, I think the keyboard is perfect - their low height means much quicker finger movements from key to key. Heck, I even placed an order for one immediately after the keynote ended.

Now, it turns out that several users are experiencing problems with it. In particular, the F3 and F4 keys (Expose and Dashboard, respectively) don’t seem to function at all. TUAW blogger Scott McNulty says it isn’t a hardware issue because assigning other shortcuts to the affected keys works. I haven’t received my unit yet (due to annoying shipping delays), but I’ll be sure to test it once I get mine.

Read [Apple Discussion Forums]

Appletell has found that Airport problems seem to be creeping up in a number of MacBooks. The threads on Apple’s discussion forums all point to the latest Mac OS X 10.4.10 update. Currently, there are several symptoms that have been reported; these range from dropped connections to kernel panics.

Unfortunately, it is hard to measure these sorts of issues because the numbers are usually skewed (only those who are actively experiencing the problem will report it). In the past, Mac OS X 10.4.10 has also faced similar difficulties with the audio sub-system, causing the speakers on Intel Macs to make random “pops” and “snaps”.

There’s been no official word or updates from Apple with regards to this issue.

Via [Apple Discussions]