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T-Mobile tells reps the Vibrant GPS update is 'coming soon'
No word on what AT&T is communicating to its peeps regarding the similarly-afflicted Captivate, but it looks like T-Mobile fired off a communique to its sales reps in the past few hours letting them know that the Vibrant's update to solve its GPS woes is expected in September, echoing earlier an statement from Samsung. Interestingly, the reps are being told not to refer to the September guidance, but to instead rattle off a variant of Samsung's statement that says "the next few weeks" instead, presumably to give these guys some wiggle room in case it hits in August or -- perish the thought -- later than September. Keep your fingers crossed, folks. [Thanks, anonymous tipster]
HTC rolls out 'digital picture enhancement' update for HD2
We like cheery, pink-hued pics as much as the next guy, but let's be honest: when you're snapping a candid shot from your phone, you want that cherished memory to be preserved in color that's as accurate as possible. Fortunately, HTC has cut an update for its afflicted HD2 that solves the camera issues it's been having -- which is especially good news considering the dreadful theories that it might be a hardware issue -- and we've never seen language as flowery as this to describe a bugfix: "This update for HTC HD2 delivers clear digital picture quality like never before. Living up to the name of "HD" this phone and its twin LED flash will take beautiful pictures for you to cherish your memories. Displayed in brilliant vibrant colors on its 4.3 inch screen, HTC HD2 camera will delight you." Indeed, HTC. Indeed. [Thanks, Mikey]
Intel SSD firmware 02HD brings back Trim support, sans bugs
Intel's 34nm X25-M G2 drives might not've had the most peaceful of existences so far, but you can't fault the company's efforts to fix whatever maladies have popped up. The latest firmware update from Santa Clara brings back the lauded Trim support, but this time leaves the drive-killing antics behind. User experiences so far have been positive, though unsurprisingly a couple of people have questioned whether Trim is in fact enabled on their drives -- clearly, the difference between fast and really, really fast is not as distinguishable as we like to think. The source link will provide you with the latest firmware update tool and the precious new code -- if you dare risk it. [Thanks, Alex]
Patch 3.2.2: 5-man Coliseum jousting woes to be addressed
I'm sure a lot of us have had this experience: You finish up jousting down the three champions in the first encounter of the 5-man Trial of the Champions, then all hell breaks loose. Your tank goes to lock down the Warrior, but in the meantime, the Rogue, who fell on the other side of the coliseum, makes a beeline to your healer, who was the person who dismounted him. Then the Mage, who's on yet a third side of the arena, starts blasting down your Mage who never seems to get any stamina on his gear. Your tank tries to rein everybody in, but since the bosses still have the aggro they built up from the jousting stage, they're near impossible to peel. Everyone dies.
E3 2009: Friends fix coming to Free Realms
While there's little doubt that Free Realms is a wonderfully fun, addictive game that more and more old-school MMOers and non-MMOers are enjoying together, it has had some pretty nasty snags since launch. The most glaring of these for social gamers has really been the problem with trying to add someone to your Friends listing. As the mechanic currently works, if you want to add someone to your friends listing in the game to find them later, you must be signed on to the same server at the same time. If you don't happen to know your friends are online, you have no real way to find them. This is leading to players having to hook up on Twitter, via IMs or email, or just by calling one another before they sign in so they can meet up in a particular zone on a particular server to finally be "friends" in Free Realms. Yesterday, while talking to Andrew Sites from Sony Online Entertainment here at E3, we were told that they'd noticed, while Free Realms is incredibly popular, it's not necessarily as social as they'd like it to be - at least not yet. The friends list problem, they acknowledge, is a good portion of this, as players can't find their friends as easily as they'd intended for them to. As such, they wanted to let us all know that they're currently working on a fix for this particular issue and we should see it rolling out to the live servers within the next few weeks. Good news for those of us who have been frustrated by not being able to play with - or even locate - our friends in Free Realms. Massively is on the ground in Los Angeles this week and covering all the latest E3 MMO news coming from the convention. Check out our breaking coverage (or all the Joystiq network E3 reporting) and keep your eye on Massively's front page for the latest developments.
Simplify Media update, take 2
Earlier today we reported on an update to the media sharing tool from Simplify Media. It added some nice features, but it also installed a demo share on home machines that was not appreciated by many. It set off a mini-firestorm on the company blog, and we received plenty of negative comments as well.Tonight, wasting no time, the folks at Simplify Media have pushed out another update for Macs, as well as Windows and Linux boxes. It defaults with the demo/test share turned off, but allows you to turn it on if you want to test to see if your system is working. Paul Joyce of Simplify Media had some comments tonight on his blog: Today I've been trading emails and comments with a few of you around a feature in Simplify 2.0 -- the Simplify Demo. The exchange has re-enforced one thing I already knew -- we have great, passionate users -- and one thing I know now -- I made a mistake in communicating this new capability.Such candor is refreshing in a software company. This would be a minor issue, but the iPhone app that allowed users to have access to their large music collections from anywhere was a major hit at the App Store, and one of the most downloaded utilities, so a lot of people had a chance to be pretty angry about the installation of test content on their machine without permission.Anyway, it's solved now, and it's a really positive outcome. I downloaded and tried the update, and indeed the test share is gone by default. A new version of the iPhone app will also be submitted this week. If all software developers were this responsive, it would be a better world.Torches and pitchforks can now be stowed. A link to the new updates is on this page, about halfway down.
MLB At Bat 2009 struck out, but now back in the game with bug fixes
Baseball fans were quite excited to learn that this years MLB.com At Bat 2009 iPhone app [App Store link], selling for $9.99US, would include game day audio. We reviewed the app in March and it received good notices but there was no audio to test at that time. Since baseball season began, the App Store reviews have been filled with comments from angry users saying there are frequent crashes and the audio keeps dropping out. Many wanted their money back. The good news is that yesterday the app was updated to version 1.01 and most reviews are now positive. The crashes have been pretty much fixed, and the audio streaming is working very well. There are some scattered complaints about the game day pages being a bit behind, but generally people are now very pleased.In my tests of the first version, I had lots of crashes, and indeed, the audio streaming was spotty. The new version has been crash-less so far, and the audio has been smooth and starts up quickly. I've listened via WiFi and 3G with no issues -- although if you are trying to use the app from your local ballpark, as Steve points out, you'll be competing with thousands of other fans for scarce 3G bandwidth and you may not be able to use the audio features (or do other things involving the cell connection, like making and receiving calls).The app itself is a bargain, since getting audio from any game all season long costs $14.99 via MLB on the web. For 5 bucks less you get it on your phone. If you can live without streaming audio you can get MLB.com At Bat 2009 Lite for free. Now, if my hometown team just wouldn't come in last again this year all would be well. I guess the iPhone can't fix that.
Small patch being deployed
There is a small patch deployed today, fixing at least the three bugs we reported on last night.The patch is a client side patch. This means you'll need to download a new, albeit small, patch when you first log onto WoW today. For me, the patch downloaded and installed automatically when I executed the World of Warcraft Launcher on my desktop (pictured above).This patch brings the game from version 3.0.8.9464 to 3.0.8.9506. Updated: The patch is 6.923mb in size on a Windows computers (interestingly the program you have to download to get the patch is an additional 2.1mb). The realms should be up by 11:00 a.m. PST / 2:00 p.m. EST today.We'll bring you more as we learn it.
Microsoft releases Office 2008 update to fix Entourage issue
How long is two weeks? If you're vacationing someplace warm and sunny, it might seem to pass in a flash; if you're in bed with the flu, it probably seems like a lifetime. For Office 2008 users who got bit by a bug in the recent 12.1.3 update, chances are the latter assessment is more on target. Those who ran the 12.1.3 update and met a particular set of criteria (Entourage users connected to Exchange + a secondary POP or IMAP account for personal email) found themselves unable to send calendar invitations or reply to meeting requests. The most straightforward fix was a rollback to the 12.1.2 version; otherwise, using a webmail client or Outlook was the best way to manage calendars. Not fun.Two weeks, though, is what it took for the Mac Business Unit to get a tested patch out the door that resolves this problem. Today, Product Manager Andy Ruff announced on the Mactopia support forum that Office 2008 12.1.4 is now available for download (16 MB, requires 12.1.3 installed), billed as follows:This update fixes a calendar issue in versions of Microsoft Entourage that were updated with the Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.3 Update. The issue prevents Exchange accounts in Entourage from sending meeting invitations and responses. This issue can occur when an Entourage identity is configured with more than one mail account. We strongly recommend that all Entourage users who installed Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.3 Update install this update.While this particular fortnight may have been difficult for Entourage users, I will say that this is definitely the fastest response to an Office bug that I have ever seen from the Mac BU; in terms of the development cycle on a suite as large as Office 2008, it's an eyeblink. Kudos to the MBU for its quick action; now, the next prudent PR step is a little bit of transparency about why this bug -- which should have been fairly obvious to anyone who tested with both Exchange and POP accounts configured in the same identity -- managed to make it through to the release.Update: Wow, talk about your rapid response... Andy has posted an explanation of the issue and the testing circumstances at the Mac Mojo blog. The missing piece of the puzzle, apparently, was account creation order: if the Exchange account was added to Entourage after the POP or IMAP setup, the problem got triggered -- a condition that never made it onto the testing radar. Points for transparency: awarded.
PTR 3.0.3 Patch Notes
Looking for the Patch Notes that are being pushed to the live servers? We've got that, too.Blizzard has released the notes for the Patch 3.0.3 on PTR (Public Test Realm). With the PTRs going to patch 3.0.3, I wouldn't be surprised to see 3.0.3 hit the live servers next week. Also, please note that these patch notes appear to be in flux and are being updated. We'll keep you posted with any changes.While patch 3.0.2 has a lot of great new content, there have been a fair share of bugs in the game. This patch will fix some of those, and change around a few other things. Remember, there will be an ongoing series of changes – the game itself won't seem normal until Wrath of the Lich King.Some highlights of this patch include: Druid talent points are refunded (only Druids) Hunter aspects are off the global cooldown Vampiric Touch has had its spell power coefficient doubled Warlocks can now use an Infernal indoors Bloodthirst cooldown is now 5 seconds No more level requirement to train gathering skills Read on after the break for the full PTR patch notes.
Anetheron's Infernals hotfixed
Quite a few raiders, including some of our own here at WoW Insider, noticed one more big change to a raid boss that that came in with patch 2.4.3: Anetheron, the second boss of Mount Hyjal, was not dropping Towering Infernals on random players as usual. This made the battle pretty trivial for most raids by making it more or less a run of the mill tank and spank. Unfortunately -- or fortunately, depending on how challenging you like your raids -- this was not an actual intended change. Vaneras and Bornakk are both reporting that Anetheron has been hotfixed and should start dropping infernals again. Sorry guys, no more free loot. Well, no more freer loot, at least.
Patches, addons and drama in the forums
While surfing the forums this morning, I came across a little gem of a thread protesting against Blizzard for the following: Breaking "our" addons and mods. Incorporating features from popular addons into the default User Interface, and thus breaking addons and mods. There's also a sentiment that Blizzard is "stealing" these ideas rather than being innovators. Fixing "their" bugs which in turn breaks "our" addons and mods. The suggestion is that they don't care, or could take steps to prevent this. As you can imagine, all sorts of responses cropped up, including the usual people who get into arguments with other posters, players in agreement, joking and sarcastic responses, and of course, an awesome string of blue responses.%Gallery-27848%
AoC Demonologist exploit fixed in recent patch
How long has Age of Conan been out? Like 3 hours? Okay, it's been a week, but still. Players have already discovered a way to exploit a bug and powerlevel their Demonologists to level 80 in that brief time. This is both a testament to the genius of MMO players, and a sign of our complete lack of anything better to do. Apparently, the problem lied in the player's ability to stack certain spells repeatedly and insta-kill mobs. The first person to claim this feat reportedly posted screenshots, a movie and several emails to the GMs explaining his procedure, in hopes of getting it fixed soon. He claims it took him 4 days and 12 hours of in-game time to reach level 80.So now that we have this update fixed by Funcom, the real question is, what will they do with those who exploited the bug and have level 80 Demonologists running around already? Should they delete those characters, bump them down a few levels, or resort to something more severe like temporary or permanent account banning? I'm sure not all players who are level 80, or even in that vicinity have exploited this bug, so it will be interesting to see how Funcom decides to handle this one.
Pixelmator 1.2 "Draftsman" in the wild
My picture editor of choice, Pixelmator, has updated to version 1.2 (as with many other applications, it's just in time for the Apple Design Awards deadline), which they're calling Draftsman. Among the new features are the much-awaited addition of rules and some guides to the UI (with a flashy little indicator as the mouse passes by), as well as the ability to edit color balance and the color curves. There's also a new Polygonal Lasso, and the Transform tool has been reworked "from scratch" to work faster and better.Pixelmator continues to impress, and with every update, it's becoming a more and more robust little photo editor. Just recently, they laid out "a flight plan" on the blog for what they're up to for summer: the next release, 1.3, will be called Tempo, and focus on making the app just as fast as it is visually striking. And they make another bold claim as well: by the end of the summer, they're aiming to be "completely bug-free." Good luck with that.But there's no question that development is rolling along for Pixelmator. The app is available as a free trial over on their site, or a full version for $59. If you're looking for an alternative to the 'Shop, Pixelmator is a great way to go.
WoW Rookie: What is a patch?
Here at WoW Insider, we've had extensive coverage of changes and updates that are being tested for the release of patch 2.4. It occurred to me that many of our newer players may not know what patching is all about. Blizzard regularly releases updates to World of Warcraft to add new content, fix problems, and otherwise improve the game. The game has evolved considerably throughout since its launch over 3 years ago. Many quests, instances, battlegrounds, events, items, and tools have been added through various patches. Clicking through the historical patch notes can be a source of nostalgia for many players.
Hope for keeping attachments out of where the sun don't shine, even in Second Life
I'm sorry, I don't have an amusing picture for this, much though I wish I did. However, most residents of Second Life will be familiar with attachments intermittently leaving their correct point and appearing attached to your derrière instead. Long hair gives an interesting tail look, shoes look positively uncomfortable, and if you wear other attachments, well let's not even go there!About two weeks ago Nicholaz Beresford, the person who won a Hippo Award (and a new iMac) for his services to fixing bugs in the client code, announced he was of a mind to try and fix this. Today he announced he is 99% certain he has succeeded. I, for one, hope he is right, and his patch is rolled out to the Mac too. Until yesterday I hadn't seen it for a few days, yesterday, it seemed like every other teleport either caused a crash or shoes in the fundament. A big THANK YOU once again!
Democracy Player 0.9.5.1 update fixes important bug
A bug fix release for Democracy Player has just been posted that corrects some startup problems that a few Mac users have encountered since the 0.9.5 update. Democracy 0.9.5.1 resolves the issues originally caused by a conflict between versions of py2app and some input managers like Growl and a Camino extension. The team has upgraded to the latest py2app and all issues should now be resolved, so users can once again video channel surf to their heart's content. Recommended update.
Today's Patch Notes
The patch notes for today's bug fix patch are available for your reading pleasure. Rogues especially will applaud the bug fixes and other than that, nothing seems particularly surprising. The patch should be live on all US servers, which seem to be happily back online. Log on and enjoy!
Extended US Maintenance Tuesday
This week's maintenance has been extended by two hours to apply a bug fix patch, so be prepared for maintenance to run between 3am and 11am (PST). No information on what this patch may be fixing - but I suppose we'll all find out together, tomorrow.
Maintenance, Patches, and Migration
Today's maintenance will be extended by two hours (to 11:00 AM PDT) to apply a minor bug fix patch. Of course, what all of us are wondering is which bugs are getting fixed... I guess we'll see when the servers come back up.Also during (and beyond) this maintenance window, realms Doomhammer, Icecrown, Deathwing, and Kel'Thuzad will be migrated to new hardware. This migration may take as long as 24 hours, so users on those realms should plan for extended downtime. All active players with characters on those realms will receive an extra day's credit on their account to compensate for the downtime.
