software updates
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Mac OS X 10.5.2 offers Automator fixes
Apple has been on a tear for the first two months of 2008, releasing over 20 software updates. What's been lacking, lately, is a descriptive explanation of the changes. While OS 10.5.2's description was pretty well documented, it wasn't exhaustive.This silent treatment isn't universal -- thanks are due to Automator World for sharing a description of the undocumented changes in Automator, including Show When Run issues Tiger-based actions not working because of File-or-Folder typing Tiger-based droplets not responding Incorrect Find and Filter action results If you're an Automator junkie, you should find these changes more than welcome.
Updates galore: Security Update 2007-007, Safari 3.03, iPhone 1.01
Today is a busy day in the land of software updates. Apple has released 3 updates today: security update 2007-007, Safari Beta 3.03, and iPhone firmware 1.01. Let's take a look at each in turn.The security update is recommended for all and addresses issues in bzip2, CFNetwork, Core Audio, cscope, gnuzip, Kerberos, mDNSResponder, PDFKit, PHP, Quartz Composer, samba, WebKit, and WebCore. Full details can be found here. It is available now.The iPhone Firmware 1.01 and Safari beta 3.03 are both security updates that plug various holes in Safari. Sorry, iPhone users, no nifty new features are listed, but it will make your iPhone more secure. Apple does note that the iPhone update will not appear in Software Update on your Mac. You must sync your iPhone using iTunes to get the update. Both are available now.
CERT lists vulnerabilities addressed in 10.4.9/SecUpd003
Your tax dollars at work: the crack team at US-CERT (United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team) has posted a tech alert & vulnerability list for Apple's most recent security update and the 10.4.9 release, which both provide patches for a slew of flaws. Interestingly, some of the patches address problems in Apple-provided third party tools such as Adobe Flash Player and MySQL. Apple's security review page for the 2007-003 update and 10.4.9 was updated on Monday with additional details as well.
Software Update: Security, Final Cut, Web Objects, Java and More
Apple just posted a new Security Update (2007-002) at its download site. The update addresses security in CoreServices, iChat and the User Notification Center and is available as a PPC download, a Universal download and a Panther download -- see Mike's post for more detail. Other software updates today include Final Cut Pro 5.1.3, Web Objects 5.3.3, Java for OS X 10.3 update 5, Java for OS X 10.4 update 5, Daylight Savings Time Update for Tiger, and Daylight Savings Time Update for Panther. Most of these updates are to allow these components to recognize the changes in the way the US and Canada will be observing Daylight Savings Time starting in March 2007; however, the core OS X DST logic has been right on with the new rules since 10.4.5, released about a year ago.
MacUpdate Gets a New Look
I've known Joel Mueller of MacUpdate.com for a really long time. My brother and I used to attend the Traverse City, MI-based Macintosh Users Group (CherryMUG) meetings back in the mid-90's, which is where we first met Joel. He's a bright, talented programmer, and just a really nice guy and I knew he'd succeed in whatever he chose to do. But it's not my personal acquaintanceship with Joel that keeps me coming back to MacUpdate. For years, I was a VersionTracker addict. I checked their software listings many times every day. But then they were bought out by the TechTracker Network and the site changed. The design quality went down (even now I think it's clunky) and and I began to resent the enforced "wait-time" when clicking on the download link(s). Then MacFixit.com joined the TechTracker network and started locking most of their content behind a subscription fee. I was worried that VersionTracker would follow suit but they wisely kept their software listings free, though introduced a "professional" membership you could pay for to get extra features. Meanwhile, Joel continued to improve MacUpdate.com and it soon became my default destination for finding Macintosh software downloads. Even now, years later, I still feel MacUpdate is better than VersionTracker. Every now and then, I'll go back to VT to read a user comment which solves a particular problem, but most of my downloading is done via MacUpdate.Seems Joel has been busy updating some of the design behind different sections of MacUpdate. The front-page hasn't changed, but individual pages are markedly different. A program's screenshot (if available) has moved up from the bottom of each page and the star rating system has nice big stars to better draw attention to the rating system. Joel has jumped on the "rounded corners" bandwagon (not necessarily a bad thing) and each software entry is rendered in an attractive two-paned box with rounded corners. The text is rendered in a larger font (a good thing), and it's overall more readable.Overall, these are some nice changes. Congratulations Joel and keep up the excellent work!
