What's it all about, Alfie?

This morning Apple released updates to the AirPort Utilities and the Client. The tagline is the same - fixes and compatibility issues for the AirPort base stations and the clients hitting those stations. It's something that I need to update, but the station side of things is going to have to wait for the weekend when I have a little more time to get it installed - carefully.

Can't have the TimeCapsule down for long - it's way too valuable to Liza's machine.

Also included are updates to iLife Support, iPhoto, and iWork... it was a bumper day for Apple Updates.

It seems that the changes to WebKit, and it's ramifications to the rest of the system are really quite profound. This morning I read a tweet from Gus M. of Flying Meat Inc, and it's about a bug introduced by Safari 4 Beta into the NSAttributedString code for VoodooPad. Bummer. I can (unfortunately) relate all too well to this, and while it lies squarely at Apple's feet for not informing the users (and the developers) of the impacts of these changes, it's the developers (and the users) that have to live with the consequences.

In this case, there's a new pre-release version of VoodooPad out there that fixes this issue, but it's pre-release, and unless I end up hitting this bug, I'll stick with the regular releases as I think it's reasonable that he'll have 4.1 out soon. It certainly sounds like 4.1 is close. Good enough for me.

[3/3] UPDATE: I decided that I needed the update to 4.1 as I was having issues with the app and I wasn't going to get rid of Safari 4 - it's just too nice.

Well... I'm getting ready for the new MacBook Pro, and when it arrives and I get everything settled in to it's proper spot, I'll probably download the Safari 4 Beta and try it out. There are a lot of things to like in the new version, and there are a few things that some folks have said are a going to take a little bit of time to get used to. Fair enough.

But there's also a ton of hidden preferences to make things look like Safari 3, and if this is a little too different then these hidden preferences can make it a bit more palatable. Just not going to do it until I get the new laptop - too many changes.

UPDATE: I caved... There were a few really neat things, and the download allows for an uninstall, so I'm safe. I'll keep it on my box and have a go with it. So far, I like the tabs in the title bar, but I can see why some would not.

This morning I noticed that Apple had released two updates on Software Updates: Apple Java for Mac OS X 10.5 Update 3, and Security Update 2009-001. The Security Update is pretty obvious - there's a few underlying libraries that have exploits in them and these are the patches. I've read that it includes the Safari RSS security problem written up a while ago. Good enough. The more interesting one to me is the update of Java.

It's supposed to update the Java WebStart which is interesting as I've been using it for quite a while now, and I'm convinced that it's a valuable way to deploy a Java app to remote sites with auto-updating. Very slick. Also, they are supposed to have worked on the applet functionality. Again, good news.

So it was a reboot, and that's a pain, but maybe someday they'll have a "restore state" for the entire login and then it won't be so bad. Yeah... that would be very nice...

I read this morning of a letter sent out by Apple to the initial orders on the 17" Unibody MacBook Pro:

To Our Valued Apple Customer:

Thank you again for your order! Wrapping up the new 17-inch MacBook Pro is taking a few days longer than we projected. As a result, we will be unable to ship your 17-inch MacBook Pro until February 19, 2009.

While mine is still slated to be shipped Feb 23^rd, I have to wonder if there's going to be a problem that impacts that shipping date. Don't know. We'll have to wait and see. It's not like I'm not going to wait for it.

Turns out, there was a slight problem with the "Learn to Play" feature of GarageBand '09 - and so today Apple released an update to GarageBand on Software Update. I haven't used GarageBand, but it's possible I might. The kids are getting a few new instruments and it might be interesting to be able to show them how to get some background music for their tunes.

Gotta love that Software Update...

This morning I got the iPod Touch 2.2.1 Firmware off iTunes. Yesterday, I read a tweet from John Gruber about the iPhone SDK being out, and didn't make the connection until this morning when I read about the update. It doesn't take as long as it used to, but it's still not like downloading a song.

Worth it as it updates Safari and Mail and adds the same kinds of patches and updates as Apple does for OS X.

This morning on Software Update I noticed that Apple had posted a new iDVD and an updated iLife '08 Browser. Both of these are going to quickly be replaced by iLife '09 - which is shipping as of today, but in the interests of being up to date I got the updates anyway. It might be a week or more before I get iLife '09 in the mail.

I'm not a big used of iDVD - I think Marie has used it far more than I have, but I keep thinking that I want to get a few movies, put them in the new iMovie '09 and see what I can come up with. True, a DVD is not the format I'd choose, but for the Grandparents, it's ideal.

This morning I saw that Apple had released Quicktime 7.6 in Software Update and the notes said it fixed 7 security holes/bugs and then added additional audio and video support. Since it's a part of the OS, or at least loaded on boot, it's a reboot to install it. Not bad, I still think it's a pretty amazing piece of work.

I can remember using RealAudio (this is pre-Real days when all they did was audio) and setting up a streaming server on a Sparc 20 at my old place. I'd tape record a monthly meeting we had and then digitize and encode it into ra files and put it on the web server for anyone to listen to. It was all there was, and a massive jump in capabilities at the time.

Then came Quicktime and video was on the web. It's come a long way since then, but the effect is still just as impressive - video and stereo audio on the web. Yeah, it's pretty amazing stuff.

I've found iWork '08 to be exceptional, and knew after the keynote, that I'd get iWork '09 for the updates to Numbers and Pages, for sure. I've found Numbers to be certainly on par with Excel, and a lot easier to understand. I've been able to make pretty complex spreadsheets with Numbers '08, and I know Numbers '09 is only going to be getting better.

Plus, it's Apple - come on! It's gotta be the best stuff. Period. Love it.