Mac Update 10.6.5: the Borked Mysteries

So the most recent update was released today and I waited a fair amount of time before taking the plunge -- approximately half a day. No, really, it just so happens I was poking around the news and found out about it. There was no official System Update notification at all. Strange? Nah, its Apple holding off for fixing feedback most probably.

Step #1. First things first was to run a Time Machine backup as instructed by the Knowledge Base (KB) article. That took about 30-minutes for me including connecting my external hard drive and backing up somewhere around 500-MB of data.

Step #2. Next was to say farewell to the world and update everyone about the attempt through the usual social media like Twitter and FaceBook -- this was of course easily done via a single post on Plurk. This is an optional step, but for those of you who only have one way to be online apart from your mobile device (ie. iPhone) it at least notifies everyone why you could be unreachable for a while. :-)

Step #3. Just to be sure in case the update would actually cause drivers to fail, I downloaded the standalone combo update package from Apple's Support Downloads site (approximately 977.21-MB).

Step #4. My wife was previously badgering me to try out FaceTime for Mac, so I did that too. Another optional step, but just in case the update includes an official release then why not?

Step #5. Finally, I clicked on Software Update ... This then asked for my Administrative password for system changes and proceeded to pre-update the initial components. It then logged-off the system and updated the core components (this flow prevents interruption by running applications). Once done, it did a system reboot.

I logged-in and everything seemed the same, except ....

Borked #1. GrowlMail bundle gets disabled. Those of you who use Growl for Mail.app simply have to download the unoffical update or follow the manual instructions from reaperhulk.

So far nothing else looks amiss, but these issues will slowly be teased out eventually and I will update this blog entry as I come across them. One of the most probable issues would be headers needed by MacPorts, but thats just in theory and for later.

Until then.

Apple iPhone: iOS 4 now available via iTunes!

Get it while its hot (or while the servers are still churning smoothly!).

The update on my iPhone 3G just finished right now several hours from when it started around 10:30am. Why?

It requires an iTunes update and for some several other security patches on their Apple Mac's.

Afterward, you'll have to deal with a full phone backup (still via iTunes, of course).

Eventually, you'll get to the firmware flashing part. You'll notice a progress bar on your iPhone itself and this is totally different from the progress bar displayed on iTunes.

Be patient!

Some field reports say the updates get stuck during the initial backup or just along the way. What to do?

I can only suggest what I did before hand last night which was to backup then reset the whole device. Afterward do back to the iOS 4 update steps again. Make sure you have enough hard drive space for the backups or you will run into other kinds of trouble.

As you can see, part of my reset and clean slate state was to forgo syncing all my personal media and stick to the iPhone apps. That will make the backup and restore processes less of a drag.

So, after a few minutes of the iPhone 3G with iOS 4, my comments?

Better icons in mail, an Internet Tethering under Networks that requires you to give AT&T a call for activation, signal indoors is no better but appears smarter to switch from 3G to Edge to allow for voice calls instead of default providing data quality above voice. Alas, its all makeup. To truly appreciate iOS 4 you need to match it with an iPhone 4G hardware.

By the way, today's iOS 4 update is only compatible for the iPhone 3G, 3Gs, and built-in to the 4G. Sorry iPhone 2G, you are now obsolete.

Apple MacBook Pro: Maximum Memory Upgrade?

So its been several months and we're still waiting for some of our favorite applications to be Snow Leopard compatible.

There may be a whole lot of improvements in this new OS including the claim of better memory footprint or management but really the downside in my current experience is that other applications need more memory.

I've been struggling mightily now to get Outlook Entourage, Firefox, Flock, Safari, VMWare and Parallels to co-exist without having to hang my systems.

That is why I finally decided to bite the bullet and make my first hardware upgrade in 2010. And since I don't believe in doing half-baked improvements (do it all or don't do it at all!) it was only natural for me to do some digging to find how far to go. I have a late-2008 non-unibody MacBook Pro 17" which according to OWC (my first choice for memory know-how on the Mac) my machine can actually take 6GB instead of the recommended 4GB according to Apple.

Do we go NewEgg, Amazon, eBay, BestBuy, Fry's, WalMart or Apple? Having had success with the G.Skill brand on the HP MediaServer I chose to stick with it.

Did it work? Proof images attached.

Speed improvement? YES!

Happy? Not yet, all my apps as mentioned aren't yet fully ported. But this will do pig, this will do. (from Babe)


Now that I've got a spare 2pcs. of 1GB, what to do with them? Hmm ... I know, upgrade the wife's MacBook and make her happy.

Make myself extra happy by maxing out her RAM as well.

Apple iPhone: Personal Ringtones, How To?

Amazon has recently started to sell digital music on their site, and I must say at very competitive prices. Katy Perry's 12-song album for just $5.00 and no damn tax required? I'll take it.

At the same time Apple went off to sell ringtones for its own iPhone, naturally.

But wait a minute, this is MY phone and I've ALWAYS been able to personalize MY phone no matter what make, brand, and model. On the Nokia Communicators (have own the whole genre from the 9110, 9210i, and 9500) it was super easy to make your own. For the O2 Xphone (manufactured by HTC running Windows Mobile) my callers came up not just as tones but VIDEOS.

My instructions are for the MacBook version of iTunes but you should have no problem doing it on Windows or however. The most important thing is that file encoding should be AAC and none other.

Creation Steps:
1. Choose the track of your liking and choose Get Info with shortcut keys Control-Mouse click
2. Go to the Options tab and pick your Start Time and Stop Time that corresponds to 30-seconds of your favorite song segment; click on OK
3. Back in the song selection screen once more shortcut keys Control-Mouse click and choose Create AAC Version
4. One more in the song selection screen once more shortcut keys Control-Mouse click and choose Show in Finder
5. Rename the file extension (turn on this feature in your View Properties if you don't see it) from .m4a to .m4r

In the same open folder you can simply drag the file into the Ringtones section of iTunes, sync your iPhone, and you're done.

Optionally for cleanup you can go ahead and delete the library record for the old .m4a file (which as you remember doesn't exist anymore since it was renamed).

Have fun.

Mac OS X: Playing Nice on a Mixed Network

"Halt!", says my Macbook. "Who are you, and where are you going?!"

Anyone who's ever been on a large network would know the intricacies of granular file permissions. Access Control List (ACL), some people pronounce it like "uncle", have been around long before but during regular conversation you'll most probably hear this from people administering a dominantly Microsoft Windows network.

On Windows XP you get this granular feature if you turn off the easy file permission management which opens up other management tabs such as Audit trail when you start to share files and directories. Mac OS X has a similar neat feature better than Windows in its own version of the Control Panel called Shares under System Preferences.

What was missing was granular ACL ... until now. Have a gander at Sandbox for your specific sharing needs. BTW, it now works for Leopard, too! :-)


Postscript following morning at 9am:

Argh, just to say where no one has gone before is not the case, someone else made a few comments about the new file sharing properties on Mac OS X here.

Apple Time Machine, Back to the Past

Thats right, the first thing about the Macbook Pro to blog about is the backup software called "Time Machine". Its an interesting concept on Mac OS X similar to System Restore on Windows XP with a plus.

The main complaint so far has been that Apple wants you to use their own brand of backup drives (a) when the reality is that most modern homes right now are probably running a NAS or other network storage device. What is worse, if you do decide to do option (b) then you may end up having to format that external storage using the proprietary Mac OS X file system.

Thats easy enough to fix by modifying a registry entry to allow an unofficial modification (c). Not one to be limited, thats exactly what I did to redirect storage to my Promise NS4300N. The transfer time over the network though is understandably slower than direct plugged (and even worse if you're really pushing your luck like I am via wireless-N).