Tools, Tips and Fixes for iPhone, iPad, iPod, iOS, Apps & Mac- Apple Toolbox

May 19, 2010

Apple Releases Java Updates for Mac OS X 10.6 and 10.5

Apple has released Java updates for both Mac OS X 10.6 and Mac OS X 10.5. Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 2 delivers “improved compatibility, security, and reliability by updating Java SE 6 to 1.6.0_20.” This release is only for Mac OS X 10.6.3. Java for Mac OS X 10.5 Update 7 delivers [...]

May 18, 2010

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Continued MacBook Pro (Mid-2010) Beach Balls/Freezes; Apple Replacing, Testing Units

Users of mid-2010 MacBook Pros continue to experience frequent stalls/hangs, accompanied by the spinning beach ball progress indicator, under varying conditions (previously noted here). The problem appears to be hard drive-related, and occurs most frequently with the standard 320 GB 5400 RPM drive, but is also occurring with the 5400 500GB and 7200 500GB drives. [...]

May 18, 2010

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Short Battery Life on New MacBooks: Potential Fixes

Some users have reported much-shorter-than-advertised battery life from brand new MacBook Pros, including the mid-2010 MacBook Pros and just-released MacBook. Although real-world battery life often falls far short of manufacturer claims, several users are reporting battery life that is half or less of that indicated by some tests under similar usage conditions. These users are experience battery [...]

May 18, 2010

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Rosetta Triggers MacBook High-Performance Graphics

MacBook Pro (Mid-2010), Core i5 or Corei7, 15″ and 17″ models automatically switch between integrated Intel (lower power) and NVIDIA (higher power) graphics. Unfortunately, although there is a built-in option to keep the higher-power NVIDIA card on at all times, there is no option to keep it off at all times. This has resulted in significant [...]

May 18, 2010

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iPad: Buzzing Noise When Connected to Cars’ 12V Inverters

Users have noted an issue in which the iPad exhibits an audible buzzing noise or audio interference when connected to some 12V automobile power inverters (used to provide power outlets or powered USB ports from cars’ cigarette-lighter adapters). This problem can generally be resolved with the use of a filtering audio cable, such as Griffin’s [...]

May 14, 2010

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Mac OS X 10.6.4 Release Notes Directly Addresses Mouse/Keyboard Freezing, Adobe CS3 Launch Issues

Earlier this week, we noted that the forthcoming Mac OS X 10.6.4 includes new IOUSB files that resolve the freezes/stalls under most circumstances. We expect this update to be released later this month. Now Apple has apparently addressed the keyboard and mouse freeze/stall issues directly in Mac OS X 10.6.4 pre-release notes. The release notes [...]

May 11, 2010

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Mac OS X 10.6.4 to Fix Rampant USB Keyboard/Mouse Issues

Users continue to experience intermittent mouse/keyboard freezes and/or system stalls after the update to Mac OS X 10.6.3. The issue is typified by the cursor freezing in place, or text input becoming suddenly interrupted then catching up a few seconds later, and is covered in our Mac OS X 10.6.3 troubleshooting guide. Factors that can exacerbate [...]

May 11, 2010

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Apple Confirms Forthcoming iPad Wi-Fi Fix

Wi-Fi issues, including dropped connections and forgotten passwords, sudden cessation of data throughput, inability to reconnect to networks after sleep, and weak signals and slow transfer continue to affect iPad owners. We’ve outlined a number of potential solution for these problems in our iPad Wi-Fi troubleshooting guide, but Apple now promises a fix in a future [...]

May 10, 2010

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QuickTime Player 7.6.6 Released

Apple has released QuickTime Player 7.6.6 for Mac OS X 10.6.3. Apple offers no incremental release notes for the update, stating only: “QuickTime Player 7 supports older media formats, such as QTVR, interactive QuickTime movies, and MIDI files on Snow Leopard. It also accepts QuickTime 7 Pro registration codes, which turn on QuickTime Pro functions.” The [...]

May 8, 2010

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Utility Allows MacBook Pro (Mid-2010) Graphics Switching

gfxCardStatus, a tool initially designed to display which graphics subsystem is active in MacBook Pro (Mid-2010) models via ”i” and “n” icons that signify Intel HD Graphics, and NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M graphics, respectively, has now been updated to allow on-the-fly switching between the cards. MacBook Pro (Mid-2010), Core i5 or Corei7, 15″ and 17″ models [...]