Steve Ballmer (allegedly!) only throws chairs and smashes furniture. Can we even imagine what Steve Jobs must do to those who harshen Apple’s mellow? Probably makes Dark Force lightning pale by comparison, as the MobileMe team has no doubt been finding out these last, long two weeks. Thus the new MobileMe Status page with its preface: “Steve Jobs has asked me to write” (though “me” him/herself is not named).
At first we’re reminded Apple can stick to the talking points better than half the pundits in Washington, as all our favorites are recycled: “rocky road”, “1%”, but then — remarkably — we get this:
Last Friday a serious problem with one of our mail servers blocked those members’ access to their MobileMe mail accounts. As of today a team was able to restore limited web access to those accounts so the affected members can use their browsers to read mail that has arrived since last Friday (though not before) as well as send and receive new mail. The team has already begun rolling out restoration of full access for all the accounts and expect to finish by the end of next week. We particularly regret to report the loss in the affected accounts of approximately 10% of the messages received between July 16 and July 18.
The mystery “me” goes on to explain some of the problems with the WebApps (unexpected traffic surge at launch), and says they’ve fixed some IMAP mail issues, Calendar bugs, scaling problems, and general performance.
Overall, good first step, but as anyone used to dealing with Apple knows, there’s plenty a trip twixt each step on the way to accountability. Let’s keep them coming, “me”!
And if you’re one of the 1%-ers still without email, you may want to subscribe to the page’s RSS feed so your favorite newsreader can alert you every other day or so when a new update gets posted.
Note: There’s also been an update to Apple’s Knowledge Base article on the matter.
(Via MacRumors)
Given the general sluggishness and overall er… crashing issues many — including us — have raised about the new iPhone 2.0 update, it can’t come as any surprise that Apple is prepping a 2.0.1.
But could we already have confirmation? Intrepid Boy Genius Reporters scoured their server logs and came across:
[S]ome interesting build numbers for the iPhone and iPhone 3G. It appears that AT&T and Apple are testing iPhone device software version 2.0.1, builds 5B101 (iPhone) and 5B103 (iPhone 3G). Although we are not certain of much more information than this little bit, we do know that testing began prior to the launch of device software 2.0 and the iPhone 3G on July 11th. We have also narrowed down the known test users to the San Francisco (40 mins from Cupertino) and Atlanta (HQ of AT&T Mobility) areas. Hmm.
Doubtless it will include Apple’s usually opaque description along the lines of “Fixes compatibility and general stability”. Fortunately, this time around that’s just what we need!
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A New Version of the iPhone SDK is Now Available. Seventh beta version just posted.
So quoth developer.apple.com/iphone, continuing their breakneck, nigh-unprecedented release pace for the iPhone Software Developer Kit (SDK) and iPhone 2.0 beta firmware.
As always, enterprising developers will likely comb through every string and bit in the new release, looking for new features, and hoping strike gold as they have in the past. I’m still holding my breath for video recording and… cut and paste, but admittedly any new discovery will be welcome.
Meanwhile Apple Software Update is now delivering Quicktime 7.5, one of the core components of the Mac’s, and iTunes’ graphic layers. If you’re not prompted for it, and don’t want to trigger it via the utility proper, just surf on over to Apple and grab the direct download. (Note: Mac users will require a reboot — like we said, it’s core level. Windows users, please let us know if you’re likewise sent to the restart.).
Speaking of iTunes, iPhone 3G specs indicate iTunes 7.7 will be required to use Apple’s new handset, so expect another update sometime between now and the July 11th first release date. Other than iPhone 3G specific support and shifting activation to carrier stores, it’s unknown what else the update will bring.
Anyone want to guess? What’s hidden in 2.0 Beta 7, and iTunes 7.7? Give us your best shots!
I’m starting to think I really do have clout around this interweb thing (I can dream)
First, Installer.app received a search feature after I complained about the lack of it in my review. Now, my other complaint, the slight hesitation after installing new programs that sends you back to your unlock screen, has been fixed. It now quickly relaunches your Home Screen to seamlessly load the newly downloaded programs, which essentially makes Installer.app and its functions even more integrated into the iPhone.
Other noteworthy items in the update include the ability to refresh one source at a time and a search feature in the Uninstall category. Now in v3.11, Installer.app is becoming a powerhouse of a program and perhaps the most integrated native app that jailbreaking has to offer.
Installer.app is automatically installed when you jailbreak your iPhone with iLiberty+ or ZiPhone.
According to Engadget, Apple is serving up (yet another?) new beta firmware, this one doing away with the (confusing?) 1.2.0 designation and lining up squarely behind Steve Jobs’ announced 2.0 labeling.
Aside from some VPN, mail, and ActiveSync tweaks and re-org’s, Engadget can’t find much else aside from the shiny new version release, but as June gets closer, no doubt Apple’s engineers will get busier!
The iPhone FAQ is reporting that the issue we’ve seen with the earlier leaked 1.1.3 ROM update holds with the official ROM update. To wit: if you decide to downgrade your iPhone back to 1.1.2 (or even earlier), you’re phone will think that your SIM is invalid no matter what. You’ll quasi-brick your iPhone. I say “quasi” because it does seem you can safely upgrade to 1.1.3 again.
Anyway, the advice that Phone different has given you again and again still holds true: if you’ve done anything non-standard to your iPhone, stay the heck away from new updates until the hackers have had a chance to put it through its paces. Then again, the new location feature is super sweet, sweet enough that even if you do love Lights Out, it’s probably worth it to upgrade. After all, the SDK is getting released next month.
Here I had thought that Apple released it on Friday, in conjunction with their european iPhone launch. No, they officially launched it Monday night, to little fanfare. Again, there isn’t much to this update. It closes the TIFF vulnerability that allows people to easily hack their iPhones at jailbreakme.com, that’s about it.
My understanding of feature updates is this: Apple has to dangle the carrot to make official firmwares more compelling than unofficial, hacked firmwares. Are iTunes charging icons and international keyboards going to cut it?
Apple has released the 1.1.2 firmware for the iPhone out into the wild a little early, probably so that folks in Europe can download it directly when they get home. The 1.1.2 update weighs in at about 160MB, and it does update the baseband radio as well, bringing the radio software to 04.02.13G (from 04.01.13G in case you were wondering, and you probably weren’t). You can download the update directly from Apple.
As we’ve reported before, the 1.1.2 update closes the TIFF vulnerability that allows for the easy jailbreak from jailbreakme.com — I just used that site again yesterday to prepare an iPhone with 1.1.2 for Kevin of CrackBerry.com to use on his Rogers SIM card, and it just amazes me how easy it all is.
Apple has confirmed to pocket-lint.co.uk that the next firmware update, version 1.1.2, will be available tomorrow. The update brings several internationally-themed updates like international keyboards. UK users also get access to free wi-fi via The Cloud.
This update will fix the TIFF vulnerability, meaning that users can browse a bit safer. However, the closing of this security vulnerability means that the extremely easy AppSnapp method of installing 3rd party apps found at jailbreakme.com will cease to work.
We mentioned the release of iTunes and Quicktime in our podcast yesterday, but haven’t provided any release notes. There’s not a lot in terms of content for anyone deciding to update or not. Ambrosia reports that iToner still works — though the initial update will wipe out iToner ringtones, you can easily sync them over. The iTunes doesn’t touch a user’s library file, so there shouldn’t be any risk of anything. The QuickTime update includes improvements for converting video for the iPhone. Are you excited about this? Yah, me neither.
