Tag Archives: update

[Pre] WebOS Update 1.3.1 Released in Europe

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As of today European GSM Palm Pre customers on the Telefonica networks (O2 Germany, O2 UK, Movistar Spain) can download and install WebOS Update 1.3.1.

After downloading the 134MBytes update it will be validate for about some five minutes. Have your battery loaded, installation will take another 10 minutes.

Now, go and get it. It has eventually some nice improvements in performance.

It also brings back support for iTunes synchronization. Albeit for iTunes 9.01 only. Current version is iTunes 9.02. So the golden rule seems to be better don’t update iTunes too early if you’re having a Palm Pre.

» Palm.com: Features of Update 1.3.1…

[MacOS] Snow Leopard 10.6.2 Kernel Patched for Intel Atom Support

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Teateam a russian speaking Mac OS developer binary patched the latest Mac OS X 10.6.2 Mach Kernel to eventually reenable support for Intel Atom CPUs. His kernel seems to be running well in 32bit and in 64bit mode. Atom CPUs are now reported as Intel Core Solo or Core Duo.

The patch seems only to consist of modifying a couple of (simply) assembler instructions to permanently set the CPU type. In the meantime Apple has released kernel sources and people are working on adding Atom CPU support in a proper manner.

Congrats Teamteam. That’s what Ilfak made IDA for ;-)

» Tea’s Blog: Kernel 10.2 for Intel Atom 330…
» Apple.com: Sources for 10.6.2…

machkernel10-6-2atom

[Pre] Update 1.3.1 for GSM to be Released Nov 23, 2009 ?

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According to a posting to the german Nexave forums the european Palm Pre 1.3.1 update (for GSM phones) will be released on monday November 23, 2009. The update does not seem to include activation of the GPU.

We recommend to remove custom installed homebrew patches.

Features:

  • Synergy: – Calendar and Contacts synchronization with Yahoo!
  • LinkedIn contacts synchronization
  • Synchronizes Google Contacts “My Contacts” (not all)
  • Manual edit of Internet settings (APN, user name, password, etc.)
  • Option to disable all data connections
  • Bluetooth support to send / receive vCards
  • Backup and restore:
  • No backup of passwords for increased security
  • Disabling of backup service works
  • Backup Browser Favorites
  • iTunes support from version 9.x
  • Available space is immediately updated and displayed when in USB mass storage mode data is added or removed
  • Manual e-mail retrieval works
  • SMS / MMS forwarding, and marking of all communications
  • Highlight / copy of selected areas of SMS and IM messages
  • Browser: File download in browser
  • Highlight / copy of text in the browser
  • Support for Self-Signed Certificates
  • System volume was optimized
  • Optimization of the audible during an incoming call when another call is active
  • AppCatalog: Recommendation for Apps can be forwared via email or SMS
  • Facebook Application
  • Country-Specific Application Offers
  • Initial Registration: password input is now a part of the recovery (because passwords will no longer be backed up) and now entering a security question and answer in the account creation is mandatory. SIM card PIN is requested during the registration process.

via Nexave.de Forums…

[Pre] Palm Pixi Running webOS 1.3.1 in the Wild

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On November 15th, 2009 it is rumored the new webOS 1.3.1 will be made available to worldwide Palm Pre users. On Monday a video on YouTube appeared that already shows a Palm Pixi running the new webOS 1.3.1.

Besides some boost in speed, the web browser in the 1.3.1 update obviously is able to recognize Adobe Flash already, though it does not run it (screenshot below captured at 0:24).

Links

» Precentral: Pixi running webOS 1.3.1 captured on video…
» Precentral: Adobe Flash Placeholder spotted in 1.3.1…

flashprepped

[MacOS] 10.6.2 Update Released – Intel Atoms Killed

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Apple’s 10.6.2 update closes lots of security holes that could be used to compromise systems. Safari, iWork, iLife, Aperture, Final Cut Studio, and some other apps are rumored to be working more reliable after updating.

Apple pwns back

For OSX86 users on netbooks this update is far away from being recommended at the moment. The update now has proved what has been rumored some days ago: Intel Atom support has definitely been removed from the kernel.

Thus rendering Intel Atom based netbooks non working. Netbooks will not boot after updating as the following video by Stellarola shows. It shows the typical behaviour if the CPU is not supported by the kernel, OS X will instantly reset the system.

» Stellarola: Official – Atom not supported in 10.6.2…
» Apple: About the 10.6.2. update…
» Apple: Support Downloads for 10.6…

[MacOS] Parallels Desktop 5 Released

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The virtualizing software Parallels Desktop has been updated to version 5. Besides performance optimization and 3d performance boost, the integration of a Microsoft Windows operating system into the Mac environment has been significantly improved.

Parallels Desktop 5 features:

  • integration of Apple trackpad gestures (like horizontal scrolling) into the Windows guest operating system
  • copy and paste of texts and layouts between the operating systems
  • Mac look for Windows guest programs

Parallels Desktop 5 is available in German, English, French and Spanish. With more languages like Chinese, Japanese and Russian to come soon.

It will come bundled with

  • 1-year free Parallels Internet Security 2009 by Kasperky
  • Acronis Disk Director Suite 10 and
  • Acronis True Image Home 11

The full version costs about €80, an update is available for €50. And customers who bought Parallels Desktop after October 1st, 2009 are entitled for a free upgrade.

parallels_pd5_maclook

[MacOS] Update 10.6.2 to Break Intel Atom CPU Support

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According to Stellarolla’s blog the upcoming Snow Leopard update 10.6.2 and the Leopard update 10.5.9 will most likely break Intel Atom support. Thus rendering hackintosh installations on netbooks inoperable.

Although Apple does not provide products shipping with Intel Atom CPUs, the Mac OS kernel did support those. Now with the growing amount of hackintoshs it seems Apple tries to stop the use of their operating system on cheap an tiny netbooks.

Probably this is another indicator that Apple is going to bring the long rumored tiny tablet Mac. Anyway for people willing to maintain MacOS on their netbooks the easiest way is to not update to 10.6.2 or 10.5.9 at the moment.

» Stellarolla: “10.6.2 kills Atom and other news”…

[Pre] Merry Me again: Update Reunites Palm Pre with iTunes

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The “little Palm Apple battle” goes into its next round. A week ago Apple released iTunes 8.2.1. This update blocked Palm Pre users from synchronizing music and movies with iTunes. We reported about this update and the technical implications of the sync feature here.

Palm has now released a firmware update (webOS 1.1.0) for the Palm Pre. According to Palm’s blog entry this update contains the following features:

  • Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) (including remote wipe, PIN/password requirements, inactivity timeout, improved certificate handling and more)
  • support for emoticons in the messaging app
  • person reminders (“Next time you get a message or phone call from that person, a message pops up showing you a reminder to ask them about their vacation in Maui” ct. Palmblog)
  • and Palm webOS 1.1 re-enables Palm media sync with music, photos and videos with the current version of iTunes (8.2.1).

Got issues with the Update?

Our fellow Heise.de News (german only) recommend not to update your Palm Pre while it is connected to iTunes. In case you did that and your Palm Pre does not interact on USB anymore, do a hard reset with unplugging the battery.

[News] Apple Bar Palm Pre from Syncing with iTunes

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With the latest update of iTunes 8.2.1 Apple eventually blocks Palm Pre users from syncing with iTunes. It seems Palm knew very carefully how to emulate the iPod verification protocol of iTunes. How comes?

Some major Palm Guys are former major Apple Guys

One could ask Palm’s CEO Jon Rubinstein, or Palm’s SVP of Product Development Mike Bell, or Palm’s spokeswoman Lynn Fox. As all of these three guys are former Apple guys. Rubinstein was Apple’s architect of the iTunes-iPod concept, Mike Bell was the Vice President of the Mac Hardware Division, and Lynn Fox was Head of PR at Apple.

Anyway Apple now decided to fix this issue and bar Palm Pre users from using iTunes for syncing. But what looks like a simple update in the first place may be viewed as a strategic answer to Palm’s boldness to make the Pre pretend being an iPod for iTunes.

Some Technical Aspects

According to DVD Jon the iPod emulation was not too complicated. Palm needed to emulate

  • the USB interface so that it responds with Apple’s Vendor ID and an iPod Product ID
  • the structure of an iPod filesystem
  • some XML info about the iPod device using a custom Apple USB command

But the the root USB node (IOUSBDevice) still identified the emulated iPod as a Palm Pre (find more details here).

David vs. Goliath

Does Apple fear Palm here? It seems like Palm is putting Apple under some pressure here. The Palm Pre is widely considered as the only real iPhone competitor and allowing it to sync with iTunes would make it more favourable for users who don’t like the proprietory iPhone concept. On the other hand Apple’s step to block it from iTunes again makes the iPhone and iPods the only choice for iTunes users. Anyway it shows obviously that a little fight is going on between Apple and Palm. This topic is under hot discussion on the PreCentral site.

Palm’s spokeswoman Lynn Fox just responded to Apple’s step “Palm’s media sync works with iTunes 8.2. If Apple chooses to disable media sync in iTunes, it will be a direct blow to their users who will be deprived of a seamless synchronization experience. However, people will have options. They can stay with the iTunes version that works to sync their music on their Pre, they can transfer the music via USB, and there are other third-party applications we can consider.”