Apple has released the first update to Snow Leopard, in less than two weeks after its debut on Aug 28. In its release note, Snow Leopard Mac OS X 10.6.1 contains the following fixes:

• Improves compatibility with some Sierra Wireless 3G modems
• Addresses an issue in which some printer compatibility drivers might not appear properly in the Add Printer browser
• Addresses an issue that might cause DVD playback to stop unexpectedly
• Addresses an issue that might make it difficult to remove an item from the Dock
• Resolves an issue in which the Command-Option-T keyboard shortcut would sometimes bring up the special characters menu in applications such as Mail and TextEdit
• Addresses instances in which auto account setup in Mail might not work
• Resolves issues when sending mail with certain SMTP servers
• Addresses an issue in which Motion 4 could become unresponsive
• Includes an update to Adobe Flash Player plug-in version 10.0.32.18

The update is about 71MB and can be download from the usual Software Update or direct from Apple website.

Apple updates its key iPhone OS, iTunes and iPod products during its Sep 9 “annual iPod event”. Here is a quick summary:

iPhone OS

• Version 3.1 is out today free for iPhone and iPod touch with OS 3.0.

• App Store app will include a new Genius feature that will recommend apps based on your past purchase.

• Over 30,000 ringtones from 4 major music labels now available for $1.29 each.

iTunes 9

• iTunes 9 is released today and has a “beautiful new look” that makes exploring the vast music, movies, TV shows, apps, games easier.

• New Genius Mixes feature that plays endless mixes of songs from your iTunes library that are great together.

• New options to select what you want to sync for your music, based on playlists, genres, artists etc.

• App Management – arrange your iPhone home screens and move apps around using iTunes.

• Home sharing: allow you to copy your music, TV shows etc for up to 5 computers in your home.

• iTunes LP – digitizes the era before CD with lyrics, liner notes, essays, photos and video together with music album.

  Continue reading »

A number of evidences point to the likelihood that Apple will announce The Beatles catalogue on iTunes during its annual iPod event on Sep 9:

• the Apple event is titled “It’s only rock and roll, but we like it”
• The Beatles is releasing its entire catalogue remastered on Sep 9
• The new game The Beatles:Rock Band will release on Sep 9
• and Yoko Ono told Sky News that Apple will announce The Beatles in the iTunes Music Store in the Sep 9 event. But the news was shortly removed by Sky News.

But shortly after the Sky News leak, EMI’s global catalog president Ernesto Schmitt is on record claiming that the Fab Four’s catalogue will not be available on iTunes on Sep 9, although the company is in talks with Apple to make it happen.

With Snow Leopard’s low upgrade price and performance boost, many Mac OS X users are expected to upgrade if not already done so. The upgrade to most users so far has been smooth, most are inconvenient by certain third party apps that are not running well with the new OS. The following are 32 things that are new or changed in Snow Leopard, helpful info before your upgrade.

Continue reading »