Author Archives | Stephen M. Hackett

About Stephen M. Hackett

Stephen Hackett, formerly a Lead Mac Genius at Apple, now spends his days running the IT department of a large non-profit in Memphis, TN. He writes about Apple, design and journalism at forkbombr.net. Like all twenty-somethings, you can find him on Twitter. Oh, and he has a dogcow tattoo.

iOS 4.3.5 can be jailbroken via redsn0w

July 26, 2011

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iOS 4.3.5 can be jailbroken via redsn0wredsn0w, the popular iOS 4 jailbreaking app, can jailbreak iOS 4.3.5 without issue.

Version 0.9.8 of the utility can Jailbreak devices, since iOS 4.3.4 and 4.3.5 just patched security issues and made few — if any — underlying changes, but does not support the iPad 2.

Source: The Mac Observer 

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Apple releases revised Snow Leopard 10.6.8 update

July 25, 2011

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Apple releases revised Snow Leopard 10.6.8 update

Just because OS X Lion is out, it doesn’t mean Snow Leopard has been kicked to the curb. While the OS should continue to receive security updates for the lifespan of Lion, today Apple released a revised 10.6.8 update. The update includes these fixes:

  • Transferring personal data, settings, and compatible applications from a Mac running Mac OS X Snow Leopard to a new Mac running Mac OS X Lion
  • Certain network printers that pause print jobs immediately and fail to complete
  • System audio that stops working when using HDMI or optical audio out
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Apple launches iMac 1TB Seagate Hard Drive Replacement Program

July 22, 2011

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Apple launches iMac 1TB Seagate Hard Drive Replacement Program

Apple has launched a repair extension program for certain 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMacs. The models — which shipped to customers between May 2011 and July 2011 — are prone to the failure of their internal 1TB Seagate hard drives.

Apple will replace these drives free of charge via the Genius Bar Apple-Authorized Service Providers.

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Apple Remote Desktop bumped to version 3.5

July 20, 2011

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Apple Remote Desktop bumped to version 3.5

With all the other news today, Apple slipped out version 3.5 of Apple Remote Desktop.

The new update brings Lion compatibility as well as some new features, including the ability to log into a separate session than the session the local user is in. This allows sysadmins to log into a Mac and work without the local user — sitting at the Mac — ever knowing it.

Click past the jump for a full changelog…

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Apple releases the Thunderbolt Display

July 20, 2011

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Apple releases the Thunderbolt DisplayIn the midst of this morning’s news, Apple has replaced its Cinema Display with the “Thunderbolt Display.” The name is pretty obvious, and helps keep things clear between this model and the 12 years worth of models in the past.

On the outside, little has changed with this new 27-inch LED, glass-covered display. Inside, however, it is a brand new game.

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The White MacBook is dead

July 20, 2011

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The White MacBook is deadWhile we haven’t been able to find an announcement from Apple, it appears that the white unibody MacBook is dead.

The URL for the product now redirects to Apple’s 404 page, and the model is no longer listed on Apple’s Mac page:

The White MacBook is dead

This ends a long-running product line for Apple.

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Apple releases OS X Lion

July 20, 2011

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Apple releases OS X LionAs announced yesterday, Apple has released OS X Lion to the masses. At $29, Lion is available on the Mac App Store, and brings features like Resume and Versions, Mission Control, Launchpad and more.

Be sure to check out our review for all the details. We’re downloading Lion now, and will update the review as new information comes in.

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Review: OS X Lion is here and rawrtastic

July 19, 2011

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Review: OS X Lion is here and rawrtasticWell, it’s here. Mac OS X Lion has launched as the latest upgrade to Apple’s desktop operating system.

Several years ago, Apple announced that it was going to slow down the release cycle for Mac OS X. Then, two and a half years ago, Apple announced that 10.6 Snow Leopard was going to be a “stepping stone” release, allowing the company to work on technologies that would propel the desktop OS in ways it hadn’t been in the past.

Snow Leopard, for most users, was just Leopard with a different default wallpaper. As a result of the lack of “headlining” features, Apple charged $29 for the update. 10.6 required an Intel processor — Leopard was the last build of OS X to run on PowerPC Macs with G4 and G5 silicon.

One reason for dropping PPC support was that, under the hood, Apple was re-working things in a way that is quite evident in Lion. Technologies like OpenCL and Grand Central have seen big improvements in Lion, making the OS run faster on all three machines I’ve tested it on.

In fact, this new version of OS X might be the biggest change yet to Apple’s desktop OS yet, despite how familiar it may look:

Review: OS X Lion is here and rawrtastic

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