iPod Update 1.2.6

[MacRumors]

http://www.apple.com/ipod/download/

iPod Software 1.2.6 provides improved battery management which solves a problem that may appear to shorten your iPod's battery life.

Some customers have reported that over time their iPod's battery life has declined. This update enables the iPod to more accurately monitor its battery charge, thus using the entire battery capacity and regaining long battery life. The result is longer playback time and extended standby time. After updating the iPod, customers can expect at least 10 days of standby battery life on a full charge.

Prior to this update, the iPod would sometimes mistake a temporary low voltage condition as an indication that the battery was discharged. This resulted in the iPod shutting down prematurely, even though the battery was still capable of powering the iPod.

A new Mac OS X 10.2.5 Seed has been delivered to developers:

Improved USB Modem connections
Better compatibility with EGBridge in Katankana input mode
Updated Bluetooth Kernel API's
Finder Copy to SMB volume improved
Additional support for a variety of new third-party CD-R/W Drives

[wilhelmd]

Definetly getting this one! "Temporary low-voltage condition"? I did think that 10 hours of playing music wouldn't last for a long time, but I guess it did!

And improved SMB support... good!

EDIT: Woho! First post!

[noverflow]

All i care about in 10.2.5 is that they fix the hole in .mac

And

They support my bluetooth mouse... i got it as a gift, im just waiting till i can use it. Best form fitted mouse i have haver held.

[Foxer]

Originally posted by noverflow
All i care about in 10.2.5 is that they fix the hole in .mac

And

They support my bluetooth mouse... i got it as a gift, im just waiting till i can use it. Best form fitted mouse i have haver held.

which mouse is this? Looking to pick one up.

NOT the first post, nor do i care.

[nodmonkey]

did anyone else's heart skip a beat (how sad) when they read the 'iPod update' headline, only to be disappointed by news of a simple software update? bah!

still waiting on april for the iPod hardware (iTunes 4, Quicktime, Online Music Service) update then...

[Rincewind42]

Originally posted by noverflow
All i care about in 10.2.5 is that they fix the hole in .mac

It isn't a security hole so much as a default setting. The default settings for the .Mac password on your keychain is to allow it's use without prompting you for your password. This setting is very easy to change in the keychain. And anyway, if someone can access your keychain to read the password, then there isn't much stopping them from just taking your entire computer anyway.

[iJon]

anyone else besides me have the problem of the ipod unmounting when you go to update. it happened on all my macs.

iJon

[melchior]

i don't think this bodes well for those of us waiting for new ipod's. if new ipod's were just around the corner (coinciding with new music service) wouldn't they release them together, at the same time... a bit of a bummer

[tjwett]

I have had a MAJOR problem after this update. I installed it and everything went smoothly. The iPod worked fine and was running the latest software. Problem is that now I can't launch iTunes at all. And it's not the usual "can't find the library" crash either. I've trashed all prefs for both the iPod and iTunes and still nothing. I fixed all errors and permissions on the HD, nothing. I even deleted iTunes and reinstalled it, nothing. This is deep. I'm worried I will have to wipe my HD and reinstall the OS so I used the Pod like a Firewire HD and just put as many of my mp3s on it as possible, as data not as playlists, so I can't even listen to them. So now I have a full iPod that I can't use and iTunes won't do a thing. I'm certain it's from this update because it's the ONLY thing I did yesterday and the Crash Log says something about an external device. Can anyone here read a Crash Log and get an idea of the problem? Thanks for any info.

[phampton81]

Originally posted by iJon
anyone else besides me have the problem of the ipod unmounting when you go to update. it happened on all my macs.

iJon

When you update, the ipod umounts, then you need to unplug it and plug it back it for the update to load on the ipod.

[wilhelmd]

Originally posted by tjwett
I'm worried I will have to wipe my HD and reinstall the OS so I used the Pod like a Firewire HD and just put as many of my mp3s on it as possible, as data not as playlists, so I can't even listen to them.

If you do have do format your hard drive, you don't need to put the MP3 files on the 'pod as data. Just use the iPod Retriever.

[electric]

10.2.5 and beyond,

Hope they fix the window selection bug that I have noticed (when tring to select underlying open applications on the desktop, I sometimes must click on the "Top drag bar" to bring the open application to the front) Anyone else experience this? ..... Sorry if there is already a Forum or Web site devoted to this topic.

Peep the G

[AhmedFaisal]

Does anyone know if they will add Bluetooth PC Card support with this update? I own a pre-Al Powerbook and have PC-Card Bluetooth Adapter from 3com with a neat XJack Antenna leftover from my PC Laptop which I would like to use in a mac, it completely vanishes in the slot unlike the stupid USB dongle which I always need to remove when I take my laptop to work...
Cheers,

Ahmed

P.S.: While I doubt the wisdom of current events, I hope all the American Troops can return home safely soon. Greetings from Er Riad.

[aasmund]

Originally posted by Foxer
which mouse is this? Looking to pick one up.

NOT the first post, nor do i care.

There is only one bluetooth mouse in existance:

http://www.bluetooth.com/tech/produc...AT=13&SCAT=ALL

MicroSoft There is a presentation thingy by logitech aswell. However I doubt sincerely that the MS mouse will work.

Regards.

[jettredmont]

Originally posted by Macrumors
Finder Copy to SMB volume improved

Hopefully it correctly munges text-file line endings when sending to a Windows machine ... OS X is great at changing line endings on incoming files, but doesn't change them at all on outgoing files ...

[smegdude]

i have run the updater for the ipod and it hasn't updated. I don't know why this is, but i have run the installer twice and my ipod still says its running 1.2.1. Is anyone else having this problem?
i have a 20gb ipod

[Rincewind42]

Originally posted by jettredmont
Hopefully it correctly munges text-file line endings when sending to a Windows machine ... OS X is great at changing line endings on incoming files, but doesn't change them at all on outgoing files ...

I doubt that it will, as there is very little that you can determine about the user's intention when they copy it over. For all the OS knows, the user could be copying it to the server in order to load it on a UNIX box or MacOS 9 box in another office, neither of which will like the Windows line endings.

And actually, MacOS X doesn't change line endings on incoming files at all, modern MacOS X text services simply recognize all three line ending variants and adjust the text as required. When the files are saved however, the line endings may then be changed depending on the program doing the saving.

[huckleup]

Originally posted by Rincewind42
It isn't a security hole so much as a default setting. The default settings for the .Mac password on your keychain is to allow it's use without prompting you for your password. This setting is very easy to change in the keychain. And anyway, if someone can access your keychain to read the password, then there isn't much stopping them from just taking your entire computer anyway.

I know you meant well, but saying that they can just as well take your computer is just not true and possibly not the worst thing that can happen.

Note that the problem is not limited to access to your .Mac password, it is for any keychain entry. If you set 'Allow Always' access by the Keychain application to any entry, simply launching the application can give someone access to any password.

First, In most cases it would likely be very difficult to take someone's computer. Like in a coroporate or a school lab environement you're not likely to be able to walk out of a building with someone else's computer under your arm. Having physical access to the computer may get you some info, but if files on the machine are individually password protected or encrypted it won't do you much good to have the machine except as a free piece of hardware, if in fact you can grab the whole thing. You may only be able to have access to the machine for a very short period of time and any 'speed bumps' in accessing the valuable data on the machine may be enough to stop someone from getting at it.

Secondly, taking the physical computer may not be the intent and may not even be as valuable as having access to someone's passwords. The computer is only worth maybe $1000, but the passwords could be to bank accounts, stock portfolios or any kind of intellectual property and secrets that could be worth much more, even millions. So keeping a lockdown on your passwords may be a very important thing.

That having been said, I agree that this 'hole' is, as you said, something that you can control and change. But the issue is that it may not be obvious that you have opened up this risk. There are options for allowing access 'Once' or 'Always' on a per application basis. It is very easy to select the wrong option by mistake, and then no way to know on a per keychain entry, per application basis without looking at each entry. After reading about this issue I went through all my keychain entries and in fact found a half dozen that were marked for 'Always' access to the Keychain application. With more than 50 entries in my keychain, that took a bit of time to resolve.

There can and should be more done to make sure that the user is aware of the choices they made and their implications. In addition, there could be for instance a global setting that says 'lock all entries' by applications 'except...' and other types of macro definitions. Right now you can lock the whole keychain, but as soon as you unlock that (which is the default), you allow access to all the unlocked individual entries.

Security is not something that should be taken lightly and 'barely good enough'. Settings should be on the conservative side by default, not lax. Apple can and should do better. Many types of users expect and need more and better options.

[000111one111000]

If the .mac keychain thingy really worries you, I'd suggest you load up the keychain menubar extra. It's under "View" I believe.

Anyways, that should help make your system a bit more secure if you're scared of people sitting down and looking at your passwords. This will give you the option of locking your screen (going to screensaver with a password) or locking/unlocking all of your keychains.

Also, there already is the option to allow certain passwords to be locked all the time, except for certain applications. You could set the .mac password to always require authentication, unless you're checking your .mac mail, for example.

I really don't see the problem. If you're saving your passwords to a keychain on a public system in the first place, then it'd be your own fault. If it's on a private system, but in an office or dorm room, cubicle, etc., you should be locking it whenever you leave the computer anyways.

enoch

[kjottbein]

anyone else experiencing the same problems as tjwett?

i'd like very much to update, but i'm afraid of breaking itunes

the point melchior made about how this is a sign that there won't be new ipods shortly is scary. hope you're wrong, although you may be right.

[chewbaccapits]

Originally posted by aasmund
There is only one bluetooth mouse in existance:

http://www.bluetooth.com/tech/produc...AT=13&SCAT=ALL

MicroSoft There is a presentation thingy by logitech aswell. However I doubt sincerely that the MS mouse will work.

Regards.

Side note..I'm never buying another "mouse" from microcrap (My mistake in the first place)..They failed to support the intellimouse...In fact, when they recalled them they didn't want to honor mine....Because apparently I bought it 3 months pass their warranty coverage...I'd wait for another mouse....

[chewbaccapits]

By the way, glad to see apple addressing the battery issue...If there are no new iPod (hardware) updates by mid-April, I'm buying a 5 giger....Tired of waiting.

[neutrino23]

The iPod update was a bit rough for me but worked OK. (20GB iPod)

First I downloaded and installed the update.

Next I connected my iPod. At this time iTunes launched and a dialog box popped up saying that new software was detected. I entered my password and asked it to install.

Next it asked me to unplug and replugin my iPod.

I did so and it showed the Apple logo for quite a while then it rebooted and seemed fine.

The only odd thing was that iTunes started to download a number of songs that were already on the iPod. I should have had about 5.5GB of songs but now I had about 7.5GB.

I launched the updater again, selected the Restore option and followed the instructions. This completely wiped the iPod and set it to firmware 1.2.6. Then iTunes downloaded the full library afresh. Now everything is OK.

My suggestion to those having troubles is to select the Restore option if the Update option doesn't satisfy.

[QCassidy352]

hi all, this is my first post on macrumors!

I really hope this update works as intended; I've been waiting for this for a long time!

In regard to the poster who said this:
"did anyone else's heart skip a beat (how sad) when they read the 'iPod update' headline, only to be disappointed by news of a simple software update? bah!"

I'm not disappointed! Anytime apple releases something totally free that will make a product I already own function a lot better, I'm all for it. The ipod really needed this update (if it does what it should). And now, I'm off to update!

[Flowbee]

No problems running the update or opening iTunes afterwards. So I guess not everyone's having problems (whew!).

I haven't had any battery drain issues previously - bought my iPod in November - so I really don't notice a difference from this update.

**20gb with 2100 songs and 5gb of backup files.**