It’s 11/11/11, which just so happens to also be Veteran’s Day here in these United States of America, It’s also a Friday, which means most of us are ready to eject the grueling memories of another work week and enjoy the weekend. But first, let’s take a moment and give some thanks to all of the veterans who have made such freedom possible in the first place -- and before you slam the office door behind you, read on for some of the other things making news on this Friday, November 11, 2011.
Hey, you! The one with the AirPort Base Station and/or Time Capsule! Have you checked your AirPort Utility software lately? If not, you really should, because Apple pushed out a firmware update on Thursday night that’s got your name on it. “AirPort Base Station and Time Capsule Firmware Update 7.6” is an update for all 802.11n devices (including AirPort Express) which resolves an issue with performance on overlapping wireless networks, an issue with AirPlay audio streaming and an issue with configuring multiple entries for DNS servers. Apple recommends that users have AirPort Utility 5.5.3 or later installed before updating, so you’ll want to get on that first.
Just because you’re already bored with your iPhone 4S, that’s no reason to bum out the rest of the world. MacRumors is reporting that Apple’s latest handset officially launched in 15 new countries today: Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, El Salvador, Greece, Guatemala, Malta, Montenegro, New Zealand, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Romania and two more high-profile locales, South Korea and Hong Kong, where stacks of the handsets have already hit the shelves of grey market retailers after more than 3,000 people turned up for the launch at the new Apple Store there -- with only 1,250 actually allowed into the store to buy one. According to a report from M.I.C. Gadget, “the vast majority of people in line at the Hong Kong Apple store appeared to be purchasing on behalf of scalpers, with many of them having been paid to stand in line and purchase the maximum of five devices.” And that’s after last week’s report that the initial preorders sold out in 10 minutes flat!
The Verge is reporting that hardware maker Logitech appears to have some serious licensor’s remorse over their Google TV-powered Revue set-top box, which failed to set the tech world on fire when it was released last holiday season and can now be found for a fraction of its original $300 price tag. Logitech CEO Guerrino De Luca called the launch “a mistake of implementation of a gigantic nature,” referring to the Google TV software as a “beta” in one of the presentation slides for the company’s Analyst and Investor Day on Wednesday. The kicker? The company plans to bring “closure to the Logitech Revue saga” by allowing inventory to run out this quarter, with “no plans to introduce another box to replace Revue.” The move also costs Logitech “well over $100M in operating profits” in its short life. Guess we can see why Steve Jobs kept calling the Apple TV a “hobby” now…
If you were surprised to see Apple push out iOS 5.0.1 on Thursday, you may be even more surprised to learn that the supposed fix for battery issues may not have actually been squashed in all cases. According to AllThingsD, Apple claims “there may still be a few problems that need troubleshooting,” so the engineers in Cupertino “continue to investigate a few remaining issues.” iOS 5.0.2, anyone?
We pretty much stopped longing for iTunes Match after it was clear Apple’s “late October” release date was blown and developers got a new beta for iTunes 10.5.1 so they could keep playing with it. Now comes word from 9to5Mac that Apple will be “deleting all current iCloud libraries on Saturday, November 12th at 10AM PST” in order to “prepare for the launch of iTunes Match.” Of course, this only applies to those aforementioned developers, who are being instructed to turn off the scan and match service on their desktop computers and iOS devices. The wording in Apple’s email to developers certainly sounds like the service may be launching as early as next week, but we’ve been here before, and there’s only so much heartache and disappointment we can take -- so take it with a grain of salt, iTunes Match fans.
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(Image courtesy of MacRumors)
