Reprinted from TidBITS#824/03-Apr-06 with permission. Copyright (C) 2006, TidBITS. All rights reserved. http://www.tidbits.com/ MailBITS/03-Apr-06 ------------------ **Apple Releases Mac OS X 10.4.6 Update** -- Just as we were finalizing this issue, Apple released Mac OS X 10.4.6 Update, which appears to be a massive, miscellaneous bug-fix update. Numerous bugs and inconveniences that we've experienced are said to be eliminated, including a Mail crash, the mysterious "we are using special permissions" reports when repairing permissions with Disk Utility, the misbehavior of the Calculator percentage button, the Help Viewer blank window, problems saving Microsoft Word 2004 documents across a network, and many others. The update also includes iSync 2.2, which provides synchronization support for additional mobile phone handsets; however, iSync users should perform a full synchronization of all devices _before_ installing Mac OS X 10.4.6. As usual, you can use Software Update or download the update installer and run it manually; and in the latter case, you can download a delta updater (updates 10.4.5 to 10.4.6) or a combo updater (updates any Tiger installation). The updates are massive, with versions available via Software Update clocking in at near 46 MB, and standalone and Combo installers ranging from 65 to 191 MB. Apple also warns that (for reasons not revealed, but likely revolving around the login-related fixes) PowerPC-based Macs will automatically restart twice after the installation. The 10.4.6 update is available for both client and server versions of Mac OS X. [ACE] **Listen in as Apple Turns 30** -- On April 1st, 1976 - 30 years ago this last Saturday - Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer, and the intervening years have seen its fortunes rise, fall, and rise again. But no matter what its stock price or market share, Apple has never been boring. More important, despite the fact that the company never attained the size or raw power of Microsoft, Apple's influence on the computer industry and on popular culture has been immense. To commemorate this anniversary, we encourage you to sit back, tune in, and listen both to some of Apple's earliest employees and to a number of writers who have been covering Apple since the earliest days. In SFGate.com's Chronicle Podcasts, reporters Matthew Yi and Ben Pimentel interview Steve Wozniak, Andy Hertzfeld, John Sculley, Steve Capps, Guy Kawasaki, and Mike Boich. And then in a pair of MacNotables podcasts focused on the past, present, and future of Apple, host Chuck Joiner talks with Chris Breen, Bryan Chaffin, Jim Dalrymple, Dan Frakes, Andy Ihnatko, Ted Landau, Bob LeVitus, Dennis Sellers, and Jason Snell, along with Tonya and me. As difficult as it is to look far into the future, here's hoping we see another 30 years of innovation from Apple Computer! [ACE] **Interarchy 8 Adds WebDAV, Widgets, and Bonjour** -- Peter Lewis and Stairways Software have released Interarchy 8.0, a major upgrade to the powerful file transfer and network monitoring application. Significant new features in Interarchy 8.0 include support for WebDAV (including Apple's iDisk), Automator (Download, List, Upload), local FTP server detection via Bonjour, Dashboard (in the form of Bookmark and Network Status widgets), FTP/SSL-TLS, HTTPS, and HTTP Authentication. Changes to Interarchy's interface are also notable: The Connect to Server window encapsulates all the steps necessary in an Automator-like interface, there are Action menus everywhere with available actions, there's an option to select new tabs as they're created, tabs can be permanently colorized, and the Transfers window behavior has been improved. Mirroring of local and remote folders has also been enhanced with a combined Mirror Reports window and Mirror Dry Run option (in Interarchy's Mirror preferences) that lets you see what will happen before committing to a long file transfer. Interarchy 8.0 requires Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later, including Tiger, and it's now a universal binary for people using Intel-based Macs. Upgrades are free for those who purchased Interarchy 7 after 01-Jan-06; otherwise upgrades cost $20 and new copies are $40. It's an 8.4 MB download. [ACE] **Universal Final Cut Studio Now Shipping** -- When Apple introduced the Intel-based Macs in January, I was frankly surprised to hear that the Final Cut Studio suite would be available in universal binary form as early as March. After all, Final Cut Pro, DVD Studio Pro, Soundtrack Pro, and Motion are all heavy-duty professional applications that rely on processor performance (multiple Oscar winner Walter Murch edited Cold Mountain and Jarhead using Final Cut Pro, for example), and late last year Apple was pushing the idea that consumer hardware would be the first to include the Intel processors. True to their word, Apple is now shipping a universal binary version of Final Cut Studio, which is available as a $50 crossgrade. This is good news for owners of MacBook Pros who use Final Cut, since the existing studio applications wouldn't run on Intel machines at all. Final Cut Studio 5.1 also contains some important bug fixes and changes (for example, some Final Cut Pro problems with the Media Manager are resolved, and you cannot open version 5.1 projects in earlier versions of the program), but the universal version appears to be the only upgrade; owners of PowerPC-based Macs don't have a downloadable upgrade option. Perhaps Apple will explain more at this month's big National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference, but for now the fixes are available only to those who pay the $50 crossgrade price. [JLC] **DealBITS Drawing: Disc Cover Winners** -- Congratulations to Damian Burke of gmail.com, Ronald Jore of jore.com.au, and Jonathan Baumgarten of frostbaumgarten.com, whose entries were chosen randomly in last week's DealBITS drawing and who each received a copy of BeLight Software's Disc Cover. Even if you didn't win, you can still save 15 percent on Disc Cover through 12-Apr-06, bringing the price of the download edition (which has only about 900 clip art images from the full set of 23,000) to $29.95 and the CD edition to $33.95 plus shipping and handling (about $43). Order using the third and fourth links below to receive your discount. Thanks to the 653 people who entered, and keep an eye out for future DealBITS drawings! [ACE] .