Like some kind of unstoppable force from beyond, the Update Train just keeps on chug-chug-chugging along. We knew it was coming, and now it's finally made its presence known: faithful viewer Jon Rousseau tipped us off to the arrival of Mac OS X 10.1.1 late yesterday afternoon. According to Apple, the 14.4 MB update adds support for more digital cameras and printers, improves CD/DVD burning, "enhances" some networking protocols, boosts application compatibility, and enables "hardware accelerated video mirroring" for the latest PowerBooks. Nothing earth-shattering, but what did you expect? As its numbering suggests, this is essentially a minor bug-fix upgrade, so those of you who were hoping that it included Mood Desktop™ and Thought-To-Text™ technology were just begging for disappointment.

We can't tell you first-hand whether or not 10.1.1 is any great shakes, because we haven't mustered the courage to install it yet; after the recent unpleasantness with the iTunes 2.0 installer and the altered Security Update, we decided to leave the Software Update panel alone for a day or two just in case 10.1.1 leads to RAM disabling, exploding hard disks, general bad karma, or the contraction of cutaneous anthrax. As such, we backed away from the keyboard and let the "early adopters" charge ahead and download with little regard to system safety. It's now been roughly twenty-four hours, though, and so far, reports of grievous loss of life and limb appear to be relatively scarce.

A quick check over at MacFixit reveals no serious problems, and only a few minor glitches. The biggest hurdle for many people appears to have been getting the update to install without hanging. Aside from that, the only issue with the installer is that it isn't smart enough to update Mail if the program had been moved out of the Applications folder. That's rather less heinous than, say, wiping all of one's mounted partitions clean, so we welcome the improvement. As for 10.1.1 itself, there are a few problems with icon placement wackiness and some Voodoo graphics cards and Epson printers suddenly no longer being supported, but all told, it appears that this update so far isn't responsible for a single untimely death. Kudos to Apple's quality control team for getting back on the stick!

Better still, 10.1.1 reportedly does fix a few lingering problems from 10.1: FireWire hard drives that didn't show up in 10.1 now appear to work properly after the update, PPP support is improved, mounting an iDisk no longer grinds the system to a halt for a couple of ice ages, and several "issues" with Mail appear to have been addressed. Faithful viewer Gerard Jeronowitz sums it up nicely: "No data loss and a few minor improvements. Sounds like a keeper to me." So we suppose we'll bite the bullet and fire up that installer tonight-- right after we lock two full sets of redundant backups in a fire safe thirty miles from the compound, make sure our insurance is up to date, and figure out how to wear bomb squad gear inside one of those biohazard baggy-suit get-ups.

Say, remember how, at the iPod's big surprise intro, Steve mentioned that Apple was "considering" adding Windows support at some point down the line? Well, it looks like an enterprising third party may be sparing Apple the trouble. Faithful viewer Brian Oberquell pointed out that Mediafour Corporation is already hard at work on XPod: software which will grant Windows users access to the portable music player that's taking the whole world by storm. (Note: stormy world-taking is inferred by product reviews and anecdotal evidence, and may prove false upon the examination of actual sales data. Offer not valid in Tennessee. Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.)

When you think about it, since the iPod is fundamentally a FireWire hard drive, there isn't a whole lot of doing necessary to provide basic functionality under Windows; all you really need, other than a PC with a FireWire port, is software that allows Windows to recognize Mac volumes. Several such products already exist (and by some incredible coincidence, Mediafour just happens to make one of them). But lest you think that XPod is just going to be some rushed-out cheesy hack that will require Windows users to drag MP3 files to the iPod's hidden music folder manually, faithful viewer resteves notes that Lockergnome MediaREPORT claims that XPod, when finished, will allow tracks to be uploaded directly from Windows Media Player. The iPod and Windows Media Player? Talk about a clash of cultures... Why do we get the feeling that Mediafour's biggest technical hurdle will be preventing the iPods from self-immolating in shock when connected to Microsoft's software?

Anyway, it sounds like the iPod will indeed be an option for Windows users, and sooner rather than later. That could be a bummer to Apple (especially if Steve was readying an "iPod: Only For Mac" ad blitz this holiday season), but more likely, our buddies in Cupertino are looking forward to it. For one thing, they'll see increased iPod sales from Windows users who would otherwise be locked out, and they won't have to develop or support their own Windows software. For another, Windows users who have enough taste to want to buy an iPod just might be close enough to the Platform Line that the iPod's incredible design and user interface might nudge them over into the Mac camp when it's time to upgrade their systems. And lastly, we'll be pretty surprised if XPod can manage the same sort of seamless integration with Windows Media Player that Apple accomplished with iTunes 2, so we're guessing that the Mac will remain the best platform for iPod owners anyway.

Heck, if nothing else, it warms the cockles of our hearts to think that Windows users might actually have to pay extra to use a peripheral. Sure feels nice to be wearing that shoe on the other foot for a change...

You know, when Apple announced its new and improved PowerBooks last month and revealed our original prediction to be spookily accurate (DVD-ROM or CD-RW drives, but no combo option), we furrowed our collective brow in concern. We knew that lots of people had been holding off on going titanium in hopes that a second-revision model would let them watch the director's cut of Little Nicky and then burn a mix CD of favorite high school marching band hits, all while in the air between Timbuktu and Tuscaloosa. So when faced with an "either/or" instead of an "and," we just assumed that most customers would pass over the CD-RW option in favor of movies, movies, movies.

Heck, it seemed logical to us: if you want a PowerBook, you're probably mobile. While you're mobile, you're far more likely to want to be entertained than to sit on the bus burning a set of backups. Burning CDs seemed more like a "sit at home" activity to us, for which a USB or FireWire CD-RW drive seems like a perfect solution. Who would pay $100 extra at the Apple Store to lose DVD compatibility in favor of an internal CD-RW drive, when the cheapest external burners don't cost much more than that? Besides, it's a lot cheaper and easier to add an external CD burner than an external DVD drive. To us, the choice is obvious.

However, it appears we grossly overestimated the appeal of movies on the run among the general populace, because people are forking over an extra C-note to order their PowerBooks with CD-RW instead of DVD-ROM. In fact, so many of them have done so, Think Secret reports that Apple had to put up the "SOLD OUT" sign; if you wander over to the Apple Store and try to order a PowerBook with the internal burner, you'll find yourself staring at a page telling you that the CD-RW Slot Load Drive is "Temporarily Unavailable." According to Think Secret, Apple can't take any more orders for CD-RW PowerBooks because of short supplies due to "overwhelming demand." (If you were hoping to custom-order one of those bad boys, you're going to have to wait a while.)

So the masses have spoken: for an "overwhelming" number of customers, being able to burn CDs while on the move is worth an extra hundred clams, and the loss of having a portable DVD player is of no consequence. Personally, we'll never understand that attitude, especially in light of the fact that the first season of Buffy is coming to DVD in less than two months. Then again, without knowing how many slot-loading CD-RW drives Apple had on hand in the first place, we suppose "overwhelming demand" is a pretty relative term; for all we know, Apple was "overwhelmed" with eight orders when they only stocked six drives. After all, everyone loves movies. Right? Right?