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The Best Just Got Better (12/10/01)
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You know the old adage, "it ain't really shipped 'til the first bug fix is out"? Well, digital music fans, rejoice-- for the iPod has finally "really shipped." Last Friday Apple posted the iPod Software Updater 1.0.2, and while it's true that the 1.0 version appeared a month earlier, we seem to recall that it didn't actually do anything except restore an iPod to its from-the-factory minty-fresh condition. 1.0.2, on the other hand, actually fixes an "issue" and adds new capabilities, thus making it an honest-to-goodness "updater" (as opposed to the last release, which was more of a "do-nothinger.")
The "issue" in question is a sleep bug "that can cause a small percentage of iPods to temporarily not wake from sleep when the battery reaches a low charge level." Ladies and gentlemen, we have our first officially acknowledged iPod bug! So if you've occasionally found your iPod so sleepy you can't even wake it up after plugging it into the wall and only a hard reset will snap it back to life, this firmware update is just the kick in the scroll-wheel your iPod has been waiting for.
Even if your iPod isn't particularly narcoleptic, you should apply the 1.0.2 update anyway, because it also functions as a sort of Matrix-style set of instantaneous night school classes. Give it a spin and you'll find that your iPod has suddenly gained additional linguistic capabilities; out of the box it spoke English, French, German, and Japanese, but after the language crash-course included in the 1.0.2 update, it'll be able to handle Spanish, Italian, and Dutch as well. Now, we can already hear the cries of outrage from the non-English/French/German/Japanese/Spanish/Italian/Dutch-speakers in the crowd: "What, no Swahili? No Klingon?" Keep your pants on, Chuckles; they had to save something for 1.0.3.
Those of you who have unselfishly purchased iPods for others as holiday gifts and have them stashed away in the closet, we imagine that right about now you're wondering whether it's kosher to take them out and play with th-- uh, update their firmware. Indeed it is; in fact, it's practically your responsibility. After all, you don't want to be the one who gave someone a crashing iPod, right? So pop open those boxes and update away. Feel free to test the devices under actual battle conditions for a few days before returning them to their original packaging, just to verify that they work properly. Handy tip: fingerprints wipe off easily with a soft, lint-free cloth.
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SceneLink (3442)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 12/10/01 episode: December 10, 2001: Apple meets-- and beats-- its goal of opening twenty-five retail stores by the end of the year. Meanwhile, the first real iPod updater is out, which perks up units that are overly lethargic, and a second Power Mac fire survivor leads us to wonder whether all Power Macs are similarly flame-retardant...
Other scenes from that episode: 3441: Exceeding Expectations (12/10/01) Let the word go forth: this past Saturday, Apple officially met an original deadline-- without moving the finish line, and without sneakily changing the specifics of what would be delivered. (Those of you who remember when the Premiere release of "Rhapsody" was supposed to ship back in early 1998 should feel free to take a moment to be appropriately stunned.)... 3443: Fire? Ha! We Scoff At Fire (12/10/01) A couple of weeks ago we told you about an Australian Power Mac G4 that, despite having been horribly disfigured by intense heat, managed to survive a fire that killed a slew of lesser Wintels. Once the unit had been literally sawn open, all three of its hard disks were found to be in perfect working order with zero data loss; the RAM and SCSI cards worked; and once a display had been plugged into the charred monitor port, the owners discovered to their astonishment that the system still booted up just fine...
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