MacRumors.com

Popular do-it-yourself repair site iFixit yesterday announced that it has released nearly 250 new repair guides covering in great detail a wide assortment of repairs for every Mac mini model and every 17" and 20" iMac model produced by Apple since 2004.

The repair manuals include in-depth disassembly guides, model identification tips, troubleshooting techniques, and upgrade information. The 241 new repair guides use 1,452 photos to clearly communicate each step of the repair.

The company has also launched an iMac parts store to allow consumers to purchase the necessary parts for their repairs.

Apple today released a pair of software updates targeting users involved in remote administration of Snow Leopard Server and users of Apple's Boot Camp solution for Windows.

- Server Admin Tools 10.6.2 provides updates to several applications used for remote administration of Snow Leopard Server.

The Server Admin Tools update is recommended for remote administration of Snow Leopard Server. This update includes the latest releases of:

- iCal Server Utility
- Podcast Composer
- Server Admin
- Server Monitor
- Server Preferences
- System Image Utility
- Workgroup Manager
- Xgrid Admin

Full details on the update, which weighs in at 241.40 MB and requires Mac OS X 10.6.2, are available in Apple's associated support document.

- Boot Camp Drivers Update 2.2 for Windows offers updated Windows drivers for users booting to that operating system using Apple's Boot Camp solution. The update addresses several issues related to the trackpad and audio-out port, as well as providing support for Apple's new multi-touch Magic Mouse and updated wireless keyboard.

This update addresses issues with the Apple trackpad and turns off the red digital audio port LED on laptop computers when it is not being used. It also includes support for the Apple Magic mouse and wireless keyboard. It is intended only for use with Microsoft Windows XP and Microsoft Windows Vista running on a Mac computer using Boot Camp.

The update weighs in at 23.87 MB and requires Windows XP or Vista SP2 and a Mac running Boot Camp 2.1.

Apple yesterday released a pair of software updates targeting users of the company's 24" LED Cinema Display and Windows users of QuickTime 7.

LED Cinema Display iSight Firmware Update 1.0 addresses and issue with the iSight webcam included on the company's 24" LED Cinema Display.

This firmware update corrects an issue with the built-in iSight camera on the LED Cinema Display where the camera may not be recognized by applications.

To complete the firmware update process, please follow the instructions in the updater application (/Applications/Utilities/LED Cinema Display iSight Camera Firmware Update.app). For more information about this update, please see this website.

The update weighs in at 654 KB and requires an Intel-based Mac running OS X 10.5.8 or 10.6.2.

Apple also released QuickTime 7.6.5, a Windows-only update addressing several bugs.

QuickTime 7.6.5 is a Windows-only release that addresses the following issues:
- Applications not reliably loading libraries required by QuickTime at startup
- Incorrect display of QuickTime movies embedded in a webpage using custom scale attributes
- For more information on this update, please visit this website.

Belgian newspaper De Standaard reports [Google translation] on the theft over the weekend of nearly 4,000 iPhones from a Willebroek warehouse of CEVA Logistics, a distribution company. The iPhones had been destined to be delivered to Mobistar, the sole official iPhone wireless provider in the country, and have been valued at approximately 2 million Euro or nearly $3 million.

Reports suggest that the burglary may have been an inside job, as the thieves used a fire ladder to access the roof of the large warehouse, where they cut a hole directly over where the iPhones, which had just been delivered to the building, were being stored. Mobistar notes that the devices have been blocked from the company's network, urging customers to be wary of purchasing iPhones through unauthorized sources.

"We have the serial numbers of stolen iPhones block[ed] anyway so they can not be used," says the spokesperson of Mobistar. "[For] people who want to buy an iPhone, [it] is best done in an approved outlet and not on street or on the black market."

Local police have launched an investigation into the burglary, but appear to have little information to go on at the moment.

Apple today released a series of printer driver updates for Snow Leopard users, bringing additional support for printer and multifunction devices from Brother, Canon, HP, and Lexmark.

- Brother Printer Drivers for Mac OS X v10.6 (99.9 MB)
- Canon Printer Drivers for Mac OS X v10.6 (274.59 MB)
- HP Printer Drivers for Mac OS X v10.6 (387.44 MB)
- Lexmark Printer Drivers for Mac OS X v10.6 (117 MB)

Full information on Snow Leopard printer driver support is available on Apple's support document, which includes notations of models for which drivers have been recently added or updated.

Boy Genius Report notes that it has received an image that will reportedly soon be sent via e-mail alerting customers to upcoming Black Friday discounts on Apple merchandise. Black Friday, which is always the day after Thanksgiving in the United States and traditionally marks the start of the holiday shopping season with many retailers offering deep discounts, falls on November 27th this year.

This time around, it looks as if Apple will be offering up to 30% off on all iPods (Update: excluding iPhone and iPod shuffle, sorry), up to 25% off Macs, and up to 15% off all accessories as well as Apple software and hardware. The deal is only good for the day of November 27th and if that's not good enough, "select" Apple stores will open at 6AM. This is unconfirmed but it doesn't seem too unrealistic.

Unfortunately, we disagree with Boy Genius Report's assessment that this represents a "realistic" set of Black Friday offerings for Apple. While Apple does participate in Black Friday sales, its discounts have traditionally been much more modest than those suggested in the leaked image, generally only in the neighborhood of 10% and only on select items. Consequently, we are posting this report on Page 2 merely for interest and discussion.

CNET reports on recent discussion that indirectly reveals that Google is planning on releasing an official beta version of its Chrome browser for Mac in "early December". Developer builds of the Mac version of Chrome have been available for testing for several months, but the move to a beta designation implies a more polished version that could be considered acceptable for many mainstream users.

The disclosure came as part of a posting from Google Chrome product manager Nick Baum encouraging web developers to begin utilizing a feature called Browser Actions that allows them to place interactive icons in the main Chrome toolbar. Baum acknowledged that the functionality is currently only available on Windows and Linux versions of Chrome, but pointed to the benefits of being able to "polish" the experience ahead of the beta launch in early December, further noting that such a move would remove Mac compatibility until that time.

Why make the switch now? The earlier you switch, the more time you will have to polish your experience for our Beta launch in early December. We realize this means dropping Mac support for a couple of weeks, but we already have people working on that. If you prioritize the Windows and Linux versions, we'll bring you cross-platform parity as soon as we can!

Google currently offers three distribution channels for Chrome: Developer Preview for early-stage development, Beta for relatively stable but unpolished builds, and Stable for "rock solid" performance without the latest features still undergoing testing. The apparent move of the Mac version into Beta channel releases confirms that Google is continuing to push forward on Mac development despite having missed what appeared to have been a goal of a full launch of Chrome for Mac in the first half 2009.

Microsoft today issued a handful of updates for users of the company's Office productivity suite. While much of the documentation for these releases mysteriously lists October release dates, the updates do appear to have just been issued today.

- Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.2.3 Update (349.5 MB): According to the associated support document, the update includes suite-wide security and stability updates, as well as a number of specific fixes for issues in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Entourage, and Document Connection for Mac.

- Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.5.6 Update (16.6 MB): Microsoft's notes on the update suggest that the primary focus of the small update is on security fixes, primarily flaws in Word and Excel also addressed in the Office 2008 update that could result in remote code execution.

Security is improved for all Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac applications. The Office 2004 for Mac 11.5.6 Update fixes vulnerabilities in Office 2004 that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer's memory with malicious code. For more information, see the security bulletins that are listed earlier in this document.

- Open XML File Format Converter for Mac 1.1.3 (45.1 MB): An update to Microsoft's tool that allows documents saved in the new Office 2007/2008 formats to be opened on earlier versions of Office, the support document associated with the update does not appear to specify the exact changes included in this new version of the converter software.

- Microsoft Entourage 2008 for Mac, Web Services Edition (64.4 MB): The update to Microsoft's tools allowing users to communicate with Exchange Server brings several new features to calendaring, synchronization, and logging.

Engadget points to an article from Shufflegazine about NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang's recent visit to Dubai where he was photographed with a slim slate-style tablet computer. The device's sleek profile, iPhone-style "home" button at the bottom front of the device, and suggestions of an iSight-like webcam in the top of the front bezel led to some initial speculation that the device might be related to Apple's much-rumored tablet computer.

While Apple's tightly-guarded secrecy surrounding its future products made it highly unlikely that any high-ranking figure would allow themselves to be photographed in public with an unreleased Apple device, should they even have access to it, an update to the article has confirmed that the device is simply a prototype tablet developed by NVIDIA to pitch to potential partners.

Through other people present at the event who played with the tablet a bit (I didn't) I've been told it's a Tegra based tablet that NVIDIA have developed to show off to various companies. This one was made for T-Mobile and carried their logo.

Apple today released Wireless Keyboard Update 2.0, weighing in at 10.95 MB. The update description page provides scant information beyond compatibility with "special features" of the new wireless keyboard released alongside new iMacs last month.

Install this software to take advantage of your 2009 aluminum Apple Wireless Keyboard's special features.

The update requires Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later.

Boy Genius Report posts a brief tidbit noting that it has heard from two separate sources that AT&T (and thus Apple) is considering launching a $99 iPhone 3GS in time for Christmas.

We've heard now from two sources that AT&T, and we guess Apple, are contemplating launching an 8GB iPhone 3GS at the $99 price point before Christmas. One source said this was AT&T's way of combating the DROID madness.

No further details, such as whether Apple would simply replace the 8 GB iPhone 3G currently offered at that price point or retain the iPhone 3G model at an even lower price point, are provided.

Since the introduction of the iPhone 3GS earlier this year, Apple has continued to offer the older 8 GB iPhone 3G hardware in order to be able to position a product at the psychologically important low-end price point of $99.

Apple today released WaveBurner 1.6.1 Update, providing several enhancements to the professional production utility for mastering and authoring audio CDs available as part the company's Logic Studio suite.

This update improves stability and provides numerous fixes.

Issues addressed include:

- Mastering notes are now properly saved to disk

- Waveform display in the Mix Lane renders more consistently

A full list of changes is available in the WaveBurner 1.6.1 release notes. The update weighs in at 88.48 MB and requires OS X 10.5.7 or later.