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Wow I went a bit crazy with Twitter Updates last week, didn’t I…

It’s all been very exciting these last few days around Apple and OSX, the 2.1 update came out on Friday (late blog, I know. Been busy busy busy), OSX 10.5.5 came out yesterday as well as a new version of VLC, although when I installed that it initially decisively refused to show the video track of anything I put through it. A second download from a different source cleared that up and it’s great to see it’s brought in a lot of requested features. I tested it out this morning with some Anime (It’s finally got Styled Subtitles so no more ugly and unreadable subtitles) and I’ll be putting it through it’s paces with some Hi-Def stuff later on when I plug it into my TV.

As for the iPhone 2.1 update, well Apple have done a very good job on it. Obviously they fixed that Gaping Hole in the security but after a few days of testing it seems to be running smoother, with a better battery life and better reception from what I can see. Certainly in the office where I work the reception has improved from puny Edge speeds to proper 3G internet. Backups and installations are faster and Apps scroll a lot better as well. All good here.

The iPwnage team have been busy as well, already got a 2.1 jailbreak so I can keep my last.fm updated with the Scrobbled app running in the background, as well as a few other tweaks. It’s a real shame to see that Apple are rejecting Apps for insignificant reasons and for dupilicating iTunes despite the latter being a very useful idea. “They are the gatekeepers,” I quote from a certain film which I’m sure you’ll know.

OSX 10.5.5 is a biggy, with fixes ranging from Time Machine stability to Mobile Me bug fixes to tweaks in iCal and Mail.app. My MBP desperately needs a full reinstall so after this upgrade (and like the one before it) it did it’s usual hanging on Restart and requiring a forced shutdown/restart a few times. After that it works just fine but I’d prefer a slightly smoother transition. Seems a bit nippier to start up so looks like it was a success.

In other news, despite all my Apple bashing I have actually got a preliminary interview with them for a place at the Regents Street branch in London! I applied at the start of this year for the Kingston Branch, had an interview, and basically never heard from them after that. Somewhat strange as I tried contacting them numerous times but could never get a reply even after months of trying. I noticed they were hiring again for the main London store, resubmitted my CV on their website (mostly complete, needed a bit of an update) and had a reply the following day for me to come in on Friday for some preliminaries. Nice. Hopefully I’ll be able to cut my two jobs (outside freelancing) down to one pretty soon.

I’ll be going up there on Thursday as well, the Kooks are playing a mini gig in the evening so I’ll head up there. Parents are away so I’m staying back at home to look after the cats but should be able to sneak away for a bit from their constant need for attention…