14 DAY TRIAL // The third week of May is drawing to a close, with Apple offering a decent number of updates for both mobile and desktop users, including one Podcasts update that hopes to alleviate playback issues (to no avail, we hear), a big OS X Server update, and more.
Despite being launched on May 18 (Sunday evening, last week), we’re including Podcasts 2.1.1 in this week’s roundup, as the update only became a topic of discussion when this week started.
Podcasts 2.1.1 was released with the purpose of resolving “playback issues after syncing with iTunes and improves stability while downloading podcasts. Stability has also been improved when upgrading and when interacting with certain podcast episodes,” Apple said.
Unfortunately, dozens of users continue to leave one-star reviews, each containing a flurry of complaints about every aspect of the application. Apple still has a lot of work to do to mend things on the Podcasts front.
OS X Server 3.1.2 was released on May 19 with Calendar Server improvements for imports, invites and group scheduling, better Messages Server stability when using Chat Rooms, fixes for Profile Manager and improved reliability for sending Volume Purchase Program invitations, better management of Device Enrollment Program systems with long descriptive names, and more.
Offered as a free download to all existing users, OS X Server 3.1.2 is available via Software Update or from the Mac App Store as a 179 MB download.
Closing almost two dozen security flaws, Apple on Wednesday (May 21) released Safari 7.0.4 and Safari 6.1.4, which security firm Sophos says are must-have downloads for OS X customers.
Available for OS X Lion v10.7.5, OS X Lion Server v10.7.5, OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.5, and OS X Mavericks v10.9.3, these update address 22 WebKit flaws that would allow man-in-the-middle attacks.
“Visiting a maliciously crafted website may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution,” Apple states in the advisory for both updates.
On May 23, the last update of the week was deployed to the masses – iAd Producer 4.2. Used by people who rely on Apple’s platforms to monetize various ad campaigns, iAd Producer 4.2 adds support for creating full-screen iPhone banners and uploading iAd Producer projects to iAd Workbench, folder reorganization in the Assets sidebar and general fixes and tweaks to improve the app’s overall performance.
Join us next week and don’t forget to skim through the related topics below for other key Apple stories.