Apple just released iOS 6.0.1. The software update has hit Apple’s servers and is propagating now; iOS 6.0.1 is a bug fix release, which improves reliability of the iPhone 5 and iPod touch 5th gen on WiFi networks with WPA2 encryption, fixes the widely-reported issue of horizontal lines showing up on the software keyboard, and improves the behavior of the Camera flash.

iOS 6.0.1 changelog

• Fixes a bug that prevents iPhone 5 from installing software updates wirelessly over the air
• Fixes a bug where horizontal lines may be displayed across the keyboard
• Fixes an issue that could cause camera flash to not go off
• Improves reliability of iPhone 5 and iPod touch (5th generation) when connected to encrypted WPA2 Wi-Fi networks
• Resolves an issue that prevents iPhone from using the cellular network in some instances
• Consolidated the Use Cellular Data switch for iTunes Match
• Fixes a Passcode Lock bug which sometimes allowed access to Passbook pass details from lock screen
• Fixes a bug affecting Exchange meetings

For over-the-air updates, iPhone 5 users will have to install an iOS Updater utility first, which requires a full reboot of the device before installing iOS 6.0.1. After the restart, the Software Update panel in settings will allow you to download iOS 6.0.1.

Direct Links

iOS 6.0.1 direct download links below (build number 9B206).

• iPhone 3GS
• iPhone 4 GSM
• iPhone 4 CDMA
• iPhone 4S
• iPhone 5,1 (model A1428, AT&T/Canada)
• iPhone 5,2 (model A1429, all others)
• iPad 2 (also iPad 2 AT&T and iPad 2 Verizon)
• iPad2,4 (32nm 16GB iPad 2)
• iPod touch 4th gen
• iPod touch 5th gen
• iPad 3 WiFi
• iPad 3 CDMA (3,2)
• iPad 3 Global (3,3)
• iPad 4th gen (3,4)
• iPad mini (2,5)

Apple has released 10.7.4 for OS X, which brings significant bug fixes, network improvements, and Safari 5.1.6 (a performance and stability update). Release notes for the 730 MB download can be found on Apple’s support pages.

Download links for the 10.7.4 update have been posted below:

• Client update (692.68 MB)
• Client Combo update (1.4 GB)
• Server update (738.71 MB)
• Server Combo update (1.49 GB)

The OS X Lion v10.7.4 Update includes fixes that:

• Resolve an issue in which the “Reopen windows when logging back in” setting is always enabled.
  Improve compatibility with certain British third-party USB keyboards.
• Addresses permission issues that may be caused if you use the Get Info inspector function “Apply to enclosed items…” on your home directory. For more information, see this article.
• Improve Internet sharing of PPPoE connections.
• Improve using a proxy auto-configuration (PAC) file.
• Address an issue that may prevent files from being saved to an SMB server.
• Improve printing to an SMB print queue.
• Improve performance when connecting to a WebDAV server.
• Enable automatic login for NIS accounts.
• Include RAW image compatibility for additional digital cameras.
• Improve the reliability of binding and logging into Active Directory accounts.
• The OS X Lion v10.7.4 Update includes Safari 5.1.6, which contains stability improvements.

Also released, contrary to the 10.7.4 release notes, is a separate download for Safari 5.1.7. This update disables out-of-date versions of Adobe’s Flash Player to address security concerns, but a manual fix is provided if you’d like to reenable the outdated Flash Player installed on your system. Information about Safari 5.1.7 can be found on the following support page. You can check Software Update, or download 5.1.7 from Apple’s website.

Safari 5.1.7 for OS X Lion and Safari 5.1.7 for OS X Snow Leopard disable out-of-date versions of Adobe Flash Player.

Out-of-date versions of Adobe Flash Player do not include the latest security updates and will be disabled to help keep your Mac secure. If Safari 5.1.7 detects an out-of-date version of Flash Player on your system, you will see a dialog informing you that Flash Player has been disabled. The dialog provides the option to go directly to Adobe’s website, where you can download and install an updated version of Flash Player.

Two days after their initial announcement and on the heels of F-Secure’s removal tool, checking Software Update on your Mac should prompt you for Apple’s latest Java update for OS X. The 2012-003 update removes common variants of the Flashback trojan, as well as disabling automatic execution of Java applets. While you will be able to turn the ability to run Java applets back on through the Java Preferences app, it will automatically be disabled if you don’t consistently access or run applets after a period of time.

For more information, you can read the support article or the supplementary information provided through Software Update.

[Apple Support via The Loop]

Following the announcement of OS X Mountain Lion this morning, Pocket-lint has obtained more details regarding the distribution model for the new OS, and the way it will handle software updates in the future.

According to the website, OS X Mountain Lion will be available exclusively from the Mac App Store, breaking Apple’s usual tradition of making a physical copy of a new operating system available for purchase either online or through its retail stores. Mountain Lion won’t come on a dedicated USB Thumb Drive either, as Apple feels confident the experiment with Lion last year proved customers are ready for digital-only downloads and updates through the Mac App Store.

Including installs on new Apple Macs, Apple says that it has virtually shipped more than19 million copies of the current operating system, Lion, to date, with a 30 per cent uptake from Snow Leopard users, suggesting the digital download path has been a successful one.

Apple has confirmed to Pocket-lint though that its concerns weren’t justified with customers not remotely interested in the USB drive offering:

“It was an interesting test, but it turns out the App Store was just fine for getting the new OS.

In a similar fashion, Mountain Lion will adopt a new Mac App Store-based software update system that will get rid of the Mac’s standalone Software Update panel to unify new updates inside the Mac App Store to avoid user confusion and offer a single place to update both apps and the operating system.

Explaining to Pocket-lint in a behind-closed-doors briefing for the new developer preview of Mac OS X Mountain Lion, Apple has told us that the new method will offer updates to the OS and Apple applications in a similar way to how it does on iOS via the App Store, but in this case via the Mac App Store.

It also presumably means that all Apple users will be required to set up an Apple account to access software updates in the future, as well as to encourage users to keep the Mac App Store logo on their Dock to easily see when updates appear, although that has yet to be confirmed or set in stone – It is still early days for the developer preview.

When Apple released Lion last year, confusion indeed arose as to whether the company would release software updates through the dedicated desktop utility, or via the Mac App Store, which had been used to digitally distribute the OS. As it turned out for the best part of Lion’s history to date, Apple adopted a strange “Software Update first” model that saw new versions of Lion — such as 10.7.1 or 10.7.2 — released on Software Update and Apple’s website, then a few hours (or days) later via the Mac App Store. The Mac App Store updates, however, only allowed users to download the entire Lion installer, thus forcing those who simply wanted to update the OS, and not set up a fresh installation of OS X, to use Software Update or manually download a Combo updater from Apple’s servers.

While we’ll have to wait and see how Apple’s digital-only (for real this time) policy will play out for Mountain Lion upgraders, we think the Software Update overhaul is a welcome change. The previous system was confusing, inconsistent, and this new one is inspired by iOS’ simplicity and one-click access to ease the process of updating desktop software.

You can read more about Mountain Lion in our complete overview.

Earlier today, Apple announced a new iPod nano model, which will ship with an updated version of its software pre-installed. This new iPod nano software will include new clock faces, new fitness features, and a refreshed user interface with bigger icon navigation. From Apple’s press release:

iPod nano now features larger icons for even easier navigation of its intuitive Multi-Touch™ user interface, and you can choose from 16 new digital clock faces, ranging from classic analog looks to your favorite Disney characters including Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse. iPod nano now tracks your runs and walks right out of the box with no accessory required, making it even easier to get your fitness program up and running. iPod nano can track the time, pace and distance of your run, the calories you burn, and the number of steps you walk. iPod nano encourages you with motivational real-time voice feedback during your run, available in seven languages, while listening to your favorite music or FM radio station. You can also easily upload workouts to the Nike+ website to set goals, track your progress and challenge friends. The ultra portable iPod nano is available in seven colors including silver, graphite, blue, green, orange, pink and (PRODUCT) RED.

Whereas many had initially claimed the new iPod nano software would be exclusive to the latest nano model, Apple has made available a software update in iTunes that enables the latest functionalities on the 2010 iPod nano. The update can be installed now by iPod nano 2010 owners by checking for updates in iTunes, as shown below. Interestingly enough, the new navigation UI is optional and users can revert back to the old grid interface in the iPod’s settings.

Released a few minutes ago on Apple’s Software Update and Downloads website, Aperture 3.1.3 is slowly rolling out to users with several bug fixes, minor enhancements, and performance improvements. Among the list of changes, Apple has improved support for gestures with a new checkbox in the Preferences to enable or disable them, and fixed an issue that caused Aperture to crash when trimming audio in full-screen mode. Various fixes all around should make the app more stable and reliable ahead of Lion’s release, rumored to be scheduled for tomorrow.

Full changelog below:

• Improves reliability and performance when syncing web-published albums
• Slideshow exports are now handled as a background operation
• Crop tool now correctly supports use of gestures to define crop size
• Gesture support can now be enabled or disabled in Preferences
• Fixes an issue that could cause a blank sheet to display when placing a book or print order
• Published MobileMe, Facebook and Flickr albums now appear in a Web section in the Projects Inspector
• Shift-clicking snapshots on the Faces corkboard now allows you to make contiguous selections
• Metadata presets are now correctly applied to imported audio files
• Fixes an issue that could cause Aperture to quit unexpectedly when trimming audio in full screen mode
• Resolves various issues when adding names to Faces using accented, Japanese, Korean or Simplified Chinese characters
• Improves stability when browsing video clips
• Addresses reliability of library repair and rebuild

Unlike with the latest iLife ’11 updates, the new version of Aperture appears to be available only through Software Update and Apple’s website for now. The Mac App Store, in fact, at the moment of writing this still reports version 3.1.2 as the latest one available. Full release notes after the break.
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Following the release of @comex’s latest jailbreak tool yesterday, JailbreakMe 3.0, many wondered how long it would take for Apple to take action and patch the security hole that allows special PDF documents opened through Mobile Safari to give admin privileges to code hidden inside them. The method, discovered and developed by comex, enables JailbreakMe to install Cydia on devices running iOS 4.3 and above with a simple click, making it the easiest jailbreak ever developed for a variety of devices including the iPad 2. The exploit works on various versions of iOS after 4.3, but the iPad 2 is only being targeted on iOS 4.3.3. As a preliminary version of the exploit leaked online before the official jailbreak was released, comex had already warned users that Apple would soon issue a software update to patch the vulnerability.

The Associated Press reports [via The Next Web] Apple Inc. spokeswoman Bethan Lloyd has confirmed the company is aware of the issue and is developing a fix that will be available via Software Update. A group of German researchers took a look at comex’s exploit yesterday, and warned Apple that any maliciously crafted PDF could take advantage of the Safari hole to install code on a device without a user’s consent.

Apple Inc. spokeswoman Bethan Lloyd said Thursday the company is “aware of this reported issue and developing a fix that will be available to customers in an upcoming software update.”

She declined to specify when the update would be available.

In the past, Apple closed another PDF vulnerability that allowed the installation of Cydia through JailbreakMe 2.0 in roughly a week. Whilst Cydia developers are relying on an exploit that could also be used by malware creators, they’re also taking the necessary steps to prevent the vulnerability from working again after the jailbreak is done and Cydia is installed. In fact, they have released a “PDF Patcher” tool that, once installed from Cydia, will make the exploit used to jailbreak a device unusable. For this reason, Apple will soon issue a software update to officially close the hole, but it’s very likely that several users who don’t want to lose their jailbreaks, yet want to stay secure, will install the unofficial patcher from Cydia.

Following the variety of reports from the past weeks that claimed Apple would announce new Time Capsule and AirPort Extreme models at WWDC, an AirPort Utility update was released last night for Mac and Windows, bringing minor fixes to desktop users. AirPort Utility is Apple’s management software to configure and set up an AirPort base station or Time Capsule. Hidden in the update, however, there were some code strings spotted by MacRumors forum members that are hinting at 3rd generation Time Capsules and AirPort Extremes with a software update caching system. This was previously reported as a new feature of these products that would allow a Time Capsule (or AirPort Extreme) to download software updates in the background, cache them, and send them to computers and devices in seconds without the user waiting for the entire download process.

The code strings:

“bsUP.productName” = “Store Apple software updates on this %@”;

“bsUP.description” = “Apple software updates that are copied to this %@ are available to anyone using this network.”;

K31 K30B Time Capsule (Simultaneous Dual-Band, Gen3)

K10B Apple AirPort Extreme (Simultaneous Dual-Band, Gen3)

Mentioned in the app’s contents are also a 4th generation Time Capsule and a 5th generation AirPort Extreme. The existing simultaneous dual-band Time Capsules and AirPort Extremes are indicated as 2nd-gen by Apple, thus leading to speculation that an upcoming refresh would be the third generation mentioned in code.

In the weeks leading up to WWDC, several rumors suggested the new Time Capsule (Apple’s flagship router solution with integrated Time Machine capabilities) would be a complete redesign running a custom version of iOS through an A5 chip. Others also claimed Apple had implemented a way to store iCloud media on the Time Capsule (or hard drive attached to an AirPort Extreme) so iOS devices on the same local network wouldn’t have to download or stream content every time. As Apple didn’t announce any streaming feature for iCloud, however, it’s unlikely the Time Capsule would be capable of caching content downloadable from iTunes otherwise. The possibility of a caching system was also suggested by Daring Fireball’s John Gruber, who hinted at iOS software update without tethering to a computer. iOS 5 does have OTA updates built into the Settings app, so the Time Capsule would serve as a caching mechanism to download updates in the background, allowing users to close the Settings app and receive the update when it’s already been downloaded.