Apple on Monday evening began distributing iPhone Software version 1.1.2 to U.S. customers over iTunes.

The software update, which made its debut as part of the German and UK iPhone launches last Friday, had previously been available as a direct download for those brave enough to perform manual installations.

Reports have revealed that the update repairs a TIFF exploit, delivers support for dozens of foreign languages, and includes various localized keyboard layouts (No Arabic Keyboard yet).

Note: This update will disable 3rd party hacks/jailbreak/and unlocks so don’t upgrade just yet.

Update: A jailbreak has just been released for the new 1.1.2 update.

 

The next significant software update for Apple Inc.’s iPhone handset is unlikely to surface until early next year but will pack a system-wide search feature when it finally does arrive, according to information obtained by investment bank Piper Jaffray.

According to Appleinsider, The iPhone would obtain spotlight search feature that is notably known on it’s Desktop OS “Mac OSX”.

” We expect the next major update to come in February when the iPhone is opened to third-party applications,” analyst Gene Munster wrote in a research report Monday. “As part of this update we also expect a contextual search feature, similar to Spotlight on a Mac.”

An iPhone SDK will be released sometime in February 2008 which will enable 3rd party apps to be developed for the Device.

according to the folks AppleInsider, it looks like we could now be fast approaching an actual debut of the often discussed ultra-portable Apple laptop. If they’re right, the system (which is said to be a 13-incher) will be introduced at the Macworld Expo in January and, as previously speculated, it apparently won’t boast an internal optical disc drive. That, along with some desirable NAND flash storage, will supposedly make the system about 50 percent lighter than Apple’s current 15-inch MacBook Pro, not to mention “strikingly slimmer”.

 

As AppleInisder points out, those changes should also help to make the system considerably more power-efficient, with an LED-backlit display also helping on that front.

 

 Nothing is solid yet but we can wait and see.

Apple has been running a new Get A Mac ad during today’s American football games.

The ad includes PC getting a consultant and once again touches on the trouble people have been having with Vista and references desires of some to downgrade to XP. The final screenshot is of an iMac with the Leopard background.As of this posting, the ad has not been posted to Apple’s site.

Source :Macrumors

Update: Apple has now Officially posted the new TV Ad mentioned above, “PR Lady”, as well as two other ads: “Boxer” and “Podium.”

It has been discovered that iTunes 7.5 carries resources indicative of forthcoming movie rental and video on demand functionality.

 

rental-content
rental-bag
rbsync
source-rental-info
dest-rental-info
getvodaccountselectionlist
GET VOD ACCOUNT SELECTION LIST
supportsRentals

No word yet if this would be a hidden feature yet to be enabled by apple or they were just testing the ability to stream content that way. Also, deals yet to be made with Hollywood studios in regards to an online service that would launch this fall.

Today Apple released an update to the iPhone and the iPod touch software. This brings the versioning number to 1.1.2. So far, the TIFF exploit that allowed the iPod touch to be hacked has been patched. Add event to the Calendar of the iPod touch has been added. Battery status for the iPhone is shown on iTunes. This goes without saying but if you have hacked your iPhone or iPod touch don’t attempt this upgrade until we post further details about its hack-ability. iTunes is going to ask you but don’t worry about it. So again, don’t update if you have a hacked iPhone and if you like your touch the way it is then wait.

UPDATE : TUAW‘s in-house hacker — Erica Sadun — is reporting that v1.1.2 is already hacked on the iPod touch. That bodes well for opening up your new UK and German iPhone, a screenshot up there — proof of the deed since that functionality is only available from your friendly third party development community. A full guided document should be uploaded soon.

The Hard Drive Update 1.0 [1.4MB] includes bug fixes and important updates for iMac Core 2 Duo systems running Mac OS X 10.4.7 or later, and Mac Pro workstations running Mac OS X 10.4.7 or later.

To complete the firmware update process, Apple instructs users to follow the instructions in the updater application. The updater will launch automatically when the Installer closes.

Pocket-lint.co.uk received confirmation from Apple that the 1.1.2 firmware update would become available to all iPhone owners this Friday, November 9th.

Although the time could not be confirmed, iPhone owners who sync their device with iTunes tomorrow in the States will be presented with the option to upgrade to the new firmware.

The new firmware incorporates more international language support, and there have been rumors that it will again break many of the 3rd party hacks for the iPhone.

Source : Macrumors

As expected, Apple has started seeding Mac OS 10.5.1 to developers for testing. The latest seed carries a build number of 9B13 and offers a number of fixes.

Apple details a number of issues addressed in the seed. Specifically, there have been fixes to Mail Sync, Spotlight Index, Disk Management, DesktopServices and moving files across partitions, Text Drawing, iCal and CalDAV syncing, Keychain login, Read-Only Issue with SMB, AirPort 802.1X, Application Firewall, To-Do Notes, and Smart Mailboxes. This list of issues, however, is never exhaustive, so other bugs may have also been addressed in this seed. The seed is only available to ADC developers, and not yet available to the general public.

Apple released Mac OS X Leopard on October 26th and sold over 2 million copies in the first weekend. There have been some vocal complaints about bugs in the first version of Mac OS X 10.5.

With the release of iTunes 7.5, Apple promised support for a new iPod game called “Phase” (iTunes link). The game was released yesterday to iTunes and sells for $4.99.