Never knock an iPhoto update, as huge as they may be.

On Tuesday, Apple released its iPhoto 9.4.3 update. The update, a 759 megabyte download, adds the following fixes and changes:
- Photos can now be deleted from My Photo Stream by dragging to the Trash.

- Photos can now be exported from Photo Stream using the Export command in the File menu.

- RAW images manually imported from My Photo Stream are now editable.

- Fixes a bug that could cause manually-rotated photos to appear unrotated when shared to Photo Stream.

- Addresses an issue that could cause iPhoto to quit unexpectedly while syncing to Facebook.

- Resolves an issue that could cause calendar text to appear at the wrong font size, resulting in order cancellation.

- Fixes an issue that could cause books to have an incorrect number of pages after rearranging two-page spreads.

- Includes stability improvements.

iPhoto 9.4.3 retails for US$49 as part of iLife ’11 and requires an Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X 10.7.5 or later to install and run.

If you’ve tried the update and noticed any changes, please let us know.

Don’t worry…your next-gen iPhone is en route.

Or at least being constructed.

Per iMore and the Wall Street Journal, Apple has been targeting an August time frame for the next-generation iPhone 5S, and while that may or may not include more recently rumored software scheduling issues, it does sound like the general time frame is still accurate enough for Foxconn to start ramping up for production. Lorraine Luk of the Wall Street Journal writes:

[Foxconn] said Monday it has added about 10,000 assembly-line workers per week in Zhengzhou, its major production facility for iPhones, since the last week of March.

“We have been very busy recently as we will start mass-producing the new iPhone soon,” said a Zhengzhou-based executive who has direct knowledge of production plans.

If Apple sticks to its 2009 and 2011 pattern of keeping the same casing two years in a row and releasing an S-class update, then presumably it’ll be an easier ramp up than last year where the manufacturing technology needed to produce the insanely redesigned iPhone 5 led to the usual transitional hiccups and supply constraints.

If that’s the case, then software and services, namely iOS 7, and iCloud could be the major factors in determining the final release window for Apple next iPhone.

To date, every new iPhone has shipped with a new version of iOS, and the iPhone 4S shipped with iCloud. That coupling makes for greater product impact, but also greater dependency.

Hopefully, if hardware is ramping up, that’s a sign everything else is also starting to line back up.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

Never knock a good public beta of a useful application.

On Monday, Adobe released a beta of version 5.0 of its Lightroom image editing program. The new version, a 437 megabyte download via MacUpdate, offers the following fixes and changes:
- Advanced Healing Brush: Easily remove objects and fix defects — even those with irregular shapes such as threads or lint — with a single brush stroke. Take precise control over what’s being removed as you make unwanted objects just disappear.

- Upright: Straighten tilted images with a single click. Upright analyzes images and detects skewed horizontal or vertical lines. You choose one of four correction methods, and Upright can even straighten images where the horizon is hidden.

- Radial Gradient: Lead your viewer’s eye through your images with more flexibility and control. The radial gradient tool lets you create off-center vignette effects, or multiple vignette areas within a single image.

- Offline editing with Smart Previews: Easily work with images without bringing your entire library with you. Just generate smaller stand-in files called Smart Previews.
Make adjustments or metadata additions to Smart Previews and your changes will be automatically applied to the full-size originals later.

- Video slideshow sharing: Easily share your work in elegant video slideshows. Combine still images, video clips, and music in creative HD videos that can be viewed on almost any computer or device.

- Improved photo book creation: Create beautiful photo books from your images. Lightroom includes a variety of easy-to-use book templates, and now you can edit them to create a customized look. Upload your book for printing with just a few clicks.

The Adobe Lightroom 5.0 beta is available for free and requires an Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X 10.7 or later to install and run.

If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback to offer, please let us know in the comments.

Not to worry, Foxconn will have enough people on board to construct the next-gen iPhone.

Per Bloomberg, after a brief freeze on hiring, Foxconn has allegedly begun adding employees again at one of its Chinese factories — a move said to be made in anticipation of Apple’s next iPhone.

Foxconn is in the process of gearing up to build Apple’s 2013 iPhone, a source stated to Bloomberg. The handset is commonly referred to as a so-called “iPhone 5S,” though the actual name for the unannounced product remains unknown.

A hiring freeze was instituted by Foxconn in February after more workers returned from the Chinese New Year break than did last year. Some had speculated the freeze may have been related to weaker-than-expected demand for the iPhone 5.

The new hires at Foxconn were reportedly requested by Apple to boost capacity in anticipation of its next flagship smartphone. In addition to assembling the “iPhone 5S,” the employees are also expected to handle existing models, such as the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S.

Rumors as to when Apple plans to launch its next iPhone have been varied, with some expecting a new handset to be unveiled as soon as June, which would mark less than a full year after the launch of the iPhone 5. In contrast, well-connected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said last week that he expects Apple to face a number of technical challenges in assembling the “iPhone 5S.”

According to Kuo, Apple is planning to include a fingerprint scanner underneath the home button of its next iPhone. This feature would allow users to bypass password entry and could potentially open the door to e-wallet functionality, but the inclusion of a fingerprint scanner is expected by Kuo to cause the “iPhone 5S” to launch later than some expect.

“Apple has to work out how to prevent interference from the black and white coating material under the cover glass,” Kuo said. “Apple is the first to attempt this function and technology, and time is needed to find the right coating material, which will likely affect iPhone 5S shipments.”

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

A good set of bug fixes never hurt anyone.

VirtualBox, an open source x86 virtualization project available for free has just hit version 4.2.10. The new version, a 150 megabyte download, features the following fixes and changes:
- VMM: fixed a Guru Meditation on putting Linux guest CPU online if nested paging is disabled

- VMM: invalidate TLB entries even for non-present pages.

- GUI: Multi-screen support: fixed a crash on visual-mode change.

- GUI: Multi-screen support: disabled guest-screens should now remain disabled on visual-mode change.

- GUI: Multi-screen support: handle host/guest screen plugging/unplugging in different visual-modes.

- GUI: Multi-screen support: seamless mode: fixed a bug when empty seamless screens were represented by fullscreen windows.

- GUI: Multi-screen support: each machine window in multi-screen configuration should have correct menu-bar now (Mac OS X hosts).

- GUI: Multi-screen support: machine window View menu should have correct content in seamless/fullscreen mode now (Mac OS X hosts).

- GUI: VM manager: vertical scroll-bars should be now updated on content/window resize.

- GUI: VM settings: fixed crash on machine state-change event.

- GUI: don’t show warnings about enabled or disabled mouse integration if the VM was restored from a saved state.

- Virtio-net: properly announce that the guest has to handle partial TCP checksums (bug #9380).

- Storage: Fixed incorrect alignment of VDI images causing disk size changes when using snapshots (bug #11597).

- Audio: fixed broken ALSA & PulseAudio on some Linux hosts due to invalid symbol resolution (bug #11615).

- PS/2 keyboard: re-apply keyboard repeat delay and rate after a VM was restored from a saved state (bug #10933).

- BIOS: updated DMI processor information table (type 4): corrected L1 & L2 cache table handles.

- Timekeeping: fix several issues which can lead to incorrect time, Solaris guests sporadically showed time going briefly back to Jan 1 1970.

- Main/Metrics: disk metrics are collected properly when software RAID, symbolic links or rootfs are used on Linux hosts.

- VBoxManage: don’t stay paused after a snapshot was created and the VM was running before.

- VBoxManage: introduced controlvm nicpromisc (bug #11423).

- VBoxManage: don’t crash on controlvm guestmemoryballoon if the VM isn’t running (bug #11639).

- VBoxHeadless: don’t filter guest property events as this would affect all clients (bug #11644).

- Guest control: prevent double CR in the output generated by guest commands and do NLS conversion.

- Linux hosts / guests: fixed build errors on Linux 3.5 and newer kernels if the CONFIG_UIDGID_STRICT_TYPE_CHECKS config option is enabled (bug #11664).

- Linux Additions: handle fall-back to VESA driver on RedHat-based guests if vboxvideo cannot be loaded.

- Linux Additions: RHEL/OEL/CentOS 6.4 compile fix (bug #11586).

- Linux Additions: Debian Linux kernel 3.2.0-4 (3.2.39) compile fix (bug #11634).

- Linux Additions: added auto-logon support for Linux guests using LightDM as the display manager.

- Windows Additions: Support for multimonitor. Dynamic enable/disable of secondary virtual monitors.

- Support for XPDM/WDDM based guests.

- X11 Additions: support X.Org Server 1.14 (bug #11609).

VirtualBox 4.2.12 is available for free and requires an Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X 10.6 or later and an Intel-based Mac to install and run.

If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback, please let us know.

Even the minor updates help…

On Friday, Mozilla.org released version 20.0.1 of its Firefox web browser. The new version, a 40.2 megabyte download via MacUpdate, adds the following fixes and changes:

- Minor bug-fix.

Firefox 20.0.1 requires an Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X 10.6 or later to install and run.

If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback to offer, please let us know in the comments.

The next-gen iPhone may be a bit late in arrival.

Per ” target=”_blank”>AppleInsider, Ming-chi Kuo of KGI Securities, who has a strong track record in revealing Apple’s future product plans, shared a research note on Thursday that suggested Apple’s so-called “iPhone 5S,” a rumored low-cost iPhone, and a second-generation iPad mini will all launch later than market consensus expects.

These apparent delays are driven by a variety of issues, according to Kuo. For the “iPhone 5S,” he said Apple plans to include a fingerprint sensor that poses a number of technical challenges. An “iPhone 5S” fingerprint sensor, Retina display for next iPad mini, and ultrathin plastic casing for low-cost iPhone are expected to cause production challenges for Apple.

“Apple has to work out how to prevent interference from the black and white coating material under the cover glass,” he said. “Apple is the first to attempt this function and technology, and time is needed to find the right coating material, which will likely affect iPhone 5S shipments.”

Kuo has previously claimed that Apple plans to integrate a fingerprint sensor beneath the home button the next iPhone. This new technology would allow users to bypass password entry, and could also allow Apple to integrate secure e-wallet functionality.

Another hold-up for the next iPhone, according to Kuo, is the development of iOS 7, Apple’s anticipated next-generation mobile operating system. The analyst said Thursday that more time is likely to be needed for software development and testing, particularly with respect to the fingerprint scanning functions that will be included with the software.

As for the rumored low-cost iPhone said to be in the works at Apple, Kuo said Apple faces challenges with the casing on the device. He expects that the low-end iPhone will have a plastic casing that will be slimmer than such casings regularly are. Kuo correctly predicted the bulk of Apple’s 2012 product lineup. This year, he sees iPhone and iPad sales shrinking to single-digit growth in the third quarter because of apparent behind-the-scenes production delays.

“The slimmer casing may make it more difficult to ramp up production yields of coating and surface treatment, and could slow down the shipment timetable,” he said.

Finally, Kuo said the “iPad mini 2″ faces challenges with its display panels, as he expects Apple will opt to include a high-resolution Retina display with the second-generation device. This is expected to make the device more difficult to manufacture, which could delay shipments.

As a result of these issues, Kuo said it’s likely that Apple will see single-digit growth in iPhone and iPad shipments in the third quarter of 2013. That would be well below the market consensus, which sees Apple growing its sales by between 30 and 40 percent with the introductions of new products.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

You know that iRadio/content deal Apple was wrangling through with major studios and content providers? It may be about sorted out and have an actual delivery date.

According to The Verge, the Apple radio service, once rumored for late 2012 to Q1/2013, has now been pushed back to mid-late 2013 because of difficulty signing the labels. Today the Verge says that Warner is all but signed up at rates comparable to what Pandora pays the labels – which is to say a lot. Earlier reports put Apple’s asking price much lower.

Apple is expected to sign its first interner radio licensing agreement with a major record label perhaps as soon as next week, multiple sources with knowledge of the talks have stated. Apple initially offered to pay 6 cents per 100 songs streamed, or about half of what Pandora pays. Now, Apple will pay rates nearly “neck and neck” with Pandora, one of the sources said.

Per CNET, sources have apparently also indicated Universal is also close to signing and that Apple is hoping to go into a dozen territories by summer:

The press has dubbed the service “iRadio”, in negotiations with the labels Apple is referring to it as its “new streaming service,” says a source…Apple is building some unique features, such as the ability to jump back to the beginning of a song. Apple is hoping to quickly unveil the service in up to a dozen territories, according to sources, including the U.K, France, Germany, Australia, and Japan.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

A rumor’s a rumor, but there’s got to be something valid in there.

Per ZDNet, the outfit claims to have gotten its mitts on a Microsoft roadmap for next year and says on it is “iOS/Android support for Office”.

Also on the roadmap for fall 2014 is what’s listed as iOS/Android support for Office. While this could point to the rumored iOS release of Office, the most recent rumors/expectations have been that Microsoft may be making these mobile iOS/Android versions of Office available as part of an Office 365 subscription of some kind. The alleged roadmap makes no mention of an Office 365/subscription tie-in. It only mentions “iOS/Android” as a Gemini Fall 2014 deliverable.

Microsoft itself has dropped a couple hints at mobile support for Office including assorted job listings and references to Excel and Powerpoint on iPhone from last year.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

Video Lan Client, the nigh-indispensable open source media player for multiple audio and video formats (MPEG, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, Divx, ogg, etc.), was updated to version 2.0.6. The new version, a 41.9 megabyte download, adds the following fixes and changes:
- Support for Matroska v4 files.

- Fix WMV, Ogg, AVI, MP4 and subtitles crashes and issues.

- Numerous translations updates and new Welsh translation.

- Small fixes and improvements on the Mac OS X interface.

- Fix some HTTPS certificate rejection.

- Fix ALAC decoding.

- Fix FLAC 6.1 and 7.1 channel order.

- Fix the vimeo parser.

- Numerous D-Bus and MPRIS2 improvements.

VLC 2.0.6 requires an Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X 10.6 or later to install and run.

If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback to offer, let us know in the comments.