software update

Microsoft is deploying the first Windows Phone 8 update to select international devices; the first bump will arrive for the HTC Windows Phone 8X.

Dubbed "Portico," the over-the-air Windows Phone 8 update includes a number of new features as well as a fix for a pesky Wi-Fi bug.

As some readers may know, the HTC 8X will switch to a cellular connection upon going to standby. A nuisance for Microsoft's mobile base since the days of Windows Phone 7, the update now gives users the option to keep Wi-Fi going even after the screen times out.

In … Read more

Good news to anyone who's hungry for Jelly Bean: Motorola recently modified a customer support page that outlines the various devices expected to receive Android updates.

The Motorola Droid Razr HD and Droid Razr Maxx HD are the latest to see the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update, both of which are reflected on the support page. Looking ahead, the Atrix HD will be next in line to see the update, slated for later this month.

Moving into the new year, the Electrify M and both versions of the Xoom tablet should see an update prompt in Q1. As … Read more

If you own one of Apple's latest 2012 Mac Mini systems and are attempting to update it to the latest version of OS X, you may find the update is not available via the App Store's Software Update service. Furthermore, if you download the manual updater for 10.8.2 and attempt to install it, you will see an error that states: "Error: OS X Update can't be installed on this disk. This volume does not meet the requirements for this update."

The reason for this error is the 2012 Mac Mini requires a special … Read more

Apple just released the first update to iOS 6, set to fix a few bugs and improve performance. iOS 6.0.1 is available through the usual methods, over-the-air (OTA) or iTunes. But, if you use an iPhone 5, you will be presented with the screen above when you attempt to update using the OTA method.

To begin the process, launch the Settings app, tap on General, and then Software Update. Once you do that, you'll see the above message. Tap on Learn More to begin the process of fixing a bug that prevents your iPhone 5 from updating … Read more

Apple has released a supplemental update to OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion that fixes some outstanding issues that were introduced in or were not addressed by the most recent 10.8.2 update. The fixes include problems with Lion systems taking forever to back up to Time Machine, and a problem in which Mountain Lion would not allow users to access secure Web sites with parental controls, among others.

The specific fixes addressed in the updates are the following:

OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.2 Supplemental Update (26.65MB)

Apple's Software Update is a convenient and easy way to keep your Mac up-to-date with the latest security fixes and feature enhancements. To make the service user-friendly, it's been available as a simple graphic-based tool in the Apple menu, but in recent versions of OS X Apple has integrated this service with its Mac App Store. Though it's convenient for most people, if you do not wish to open the Mac App Store for managing updates, there's a way you can avoid it.

Unfortunately there is no known way to revert the Software Update service from … Read more

Following yesterday's release of iTunes 10.7 and updates to iMovie, a number of people have been unable to install the updates. Upon selecting Software Update from the Apple menu, the Mac App Store will launch and begin the update process, but will give a warning that an error has occurred. Sometimes the warning says, "A server with the specified hostname cannot be found," and at other times it's "The operation couldn't be completed (NSURLErrorDomain error -1100).

This error is likely from a misconfiguration on Apple's part in how it has hosted its … Read more

Yesterday OS X developers and testers received a new build of the Mountain Lion developer preview, which implements a new emphasis on security by enhancing updating procedures. In prior versions of OS X, Apple offered options to download updates in the background and automatically check for updates, but has now provided the option to both check for important software updates daily over an encrypted connection and have them install automatically.

This new development in OS X mimics the "silent update" approach that Adobe recently added to Flash, and is a great way to enhance the security of OS … Read more