Odds and Ends: Game-related bug fixes; iBoom electrical issue; more

Game-related bug fixes MacFixIt reader Robert Uyeyama notes a series of bug notes posted to a thread at Macologist.org that can help resolve some common issues with a number of Mac OS X games. Particularly:

" If you have a large mouse pointer stuck in the center of your screen during games, it's very likely due to DivX 5.21. Uninstall by removing Divx 5.component from /Library/Quicktime, and use another solution such as 3ivx or VLC."

and

"Some users reported not being able to run certain games, including Postal 2: Share the Pain, and the Spiderman 2 Demo. The application would bounce a few times in the Dock when launched, then immediately quit. Disabling the soundcard solved the problem."

iBoom electrical issue MacFixIt reader Brian Fellers reports a potentially dangerous problem with the iBoom, a boombox adapter for the iPod from Digital Outdoor Lifestyles:

"My father received an iBoom for Christmas and at first, everything seemed great. Initially, he plugged it into the wall and tried it out. Soon after, he put in the batteries and did some work outside. When he returned inside, he put the iBoom on his computer desk and just plugged it into the wall and listened to it while working on his computer (rather than draining the batteries). The following morning, he noticed the back of the unit was very hot and there was fluid around the iBoom. It turned out to be battery acid.

"It seems that if you plug in the iBoom, approximately 12.75 volts DC go to the 6 D cell batteries. This can be extremely bad possibly resulting in a fire.

"The iBoom was purchased from everythingipod.com and my father contacted them immediately. They promptly replied in an email and apologized for the problem and would ship a replacement immediately. They said that they were aware of this problem and were placing warnings on the unit itself and in the manual. My father received the replacement but it still had no mention of the power issue. He tested the replacement and it also is sending the current to the batteries.

"This is a very poor design and doesn't make any sense to me. Boom boxes of all types have been around for years and years and run off electric or batteries and don't have the problem that the iBoom does. Worse off, there is no documentation warning the consumer of such a problem. I think it's important that this information get propagated to as many people as possible."

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

SealedMedia plug-in now Adobe Reader 7.0-compatible Over the past few days we've been covering an issue with the "SealedMedia" plug-in for Adobe Reader -- which was previously incompatible with the version 7.0 release of Reader.

Andrea Hall, Marketing Director at SealedMedia, has now informed us that a patched, 7.0-compatible version of the SealedMedia plug-in has been made available:

"With an interim release issued last Monday (10 January) we now support Acrobat Reader 7. It was one of the main reasons we did the release. We encourage our users to contact us regarding questions and comments.  They can do so through our website at http://www.sealedmedia.com/company/request.asp."

Knowledge Base Updates

• Using iCal with Microsoft Entourage
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