Apple

(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)

Updated at 12:15 p.m. PDT

While the majority of commenters on CNET and around the Web are reporting success in downloading iPhone OS 3.0 Wednesday, there were scattered reports of problems.

My colleague Stephen Shankland, a CNET News reporter, tried several times to download the OS update around 12 p.m. Pacific to his iPhone and received the same error message, pictured above, each time.

A handful of CNET commenters reported problems accessing iTunes. "I see that the upgrade is now available, but four times the message I get after a couple of minutes is that the download has 'timed out,'" said one reader, and another reported, "Same issue here, cannot connect to the iTunes store to activate so the phone won't work."

A quick perusal of Twitter showed a smattering of people with the same issue.

This, of course, is a repeat of what happened last year, when Apple's iTunes servers couldn't withstand the barrage of traffic when customers tried to update to iPhone 2.0 software at the same time new iPhone 3G buyers were attempting to activate their phones.

Anyone else having problems with the update today?

Update 12:45 p.m. PDT: Reader Michael Samstag wrote in to say his iPhone was rendered unusable when he tried to install the update. "It has the 'connect to iTunes' message and will only allow emergency calls," he says. "I signed up for the 'Apple callback' for tech support and they called back and put me on hold for 20-minutes. Then the call got disconnected and now the earliest callback time is between 6:15 p.m. EDT and 6:30 p.m. EDT. So, I'm looking at having no cell for a minimum of three hours, probably longer."

Gizmodo is also hearing reports of phones "bricked" from the update. We're still waiting for comment from Apple.

Update 1:05 p.m. PDT: We're also getting feedback about general sluggishness and intermittent problems accessing Apple's Mobile Me service. But it sounds like the situation isn't as bad as last year. That was when the simultaneous launch of the iPhone 3G and Mobile Me wreaked havoc on across Apple's servers and related Web services.

Update 2:26 p.m. PDT: My colleague Stephen now reports success in installing the update--after 30 tries over the course of 2.5 hours. Samstag, the reader who earlier reported his phone had been bricked by the update, also says it's working now.

Seems like things are getting back to normal now.

Updated 8:53 p.m. with download links and further details and 9:47 p.m. with hands-on testing results.

Google released Chrome for Mac OS X and Linux Thursday--but only in rough developer preview versions that the company warns are works in progress.

"In order to get more feedback from developers, we have early developer channel versions of Google Chrome for Mac OS X and Linux, but whatever you do, please DON'T DOWNLOAD THEM," Google product managers Mike Smith and Karen Grunberg said in a blog post, evidently trying to employ a little reverse psychology. "Unless of course you are a developer or take great pleasure in incomplete, unpredictable, and potentially crashing software."

Until now, Google's open-source browser has been a Windows-only product, and some Mac and Linux users have been clamoring for their own version. Google coders have been working to rebuild some Chrome components, such as its graphical interface and its sandbox that isolates different processes from each other, to move beyond just Windows.

Google offers three versions of Chrome: stable, beta, and developer preview. The Mac OS X and Linux versions fall into this last, category, the most buggy and least tested and complete.

Chrome for Mac OS X sports the same new-tab interface as the Windows version. (Click to enlarge.)

(Credit: Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

The Flash plug-in won't work, for example, so forget watching YouTube videos. Printing or bookmark management aren't implemented yet. And privacy controls aren't fully baked. Google said there are more than 400 bugs that need to be stomped.

Even though only released for the experimental crowd, the new versions are a big step forward for the browser. First, the versions will plug into Google's auto-update service that automatically downloads new versions. Second, the products bear the Google Chrome brand, not just the Chromium label of the only incarnations available until now. And third, a much larger audience will be helping Google debug the code through automated crash reports of the new versions.

Not everyone can try the Mac and Linux versions, though. Google spokesman Eitan Bencuya said the Linux version is supported only the Debian and Ubuntu incarnations of Linux, and the Mac OS X version only works on Intel-based Macs.

I gave the Mac OS X version a 40-minute whirl and was delighted to find one of my favorite Windows features--fast launch. Pages loaded reasonably quickly, too, though a few times the browser seemed to hang while loading one.

Chrome has edged up to 1.8 percent of the browser market--small but good enough for fourth place.

(Credit: Net Applications)

The only pages that didn't work for me were Yahoo Mail, which told me I had an unsupported browser, and those that required Flash. But a number of complicated JavaScript-based sites, including Gmail, Flickr Organizr, and Google Docs, had no troubles.

The animation around the tabs is pleasing, but also helps your mind grasp what's going on. A new tab rises up from the window frame. When you close a tab, the adjacent ones slide over to fill the gap. The active tab is lighter, though the other tabs are not as relatively dark as in an earlier build that I tried.

I experienced what I thought was one crash I feared brought down my machine, but after about 15 seconds the browser and machine became responsive again as if nothing had happened.

I was pleased to see the three-finger left or right swipe work to page backward and forward. However, some keyboard shortcuts were flaky--or perhaps I just have to learn new ones.

Google isn't saying when the new versions will make it to beta status, much less stable. "It's unclear. This is a first step," Bencuya said.

After years of near-dormancy when Microsoft's Internet Explorer ruled the roost, the browser world again is on fire, fueled by competition and a new generation of more interactive Web applications. Mozilla is on the cusp of releasing Firefox 3.5, as is Apple with Safari 4 for both Windows and Mac OS X. Opera 10 is in beta, and even battleship Microsoft is slowly starting to speed up with the weeks-old Internet Explorer 8.

The Mac OS X version, 3.0.182.5, is close to the latest Windows developer preview, 3.0.183.1.

(Credit: Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

According to Net Applications statistics, Internet Explorer remains the king of the heap, with 65.5 percent market share in May 2009. Firefox has 22.5 percent, Safari 8.4, and Chrome has edged up to 1.8 percent since its launch in September.

All this variety means Web developers have to test their sites to make sure they work with more versions. Because Chrome uses the WebKit engine for interpreting and displaying Web page coding, the same engine Safari uses, Google argues that Chrome should be similar. But Chrome uses a different engine for JavaScript called V8, and Web-based JavaScript instructions are at the heart of much of the present proliferation of elaborate Web pages and applications.

The browser challengers argue that having multiple browsers on the market means that Web programmers will aim more for supporting standards such as HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), and JavaScript. And indeed, Microsoft made a standards mode the default for IE 8. However, varying interpretations of standard and varying degrees of support complicate the matter, and a large number of people haven't upgraded from IE 6, much less IE 7.

Google is coming a bit closer to releasing a working version of its Chrome browser for Mac.

Programmers for the company had been building an engine that could render Web pages, but it only ran within a simple framework called the test shell. Now they've begun hooking up the renderer to a full-fledged browser, which among other things can handle multiple tasks at the same time. That's key for a real application, especially one such as Chrome that isolates each browser tab into its own computing process.

The result of the work: a screenshot of Chrome running on Mac OS X posted to the Chromium developer mailing list. "Now we can call it Chrome!" crowed programmer Avi Drissman wrote.

Granted, it's a view of Chrome failing to properly show a Web page, but it's a step in the functional direction. Google has set a deadline of shipping Chrome for the Mac and Linux by end of June.

It may not look good, but this screenshot actually marks progress in getting Chrome to run on the Mac. (Click to enlarge.)

(Credit: Avi Drissman/Google)

Moving Chrome from its initial incarnation as a Windows application to Mac OS X and Linux hasn't been easy. Ben Goodger, a Firefox programmer who now leads Chrome's interface work, griped about the difficult balance between preserving Chrome software across multiple operating systems while coping with the different abilities of each.

Google chose to split some of the Chrome interface into a Mac OS X-specific incarnation, despite the maintenance difficulties that imposes, but the choice isn't as easy when wrestling with Linux's interface, he said in a January message.

Goodger said that after some teeth-gnashing, Google eventually decided to create the Linux version of Chrome using the GTK package of graphical interface components used with the GNOME user interface.

"My initial thought was that a Windows-clone would be acceptable on Linux provided the performance of the app itself was outstanding, given the general reluctance of some of the team working on Linux towards UI (user interface). But they stood up and made their case for a GTK UI," Goodger said in a February 4 message, "and...that's what we've decided to do."

If the Mac OS X 10.5.6 update caused you problems earlier this week, try, try again.

(Credit: Apple)

Apple has acknowledged an issue encountered by some Leopard users trying to install the company's latest update released Monday.

In a support document posted to its site, Apple described an issue in which a Mac would hang on a "Configuring installation" window when trying to install Mac OS X 10.5.6. That was apparently the result of an incomplete update getting seeded into the Software Update process, and Mac OS X will freak out if it tries to install a partially downloaded update.

Apple recommends that if you encounter this problem, or have already, that you force Software Update to quit, remove the partial update from your library, and re-download the update. If you chose to download the standalone update from Apple's site rather than the combo update, you might also have had this problem; when in doubt, choose the combo update option.

If you've had a separate problem in trying to install the update, check out our sister site MacFixIt for tips and troubleshooting guidelines.

Fire up Software Update to get the latest update to Mac OS X Leopard.

(Credit: Josh Lowensohn/CNET)

MobileMe syncing improvements and security fixes headline the list of changes unveiled with the release of Apple's Mac OS X 10.5.6 update Monday.

The file should be appearing in the Software Update window at any moment now, depending on how often you've set Software Update to check for new software. The sixth update to Leopard, originally released in October 2007, comes with the usual range of tweaks, bug fixes, and security improvements.

One update of note concerns MobileMe, which is now capable of pushing updates made to calendars or contact information from the Web or an iPhone to the primary Mac within a minute. Apple had numerous problems with the launch of the MobileMe service earlier this year, and the latest update should help fix one of the more pressing issues still outstanding with the $99-a-year service.

A full list of the issues addressed with 10.5.6 can be found here, while a list of the security improvements should appear here relatively soon. If you want to download the update from Apple's Web site, go here, but the Software Update function is the easiest way to get updated.

Google has released an open-source software project called Update Engine that programmers can use to keep their Mac OS X software up to date.

"Update Engine can update all the usual suspects, like Cocoa apps, preference panes, and screensavers. But it can also update oddballs like arbitrary files, and even things that require root--like kernel extensions. On top of that, it can update multiple products as easily as it can update one," Greg Miller, a programmer on the update engine team, said in a blog posting Monday.

The Update Engine project is hosted at Google's open-source site.

Apple has released the latest version of Leopard, with bug fixes and security updates accompanying the fifth update to the operating system.

The company sent over a list of improvements about 30 minutes ago, and the full list of fixes and improvements should be up on Apple's Web site any moment with the update itself popping up in Software Update. Two notable updates from the "General" section were a fix for the video playback problems that affected some MacBook Air owners, as well as a puzzling bug "in which some Macs could unexpectedly power on at the same time each day," which would be the first time I've heard that one.

In any event, let us know if you have any problems installing the new update. It's hard to believe, but it's getting close to a year since Leopard was first released.

Since the launch of Apple's App Store, a steady stream of business-oriented applications has flooded in for iPhone users. Most of the developers are independent third-party start-ups, but big-name software vendors are now clamoring for a piece of the pie.

Names such as Oracle, SAP, and Sybase have released iPhone versions of applications that allow users to tap some of the functionality afforded with the traditional desktop versions.

Most of the applications can be found on the App Store, Apple's online market--which opened in July--where iPhone users can browse and download applications built for their devices.

Fresh off a second wave of global launches, the iPhone 3G has been deemed ready for enterprise workers by Gartner analysts--albeit with some caveats.

According to the research firm, the iPhone 3G "does not deliver sufficient security for custom applications," so businesses wanting to deploy such applications will likely have to bear with a lower level of security.

Nonetheless, the overall iPhone software market has been coined a success by Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who said the online collection drummed up some $30 million in sales a month after it launched. It could prove to be a lucrative market, too, with iPhone sales expected to hit 25 million in 2009, as Apple said it will ramp production up to 40 million units a year.

ZDNet Asia looks at five enterprise apps that the big software houses are hoping will catch the attention of the growing iPhone user base, though none has yet to make it to the top downloads list on App Store.

Oracle Business Indicators
Oracle released its native iPhone application in July, becoming one of the first to release an enterprise application when the App Store opened its doors.

The business intelligence tool is available as a free download, but customers must have licensed copies of Oracle's BI software running on their company's servers because the mobile app draws reports and analytics from the on-premise software.

According to reports, Oracle last month said the software clocked 23,055 downloads since it became available.

Sybase iAnywhere Mobile Office
The database giant's iAnywhere software connects users to company e-mail server, based on Lotus Domino and Microsoft Exchange platforms.

According to Sybase's Web site, the software is touted to help secure a company's messaging platform by providing access to e-mail and contacts "without requiring changes to an enterprise's (main) messaging infrastructure."

Offline e-mail access is also supported. The company also said it plans to upgrade the app based on version 2 of the iPhone SDK (software development kit).

SAP
The business management software maker released its iPhone version of a sales force automation suite, ahead of other platforms such as the BlackBerry.

SAP said in a statement that the software will load business contacts, information on sales prospects, and account data onto the device.

Salesforce.com Mobile
One of the earlier vendors to release an iPhone app, Salesforce.com in March showed off a preliminary version of its CRM product based on the beta version of the iPhone SDK.

The software connects users to their CRM records. The free version allows users to search and view contacts and accounts, but users need to sign up for the paid version to edit their data, according to Salesforce.com's Web site.

Web-based apps: Netsuite, SugarCRM, Zoho
These apps are not native iPhone apps but meant to be launched via the phone's Web browser. Some of the big names offering non-native apps include CRM vendors NetSuite and SugarCRM, which have released Web-based ERP (enterprise resource planning) versions of their product offerings.

The apps are available in both hosted and on-premise versions.

Online office suite Zoho, has also launched a mobile version of its productivity suite for the iPhone. This includes word editor, spreadsheet, and e-mail programs. Users can view existing documents but not edit them or create new ones.

Victoria Ho of ZDNet Asia reported from Singapore.

Time to update those Leopard laptops to 10.5.4.

(Credit: Apple)

Apple has released Mac OS X 10.5.4, the fourth update to Leopard since it was released last October.

The new version contains the usual mix of bug fixes and security updates, with iCal getting the most attention. iCal won't delete events without telling you as a result of the latest update, for example, and Apple said the update "improves overall iCal reliability." Airport and Spaces & Expose also received some updates.

MacRumors.com notes that the update paves the way for Apple to release the MobileMe service, the successor to .Mac unveiled by Apple at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

There are also a couple of security-related fixes for Safari and other issues that my colleague Rob Vamosi will cover in more detail. Mac OS X 10.5.4 should pop up through Software Update any moment now, or you can force the issue by visiting Apple's site.

For what it's worth, 10.5.4 did not appear in the list of available updates when I ran Software Update on my Open Computer from Psystar, as expected. As of about 2 p.m. PDT, Psystar hadn't posted a version on its site, although it might take the company some time to get the Open Computer version of the update up and running.