By Graham K. Rogers

Opening Gambit:

A note before I start. This is perforce abbreviated. I am up in Khao Yai -- a lovely part of the country -- and have limited access to online resources, so I am cobbling this together late Thursday in the hope that I can keep my unbroken run here.

Apple Stuff

Also becoming available were the first reviews of the iPad mini by the favoured few. Walt Mossberg loved it and so did Edward C. Baig at USA Today. Electronista summarises many of the reviews and the title suggests that there is a New gold standard for smaller tablets.

On Seeking Alpha, Kyle Spencer comments on the device in the light of Tim Cook's hopes that this could appear in every classroom. With textbooks on the iPad mini, this could be attractive for some education authorities, and the price is a little lower than the full size iPad. As part of the approach, Apple's iBookstore was updated recently with several new features.

A teardown of the iPad mini as reported by Chris Foresman on Ars Technica, suggests that it is more like a large iPod touch than a smaller iPad. iFixit found a couple of interesting things: the glass is more easy to replace, which would be important in the education market; and there are stereo speakers (now widely reported and with confirmation by Phil Schiller).

Also on Ars Technica, Jacqui Cheng reports that there is an update to iOS, bringing it to version 6.0.1 with a number of fixes. She shows the Apple information:

• Fixes a bug that prevents iPhone 5 from installing software updates wirelessly over the air
• Fixes a bug where horizontal lines may be displayed across the keyboard
• Fixes an issue that could cause camera flash to not go off
• Improves reliability of iPhone 5 and iPod touch (5th generation) when connected to encrypted WPA2 Wi-Fi networks
• Resolves an issue that prevents iPhone from using the cellular network in some instances
• Consolidated the Use Cellular Data switch for iTunes Match
• Fixes a Passcode Lock bug which sometimes allowed access to Passbook pass details from lock screen
• Fixes a bug affecting Exchange meetings

We also read in an item on AppleInsider that there are updates released to Safari, iPhoto, Aperture. These are quite substantial, so I had better wait till I return to the big city (and proper wifi) before going for these.
We commented last weekend about the advertisement that Apple had put online after the appeal against a UK judge's decision was lost. Apple did the right thing and used the judge's own words -- Samsung obviously not cool -- to comply with the decision and make something from it. The judge is not having any of it and MacDaily News reports (with some nice comments) that the judges say is untrue and incorrect, so -- naughty Apple -- they have to do it again. Shucks. More publicity.

More on this was in an item by Jacqui Cheng on Ars Technica who reports that the judge claims the Apple action is a breach of the order: Apple had amended the statement.

There were some interesting posts this week on Apple's Fusion Drive. Mikey Campbell on AppleInsider tells us that Mountain Lion has support for this for older Macs and shows how a researcher was able to set this up. On TUAW, we are told how it is done, but it is not the easiest trick in the book and adds, Not for the faint of heart. Where I am too, the TUAW article is not loading correctly; but that is not a TUAW problem as far as I can tell. Lee Hutchinson at Ars Technica also relying on some of the information from the same sources, has a lengthy article on this.

Actually, maybe TUAW does have a problem, at least as far as access from here is concerned. I just tried to load a second page, this time on the nice update to the Paper app, but that gets stuck halfway. I will leave the links. It is better on Friday morning, so the internet was the problem, and TUAW is fine now.

Another week, another lawsuit? Patently Apple reports that FaceTime and Messages are the subject of a patent infringement suit filed by Intercarrier Communications (ICC), a Texas company.

Not a surprise really, but AppleInsider report that Apple is preparing OS X 10.8.3 and this will be on its way to developers soon. There are "No details on exactly what OS X 10.8.3 will include. . . ."

Other Matters

Local Items

While I have been plodding on myself for a while, it may be that Don Sambandaraksa joins me again. He was with me on AMITIAE before he got a proper job, but there are certain things he would like to vent on, and eXtensions may suit him for that

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs.