" Hey Mike, I didn't notice this till someone who received an e-mail about it, brought it up to me. At the bottom of Apple's website there is a new recall announcement on the battery in 12inch iBooks and 12/15inch Powerbooks purchased between October 2004 & May 2005. Didn't know if anyone else caught this so I figured i'd e-mail this in since sadly i'm an iBook owner with one of the faulty batteries.
-Josh W. "

See Apple's Important Safety Recall - Rechargeable Batteries for 12-inch iBook G4, 12-inch and 15-inch PowerBook G4 for details and how to identify the batteries. They note this also affects some batteries sold separately (not just included with systems).

""Hey mike, just checked m-audio's site today and they have brand new drivers for us revolution 7.1 folk. Fixes include the issues we've been having with the restart and shut down actions.
Here's the link to the dl:
http://www.m-audio.com/images/global/drivers/Revo71_OSX_1.4.1.dmg
(I asked if he actually installed the drivers to test the fixes.-Mike)
Yes I have. (Running OS X 10.4.1.) The 'Stereo-only' feature is removed, and the computer does indeed restart and shut down properly once again. Although the stereo-only feature is removed, problematic games like UT and Quake now function like they should, without me having to select or change settings before I launch them.
A good update, but once again the new drivers did not fix the pops and random sound glitches that occur once and a while with this card. -Alex S. "

Some past reports here also mentioned static/noise. I've updated the page of reader reports on the Revolution 7.1 card to include Alex's post.

"With the release of Mac OS X v.10.3.9, Apple has made changes to the way certain file permissions are handled by the operating system. Without this required update, a Version Cue® 1.x Workspace installed on a computer running Mac OS X v.10.3.9 or later will no longer start up properly. This update addresses that problem and provides general improvements to Version Cue 1.x Workspace performance.
This update also addresses and resolves a security vulnerability that has been detected in Version Cue 1.x. See the security advisory for more information."

" Hi Mike,
I took the famous Logitec flasher and had a closer look into the program file using a HEX Editor.
I did a search for the Logitec firmware filename and found R9149109.140, which I replaced with R9100109.150 which is the original filename of the latest Pioneer released firmware. As the other file R9149009.140 (kernel file I think-Mike) does not occur within program binary, I assumed that the name will be derived automatically (I was right).
As Logitec external drives have their OEM name set to OEM_EXT, I had to set it to GENERAL to make the flasher accept the drive.

I took the risk and flashed the internal drive successfully. I am burning some DVDs at the moment. PatchBurn made the drive 100% Apple supported. (I asked if iDVD 5.0.1 showed the 8GB project size option, which doesn't usually appear with non-apple firmware DVR-109 drives (nor the DVR-108, or NEC 3xxx drives, etc. as mentioned in recent posts)-Mike)

Use at your own risk.
By the way, the Flasher seems to be written by Pioneer.
Cheers,
Joachim "

Of course I can't guarantee it will work flawlessly for everyone (and the retail/XL drives have different firmware than the OEM models, as did the 108's also). Joachim sent a .sitx file, which I can't unstuff properly with my old Expander 7.0.3 version and a reader said it also had format errors unstuffing using v9.0x. I asked Joachim if he could send a .zip file (using OS X's archiver from the Finder). (Update: See the May 14th news page - Pioneer re-released v1.50 firmware and Joachim sent a version of the OS X Logitec GUI flasher w/1.50 firmware included. Link added to the FAQ's DVD section here also.)
Update:
William sent a note he'd updated an OEM (not retail/XL model) to 1.40 firmware using a modifed Logitec flasher (he used 'show package contents' in the finder, then TextEdit he said to make the changes).

"I did this a couple of weeks ago, as I wrote in a previous e-mail. I used the Logitec 109 updater, but the procedure is the same. You change the internal name to GENERAL and rename the files for the drive you really have (in my case the 109) to match the names the application expects. I didn't use a Hex Editor; Show Package Contents and TextEdit were all the tools I needed.

This method does not work for cross-flashing to the A09 firmware, nor would it update an A09Xl to a more current firmware. Apparently the Logitec updater is very specific.
-William R.
(he later wrote)
Forgot to mention that someone at the rpc website used the Logitec 109 flasher to create a pre-built updater to 1.40 for the DVR-109.
http://homepage.mac.com/mps/OSXDVR109Flasher140FW.zip.
Flashing to the 1.50 firmware is probably possible but since Pioneer listed it as Beta and subsequently pulled it, it might not be a wise move."

Reportedly the reason the first 1.50 update was pulled was due to bugs in the updater, not the firmware but I don't know if that's true.

" AMUG has just posted a Review of the Addonics IDE to Serial ATA Converter (ADIDESA). The article displays which Mac drive bays it will fit into and explains various ways a Mac user may use it to convert PATA drives to an SATA interface.
Michael Bean
TEAM AMUG "

" Mike, I think I have found a work around for the issue.
It is always the first attachment that will be corrupted at the recipient. So just put a small dummy file (I put my companyÃs logo there), just around 80kB in size as your first attachment into the mail. Add all the other attachments now. Oddly enough, none of the attached files gets corrupted now.

More details when using the same PowerBook in the office and at home:
Office: corruption occurs no matter which e-mail account I would use, neither NT-Server nor external SMTP works. It seems that our company server causes the problem.
At home: all e-mail accounts work that did not while being in the office. At home I just use a router and a DSL modem to connect to the Internet
In œsent mail”, all attachments are OK
Other computers:
The G4 QS in the office exhibits the problem
The G4 at home works flawlessly
Cheers,
Joachim (Germany)"

Some users without the problem suspected others were not running the latest Office 2004 update, but Jamie for instance said his Office X 2004 was up-to-date and he didn't have any 3rd party addons, etc... Others thought recepients may not have had their email client set to fully download attachments, but I saw corruption in the first attached image from Jamie's mail and the attachments were fully downloaded.

• Unsanity Releases Labels X 1.7
• Review of Catalog 1.0 (IT-Enquirer)
• M-Audio Delta Drivers 2.0.3 (Resolved a security fix issue with Tiger 10.4)
• FolderControl Version 1.60 update (Tiger compat.)
• Throttled Pro 1.0
• OS X 10.4.1 Server update (released yesterday)
• TDK develops 100GB Blu-Ray disc (PCworld)
• First Look: Netscape's two-headed browser (PCworld)

DVD+R/RW + DVD-R/RW Drives:
• IDE I/O Magic 16x in G5 Tower (OS X 10.4)
  (listed under "other" brands)
• IDE NEC ND-3540 in G4/AGP (OS X server)
  (didn't note server OS version in comments. Illustrated CD drive install guide here covers G4 towers up to the Digital Audio Model.)
• IDE Panasonic uj-845-BPN in Powerbook G4 (OS X 10.3)
  (just a report the drive has a bezel attached and didn't fit in the Powerbook G4. I asked if the bezel was removable. Mac part dealers (OWC, etc.) sell drives w/o a bezel attached since it's not needed for PB G4s, Minis, Cubes, etc.)
• IDE Pioneer DVR-109 in eMac (OS X 10.4)

You can find full owner reports (latest shown first) by searching the database by drive/brand/interface/mac models (the latest reports are shown first in searches). For guides to installing CD/CDRW/DVD drives or Hard drives in many mac models, see the IDE Articles page. The Firewire articles page also has guides on case kits, installing drives, etc.
If you've added a IDE, SCSI, Firewire or USB hard drive, CDRW, tape drive, etc. make sure you add a report to the database. (If you post an updated entry - make sure you use the same name, etc. as you did before so I can find your past entry. Thanks.)
(Incomplete entries are deleted. Do not post questions in the database, it's for drive reports not questions on what drive to buy - for that try searching the database for reports from owners of your mac model on the drive type/brand/interface, etc. you're interested in.)

• Giga Designs Dual G4 1.8GHz (7447A) in (QS DP 800) G4/AGP (rated 10)
• Sonnet G4 1GHz in (Sawtooth or Gigabit) G4/AGP (rated 9)
  
  (Full reviews of G4 and G3 upgrades compared to stock CPUs, including real world apps/game tests, install info, etc. are linked at the CPU upgrades page. OC/CPU module articles are on the Systems page.)

(Warning - Overclocking may not be reliable and could lead to hardware failure or corrupted data.) You can find the full reports by searching the database selecting the indicated Mac model and upgrade card brand/type. If you've upgraded the CPU on your Mac, please post an entry in the database. Search the database for entries from most every upgradable Mac model *before* you buy. (Searchable by mac model/upgrade brand).