" Hello Mike, thanks for this info. ....We now seem to have one of the needed kernel extensions which give us access to at least the Intel CPU sensor (not to the closed down SMC sensors I had also mentioned). (see earlier comments) That's a first small step.

I am willing to officially support the solution of InCrew in all 9 applications of my monitoring suite. This means my programs will detect if a user has installed the InCrew software on her computer, and if yes, use this kernel extension to get CPU readings. There will be no difference to Apple's sensor support in Mac OS X, so all features like history records, voice output, remote monitoring, etc. will work seamlessly. Users will no longer need the Terminal to get readings.
Of course I won't be able to give any support for the InCrew software itself.

Developing sensor support for the InCrew kernel software will take me approx. 1 hour. Preparing a worldwide release of the updated software packages will need 48 hours. If there aren't any unexpected problems, your readers should be able to download updated versions of the monitoring applications by the end of this week.
Best regards, Marcel "

Update: On May 5th Marcel posted v3.6 of Temperature Monitor and Hardware Monitor which includes support for the speedit extension.

" ...you can get the information of the CPU temp and other information, please check http://www.increw.org/speedit.html
Regards
P.D. I'm the author of this little tool "

That page also links to http://speedit.increw.org which has info and notes on MBP CPU whine also. A reader with a MacBook Pro also wrote about the "Speedit" kext:

" Here is a link to a 'kext' file to place in ones home directory to check the temps of the MacBook Pro. Run the command lines from the Terminal. (Update - Temperature Monitor v3.6 uses the Speedit extension to report CPU temperatures without needing to use the terminal.-Mike) It will peg the CPU and then you can check your maximum temp and also just let your MBP sit idle and will give you your idle temp.
My Idle temp is 56C and pegged out is 65C. So the "surgery" seems to have worked out for the better (re-applying the thermal paste with Artic Silver 5). Readers can refer to this link for the file:
http://www.cryptonome.com/index.php/home/files/speedit_kext_for_macbook_pro
(page seems to require a user acct/login but see speedit main site links above)
And this one for the Apple Discussion's and the readings people are getting:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=466466&tstart=0
- William R. "

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Other World Computing"

" Hello Mike, thank you very much for your interest in Temperature Monitor and your technical questions. No, this is technically not possible. Apple currently doesn't provide any programming interfaces or drivers that would allow user applications to get access to internal sensors of Intel-based Macintosh systems.

Current versions of Mac OS X only use the GPU load for power and thermal management. (The GPU load sensor can be accessed and is correctly displayed by Hardware Monitor.)

Although the MacBook Pro contains 3 additional temperature sensors (1 in the CPU and 2 on the mainboard assembly) and 2 fan sensors, none of them can currently be accessed by Mac OS X. Sensor management runs completely independent of the operating system. The CPU sensor is managed by the CPU itself and by ACPI, the other sensors are managed by the Apple System Management Controller (SMC). This chip is currently undocumented and all parts which could disclose details about its functions have basically been "censored" from the Darwin source code of Mac OS X.

It would be necessary to develop new drivers, or even to re-write parts of the Mac OS X kernel to get access to additional readings. Without information about Apple's SMC, this is almost impossible for third parties.

It is currently unknown if Apple will change this policy in future versions of Mac OS X.

I hope this information is helpful to you. If you have further questions don't hesitate to ask.
Best regards,
Marcel Bresink
http://www.bresink.de/ "

Update - I sent Marcel info on the SpeedIt kernel extension (see news item above) and he wrote he's updating his utilities to use it for those that have it installed. See his comments on the updates above.

" A follow-up to your mention of the release of the RealPlayer Universal Binary version (10.1) - it crashes Firefox 1.5.0.3 and Camino 1.0.1 (updates released yesterday) when you attempt to play embedded content. The Camino 1.0.1 release notes refer to this problem (http://www.caminobrowser.org/releases/1.0.1.php), and appear to imply that it is a Real Networks problem. My previous experiences with Real Networks support is that they are very proactive and very Mac-friendly, so my guess would be that they will fix this pretty soon - hopefully!
Regards, Nick "

Note - Nick didn't mention if he had an Intel CPU Mac or provide links to example pages that crash, but a reader with several PowerPC Macs said he had seen no problems with RealPlayer 10.1 and FireFox 1.5.0.3 playing embedded content.

• SubRosaSoft Inc. Ships CopyCatX Version 3.5
• Midnight Mars Browser 1.4.7 (Download raw images from the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity)
• iLifeStuff Unveils three new iWeb templates
• WebcamTweaker 1.1.3
• LightZone 1.3.3 (Photo editing based on traditional darkroom techniques)
• Camino 1.0.1
• RIP (arcade game)
• Apple's get a mac Ads
• A look at class-action lawsuits (Ars)
• Deconstructing the Draft 802.11n Wi-Fi Hype (PC world)

DVD+R/RW + DVD-R/RW Drives:
• IDE Pioneer DVR-K06 in PowerBook G4 (OS X 10.4)
  ('Apple supported' in 10.4.6)

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). If you've added a IDE, SCSI, Firewire or USB hard drive, CDRW, tape drive, etc. you can send me a report for adding to the database.