Apple's taken another shot at the iMac flicker problem.

It seems that last December's 27-inch iMac Graphics Firmware Update 1.0 didn't do the business for all owners, so the company has now pushed out 27-inch iMac Display Firmware Update 1.0.

Apple's discussion board contains several user reports that the latest update does indeed fix the flicker.

Both updates are available via Software Update or Support Downloads.

I'd imagine Apple will be glad to close the book on this issue.

If your iMac is still flickering after applying both updates, Apple would like you to contact AppleCare.

Now, about the yellow-tinged screen that some 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMac owners are complaining about...

So the rumour mill got some things right and some things wrong - about par for the course, I suppose.

As generally predicted, the iPad - Apple's new tablet - is essentially an oversized iPhone or iPod touch.

But where people were claiming the price would be at least $US1000 - maybe even $1500 - unless subsidised by a carrier, the base model (without 3G) with 16GB of memory is $US499. Even the high-end configuration with 64GB and 3G is only $US829.

Which leaves you wondering about the motivation behind the rumours that what we now know as the iPad would be as expensive as a MacBook. There are various possibilities.

Conspiracy theorists might suggest that it was a deliberate 'softening up' effort on Apple's part - leak an excessively high number, then the real price will seem cheap in comparison.

Or maybe the numbers originated with 'analysts' who pulled numbers out of the air rather than actually analysing the probable cost of the device. Mind you, that was always going to be difficult until exactly what was in the box.

Talking of which, the suggestion that the iPad would be based on a chip of Apple's own design (think PA Semi) also proved correct.

But do you remember the stories that the iSlate (the then favoured name for Apple's tablet) was soaking up practically all the 10.1in OLED touch screens being made? It turns out that the iPad has a 9.7in IPS (in-plane switching) LCD touch screen.

Relatively recent reports that the device would be announced in January with first deliveries in March were on the money.

(On the subject of timing, back in August 2009 I wrote "Wouldn't it be ironic if Apple released the tablet in January, the traditional time for Macworld Expo? Apple's no longer attending Macworld, and the organisers have shifted the event to February. Part of Apple's reasoning was reportedly that it wanted to free its release schedule from another company's timetable.")

And yes, it is being positioned at least in part as a e-book reader, and Apple will be selling the books - and presumably magazines and newspapers - through the iBookstore. OK, so my suggestion that Apple would recycle the iBook brand for the device itself was wrong, but there's a distinct echo in the name chosen for the new store.

One thing I don't recall anyone tipping in anything other than general terms is the range of iPad accessories coming from Apple.

There's a keyboard dock (full-size keyboard and stand, with audio output jack and a duplicate dock connector for connecting the charger or other accessories), case (combining protection for the device with an easel-like stand that can position the near horizontally for typing or near vertically for viewing), a conventional dock (much like those for the iPod/iPhone), a camera connection kit (USB and SD adaptors), and an extra USB power adaptor (one is included with the iPad).

So as usual, the rumour mill gets a mixed report card.

Will you be queuing up to buy a iPad in March?

There's been a bucketload of updates from Apple in the last week and a half.

If you're just coming back from holidays, there's plenty of downloading to be done. Still, if you've been away you probably haven't used much of your data allowance for the month - though it's a different story for those of us with student offspring that are making the most of their online freedom before the new academic year starts!

So what's on the list?

The most recent is the most important: Security Update 2010-001 for Leopard and Snow Leopard patches a diverse bunch of components including Flash Player, OpenSSL, CUPS, CoreAudio, ImageIO, Image RAW.

Most of the issues potentially allow arbitrary code execution, but the CUPS vulnerability concerns denial of service (ie, remotely forcing the printing system to crash), and the OpenSSL fix helps defend against a 'man in the middle' attack.

Note that most of the fixes are for vulnerabilities that can be exploited via maliciously formed media files - this remains a fertile hunting ground for the Bad Guys.

There's no indication that Security Update 2010-001 fixes the 'dtoa' vulnerability I wrote about last week, and that leaves me feeling a bit uneasy.

The next most significant item is probably the slightly late arrival of Windows 7 compatibility for Boot Camp. You may need to download several items for this.

Firstly, there's Boot Camp Software Update 3.1 itself, which comes in two versions for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows. Apple recommends this update whether you're running XP, Vista, or are about to install Windows 7.

(As an aside, I've been running Windows 7 on my PC for a few months now, and - touch wood - it's been very stable. The only real problem has been incompatibility with some older video hardware that I was hoping to use for a certain project.)

The next item you may need is Boot Camp Utility for Windows 7 Upgrade. This is apparently essential if you're upgrading an existing Vista installation to Windows 7.

The remaining components are hardware specific. Depending on exactly which model Mac you're using, you may also need Graphics Firmware Update 1.0 (for Windows 7 on certain iMac and Mac Pro models) or iMac Late 2009 Windows 7 Drivers (for the 21.5in and 27in iMacs).

Leaving Boot Camp aside, Apple Remote Desktop (client and admin) has been updated to version 3.3.2 with added reliability.

For pro audio users, there are updates to Logic Pro and Main Stage delivering "numerous fixes", and version 2.5 of the Unitor Family Driver.

The remaining hardware-specific updates are Firmware Restoration CD 1.8 (for Intel-based models), Mac Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.4, and Xserve EFI Firmware Update 1.2.

While we were away, another Mac security scare blew up.

In a nutshell, someone apparently got fed up with waiting for Apple to distribute a fix for a vulnerability they reported to the company eight months ago, and publicly released a proof of concept exploit.

While the PoC only causes a crash via a memory access error, such buffer overflows can sometimes be exploited to run arbitrary code. Most people's accounts have administrator rights, so there's potential for serious intrusions.

While I haven't heard of any real exploits for this vulnerability, the irritating thing is that this seems to be another example of Apple dragging its feet when it comes to distributing fixes that have been applied to open source software that's used in Mac OS X.

This particular vulnerability is in a routine that converts double-precision values to ASCII strings, but it's already been fixed in other operating systems and applications that use the same code.

The problem with such situations is that the vulnerability is exposed for any malicious coders to investigate. I'd feel more secure if I knew that the vulnerability had been actually fixed rather than having to assume that Apple's experts have looked closely at the problem and determined that it cannot be exploited (for whatever reason) under Mac OS X.

This is the last Mac posting at Hydrapinion for the year. I'm not proposing a full-blown wrap-up or look forward, just one observation from each category.

The Psystar case is pretty much over, with the cloner being banned from (among other things) selling derivative works of Mac OS X, aiding others to infringe on Apple's copyrights with regard to Mac OS X, or having any involvement in products intended to overcome the technological protection measures in Mac OS X.

That seems to rule out Psystar's Rebel EFI product too, although the judge did not specifically include it in his ruling.

The decision will probably dissuade other would-be cloners in the US, but Apple may need to repeat the process in other jurisdictions - assuming local laws are as favourable as those in the company's homeland.

Looking ahead, the iTunes Store seems likely to become increasingly important to Apple. It's still the market leader in the US, accounting for around two-thirds of paid music downloads and a quarter of music unit sales overall.

Those figures don't include subscription services, but the recent acquisition of Lala suggests Apple may be moving in that direction after all.

And whether or not the oft-predicted Apple tablet actually arrives in 2010, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see an Apple e-book reader app for the iPhone and iPod touch (and possibly for Macs and PCs as well, but that would, I'd suggest, be more likely to take the form of a new iTunes feature) with standalone books for sale at the iTunes Store/App Store.

There's clearly a lot of interest in this area among readers and publishers. Readers like the idea of cheap books with almost instant delivery, and it seems that publishers are looking for a bigger slice of the pie than Amazon (with its Kindle) is prepared to concede - and there are indications that Apple will oblige.

Anyway, enjoy whatever summer break is coming your way, and Hydrapinion Mac will be back in mid January.