Apple has released the first OS X Lion update to address problems with audio and video, data transfer and Wi-Fi settings, although there are no security fixes.

Mac OS X 10.7.1 is recommended for all Mac users to improve the stability and compatibility of their machines.

The update includes a fix for a problem affecting the responsiveness of video playback in Safari, as well as a bug causing audio to stop working when using HDMI or optical audio out.

Apple also revealed that the update addresses "an issue that prevents transfer of your data, settings and compatible applications to a new Mac running OS X Lion", and improves the reliability of Wi-Fi connections.

Finally, the update "resolves an issue in which an admin user account could be missing after upgrading to OS X Lion", Apple said.

Customers are advised to back up via Time Machine before installing the update by choosing Software Update from the Apple menu.

Mac OS X Lion has certainly been popular with Apple customers, and a record breaking one million copies were sold on its first day of release in July.

The operating system received an impressive four star review from V3, with the warning that it no longer supports PowerPC software, has high system requirements and multi-touch gestures that rely on trackpad use.

The discovery of two phoney Apple Stores in Kunming, China created international headlines last month, but further inspections by the authorities suggest that the two outlets were merely the tip of the iceberg.

Reuters has reported that 22 shops in Kunming are operating as Apple stores without permission from the company.

The original stores were selling genuine Apple products, but were fraudulently presented as genuine Apple Stores rather than authorised resellers. Reuters noted that the authorities have not stated whether the latest round of busted shops were selling genuine Apple products or fakes.

The story raises some interesting questions about Apple's retail expansion and how the brand is presented. Before the company began opening retail shops, authorised resellers often displayed a large Apple logo in the window or as part of the shop's sign.

However, as Apple has expanded its retail operation into international markets, a dillema has arisen as to how companies can display the Apple logo without appearing fraudulently to mimic an official store.

Additionally, the growth of Apple's brand and the cool reputation of Apple Stores was always going to tempt a lot of resellers into following suit and putting forward a similar image.

This does not justify the actions of the store owners in Kunming but, given the nature of the business, it is easy to see how less scrupulous merchants in regions where Apple has yet to establish its retail branches may look to take advantage of the brand and its reputation.

Apple's iCloud has been eagerly anticipated since it was unveiled in June at WWDC alongside iOS 5 and Mac OS X Lion.

Pitched as a key addition to the Mac OS and iOS platforms, iCloud offers a way to backup, synchronise and manage Apple devices on the web. 

Despite the hype, Apple has avoided setting a hard release date for the service, but if recent developments are to be believed an iCloud launch could come sooner rather than later.

A quick visit to iCloud.com shows that Apple has moved the project into the beta phase. While it may currently be limited to developers, the move indicates that in all likelihood we are just weeks away from a public launch.

When it does arrive, iCloud could bridge an important gap in Apple's lineup. The company has established itself in the mobile and desktop spaces, but the only thing connecting the iOS and OS X brands thus far has been a small white USB cable.

The success of iCloud could bring Apple that much closer to having a single platform to connect and manage all its future devices.

Apple could slap bitter rival Samsung with yet another lawsuit after the Korean manufacturer unveiled plans to ship a white version of its Galaxy S II smartphone.



Apple is already suing Samsung for "slavishly copying" the designs of the iPhone 4 and iPad 2, and Steve Jobs is unlikely to be impressed with the latest strategy.

The reasoning behind Samsung's decision appears completely innocent. "[Following] the success of the original Galaxy S II released in May, the popular handset will now be available in white in the UK," the firm said.

However, no-one actually knows the exact sales figures for the Galaxy S II, and Samsung has yet to confirm the figure of five million shipments to Mac Inspector.

Apple may feel that Samsung is trying to ride the success of the white iPhone 4. After all, the white model did whip fan boys into a frenzy and drive sales of the ageing smartphone.



With Apple always looking to claim ownership of everything that has ever been successful, such as the term 'app store', the firm's lawyers will no doubt argue that the white iPhone was original and that no-one else should be allowed to even think about using the same colour, let alone ship such a device.

The white Galaxy S II has a proposed release date of 1 September, and patent expert Florian Mueller believes that Apple is unlikely to be able to stop it.

"A white Galaxy S II would certainly add to Apple's aggravation. However, Apple will hardly have a patent on the colour white in connection with smartphones," he told V3. 

Apple has confirmed that it will cover the lion's share of the acquisition cost for Nortel's patent portfolio, which it bought as part of the Rockstar consortium alongside RIM, Microsoft and Sony.

Cupertino will pay $2.6bn towards the acquisition, more than half of the $4.5bn purchase price, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The patents cover a range of areas which will be useful to the iPhone maker, including wireless, LTE, networking, optical, service provider and semiconductor technologies.

It is unclear how the consortium will split the assets, but it looks like Apple has put itself in prime position to secure the best properties.

Florian Mueller, a software patents expert, told V3 that the vendors are likely to have made a deal before the bid was secured.

"A rough plan for the divvying-up of the relevant patents should always be put in place beforehand, especially in this case as it was such as huge transaction," he added.

Apple was forced to pay Nokia around €420m as part of a patent settlement last month, and is likely to have to make quarterly licensing payments of around €95m, so it is unsurprising that Apple is trying to bolster its portfolio of technology patents to avoid having to pay others in the future.

It also gives the firm yet more leverage over rival Google and its Android platform which threatens to pose a serious challenge to iOS.

The wait is over: OS X Lion is finally here. The release comes just one day after Apple announced soaring Mac sales, climbing by some 15 per cent over the past year, but will the release of a new OS help to boost already strong Mac sales?

There is some precedent. PC sales got a jolt when Microsoft released Windows 7, as people upgraded their systems to accomodate the new software. Similarly, OS X helped to sell more Macs when it finally arrived on the market.

Then again, Lion is not exactly a radical shift. Other than a few new features and support for iCloud, there's not much to get excited about.

However, Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi believes that the release of Lion will definitely help Mac sales.

"I do think that Lion, coupled with the release of the new MacBook Air, will help drive Mac sales as the familiar look and feel of the new OS will be obvious to iOS users and it will make it even easier for them to make the leap from a PC to a Mac," she told V3.co.uk.

The real boost for Mac sales could come later this month when Apple puts the iCloud service live.

"iCloud for me will be like the cherry on the cake as it will make sharing content across devices very easy, adding value to the ecosystem," Milanesi said.

"For many users the peace of mind of buying a song or an app and even your pics once, and have them downloaded across all your devices at the same time, will be a big hook into the Apple ecosystem."

Apple's chief patent lawyer, Richard 'Chip' Lutton Jr, has decided to quit after 10 years with the firm.

Reports suggest that Lutton wants to try something new and that he could even make the jump to the Federal circuit to hear patent appeals.

However, the timing of his departure will raise eyebrows as Apple's litigation team is involved in numerous high-profile patent infringement disputes with firms such as HTC and Samsung, as well as a bitter trademark battle with Amazon for rights to the term 'app store'.

It's fair to say that Apple's disputes with Samsung and Amazon aren't going to plan, and its bid to get a preliminary injunction against the latter to stop using the term 'app store' was rejected.

Apple also lost a patent infringement case with Nokia, which is unlikely to have have gone down well and could be the reason that Lutton is leaving.

Losing the case means that Apple will have to pay out around €420m to Nokia, along with quarterly licensing payments of around €95m.

B J Watrous, formerly a deputy general counsel at HP, is the brave man who has taken over as Apple's chief intellectual property lawyer.

Apple is set to have showdowns with Samsung and Amazon in court later this year, and it's fair to say that Watrous is going to be one of the busiest men in tech. We doubt that Steve Jobs tolerates failure. A baptism of fire indeed.

Apple has released the third beta of its forthcoming iOS 5 to developers, offering the usual bug fixes and performance boost as well as some new features.

'Assistive Touch' is the main user-facing improvement and provides an alternative way of interacting with Apple devices. The feature aims to eliminate the need for the physical buttons on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch by bringing up an onscreen menu.

The control panel is activated by swiping from the corner of the screen, and allows users to rotate the screen, control volume and lock the display.

There is also the option to 'shake' the device, but this has yet to be incorporated into applications. There should be some native apps which have the functionality when the operating system is launched and the API has been released to developers so they can build the feature into apps.

Below is a screen shot of the feature and 9to5 Mac has a demo.

Another addition is the ability to put apps anywhere on screen, and there is an all-new  Location Services warning which displays the following message on first boot of the device: 'Location Services uses GPS along with crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower locations to determine your approximate location.'

Interestingly, iPhone Dev-Team member MuscleNerd has confirmed that the latest iOS 5 beta can be jailbroken using the Sn0wbreeze software.

Sn0wbreeze is an existing tethered jailbreak that can unlock iPhone, iPod and first-generation iPad devices.

IOS 5 is expected to ship in the next-generation iPhone 5 in September. There are reports suggesting that Apple will launch two versions of the iPhone at different prices.