Apple is rolling out an update for the Snow Leopard platform to address bugs that were introduced by last week's security update.

After installing the original update to "improve security" for Snow Leopard, many users found that it broke the Rosetta feature on their Macs. This meant that users were unable to run older applications such as Word and Excel 2004, Photoshop CS and Quicken 2007.

Problems included frequent crashing and being unable to save and print.

Many users expressed frustration on various internet forums and noted the detrimental impact of the update.

"This update has totally crippled my business. Now, First Edge crashes when trying to open my data file. Quicken won't print. I've got no accounting or bill paying ability," noted Richard Quindry on the Macintouch site.

"I called AppleCare for help and spoke to a senior adviser. I was taken back at his very cavalier attitude that Apple didn't care if it stopped Rosetta from running. He saw it all as a problem with third-party apps that wasn't Apple's problem."

Apple is said to have fixed the issue with version 1.1 of the security update, with users reporting that applications are working now. Users should check Software Update (in the Apple menu) as the update has not been posted on Apple's support downloads page, at the time of writing.

In the meantime, users are not encouraged to download the existing update, which is still listed on the support page as Security Update 2012-001. Those who have already done so will have to download version 1.1 to correct any problems.

Apple dropped Rosetta support from Mac OS X Lion, so Snow Leopard is the last version of the desktop OS to support legacy applications.

However, users should not bank on support for too much longer as Lion becomes the de facto OS. Business users who want to continue using the Mac operating system may have to start thinking about upgrading the application set they use to avoid further problems.

As if Apple wasn't successful enough analyst firm Canalys has now revealed the firm has overtaken HP to become the world's number one PC vendor, although only if you class an iPad as a PC.

The figures show that Apple shifted five million Macs and 15 million iPad devices; and this inclusion of tablet sales skews the figures hugely in favour of Apple

Nevertheless, Canalys noted that Macs and iPads represented 17 per cent of the total 120 million PCs shipped globally in fourth quarter 2011.

Overall, the PC market, including desktops, netbooks, notebooks and tablets grew 16 per cent year-on-year but if tablet are excluded from calculations, PC sales actually fell 0.4 per cent during the last quarter.

This tough market for PC vendors was shown by the fact only Lenovo managed to increase its performance, with the Chinese firm increasing its market share by two per cent, making ground on HP.

"The vendor's decision to use Android for enterprise and consumer pads gives it a better opportunity than HP to continue gaining market share," Canalys noted.

No other Apple competitor had any success, though, with Acer, Dell and HP all losing market share.

Still, the chaps at Cupertino could have some proper challenges in 2012 as Canalys also predicted that ultrabooks will see moderate adoption during the first half of the year.

"Ultrabooks will finally gain momentum later in the year as price points decline and Intel launches a new line of processors and embarks on an aggressive marketing campaign," said Michael Kauh, a research analyst at Canalys.

However, with the iPad 3 around the corner, this won't save all vendors.

"In the short term though, vendors will experience more pressure in the netbook and notebook segments, especially with Apple's annual iPad refresh approaching," he added.

For Tim Cook and co, already sitting on a cash pile of $100bn, it's just another reason to smile.

It may only seem like yesterday that Apple launched the iPhone 4S, but the next version of the iPhone is already gearing up for the assembly line.

Apple news site 9to5Mac is citing sources at the Foxxconn manufacturing facility as reporting that the iPhone 5 will soon begin production.

Apple's top manufacturing partner is said to be readying its factories for the first stages of assembly.

If true, the report would put the next version of the iPhone on pace for arrival in most markets by the summer.

A June or July release would be in line with Apple's pattern of unveiling its new iPhone models early in the summer and then releasing the handsets to consumers several weeks later.

Of course, Apple could also decide to push the release back by a month or so in order to unload a bit more of its iPhone 4S stock.

After being delayed by several months, the 4S is still selling extremely well for Apple and the company might want to extend its run a bit longer, especially after the firm announced bumper financials for the previous quarter.

This included the sale of a staggering 132 million iPhone devices.

Ever since the Foxconn crisis, Apple has committed itself to keeping close tabs on its supply chain partners.

The company has issued its second audit of its partners, helping to shed light on how some of your favourite Apple products are put together. The audit looked at around 229 facilities associated with its products and some of the results are eye-opening.

For starters, the company found that five of the firms it audited were in violation of child labour laws. Additionally, 15 firms had been linked to foreign worker programmes, which had charged employees excessive fees to secure jobs. In one case, violations were repeatedly made to the point that Apple terminated its contract with the company.

Safety also continues to be a problem. Apple reported that just 65 per cent of the companies it surveyed met with its occupational injury prevention standards. Just 86 per cent met with standards for preventing chemical exposure.

The numbers were better for ethical standards. For areas such as whistleblower protection, intellectual property security and business integrity, more than 93 per cent of partners met Apple's standards. Still, violations of Apple's ethical standards forced the company to terminate its associations with at least one partner.

Discrimination also remains an issue. Apple said that 24 facilities were performing pregnancy tests to screen employees, while an additional 56 audits found that companies lacked policies to prevent discrimination based on pregnancy. Up to 52 companies had further discrimination issues related to medical tests on employees.

While the report isn't pretty in parts, Apple should be commended for making the information available to the public. Most of these factories contract with multiple companies and produce a range of products far beyond those with the Apple logo.

When Apple released its iPhone 4S last summer, the most talked-about feature was the Siri voice recognition software.

The tool allows users to give verbal commands and receive information ranging from weather to nearby restaurants and appointments. The platform was the one bright spot in what was otherwise a lukewarm critical reception for the 4S.

Where critics scoffed, however, consumers lunged for their wallets. The iPhone 4S was a retail hit and now it seems Siri is proving extremely popular as well.

Network research firm Arieso said that a recent study it conducted on iOS users shows that the 4S is by far the most data-hungry of Apple's devices. On average, the Siri-equipped handset consumes twice as much data as the iPhone 4 and three times more than the iPhone 3G.

Siri even got the better of the iPad 2 when it came to overall wireless broadband data consumption.

The report is good news for Apple and gives a bright outlook for Siri, but it could also spell trouble for wireless carriers. With many network providers already worrying about wireless bandwidth use, the expansion of the Siri platform with future iOS devices could put a strain on their infrastructure and accelerate the move to 4G services.

It seems the Big Apple will be the choice venue for the next big news from Apple.

AllThingsD reports that the company is planning to hold an unveiling in New York some time around the end of January.

Those of you holding out hope for the unveiling of the next iPad model might be disappointed by the news, however. Early reports suggest that the main focus of the event will be digital publishing.

Among the items rumoured to be on the agenda will be an effort to improve the availability of digitised textbooks. Apple is said to be working on a platform which would allow students to purchase their textbooks for use on an iPad.

Such a campaign could help to remedy one of the biggest complaints amongst university students. Extravagently-priced textbooks can cost students hundreds of dollars apiece and publishers frequently release new editions of books to stymie the trade in used copies.

If any company can break up the textbook rackett, however, it's Apple. The company has long been a mainstay in the education market and the appeal of the iPod and iPhone brands amongst young people could mean that Apple already has a critical mass in place to make a textbook service work.

Everyone knows there's no end to the fervour that surrounds Apple and its mystique, but even we were shocked with the news that the company's founding papers sold at auction for over £1m.

The documents eventually went for $1,594,500, which was 10 times auction house Sotheby's prediction, as five bidders drove the price skywards, each seeking to own a little piece of Apple's history.

The eventual winner, according to the BBC, was Eduardo Cisneros, chief executive of a firm called Cisneros Corporation, which owns stakes in a range of businesses covering real estate, TV production and telecoms. He'll probably frame them and hope they appreciate in value.

The documents belonged to the third (forgotten) Apple founder, Ronald Wayne, who originally took a 10 per cent stake in the company before backing out over worries that Apple would go nowhere and he'd lose his outlay. Ouch.

Even this story is a tragic one for Wayne as he sold the documents in 1994 for a few thousand dollars, according to the BBC, and had to watch as they went for over £1m. Some people appear destined never to catch a break.

Google has posted an update for the iPad version of its Search App.

The free App has been updated to include a number of additional features from the Google Search platform as well as a few unique features for the iPad.

Among the features offered by the update is Google Instant. The search tool allows users to see possible results as they type, the time-saving feature has proven popular since it was first introduced for Google online search in September of last year.

Additionally, the update will bring a new iPad navigation system which will sport result preview panels and allow users to view images on a carousel presentation screen which can be navigated through tap gestures.

Google has posted a video demonstration of the new App along with more information on its Mobile blog.

While iPad-optimised applications have existed since Apple first introduced the tablet, the practice seems to be picking up steam as both developers and iOS grow even more sophisticated and familiar with the iPad. We're anxious to see what features can to the iPad version of recently-ported applications such as Minecraft.