In the last couple of days Apple has released updates for EFI firmware to address Thunderbolt compatibility issues, as well as iPhoto to fix a crash with third-party video codecs. Today Apple continues its latest round of updates with updates for both Aperture and its support for the latest printers from HP and Epson.

As with iPhoto, the Aperture update is just a point release (Version 3.2.1) that resolves a few issues with the program, including the following:

• Resolves an issue that could cause Aperture to quit unexpectedly at launch on Macs with Core Duo processors
• Addresses problems that could cause the Crop tool to switch to the incorrect orientation or resize incorrectly
• Resolves rendering issues when cropping images with Onscreen Proofing enabled
• Location menus are now displayed correctly on the map in the Places view when "Photos" is selected in the Library Inspector

If you have a relevant printer device installed, Software Update will pick the specific driver you need to update. This results in a much smaller download instead of requiring you to download and apply all the drivers in the full update package.

The update is a fairly substantial 635.76MB download from the ... [Read more]

What you do with your mobile Web browser may depend heavily on which mobile operating system you're on, if the results of a new study by Opera can be extrapolated to other browsers. In its State of the Mobile Web monthly report for September 2011, released first to CNET today, Opera revealed that Opera Mini users were more likely to use it for search on Android, for travel and tourism on iOS, for sports and technology on BlackBerry, for news on Windows Phones, and for social networking on feature phones.

Opera and its subsidiary AdMarvel unveiled not only a bucketload of metrics on what kinds of sites Opera Mini users visited on different platforms, but that 131.3 million people used the Opera Mini in September, and that the browser had decent growth in multiple countries and devices.

The browsing interests of Opera Mini users indicates that once you get past the highest profile sites, trends based on OS platform have begun to develop.

Opera Mini is uniquely suited for cross-platform analysis because it's one of the few browsers that exists across all major platforms, and the only cross-platform browser with such a large number of users. By a point of comparison, the 131 million worldwide users of Opera Mini stands in stark contrast to the 55 million people worldwide who use the desktop version of Opera, and is about 28 perce... [Read more]

There are ton of to-do-list and task management options in the iTunes App Store, but a longtime favorite for Android users was just released today for iOS, and it might be just what you're looking for to help you get things done.

Once your friends and family are connected, you'll be able to manage shared tasks from one window.

Astrid for iPhone is a to-do-list and task management app that keeps the interface simple, but offers social elements that let you share tasks with friends and family in unique ways. You can add friends to shared tasks, for example, so planning a social event is an ideal use for Astrid. The app is organized with four buttons across the bottom for Lists, Tasks, Friends, and Activity.

Lists is where you'll navigate through your various to-do lists by category. Astrid comes with a few categories prepopulated like Home, Personal, Public, and Shopping, but you can add categories of your own by hitting the plus sign at the top of the screen.

The Tasks button brings up list details where you can add tasks, assign friends and family-shared tasks, and several other options. Once a task is added you have the option to set a date and time that the task needs to be done, and you can add it to your calender. From there you can set task priority, mak... [Read more]