There’s a rounding-error bug in the camera driver’s autofocus routine (which uses a timestamp) that causes autofocus to behave poorly on a 24.5-day cycle. That is, it’ll work for 24.5 days, then have poor performance for 24.5 days, then work again.

The 17th is the start of a new “works correctly” cycle, so the devices will be fine for a while. A permanent fix is in the works.

But of course! I understand perfectly why a camera would be dependent on the date. Chances are good that this will have a legit fix before 24.5 days are up, but man, what a weird bug. [Engadget via GadgetLab]

Luckily, the bug appears to be software related. Time for a patch.

Who amongst the swelling Droid ranks has experienced this annoying issue? [Droid Support Forums via Engadget]

Prior builds of 10.6.2 have flip-flopped between treating Intel Atom support — vital to netbook hackintoshing — as a bug that needs to be fixed, or as something they should just leave be, because oh god, I love my hackintoshed netbook so goddamned much, why don’t you just leave me alone?, etcetera. Any brave EULA-flouters want to give this thing a go?

Anyway, here’s the changelog! The most notable changes are the aforementioned account-eating error, as well as a fix for an irritating glitch with four-finger Exposé gestures only working in one direction. Weighty stuff. [Apple via Loopinsight]

What’s included?

General operating system fixes provided for:

* an issue that caused data to be deleted when using a guest account
* an issue that might cause your system to logout unexpectedly
* Spotlight search results not showing Exchange contacts
* the reliability of menu extras
* an issue in Dictionary when using Hebrew as the primary language
* shutter-click sound effect when taking a screenshot
* an issue with the four-finger swipe gesture
* an issue adding images to contacts in Address Book
* an issue in Front Row that could cause sluggish or slow frame rates while watching videos
* creation of mobile accounts for Active Directory users
* reliability and duration of VPN connections
* general reliability improvements for iWork, iLife, Aperture, Final Cut Studio, MobileMe, and iDisk
* overall improvements to VoiceOver performance
* this update addresses video playback and performance issues for iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2009) and iMac (27-inch, Late 2009) computers that may occur in some situations while AirPort is turned on

Fonts fixes provided for:

* an issue with font spacing
* an issue in which some Fonts are missing
* font duplication issues
* an issue with some PostScript Type 1 fonts not working properly

Graphics fixes provided for:

* an issue when connecting monitors to DVI and Mini DisplayPort adapters
* an issue in which the brightness setting may not be remembered on restart
* addresses functionality with specific display models
* general reliability and performance improvements when using some applications

Mail fixes provided for:

* a situation in which Mail’s unread count may not update properly as messages are read on another computer
* an issue in which deleted RSS feeds may return
* an issue in which Mail cannot preview or Quick Look attachments when composing a new message
* an issue that can cause Address Book and/or Mail to stop responding when opened
* an issue in which email messages received from an Exchange Server are not formatted correctly
* an issue in which Mail reports “Account exceeded bandwidth limits” for some Gmail accounts

MobileMe fixes provided for:

* performance when accessing files from iDisk via the Finder and syncing iDisk files
* an issue in which syncing iDisk files does not proceed beyond “checking items”
* reliability and performance when syncing contacts, calendars, and bookmarks with MobileMe (syncing with iTunes and iSync are also improved)
* an issue that prevents some users from logging into MobileMe via the MobileMe System Preference pane

Network file systems fixes provided for:

* compatibility with third-party AFP servers
* file synchronisation for portable home directories

Printing and faxing fixes provided for:

* automatic printer updates improvements
* Print dialog allowing you to enter and send to more than one fax recipient

Safari fixes provided for:

* a graphics distortion issue in Safari Top Sites
* Safari plug-in reliability

Update now, says Apple. [TUAW]

Apparently Microsoft decided to release the upgrade as an installer instead of an ISO file, and it’s causing all kinds of headaches. Users are reporting that after the installer goes through the “Unloading the Box” step, an error occurs and the installation fails.

There are workarounds available, like instructions to build your own ISO out of the installer, but it’s probably best to wait a bit until this is all sorted out. [PC World]

As per the instructions by the gentleman on Reddit who found this anomaly, “click forward“. And as per my instructions, click forward again. And again, and again, and again. Again!

Then sputter a little prayer in Latin, exorcise your laptop, slaughter a baby goat, whatever you have to do to help this man escape this fiery, oddly typographical abyss, which never ends. (Except for when it does, somewhere around East Pittsburgh.) [Reddit]

We are aware of the issue, which occurs only in extremely rare cases, and we are working on a fix.

And yeah, it’s obvious that it is a pretty rare bug, since you’d have heard about this bug on day one if it wasn’t.