Thin & Light » Info

Mac Software Update Not Working – Solution

thinlight — Sat, 15 May 2010 17:20:47 +0000

Recently a lot of Mac users are complaining that the software update program is not working correctly and I also ran into this issue today. It just tells you “your software is up to date” but obviously there’s some software not up to date. For example, I opened iTunes and it told me there’s a newer version of iTunes, would you download it? I clicked “download” and the software update app opens but it told me that there’s no update – that made me crazy.

I was not alone. Someone already complained in apple’s support forum. I looked through the replies but found nothing that worked, including deleting com.apple.SoftwareUpdate.plist files. After investigating the problem for minutes, I found that the software update app downloads information from swcdn.apple.com, but the resolved IP for me is not working – as it’s CDN, users at different locations may get different IP addresses.

The solution is simple – add the following line to your /etc/hosts file:

80.67.74.160 swcdn.apple.com

and go back to check software update.

For readers interested in the details, here is the dig result on my machine:

$ dig swcdn.apple.com

; <<>> DiG 9.6.0-APPLE-P2 <<>> swcdn.apple.com
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 18722
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 5, AUTHORITY: 2, ADDITIONAL: 2

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;swcdn.apple.com.       IN  A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
swcdn.apple.com.    1178    IN  CNAME   swcdn.apple.com.akadns.net.
swcdn.apple.com.akadns.net. 279 IN  CNAME   swcdn.apple.com.edgesuite.net.
swcdn.apple.com.edgesuite.net. 19178 IN CNAME   swcdn.apple.com.edgesuite.net.globalredir.akadns.net.
swcdn.apple.com.edgesuite.net.globalredir.akadns.net. 279 IN CNAME a1562.ce.w.ytcdn.net.
a1562.ce.w.ytcdn.net.   1179    IN  A   74.63.75.122

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
ytcdn.net.      59910   IN  NS  dns6.expirenotification.com.
ytcdn.net.      59910   IN  NS  dns5.expirenotification.com.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
dns5.expirenotification.com. 2803 IN    A   67.159.44.159
dns6.expirenotification.com. 377 IN A   67.159.44.159

;; Query time: 6 msec
;; SERVER: 124.207.160.106#53(124.207.160.106)
;; WHEN: Sat May 15 23:33:33 2010
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 305

So ytcdn.net might be an expired domain! Look at its whois information:

Domain Name: ytcdn.net

Registrar: XIN NET TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION
Whois Server: whois.paycenter.com.cn
Referral URL: http://www.xinnet.com
Status: clientUpdateProhibited

Expiration Date: 2011-04-30
Creation Date: 2008-04-30
Last Update Date: 2010-05-01

Name Servers:
    dns5.expirenotification.com
    dns6.expirenotification.com
See ytcdn.net DNS Records

Information Updated: Sat, 15 May 2010 15:40:22 UTC

Notice that most complaints of software update started in May... I don't know the relationship between ytcdn.net and Akamai CDN, but if ytcdn.net is really expired, it is a serious fault. Apple is using Akamai as its CDN, and Akamai redirects some users to ytcdn.net. As I know, most of these users are in China, but some users in other countries are also affected.

Apple, please contact your CDN provider to solve this problem.

Google Reader Unread Count in Gmail

thinlight — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 10:43:48 +0000

Handy new feature coming soon…

I use Gmail instead of iGoogle as browser home page. But I don’t want a complete integration. Just alert me the unread count and I will check it when I have time.

GoDaddy .COM names now 30% OFF

thinlight — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:35:51 +0000

This info may be useful for some readers.

.COM names for $6.99

This special 30% OFF* sale expires June 30, 2008.

To get your discount, simply enter source code gdp0611aa in your shopping cart, or mention the code when you call.

You can lock in these savings for up to 10 years by choosing multi-year registration.

People renewing existing domains also can enjoy this offer.

Movable Type 4.1

thinlight — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:52:24 +0000

Movable Type 4.1 was just announced. As stated in the blog post, this is a (the first?) stable release of Movable Type Open Source.

The download link given on movabletype.org is a zip file. However if you want gzip format, you can get it here. This version is under the GPL v2 license. And you can also download another version here if you agree to the personal license.

The two files are not identical, if you check them. That makes sense because they include different license agreements in their source code headers. However, they deliver the same code and functionalities as far as I know.

I just upgraded my Movable Type powered blog (not this one) to the latest version of MTOS and I really like the new layout of creating entries. Don’t forget overwriting the old mt-static directory – I missed this step as a novice and the admin page was messed up

Yes, I’m still a novice user of Movable Type. I’m very curious about a different approach than WordPress (OK, WP is a different approach than MT).

GoDaddy Gift Cards with other Payments

thinlight — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 01:46:13 +0000

When I was going to buy this domain from GoDaddy, I realized that I had a gift card with $1 balance. Of course I would not waste it.

I searched and found the “official solution”. It was easy. First choose gift card as payment option, and

If your purchase amount is greater than the amount on your gift card, simply choose another payment method to cover the remaining balance.

I followed the instructions, but on the page where I entered my gift card number, I could only add more gift cards, but couldn’t add other payment methods. I tried to go to next step, with the hope that it would prompt me to choose another payment method. No, it just said the payment couldn’t be verified.

Finally I got the right way to use this “wasted” gift card. Instead choosing gift card as your payment option, you should choose the payment method that you want to cover the balance. I chose paypal, and after returning to the checkout page, I saw the “use gift card” option right below the paypal account information form. GoDaddy first used my gift card, and then requested the remaining balance from my paypal account. Largely the same if you choose paying by credit card.

GoDaddy needs to update their help docs .