iPhone 2.2, QuickTime and iTunes Updates

Dominating Apple news this week was the release of version 2.2 of the iPhone OS. This included some pretty interesting new features, such as Google Maps street view and the ability to download podcasts directly on the iPhone instead of requiring them to be added to iTunes on your Mac or PC first. See episode 162 of MacMost Now for more details.
QuickTime update 7.5.7 seems to fix a problem where standard definition movie rentals cannot be watched on an HD screen connected to a Mac. This triggered an HD anti-piracy restriction called HDCP, which is meant only for HD content, not the SD content used for movie rentals in iTunes.
An update to iTunes itself, version 8.0.2, adds VoiceOver accessibility to control iTunes, plus a quality fix for making .mp3 files with iTunes. A bug was also fixed that may have prevented connecting to the iTunes Store through a proxy server.
In the United States, this is thanksgiving week, which is followed by “black friday” — a day of shopping and special sales to kick off the holiday shopping season. For the last few years Apple has participated both online and in stores with some special deals. Be sure to check the news at MacMost.com on Friday to see what’s on sale.