If you use a USB display adapter to add a 2nd screen to your Mac, you may have noticed that ever since Mac OS X 10.5.7 came out, they have been mysteriously failing. This morning, after logging out and logging back in, the black-screen-of-doom scenario happened on my Mac mini's second monitor. By searching around, I came across a DisplayLink FAQ that seemed to provide answers.

Mind you, I don't own a "DisplayLink". I use an eVGA UV Plus on my mini. Like many other external monitor devices, however, my eVGA uses the DisplayLink chipset and drivers. So even if you think this solution doesn't apply to your USB monitor solution, it very well may.

I didn't just upgrade to 10.5.7 yesterday. It's been running on my system for ages. So why did everything fail after my log-out/log-in? I seriously have no idea. Following the suggestions on the DisplayLink site and on several Mac support boards, I re-installed the 1.1 drivers and rebooted. My monitor is now back to life.

So, bottom line, if you are using an external USB-powered display on your Mac and it stops working, try re-installing drivers. You'll find the latest Mac drivers here, plus the newest beta releases. You'll need to agree to the DisplayLink EULA before you're permitted to download the software. And you will need to reboot. However, on an annoyance scale between 0 (everything working) and 10 (losing access to your second monitor), a simple reinstall & reboot clocks in at about a 3.

If you're a fan of the ever so popular BitTorrent client, Transmission, then you might like to hear that a new version was just released. According to the release notes some of the fixes included:

• You can now reset global statistics
• Support of multitracker torrents has been improved
• UPnP port mapping now faster on startup
• Ability to IP block using the Bluetack Level1 blocklist
• Dock badge images have been updated

The new dock badges provide greater readability of the transfer in progress. Transmission is freeware and can be downloaded from their website.

The other week, we posted about Jisho, a Japanese to English translator for the Mac, and James, the developer, sent us another notice today that he's since updated to version 2.1.1. I can't find a changelist anywhere (and the site still says version 2.1) but James says there's a new intro splash screen, and an enhanced interface and accuracy. So if you grabbed it when we mentioned it last week, make sure to get the upgrade as well.

He wants to personally thank you, the readers of TUAW, for helping him make his software better, and we must echo his sentiments-- you guys rock. We are nothing but proud to bring developers like James a great audience like you, thanks very much.

I recently purchased a wireless Mighty Mouse. Several users have complained of a sticky roller ball, and I was concerned until I was shown this step-by-step, illustrated take-apart. You'll only need an X-acto knife, a tiny screwdriver and some patience to remove the ball, clean it off and reassemble your mouse. Perfect!

I've bookmarked this one for future reference.

Thanks, Grant!

Apple released an EFI firmware update for MacBook Pro yesterday, so if you haven't grabbed it yet, it should be available in MacBook Software Update. The release isn't a big one, but is supposed to fix a display issue on the 15-inch MBP models.

Unfortunately, a few people are finding the update actually does exactly the opposite, and creates problems with the display. Word has it that resetting the PRAM (push CMD+Option+p+r at boot, and you have to do it a few times, so you have to push the PRAM a lot) helps, but even if it fixes the problem temporarily, but who knows what else is happening here-- Apple may have to release an update to fix the update that fixed the original problem.

Thanks Eddie, Jonathan, and all others who sent this in.

Landon Fuller, programmer and former Apple BSD Technology Group engineer extraordinaire, has offered to try and provide fixes for the exploits that appear during this asinine Month of Apple Bugs. Landon has already posted workarounds for the QuickTime vulnerability, and he links a change the VLC team has already made to their codebase (which is likely to be rolled out soon).

I join many others in thanking Landon for his work, but I still wish he didn't have to do it. Why should a former Apple engineer use his free time to chase after publicized exploits, when Apple themselves (and any 3rd parties) should be the ones to fix these problems at their core?

Thanks Bill I

Zinio, if you aren't familiar, offers magazines in digital format (yes, with DRM), many of them with rich media like embedded movies right in the pages, for Mac and PC. They have quite a selection and they've been around for a few years now, but apparently their latest version (released around the dawn of time) is suffering a quirk due to Apple changing the way QuickTime renders Flash with the latest QuickTime 7.1.3 update, causing embedded rich media to misbehave.

Fortunately, they've issued a fix via email, and it goes a little something like this:

1. Close the Zinio Reader, if open
2. Go to the QuickTime pane in System Preferences
3. In the Advanced tab, check 'Enable Flash'

After that simple process you should be able to return to your regularly scheduled, though in my opinion ridiculously overpriced, reading.

This fix, by the way, is also how you enable iTunes 7 to play interactive booklets from the iTunes Store according to this Apple KB article.

Transmit, Panic's FTP client that I firmly believe was coded by angels, has been updated to version 3.5.4. They offer detailed release notes, but the cliff notes include SFTP error improvements, upload/download error and Growl notification fixes, navigation tweaks and much more.

Transmit 3.5.4 is a free update and available from Panic's site.

Right alongside Firefox's update today, Mozilla has also brought Thunderbird up to the 1.5.0.4 (.3.2.1.12) version with a big improvement for Intel Mac owners: Universal Binary super-powers. Also in this update are security and bug fixes. Let us all take a moment of silence in remembrance of the bugs who lost their lives in the making of this update.

One thing I am not sure of, however, is if that GmailUI extension we blogged earlier will work after this update. Does anyone know?

Updates for Keynote 3 and Pages 2 (iWork 06 versions) are available from Software Update. Oddly, they aren't point versions - they're "v2" of the updates Apple released just last week, and they're pretty large. Also, they both have the same description as last week's updates.

Keynote: "This update to Keynote 3.0 addresses issues with three-dimensional charts and textures. It also addresses a number of other minor issues. This update should be installed on all computers that share your Keynote 3.0 files, so that textures display properly."

Pages: "Pages 2.0.1 addresses issues with charts and image adjust. It also addresses a number of other minor issues."

They're both available from Software Update. I'd offer links to Apple's downloads pages, but as of this writing they don't appear to be posted on Apple's site.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

TUAW reader Mark H noticed that a software update is available for GarageBand. Version 3.0.2 weighs in at 32.2 MB (though both Mark H and I are on Intel Macs so your mileage may vary) and: "addresses issues with video handling, podcast exporting, and importing QuickTime markers. It also addresses a number of other minor issues."
Enjoy.