Did Apple Solve Music and Software Piracy?
I think this article may nail it on the head – Apple just took a huge first step to solving piracy of music and software with the introduction of their iCloud service with wifi sync.
Archive for the ‘Software’
Possibility of Worms and Viruses in Macs Increases
As Macs get more popular and more people use them, hackers and other malcontents will inevitably turn their attention to them to create viruses, worms, malware, and trojans.
In the news today is the discovery of an exploitable buffer overflow problem in Mac OS 10.5 and OS 10.6.
You don’t need to know what a buffer overflow is, as long as you make sure to protect your Mac from viruses and avoid opening emails from people you don’t know (or from some you do that are careless about attachments). Safari has some automatic protection built in now in Snow Leopard, but I also use ClamXAV as an added layer of protection.
Walking Down Memory Lane: Apple Systems Through the Years
This is a link to screenshots of Apple Systems over the years. It was quite a walk down memory lane for me, since my family had all of the older, original Macs, and I’ve continues being a Mac owner ever since.
Found via Michael Cohen
Shareaholic and Stumble Upon for Safari 4 Beta
I’ve stuck stalwartly by the side of FireFox 3.x because it was the only browser to offer some of my main daily tools, such as Jay Meattle’s Shareaholic and the fabulous Stumble Upon bar. I also like the Awesome Bar in FireFox, and some other things. I missed my beautiful Apple interface and my stable, non-crashing Apple browser though, so I kept trying to go back.
Enter Safari 4 beta and a few well timed doodads for it, and I’m back in “like” again with Apple’s browser as my daily option (it has some issues, but that is for another post). Jay Meattle created a browser button you can click and drag to the Safari 4 beta tool bar and use just like the Add-On I was familiar with in FireFox’s latest version. Someone created a Stumble Upon script using SIMBL and named it Stumbi, which was then bought by Soya Software. Stumbi puts a menu option in your Safari browser, right next to help, that gives you several of your favorite Stumble Upon options back (Shareaholic also has a StumbleUpon option for discovering new pages).
You can find Shareaholic’s Safari Browser Bar Button by clicking this link.
You can grab the Stumbi script from Soya Software (downloads SIMBL also) by clicking this link.
All CodeWeavers Crossover products are FREE today
A few months ago, the folks at CodeWeavers threw down a challenge to President George W Bush. That challenge was an offer of free software if gas prices fell below a certain level in a certain amount of time. Well, no thanks to Bush, gas prices did fall. That means the folks at CodeWeaver will be honoring their challenge and giving away software for free for one day: today.
What were the terms of the original challenge by CodeWeaver CEO Jeremy White? From the notice that went out alerting us to the free software today: “If the president achieved one of White’s six “Lame Duck” goals during the twilight of his 2nd term, White would make Windows-API enabler & WINE GUI CrossOver free to customers for one day.”
Crossover is a software that allows you to run Windows on a Mac. It isn’t widely supported yet, but those who use it, love it. It has been gaining both traction and popularity since it was first released, rapidly catching up to favorites Parallels and BootCamp.
White is following through on his pledge. Not only will you be able to get CrossOver for Mac for free over the course of the day today (10/28), you will also be able to get CrossOver for Linux and CrossOver Games as well. Each title retails for around $40, so this is a fairly good deal I highly recommend snapping up.
In order to use CrossOver, you need an Intel Mac running Tiger or higher, and adequate RAM for the job. Some sites following the give away have noted that users must make a choice between a Mac or Linux version and look forward to seeing the statistics on the choices made the day after the software giveaway. I’m betting Mac wins, how about you?
Safari Wish List
While writing about Safari’s developer tools and the new Ecto 3 blog writing beta over on Mac.Blorge, I realized I have been making a list of things I’d like to see in Safari. Why bother making a list? Because I’d like Safari to be as good as FireFox for my daily browser needs, and it still falls short. It is beautiful and simple, but has no plugins or extra features to do things I’ve come to love in FireFox.
I’d love to see Foxy Tunes make a Safari compatible plugin. I adore Foxy Tunes for controlling iTunes in my browser, for looking up artist info on the fly and for the social aspects of meeting people who like the same music. It works in both Flock and FireFox, so why not Safari?
Tab Mix Plus. The session manager and session history are two features I can’t live without. I write for a living, often having up to 200 or more tabs open. In the event of a system crash or power outage, the Tab Mix Plus ability to remember all of these tabs and re-open them for me in the next session is a feature I simply can’t live without.
Stumble Upon Toolbar. The lack of a StumbleUpon toolbar in Safari kills me. How can I see the lovely surprises of Stumbled pages, or give neat pages some linky love without this? The answer is: I can’t.
There are other features and plugins I would love to see on Safari, like Shareaholic or the Alexa and Compete ranking bars, but those are my top three. Come on, third party develpers – get with it and make your stuff work with Safari!
Microsuck Adding Mac Staff
It appears to be the case. Check it out. Possible new Mac products in the MSFT pipeline? That would be good.
Mac Alternatives To Photoshop
I found this link for my friend Meleah, who has been desperately seeking a way to afford Photoshop. No need Mel, here is a list of substitutes and reviews from PSDTUTS.
MS Office Released For Mac
Microsuck has finally released the next generation of Microsoft Office for Mac after a long wait (the last big update was in 2004). For those of you who still use Office, this should handle issues with DocX files and PDF files, among other things, that people have been having when trying to do use files made in the latest Office for windows in Office for Mac 2004. Of course, if you are like the rest of us, why use Office at all? I have Office 2004 and rarely use it. Instead I use Google Docs and Neo Office, two free solutions that seem to do the trick just as well, if not better, than Office. Maybe Microsoft took so long that it is finally time to jump ship for an Open Source solution in your office. Why not? The popularity of Open Source apps are growing – even governments like the Netherlands are getting in on the act.
Apple and Starbucks Patenting A Way To Cut In Line
In the news this week, Apple filed a patent petition that would eliminate the irritating necessity of standing in line. Once the technology is live, it is expected that Apple will begin testing it out in Starbucks stores, a good fit after the hugely successful iTunes song of the day campaign and iTunes WiFi channel in Starbucks from this year.
Basically, the technology would allow you to pre-order your cup of java or snack before heading into the store, pay for it, receive an order number and grab the item at the pick up window when you arrived – no waiting. It’s like cutting in line at a concert, without the ensuing fisticuffs.
This revolutionary development for the impatient out there, like me, will work with technology like the iPhone. It is not, however, expected to be iPhone exclusive – it should also work with your MP3 player, PDA, laptop or regular cell phone, though I do expect Apple to give its loyal iPhone customers first dibs on the “beta” version.
Apple’s application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office describes a process for placing an order and then notifying customers when an order is ready to grab at a pick-up station. One goal, the patent application notes, is to avoid an “annoying wait in a long queue if the purchaser arrives before completion of the order.”
Of course, all good ideas come with a price, and the cost of this innovation is information. Stores opting in to the program, like Starbucks, would be tracking your orders and learning your favorite things, tailoring your shopping experience to suit your needs. I’m sure marketing to consumer taste would logically follow that, unfortunately.
The patent puts Apple’s partnership with Starbucks in a new light. The technology promises to morph Apple from the business of simply selling gadgets and music and movies that can be played on those devices into an intermediary in all kinds of exchanges.
Apple To Release 76 Bug Fixes
This January, Apple is to release Mac OS X Leopard build 10.5.2 build 97C. Why is this news? Because the build is set to address the 76 biggest complaints that have been heard about Leopard.
The complaints addressed include the pesky Internet connectivity issues, general Airport wonkyness, Rosetta compatibility, memory leaks and more. The rumor is that this much needed release will hit around the same time as Macworld.
The release date is a good guess, since Apple has already released the fix to developers.
Screen Sharing
A friend pointed out this handy Leopard application to me today, and I immediately thought of the potential for helping friends and family work out technical issues. Of course, they’d have to have Leopard and a newer Mac, but still – it’s a great little program. It allows to share the screen of Macs on your Network, both remote and in house.
This article from MacWorld even has a variety of Terminal commands you can use to increase functionality of Screen Sharing. It goes so far as to add handy buttons and shortcuts to your Screen Sharing toolbar, and to give you a Bonjour window to make finding computers on your network that much easier.
Just Say No To Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer, how do we hate thee? Let me count the ways…
Using Your Mac For Holiday Cheer
Creating a short movie card or holiday podcast is the ultimate in easy with a Mac. I just used my MacBook to make this tiny, miniature pod cast for Cre8Buzz:
I had never used Garage Band to make a pod cast before, and it took about 30 seconds from the time I opened the program to the time I hit export to iTunes to say what I wanted and add background Rockabilly holiday music. Easy peasy!
If I can think of enough to say I may do a longer pod cast email for all of my far flung friends and relatives this year. I probably wont do an iMovie, I’m too camera shy, but I bet some of my friends like Meleah will. How about you?
(Don’t forget to help me win the Cre8Buzz contest, too!)
No Router Switched Before Its Time
So you all heard me chime in on the network issues with Leopard. I sorted a few of them out by using Open DNS, but not all of them. Plus, that didn’t take into account the fact that the eMac was working fine on the WiFi network and the MacBook was not.
As a Christmas present to myself, I recently grabbed a new Airport Extreme router to replace my Original Airport (the space ship shaped one). What can I say, they were on sale, I had a coupon – it all worked out. The weird part is that is that all of my networking problems were solved simply by plugging it in and turning it on, from stability to signal strength.
This disappoints me. Sure, I love having the ease and simplicity of Mac use back, but I should have had that with the space ship router, which was completely fine. Does this mean that people who also have an older, perfectly fine Airport who have saved up to get Leopard will be forced to ditch their old faithful router or run the risk of keeping it and having a (shudder) Windoze style, never-working-well experience?
There are several things that have happened since the release of Leopard that makes me frown in Apple’s general direction. They have made a few bad marketing decisions, there have been complaints about their attention to detail on the Leopard project, and they have still not addressed the network connectivity and other issues in spite of repeated complaints from users.
Do I regret switching to Leopard? Absolutely not. It’s several steps above Tiger in most things, it’s gorgeous, and I love using it. I just didn’t like the amount of time it took EACH DAY to mess with the network when I had the original Airport hooked up. The original airport which was working beautifully with every other Mac OS it came in contact with.
Original Airport Currently for Sale On Ebay (5 day auction starting 12/4/07, no reserve)
Make Your Holiday Special With iPhoto
iPhoto ’08 offers a cool new feature: hard cover books containing your photographs. I think this is very cool for the Apple user who wants to take their photos to the next level, and give a gift of memories in the bargain.
iPhoto is not the first application to do this. QOOP, for example, is an application that works with your Flickr account to make hard bound photo books and other gifts. One reason to try the iPhoto ’08 version of this new gift idea is to get your hands on the traditional high quality Apple version. When you are dealing with a company who goes so far out of their way to make every product they design appealing and high quality, why wouldn’t you want them to handle your precious memories?
If you have tried this, let us know how it went for you in the comments. I’m a tad anti-photo (known to run screaming when cameras come out), so I don’t have enough laying around to bind. If you want them back by Christmas, then you need to get your act together and submit by December 11th (Standard Shipping) or December 14th (Express Shipping). In addition to the bound photo books they are offering other gift items, like calendars and cards, as well.
Leopard Having Growing Pains
I already discussed some of growing pains with Leopard briefly, like the internet connectivity issue and the issue with Mac Mail security. What surprises me is Apple’s uncharacteristically slow response to these problems. In previous OS incarnations, the list of gripes would have all had patches released by now.
So far the growing list of issues Leopard users are reporting include:
Network connectivity problems in both WiFi and Ethernet networks. This includes a variety of problems from dropped connections to reduced connection speed, excessive pinging, and network noise. The problems do not seem to be consistent across user experience (meaning, it isn’t a problem with “all MacBooks”, for example, it is happening across the board on Leopard installations on every Mac computer). I had the issue with network connectivity after installation, and found using the DNS fix of OpenDNS helpful, but it didn’t completely resolve the problem – my signal strength is still the lowest it has been, ever.
Battery drain issues. This seems to be isolated to the newer MacBook Pros judging by reports of the problem on the internet. I have not experienced this issue.
Keyboard performance issues. These issues include reports of keyboard freezes and generally keyboard wonky-ness, all of which resist traditional fixes like a PRAM reset. Some users have reported that a hard reset of the Finder helps with the problem. I have not experienced this issue.
Leopard Mac Mail security issues. This is a recurrence of an old problem in OS Tiger that Mac had already fixed. Hopefully they will release an updated patch for Leopard.
If you are experiencing any of these issues, be sure and report them to Apple as soon as possible. Perhaps an influx of reports will spur them to action, since they have been so slow in response on this one. It’s too bad, really, I am enjoying my Leopard experience, and I’d hate for users to be turned off by the service issues on this one.
Boot Camp Party Over, Tiger
Up until now, Apple has supported a beta version of their popular Boot Camp software for users of their Tiger operating system. They are no longer offering updates for this beta version of Boot Camp. The most recent update will still work for users, but if they want to take it to the next level they will need to grab a copy of Leopard. Boot Camp is included with Leopard, free of charge.
Watch List: Leopard Mail
Leopard Mail has been flagged as having the same security issue found in an earlier version of 10.4 Tiger. Keep an eye out for the patch from Apple, and meanwhile don’t set your attachments to automatically download to your computer until it is fixed. If you can’t change that setting, install virus protection and have it scan your incoming mail.
Leopard Online Issue
Leopard users have complained about not being able to keep an internet connection. The fix is relatively easy, and involves changing a default setting that was added in Leopard. This user says it best:
Well, this problem isn’t just with me, it’s actually quite widespread and has been mentioned all over the Internet and Apple support discussion forums. But…I have a fix! You see, Leopard has changed the way in which OS X reads network traffic, as part of their new Firewall setup. I won’t go into a huge explanation, as it is quite techy and geeky. The simple fix is, to open up Network preferences, and select the advanced tab. From here you click on TCP/IP and under the settings for Configure IPv6 turn it off, completely off. This instantly fixed the problem for me.
I tried the fix and it solved my dropped connection issues right away. thanks, Victor!
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