Saturday, January 12, 2008

The Apple Blog (12 сообщений)

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The Apple Blog, published by and for the day-to-day Apple user, is a prominent source for news, reviews, walkthroughs, and real life application of all Apple products.
http://theappleblog.com
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  • My first Apple User Group: MetroMac

    MetroMac at Apple SoHo I recently attended a workshop about Final Cut Pro at the Apple Store SoHo.  To my surprise, immediately following the workshop was a meeting of a a local Apple User Group called the Metropolitan New York Macintosh Alliance or “MetroMac” for short.  I stuck around for the meeting since I had never been to one of these meetings before and there was going to be a discussion of the upcoming Macworld. The user group was made up of a wide range of people with varying ages.

    There were two moderators.  I didn’t get their names, so I will call them “Leader Guy” and “Second-in-Command.”  I bet you can tell who did what with my clever titles for these gentlemen.  The user group began with Macintosh problems.  Members of the audience would ask questions and Leader Guy would try to answer the questions before opening up the question to other audience members.  Leader Guy turned out to be one of the snarkiest human beings I have ever had the misfortune of experiencing in real life.

    An audience member said, “I know you’ve never recommended Internet security software…” before getting cut off by Leader Guy who exclaimed, “I’ve never said that! You would be wrong.”  The audience member replied, “I get things wrong all the time.”  Leader Guy would not let this point go, “Then you would be wrong this time, too.”  This did not seem like a friendly user-group.  Considering the two’s dialog, it appeared they had a bit of a history.  Maybe this was just sarcasm between friends.  The same audience member asked about her G5 tower and how its CD-tray would open whenever she started the computer.  Leader Guy’s response?  “Congratulations.”  Another audience member helped out by suggesting she unplug a peripheral and then see if the G5 had the problem.  Again, I tried to write this exchange off as some kind of sarcasm between friends.

    On the topic of Internet security, Leader Guy suggested turning off file sharing.  A different audience member chimed in, “But I need to have file sharing on.”  Leader Guy’s response? “No.  You want to have file sharing on.  You do not need it.”  Terrific.  Leader Guy seemed far from helpful.  Second-in-Command was a rather nice fellow occasionally making good-natured security password jokes.  When using a router was mentioned, Second-in-Command asked the audience if they knew what a router was — just in case.  The audience seemed to reply with positive head nods.  Leader Guy proceeded to tell the group how routers work.

    After Leader Guy accidentally hit my MacBook Pro’s screen without apologizing, I had enough.  I stuck around for forty-five minutes but Leader Guy was unbearable.  Even the promise of a Macworld discussion was not enough to make me stick around.  I have only been a Mac user for about two or three years.  I had heard about snarky, know-it-all, Mac users but I had never actually experienced or dealt with anyone that fit that description.  I have had several discussions with other Mac users over the past couple of months since I have been regularly attending my local Apple Store’s free workshops on Final Cut Pro.  No one was similar to Leader Guy.

    Looking beyond Leader Guy, the user group actually had some good information.  Having a knowledgeable group of Mac users in one room has it advantages.  Group members were able to solve problems of other group members.  There was even a wireless microphone so questions could be heard by everyone in the group.  Perhaps your past user group experiences were different;  I’d love to hear about them in the comments section.





  • Zero Day Exploit For QuickTime Flaw

    InformationWeek is reporting that an Italian security researcher has posted a exploit for a zero-day vulnerability in QuickTime 7.3.1 that impacts both OS X and Windows versions of the software. This exploit will allow an attacker to execute malicious code on the target system.

    The “researcher”, Luigi Auriemma, describes the exploit as being based on a flaw in QuickTime’s parsing of HTTP error messages and has not provided Apple with advance notice before publishing the proof-of-concept code. Symantec has confirmed that the flaw can produce a Denial of Service, but has not confirmed the remote code execution claim.

    As of this post, Apple has not posted a fix to this issue, but here are some steps you can take to protect yourself (via US-CERT):

    • Uninstall QuickTime (OK, kinda extreme)
    • Block the rtsp:// protocol (given how much we love streaming media, not likely either)
    • Disable the RTSP protocol handler (reasonable, depending on your risk tolerance) Mac OS X users can disable the RTSP protocol handler by editing the ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.plist file with Property List Editor. Change the LSHandlerRoleAll value associated with the rtsp LSHanlderURLScheme to something other than com.apple.quicktimeplayer. This process can be simplified by using an application such as RCDefaultApp.
    • Disable QuickTime as the RTSP protocol handler on OS X (reasonable…you can pick RealPlayer as an alternative). To disable the RTSP registered protocol handler in OS X open ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.plist and look through ahundred or more entries to find RTSP and change it to something else.
    • Do not access QuickTime files from untrusted sources (duh). Attackers may host malicious QuickTime files on web sites. In order to convince users to visit their sites, those attackers often use a variety of techniques to create misleading links including URL encoding, IP address variations, long URLs, and intentional misspellings. Do not click on unsolicited links received in email, instant messages, web forums, or internet relay chat (IRC) channels. Type URLs directly into the browser to avoid these misleading links. While these are generally good security practices, following these behaviors will not prevent exploitation of this vulnerability in all cases, particularly if a trusted site has been compromised or allows cross-site scripting.

      •  





  • 1Password Review

    1passwd-new.jpg

    For those of you who have far too many sites to log into and far too short of a memory to remember them all, this program will save your life. 1Password is a simple, elegant system that incorporates itself into most browsers and like Keychain, will save and place your information accordingly.

    Browser Compatibility

    For a full list of browser compatibility check out their site. Having Safari and Firefox covered, I was already set. Each browser will offer a similar button as shown above. Once you save a form or identity on a browser, it gets transferred to the other ones.

    browser_integration.png

    What It Offers

    1Password may be similar to Keychain but ultimately provides for a much more versatile user experience. You can store multiple identities, false or real, multiple registration forms, and billing information for quick check outs. 1Password automatically synchronizes with Keychain and can sync with .Mac for access from multiple computers. Transferring information can be safe and easy by simply copying or backing up your Keychain folder.

    If you're like me and use variations of similar passwords, 1Password offers a quick solution to create passwords for you. It will prompt with you with a slider of choices and will create a unique password, at your set length.

    Safety

    Like the good Samaritans you are, you question safety. Since 1Password is directly integrated with Keychain, OS X is already set to keep your information safe. 1Password requires a master password to log in. Also it will timeout after a specified time. In the 1Password manager you can edit accounts, add notes, or track history.

    Like most good things in the world, 1Password comes with at a cost, $29.95. A bargain considering its abilities. If you're still skeptical try it out for free and comment your experiences.


    Комментарии к сообщению:
    http://theappleblog.com/2008/01/10/1password/#comments



  • A Mean Clean For A Glossy Screen

    iClean I have a two-year-old grandson who loves to touch my MacBook screen. And he is NOT into washing his hands (okay with me, he's my grandson, he can do anything).

    So I had to find a non-abrasive but effective way to clean my screen. The best product I've found — and believe me, I've tried everything — is a microfiber lens cloth made of ultra suede.

    The Process

    First, I use a monitor wipe.
    Then polish the surface gently with the microfiber cloth. You may have to use a little bit of elbow grease if someone (not you of course) has touched the screen with sticky fingers.

    The ultra suede microfiber leaves no streaks,no smoky residue, no muss, no dust, no gooey fingerprints. And it shines like the first day you took your MacBook or iMac or MacBook Pro out of the box. Good for cleaning matt or glossy LCDs or glass monitors, too, like the new iMac.

    Microfiber ultra suede lens cloths are small, about 5 x 7, inexpensive and durable. Mine looks like a thin version of ultra suede but is tacky to the touch and is bunch-up-able for easy transport. I've had mine almost a year and I use it to clean my MacBook, iPhone, my iPods and my iMac screen.

    The one I have has no sewn edges. Sewn edges can scratch a surface. It's cut with pinking shears so the cloth will not ravel.

    Where to purchase

    Staples sells its own brand of Monitor Wipes and I am sure you can buy them at Office Depot or Office Max. Make sure you buy Monitor Wipes and not All-Purpose Wipes. A container of 80 wipes sells for about $10.

    Don't get a microfiber cloth sold in auto shops. They're for cars.

    The one I use came with a travel cleaning kit from iClean by Monster that I purchased at CompUSA. 3M also manufactures microfiber ultra suede cloths and you can buy them for $2.99 at Drugstore.com.





  • NetNewsWire - Now free as a bird

    NetNewsWire Tip to Colin from The Uber Geeks for the news that NewsGator has now made 4 of it’s products free.

    NetNewsWire, FeedDemon, NewsGator Inbox, and NewsGator Go! are all available for download now for free.

    If you purchased any of those apps after December 9, 2007 you can get a full refund.

    So why did they release all of these applications for free? As Nick and Greg put it, it’s simply a marketing a move to saturate the market more for their other for-pay services.

    NetNewsWire has long been my favorite RSS reader and it’s great to see it being made available to even more users.

    Oh, and if you didn’t notice, each of those apps also received an update!





  • Bento goes 1.0

    Bento

    Back in November, FileMaker released a preview of their soon-to-be-released personal database app, Bento.

    Yesterday they officially released the gold version of Bento.

    The design in functionality of Bento is such that you’d think it was just another iWork application. It meshes extremely well with Apple’s design standards set in its iWork apps and has an almost limitless number of uses.

    It’s available in a single-license and family-license at $49 and $99, respectively.


    Комментарии к сообщению:
    http://theappleblog.com/2008/01/09/bento-goes-10/#comments



  • Inquisitor alters search results with affiliate links…users go mad

    Inquisitor

    Sigh. One of my favorite add-ons for Safari, Inquisitor, has unfortunately been removed from my computer.

    As reported by TUAW, Inquisitor alters search results to insert the developers affiliate links higher up in the rankings. According to the developer, the affiliate links will gradually move further down the results the more you search for a term and do not click on the links (thus “learning” that you don’t want those links in your search results).

    The issue most people seem to be having is that this wasn’t disclosed up front. I have to admit it’s a clever form of displaying advertisements, but I just can’t keep using the app when something as major as altering search results wasn’t disclosed…making me wonder what else wasn’t disclosed.

    I, along with every other rational person, understands that bills have to be paid and that some compensation for the developer is a good thing, but transparency in the software business is a necessity if you want people to keep using your apps. Simple as that. People want to know if you’re altering their experience, and yes, altering search results is most certainly altering a users experience without their knowledge.

    UPDATE: David was kind enough to drop in and he was correct in pointing out that I left out a link to his response. My mistake. I apologize. Here’s the link to his response about all of this. I would love for David to show where this has been “public knowledge” (implying that this info was easily accessible and known by most people who used the app) before all of this hoopla.





  • TextMate: No longer a reason to avoid Git

    I wrote recently about my headaches using Subversion with iWork documents (“iWork hates Subversion”). The consensus from the comments was that I needed to ditch Subversion for a more modern version control system. Both Mercurial and Git were popular among commenters. (I decided on Git, incidentally. The transition was extremely smooth.)

    TextMate bundle editor

    One TAB reader, HG, lamented that a TextMate bundle doesn’t yet exist for Git. Consider that old news. Well, unofficially. It is currently under review within the TextMate user community, but the Git bundle has been written and is available to any TextMate user who syncs to the TextMate SVN repository.

    Copy (or link) the bundle from Review/Bundles into Bundles and relaunch TextMate or Reload Bundles (under the Bundles menu), and voilà!, your copy of TextMate now supports many of Git’s version control features — in addition to every other open-source version management system on the planet.

    Instructions for syncing from the TextMate SVN repository is available at the TextMate wiki.





  • Making The Move: "Must Have" Apps for Your Fresh Leopard Upgrade

    So, as indicated, I finally switched to Leopard (went from 10.4.11 to 10.5.1 to be precise). As with previous operating system installs, I also took the opportunity to upgrade the internal drive in my MacBook Pro, this time kicking it up to 320GB with the new WD Scorpio WD3200BEVT (it has turned out to be a great drive). A defense of this process includes:

    • Get the latest, highest-capacity 2.5″ drive available (score!)
    • Do not have to “waste” time backing up the old system (and I can boot into 10.4.11 when needed)
    • No worries about upgrade hassles (i.e. the Logitech debacle)

    The biggest benefit has been an early spring cleaning for my system. The plethora of excellent third-party software available for OS X makes it really easy to gather many little (and not-so-little) utilities and applications, most of which are used quite infrequently. The other bit of cruft that tends to accumulate is a host of installer downloads, PDFs, other documents and various source archives, most of which can (and should) be archived (that *is* why I bought the 1TB NAS drive, right?). This time around, I took a more tactical approach to re-building my system: load only those programs and files that generate a “Doh! I need that!” reaction over the course of the next seven days. (While I tried to stick to that “one week” rule, I wound up going into week number two.)

    Given that the new year is finally upon us and we are all resolute to start afresh, I thought it would be interesting for me to post what wound up being “must haves” for my core Leopard workstation and encourage TAB readers to shout out theirs in the comments. Some elements will obviously be the same, but it should be an illuminating exercise, especially if it winds up unveiling a cool, niche app that has received little coverage.
    (more…)





  • New Xserve at MacWorld?

    My engineering sources say to look for an announcement of a new Xserve sporting Intel’s Tulsa processor at MacWorld Expo next week.

    After all, Apple is due to release another server.

    At last year’s Macworld, Apple suggested that Intel’s Tulsa could find its way into future Xserves. The Tulsa is Intel’s dual-core Xeon 7100 series processor designed for multi-processor servers. Intel claims it delivers up to twice the performance and nearly three times better performance per Watt than previous Intel Xeon processors. That translates to a lower total cost of ownership which, in these days of ballooning energy prices, is music to the ears of enterprise.

    From January 2003 to January 2005, Apple released a new Xserve each year, breaking stride in August 2006 when they released the current Xserve model, the Q57 —  the first Xserve with Intel processors. Although introduced in August 2006, the first one shipped three months later in November 2006.

    The Q57 sports four cores with the Intel Xeon 5100 series processor (the “Woodcrest”), available in dual 2.0, dual 2.66 or dual 3.0 GHz with 4MB shared L2 cache per processor and a dual 1.33 GHz System Bus. It has three drive bays and eight FB-DIMM slots, maxing out at 32GB of 667MHz DDR2 ECC DIMMs. In November 2006 when it first shipped, the OS was v. 10.4.8 of Mac OS X Server (build 8N1215) but now ships with the latest Leopard release of OS X, OS X Server v. 10.5.1.


    Комментарии к сообщению:
    http://theappleblog.com/2008/01/07/new-xserve-at-macworld/#comments



  • Community Activity: January 7, 2008





  • Perian "The Swiss-Army Knife for Quicktime"

    Perian Being a minimalist I quickly became captivated by Apple's ability to streamline multiple functions into single, easy to use applications. OS X is a clear example of this consistency, every bar, every window and every feature all reflect an over arching goal of practicality and use. My desire for a clean, simple interface quickly translated to third party apps as well. But thankfully most OS X applications follow the very same streamline pattern.

    Pre Perian

    Not an application, but a Quicktime component, I felt Perian could do with a mention because without it, I wouldn't be using Quicktime at all. Previous to Perian I relied heavily on VLC for my video needs. I would change all my defaults so my video collection would have immediate access to it. Plus VLC offers unique qualities like network streaming. For basic use however, I felt the need to minimize my Hard Drive foot print and minimize the amount of applications I currently had. In my quest I came across Perian, a total Quicktime lifesaver.

    Post Perian

    Perian allows you to playback DivX and Xvid, among other formats, with Quicktime. The only issue I ran into was playing full screen. Without Quicktime Pro, full screen viewing is disabled unless you're using iTunes or Front Row. Thanks to Perian being a component plug-in, and Quicktime being such a deep component of OS X, Front Row obligingly played my DivX files in full screen. Just be sure and keep your DivX in your movies folder, and Front Row will recognize them.

    From what I understand of the Apple TV hacks, Perian is the choice for DivX playback. So why not use it on all your computers as well? With Perian installed on multiple computers, I've been able to share my DivX through Front Row across my network. Usually that requires sharing a folder or two, but that's another story. I'm sure Perian is the component of choice for the ultra Mac fan, and probably works best for those of you who include a Mac Mini in your Living Rooms.

    So while this may not work for everyone, I encourage you to at least give Perian a go because you'll still retain DivX playback from OS X, which trust me, is amazing. And if it helps you save even a fraction of hard drive space, well my work here is done then. If you've had different experiences or uses for Perian, please share them, I'm very curious to see what else can be done with this digital "Swiss-Army Knife".







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