« May 2008 | Main | July 2008 »
Sorry, Dell... it's still a PC
You have to admire the effort Dell put into the new line of 'Studio' PCs. The specs are all there: high def screens, Core2 Duo chips, tons of memory, even an optional blu-ray drive. For the most part, the new models stack up very well with the MacBook Pro,
Then they went and screwed the whole thing up with Vista.
Yes, the downfall of any would-be Mac killer: Windows. For all the bells and whistles and superior hardware features, the so-called "creative" PCs still fail to win over the artists, design professionals and hipsters that have long been Apple's bread and butter because they all run Windows. That clunky, do-everything OS that just seems to get worse every time they try to make it better.
Dell at least is making an attempt to make Vista suck a little less. The company rolled out the "Dell Dock," an on-screen semi-translucent par in which desktop icons and frequently-used applications can be placed. it's also known as "a lawsuit waiting to happen."
Microsoft seeking out Maccies
The Macintosh Business Unit up in Redmond is a little short-staffed at the moment, and they're looking for fresh meat...err...faces to populate their ranks. Now, I know most Mac users would rather lobotomize themselves with a power drill than hop on board the Borg, but they do lay out a strong case. The MacBU offers up such selling points as free cofee and a "kick-butt industrial strength margarita machine." No doubt quite useful in fending off the soul-crushing sense of shame and betrayal you will feel each time you look over at your Mac.
New Mac malware
So much for a slow, lazy Friday.
Two security companies have reported finding Mac malware samples making the rounds with some nasty payloads.
First, there's the report from SecureMac about a malicious piece of AppleScript that some hackers are toying with and possibly planning to spread. Known as AppleScriptTHT, or astht, it allows the attacker to essentially have remote control of your Mac, accessing the iSight camera, toggling network preferences and even retrieving user info.
The second trojan, reported by Intego, has similar behavior, logging account info and uploading it to a remote server along with the user's IP address for future use. This one, however, appears to be already making the rounds, disguised as a 180KB application called "PokerGame."
Perhaps even more worrying than the trojans themselves, however, has been the response from Mac users so far. A great many have taken to forums and blogs with a "so what?" approach, dismissing the threats because they require the user to manually launch the application.
This is why security experts still say Mac users are clueless about security, and this is why many still see OS X as fertile ground for malware.
No, these files don't hide within a webpage and covertly install themselves deep into your machine by way of a browser flaw. Then again, neither does the Storm worm, which has managed to build a botnet of more than 2 million machines simply by posing as greeting cards and movie files. Social engineering works, and it works very well.
You may know better than to launch a strange AppleScript file or a suspicious "poker game" app, but what about your mother, spouse, kids, co-workers and peers? There are plenty of people in front of Macs right now who would fall for this.
Both Intego and SecureMac are recommending their products as a way to protect against the trojan. I wouldn't go that far. Common sense will keep most everyone safe; a memo to the co-workers or a quick talk to the family on safe surfing should do it.
But to dismiss the thread and take a "nothing to see here" approach is an invitation to infection, and a great way to invite even more malware to the Mac world.
iTunes downloads vs. people in the world
Early this morning, Apple revealed that it had sold its five billionth iTunes song. This comes roughly ten months after topping the three billion mark, and a little more than two years after hitting one billion. At this rate, the number of songs purchased from the iTunes store could overtake the number of humans on planet earth (around 6.8 billion) by the end of the year.
And at 30 cents per song, Apple has brought in roughly $1.5bn from iTunes music sales alone. Not bad for something that was originally said to be just a vehicle for moving more iPods.
Super Macs
The latest edition of the Top500 supercomputer rankings has been posted, and two Mac systems have made the list this time around.
Generally, supercomputers aren't something you associate with Apple hardware. Row after row of big, lumbering clusters of faceless black towers locked away in a windowless gray room somewhere is pretty much the antithesis of what Macs are all about.
Aside from that, there's the fact that most supercomputers are made for something a bit different than Garage Band or Photoshop. These puppies are usually aimed at performing massive amounts of computational activity and as such are usually loaded with specialized, often proprietary operating systems made to carry out a fairly limited range of activities.
Still, these two outfits managed to push their Apple hardware into the upper echelon of the computing world. Though Intel claimed a whopping 75 per cent of the list with its chips, both of these systems were made before Apple's switch, so they both rely on dual-core G5 processors.
Ranking 141 on the list was a custom system from computing services firm COLSA. The massive cluster of XServe was originally built to model hypersonic flight. It runs at around 16 teraflops, though it has peaked at as many as 24.58 teraflops.
It has also withstood the test of time, remaining in the top 500 for three years. When the COLSA system debuted, it ranked 15 on the list.
A little further down the list is the Virginia Tech "System X" cluster. Originally made from 1,100 G5 towers, the system was later converted into XServe units. Even older than COLSA, System X is now going on four years old. In 2004, the system made its debut on the list at #7.
WWDC's big Snow (Leopard) job
Amidst the hype storm that was iPhone 3G, another piece of Apple news that may have a greater impact on the company's bottom line went relatively unnoticed.
Say hello to Snow Leopard. Apple chose to relegate MacOS 10.6 to a later preview in the safe land of developers sworn to non-disclosure agreements, but the company did offer up a statement on the new OS X.
Snow Leopard will sport a new version of QuickTime and will be optimized to take advantage of the multi-core processors and huge loads of RAM so popular with the kids these days, up to 16 TB, in fact.
The new OS X also supports OpenCL, allowing for the graphics processor to be used for normal CPU tasks, a process also known as "GPGPU." As well as a new version of Java that runs about 53 per cent faster.
Take the figures with a grain of salt, however. Apple notes that Snow Leopard's performance will vary according to your hardware, and the machine used in testing was an iMac with a 2.8ghz processor and 2GB RAM.
What a difference a year makes
Just a few weeks shy of the iPhone's first birthday, someone has finally issued a bona fide iPhone killer.
This puppy features a 3G connection that almost 3 times as fast as the iPhone's pokey Edge connection. It also sports better battery life, a sleeker profile, GPS, and an SDK that puts Apple's lame Safari-based apps to shame.
On top of all that, it costs a full $100 less than the current iPhone and a whopping $400 less than an 8GB iPhone did at its debut.
Yes, this bad boy truly does put the iPhone to shame. Unfortunately for the rest of the industry, it's made by the same company that makes the iPhone.
When you look at what has changed from iPhone 1 to iPhone 2, you can't help but feel amazed and even a little sorry for the people that shelled out six bills in June of 2007.
A year ago, everyone was making excuses for why Edge wasn't THAT bad. This year, Apple went out of its way to show just how much Edge sucks in comparison to 3G. If you take Saint Steve's word for it, only a sap would want an Edge phone.
A year ago, businesses wouldn't touch the iPhone. Bringing an iPhone into your corporate network was akin to a third-grader sneaking a Playboy into his math book. This year, Apple claims that some of the largest companies in the world are falling all over themselves to support the iPhone.
Last year, Americans were the only ones expecting to get their hands on the iPhone. The rest of the world could only hope to buy one on holiday and showcase its wifi and movie-playing abilities back home. This year, Apple is planning to make the iPhone available in roughly 70 countries.
Remember how, a year ago, running an iPhone application on anything but Safari would void your warranty and get you laughed out of the Apple store? Not any more. The SDK isn't due until September, and Apple is already parading forth the developers who have working versions of once-forbidden native apps ready to go.
And finally, who can forget the good old days when getting an iPhone meant taking out a second mortgage on the house? The new 8GB iPhone will cost $199... one third, I repeat, one third the cost of the 8GB model in June of 2007. You can't help but feel sorry for the poor saps that paid a college kid $150 bucks to wait in line only to drop another six bills on a phone that, after today, looks like an antique.
Indeed, what a difference one year makes.
Store goes down, aniticipation goes up
We're less than 70 minutes away from the WWDC keynote, and the tell-tale sign of new Apple goodies has surfaced: the store is down.
The closing of the Apple online store is a routine move by Apple when the company is in the process of a major update. Typically, it goes down a couple hours before a big event or keynote and then reappears minutes after the event ends, ready to showcase the shiniest new Mac/iProducts.
Service provider AT&T hasn't done anything with their iPhone page yet, but then again they're probably under strict orders from Apple on how to handle any possible update.
Regardless, all new information will be revealed in a matter of hours.
The 100 euro iPhone?
If you believe the latest round of reports, the iPhone is going to see some significant price cuts, in Europe at least.
Thomson Financial is citing local news agencies in Spain as reporting that the new 3G iPhone will be offered in that country for under 100 euro. In exchange, Spanish customers will have to sign a 2 or 3 year deal with local carrier Telefonica.
Not bad, considering that you have to sign a deal with AT&T just to get the iPhone for full price over here in the states. Let's hope that the Telefonica deal is not only true, but a sign of things to come for the next iPhone.
iTunes flicks jump the pond
The iTunes movie store has been around for a couple of years. Unfortunately, in the beginning it didn't do too spectacularly well, to say the least.
In fact, it had so much trouble building momentum that Steve Jobs came out and said that it wasn't meeting expectations at the last Macworld expo when, coincidentally, he rolled out a new movie rental service.
It must be doing well, because Apple is finally bringing the movie store to the UK and Canada. For just 2.5 or 3.5 pounds, Brits can now get their hands on iTunes rentals. Purchasing will cost a bit more: 6.99 and 10.99, but still about in line with the US and Canada costs when factoring in exchange rates.
Looking at the Safari "blended threat"
There's word of a new security issue circulating for Safari in which files could be downloaded and executed on a user's system without notification.
The good news is, this is a Windows vulnerability, so Mac users don't have anything to sweat. However, as boot camp and Safari for Windows have put Apple fans into a two-platform world, I think this issue warrants some examination.
The first thing to note is that this is not a vulnerability per say, there's no buffer overflow or other error to exploit. However, it is what is known as a "blended threat" in which features in both Windows and Safari are leveraged to allow the attacker to install and execute code on the user's system.
Details on the attack are not being disclosed, but a series of similar "blended" attacks between Firefox and IE emerged late last year. The issues weren't easy to fix, and Mozilla had to make a couple of attempts before a successful fix was issued.
Fortunately, there's an easy way for all you Jon Hodgman types to mitigate the attack: simply go into the Safari preference panel and change the location that your Safari downloads are sent to.
