News Archive for 04/02/27

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Mac OS X 10.3 AFP security issue identified

02/27, 10:05pm

Panther AFP security issue

eWEEK reports on a Mac OS X 10.3 AFP security issue that could result in stolen passwords and data: "The AFP protocol allows Macintosh users to access files on remote systems. In Mac OS X 10.2, Apple updated Apple Filing Protocol (AFP) to permit secure connections over SSH (Secure Shell) protocol. However, ... while users could request secure connections, the system will not issue any alert or indication if an SSH connection is unavailable and then defaults to a non-secure connection. He noted that the only indication was a negative one—users must be aware that an alert 'Opening Secure Connection' did not appear."

Apple to set open flagship store in San Francisco

02/27, 5:55pm

Apple Store San Francisco

Apple is set to open its "flagship" San Francisco Store Saturday morning at 10 am. With people already standing in line, we have our own Apple Store SF Pre-Opening Photo Gallery. Several MacNN readers provided photos and a short video from Thursday of the store during its pre-opening phase. Apple will provide T-shirts to the first 2500 customers in line and is offering special black product bags with more than $600 worth of Apple products for $250.

Forums: 1.8GHz special offer; Bluetooth mice; iMacs..

02/27, 3:45pm

Forums: Bluetooth mice...

Members of the MacNN forums today discuss a number of issues, including: a new "special deal" from Apple that offers a 1.8GHz Power Mac G5 for $1900; suitable Bluetooth mice for use with a PowerBook G4; pictures of members' iMac setups; the best tool for defragmenting a hard disk under Panther; the latest discussion of gaming on the Mac platform; setting up an old 8600 PowerMac as a dedicated FTP server.

Tech: Oracle/PeopleSoft; IBM cleared; XP update

02/27, 3:20pm

Oracle/PeopleSoft

Afternoon tech news: Its takeover attempt of PeopleSoft is called "anticompetitive," but Oracle vows to fight on; a California jury Thursday cleared IBM of liability in a lawsuit by two former workers who said their exposure to chemicals in a computer disk drive factory made them sick and ultimately gave them cancer; Microsoft will make a renewed effort to promote and update Windows XP before the arrival of the next major update to its flagship operating system, code-named Longhorn, expected in five years.

Big Nerd Ranch announces Cocoa Bootcamp

02/27, 3:05pm

Cocoa Bootcamp

Big Nerd Ranch today announced the return of its popular Cocoa Bootcamp training class for March 22-26, 2004. This course, one of the most well attended classes offered by the Big Nerd Ranch, was revised in the fall of November 2003 to incorporate XCode IDE and the new bindings mechanism featured in the Panther release of Mac OS X. Class price of $3500 includes lodging, all meals, original instruction materials, 24-hour lab access, and transportation to and from the Atlanta airport. Students

Apple Store offers online G5 promo

02/27, 2:55pm

Apple offers G5 promo

Several readers note that the Apple Store is featuring a new G5 promo, offering a single-processor Power Mac G5 1.8GHz machine (512MB/160GB/SuperDrive/GeForce FX 5200) for $1,900: "That's only $100 more than the 1.6GHz G5 (single processor), for a faster CPU, faster bus, and 80GB more hard drive space. Also, while it's not mentioned, I think it probably has PCI-X and 8 memory slots, too, because those I believe are the specs of the usual $2099 single 1.8GHz. This sale is the $2099 machine, but with a $200 discount."

Pangea's Nanosaur II to support 3D glasses

02/27, 1:55pm

Nanasaur II supports 3D

Pangea Software today announced that Nanosaur II: Hatchling will support 3D glasses as well as announced the game will be available on March 10th: "In addition to being able to play the game in a normal video mode, Nanosaur 2 can also be played with 3D glasses for a totally immersive game playing experience. The missiles, laser beams, and explosions all come popping out of the screen at you in true stereographic 3D." Both 'red-blue' anaglyph glasses and LCD shutter glasses are supported by the game, and Pangea says that they will be including two pairs of custom-made anaglyph glasses in each box. Both the demo (free) and the electronic version ($25) will be available on March 10, while the boxed version ($35) will ship on March 22.

Iomega ships 8x external Super DVD drive with USB 2.0

02/27, 12:40pm

Iomega 8x Super DVD Drive

Iomega today began shipping its Super DVD Writer, offering 8x DVD write performance. The external USB 2.0 drive features true 8x DVD recording capability in the DVD+R recording mode as well as read/write all DVD and CD formats, including DVD+RW (8x4x12x), DVD-RW (4x2x12x), DVD-RAM (3x), and CD-RW (24x16x32x). In addition, the drive supports 24x DAE (digital audio extraction). It is compatible with Power Macintosh G4 or faster with a built-in USB 2.0 connection and Mac OS 10.2.7 or later. It is available in the US for $280 before a $30 mail-in rebate.

Salling Clicker 2.1 adds Symbian support

02/27, 7:50am

Salling Clicker 2.1

Salling Software has released Salling Clicker 2.1, a significant update to the Bluetooth remote control utility for Mac OS X. The new version adds support for Symbian-based smartphones from Nokia, Siemens, and Sony Ericsson. Among its many features, Salling Clicker allows iTunes artwork from the currently playing song to be displayed on the phone and allows pen-based phones to control the Mac's cursor. Salling Clicker is $20 shareware.

Apps: PowerMate, Tri-BACKUP, ScriptPaks

02/27, 7:45am

Apps: PowerMate, TriBACKUP

• PowerMate OS X 1.6 (free) brings customized settings for GarageBand and 16 other new settings to the software that drives Griffin Technology's $40 PowerMate USB device. The new version of the software can also completely disable the PowerMate's LED and allows users to program the PowerMate to put the Mac to sleep with a push of its button.


• Tri-BACKUP 4.0.1 ($50, free update) features a completely rewritten and updated User Guide for the backup and synchronization software. Various other minor enhancements and additions have been made to the software, which allows users to schedule backups, compress and encrypt files, create a bootable copy of a hard drive, and more.


• ScriptPaks for Quicken 2004, TurboTax 2003, and TaxCut 2003 have been released by MacSpeech for use with its iListen and ListenDo! products. The ScriptPaks add dozens of voice commands for controlling various aspects of each application. They are all available for $10 and are recommended for use with iListen 1.6.4.

SubRosaSoft ships FlashRestore 1.0 for image recovery

02/27, 2:30am

FlashRestore 1.0

SubRosaSoft today announced FlashRestore 1.0, an easy-to-use application that has been designed to recover image files that have been "deleted intentionally or accidentally from your digital camera'ss media. It is compatible with most Memory Sticks, SmartMedia, CompactFlash I & II, and SD/XD Cards." The company says it works with most brands of cameras, cards, and readers, but notes that some cameras secure erase the images when you delete or format. It is available for $25 and runs on Mac OS X 10.2 or later.

Digital music expert discusses iPod impact on culture

02/27, 2:00am

iPod impact on culture

Lecturer Dr. Michael Bull, "the world's leading expert on the social impact of personal stereo devices" [NYT], discusses the impact of the iPod on social culture in a Wired News interview. Bull says "the iPod mini will be popular. Sales will expand as the market expands. It's a repeat of what happened with the Walkman 25 years ago," and, "the aesthetic has moved from the disc to what you play it on ... and the iPod mini will appeal to those who want an artifact for style."