Appletell

If you love unlocking your iPhone or iPod Touch with your finger, you can now have that same functionality on your Mac for only $50.00.  A new device from UPEK called the Eikon Digital Privacy Manager provides security for your Mac with the swipe of a finger.  It can be used to log into your Mac, unlock the screen saver, and perform other password functions, such as confirming an install.  One thing I find particularly interesting is that it can be used to speed up fast user switching.  This is great for people who love to have that added security to their Mac and like the idea of fingerprint security.

Better yet, this device can also be used on Windows with Boot Camp and camp help perform UAC tasks.  And with all those security alerts in Windows, we all know how time saving that can be.  It also allows you to scan any and multiple fingers in case you somehow cut a certain finger.  It actually looks really cool and convenient, I might have to pick one up myself.  They can be bought at Amazon.

Via [Mac|Life]

Though most seem to be happy with Mac OS X 10.5.2, a select few, Steve Jobs apparently included, aren’t. Mac OS X 10.5.3 is on the fast track to release, as yet another developer build was seeded over the weekend.

While 10.5.2 had widely publicized bugs it was fixing, 10.5.3 has but one: WiFi issues, most recently exemplified when New York schools halted Mac shipments due to the issue. Two other issues it is known to have fixed are shutdown hangs and system mode issues. The others are anybody guess. Or anybody’s guesses, as the list of bugs fixed by this update is apparently longer than 170. This specific build, 9D22, fixes 15, and has no known issues.

Update: After this writing was finished, Apple released Build 9D23, adding 8 more fixes. Once again, no known issues.

Given the rapid succession of build releases, the consensus is that 10.5.3 will be available by mid-May. Perhaps this will give way for 10.5.4 in June?

Have you had any 10.5.2 issues? Or would you just like them to leave well enough alone? Sound off below.

Via [World Of Apple]

2007 was a great year for Apple in the business world. The 2007 market share results for Mac OS X showed that in businesses, Mac OS X usage tripled to 4.2%, just over 2% lower than Vista, at 6.3%.

Windows XP declined during the same period, and it seems a shame that Apple doesn’t capitalize on the Windows Vista fiasco. Joe Wilcox at Apple Watch notes that Apple’s business advertising is totally non-existent. And Apple has a lot working against them. Windows PCs have long been the “Business Machine.” Most people assume that integrating Macs into the workplace will cause nightmares with compatibility, and there will have to be separate networks for Macs and PCs. The list goes on and on. It’s hard to imagine how Apple could extend it’s hip branding to business enterprise solutions, but they can think of something, and it’s a shame not to see them capitalizing.

Read [AppleWatch]

Just after my recent Safari rant, Apple publishes an update.  This version, 3.1.1, fixes 39MB worth of security issues and bugs, one of which was the one that allowed a hacker to get full access of a MacBook Air at a recent PWN2OWN conference.  This update deals with four specific bugs and, in my opinion, is a very good step in the right direction.

More specifically, this update fixed an issue involving the way WebKit handled a host name containing a semi colon in the URL.  This bug, according to Apple, could allow a malicious URL to gain access to a machine.  Another issue fixed consisted of buffer overflows while handling JavaScript expressions.  This update is for both Mac users and Windows users, so be sure to download it for a more secure machine.

You can finds Apple’s detailed notes on this release at their site.

Safari has recently made the news quite a bit, but not for reasons Apple should be proud of.  First, back in February, Safari was caught red handed using undocumented API’s that were not yet available to third party developers.  These frameworks were said to give Safari a speed edge over other browsers and sparked a minor controversy stating that Safari was “crippling” other browsers.  Then, in March, iTunes users on PC’s received a nice little surprise in the Apple Software Updater.  What was this?  Apparently, Safari 3.1 was included with the iTunes update, causing Windows users and the Mozilla’s CEO to accuse Apple of “forcing” the download on their customers.  Not to shortly after, also in March, a MacBook Air was the first to fall in this year’s Pwn2Own hack contest.  How did this happen?  The hacker, Charlie Miller, achieved access of the system through a Safari security bug that involved opening a port the hacker could telnet through.  Soon after this, in April, some Firefox users ran tests with the new Firefox 3.0 beta 5 and found it to be faster than Safari 3.1, just shortly after Apple claimed Safari was the “fastest browser.” That’s three bad months in a row.  Get it together, Apple.  If you claim Safari is, “[T]he world’s best browser,” on your site, make sure it is.  Right now people are really upset with it and that’s no way to get its market share up.

However, despite all this bad news, Safari is still a great, functional browser.  Getting a 100/100 on the most recent Acid 3 Test proves one of Safari’s strong points, web standards.  This is great for web developers and really eases the process of making a website.  Another area Safari is glowing is the mobile browsing marketplace as it is the most popular mobile browser in the US. So come on Apple, you can do better.  I love Safari, so give me more reasons to stick with it.

Version 7.4.5, the new update to Apple’s multimedia framework application, QuickTime, comes with 11 security fixes for your computer, 3 of which are only for Windows.  Why is this update particularly special?  For one, it addresses issues with some Java Applets and no longer allows them to gain elevated access to your machine, saving your data from malicious hackers. Along with this, the update also brings another anti-hacker feature for Windows users: ASLR, or address space layout randomization.  This security system, which can also be found in open-source security platforms such as OpenBSD, randomly changes the position of key data, making it harder for hackers to predict target addresses.  It is also used in Mac OS X Leopard to reduce the amount of exploits available to hackers.

This will definitely help keep your your machine more secure as it should and has already proven itself by getting the attention of QuickTime hackers such as Dai Zovi.  This hacker, who defeated a MacBook Pro via QuickTime at a 2007 security conference says, “QuickTime looks like it may have just gotten more difficult.” However, he also points out that this is a “good thing.” If you haven’t downloaded this, I strongly suggest opening Software Update and getting it on your machine.

Via [eWeek]

Millions of people are victims to e-mail fraud and fake websites known as “phishing”. PayPal users are vulnerable to phishing all the time. For those who don’t know what PayPal phishing is, it’s basically a replica of PayPal’s login screen, and when you enter your details, instead of logging you in, your details are sent to the hacker who created the phishing site. Thankfully, PayPal has created a guide to “Safer Browsers”. But you won’t find Safari mentioned on the list of safe browsers.

Safari isn’t one of the safest browsers as many of you will know. Firefox is probably the safest alternative available on all platforms. In fact Safari lacks more security features than, dare I say it, Internet Explorer 7. Apple should keep updating Safari with new security fixes and features if they want their browser to succeed on both Windows and Mac. Safari has seen some great improvements, partially from WebKit updates. I want to continue seeing Safari get updates, so that it can compete with the leading browsers like Firefox. I’m a fan of Firefox’s compatibility, but I prefer Safari’s performance on the Mac.

Via [TUAW]

Mac users have been free of virus’ for about 31 years now, but 93% expect that Macs will have more malware and virus attacks. Sophos, a computer security company, conducted a survey with about 350 computer users and they believed that Apple’s Macintosh computers will be targeted more frequently in the future. 

Last November, this computer security company reported a virus/malware that they claim to be “the first financially motivated malware for Macintoshes.” This Trojan program acts a a codec to enable users to view videos, but actually changes your DNS serves to direct users to sites that they haven’t navigated to. On the Windows platform, this technique is generally used to send users to malicious sites.

The company that conducted this survey is a computer security company, so there is no doubt that they are happy to know they have business in the future. I was skeptical reading this report, coming from this company, but the question seemed rather valid.

“The first financially motivated malware for Macintoshes has been discovered. Do you think in the future Macs will be targeted more often?” ~ Sophos

Can Apple keep up and kill away all the up and coming virus’?

Via [InformationWeek]

Yesterday, Symantec released their latest AntiVirus suite, 11, to retail. But the official site was not up and running, and no screenshots or demos had been posted on the internet. MacNN has just posted a first look at AntiVirus 11 for Mac - with plenty of high quality screen shots. As you know from Apple’s consistent marketing, Macs do very rarely receive viruses, and if they do they are often minor issues. For exmaple, there was once the case of a Microsoft Word macro virus - but it didn’t affect any other part of the Mac OS X operating system. It’s a solid OS, built on UNIX, which is very secure at the core.

MacNN’s first look covers most of the basic stuff you need to know - from installation to daily updates and weekly scans. To me, this looks like a great piece of software. But I am still unsure how many Mac users will actually buy this AntiVirus suite - after Apple continually marketing the Mac as practically virus-free. AntiVirus 11 is just a virus scanning suite, so there is no firewall (Mac OS X has one built-in anyway). The official product page is now online and the system requirements are very low: Mac OS X 10.4 or higher, PowerPC or Intel, 128MB RAM and 100MB of hard disk space free.

Via [MacNN]

If you have ever had an iPod stolen from you (or lost one and find it easier just to tell yourself someone must have stolen it), you know that there isn’t much chance you will ever get it back. Calling Apple won’t get you anywhere, as they can’t (or won’t) do anything for you. Dateline NBC decided to investigate and see if there really isn’t anything Apple can do for you.

When you register your iPod, Apple stores information such as the serial number of the iPod, your email address etc. Dateline wanted to find out how easy it would be to find a stolen iPod after it had been stolen using means that Apple might have available to them. The results may surprise you.

More than half of the iPods that were stolen were able to be found by Dateline. The iPods were planted in shopping bags, on park benches and in malls in their original boxes. What the theifs didn’t know is that instead of an iTunes installation CD there was a specially made CD that had software on it that would be used to track them. When the user clicked “I Agree” in the software agreement, they were agreeing to much more than just software licensing.

You can watch the entire episode of Dateline by going to their website and Launching the Web extra video on the right-hand side. Watching the entire 6 segments of video is worth while for any Apple fan, as it provides insight into why people steal iPods, and how Apple could potentially track down stoen iPods.

This investigation has even helped pressure Apple into doing something about the iPod theft epidemic, even though FSJ likes things the way they are.

Read [Dateline NBC] via [Digg]