Tuesday, November 27. 2007
Java 6 Available for Mac OSX (Finally!)
| After (semi) patient waiting, it appears that Java 6 is at last available for the Mac OS X (both Tiger and Leopard). Here are more details on the Java 6 port to Mac OS X and some JRuby performance gains. Update (12/15/07): Here is the official Apple update page. |  |
Firefox 2.0.0.10 Released
| Firefox 2.0.0.10 has been released. It looks like this release mainly contains security fixes. Here are the release notes for those who are interested. |  |
Friday, November 23. 2007
Google As a Password Cracker?
| An interesting application of the Google search engine for MD5 password cracking. |  |
Thursday, November 22. 2007
Kindle vs iPhone
| Forbes reviews Amazon's just released Kindle device and compares it to the iPhone, speculating that the iPhone might have already rendered the Kindle obsolete. |  |
Wednesday, November 21. 2007
Apple Black Friday Sales Event
This could be potentially dangerous for me, but evidently Apple is going to have a "Black Friday" sale. Hopefully, I can hide out with my grand-nephew and grand-niece and stay away from all computers to ensure I don't go crazy during this period.  Update (11/21/07): For the hard-core Black Friday shoppers, this site has a downloadable spreadsheet with sortable columns. |  |
Possible Security Hole in Leopard?
It appears that there is a possible security bug in Leopard Mail, that appears to be re-introduced after being fixed in March 2006. According to The Register article:The bug in Apple Mail makes it possible for attackers to run malicious code on a victim's machine by disguising an executable program as an image or other type of innocuous file. Let's hope that Apple gets this patched in a hurry. |  |
Tuesday, November 20. 2007
Firefox 3 Beta 1 Released
| Getting closer... Firefox 3 Beta 1 has been released and there is already an add-on to fix memory leaks. |  |
Thursday, November 15. 2007
YouTube: HD Video Arriving Soon?
| Evidently YouTube is going to start delivering HD video in the near future (current estimates say within the next three months). Part of the reason for the delay seems to be YouTube wrestling with issues of download bandwidth. Here's hoping that delaying technical issues get resolved soon - after watching Blu-Ray, is sometimes hard to view online video. |  |
Wednesday, November 14. 2007
Mac OS X 10.4.11 Tiger Released
| Apple has released Tiger 10.4.11 which contains miscellaneous bug fixes as well as plugging some security holes. According to the official language in the update: The 10.4.11 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Tiger and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility and security of your Mac. This update also includes Safari 3, the latest version of Apple's web browser. I'll probably update my computer during my break from work (that way I have time to put things back in case anything is broken  ).Update (11/27/07): As one of my astute readers has already commented on, it looks like the latest update to Tiger could cause users to have to reformat their hard drive if they have Boot Camp installed - ouch! |  |
Tuesday, November 13. 2007
Leopard 10.5.1: On the Way
| In yet more Leopard news, Leopard 10.5.1 is on the way, mainly to fix the Finder data loss issue when moving files between directories. In other news, it seems like Leopard's Spotlight search now skips over anything the ~/Library folder (like Adium chat logs and Mail messages for example). And just in case you haven't read enough Leopard OS reviews, here is two by TUAW discussing both the top favorite features and the top annoyances of the new OS. Now, if only the annoying X11 problems with Leopard could be fixed, I might be able to upgrade. Update (11/13/07): Hope might be on the horizon for the X11 issues with Leopard in the form of unsanctioned patches. fingers-crossed Update (11/14/07): Just read over in MacNN about an issue that some users are experiencing with Leopard apparently rendering the MacBookPro keyboard and/or trackpad "dead" for a short amount of time, particularly after waking the MBP from sleep. Nice! In addition, there also seems to be some bugs in the new Time Machine feature as well: namely failed backups and backups that complete, but are invisible to the user. Update (11/15/07): Leopard 10.5.1 has arrived. | |
Friday, November 9. 2007
Rumors: iPhone Firmware update 1.1.2 - Jailbroken already
| Bless those industrious developers. Over at the TUAW site, there is a story on the exploits of Jailbreaking the latest 1.1.2 Firmware upgrade from Apple - no sexy GUi yet; this is being hacked out on the command line (but you know that the GUI interface can't be far behind). (Note: Currently, I don't see the 1.1.2 Firmware update available yet from iTunes, although other users are claiming that they can see it). On the upside, according to this Apple Forums post, support for user-generated (firmware version 1.0.2) ringtones now works again with 1.1.2 and there have been some murmurings that some users' iPhones seem to run faster. | |
Thursday, November 8. 2007
iPhone Update 1.1.2 is coming this Friday
| According to Apple, iPhone firmware 1.1.2 is due this Friday; the same day that the iPhone will be released in the UK. The official new features of this firmware update is better international support for the iPhone. Of more concern to the current iPhone users is that this firmware update will close the TIFF exploit hole that people have been using to jailbreak their phone and install 3rd party apps on (wonder how long this back and forth between Apple and the iPhone user base will continue? ) | |
Tuesday, November 6. 2007
iTunes 7.5 Released
| iTunes 7.5 has been released. Looks like this is a fairly minor release, adding support for the international release of the iPhone on November 9th. For those interested, iLounge has a more detailed description of changes. |  |
