I'm not sure whether to be sad or to laugh....
I'm not sure whether to be sad or to laugh....
For those running Parallels RC3 (build 3170) won't see much difference. Those still running the old Parallels public release (build 1970) will see amazing enhancements. As always, make sure you back up your full Parallels disk image, and your Mac just to be safe, before you upgrade.
]]>The basic issue is that this Global Sharing option, which allows easy drag-and-drop app launching between OS X and Windows, is given carte blanche access to your Mac hard drive. Worse yet, this option is enabled by default, at least in beta build 3150 which I am currently running. Users upgrading from a previous version, to get awesome features like Coherence Mode, booting from Boot Camp partitions, and full USB support, may be vulnerable without even realizing this feature was slipped in.
The basic problem boils down to privilege separation. Parallels runs with the full rights of your OS X user, so in theory an attack could be developed and spread via Windows vulnerabilities that could then drop malicious code into OS X. It could also delete files or alter security and other settings.
Allowing Windows, known to be so insecure, to have this sort of access rights to the host operating system is a major misstep by the Parallels team. So if you run Parallels betas, please make sure you disable this feature (Edit -> Virtual Machine -> Shared Folders then uncheck the "Enable global sharing for drag-and-drop" checkbox and save. You'll need to shut down the virtual machine to have access to change this setting.
"Nowadays, security guys break the Mac every single day. Every single day, they come out with a total exploit, your machine can be taken over totally. I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine."
Now, I understand that Gates is pushing hard to convince folks to upgrade to Vista, but this is such a classic example of FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) that Microsoft is famous for.
The interviewer should have followed up asking if Bill could cite one example of a Mac exploit allowing a machine takeover. And how can he claim that Windows isn't vulnerable to such attacks?
Note: Linking to photos and videos is supported only for 5th generation iPods running iPod Software version 1.2 or later. All other Notes feature capabilities described in this document are supported for iPod models with display screens, beginning with the touch-screen models.
In the PDF that section shows a bar off to the left, like it is still text undergoing editing and most likely was not meant to be released to the public:
It will be interesting to see how quickly that PDF gets changed by Apple now that it has been discovered.
]]>For example, someone made what can only be assumed as a clueless mistake when updating their DNS - they added 127.0.0.1 to their records for the myspace.com. For those with weak network-fu, that is a special address which is only used for 'localhost' (your own computer). Since they had 5 hosts listed total, one out of five requests for their domain were going nowhere while this problem existed.
$ host -vv myspace.com
Trying "myspace.com"
;; ->>HEADER< <- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 24145
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 5, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0;; QUESTION SECTION:
;myspace.com. IN A;; ANSWER SECTION:
myspace.com. 68350 IN A 216.178.32.51
myspace.com. 68350 IN A 216.178.32.50
myspace.com. 68350 IN A 216.178.32.49
myspace.com. 68350 IN A 216.178.32.48
myspace.com. 68350 IN A 127.0.0.1Received 109 bytes from 208.67.222.222#53 in 9 ms
Fortunately either someone at MySpace noticed the issue quickly, or they saw the post at OpenDNS.com or on Digg and remedied the issue. But having such high TTLs in their DNS settings I'm sure the problem took a while to finally clear up completely.
For the time being, two other additions make this a very attractive release: they've now added Firewire 800 support back into the 15.4" model, and also made all SuperDrives dual-layer capable.
Check out Enterprise Mac for more details, as well as the MacBook Pro page on Apple's site.
]]>
OS X:
http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/2.0/mac/en-US/Firefox 2.0.dmg
Linux:
http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/2.0/linux-i686/en-US/firefox-2.0.tar.gz
WinXP:
http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/2.0/win32/en-US/Firefox Setup 2.0.exe
Enjoy!
Even more confusing is to buy songs for the Zune you buy "points" (80 points per dollar) and songs cost 79 points each. Obviously a ploy to get folks to think the music is cheaper than iTunes Stores $0.99 per track, as well as banking all of those single points that are going unspent, until you buy 79 songs then you will have enough extra points to buy one more.
If you do the math, the Zune tracks actually are cheaper, $0.9875 per track. You save a whopping $0.0025 (1/4 cent) per song compared to iTMS! So if you buy 396 Zune songs you'll make back the extra $0.99 you paid vs the $249 30GB iPod? After you buy 396 it's ALL PROFIT!
And it comes in BROWN too?
I can see the marketing headlines already: "Zune, the 'number two' music player!"
Pictures to come as I figure it out. This is supposed to be an awesome camera for portaits as well as for macro shooting. Whee!
The keynote, as usual, was excellent. The Mac Pro was definitely not a surprise to anyone, nor was the Xeon Xserve. Both of these bring Apple's transition to Intel to completion.
Steve and other Apple execs went through 10 exciting features of Leopard, but kept some others close to the vest. They also handed out Leopard Preview DVDs to all attendees, both for the client and server OS.
For much more eloquent coverage of WWDC, check out Tom Yager's Enterprise Mac blog.
My favorite conspiracy theory is the one that says the world is being run by a handful of ultra-rich capitalists, and that our elected governments are mere puppets. I sure hope it’s true. Otherwise my survival depends on hordes of clueless goobers electing competent leaders. That’s about as likely as a dog pissing the Mona Lisa into a snow bank.The only way I can get to sleep at night is by imagining a secret cabal of highly competent puppetmasters who are handling the important decisions while our elected politicians debate flag burning and the definition of marriage.
It’s the only explanation for how the governments of the world could be staffed with morons and yet everything still runs okay, sort of. Granted, things aren’t perfect, but when you hear our leaders talk, you have to wonder why our energy policy doesn’t involve burning asbestos on playgrounds. There must be some competent people pulling the strings behind the curtain, adjusting the money supply, twiddling with interest rates, choosing the winners for American Idol, and that sort of thing.
Long live the secret cabal! It's gotta be better than what we are told is really going on in gubmint!
Get it now: Flip4Mac 2.1.033