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Apple

Zombie update: Invasion plagues the Inter-Webs

This just in: zombies overrun just about everywhere. Videos and other documentation of the brain-eating reanimated corpses are flooding the Web.

Once upon a time, the invasion was contained within the confines of Hollywood and, uh, Haiti. Now they've spread to other places. They're drinking Bloody Marys in Manhattan, Toronto, and all over the civilized world.

Mobs of the recently undemised are involved in politics and technology in the Bay Area and practicing yoga in Brooklyn. Undead legions are staggering through Second Life, playing Halo 3, and getting recruited for innumerable other games.

You already know about another … Read more

More than 100,000 iPhone owners break out of jail

The release of an easy-to-download method of opening up the iPhone to third-party applications prompted almost 150,000 downloads of the software in three days.

Our friends over at iPhone Atlas spoke with Nicholas "Drudge" Penree, one of the programmers of the AppSnapp "jailbreak" application, who provided the number. AppSnapp was released Sunday to allow iPhones and iPod Touches running the latest version of Apple's iPhone firmware to run third-party applications. Penree thinks the 144,000 downloads of the program reported since Sunday translates into around 100,000 devices that are now free to run … Read more

Mac OS malware targets porn surfers

There's a new piece of malware out there targeting Mac users that takes advantage of the inclination to watch porn.

Intego, a Mac security software company, issued an alert Wednesday warning Mac users of the OSX.RSPlug.A malware, which it describes as a Trojan horse. Those of you familiar with mythology recognize the reference, and OSX.RSPlug.A disguises itself as a video codec that would ensure whatever porn video you just stumbled upon will play on your Mac.

But to get infected with the malware, you have to accept the invitation to download "new version of … Read more

Lightroom update for Leopard users on the way

An update to make Lightroom 1.2 fully compatible with Leopard Mac OS X 10.5 should be available mid-November, Adobe has announced.

The company says photographers can continue using the photo management software in Leopard without too much issue, but stressed that the current version of Lightroom 1.2 is not fully compatible with Apple's new operating system.

Adobe recommends that users refer to a list of known compatibility issues published on Adobe's Lightroom Journal Web site before deciding whether to use the current version of Lightroom with Leopard. It also issued this warning:

"The interaction … Read more

Is Google outsmarting everyone?

Now that The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Google will announce a new software package that aims at revolutionizing the way we interact and use cell phones, it strikes a bit odd to me that all of this is coming to fruition right now.

Now, obviously I'm not privy to Google strategy sessions, and my proceeding predictions are purely speculation, but doesn't it seem a bit interesting that Google is poised to mount an all-out offensive on the cell phone business? And whether you believe Gphone will be a device or an OS, it doesn't really matter -- that attack has become just one part of the entire mobile assault.

If you ask me, this is looking more and more like a premeditated, 5-year, three-point plan that aims at one eventual conclusion: reinvent the cell phone business.… Read more

Early adopters boost Leopard sales for Apple

About 9 percent of the Mac OS X installed base upgraded to Mac OS X Leopard over the weekend, according to figures released by Apple and estimates supplied by financial analysts.

Apple sold 2 million copies of Leopard between Friday and Sunday night, which includes sales of boxed copies, online sales, and new Macs with Leopard preinstalled. When Apple launched Tiger, it took the company 39 days to hit the 2 million mark on a much smaller installed base.

Piper Jaffray released a research note Tuesday estimating that the Mac OS X installed base is around 23 million users at … Read more

BSOD on a Mac?

Don't say you've never thought this before, but Apple types can be a bit on the smug/annoying side at times. Case in point: in the newly released Leopard operating system, the icon Leopard uses to represent Windows machines on your local network is a sight that should be familiar to Windows users the world over. It's a bulky old-school CRT monitor displaying the infamous blue screen of death (aka BSOD).

This little in-joke is actually pretty funny, but Engadget's Ryan Block wants to be a uniter, not a divider, so he put together a handy set of instructions … Read more

Holes in Leopard's firewall

Although Apple is selling its new Mac OS X Leopard operating system on its improved security, researchers at Heise Security have already found fault with its firewall. Unlike with Windows Vista, the Apple firewall is not enabled by default and must be enabled by the end user. Even if you had the firewall enabled in a previous version of the Mac OS X, after an upgrade to Leopard the firewall will again be set to "Allow all incoming connections." It will be disabled.

According to Jürgen Schmidt, editor in chief at Heise Security, if you enable … Read more