Apple decided to push a lot of updates this afternoon, most of them related to a Java update that disables the Java SE 6 applet plug-in. By disabling the plug-in, Apple is allowing consumers to re-enable it on a case-by-case basis. Apple has provided a full guide to the new plug-in options.

We have the full rundown of updates below:

Java for OS X 2013-002

Java for OS X 2013-002 delivers improved security, reliability and compatibility by updating Java SE 6 to 1.6.0_43.

On systems that have not already installed Java for OS X 2012-006, this update disables the Java SE 6 applet plug-in. To use applets on a web page, click on the region labeled "Missing plug-in" to download the latest version of the Java applet plug-in from Oracle.

Safari 6.0.4 and 5.1.9

Safari 6.0.4 and 5.1.9 (for those on Snow Leopard) allow you to enable the Java web plug-in on a website-by-website basis.

Aperture 3.4.4

The Aperture update largely centers around a bug that could cause the program to quit during image importing and spamming users with warning dialog boxes after their Macs have been asleep. The full list of changes include:

• Addresses an issue that could cause Aperture to quit unexpectedly during image import.
• Nikon P7700 RAW images are now displayed correctly in the Import window.
• Thumbnails with version names longer than 250 characters are now displayed correctly.
• Fixes an issue that could cause multiple warning dialogs to appear when web albums are synced after waking from sleep.
• Addresses an issue that could cause Aperture to quit unexpectedly when uploading photos to Photo Stream.
• Shared Photo Stream invitation lists now scroll correctly.
• Includes stability and performance improvements.

iPhoto 9.4.3

A hefty iPhoto update, clocking in at 730.91 MB, focuses on OS X Mountain Lion compatibility. The full list of changes include:

• Photos can now be deleted from My Photo Stream by dragging to the Trash.
• Photos can now be exported from Photo Stream using the Export command in the File menu.
• RAW images manually imported from My Photo Stream are now editable.
• Fixes a bug that could cause manually rotated photos to appear unrotated when shared to Photo Stream.
• Addresses an issue that could cause iPhoto to quit unexpectedly while syncing to Facebook.
• Resolves an issue that could cause calendar text to appear at the wrong font size, resulting in order cancellation.
• Fixes an issue that could cause books to have an incorrect number of pages after rearranging two-page spreads.
• Includes stability improvements.

Then, there are the usual plethora of printer software updates, including Canon laser printers, Epson printers and HP printer drivers.

All of these updates are available through Software Update or via the Mac support page.

Slew of updates include Java, Safari, iPhoto and Aperture originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 16 Apr 2013 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Slew of updates include Java, Safari, iPhoto and Aperture originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 16 Apr 2013 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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According to the latest data from Net Applications, Apple's Safari still dominates mobile browser web traffic. As reported by John Paczkowski at AllThingsD, Safari for iOS grabbed 61.79 percent of all mobile browser web traffic in March of 2013, up from 55.41 percent in February.

Net Applications bases its numbers on 160 million visits to more than 40,000 websites each month. The numbers show that despite being installed on many more devices than Safari, Google's Android browser on captures 21.86 percent of mobile web traffic, followed by Opera Mini at 8.4 percent.

Users of Microsoft Windows Phones, which use Internet Explorer, apparently haven't found out that they can use their devices to visit websites, as that mobile browser claims only a 1.99 percent share. BlackBerry devices trailed the pack with only a 0.91 percent share.

Net Applications: Safari still the top mobile browser originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 03 Apr 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Net Applications: Safari still the top mobile browser originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 03 Apr 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple announced today that they've updated the web plug-in-blocking mechanism in Safari on OS X to disable older versions of the Adobe Flash Player. The move is a way to protect users from a recent vulnerability that took advantage of an older version of the Flash Player plug-in.

If you're running one of these older versions, a "Blocked Plug-In" alert may appear on the Safari browser page where the Flash Player is located. Clicking the alert displays the message shown at the top of this post, which enables downloading of an up-to-date version of the plug-in.

More details about the update and how to install a newer version of the plug-in are available on the Apple support pages.

Apple blocking older version of Flash Player plug-in on Safari originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 01 Mar 2013 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple blocking older version of Flash Player plug-in on Safari originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 01 Mar 2013 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Guardian is reporting that Google may be hit with a slew of lawsuits over the company's clandestine monitoring of Britons who use the Safari web browser on iPhones, iPads and Macs.

Google admits that it bypassed Safari security settings that blocked sites from tracking user habits through cookies. Last February, security researchers found that Google's DoubleClick ad network was storing cookies on devices even when users had chosen to block them.

In the US, Google paid the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) a US$22.5 million fine based on the same privacy invasion. In the UK, the Guardian reports that at least 10 iPhone users have started legal proceedings and dozens more are "being lined up." Plans are being made to form a group to make an "umbrella privacy action." The total class size is estimated at 10 million users.

News of the legal action was reported by the Sunday Times of London. Privacy advocate Judith Vidal-Hall was quoted as saying that Google was guilty of "electronic stalking" and was angered "that our data is either being sold or passed on to third parties." Vidal-Hall was one of two signees of a letter before action sent to Google execs in the US and UK.

Google accused of tracking iPhone users, up to 10m could sue in the UK originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 28 Jan 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Google accused of tracking iPhone users, up to 10m could sue in the UK originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 28 Jan 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The iPod is the member of the Apple family that is overshadowed by the newer, more popular kids on the block. Yet it was the iPod that was the "gateway drug" for many of today's Apple fans, opening the eyes of a generation to how consumer electronics should be built and used. Author, blogger and early morning podcaster Tim Chaten has just published an iBook that celebrates the history and future of Apple's media consumption device. iPod Evolution (US$7.99 launch price, regular price $9.99) is currently available for pre-order and will be available for download on January 31, 2013 -- the first day of Macworld/iWorld.

In iPod Evolution, Chaten explores the life cycle of the iPod by looking at the devices from a number of different viewpoints: hardware, software, marketing, fitness, accessories, and "beyond Apple" (the MFi program and hardware/software mods).

The hardware evolution of the various models of iPod make up the first part of the book. Chaten does his best to make the descriptions of the changes in iPod hardware over the years as interesting as possible. For each device, there are charts showing storage capacities for different generations; the size, weigh, and materials making up each generation; a description of the battery life; screen type, depth, and resolution; the case colors available (where applicable) and the physical interface used to interact with the device.

Gallery: iPod Evolution by Timothy Chaten

Chaten includes a number of photographs in this section, making it easy for the reader to discern the differences between models. That's important for the reader who may have picked up the book in order to learn more about a vintage iPod, especially one of those ancient Classics from the early 2000's.

Each chapter of the book begins with a nice dark gray header page that includes a stylized image of an iPod of one type or another. The book itself is in a two-column landscape orientation that's easy to navigate through. Chaten often puts the second column to good use by including a photo. He notes that he'll be providing a free update to the book soon, adding videos and more photos.

There were a few chapters that I thought were outstanding. Chapter 8, on generational similarities, points out that the first generations of most iPod devices were pure and unsullied, the third generations were market failures, and the most recent generations are refined both in hardware and software.

Chaten points out a little-known mode in Chapter 9 -- diagnostic mode -- that all non-iOS iPods with a screen can be booted into. It's a useful way of finding out more about your device as well as helping in troubleshooting.

While many Apple devices including the iPod touch can easily export screenshots, that's not the case with the iPod classic, mini (remember it?), and nano. As such, it's necessary for authors to take actual photographs of the device screens with a camera. While most of the screenshots are well done, some of the images taken off of iPod classic screens are fuzzy and show some keystone effect. Having had the same issue when publishing an iPod book in the mid-2000s, I know that Chaten did the best possible job getting those screenshots.

Some other topics are covered that I don't think I've seen documented anywhere else. For example, the FM radio built into the fifth, sixth, and seventh generation iPod nano is a little-known tool that is really pretty impressive -- especially when you realize that it will display song, artist and station info for those stations that support Radio Data System.

Especially effective in the latter part of iPod Evolution is the use of galleries. Tapping on these iBook widgets takes you through a virtual slideshow made up of several images. It's a great way to see related screenshots one after another, and I wish that Chaten had chosen to use them throughout the book, particularly in early chapters where he sometimes drops a few screenshots on a few pages where one gallery would provide a much easier way to view those images.

His last chapter reminds the reader that the iPod was the device that taught Apple many things, specifically in the realm of pricing and distribution. Without the iPod's impact on the public psyche and Apple's corporate culture, newer products like the iPhone and iPad may never have become the successful icons we see today. Even the book's title, iPod Evolution, is a subtle reminder that many of Apple's current products include a bit of iPod DNA in their design and construction.

All in all, iPod Evolution is a great resource for anyone who owns or collects iPods, or who is interested in the history of this now relatively neglected Apple family member. Chaten writes in a friendly, conversational style that is very readable. While the book may not appeal to everyone, iPod Evolution is certainly the definitive history and reference for the iPod family.

TUAW Bookshelf: iPod Evolution originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sat, 26 Jan 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TUAW Bookshelf: iPod Evolution originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sat, 26 Jan 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sniff. Those children of ours get so old so quickly... Today is the 10th birthday of Apple's Safari web browser, so have a little cake or maybe propose a toast to the default Mac and iOS browser.

The first version of Safari was released as a public beta exactly 10 years ago today. The app was designed by Apple to replace Microsoft Internet Explorer, which was the default Mac browser up to OS X 10.2.

Steve Jobs introduced Safari at Macworld San Francisco on January 7, 2003, announcing that Apple based the browser on the company's internal fork of the KHTML rendering engine -- Webkit. The first official version was released on June 23, 2003.

Safari's little brother for iOS made its debut in 2007 along with the iPhone. As of today, Safari 6.0.2 is the latest version of the Mac browser, while Windows users can still run Safari 5 on their devices.

Happy Birthday, Safari!

Apple Safari is 10 years old today originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 07 Jan 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple Safari is 10 years old today originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 07 Jan 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Everything from hiring the team to testing the browser online was done in complete secrecy. Prospective Safari team members didn't even know what they were interviewing for or what they would be working on, and once they were brought on board, they swore an oath of loyalty. But while the personnel acted like walking vaults of top-secret information, actually using Safari on the public web presented an entirely different set of challenges.

Namely, the user agent strings that tell each server what browser is being used, and where the individual visiting the site is located. So to keep Safari from showing up on server logs across the web during the testing phase, the entire team had to hide that information while browsing from Apple HQ. But in order to ensure that the user agent string was enabled in time for the launch of the product, the team set the real string to enable automatically on January 7, 2003, just days before Steve Jobs revealed it to the public for the first time at Macworld Expo. If you're interested in reading more, check out Melton's full account of the process.

How Apple's Safari was kept a secret originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 04 Jan 2013 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

How Apple's Safari was kept a secret originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 04 Jan 2013 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lisa Myers of security firm Intego told AppleInsider that the issue isn't necessarily troubling -- at least not yet. "At the moment it doesn't pose a threat, but we'll continue to monitor it to make sure it doesn't become more exploitable," she explains. "There's also the fact that few people actually disable JavaScript completely as it can partially, or totally, disable the majority of websites."

Obviously the simple act of re-enabling JavaScript isn't an Earth-shaking privacy issue, so there's little reason to be concerned from that standpoint. However, tweaking device settings without at least informing the user that the change was made is a perplexing choice, even a bit annoying.

iOS 6 JavaScript bug could affect mobile Safari users originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 21 Dec 2012 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

iOS 6 JavaScript bug could affect mobile Safari users originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 21 Dec 2012 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Earlier this week, former Apple engineer Don Melton started his own personal blog. Yesterday, he recounted the time during his management of the web browser project he'd started at 1 Infinite Loop, when he first heard the name "Safari" (about a month before it shipped in January 2003). But before then, he says, there were a lot of potential names for the browser, some submitted by Steve Jobs himself. Names such as "Freedom."

Steve spent some time trying that one out on all of us. He may have liked it because it invoked positive imagery of people being set free. And, just as possible and positive, it spoke to our own freedom from Microsoft and Internet Explorer, the company and browser we depended on at the time.

Melton says he can't recall many of the other possible names that were tossed around, apart from the shudder-inducing "iBrowse." But he can remember that it didn't take long for him to warm up to calling his project -- which had been known internally as "Alexander" -- Safari after his lukewarm initial reaction of "it doesn't suck."

Safari could have been called 'Freedom' originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 20 Dec 2012 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Safari could have been called 'Freedom' originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 20 Dec 2012 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wow, it's a busy day at Apple. First we had the iOS 6.0.1 release, then developers got the iOS 6.1 beta and a new version of Xcode, and now Apple's dropped iPhoto, Aperture, and Safari updates for the Mac.

iPhoto received a bump to version 9.4.2, with a surprising number of new features and fixes. Many of the changes have to do with shared Photo Streams, but the app has also been updated to improve stability, fix an issue when sending photos using Microsoft Outlook from iPhoto, and add more holidays for use on printed calendars.

Safari 6.0.2 is a security update. At the time of publication, Apple's security update page had not been revised to show what changes had been made.

Finally, Apple's pro photography app Aperture has been updated to version 3.4.2. As with iPhoto, many of the changes are focused on shared Photo Streams. Other fixes dealing with the handling of RAW files and stability have been added. For more information about this update, visit the App Store page for Aperture.

All of the updates are available immediately under the software update tab of the Mac App Store.

iPhoto, Aperture, and Safari all get updates originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 01 Nov 2012 17:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

iPhoto, Aperture, and Safari all get updates originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 01 Nov 2012 17:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There's quite a bit of traffic on Apple's discussion boards (and others) about a problem with saving PDF files that have been viewed in Safari with Mountain Lion.

Safari can view PDF files just fine, but for many people the problems start when you go to save the files or print them. The files get corrupted, and you're met with a message that tells you the file is damaged. There is no problem viewing a PDF you already have in either Apple's Preview app or with Adobe Reader. If Safari is involved, however, you are likely to have some issues.

You can try to open the file in Adobe Reader, and you'll get a similar message.

The cause seems to be a problem with Adobe Reader updates. There's a file in your Library/Internet Plug-Ins called 'AdobePDFViewerNPAPI.plugin'. Find it, and trash it. You'll also see a file called 'AdobePDFViewer.plugin'. Don't trash that one, it's fine.

I had this problem on both my Mac laptop and Mac Pro. I checked with a couple of friends and they all had the same problem. Some people have spent a lot of time on the phone with Apple and haven't gotten the problem resolved, as the issue rests with Adobe, not Apple.

Let us know if you've seen this, or if you haven't. Lots of people are affected, but you may not see the problem until you need to view or print that PDF. Saving a PDF link without opening it works fine, but if the document is opened in Safari, and then saved, then the trouble can begin.

Can't save PDF files from Safari with Mountain Lion? Here's the fix originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 29 Oct 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Can't save PDF files from Safari with Mountain Lion? Here's the fix originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 29 Oct 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Once you memorize the patterns, keyboard shortcuts can be huge time savers. Some easy-to-remember keystrokes are available in Safari and give you quick access to your bookmarked URLs. In this Mac 101, we will show you how to organize your bookmarks bar and use the keyboard shortcuts to maximize your workflow.

Before you can start using these bookmark shortcuts, you need to spend some time organizing and tidying up your bookmarks bar. You will have to launch Safari, click on "Bookmarks" in the menu bar and then select "Show All Bookmarks." Alternatively, you can type control-option and B. You should see the bookmarks window as shown below.

Once Safari opens the bookmarks window, you can click on "Bookmarks Bar" on the left to view your available bookmarks and bookmark folders. Make sure you select "Bookmarks Bar" and not the "Bookmarks Menu," as these shortcuts only work with entries in the bookmarks bar. In general, you use the bookmarks bar for frequently used URLs and the bookmarks menu for seldom used ones.

You can remove, rename and reorganize all your bookmarks from this interface. Organizing your bookmarks bar is important as you need individual bookmarks that are not enclosed in folders for the keyboard shortcuts to work. You can move a bookmark in the bookmarks bar by dragging and dropping it into its spot. You should arrange the bookmarks in the order that you want to remember them. In the screenshot above, I placed TUAW at the top because I use that URL the most throughout the day.

When organizing your list, keep in mind that the shortcuts correspond to the order in which the bookmarks are organized. As shown below, TUAW is at the top and uses "1" in the shortcut, CNET is second and uses "2", and so on. Though you can have a bunch of bookmarks, only the first nine will work with the shortcuts.

Once your bookmarks are organized, you can use the simple keyboard shortcut of command-number to open the associated bookmark. In my example, command-1 opens TUAW, command-2 opens CNET, command-3 opens Apple and so on. You can have 9 bookmarks that are accessible by merely typing command-1 to command-9.

Mac 101: Safari bookmark shortcuts originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 12 Oct 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Mac 101: Safari bookmark shortcuts originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 12 Oct 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tony over at Macolyte has posted a good tip on how to enable private browsing in Safari on a particular site. Why would you want this? It's good for when you're viewing financial sites and other sensitive personal data where you don't want to leave a tracking history, for instance.

Tony created an AppleScript that will open a new tab for a particular website and set it to Private Browsing mode. That same script can close the tab as well. Be warned though, it sets all open tabs to Private Browsing mode when this happens. (We posted a link to a similar script years ago, but that one also set up a temporary disk image to redirect Safari downloads, in case you inadvertently downloaded something sensitive.)

Click through to get Tony's AppleScript. If you've just upgraded to OS X Mountain Lion, check out our look at the new Safari to get some other tips and also find out how to get your RSS button back.

Trigger private browsing in Safari for specific sites originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 30 Jul 2012 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Trigger private browsing in Safari for specific sites originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 30 Jul 2012 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple's venerable Mac Web browser, Safari, was updated to version 6.0 yesterday with the release of OS X Mountain Lion with many new features and one glaring omission. Safari 6 is also available for Lion users.

First, let's talk about the omission -- while earlier versions of Safari offered an RSS button in the address bar that allowed a one-click way to subscribe to RSS or Atom feeds for sites that provided them, Safari 6 did away with this feature. Fortunately, Daniel Jalkut has already stepped up and written a Safari extension to add the button back.

Many of the changes to Safari 6 are subtle. For example, for many Safari users searching for Web content, it's second nature to click in the "search" field. When they move to Safari 6, they'll be surprised to find that the search field is now gone, replaced by one field for both searching and typing addresses.

When you start typing in the field, Safari immediately tries to match your entry to a previously visited site. You can see this in the image below, where typing "macst" brought up a "Top Hit" of the MacStories.net website. This behavior will be familiar to users of Firefox's Awesome Bar or Chrome's unified search/address field, but it's new for Safari.

Next, Safari 6 now supports the "Do Not Track" privacy standard. Either turning on Private Browsing (under the Safari menu) or selecting "Ask websites not to track me" from the Privacy pane of Safari preferences keeps your Web browsing private.

Performance of Safari has apparently improved, with smoother scrolling, faster text and graphics rendering. JavaScript performance is claimed to be up to 6 percent faster than Safari 5.1.

One of my favorite features -- something that has been in Google Chrome Sync for a while -- is called "iCloud Tabs." This feature stores all of your open Safari tabs and makes them available on your other Macs so you can move between computers and still have access to all of your recent websites. Once iOS 6 is available this fall, you'll see iCloud Tabs moving to iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch as well. The image below shows the two windows, one with four open tabs, that I have open on my MacBook Air. I'm viewing this on my iMac.

There's a new Share button just to the left of the address bar, that makes it a snap to share web pages. At the present time, you can share addresses using Mail, Messages, and Twitter -- when Facebook support is added to OS X Mountain Lion this fall, you'll be able to post to that social network with a few clicks.

Multi-touch navigation of tabs has been added to Safari 6 as well. On a trackpad, a "pinch" shows open tabs as separate windows that can be navigated to with a click. In tab view, a two-finger swipe moves between the tabs.

Safari offers to save passwords for you for AutoFill, which might keep you from having to type in a lot of passwords on your favorite sites. If you need to see those passwords, there's a Passwords pane in Safari preferences -- enter your system password, and you'll be able to see what's saved.

Finally, there's one little item that I found extremely handy during the pre-release betas -- renaming bookmarks in the bookmarks bar. No longer do you need to go into the bookmarks editor to rename a bookmark. Now, clicking and holding on a bookmark or folder name makes it editable. Unfortunately, this doesn't extend to bookmarks inside folders.

What's your favorite feature or pet peeve when it comes to Safari 6? Let us know in the comments.

Continue reading Mountain Lion 101: Safari

Mountain Lion 101: Safari originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 26 Jul 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Mountain Lion 101: Safari originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 26 Jul 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One of the most irritating omissions from Safari 6 -- the default Web browser in OS X Mountain Lion -- is that the RSS button has been removed from near the address bar. In fact, Safari no longer supports RSS feed reading natively, either. The feature page for Safari on Apple's site makes no mention of RSS now, leaving Mac users to rely on other browsers or standalone clients for RSS reading.

Even with the removed reading capability, the RSS subscribe button is missed. It made it a one-click solution to subscribe to an RSS or Atom feed on any website providing such a feed. Now developer Daniel Jalkut (Red Sweater Software) has stepped in with a free, "beta-quality" Safari extension to bring the feature back to Safari 6.

The Subscribe to Feed extension (link to blog post) adds a button to your toolbar that, when clicked with a page open that is offering an RSS or Atom feed, opens the feed:// link and opens your default news reader. If a website doesn't offer a feed, the button remains grayed out.

It should be noted that if a website already provides an RSS button, clicking it performs the same action. However, Jalkut's extension works well for those sites that do not have an obvious RSS button but are still providing a feed.

Many thanks to Daniel for this outstanding service to the Mac community.

Mountain Lion: Get your RSS button back in Safari 6 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 26 Jul 2012 10:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Mountain Lion: Get your RSS button back in Safari 6 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 26 Jul 2012 10:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is on the verge of fining Google for the record amount of US$22.5 million as a settlement for violating the privacy of users of Apple's Safari browser.

The fine comes after the Wall Street Journal contacted Google about a practice it discovered where special code was used to trick Safari into letting Google monitor users who had blocked tracking. Google said that the tracking of Apple users was inadvertent, but the actions of the firm were contrary to statements published in Google help documents that assured Apple users that Safari's privacy settings could be used to block undesired tracking. The Journal wrote about the practice in February, and Google has since disabled the code.

While the fine is just a drop in the bucket to Google, the FTC isn't the only government organization looking into whether or not the search engine giant has violated computer users privacy in the past or is currently doing so. The European Union -- led by France's Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et Libertés -- is looking into the Safari case as part of a larger privacy investigation, and a number of state attorneys general are also investigating the situation.

[via Apple Insider]

Google could pay $22.5M fine for violating Apple users' privacy originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 10 Jul 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Google could pay $22.5M fine for violating Apple users' privacy originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 10 Jul 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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During its presentation on OS X Mountain Lion, Apple unveiled a new version of Safari that'll improve your desktop browsing experience. The new Safari will have the "fastest javascript engine of any browser on the planet" and "lightning fast page loading," said Craig Federighi during the WWDC keynote. A new scrolling architecture based on Core Animation will deliver smooth-as-silk scrolling.

Besides improving the rendering engine, Safari will have a new tab syncing feature that'll show you all the pages you have open across all devices. Apple also added several multitouch gestures (swipe and pinch/zoom) that'll let you move between tabs. And it that isn't enough, there's also a very Chrome-ish smart search field that'll let you search right in your browser address bar.

Apple unveils vew version of Safari that syncs tabs, supports gestures originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 11 Jun 2012 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple unveils vew version of Safari that syncs tabs, supports gestures originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 11 Jun 2012 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tim Cook is currently demoing iCloud's integration in Mountain Lion onstage at the WWDC Keynote in San Francisco. iCloud, Apple's cloud sync service, has been a big hit on iOS already, with 125 million iCloud users registered and using the service currently.

On Mountain Lion, iCloud will come in the form of Document syncing, which Cook showed took only a few seconds to sync a document from his iPad to a MacBook Pro. Reminders, Messages, and Notes are all being synced across iCloud as well, and presumably will work just as smoothly as they work currently. Safari browsing history and bookmarks will also get synced, and even tab views can be synced between devices, so you can view tabs on your MacBook Pro, and then take those exact browser tabs over to your iPad or iPhone.

It all looks great. We should hear an official date for Mountain Lion soon, perhaps even later on today.

Apple shows off iCloud integration in Mountain Lion originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 11 Jun 2012 13:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple shows off iCloud integration in Mountain Lion originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 11 Jun 2012 13:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We've discussed Inkling's interactive digital textbooks numerous times here on TUAW, both in terms of the products the publisher has released and in comparison with Apple's own iBooks Author-created textbooks. Now the company has announced a way to read its books in Webkit-based web browsers.

Matt McInnis, Founder and CEO of Inkling, announced today that the company has introduced an HTML5-based Web client known as Inkling for Web. Initial support for Inkling for Web will be on the desktop versions of Chrome and Safari. Although mobile Safari and Chrome also support the Web client, MacInnis noted that the Inkling app for iPad is better optimized for touch.

Inkling for Web brings the company's travel guides, cookbooks, how-to books, and textbooks to Mac and PC users, complete with all of the interactive 3D graphics, multimedia, and social sharing that are in the iOS app. Considering that Amazon has a Kindle Web reader for all of its content, it's surprising that Apple still hasn't created a Mac OS or Web client for iBooks.

Inkling for Web puts iPad books in a browser originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 30 May 2012 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Inkling for Web puts iPad books in a browser originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 30 May 2012 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It's a busy Wednesday in the software mines of Cupertino, as Apple followed up the release of OS X 10.7.4 with a patch to the Safari browser and a tech note detailing how to back out from the password/plain text issue in legacy FileVault accounts and other circumstances.

Safari 5.1.7 patches three Webkit security flaws, but the big change in user-observable behavior is that it will automatically disable any version of Flash Player older than 10.1.102.64. If the plugin is out of date, Safari will gracefully move it aside and offer to download the latest version. Of course, Safari no longer includes the Flash Player plugin by default.

For FileVault or remote home folder users, Apple now recommends upgrading to 10.7.4 followed by a series of steps to change passwords and clear out the log files that may contain the user password in clear text. There are quite a few places where the passwords may have ended up, so be careful to go through all the steps in turn. Apple also provides a set of Terminal commands that will clear the offending logs if needed.

More updates: Safari 5.1.7 will block out-of-date Flash plugins, tech note updated on FileVault bug originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 09 May 2012 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

More updates: Safari 5.1.7 will block out-of-date Flash plugins, tech note updated on FileVault bug originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 09 May 2012 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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