An avid reader of TUAW, Chris Thomson, sent us a link to a Flickr picture (being the nosy people we are, we clicked the link). What we found surprised us -- a Twitter Quartz Composer composition was included as a part of the Mac OS X developer tools for Leopard. "Twitterverse," when tweaked right, can be used as an OS X screen saver and display all of your friends tweets in a graphical way.
You can find this Quartz composition in the ~/Developer/Examples/Quartz Composer/Compositions/XML/The Twitterverse/The Twitterverse.qtz. If you want to add it as a screen saver, just drag it onto the preview in the "Screen Saver" part of the Desktop & Screen Saver preference pane (in System Preferences.app). You can then add your username / password in the screen saver options.
According to World of Apple, Mac OS 10.5.3 (build 9D25) has been seeded. No new issues have been identified this time around, and twenty-two fixes have been implemented, including:
Various printing issues
An issue with Safari bookmarks and .Mac Mail account has been resolved (I'll believe that when I see it)
Issues with mounted Boot Camp volumes
A crash within the Network Preference Pane
So far, 180 fixes have been implemented for this version of the OS. Apple seeded build 9D10 in March and several in the month of April. As of the release of build 9D12 on April 4th, 110 fixes had been applied, meaning an additional 70 bugs have been squashed between then and now.
No word on when 10.5.3 will be released officially.
I held the phone tightly in my right hand. With my left, I rubbed my dry, tired eyes. I looked at the clock in my Mac's menu bar. I had been on the phone for forty-five minutes, with no indication that I'd be hanging it up any time soon.
"OK," I said in a slow, deliberate tone. "Let's start from the beginning. Click on the Mail menu. A list should appear. Do you see it?"
A pause. "Yes," my mother said.
"What do you see in that list?" I said.
"File ... About Mail ... Preferences ...."
"Good. Do you see 'Quit'?"
"Yes."
"Excellent. Click on 'Quit' and we'll start again."
Welcome to my personal hell, circa 2006. Pull up a chair. Get comfortable. We're going to be here for quite a while.
Today Apple released an AirPort Extreme Update for those Mac users running Mac OS X Tiger (version 10.4). Here's the information that Software Update gives us:
This update is recommended for all Intel-based Macintosh computers running Tiger OS and improves the reliability of AirPort connections.
You can get this update by either opening Software Update (Apple menu > Software Update) or by downloading the installer package from the Apple Support downloads site.
This weekend marked a very special date as Mac OS X turned 7 years old. Mac OS X was launched on March 21, 2001. Throughout the years, Mac OS X has definitely seen its share of changes. In these 7 years, OS X has been through 6 versions (7 if you include the first public beta version). Below is a list of the version names, numbers and launch dates of each Mac OS X release:
Fire up Software Update, Mac users. Security Update 2008-002 has been released. According to Apple, this update "...is recommended for all users and improves the security of Mac OS X. Previous security updates have been incorporated into this security update."
So, it improves security. How exciting. As usual, we ask you to report any problems you encounter after installing this update. Good luck, true believers! Note that this update, like the earlier Safari 3.1, requires a reboot.
In a recent post over at Ars Technica, they say that Mac OS X users could have their login passwords recovered through physically accessing the RAM. This comes after FileVault was proven to be cracked. The article notes that Mac OS X and certain applications store the user's password in memory, leaving it there after you've logged in. While locally-running apps cannot readily retrieve the password, someone could get access to the contents of RAM after the computer has been rebooted or shut down.
This could be accomplished by physical means and might require the hacker to remove the RAM cover on your Mac and chill the RAM, as suggested by Edward Felten's research team at Princeton. This freezing allows the information to stay on the RAM for longer than the normal 2.5 to 35 seconds -- allowing someone to place it in another computer and read the contents.
In a separate approach to the password-in-RAM vulnerability, CNET witnessed an EFF demo of an attack using a custom NetBoot "EFI memory scraper" to record the RAM contents on reboot and save the data as a file on another machine over the network -- the attackers were able to clearly find the login password in the file. Again, this attack requires physical access to the machine (in order to force the NetBoot via holding down the N key on restart) within a minute or two of shutdown. However, an attacker could conceivably target a machine that was locked or sleeping (with RAM contents 'live'), power it off and back on, and use the NetBoot attack immediately.
While Apple has been made aware of the attack (notified on February 5), no fixes for these issues were reported in the 2/11 security update. According to CNET, an Apple spokesperson said they were aware of the issues and were "working to fix it in an upcoming software update." Until this update comes out, you may want to set a firmware password for your Mac, or wait longer to leave your unattended Mac after a shut down. Alternatively, we have lovely TUAW-branded tin foil hats available for purchase.
This post is for Apple fans who enjoy obsessing over minutia. The latest Net Applications survey has been conducted and shows differing results for Mac OS X users and iPhone users.
Net Applications measures the percentage of users who visit some 40,000 web sites from a given operating system. In February, the number of Mac users dipped slightly to 7.45% from 7.57% in January, while the number of iPhone users rose to 0.14% from 0.13% in January (beating out the Playstation and Wii).
Windows still accounts for 91.58% of web users, according to the survey. What this means is A.) Most people have windows (we knew that), B.) Some people have Macs (we knew that), C.) iPhone users like to surf the web (we knew that) and D.) People love talking about very small percentages. Awesome.
There are a handful of things I miss from OS 9, like programmable function keys (and Extension conflicts. I kid.). Just like The Apple Menu and the Happy Mac, fully customizable function keys were killed by Apple's big cats.
However, we're not at a loss. The folks at Bitbox have described the simple steps needed to get some of that old flexibility back. First, launch system preferences and click the "Keyboard" tab. Next, select the "Use all F1, F2 etc. keys as standard function keys" option.
Now, you can use your function keys as nature intended. Their specialty functions are still available, too (like volume and brightness); just hold down the "fn" key while hitting the key of your choice.
With the inclusion of "Inspector" windows in most Mac OS X applications, you're constantly jumping around between the different tabs in the window. This little tip will save you time as you'll no longer need to jump around from tab-to-tab! Here it goes:
All you have to do is hold down the option key whilst clicking on the tab you want.
And there you have it ... the simplest Mac 101 we've done yet. When you click on the tab you want, a new inspector window will appear with the tab you just clicked. You can open as many as you want! This works well in Pages, Keynote, and pretty much any application that supports inspector windows.
Welcome to the first of many AppleScript and Automator "how-tos." These tips are mostly geared toward Mac users who may know a little AppleScript, but want to learn more. If you've never opened Script Editor or Automator these tips will also help you get up to speed.
First things first, what the heck is AppleScript? It is an easy-to-use and easy-to-learn programming language. AppleScript was created in the early 90s as a simple way for people to create their own custom automation programs. This is one of the reasons the Mac remains popular in the printing and creative industry, where users can take large work flows and automate them relatively quickly.
Apple, clearly keen to show what they've been working on in the last few months (what with the delay n'all), have listed all 316 features, categorised them and allowed you to peruse them at your leisure. Here's just a few that caught my eye:
AppleScript can now read and write plist files (whilst a little thing, and a niche feature at best, this is promising if you're wanting to backup items such as serial numbers for applications from the application plist files, and do it in AppleScript)
.Mac syncing of more system items (Dock items, Dahsboard widgets, Mail notes and, it appears, even the entire System Preferences)
TextEdit now support Open Document and Word 2007 files.
Library Randomization - identical to Windows Vista's Address Space Layout Randomization, meaning that people looking to exploit Mac OS X can't rely on system code being at a specific memory address (i.e. it's harder to persuade an OS X system process to execute malicious code). Whilst Apple has always touted the more robust security of Mac vs Windows, it's good to see they're not sitting on their laurels and becoming complacent with OS X. Also of note is the digital signature technology in all the Leopard applications (and third-party developers can sign applications too). I've always believed this to be a technology that would be used in any iPhone SDK, so seeing it within XCode is a promising move - even if the possible use of Digital Signing in an iPhone SDK is pure conjecture on my part.
Front Row now sports the Apple TV interface, and the integration with the Apple Movie Trailer site.
iChat has seen a smorgasbord of new features added - Photo Booth effects, new media codecs, video and audio chat recording, tabbed chats, the ability to hide your own local video from a chat window, and screen sharing.
The list goes on. After a somewhat disappointing WWDC Keynote this year, the '300+ feature' proclamation has reassured me that Apple hasn't necessarily lost its way as a desktop OS and computer company. 26th October just cannot come quick enough.
Infinite Loop (IL) is reporting that their sources "inside" Apple have leaked September 5th as the date of a future press event. Supposedly on the bill: New iPods! Some will run Mac OS X and some will be full-screen. When pressed, IL's source said that AppleInsider's latest report "...seems about right."
Of course, this is all speculation, so keep that in mind.
Lots of the youngsters out there are clogging up the Internet tubes with their torrents and their Rock and Roll music. Sadly, the choice of BitTorrent clients (BitTorrent, in case you aren't familiar, is a distributed peer to peer downloading protocol. The more people who download something, the faster it is for everyone... in theory) on OS X has been missing a biggie: uTorrent. uTorrent is the most popular Bit Torrent client on Windows, and it was recently purchased by BitTorrent, Inc which is a mighty fine stamp of approval if you ask me. Sadly, it isn't available on the Mac. So very, very sad.
Weep no longer, torrent obsessed Mac fiends! uTorrent is coming to OS X and according to TorrentFreak it is pretty slick. It is faster, smaller, and simpler than the other offerings on OS X and it is free. What's not to like? Ah, right, the fact that it is in closed beta at the moment.
One of the 300 new Leopard features that Steve didn't mention is an updated version of Front Row. Specifically, the UI has been rebuilt to look just like that of the Apple TV, so there no more need to install your own skin.
From the limited copy on the webpage, we can assume that the functionality is the same, and only the look as changed. Perhaps this is just an extension of Leopard's new unified look.
According to World of Apple, Mac OS 10.5.3 (build 9D25) has been seeded. No new issues have been identified this time around, and twenty-two fixes have been implemented, including:
I held the phone tightly in my right hand. With my left, I rubbed my dry, tired eyes. I looked at the clock in my Mac's menu bar. I had been on the phone for forty-five minutes, with no indication that I'd be hanging it up any time soon.
Today Apple released an AirPort Extreme Update for those Mac users running Mac OS X Tiger (version 10.4). Here's the information that Software Update gives us: 
-_thumbnail.png "Mac OS X Public Beta (version 10)")
Fire up Software Update, Mac users. Security Update 2008-002 has been released. According to Apple, this update "...is recommended for all users and improves the security of Mac OS X. Previous security updates have been incorporated into this security update."
In a recent post over at Ars Technica, they say that Mac OS X users could have their login passwords recovered through physically accessing the RAM. This comes after FileVault was proven to be cracked. The article notes that Mac OS X and certain applications store the user's password in memory, leaving it there after you've logged in. While locally-running apps cannot readily retrieve the password, someone could get access to the contents of RAM after the computer has been rebooted or shut down. 
This post is for Apple fans who enjoy obsessing over minutia. The latest Net Applications survey has been conducted and shows differing results for Mac OS X users and iPhone users. 
There are a handful of things I miss from OS 9, like programmable function keys (and Extension conflicts. I kid.). Just like The Apple Menu and the Happy Mac, fully customizable function keys were killed by Apple's big cats. 
Welcome to the first of many AppleScript and Automator "how-tos." These tips are mostly geared toward Mac users who may know a little AppleScript, but want to learn more. If you've never opened Script Editor or Automator these tips will also help you get up to speed. 
Infinite Loop (IL) is reporting that their sources "inside" Apple have leaked September 5th as the date of a future press event. Supposedly on the bill: New iPods! Some will run Mac OS X and some will be full-screen. When pressed, IL's source said that AppleInsider's latest report "...seems about right."
Lots of the youngsters out there are clogging up the Internet tubes with their torrents and their Rock and Roll music. Sadly, the choice of BitTorrent clients (BitTorrent, in case you aren't familiar, is a distributed peer to peer downloading protocol. The more people who download something, the faster it is for everyone... in theory) on OS X has been missing a biggie: uTorrent. uTorrent is the most popular Bit Torrent client on Windows, and it was recently purchased by BitTorrent, Inc which is a mighty fine stamp of approval if you ask me. Sadly, it isn't available on the Mac. So very, very sad.
One of the 300 new Leopard features that Steve didn't mention is an updated version of Front Row. Specifically, the UI has been rebuilt to look just like that of the Apple TV, so there no more need to install your own skin. 
