Marko Karppinen, an ADC Premier member, iPhone developer, and user like the rest of us, had his personal information released by Apple to an unknown third party, simply because of this one-line email:

am forget my password of mac,did you give me password on new email marko.[redacted]@yahoo.com

Apple -- apparently with no additional research -- reset Karppinen's password, and changed the email address on the account to the perp's. As a result of the login change, the perp had access to Karppinen's credit card details, developer software seed key, and the contents of his iDisk.

Karppinen, understandably, was livid, and sent ADC an email about what happened. A team lead from ADC's European support organization contacted Karppinen, apologizing for the mix-up. The rep promised to find out (from Apple's own logs) what information was compromised.

Apple has so far not commented on the incident, outside of what Karppinen says the ADC rep told him. It's unclear what Apple will do in the future to prevent this from happening again.

[Via Daring Fireball and The Consumerist.]

When Aperture 2.1 was released last month it added a plug-in architecture allowing third-party developers to add editing tools. While some of the bigger names have already been working on such plugins, Apple has now released the SDK so you can too (provided, that is, you can write sophisticated image editing code). The architecture basically allows the plugin to request an editable version of a picture from Aperture and then send back the result as well as adding metadata and manipulating image data, all within a custom interface.

The Aperture 2.1 SDK is available for download from Apple, through you do have to have an ADC account.

[via Infinite Loop]

Lest you think I hate web development for the iPhone, I thought I would point out this section on Apple's Developer Connection. The iPhone section deals with developing web applications that play nicely with the iPhone. Included on the site is sample code, video of the WWDC session called 'Designing Web Content for the iPhone' (you'll need an ADC membership to download it though), and a number of tips and tricks about how the iPhone handles websites.

I couldn't help but notice that Apple stresses the important of web standards in these guidelines, and no where do they suggest redirecting people based on browser type (other than using some CSS methods). Interesting, don't you think?

Niclet sends a note that yes, Dashcode's December 2006 v0.9 beta did in fact expire as expected last night. That sound you heard around 12:01 am was actually widget developers everywhere crying out in pain.

Well, not exactly everywhere, as apparently there is still a working version of Dashcode in the Leopard developer beta given out at WWDC. And of course all of us will be able to get our hands on the official release of Dashcode when Leopard comes out in October. So cry not, developers-- the real thing is only months away.

There are bound to be bugs in any first generation product, and unfortunately this has been especially true for new Apple devices. It's only been a day since the iPhone went on sale, but already we're hearing of some nagging issues. But fear not, for you the user have the power to change the iPhone world for the better. If you already have an ADC account, you're all ready to start submitting bugs to the iPhone team. Head on over to bugreport.apple.com and go crazy– just make sure you submit responsibly and stick to the official description format, because someone has to read through each bug you submit.

A little green and blue TUAW birdie has just informed us that Apple is planning to release the Leopard beta that WWDC attendees received last week to the rest of qualifying ADC members. As to when developers can fire up their browsers and download managers, the only language we have to go on is 'soon.'

We're also told that this secondary release is happening quite a bit sooner than it did at last year's WWDC, so I guess this might be a win for developers, all things considered.

Apple must be happy with having the WWDC06 video sessions available via iTunes for ADC members, as another set of videos has just been rolled out for developers. This latest collection includes:

• Graphics & Media State of the Union
• Welcome to Xcode
• Taking Advantage of Leopard Features in Cocoa
• Mac OS X State of the Union
• IT State of the Union

But don't get too comfy with last year's programming; lest ye been living under a rock for the last year or so, we probably don't need to remind you WWDC07 is fast approaching, and more and more signs are pointing towards a debut of both the iPhone and Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard - especially since Apple said the big cat is still on schedule.

Back in October, Apple dropped DVDs as their distribution system of choice for WWDC sessions and presentation slides. The company moved all this content to iTunes - but only for Select and Premiere members of the ADC (Apple Developer Connection). Today I just received an ADC email titled "Watch Mac OS X State of the Union," re-announcing the availability of this content, but seemingly for all ADC members. This time around there is no talk of access only for specific members, so it sounds like anyone with a valid ADC account of one level or another can access this library of Mac OS X development goodness. We would post the URL, but it seems as though it is only accessible by logging into one's ADC account online.

[Update: According to readers, it sounds like only the general State of the Union sessions are offered, while access to "the juicy stuff" still requires a Leopard Early Starter Kit.]

Leopard is a pretty big deal to developers and users alike, and Apple knows this. That's why they are kicking off a series of Tech Talks around North America that are geared towards helping developers, both big and small, to prepare for Leopard.

The Tech Talk schedule is as follows:

• San Francisco, CA: December 1
• Portland, OR: December 6
• Seattle, WA: December 8
• Chicago, IL: December 13
• Toronto, ON, Canada: December 15
• Los Angeles, CA: January 19
• Boston, MA: January 22
• New York, NY: January 24
• Atlanta, GA: January 26

Session will include 'What's new in Cocoa,' 'Introducing Core Animation,' and 'Printing in Leopard' amongst many others.

Space is limited, so register now (if you are an ADC member, otherwise you are out of luck).

Thanks, Stephen.

People have whipped themselves into a froth thanks to this Leopard Technology Overview, which is the first in an ADC series called Leopard Technology Series for Developers. Why are people so excited? Mostly because of the glimpses it gives us into Leopard. Here are some highlights:

• Interface Builder 3.0 – Core Animation support included and a new IB Kit API
• Xray – DTrace based GUI tool that allows you to visually see how your app is performing
• Dashcode – a Widget IDE which we have covered before
• Core Animation – create whizbang interfaces in no time flat!
• Objective-C 2.0 – lots of improvements to the language that Mac geeks love
• iChat integrated all over the place, including iChat Theatre, and an iChat API that will allow apps to poll iChat for presence info (i.e. are you online or not) and get contacts
• Resolution Independence – this allows the OS and apps scale without worrying about the resolution of the monitor
• Calendar Store – a central place that apps can query for iCal info

Who is excited about Leopard?

"Show off your latest feat of programming genius," says the Apple Developer Connection email announcing the call for entries to their 11th annual Design Awards. Recognizing "technical excellence and outstanding achievement in developing Mac OS X software," there are eight award categories into which developers can submit their apps: Best Mac OS X Developer Tool, Best Use of Mac OS X Graphics, Best Widget, Automator Workflow, User Experience, Game, Scientific Computing Solution and Student Product.

As far as what winning developers receive for all their hard work, Apple's going all out this year. Each category winner receives two 15-inch MacBook Pros, two 23-inch Cinema Displays, an ADC Premiere Membership, a WWDC 2006 E-ticket, and an exhibitor space at Macworld 2007. The Student category winner will receive one 15-inch MacBook Pro, one 23-inch Cinema Display, one 60GB iPod, an ADC Student Membership, and a WWDC 2006 Student E-ticket. Does anyone else find it odd the non-student members don't receive an iPod? And how about the lack of PowerMac prizes?

The entry deadline is June 16th, and the winners will be honored at WWDC in August.

TUAW reader Nolan B noticed that ADC (Apple Developer Connection) student members can now apply for a scholarship to WWDC 2006, Apple's annual World Wide Developer Conference, being held August 7-11 this year in San Francisco. Scholarship winners receive a free ticket which includes total access to all technical sessions and special events - a $1595 USD value in all.

Applications are due April 28th, so you'd better get crackin'. Check out the scholarship rules  and WWDC FAQ sections for more information, and then wait patiently until June to find out if you'll be attending WWDC on Apple's dime.