[4/30] First Notes on Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger--One Nice Surprise and Two Glitches So Far: We have installed Mac OS X 10.4 (Build 8a428) on several Mac desktops, including a 20" iMac G5 that is connected to a home network via an Apple AirPort Extreme card and an AirPort Express base station.

The nice surprise is that Tiger runs faster than Panther on the 20" iMac G5, a desktop with a single 1.8GHz G5. Just how much faster? Well, enough to notice it without objective measurements. Look for our comprehensive "How Fast Is It?" article on Tiger to be posted on Monday.

The first glitch is that the 20" iMac G5 does not always automatically connect to the AirPort Express base station on startup. We will be investigating this further with several Macs, including PowerBooks, and several types of base stations.

The second glitch is that our Apple Wireless (Bluetooth) Keyboard was not automatically recognized by our iMac G5 on two restarts. We had to re-pair it. Curiously the Apple Wireless (Bluetooth) Mouse was immediately recognized with no problem. We will also check out this problem on another Mac, so stay tuned this weekend! [Dana Baggett]

[4/30] SimpleFTP 3.0 was Released by On-Core: SimpleFTP 3.0 is the powerful yet easy to use FTP/SFTP client for the Apple Macintosh that runs on Mac OS X 10.3 or higher. SimpleFTP is a file transfer product, modeled on the RFC 959 File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Internet standard, that emphasizes simplicity and ease of use. SimpleFTP features include:

• Aqua compliant interface.
  
• Multi-threaded -- you can have unlimited number of simultaneous connections to different servers.
  
• File transfer resume of uploads and downloads (if supported by the server).
  
• Seamless multi file and folder transfers, and deletion.
  
• Bookmarks for easy access to commonly used servers.
  
• Drag & Drop support. Transferring files is as easy as dragging a file or folder!
  
• Supports the most popular UNIX®, Microsoft Windows®, IBM OS/2® and Apple Macintosh® FTP servers.
  
• Supports long file names (Mac OS X limit of 256 characters) and Unicode support.
• SFTP (SecureFTP) connections.
  

What's new in 3.00:

• SimpleFTP 3.00 is a complete rewrite of since our last version 2.01.
  
• Tiger (10.4) tested.
  
• Version 3.00 contains a new Smart Synchronization feature. Please see the manual for details.
  
• New bookmarks panel.
  
• Updated interface, including toolbar.
  
• Columns are sortable and rearrangeable.
  

We have used SimpleFTP since it came out. While v2.0.1 did work with Panther through 10.3.9, it had several issues. v3.0 fixes these. We have not yet used SimpleFTP with Tiger but we will this weekend. [Bill Fox]

[4/30] Apple Revised the Offerings from Three Hot Deals Retailers:

Apple's Clearance Section of Hot Deals, dedicated entirely to end-of-life and clearance Mac and Mac OS X products from all of your favorite retailers, boasts some newly added offers, including Digital Media's PreFlightPro, Smart Media 128MB Secure Digital Memory Card with $10 mail-in rebate, Dr. Bott ExtendAir Direct WiFi Wireless Antenna, Epson L-410 Digital Camera, M-Audio Oxygen B 25-Key MIDI Controller, and much more.

CompUSA has money saving deals on a bevy of Mac products, including Roxio's Toast 6 Titanium with $20 mail-in rebate, KDS K712s 17" LCD Display with $70 mail-in rebate, Optoma EzPro 732H SVGA DLP Projector with $100 mail-in rebate, Hewlett Packard LaserJet 1320 Laser Printer with $100 mail-in rebate, Canon Pixma iP5000 Color Photo Printer with $20 mail-in rebate, and much more.

O'Reilly has exclusively Hot Deals discounts for many of it's most popular Mac titles, including FireFox Hacks, iMovie HD & iDVD 5: The Missing Manual, iPod & iTunes: the Missing Manual, 3rd Edition, Photoshop Elements: The Missing Manual, iPhoto 5: The Missing Manual, and much more.

[Bill Fox]

[4/29] Apple Releases Slew of New Software on Tiger's Intro Day Including QuickTime 7.0 and Apple Remote Desktop 2.2: QuickTime 7.0 is available via the System Preferences Software Update pane or as a standalone update from the Apple Support Downloads Web page. Also available from the Support Downloads page is:

Apple Remote Desktop Admin 2.2
Delivers enhanced functionality and improved reliability. Rocommended for all users of Apple Remote Desktop.

Apple Remote Desktop Update 2.2
Delivers enhanced functionality and improved reliability. Rocommended for all users of Apple Remote Desktop.

Java 2 SE 5.0 Developer Documentation
Provides J2SE 5.0 Developer Documentation.

Java 2 SE 5.0 Release 1
Provides support for J2SE 5.0 on Mac OS X 10.4.

QuickTime 6.5.2 Reinstaller for Mac
The QuickTime 6.5.2 reinstaller will remove QuickTime 7 from a Mac OS X 10.3.9 system and restore QuickTime 6.5.2.

QuickTime 7.0
Capture video in a single click. Share movies with email or .Mac. Gate QuickTime Pro today for these features and much more.

Server Admin Tools 10.4
Installs updated versions of the Mac OS X Server

[Bill Fox]

[4/29] Tiger Officially Out Today--New .Mac Benefits, Widgets and More: Late last night Apple's .Mac Web site closed and re-opened featuring new benefits for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger owners. Special Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger tutorials, broader syncing, shared family Address Book, new Dashboard widgets (coming soon), .Mac Tiger Mail aliases, personal travel information and photo editing tips from Jim Heid. More... [Jeff Hubert]

[4/29] Spotlight on Innovation--Develop and Deliver Great Mac OS X Games for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger: The upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference 2005, June 6-10, will focus on the latest edition of Mac OS X, i.e. "Tiger" or 10.4. Learn about a wide gamut of issues related to developing and delivering world-class games on Mac OS X. Apple's engineers will focus on the key technology ingredients required for game development on Mac OS X, including programming best practices, third-party game technologies, business issues, and successful go-to-market strategies. This is a required session for anyone interested in game development on the Mac. Check out the details on what will be covered at WWDC 2005 on this Apple Web page. [Bill Fox]

[4/29] Review--Max OS X 10.4 "Tiger" Ahead of Windows: In this AP review of Tiger vs Windows, Matthew Fordahl notes that Tiger is much more advanced than Windows and will be for a year or more. [Joseph Sacco]

[4/29] O'Reilly Released 802.11 Wireless Networks: The Definitive Guide, Second Edition: Using a wireless network can be a liberating experience. But underneath the experience lies a complex protocol, and even more complex issues arise when data isn't limited to traveling on wires. In his book, 802.11 Wireless Networks: The Definitive Guide, Second Edition (O'Reilly, US $44.95), Matthew Gast discusses the many issues facing those who are responsible for deploying and maintaining wireless networks: How do you structure your network so mobile users can move around effectively? How do you extend wireless coverage so it's available everywhere you need it? What kind of security issues do wireless networks raise? Gast answers these questions and many more. [Bill Fox]

[4/29] Griffin is Shipping TuneJuice, a Battery Backup for iPod and iPod mini: Griffin Technology Inc. is now shipping TuneJuice, a unique battery backup for iPod and iPod mini. Using a single 9-volt battery, TuneJuice is perfect for extending the play time of your iPod for those times when you just gotta have more than your iPod battery can give. TuneJuice's SRP is $19.99. [Bill Fox]

[4/29] O'Reilly Released Digital Audio Essentials: Digital music isn't just for techies anymore. Not so long ago, downloading music was slow and impractical for anyone but advanced users. But now, you don't need to have endless time, expensive equipment, and a technical degree to download music to a Mac or portable player; rip tunes to digital format or burn CDs; organize, find, and create music; preserve LPs and tapes; stream music off the Web; or even create a web-based radio station. With a Mac, an Internet connection, and a copy of the new Digital Audio Essentials (O'Reilly, US $34.95) by Bruce Fries and Marty Fries, anyone can join the digital audio revolution. [Bill Fox]

[4/29] Mozilla Released Camino 0.8.4, the Mac OS X Cocoa-Native Web Browser: Camino 0.8.4 is out as we noted it would be on Monday. The update is available for download from Camino's Web site. This is largely a security fix, the same as for Firefox 1.0.3 and Mozilla 1.7.7 that were released last week. The update also fixes a problem with Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. The detailed release notes are here.

We downloladed and installed it. Camino is really coming along. [Dana Baggett & Bill Fox]

[4/28] Spotlight on Innovation--3D Environmental Audio with OpenAL in Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger: The upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference 2005, June 6-10, will focus on the latest edition of Mac OS X, i.e. "Tiger" or 10.4. Looking to create thrilling multi-channel 3D audio experiences in your application? Check out OpenAL, a multi-platform audio API that is perfect for games and advanced media applications. Leveraging the power of Core Audio, Tiger's built-in OpenAL implementation provides high-quality, low-overhead environmental audio that is compatible with a wide-range of audio devices. Learn how easy it is to integrate OpenAL into your application and take your audio to the next dimension. Check out the details on what will be covered at WWDC 2005 on this Apple Web page. [Bill Fox]

[4/28] Apple Released SuperDrive Firmware Update for Some Macs: The download is available from this Apple Web page. According to Apple:

The SuperDrive Firmware Update delivers updated SuperDrive firmware to improve reliability when accessing DVD and CD media.

Systems:

- Power Mac G5 (June 2004)
- Power Mac G5 (Late 2004)
- eMac (USB 2.0)

[Bill Fox & Dana Baggett]

[4/28] O'Reilly Released iMovie HD & iDVD 5: The Missing Manual: iMovie is the first digital video (DV) editing software for nonprofessionals--that is, people who have lives outside of video editing.

"iMovie HD [the new iLife '05 version] represents a deep overhaul of the program, one that will challenge even the iMovie veteran with a good deal of unlearning and relearning," says co-author David Pogue.

In the new, full-color iMovie HD and iDVD 5: The Missing Manual (O'Reilly, US $29.95), Pogue explains iMovie's big-ticket features and improvements as well as the finer points--the intriguing little enhancements that typically go unmentioned but, "taken together, will make a big difference in your moviemaking career." And then, along with guest author (and bestselling digital-video goddess) Erica Sadun, Pogue includes an invaluable book-within-a-book on iDVD, exploring all of iDVD 5's new enhancements that make home DVDs look even more like commercial Hollywood DVDs. [Bill Fox]

[4/28] Sp@mX 4.1.7 Released: Sp@mX has added the ability to parse, trace and report spam stored in Opera email archives. Along with this important upgrade, the following changes have been made.

-- Built-in support Opera email archives!
-- User definable email abuse complaint subject
-- Improved search for spamvertized URLs
-- Added additional resource to lookup Korean ISPs
-- Improve regular expression parser for SMTP headers
-- Spammer trick of referring RIR back to same RIR dealt with

Additional information on the update is available on the hsc Web site. [Bill Fox]

[4/28] Apple's Tiger Tip-of-the-Week Starts Off with Two:

Spotlight: The keys to success

Dashboard: On a road to nowhere

[Dana Baggett]

[4/28] Apple Revised the Offerings from Three Hot Deals Retailers:

MacConnection has fantastic prices on essential Mac products, including Adobe's brand new Creative Suite 2 Premium, MacAlly iPod Headphone T-Splitter, Microsoft Virtual PC 7.0 with Windows XP, Markzware FlightCheck Pro 5.5 with $99 mail-in rebate, Hewlett Packard DeskJet 3650 Printer FREE with the purchase of any Apple CPU, Monster Cable iCarPlay Wireless Plus FM Transmitter Charger for iPod, and much more.

CDW|MacWarehouse has great deals on cool Mac products, including Adobe's brand new Creative Suite 2 Premium, Xerox 8400N Color Laser Printer with FREE iPod Shuffle and a huge $500 mail-in rebate, Adobe Photoshop CS2 Upgrade, Extensis Photo Imaging Suite, Wacom Graphire 3 4"x5" Graphics Tablet with cordless mouse and pen, and much more.

Ramjet has super low prices on RAM upgrades for your Mac, including 2GB DDR Kit for Power Mac G5, 512MB DDR DIMM for Power Mac G4, 512MB PC-2700 Module for Aluminum PowerBook G4, 1GB Module for Aluminum PowerBook G4, and much more.

[Bill Fox]

[4/27] Apple Boosts Power Mac G5s to 2.7GHz: The new Power Mac G5 line with dual 2.7GHz, 2.3GHz or 2.0GHz CPUs delivers higher performance graphics options with more memory and built-in support for Apple’s breakthrough 30-inch Cinema HD Display on the 2.7 GHz model. The new line also includes larger hard drives, a faster 16X SuperDrive with double-layer support and 512MB of memory across the line. The new dual G5 Power Macs cost from $1999 to $2999. Apple retained the single 1.8GHz model at $1499.

A new ATI graphics card, the Radeon 9650 with 256MB VRAM, supports a single 30" Cinema Display. It comes with the dual 2.7GHz model and is a $50 option on the other dual models. The Nvidia 6800 Ultra DDL which can drive two 30" Cinemas is a BTO option across the line for $500 or $450 depending on model.

The new Power Mac G5 line contains a marginal increase in CPU performance but substantially more value in drives and graphics, especially if one wants to use the 30" Cinema Disaplay. [Bill Fox]

[4/27] Apple Reduced Prices of 20" and 23" Cinema Displays by $200: The 20" Cinema Display is now just $799 and the 23" model is just $1499.

[4/27] Spotlight on Innovation--Cutting-Edge Interface Design for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger: The upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference 2005, June 6-10, will focus on the latest edition of Mac OS X, i.e. "Tiger" or 10.4. Surprise and delight your customers with an elegant user experience. Learn about the latest techniques and design methodologies being used to build the best looking, easiest to use applications for Mac OS X. Apple's engineers will use sample products to demonstrate how to design the best menus, dialogs, and windows. Check out the details on what will be covered at WWDC 2005 on this Apple Web page. [Bill Fox]

[4/27] Brief Hands-On Report--TechTool Pro v4.0.4 Update: Micromat released TechTool Pro Update v4.0.4. It is available for download from this Micromat Web page. The file updates either v4.0.1 or 4.0.2 to v4.0.4.

What's New in Version 4.0.4

• Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger" Compatibility.
  
• Corrected reported issues with eDrive creation.
  
• Corrected iMac G5 Main Memory information drawer layout.
  
• Corrected Video Memory information drawer for older machines.
  
• Corrected Optimization window display issue.
  
• Corrected Fast User Switching issue.
  
• Corrected Gigabit connection speed in Network test.
  
• Additional FireWire hard drive support in Drives category.
  
• Additional support for Mobility Radeon 9700 in Video Memory test.
  
• Enhanced USB information drawer display.
  
• Added support for Case-sensitive volumes.
  
• Global updates for identifying new machines and hardware.
  
• Other minor fixes and updates.

We downloaded and installed TechToolPro 4.0.4 without problems. It features a "smart" installer that found older versions installed on our iMac G5 hard drive, eDrive and FireWire external HD. It give us an opportunity to approve upgrading each one before doing so. We were able to open the application successfully and boot into the eDrive without problems.

The only downside was that on the iMac G5 the installer tossed the former installed version into the Trash and we had to re-enter our TTP4 serial number all over again. But on our original Tangerine iBook, the new application retained the serial number from the old one even though the prior app was also tossed into the Trash. [Dana Baggett]

[4/27] FREE Envision Web Show of the Week--Tigers: Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger ships this week! In honor of Apple's new version of Mac OS X, this week's Envision Web Show of the Week is a collection of Tiger photos from Tigers in the Sky. The Envision Web Show of the Week can be downloaded from the Show of the Week Web site. Finally, be on the lookout for some significant announcements from Open Door Networks regarding Tiger in the next week. Hint: They're going back to the future! [Bill Fox]

[4/27] BeLight Software's April Fools Day Contest Over--Sebeny Wins iPod: The April Fool's Day contest from BeLight Software, developer of Mac OS X business productivity software, is over. Stephen M. Sebenyfrom Cuyahoga Falls won the first prize, an iPod mini. Read his funny magic story about business cards.

The second and third places go respectively to Javier delBarco-Trillo from Memphis and Tim Thompson from Missoula. Javier and Tim will both get the Business Card Composer boxed edition.

Bob "Dr. Mac" Levitis was the independent judge. [Bill Fox]

[4/26] Spotlight on Innovation--Leveraging Apple's Go-To-Market Programs: The upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference 2005, June 6-10, will focus on the latest edition of Mac OS X, i.e. "Tiger" or 10.4. You've spent countless hours designing and developing your product. Now attend this Go-to-Market (GTM) session to learn why a strong GTM plan is critical to your market success. You'll discover the array of GTM services available from Apple, and will get expert answers on how best to bring your product to market. What's more, Apple's marketing experts will share their experiences helping thousands of Mac developers around the world be successful in the marketplace. Check out the details on what will be covered at WWDC 2005 on this Apple Web page. [Bill Fox]

[4/26] Apple Released GarageBand Update 2.0.1: It is available via the System Preferences Software Update pane if you have iLife '05 installed or as a standalone updater from this Apple Web page. Here is the Read Me file:

GarageBand 2.0.1 addresses issues with duplicating tracks, playhead snapping to grid, joining software instrument regions on adjacent tracks, making precise adjustments to volume and pan settings, and converting Software Instrument Apple Loops based on drum sounds into Real Instrument Apple Loops. It also addresses an issue where recorded Real Instrument regions may not properly adjust to changes in the project key.

We downloaded and installed it with no problems. [Bill Fox]

[4/26] Apple Released Xsan Update 1.0.1: It is available as a standalone updater from this Apple Web page.

The 1.0.1 Update delivers overall improved reliability for Xsan and is recommended for all systems. It includes improvements for:

- using the ’mv’ command to move files from Xsan (ACFS) to Mac OS Extended (HFS+) volumes
- saving files over 4GB via SMB/CIFS to an Xsan volume hosted on Mac OS X Server
- greater server stability when resharing Xsan volumes via NFS
- eliminating spontaneous metadata controller failovers that can result in slow file performance.

[Bill Fox]

[4/26] Camino 0.8.4 is Coming Out Soon: Camino, the Mac OS X Cocoa-native web browser from the Mozilla Project, is now at the release candidate stage. Version 0.8.4 will fix the JavaScript engine memory heap disclosure bug that was just fixed in Firefox 1.0.3 and Mozilla 1.7.7. More... [Dana Baggett]

[4/25] Still Time to Save--Early Registration for WWDC 2005 Extended to May 6: The upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference 2005, June 6-10, will focus on the latest edition of Mac OS X, i.e. "Tiger" or 10.4. Early registration by May 6th will save you $300. In addition, if you register by May 6th, you can get 5 registrations for the price of 4. Check out the details on this Apple Web page.

[4/25] Spotlight on Innovation--Writing Automator Actions with Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger: The upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference 2005, June 6-10, will focus on the latest edition of Mac OS X, i.e. "Tiger" or 10.4. In this hands-on session Apple's engineers will take you step-by-step through creating an Automator Action using AppleScript, AppleScript Studio, and Cocoa Bindings. You will learn everything you need to know to create Automator Actions using AppleScript for your own application. Check out the details on what will be covered at WWDC 2005 on this Apple Web page. [Bill Fox]

[4/25] Severe Problems with ATI Displays 4.5 and ATI Radeon X800 Mac Edition Graphics Card: Two weeks ago, we finally got our ATI Radeon X800 Mac Edition graphics card, the hottest graphics card for the Mac according to early tests. We had ordered our card in early February but ATI's initial supply was limited and it was depleted quickly. So we waited 2 months to test it against our Nvidia 6800 Ultra DDL with our dual 2.5GHz Power Mac G5 and 30" Cinema Display.

When it arrived, we quickly installed it and briefly tried it out. At the settings that we play Call of Duty and Halo, the X800 was a few fps faster than the 6800 Ultra. We had planned to do a full test the following weekend for publication last Monday but Mac OS X 10.3.9 came out so we delayed our plans until this past weekend. Last week, ATI released a new firmware update for the X800 and an ATI Displays update to 4.5. Wanting to use the latest software in our review and tests, we updated our X800's firmware and installed ATI Displays 4.5 late last week. On reboot, we got a kernel panic...!

The kernel panic (dark gray screen telling one to restart in several languages) happened every time we rebooted at exactly the same spot, right after the gray screen with dark gray Apple logo. Sometimes that was where the G5 froze and sometimes despite the kernal panic it continued booting to a blue screen or partial desktop but the G5 was always frozen, i.e. no cursor movement from the mouse or keyboard.

We tried resetting NVRAM and PRAM but it did not fix the problem. We booted from a backup drive and exchanged the new ATI ROM Xtender (1.2.4f3) installed with ATI Displays 4.5 with the one installed with ATI Displays 4.4 (1.1.3) and got the G5 to boot successfully several times but then G5 once again succombed to the kernel panic on startup. Unfortunately, the firmware update is not reversible, at least not yet.

This is apparently a fairly widespread problem (see this Accelerate Your Mac web page) but not everyone encounters it. Our service ticket with ATI remains open. We had hoped a fix would be forthcoming before this past weekend but it wasn't. We'll report when a solution is found and conduct our speed tests right after. [Bill Fox]

[4/25] Peachpit Announced New Final Cut Studio 5/Shake 4 Books: Peachpit announced its lineup of Apple Pro Training Series books, designed to guide readers through Apple's new HD production suite Final Cut Studio (containing Final Cut Pro 5, Soundtrack Pro, Motion 2 and DVD Studio Pro 4) and Shake 4 applications. Covering the official curriculum that Apple uses at its own stores and training centers, Apple Pro Training Series books are comprehensive, self-paced courses that allow users to tackle Apple programs on their own computers.

The books take users step-by-step through video-editing and audio projects, offer chapter review questions, and include a companion DVD containing all the needed media and project files. Readers can choose to follow the lessons from start to finish or choose the lessons that interest them most. Peachpit's upcoming Apple Pro Training Series books on Final Cut Studio and Shake 4 include:

Apple Pro Training Series: Final Cut Pro 5
Diana Weynand; ISBN 0-321-33481-7
Starts with the basics and then takes readers all the way through advanced features, teaching how to mark and edit clips, color correct sequences, create transitions, and more.

Apple Pro Training Series: Advanced Editing Techniques in Final Cut Pro 5
Michael Wohl; ISBN 0-321-33549-X
Shares advanced techniques for cutting dialogue scenes, action scenes, documentaries, comedy, and more; and also covers Soundtrack Pro, audio finishing, managing clips and media, and working with film.

Apple Pro Training Series: Advanced Color Correction and Effects in Final Cut Pro 5
DigitalFilm Tree; ISBN 0-321-33548-1
Delivers hard-to-find training on motion effects, keying and compositing, titling, scene-to-scene color matching, and correcting for broadcast specifications.

Apple Pro Training Series: Soundtrack Pro
Mary Plummer; ISBN 0-321-35757-4
Guides users through the secrets of editing, repairing, mixing, and arranging multi-track audio files.

Apple Pro Training Series: Shake 4
Marco Paolini; ISBN 0-321-25609-3
Uses stunning real-world sequences to reveal the wizardry of keying, matting, painting, rotoscoping, and more.

Apple Pro Training Series: Shake 4 Quick-Reference Guide
Peachpit Press; ISBN 0-321-38246-3
Includes cheat sheets, quick-glance tables, and a concise explanation of the Shake interface, workspace, views, and tools.

Apple Pro Training Series: Xsan Quick-Reference Guide
Peachpit Press; ISBN 0-321-36900-9
Provides invaluable setup, configuration, and troubleshooting tips for Apple's exciting new enterprise-class file system.

[Bill Fox]

[4/25] Ham Radio Software Updates from Black Cat Systems--Morse Mania & Elmer:

Morse Mania 3.0.1--Morse Mania is a morse code tutor for the Macintosh. The software package helps you learn morse code at speeds ranging from 5 to 40 words per minute. Morse Mania is ideal for amateur (ham) radio operators who desire to learn or improve their morse code proficiency, especially in order to upgrade their license class. The generated morse code is played using the computer's speaker. This new version includes several bug fixes.

Elmer 5.5.2--Elmer creates sample tests to help you prepare for your amateur (ham) radio written examination. It contains all FCC question pools for each of the three written exams: Technician, General, and Extra Class. This new version fixes a bug that could cause duplicate questions to be asked in a practice exam, and corrects exam questions.

[Bill Fox]

[4/23] Spotlight on Innovation--Using WebObjects Tools with Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger: The upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference 2005, June 6-10, will focus on the latest edition of Mac OS X, i.e. "Tiger" or 10.4. WebObjects provides a rich set of tools for developing web-based applications. Bring your laptop to this session and get hands-on experience with Apple's engineers using data modeling, component creation, and rule-based assistants to rapidly build your application. Check out the details on what will be covered at WWDC 2005 on this Apple Web page.

[4/23] Apple Revised the Offerings from Five Hot Deals Retailers:

ClubMac has great deals on essential Mac products, including ATI's Radeon X800 XT 256MB Video Card, Aspyr Media Doom 3, XtremeMac SportWrap Armband for iPod Shuffle, Canon PowerShot SD400 5.0MP Digital Camera, QuarkXPress 6.5, 3G Technology GM-171B 17" LCD Flat Panel Display, Nyko Technologies iTop Control Re-locator for iPod, and much more.

MacZone has fantastic prices on essential Mac products, including Microsoft Office 2004 Pro Upgrade with StuffIt Deluxe, Sony 16x Double Layer DVD±R USB 2.0 External Drive, Sonnet PodFreq Premium FM Transmitter for iPod, Griffin iTrip 2 FM Transmitter for iPod, Belkin iPod Mobile Power Cord for iPod, Tucano Neoprene Laptop Sleeve and Pouch for 15" PowerBook G4, and much more.

Office Depot has fantastic deals on essential products for your Mac, including Canon PowerShot A400 3.2MP Digital Camera, FujiFilm FinePix S7000 6.3 Digital SLR Camera, SanDisk 1GB Cruzer USB 2.0 Mini Flash Drive, Maxtor One Touch 200GB External USB 2.0 Hard Drive, Office Depot DVD-R 15-Pack Media, Cyber Acoustics Accent S-3006 Speaker System, and much more.

Tech Depot has exclusive Hot Deals on great products for your Mac, including SimpleTech 250GB Simple Drive Deluxe USB/FireWire External Hard Drive, Samsung 910T 19" LCD Flat Panel Display ScanMaker S400 Flatbed Scanner, Kingston 256MB CompactFlash Memory Card with $10 mail-in rebate, Monster Cable iCarPlay FM Transmitter/Charger, and much more.

Publishing Perfection has great deals on a variety of design and print products for your Mac, including nik multimedia Color Efex Pro 2.0, AutoFX Photographic Edges 6.0, Corel Painter IX Upgrade, Curious Labs Shade 7 Standard, Colorvision Spyder2Pro Studio, TDK 48x Certified 700MB 100-pack CD Media, Innovation Multimedia Logos & Trademarks Collection, and much more.

[Bill Fox]

[4/23] RealNetworks Released Security Patch for Mac RealPlayer: Download the patch from within the application.

The security flaw, which falls under buffer overflow flaws, is used by hackers to flood a program with data and use the resultant data torrent to run their own codes on the victim’s machine.

Use "Check for updates" under the RealPlayer menu. We installed it with no problems. More... [Dana Baggett]

[4/22] Spotlight on Innovation--Maximizing OpenGL Performance in Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger: The upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference 2005, June 6-10, will focus on the latest edition of Mac OS X, i.e. "Tiger" or 10.4. In this hands-on session, the Mac OS X OpenGL team will explain the latest techniques to optimize your application's OpenGL usage. All aspects of optimization will be covered including vertex and texture submission, elimination of redundant copies of data, and ideal pixel formats. Threading tips and techniques will also be discussed. Code along with live demonstrations of the OpenGL Profiler and Driver Monitor, and discover how to solve real-world performance problems. You'll learn to maximize your use of the GPU to increase your application's frame rate. Check out the details on what will be covered at WWDC 2005 on this Apple Web page. [Bill Fox]

[4/22] Brief Hands-On Report--Apple Java Update for Mac OS X v10.3.9 1.0 to Fix Java Problem: The update is available via the System Preferences Software Update pane if you have Mac OS X 10.3.9 installed or as a standalone updater from this Apple Web page. As we noted previously, some people have had problems with Java applications and/or Java applets in Safari after installing Mac OS X 10.3.9 Update. Apple posted a KBase article on the problem with a test for the Java problem and a fix involving reinstalling one or two prior updates. This Java Update fixes the problem directly with a small 532KB download.

The Read Me file states:

This update will correct issues affecting some Java users following the installation of Mac OS X v10.3.9 Software Update.

The Java Update appeared in our Software Update window on all of our Macs, including Power Mac G5, iMac G5, several PowerBooks and an original clamshell iBook, running Mac OS X 10.3.9 despite all of them having passed the test suggested in the KBase article. So we downloaded and installed the Java Update in all of them. No problems were encountered with their installation and immediate use. [Bill Fox & Dana Baggett]

[4/22] Getting Serious--Three Years in the Pokey for Illegal File Sharing of a Single Pre-release Copy: Congress just passed legislation to tighten up the digital copyright law. With it, one can get up to three years in the slammer for having just one copy in a shared folder of a pirated piece of pre-release software, movie or music file. The President is expected to sign the bill. More... [Dana Baggett]

[4/22] O'Reilly Released Developing Feeds with RSS and Atom: A content syndication feed is an XML-based file that allows a web site to share its latest content with other applications. The feeds can be anything from headlines and links to stories to quick summaries or the entire content of a site stripped of its layout. Many sites include a white-on-orange "RSS" or "XML" button, which indicates that it offers a content feed. "Content-syndication technologies are among the Internet's fastest growing," acknowledges Ben Hammersley, author of Developing Feeds with RSS and Atom (O'Reilly US $39.95). [Bill Fox]

[4/21] Spotlight on Innovation--Implementing Core Data in Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger: The upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference 2005, June 6-10, will focus on the latest edition of Mac OS X, i.e. "Tiger" or 10.4. Backups enable administrators to ensure business continuance. In this hands-on session, Apple's engineers will expand on the basics of Core Data by walking you through a series of examples to demonstrate how you can use Core Data to manage data effectively in your application. From data models to Interface Builder bindings to managed object context initialization, you'll discover practical techniques for using this compelling new Tiger technology in your application. Check out the details on what will be covered at WWDC 2005 on this Apple Web page. [Bill Fox]

[4/21] Fill Your Mac With RAM--Price Drop to Continue: Wholesale prices of DDR RAM have dropped almost by half since the beginning of the year due to overproduction. The newer, faster and less power-hungry DDR2 RAM has dropped as well, almost to the level of DDR RAM. Prices are expected to continue dropping through mid-year according to analysts. More... [Dana Baggett]

[4/21] Opera 8.0b1 Web Browser Released for the Mac: Though it has a very smalll share, Opera is an excellent and fast web browser produced by a Norwegian firm. Opera 8 was just release for Windows and Linux and a beta of version 8 for Mac OS X was also made available. It can be downloaded from this Opera Web page. Here are the release notes. [Dana Baggett]

[4/21] Apple Posted NAB 2005 Gallery: Apple posted its own digital photo gallery of this year's National Association of Broadcasters conference. At NAB, Apple unveiled Final Cut Studio with major upgrades of Final Cut Pro, Motion and DVD Studio Pro. Apple also introduced Soundtrack Pro, a revolutionary new audio editing and sound design application. [Dana Baggett]

[4/21] Registered TextWrangler Users Get $70 Discount on BBEdit 8: Bare Bones Software sent us a notice that registered TextWrangler users are eligible to purchase BBEdit 8, their award-winning professional HTML and text editor, for only US$129 (a savings of US$70)! To buy BBEdit 8 with the discount, the coupon code received from Bare Bones when TextWrangler was registered is needed. TextWrangler is distributed as a FREE lite text editor from Bare Bones. [Bill Fox]

[4/21] Apple Revised the Offerings from Three Hot Deals Retailers:

B&H Photo and Video has fantastic prices of superb products for your Mac, including Canon PowerShot SD400 5.0MP Digital ELPH Camera, nik multimedia Dfine 1.0, Alien Skin Eye Candy 4000, Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT 3500 8.0MP Digital SLR Camera, Lexar 4GB 80x CompactFlash Card, Epson Perfection 4990 Photo Letter Size Flatbed Scanner, DLO TranPod All-in-One Car Solution for iPod, and much more.

J&R has great prices on top quality Mac products, including DLO iDirect Remote Control for iPod, Belkin iPod Battery Backup Pack, Brother MFC-210C Color Flatbed Multi-Function Machine with $30 mail-in rebate, Canon Optura 500 Digital Video Camcorder, Digital Age DAP-002A iSoundz Sound Wallet Mini Speakers, Griffin Technology EarJams iPod Earbud Enhancers, and much more.

Sweetwater has fantastic deals on a wide range of audio products for your Mac, including M-Audio Pro Tools M-Powered, Samson RH100 Stereo Headphones, Roland DM-10 Reference Speakers, Make Music PrintMusic, M-Audio Black Box, PreSonus FIREBOX, Edirol PCR-M30, and much more.

[Bill Fox]

[4/21] FREE Envision Web Show of the Week--Macworld 2005 Digital Art Gallery: This week's Envision Web Show of the Week is again of the Macworld 2005 Digital Art Gallery, to highlight Open Door's announcement that Envision is now on tour with that Gallery as it travels to art museums throughout the country. The Envision Web Show of the Week can be downloaded from the Show of the Week Web site. Previous Shows of the Week, including those of past Macworld Art Galleries, are available in the Show of the Week archive. [Bill Fox]

[4/20] Spotlight on Innovation--HiTextView Unleashed in Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger: The upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference 2005, June 6-10, will focus on the latest edition of Mac OS X, i.e. "Tiger" or 10.4. Learn how HITextView can replace custom text controls in your application and easily handle Unicode text, advanced typography, URLs and multimedia content. Hands-on demonstrations from Apple's engineers will take you step-by-step through code to show how you can maximize HITextView's benefits to your application. Check out the details on what will be covered at WWDC 2005 on this Apple Web page. [Bill Fox]

[4/20] Details on Apple Security Update 2005-004: Security Update 2005-004 is now available via the System Preferences Software Update pane, if iSync 1.5 is installed, and as a standalone updater from this Apple Web page. It delivers the following security enhancement:

iSync
Available for: iSync 1.5
CVE-ID: CAN-2005-0193
Impact: A buffer overflow in iSync could lead to local privilege escalation
Description: The iSync helper tool mRouter contains a buffer overflow vulnerability. This could result in the execution of arbitrary commands as root by local system users. Security Update 2005-004 fixes this problem by providing a patched version of mRouter. iSync 1.4 is also affected by this vulnerability, and customers are encouraged to update to the freely available iSync 1.5 version, then apply Security Update 2005-004. Credit to Braden Thomas for reporting this issue.

We downloaded and installed the update on several Macs and PowerBooks with no problems. It did not change the version (1.5) or Build number (139) [Bill Fox & Dana Baggett]

[4/20] Commentary: Adobe-Macromedia Merger--Will the Deal Go Through? Adobe announced Monday that it had struck a deal with Macromedia's management to merge for $3.4 billion in Adobe stock. It seems like a good deal for both firms but is this a good deal for consumers of their products? Together, their competitive products dominate several media/graphics software markets, like web authoring (GoLive-Dreamweaver) and illustration (Illustrator-Freehand), and their combine will have a clear monopoly. On the other hand, many of their other products are either not totally overlapping, like Photoshop and Fireworks, or are complementary, like Acrobat and Flash.

Here is their explanation:

The combination of Adobe and Macromedia strengthens our mission of helping people and organizations communicate better. Through the combination of our powerful development, authoring and collaboration tools – and the complementary functionality of PDF and Flash – we have the opportunity to drive an industry-defining technology platform that delivers compelling, rich content and applications across a wide range of devices and operating systems.

By combining the passion and creativity of two leading-edge companies, we will continue driving innovations that are changing the ways people everywhere are experiencing and interacting with information.

We understand the power trip but don't buy the innovation smoke. We believe in the forces of competition and this merger seems more likely to squelch innovation than to "drive" it. Afterall, how innovative is powerful Microsoft? The best it can do is buy innovation, concomittantly stifling any competition.

The merger still has to be approved by shareholders of both public companies. It probably will be approved because forming a powerful, more efficient alliance that can crush any emerging competition is good for investors. The merger also has to be approved by federal regulators who are supposed to look out for the interests of consumers and maintain competition. We hope they do their job and give this deal a thumbs down. [Bill Fox]

[4/20] This Week on The Mac Night Owl LIVE--David Biedny, Opera, Joe Wilcox and TechRestore: This Thursday night co-hosts Gene and Grayson Steinberg will talk about the latest scuttlebutt in the Mac universe when they enter "The David Biedny Zone." You'll also hear about the newest Mac version of the Opera browser and visit with noted industry analyst Joe Wilcox, of Jupiter Research. You'll also receive knowledgeable answers on whether it pays to repair or replace your iPod from Shannon Jean of TechRestore. Tune in the internet radio show onThursday night from 6:00 to 8:00 PM Pacific, 9:00 to 11:00 PM Eastern. [Bill Fox]

[4/19] Spotlight on Innovation--Configuring and Deploying Oracle on Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger Server: The upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference 2005, June 6-10, will focus on the latest edition of Mac OS X, i.e. "Tiger" or 10.4. Oracle 10g is a powerful enterprise database system that is fully supported on the Mac OS X Server platform. Learn techniques and tips for building an Oracle 10g server farm on Mac OS X, from people who know the system best: Oracle engineers and Apple IT experts. This session is perfect for database and system administrators who need to learn how to set up and deploy Oracle 10g for the Mac. Check out the details on what will be covered at WWDC 2005 on this Apple Web page. [Bill Fox]

[4/19] Test the Speed of Your Safari 1.3: As we noted in our Mac OS X 10.3.9 hands-on report, Safari 1.3 seems to be much faster than v1.2. According to Dave Hyatt on his blog, Surfin' Safari, the new Safari 1.3 in Mac OS X 10.3.9 Update loads Web pages 35% faster than Safari 1.2 and has better JavaScript performance:

Page Load Performance
Safari 1.3 loads pages overall 35% faster than 1.2 as measured by IBench. In addition to improving the overall page load, Safari 1.3 will display content sooner than 1.2 did, so that subresources don't hold up the initial display of the page.

JavaScript Performance
We have substantially improved the performance of the JavaScript engine in Safari. I encourage you to check out Safari 1.3 on this benchmark for example to see the improvement relative to 1.2.

It also has the same "guts" as the coming Safari 2.0 in Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. You can test Safari 1.3's JavaScript speed with BenchJS from this Web site.

We ran BenchJS twice with our dual 2.5GHz Power Mac G5 and got the 16th and 17th fastest times for any browser and OS at 5.68 and 5.69 sec. They were the 3rd and 4th fourth fastest times listed for Mac OS X. The two faster OS X times used Opera 8. The fastest combination seems to Opera 8 with Windows XP according to tests listed on the BenchJS Web page. [Bill Fox]

[4/19] Apple Posted Fix for Safari 1.3 Crashing: Some people have had problems with Safari 1.3 after applying Mac OS X 10.3.9 Update, i.e. crashing on launch (incompatible plug-ins) or crashing when attempting to load Java "applets."

To fix the latter Java-related problem, Apple posted a test and a fix in this KBase article. If the simple test is positive, Apple suggests installing Java 1.4.2 Update 2, if not already installed, and installing or reinstalling Security Update 2005-002 regardless. [Dana Baggett & Bill Fox]

[4/19] Peachpit to Release Two New Books on Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger April 29: Peachpit announced today that it will ship its first books on Apple's Mac OS X version 10.4 "Tiger" on the same day Tiger becomes available, April 29, 2005. Peachpit's Tiger books are designed for all levels of users and cover all that's new in the OS, including Spotlight advanced search technology; Dashboard for instant access to information; Safari RSS Web browser; iChat with multi-way video; and more. The following two books will be available April 29, online and at local bookstores:

Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger: Visual QuickStart Guide
Maria Langer; ISBN 0-321-30526-4; $24.99
* Task-based quick reference*
Get up and running in no time! This task-based guide represents the surest way to go from 0 to 60 in no time flat with Mac OS X Tiger. Maria Langer walks readers through the process of installing and configuring Tiger, then introduces its features before moving on to more advanced Finder techniques, application basics, connecting to the Internet, and more. Rounded out with plenty of tips and advice, this book is equally useful for both Macintosh novices and early adopters looking for a comprehensive reference guide.

Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger: Peachpit Learning Series
Robin Williams; ISBN 0-321-33022-6; $29.99
* Project-based training book ideal for upgraders and new OS X users*
The Peachpit Learning Series makes its debut with this launch. This new project-based series brings together best-selling authors and hot topics, in a step-by-step format that allows users to learn just what they need to know at their own pace-whether it's working through lessons from start to finish, jumping directly to exercises about key features, or simply looking up what is needed at the moment. In this first Peachpit Learning Series title, veteran author Robin Williams uses her friendly teaching style to reveal what's new in Tiger, and how to get the most out of it, quickly. Through real-world projects and lessons, this book covers everything from upgrading to Tiger to customizing and troubleshooting.

[Bill Fox]

[4/19] Join the Navy and Get FREE Mac Antivirus Software: Actually you can get it even if you are a civilian and even if you have a Wintel computer. Are computer viruses bad enough to make you join the Navy? Well, maybe if you use a Wintel PC. More... [Dana Baggett]

[4/19] Mystagogue Released Demystifier 1.0 Preview: Mystagogue Corporation announced Demystifier 1.0 Preview for the Macintosh. Demystifier is a web development tool that displays the Document Object Model for both Internet Explorer and Safari. Demystifier also includes advanced search capabilities to quickly locate any element in an HTML document. A tool for all Macintosh web developers, Demystifier 1.0 Preview may be downloaded here. The Preview will expire on April 29th. [Bill Fox]

[4/19] Apple Posted Daily WWDC Schedule and iCal Schedule: Apple just went live with the daily Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2005 session schedules. Also available are downloadable iCal session schedules laid out by track. Click the "Schedules" button near the top of the WWDC homepage. [Bill Fox]

450MHz G4 Cube Speed Tests (average* scores or secs).

Test	Cube 450 MHz
Mac OS X Version:	10.2.8	10.3	10.3.8	10.3.9
Benchmarks:
Altivec Fractal (GFLOPS)	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.5
Cinebench 2003 - Rendering	49	48	48	48
- OpenGL Hardware Lighting	92	90	91	91
Let1kWindowsBloom 1.0 (sec)	61	42	52	53
Xbench - CPU	52	52	53	54
- Threading	34	42	42	42
- Memory	64	76	76	76
- Quartz Graphics	63	72	74	74
- OpenGL Graphics	84	81	80	80
- User Interface Graphics	60	104	103	102
- Hard Disk	66	64	57	54
"Real World" Tests:
Startup (sec)	54	44	54	52
Shutdown (sec)	7	13	15	15
Launch Classic Mode (sec)	-	-	24	25
Dup. 700 MB Folder 3600 Files (sec)	131	134	156	152
Scroll 142p Acrobat Reader File (sec)	57	55	55	55
Encode MP3 in iTunes (sec)	105	105	107	105
Export QT FQDV Movie in iMovie (sec)	35	32	33	36
Quake III Arena 1.32 (frames/sec)	22	21	36	34

*Average of three runs.

Dual 2.5GHz Power Mac G5 Speed Tests (average* scores or secs).

Test	Dual 2.5 GHz Power Mac G5
Mac OS X Version:	10.3.5	10.3.6	10.3.7	10.3.8	10.3.9
Benchmarks:
Altivec Fractal (GFLOPS)	12.7	12.7	12.7	12.7	12.9
Cinebench 2003 - Rendering	647	646	644	646	647
- OpenGL Hardware Lighting	1569	1587	1579	1574	1601
Let1kWindowsBloom 1.0 (sec)	11	11	11	11	11
Xbench - CPU	243	242	243	242	241
- Threading	241	242	260	262	262
- Memory	340	357	335	327	333
- Quartz Graphics	300	300	342	346	348
- OpenGL Graphics	209	195	178	198	202
- User Interface Graphics	374	367	410	410	415
- Hard Disk	110	109	108	108	106
"Real World" Tests:
Startup (sec)	45	38	38	39	40
Shutdown (sec)	9	9	9	11	10
Launch Classic Mode (sec)	9	9	9	9	10
Dup. 700 MB Folder 3600 Files (sec)	62	58	56	62	66
Scroll 142p Acrobat Reader File (sec)	13	13	12	11	11
Encode MP3 in iTunes (sec)	54	53	54	54	54
Export QT FQDV Movie in iMovie (sec)	20	19	19	19	20
Quake III Arena 1.32 (frames/sec)	417	409	407	416	411
Halo 1.0.5.3/1.5.1 (frames/sec)	57**	58**	61***	63***	63***
Call of Duty 1.4 (frames/sec)	n/a	84	84	85	85

*Average of 3 runs. **Halo 1.0.5.3 with ATI Pixel and Vertex Shaders. ***Halo 1.5.1 with Advanced Shaders.

[4/16] Mozilla Suite was Updated to v1.7.7 and it can be downloaded from the Mozilla Foundation's Web site. It is basically a bug/security fix since the feature set will remain at 1.7.x while Mozilla concentrates on the standalone Firefox web browser and Thunderbird emailer. Here are the Release Notes. [Dana Baggett]

[4/16] Brief Hands-On Report--Mac OS X 10.3.9 Client and Server: Last night Apple released Mac OS X 10.3.9 update for client and server. They are available for download via the System Preference Software Update pane and as standalone updaters, either as a delta version (client and server, 10.3.8 to 10.3.9) or as a combo version (client and server, 10.3.x to 10.3.9). We recommend the combo version to minimize the chance of any problems.

Here is what Apple says is in the delta updaters, i.e. new for 10.3.9:

Client (Delta) Improvements include:

• file sharing and directory services reliability for mixed Mac and PC networks
  
• Mail, Safari and Stickies application reliability
  
• compatibility for third party applications and devices
  
• previous standalone security updates
  
• Server (Delta) Improvements include:
  
• reliability of Open Directory authentication requests, and Active Directory integration
  
• AFP performance when listing large files and directories
  
• update to Cyrus version 2.2.10 for more reliable email message storage
  
• reliability of Ethernet communications on Xserve
  
• compatibility for third party applications and devices
  
• previous standalone security updates

Server (Delta) Improvements include:

• reliability of Open Directory authentication requests, and Active Directory integration
  
• AFP performance when listing large files and directories
  
• update to Cyrus version 2.2.10 for more reliable email message storage
  
• reliability of Ethernet communications on Xserve
  
• compatibility for third party applications and devices
  
• previous standalone security updates

Here are the details on the security aspects:

Kernel

CVE ID: CAN-2005-0969
Impact: A kernel input validation issue can lead to a local denial of service
Description: The Kernel contains syscall emulation functionality that was never used in Mac OS X. Insufficient validation of an input parameter list could result in a heap overflow and a local denial of service through a kernel panic. The issue is addressed by removing the syscall emulation functionality. Credit to Dino Dai Zovi for reporting this issue.

CVE ID: CAN-2005-0970
Impact: Permitting SUID/SGID scripts to be installed could lead to privilege escalation.
Description: Mac OS X inherited the ability to run SUID/SGID scripts from FreeBSD. Apple does not distribute any SUID/SGID scripts, but the system would allow them to be installed or created. This update removes the ability of Mac OS X to run SUID/SGID scripts. Credit to Bruce Murphy of rattus.net and Justin Walker for reporting this issue.

CVE ID: CAN-2005-0971
CERT: VU#212190
Impact: A Kernel stack overflow in the semop() system call could lead to a local privilege escalation.
Description: The incorrect handling of system call arguments could be used to obtain elevated privileges. This update includes a fix to check access to the kernel object.

CVE ID: CAN-2005-0972
CERT: VU#185702
Impact: An integer overflow in the searchfs() system call could allow an unprivileged local user to execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges
Description: The searchfs() system call contains an integer overflow vulnerability that could allow an unprivileged local user to execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges. This update adds input validation on the parameters passed to searchfs() to correct the issue.

CVE ID: CAN-2005-0973
Impact: Local system users can cause a system resource starvation
Description: A vulnerability in the handling of values passed to the setsockopt() call could allow unprivileged local users to exhaust available memory. Credit to Robert Stump <rds3792@cs.rit.com> for reporting this issue.

CVE ID: CAN-2005-0974
CERT: VU#713614
Impact: Local system users can cause a local denial of service
Description: A vulnerability in the nfs_mount() call due to insufficient checks on input values could allow unprivileged local users to create a denial of service via a kernel panic.

CVE ID: CAN-2005-0975
Impact: Local system users can cause a temporary interruption of
system operation
Description: A vulnerability in the parsing of certain executable files could allow unprivileged local users to temporarily suspend system operations. Credit to Neil Archibald for reporting this issue.

Safari

CVE ID: CAN-2005-0976
Impact: Remote sites could cause html and javascript to run in the local domain.
Description: This update closes a vulnerability that allowed remote websites to load javascript to execute in the local domain. Credit to David Remahl for reporting this issue.

We downloaded and installed the client and server editions (combo versions) on a number of Macs, including several PowerBooks. No problems were encountered while updating or while briefly using the new version. The only thing we noticed is that sleep on our PowerBook seems to be improved. Note in the server read me file that there are a number of things that should be done for certain configurations.

We updated with our backup FireWire drive attached to our 17" PowerBook with no apparent problems and it still booted our PowerBooks with 10.3.8 after the update. But it became unbootable after it was updated to 10.3.9. We will proba have to use Carbon Copy Cloner again to restore the backup drive to bootable condition as we had to do with 10.3.8.

Safari seems to load pages faster but that may be due to our internet connection being really good right now. But there doesn't seem to be any hesitation in loading pages as before. Unfortunately, Safari on our 17" PowerBook now quits unexpectedly very frequently [Update: This was fixed by deleting Safari's preference file and relaunching. We did not have this minor problem on any other Mac or 'Book]. [Bill Fox & Dana Baggett]

[4/16] Firefox 1.0.3 for the Mac is Available for download from the Mozilla Foundation's Firefox Web site. We download and installed it. Fortunately, our favorite theme, Nautipolis v1.0.5, still works with the new version of Firefox. Our speed mods also survived the update. [Bill Fox]

[4/16] Apple Revised the offerings from Two Hot Deals Retailers:

MacMall has fantastic prices on essential Mac products, including MacAlly Podwave Portable iPod Stereo Speakers, NEC MultiSync LCD17700V 17" LCD Flat Panel Display, Nikon D70 6.1MP Digital SLR Camera Nikkor Lens, Epson Stylus Photo R800 Inkjet Printer, Nyko iBoost Rechargeable Booster Battery Pack for iPod, Kingston 1GB Data Traveler, and much more.

O'Reilly has exclusively Hot Deals discounts for many of it's most popular Mac titles, including Photoshop Elements 3: The Missing Manual, Dreamweaver MX 2004: The Missing Manual, DVD Studio Pro 3: In the Studio, iPhoto 5: The Missing Manual, Office 2004: The Missing Manual, and much more.

[Bill Fox]

[4/16] O'Reilly Released Network Security Tools: Although a security tool will occasionally do exactly what a network administrator wants, right out of the box, more frequently it's necessary to customize the tool to fit the needs of the network structure. In Network Security Tools (O'Reilly, US $34.95), the authors Nitesh Dhanjani and Justin Clarke show network administrators how to use popular open source security assessment tools such as Ettercap, Hydra, Metasploit, Nessus, Nitkeo, and Nmap, and then customize them to defend against even the most experienced attackers. While most security books focus on keeping networks and systems secure, "Network Security Tools" also provides information on determining vulnerabilities in web applications. [Bill Fox]

[4/15] Apple Released iSight 1.0.3 Updater: The updater is available via the System Preferences Software Update pane. A standalone version is not yet available for Apple's Downloads Web page. Apple's iSight Web page still shows v1.0.2 as of publication time. Here is the Read Me file note:

The iSight 1.0.3 update improves the iSight's audio performance. This update is recommended for iSight users running Mac OS X 10.3.7 and later.

We downloaded and installed v1.0.3 in our iSights with no problem. We weren't having a sound problem so we notice no difference. [Bill Fox]

[4/15] Spotlight on Innovation--Advanced Document-based Application Techniques in Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger: The upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference 2005, June 6-10, will focus on the latest edition of Mac OS X, i.e. "Tiger" or 10.4. Move beyond the default document handling capabilities of Cocoa. Learn how to properly customize and extend Cocoa's document classes to support multiple windows displaying views of a single document, displaying data from multiple documents within a single window, advanced error handling, plugins, and much more. Check out the details on what will be covered at WWDC 2005 on this Apple Web page. [Bill Fox]

[4/15] Brief Hands-On Report--Apple Released iDVD 5.0.1, iMovie HD 5.0.2 and iPhoto 5.0.2 Updaters: The three updaters appear in Mac OS X's System Preferences Software Update preference pane if iLife '05 is installed. They can also be downloaded as standalone updaters from this Apple Web page.

Here are the notes on each from their Read Me file:

iDVD 5.0.1 addresses issues related to general stability and compatibility with iPhoto slideshows and iMovie HD.

iMovie HD 5.0.2 Upda