Charlie Miller said he will reveal 30 security flaws he found with Apple’s Preview application at the CanSecWest security conference. Twenty of the flaws were found in the way Apple’s Preview app handles PDF documents. Unfortunately, because Safari uses the same code, he says a computer can be hacked using a malicious Web page too. Miller will demonstrate the flaws, but hasn’t decided whether or not to tell Apple.
He’s also considering keeping the details of his bugs secret and watching to see how long it takes the software vendors to patch them after his Vancouver talk. While that would leave users vulnerable to the secret vulnerabilities he’s found, Miller says it could also help reveal more about just what software companies are doing–or not doing–to patch their products’ flaws.
Apple on Friday notified developers that it has begun accepting apps designed for the iPad. Apple also confirmed for The Loop that the iPad App Store will launch on April 3. (more…)
The Mac beta for StarCraft 2 is reportedly going to drop in April, following the appearance of a Windows beta which became available a few weeks ago. Few burrs under the saddle chafe a Mac user more than Windows gamers having more fun than them, so this will please a lot of people. Don’t get the wrong impression, however; it still carries a “when it’s ready” qualifier, so no promises are being made, but April is definitely the target. Those who want to whine might do well to remember the Win and Mac versions of the original StarCraft were a whole year apart.
Now that it looks like the golden era of Halo is beginning to recede into the sunset, there’s some speculation – and evidence – that they may be planning a return to their roots … in the form of a new Marathon game. Apparently Bungie filed a new trademark application for “Marathon”; not exactly conclusive evidence, but it carries the whiff of possibilities. You youngins need to understand: When veteran Mac gamers aren’t busy sitting on their patio and yelling at neighborhood kids to get off their lawn, they’ll tell you a tale about the days when Mac first-person-shooters were actually better than the fare offered on Windows and, when they do, they’ll mention the Marathon series. Could this trademark application signify Bungie’s return as the golden child of Mac gaming?
John Cook, Valve’s director of Steam development, recently took some questions about the company’s new foray into Mac support. Among his comments is that Valve considers Steam for the Mac “to be the biggest event in Steam’s history.” Impressive for a service that, by some estimations, owns 70 percent or more of the PC game download market.
Every year or two we seem to see an internet trend spike really fast; Facebook a few years back, “microblogging” in the 2006/2007 era, and now it seems like Apple is stepping into the ring with the latest: location-based social networking. Made popular by websites like Foursquare and Gowalla, the trend has been overtaking smartphones including the iPhone, and appears to be creating an effective link between the virtual world of social networks and the real world where people do things like eat lunch together or shop (or so I hear). Apple is now grabbing up some patents which suggest that they could combine MobileMe with GPS-style features and even a walkie-talkie type of communication option which lets you connect to your friends’ iPhones if they’re nearby. It brings to mind a story not long about how Apple was grabbing up some mapping technology which made people speculate about their potentially taking on Google Maps. Perhaps they were gearing up for this instead?
Among the most popular games for iPhone, racing games are consistently at or near the top of the list. I’m not personally a car guy (if you saw my car, you’d probably understand why), but there are some great examples of hardcore and casual racing games to be found. What’s nice is that not everything you find out there uses the tried-and-true tilt-your-phone steering system, though there are some great entries which are. Makes me want to roll down the window and enjoy the spring air while burning up the track.
It seems that some iPhone app review sites are demanding money from developers in order to write a review of their app. One site, ThePhoneAppReview.com, is offering developers the chance to “expedite” reviews for a $25 charge, but developers have said the site threatened to shun their product altogether. AppCraver.com said developers could expedite a review on the site for $150, although they said developers could not purchase a “good score.” No matter how you look at it, this is a bad practice.
Requiring payment for product reviews is not illegal, but the Federal Trade Commission has frowned on the practice. The commission believes a paid review can easily be the same as a paid advertisement, and consumers as a result may be misled into purchasing a product based on a falsely positive evaluation that was bought.
If you ever wondered what Web sites Apple CEO Steve Jobs reads on a regular basis, the answer is here. According to a source, Jobs like to read Engadget, Gizmodo, the New York Times tech section, and the Wall Street Journal. I’m sure The Loop and my articles on CNET were bookmarked too, right Steve?
Jim Cramer’s TheStreet.com financial Web site is being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission because of “accounting woes.”
Last summer, TheStreet.com announced there were “issues” related to how it had been recording revenue at Promotions.com, the marketing company it acquired in 2007. An internal probe ensued and resulted in several quarters of delayed earnings results for the parent company, frustrating investors.But just as things appeared to be getting back to normal, earlier this month the SEC asked to have a second look at the findings of TheStreet.com’s internal probe, said a person close to the company.
Valve’s recent announcement that it’s bringing Steam to the Mac promises to fundamentally change the landscape of Mac gaming, which has been bleak for longer than many of us care to admit. Here’s a look at what this means for the platform. (more…)
I have a lot of respect for Rupert Murdoch. He’s a tough business man, a ruthless negotiator, and knows what he wants. I can’t imagine going up against him and luckily, I don’t have to. In a recent interview, Murdoch discusses Google and how the iPad is changing modern media delivery. It’s interesting to hear his side of things.
I’m not a big fan of the Kindle, but some people do like it. Amazon already has an app for the iPhone, but now the company released an app for Mac OS X too. The app requires Mac OS X 10.5 or higher.
The app allows you to download Kindle books you already own, and read them at leisure on your Mac; synchronization of your progress through the book is automatic, and will keep track with your Kindle or iPhone reading.
Jerome York, 71, has been hospitalized in Michigan, after collapsing at his home on Tuesday night. According to his wife, he suffered a a massive cerebral hemorrhage. York has been a director at Apple since 1997.
Apple on Wednesday added a few new features to its iWork.com Web site, including the ability to share documents on social networking Web sites. (more…)
If you’re one of the millions of people on a social networking Web site, you should be aware that the U.S. government may use the sites for undercover work. For most law abiding citizens, it won’t matter much, especially if you only add friends that you know.
The Obama administration has considered sending federal police undercover on social-networking sites, including Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter.A confidential U.S. Department of Justice presentation (PDF) on social-networking sites made public Tuesday said online undercover work can help agents “communicate with suspects,” “gain access to nonpublic info,” and “map social relationships.”
Really, it shouldn’t be a big surprise that Microsoft employees love the iPhone, right? Everyone seems to appreciate the design and functionality of Apple’s iPhone. What may be surprising is that 10 percent of Microsoft’s worldwide workforce accessed their email using an iPhone.
One Microsoft worker said he knows several colleagues who try to disguise their iPhones with cases that make them look more like generic handsets. “Maybe once a year I’m in a meeting with Steve Ballmer,” said this employee. “It doesn’t matter who’s calling, I’m not answering my phone.”
In the era of 99 cent apps, GPS-based driving assistance for the iPhone has up to now been a big financial nut to crack, with apps regularly costing $70 or more. Navigon, makers of MobileNavigator, have addressed this by introducing Navigon MyRegion, a regionalized GPS navigation system priced regularly at $30, but available for a limited time for $25. (more…)
Sometimes I get criticized for being too opinionated, but I love it when people say what they think. So, if you were thinking of buying one of Motorola’s new Backflip mobile devices, you should take a look at Sascha Segan’s review. It’s quite entertaining, to say the least.
It is an abomination of design, encrusted with bloatware and built on top of a platform that should have been retired six months ago. Motorola, AT&T, and Google can all do much, much better than this, and I hope they will soon.
Roland on Tuesday began shipping the AC-33 acoustic guitar amplifier. The amp has the ability to run on batteries or be plugged in to a power outlet. (more…)
I’m not much of a gamer on Windows systems — it’s just not what I use virtualization software for. However, it is something a lot of people want to do, so it’s important for Parallels and VMWare to make sure their software can handle games as fast as possible. A big part of that equation is graphics. MacTech posted a video with side-by-side testing today and the results are quite interesting.
The speculation around the Web has been that Apple sued HTC to get at Google. By suing its biggest licensee, Apple hopes to hurt Google’s operating system business — at least that’s what people think.
Apple has good reasons to fear Android. In the three months from December to February, Android’s US smartphone subscriber share shot up from 2.8 perent to 7.1 percent. Worldwide, in 2009, Android smartphone market share — based on sales — rose from 0.5 percent to 3.9 percent, according to Gartner (The first Android phone, the T-Mobile G1, shipped in late 2008). Last month, Google CEO Eric Schmidt asserted that 60,000 Android handsets are shipping by the day.
Joe Wilcox gives eight reasons why Apple chose to sue HTC.
Technologizer founder, Harry McCracken, is at South by Southwest this week and took some time to try out the Opera Mini Web browser for iPhone. I must admit, I’ve never been a real fan of many alternative browsers for the Mac (except Camino), and haven’t really thought about needing something else for the iPhone, but as Harry says, “Apple’s response will be one of the bigger litmus tests in iPhone history to date.”
