breaker

Review: atMonitor

Written by Topher Kessler

I recently wrote a small guide to Activity Monitor, which looked at the statistics and system details that Activity Monitor tracks. While Apple's approach to an all-in-one interface for managing system processes will work for many people, it is not the best by far. For one, it lacks some commonly used features, such as temperature monitoring, that along with system process monitoring tell you the state of hardware in your system. There are a variety of monitoring programs out there, but a relatively new one that has come to my attention is atMonitor: a freeware … Read more

A quick note on deleted Stacks in the Dock

Written by Topher Kessler

Every now and then, a quick mis-click around the Dock can result in an item being deleted. For Applications this can be quickly remedied by moving the item back to the Dock; however, many people have asked about how to get a Stack working in the Dock again, since they appear to be a more complicated feature.

Apple discussion poster " Hoshen" writes:

"I removed Stacks accidentally, how do I get it back? How do I get more Stacks than one?"

There is nothing special about Stacks, since they are just folders that … Read more

Keyboard hack could leave your Mac completely vulnerable

Written by Joe Aimonetti

While most of the attention for Apple fans during the recent security conventions in Las Vegas was centered on the SMS vulnerability uncovered last month, another hack surfaced--taking advantage of keyboard flash memory--allowing for the hacker to gain complete control of the system.

George Ou at Digital Society reports after interviewing security researcher "K. Chen":

"This would instantly connect the computer to the attacker's computer and instantly give the attacker full control of the computer at which point additional rootkits could be installed. While this process would be visible to the human … Read more

UPDATE: Does the App Store approval process hinder innovation?

Written by Joe Aimonetti

There are many stories surfacing around the Web that throw a glaringly poor light on Apple's App Store approval process. Although many of these applications are not life-changing, is it possible that a faulty process on the part of Apple could actually keep great apps from being approved?

08.03.09 - Update: Since we highlighted some of the struggles of the iPhone Developer community a couple weeks ago, it seems Apple has begun to heed the call. A recent report from Michael Rose at TUAW shows two new features of the development community. The … Read more

Managing permissions to prevent "Forbidden" error with Web Sharing

Written by Topher Kessler

Depending on your account setup, or small modifications you may have done to your home folder, you may prevent people from being able to see any local Web sites you are hosting through the Web Sharing service, and your computer will issue a "Forbidden" error instead of showing the requested Web page.… Read more

Apple releases iPhone OS 3.0.1 to patch SMS security threat

Written by Joe Aimonetti

Apple has released a security update for the iPhone OS to patch the recent threats of an SMS attack.

From the Apple knowledge base article:

"Impact: Receiving a maliciously crafted SMS message may lead to an unexpected service interruption or arbitrary code execution

Description: A memory corruption issue exists in the decoding of SMS messages. Receiving a maliciously crafted SMS message may lead to an unexpected service interruption or arbitrary code execution. This update addresses the issue through improved error handling. Credit to Charlie Miller of Independent Security Evaluators, and Collin Mulliner of Technical University … Read more

Adobe releases security updates for Flash Player, Reader, and Acrobat

Written by Joe Aimonetti

Adobe has released a security bulletin recommending all users of Adobe Flash Player, Reader, and Acrobat update their programs immediately to secure critical vulnerabilities that could cause the applications to crash, leaving them open to attacks.

From the Adobe security bulletin article:

"Adobe recommends users of Adobe Flash Player 9.x and 10.x and earlier versions update to Adobe Flash Player 9.0.246.0 and 10.0.32.18. Adobe recommends users of Adobe AIR version 1.5.1 and earlier versions update to Adobe AIR 1.5.2. Adobe recommends users of … Read more

UPDATE: iPhone security threat via SMS could be catastrophic if not patched

Written by Joe Aimonetti

A potentially catastrophic security flaw in the SMS function of iPhones is being reported across the Internet. Thursday afternoon, researchers are planning to reveal the currently unpatched bug in the iPhone's handling of SMS text messages that could allow for hackers to completely hijack any iPhone in the world.

Note: Due to some recent commenting on MacFixIt, I feel compelled to assure you that this is not a sensationalist story. This is a real security threat for users of Apple's iPhone and should be taken with a great deal of seriousness.

The Story Forbes … Read more

SleepImage files and sleep modes for laptops

Written by Topher Kessler

If you use disk cleanup utilities such as WhatSize, CleanApp, or Grand Perspective to see the files on your system, you may run into a fairly large file called "sleepimage." This file may be up to 8GB in size for current laptops, and is in the hidden /private/var/vm/ folder.

Where does it come from?

In newer laptop models, Apple has implemented a hibernation sleep mode which will activate before all power is lost to the system (ie: the battery is about to die). When hibernation is activated, the computer will write all … Read more

Corruption in DMG disk images

Written by Topher Kessler

Apple's included support for a variety of disk images in OS X is one of the more convenient aspects of the operating system, allowing you to easily encrypt or otherwise compartmentalize your data for easy organization and management. While disk images are fairly robust for the most part, sometimes they can become corrupt.

Unfortunately, when corruption happens there may be little you can do to reverse it. However, there are a few things you can try.

Step one: Back up

Before attempting to fix a corrupt disk image, be sure to make a copy of … Read more