By Agence France-Presse

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple replaced advice on Wednesday that people install anti-virus software on Macintosh computers with assurances that the machines are safe “out of the box.”

The move prompted online speculation as to whether Apple was merely polishing the Macintosh image or that the increasingly popular computers are as impervious to hackers as the California company maintains.

Apple routinely touts how rarely Macintosh computers are afflicted with malicious software as compared to machines based on Microsoft Windows operating systems, which run more than 90 percent of the computers in the world.

On Tuesday Apple removed a 2007 Knowledge Base posting telling people to install “multiple anti-virus utilities” in Macintosh computers to thwart ill-willed software savants with arrays of defenses.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

DUE to pressures from developers, Apple has finally decided to drop the non-disclosure agreements that software developers for the iPhone are required to sign, a report from Agence France-Presse said.

Excerpt:

WASHINGTON — Apple said Wednesday that it was dropping a controversial non-disclosure agreement that software developers who wanted to create applications for the iPhone mobile telephone had been forced to sign.

The non-disclosure agreement, or NDA, prevented software developers seeking to take part in the iPhone Developer Program from discussing their work, even with colleagues.

Apple’s move to drop the NDA came just days after Internet search giant Google jumped into the mobile telephone market with a handset powered by Google’s open-source Android software.

The ability of outside developers to freely write applications for the phone, the T-Mobile G1, which Google developed with telecom carrier T-Mobile, is seen as a major selling point by Google and its partners.

Also from the Apple website:

We put the NDA in place because the iPhone OS includes many Apple inventions and innovations that we would like to protect, so that others don’t steal our work. It has happened before. While we have filed for hundreds of patents on iPhone technology, the NDA added yet another level of protection. We put it in place as one more way to help protect the iPhone from being ripped off by others.

However, the NDA has created too much of a burden on developers, authors and others interested in helping further the iPhone’s success, so we are dropping it for released software. Developers will receive a new agreement without an NDA covering released software within a week or so. Please note that unreleased software and features will remain under NDA until they are released.

Thanks to everyone who provided us constructive feedback on this matter.

Let’s stop talking about the iPhone3G for a minute. Did you get a good look at Steve Jobs at the WWDC Keynote yesterday?

See the pic above: on the left, Steve at the keynote for iPhone 1.0 over a year ago, and on the right, at yesterday’s presentation. They say black mock turtlenecks really are slimming, but this is a bit much.

Ever since he came onstage yesterday at Moscone West, the web has been as much abuzz about Mr. Jobs and how frighteningly thin he’s become since we last saw him as much as the new iPhone itself. Google his name today and you’ll likely get news items like this at the top of the search list.

Jobs came out in 2003 to disclose his ongoing battle with a rare form of pancreatic cancer, which has since been successfully treated, or so he says. It’s hard to tell because, as we all know, Apple and Steve Jobs seem pretty good at keeping secrets.

If something’s amiss with The Steve, it’ll have tremendous impact on the future and direction of Apple, because face it—the man is Apple. More than any other company in recent history, multi-billion dollar Apple Inc. is the one whose fate is most intimately intertwined with the vision of its leader. Let’s hope that he’s just been spending too much time with his Wii Fit balance board thing.

Seriously though, let’s pray that things are all right for Steve Jobs.

Microsoft, creator of the very secure and robust Windows OS and the rock-solid Internet Explorer web browser, is warning Windows users not to use Apple’s browser Safari because it is unsafe and vulnerable to certain malicious sites that can take advantage of an exploit and “carpet-bomb” your Windows machine with EXE files.

According to Microsoft Security Advisory #953818 on the Microsoft website, there is a “Blended Threat from Combined Attack Using Apple’s Safari on the Windows Platform”:

Microsoft is investigating new public reports of a blended threat that allows remote code execution on all supported versions of Windows XP and Windows Vista when Apple’s Safari for Windows has been installed. Safari is not installed with Windows XP or Windows Vista by default; it must be installed independently or through the Apple Software Update application. Customers running Safari on Windows should review this advisory.

At the present time, Microsoft is unaware of any attacks attempting to exploit this blended threat. Upon completion of this investigation, Microsoft will take the appropriate measures to protect our customers. This may include providing a solution through a service pack, the monthly update process, or an out-of-cycle security update, depending on customers needs.”

In simple terms, Safari doesn’t seek user permission when malicious sites try to make the browser download an executable file to the desktop, even if it does this hundreds of times over and over (hence the term “carpet-bomb”). It’s a “blended threat” because this vulnerability stems from the combination of the default download location of Safari and the way Windows handles executables.

Microsoft’s Suggested Action is:

Restrict use of Safari as a web browser until an appropriate update is available from Microsoft and/or Apple.”

True, it’s a serious breach that should be fixed ay-ess-ay-pee, and we hope Apple fixes this soon. But it must be refreshing for Microsoft to be the one to call out Apple on something like this for once (I can almost here them go ‘Hah! How’d you like dem apples, Apple? Nyarharhar!’)

Researcher Nitesh Dhanjani, who first exposed this vulnerability more than a week ago, says that the flaw isn’t limited to Windows; OS X can be carpet-bombed as well, although I’m not quite sure Macs would know the first thing about running an .exe file.

This is the kind of attention-grabbing nonsense reportage that gets picked up and passed around the net so much because of its amusing nature that it enters the public consciousness and becomes common knowledge despite not having any basis in actual fact, changing the image of the subject forever. That said, this one’s too good to pass up, so we mention it here too. Heh.

I’ve read reports that complaining of the harsh edges of its top case, but this is a first. Someone actually got cut by the sharp edge of, allegedly, a Macbook Air.

This used to be one of those well-worn jokes going around after the MBA was introduced, but somehow it’s actually happened. A user named Bajuware from a German Mac user group reported that his arm got cut up by the edge of a Macbook Air, although it doesn’t seem too clear if it was really an Air or a regular Macbook Pro that attacked him, which changes the whole issue from poor design to just a defective user. (The original post is here, if you sprecken sie Deutsche.)

This now brings up a wonderful opportunity for reactionary alarmists to try and get the Air banned or taken away from, say, kids and clumsy German Mac users.

The fact is, anyone can get cut by anything, if he tried hard enough. I mean, a No.2 pencil can poke an eye out, but it’s still in the hands of billions of children the world over, right?

Even if the Air is eventually deemed dangerous for public use, I think I’ll risk it. Mainly because my Mac is my main tool for breadwinning these days, and I’m not about to let it go. Besides, it’s also great to know that I can actually slice the bread with it as well.