It looks like Steve wants more Apple Stores around the world. You know, he’s never satisfied - and can you blame it with those breaking earnings they posted earlier this week?
Anyway, as TUAW and Macsimum News report, two new Apple retail stores are opening this week: a new store in Lexington, KY opening this Saturday at 10am and another store in Columbus, OH.
If you happen to be there, snap a few picture for us. We’ll be glad to post them.
Expanding past the traditional consumer base, Apple wants to make an impact in the small business market. Instead of focusing on corporate programs, Apple seeks to work with businesses looking to use Macs for business-focused operations.
If there’s one reason I love Clayton Morris, it’s that he doesn’t bullshit around about technology. I traditionally hate linking to any news anchor on CNN, Fox, ABC, CBS, or any other outlet that really don’t have a grasp of technology. This is evident in the Fox News showcase between the Amazon and the Kindle, where Morris steps in to set things straight.
If you have no other reason to watch it, help me figure out if he has an early beta of OmniFocus or if he’s simply running the iPhone version on the iPad. Either way, his iPad setup proves that’s he’s pretty tech savvy guy. The comparison after the break.
AppleInsider reports that Apple is advising its direct and indirect sales channels of iMac shortages, specifically the 21.5-inch, 3.06 GHz model, implying that there will be a refresh in the coming weeks.
Apple has been plotting the upcoming iMac refresh since last year. At the time, the company was brainstorming a lineup that would include more than one quad-core configuration, according to people familiar with the plans.
Potential configurations included a dual-core Core i5 model, as well as quad-core Core i5 and Core i7 configurations. Also of interest, according to those same people, were indications that new iMacs would be the first Macs to employ Intel’s Core i3 processor at the low-end, which would have the new family of desktops utilize all three flavors of Intel’s mobile Core line of processors.
Unconfirmed is the possibility of a faster FireWire interface and USB 3.0 implementation, which is said to be ten times faster than USB 2.0. Also rumored is that Apple is in advanced discussions to adopt microprocessors from AMD, while Apple a 12-core Mac Pro and 27” Apple Cinema Display remain unseen.
[via AppleInsider]
How the heck do you know if someone’s available to chat via FaceTime? Check it: FacePlant is command central for all your FaceTime leaves. Leave a voicemail, erm, FaceMail for that lovely barista you met last week, get notified when someone wants to FaceTime with you, and go undercover when you don’t want to be bothered. It’s this extra functionality that Apple should have implemented, but didn’t.
FacePlant is still in the review process, but you can totally catch a video after the break.
Geeking out on all things security, Jeremiah Grossman details an interesting attack that could steal information stored in a web browser for use in autofill.
These fields are AutoFill’ed using data from the users personal record in the local operating system address book. Again it is important to emphasize this feature works even though a user never entered this data on any website. Also this behavior should not be confused with normal auto-complete data a Web browser may remember after its typed into a form.
All a malicious website would have to do to surreptitiously extract Address Book card data from Safari is dynamically create form text fields with the aforementioned names, probably invisibly, and then simulate A-Z keystroke events using JavaScript. When data is populated, that is AutoFill’ed, it can be accessed and sent to the attacker.
I don’t know about you, but this keyboard should become the new default in all mobile devices. It’s mind boggling how well this works.
We’ve read about various vulnerabilities and security issues related to Apple and the software they push out before, and yesterday Ars Technica reported that Apple has become the new world leader in software insecurity. While it’s mentioned that OS X itself isn’t the most insecure in practice, the various pieces of software you use like iTunes, Quicktime, and Safari, all display gaping security flaws that aren’t being addressed.
To illustrate this point, the report includes cumulative figures for the number of vulnerabilities found on a Windows PC with the 50 most widely-used programs. Five years ago, there were more first-party flaws (in Windows and Microsoft’s other software) than third-party. Since about 2007, the balance shifted towards third-party programs. This year, third-party flaws are predicted to outnumber first-party flaws by two-to-one.
There is a valid point to be made: yes, third party software can introduce vulnerabilities to the OS. But what bothers me about the article is two things. The first is that while Apple is known to have plentiful vulnerabilities in their software that should be fixed (quicktime vulnerabilities have been complained about for years now), it’s never addressed how these vulnerabilities affect OS X – Windows is mentioned as the only OS affected by Apple’s software. The second issue I have: it’s not mentioned specifically what vulnerabilities are being exposed and what ill-effects are had on the user. It seems unlike Ars Technica to throw out an article like this without further explaining potential risks for users. Instead, it’s mentioned that third party software is harder to update and Microsoft does a better job of applying patches.
[via Ars Technica]
Now joining Tim Cook (Chief Operating Officer), Jeff Williams has been promoted to join Apple’s executive team in order to oversee and ensure product quality. According to AppleInsider, Jeff Williams has previously been responsible managing the company’s supply chain and securing components for the production of the iPod. He also a big player in the success of the iPhone, and will continue to oversea world-wide operations and supply management.
AppleInsider writes,
It’s believed Apple is grooming Williams to take on Cook’s role as chief operation officer in the event that Cook takes over Steve Jobs’ role as the company’s chief executive. Cook has been profiled as the most likely successor to Jobs when Apple’s iconic chief chooses to step down.
[via AppleInsider]
