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Posts tagged with "iOS"

Short URLS Suck, OS X & iOS Malware To Become More “Sophisticated” According To McAfee

McAfee Logo

McAfee Logo

When short URLs first arrived on the scene, I was rather excited at the prospect of simply using a good looking “designer” URL to vainly share links on Twitter. Short URLs provide brand reassurance: MacStories, Engadget, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, and other sites now sport custom short URLs that verify the links we share lead back to our site. However, links from Bit.ly, CloudApp cl.ly links, and Twitter’s t.co links have become nothing more than a nuisance. If I use a service like TinyGrab, I know their short URLs will most likely lead to a snapshot someone has taken of their material. With more anonymous (everything) URL shorteners, there’s no way to verify its trust without using software that allows you to preview the long URL before you click through. We’ve seen their validity ruined plenty of times on Twitter through various attacks such as the cross-site request forgery attack that amused us for a few hours earlier this year, but I’ve simply lost trust in these “brands.”

While I didn’t need McAfee to be skeptical of weird Twitter users asking me if I want a free iPad, they predict short URLs will continue to annoy the tech savvy as the computer-illiterate continue to click through short URLs to whatever tomfoolery exists on the other side. McAfee’s other big claim: OS X could be the next target for malware kiddies.

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#MacStoriesDeals - Tuesday

Is your wallet surviving all the holidays? Here’s some great deals for today on iOS & Mac apps that are on sale for a limited time, so get ‘em while they’re hot! iOS apps price drops are starting to show up again too!

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myPhoneDesktop 1.6 - MacStories “2x” Giveaway

myPhoneDesktop is an app for iPhone, iPad and OS X we’ve covered on MacStories a few times in the past. While packed with functionalities, the basic concept of mPD is fairly simple: it provides a way to link your desktop web browser, computer and mobile devices over the air, through the cloud. myPhoneDesktop allows you to easily move data between computers and devices and relies on iOS’ push notification system to let you instantly get the data shared on a Mac or PC.

With this app, you can share text, URLs and images, initiate phone calls and send SMS, send links to alternative browsers for iOS, send content from any webpage to your iPhone and iPad via bookmarklet. It comes with a browser plugin and a desktop app to simplify sharing of data, it’s deeply integrated with several third party iOS apps such as Instapaper, Skype and GoodReader. The latest 1.6 update, though, takes everything a step further: the app can run in the background and receive clipboard data for 10 minutes, it’s got Google Voice integration and the desktop companion can even initiate Google Voice calls and send SMS.

We have 5 copies of myPhoneDesktop 1.6 to give away. Unlike our usual giveaway though, each winner will get 2 promo codes. Jump after the break to check out the giveaway rules, or if you can’t wait – go download mPhoneDeskop here. Read more

#MacStoriesDeals - HUGE Wednesday!

TODAY is the last day before iTunes Connect shutdown for the holiday, so we’re re-running a few things you may have missed -> Here’s some great deals for today on iOS & Mac apps that are on sale for a limited time, so get ‘em before they’re gone!

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Squarespace Introduces Their Official iPad App: Why Can’t All Blogging Tools Be This Awesome?

Squarespace is a phenomenal  blogging platform that allows customers to easily build their own websites, check statistics, moderate comments, and enjoy the freedoms of mobile blogging on both the iPhone and (now) the iPad. While many of us have struggled or implemented some wonky workflow to blog on the iPad, you may just want to ditch your Movable Type or WordPress blog for Squarespace simply because their iPad app is quite frankly amazing.

I’ve emailed blog posts before, but there’s nothing worse than the distraction of your inbox when writing blog posts. There’s also those Simplenote or Writer articles written in Markdown that eventually get converted to HTML on the Mac before being uploaded. I’ve also tried TextExpander for Markdown, but real time conversions are slow (especially if you have to edit on the iPad). Then we even have native blogging applications like WordPress that are honestly awful, though I supposed WordPress’ bare minimum iPad app is better than nothing. Squarespace did their blogging app right, because not only is it both beautiful and functional (all of your tools are available in a familiar interface), but you can blog in Markdown and Textile natively -> that’s the killer feature folks. You also get easy access to your web tools for moderating comments and checking page views, and I don’t feel like I’m hindered by what my tablet has to offer. Squarespace, you guys seriously rock.

If you have a Squarespace account, the iPad app is free to download. If you don’t have a Squarespace account, you can still download the app, though you’ll need to create a free trial to try it out (and we recommend watching the video above to see what Squarespace is all about).