All Posts by Paul

Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player: $100, this Friday, Wal-Mart

Paul

Still waiting to jump into the high def disc game? Or just wanted another weaker, cheaper player for the last-gen TV you phased out to your rumpus room? Well, whatever your reasons, some (not all!) Wal-Mart locations will be selling Toshiba HD-A2s for $100 — down from $200 — this Friday. Ridiculous, we know. Blu-ray gonna fight back? We hope so, we’d really like to get our hands on one for under $300, and not just by using our hookup that sells gear out of his trunk, you know?

Wouldn’t you know it the day they do this is the day I’ve got to pay bills!! Oh well, Don’t have an HD Tv so that isn’t going to be a big deal.

Trojan horse targets Mac OS X

Paul

A new trojan horse designed specifically for Mac OS X systems has been discovered on several pornography websites that can hijack Web traffic, according to security firm Intego. Affected systems are used to hijack some Web requests that lead users to other phishing sites, or simply display ads for other pornographic websites to generate ad revenue. Phishing attacks may lead users to believe they are surfing to eBay, Paypal, or various banks when in fact they are accessing specially-crafted mockups designed to retrieve usernames and passwords for those sites. The trojan, titled OSX.RSPlug.A, is rated as a critical risk by Intego, and is known to affect Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger as well as Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Intego is testing prior versions of Mac OS X, but believes them to be vulnerable as well.

The trojan claims to install a video codec necessary for viewing free pornographic videos on Macs, but when users click on the still images to view the content they are directed to a Web page stating that they must download a new version of a codec to play the movie file with QuickTime. Safari users who have checked the “Open ‘Safe’ Files After Downloading” option in General Preferences will find that the disk image which is downloaded to their Mac automatically mounts, and the installer application will automatically launch.

Thought it was going to happen soon, Now since apple is getting bigger they are going to have more hackers wanting to get into the system.

Make Your Linux Desktop Look Like a Mac

Paul

linux_mac_desktop.png

Linux only: Want the look and feel of a Mac without paying the high-end design premium? Tired of hearing from all your Mac-happy friends how awesome Leopard looks? Got time to run through six pages of instructions? Then HowTo Forge has got you covered. Their guide to making a nearly total theme conversion requires Compiz Fusion (installed by default on Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon), Awn and the patience to download and place a hefty handful of files, but everything seems to be covered, right down to the system sounds. The guide is written for GNOME-based Linux systems and requires a number of downloads, some of which might not pass the most stringent legal (or open source) tests but are otherwise free. I haven’t tried it myself, but this weekend’s another story.

Make Your Linux Desktop Look Like A Mac [via The Linux Tutorial]
I didn’t know you could make it look like a mac!! I’ll have to try it!!

Enable Leopard’s Off-By-Default Firewall

Paul

leopard-firewall.png
Computer security firm publication Heise criticizes Mac OS X Leopard for shipping without its firewall enabled by default like Windows Vista and advises users to turn it on. To do so, in System Preferences’ Security area either block all incoming connections or set explicit exceptions for services that can communicate through the firewall, like file or screen sharing, as shown. (More on that in an upcoming post.)

Holes in Leopard’s firewall [CNET]
Does anyone remember XP lauch having the firewall off. Hmm, sounds almost like a windows problem!!! Haha, just shows that not even apple is perfect!!

Western Digital Ships 320GB 2.5-Inch Drives for Laptops

Paul1 Reply

WD_Scorpio_320GB.jpg
It’s official: you can now buy a 320GB drive from WD for your laptop, and for just $200. The WD Scorpio SATA drive spins at 5400rpm and has a 8MB cache. The press release says it’s “extraordinarily quiet while running at cool operating temperatures.” I hope that doesn’t mean it’s extremely loud while running at super high temperatures. The important thing is, this timing coincides with the arrival of Mac’s Time Machine and the Windows Home Server, two easy ways to offload your laptop’s entire contents, swap out the internal drive, then restore your old image without a lot of tinkering. I know some of you like tinkering, but this is the future. [WD]

Nice now we can have even more space on the Laptop!!