obirt writes "A G5 firmware update provides changes for initializing and running your Power Mac G5. It provides some performance improvements for some PCI-X configurations, patches a security hole and improves fan behavior in Open Firmware." sandrift writes "Software Update just popped up with a new version of the Apple Remote Desktop Client; the version 1.2.4 update delivers improvements to security, performance, and reliability of the Apple Remote Desktop 1.2 client software running on Mac OS X versions 10.1, 10.2, and 10.3." ARD Client is included with Mac OS X 10.3. tdemark writes "MPEG-2 decoding is not supported by default in QuickTime; it is added by purchasing an additional component. Those of us that have this component discovered that it stopped working as of yesterday; it will not run after December 14, 2003. The suggested workaround is to set your clock back. VideoLAN can also be used in emergencies while Apple fixes the issue."

Tweder writes "On Apple's iTunes site, Apple has announced that music fans have purchased and downloaded over 25 Million songs from the iTunes Music Store. It seems the launch of the ITMS on the Windows platform has boosted sales tremendously." I suppose this is where I am expected to say something along the lines of, "I thought the recording industry said that this business model wouldn't work, that people won't pay for what they can download for free?" So, there you go.

ExCEPTION writes "This Japanese guy upgraded his Mac Cube to G5 all by himself. Well, not really an upgrade, just the case." Apple should pay (or hire) this guy.

Paradox writes "In response to the recent PC Magazine story criticizing Mac OS X security, technologist/author Richard Forno has written a rebuttal criticizing the author and raising some good points about the fundamental differences between Windows and Mac OS X. Considering Lance Ulanoff's tone during his article, a rebuttal from the Mac OS X community was inevitable." Forno's conclusion: "Trustworthy computing must be more than a catchy marketing phrase. Ironically, despite a few hiccups along the way, it's becoming clear that Mac OS, not Windows, epitomizes Microsoft's new mantra of 'secure by design, default, and deployment'."

Demolition writes "To go along with Time Magazine calling the iTunes Music Store the Invention Of The Year, Fortune Magazine has come along and proclaimed iTunes Music Store as the Product Of The Year. As it says in the article, 'With the success of its iTunes Music Store, Apple is almost single-handedly dragging the music industry, kicking and screaming, toward a better future.'" Also, Fortune named the G5 one of the 25 Best Products of the Year for Design.

Capt. Canuck writes "According to this Toronto Star story, the Canadian Copyright Board may approve a 20% levy on electronic media tomorrow, including MP3 players and hard drives. With the Canadian Dollar rising and this on the horizon, maybe now is the right time to get that iPod." Update: 12/12 16:33 GMT by M : rcpitt writes "The Canadian Copyright Board has (finally - a year late) issued its ruling on the latest round of blank media levy - the controversial (in the rest of the world as well as Canada) private "tax" on recordable media used to copy music which proceeds go to the music artists in Canada. The ruling by the board and a press release were posted to the Board's web site at 10AM Ottawa (CST) today. The ruling continues the levy amounts from the previous 2 year period (2001-2002) to the end of this period (2003-2004) at the same amounts as previously set but adds new levies on portable (MP3) digital audio recorders of from CDN$2/unit to CDN$25/unit depending on internal storage capacity."

Suki writes "In this recent story a PC Mag writer concludes that "Panther and Jaguar were not better at outrunning vulnerabilities than Windows" and as my personal fav. ends by asking "How cocky are you feeling now, Mac elite? Hmm. Suddenly it's gotten pretty quiet around here." The article discusses many previous Windows security holes against a recent Mac OS X security flaw."

An anonymous reader writes "Back in the early 90's Stanford University offered a class on Objective-C for students interested in writing applications for NeXTSTEP. After a long hiatus it appears that class will be offered again as CS193E, 'Object-oriented User Interface Programming.' It will be covering the Apple development tools, Objective-C, Foundation and AppKit, and Quartz. Any other schools out there planning or already offering Objective-C courses?"

A user writes, "BBEdit has added a 'Preview in BBEdit' command in 7.1, so you can preview HTML inside BBEdit itself, using the Apple's Safari libraries." Also added is support for SFTP (file transfers over SSH), Rendezvous discovery of FTP servers, and more. Just-released version 7.1.1 adds more refresh options for the Preview feature.

Thanks to the Warp Pipe website for recent updates announcing downloadable Linux and Mac OS X Alpha/Beta versions of their GameCube tunnelling software, following the release of the Windows Beta a couple of weeks back. The Internet-play enabling LAN hack already works for Kirby Air Ride and Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, and the Warp Pipe site also notes that "development on our next release is coming along nicely. New versions (Windows, Mac, and Linux) will support [latest LAN-compatible GC title] 1080: Avalanche."

An anonymous reader writes "Rolling Stone has published an interview with Steve Jobs about the current state of the music industry. He is a smart man, that guy. 'When we first went to talk to these record companies -- about eighteen months ago -- we said, "None of this technology that you're talking about's gonna work. We have Ph.D.s here who know the stuff cold, and we don't believe it's possible to protect digital content."'"

ubiquitin writes "The MacGIMP site has a story about TWAIN-SANE, which is a TWAIN datasource for Mac OS X that lets you use the SANE backend libraries. It means that most if not all of the the SANE project's long list of supported hardware can now be used on Mac OS X."

jeffy124 asks: "I was hoping to get an Apple iPod for Christmas. Alas, it's too expensive and out of the budget. So I'm forced into purchasing it for myself. Hoping to cash in on a holiday season bargain, I've been keeping my eye on the sales circulars that come in the newspaper. I've seen plenty of discounts for MP3 players of all kinds (Rio's, Dell's new HD-based player, etc), and the iPod has also shown up. Christmas does not yet seem very merry to me. They're always at the regular $299/399/499 price, never at a discount of any sort. You read that right, it's 'for sale' at the *regular* price. Stores guilty of this include Best Buy, Circuit City, Target, and CompUSA. Why do stores do this? How often? And does anyone know why Apple has been singled out while their competition has gotten their products discounted? Anyone know who *is* granting discounts on iPods this holiday season?"

Peter Brodsky asks: "Panther advertises faxing as one of its cool, new features. If you're like me, and you have one land line, which you use for DSL and voice, you don't want to hook up a fax machine that will answer after X rings, because if after X rings it picks up and starts beeeep, beeep, bleeeeping at you, you cut yourself off from voice mail... which is programmed to pick up after Y rings. Is there a way to make your Panther box 'screen' for fax calls before it picks up?"

macemoneta writes "Yellow Dog Linux 3.0.1 is now available for download, and includes HFS+ support with the 2.4.22-based kernel. Be nice and use a mirror!"

rgraham writes "Apple has release a new security update for the Safari cookie bug. 'Security Update 2003-12-05 updates Safari to prevent unauthorized access to a user's cookies.' They also updated the article on how to 'Configure Directory Access to Protect Your Mac From a Malicious DHCP Server.'" We posted that the other day, but this time, pictures!

penguinrenegade writes "Element Computer has come out with the first sub-$1000 Tablet, and it doesn't come with Windows. It's not running a stripped OS like Windows CE, but a full-fledged copy of Lycoris Desktop/LX. This company seems to really have it in for Microsoft, with a 'No Windows' policy. Good to see someone finally standing up against paying the Microsoft tax. Maybe now we'll start seeing Linux only OEMs and resellers." Also on the tablet computer front, SeanAhern points out Cringely's latest Robert X. Cringely column, in which Cringley makes the case that Apple is readying a tablet computer for market, and "suggests that 'until next year, the parts won't have been there to make tablet PCs successful. What's missing has been the killer app, and what kept a killer app from appearing was a lack of hardware support, which I believe will be over soon,'" writing "He's got some interesting ideas about where Jobs might go with his Digital Hub idea." (This is an Antaur-based machine, not the Toshiba tablet mentioned in October.)

the terminal of Geoff Goodfellow writes "Two years ago this month, Apple Computer released a small, sleek-looking device it called the iPod. This Sunday's New York Times Magazine has a long article on it: The Guts of a New Machine."

Dave Schroeder writes, "This isn't so much of a root vulnerability as a default configuration that trusts the integrity of the local network services. This functionality has been around since NeXTSTEP, and is designed to allow for auto-configuration of new servers/machines brought into the network. The quick 'fix' for the vast majority of users who choose to implement it is to uncheck LDAPv3 and NetInfo altogether in Directory Access. Or, if LDAP services are used, just uncheck 'Use DHCP-supplied LDAP Server' in LDAPv3. ... One could argue that these features should be off by default, but if they are, it kind of wrecks the whole auto-configuration scheme." This sounds related to a great new feature in Mac OS X Server 10.3/Xserve called "automatic setup" that -- for machines that come with it preinstalled -- will get their address and LDAP server via DHCP and look for configuration files, and automatically configure the entire server, without any interaction beyond plugging it into the network and turning it on.

Cysgod writes "I've released a security advisory detailing a new remote root vulnerability in Mac OS X 10.3, 10.2 and possibly earlier versions." The main thrust is that it exploits a problem in the DHCP client, to gain root access, and turning off various services can prevent attack. It is unclear why an exploit was made public before Apple resolved the problem. Apple's fix is apparently scheduled for a December release.