Reports indicate that Apple is now offering MobileMe users free upgrades to Snow Leopard to help them transition to iCloud before the June 30 deadline. MobileMe users who are still using Leopard have been getting notices of the free offer. Previously $30, the Snow Leopard upgrade would give these users the Mac App Store, which is required to then purchase Lion, which is in turn required to get a free iCloud account. MobileMe is schedule to shut down on June 30.
For users of older Macs, there is no upgrade path. Both Snow Leopard and Lion require Intel processors. The transition from PowerPC to Intel processors began and was completed in 2006, making all PowerPC Macs at least 5 years old. However, some of the earliest Intel Macs do not support Lion as it requires at least an Intel Core 2 Duo processor.
If you want to shift an iCal event slightly, you can do so by selecting it and using Control+Up or Control+Down to move the start time in 15 minute increments, assuming you are in the daily or weekly view mode. Using Control+Shift+Up or Down will move the end time for the event. If you are in monthly view, then the event is moved by a whole week.
Cubemen is an interesting cross between a tower defense game and real-time strategy. With different levels and scenarios you can deploy the same units as your enemy for a more balanced battle. There is an iPad version and a Mac version.
“Man, I had a nasty Flashback this morning.”
“LSD?”
“No, Mac trojan.”
The U.S. Department of Justice will take Apple and publishers to court over their pricing system for ebooks. Apple and the publishers use the agency model in which the publishers set the prices for the books and the retailers, like Apple and Amazon, cannot sell below those prices. The alternative would be wholesale pricing, which lets the retailers sell the books at any price they wish. The DOJ sees the agency model as illegal price fixing. But there is much debate about which model is better for consumers, retailers and publishers.
The threat of the Flashback trojan malware is waning as more people update their Macs and become aware of the threat and how to easily thwart it. Apple is reportedly attempting to take legal action against those responsible, and is also working on a removal tool according to this support note.
When you are visiting a web page in Safari, you can jump up to the subdirectory or web site home page by Command+clicking the title bar. Then select the web page to jump to.
“Ever since the iPad got a retina display, my wife insists on having a model take my place in photos.”
With 162 games in a baseball season it is hard to catch them all in the stands or on TV. For those times baseball fans need to be away from the action the MLB.com At Bat is the app of all apps. You’ll get up-to-the-pitch scores and play-by-play, stats and video highlights while the game is in progress. This free app asks you for a serious $15/season in-app purchase to get all of the features, but that’s less than the price of a 3rd-deck right field ticket.
With the recent increased threat from the Flashback trojan malware, a new spotlight is shining on Mac anti-malware security. Flashback usually appears in as a downloadable trojan, requiring the user to download, run and give permission to install. But for a few days there was a Java exploit that installed it on some Macs without requiring permission. Apple then issued a patch to prevent that.
Some believe that you should use 3rd-party security software as protection. But that software needs updates to remain effective as well. MacMost has always taught that keeping updated, informed and watching what you download is all that is required for protection.
What do you think? Do you use third-part software for protection? Has the recent issue changed your mind one way or the other?
More regional U.S. wireless carriers have announced this week the availability of the iPhone. nTelos Wireless in Virginia, Appalachian Wireless in Kentucky, Cellcom in Wisconsin and Alaska Communications have announced they are getting the iPhone. Looks like April 20 is the start date for all of those networks.
The annoying Flashback trojan, a rare piece of malware that can infect Macs, became a little more dangerous for a short time this week when it appeared as part of a Java exploit. Formerly the trojan only appeared in obviously untrustworthy downloads on sketchy web sites. This exploit allowed Macs to become infected be simply visiting a malicious web site — though no web sites were mentioned in any of the reports. Apple responded immediately this week with a Java patch you can get by simply running Software Update. Another trojan surfaced last week that relied on the user having an older version of Microsoft Word and downloading a suspicious file. As always, of the easiest and most effective ways to protect yourself against malware is to keep your Mac and all of your software updated. Check out MacMost’s Mac Virus and Malware Information Center.
When the iPad first came out I couldn’t help thinking that the old Mac game Spaceward Ho! would be a great app for it. And here it is: Spaceward Ho! for the iPad. The is just as fun and addictive as always. The iPad version seems a bit rushed, with lots of interface glitches. But nothing to get in the way of playing the game, and I’m sure future updates will add some polish. This is a great space strategy game with just enough controls to make it interesting, but not so much that it bogs down gameplay.
